“What does a volcano have to do with metal?” Daphne asked. That was Lilah’s next question also.
“The magma has the metal in a liquid form. The smith takes out the liquid and shapes it into forms we need. Most is used for weapons. The swords break so much that we need a constant supply for the soldiers to keep training.” Shinni scowled then rose and walked away, mumbling, “If the males would listen to us, then they wouldn’t have so many problems.”
What did that mean? Daphne glanced at her as she must’ve heard it too. All righty then. Lilah stood, dropping the soil.
“Let’s go inside, and I’ll show you around the food preparation area.” The fae gracefully floated over the rugged terrain to the slope like a prima ballerina. Lilah was as far from that as could be. Daphne grabbed her hand and pulled her along, helping her keep her balance on the tilted mountainside between the garden and kitchen entrance.
Stepping onto the slope, she noticed a mirror inserted into the rock wall. “What’s that for?” she asked. Then she saw how the light bounced off it, going farther into the cave. Her eyes followed the invisible trail to another two reflectors.
Good god. She hadn’t thought about it when they had first arrived in the kitchen, but the space was brightly lit. Not a torch to be seen. Not that using mirrors to move light was a new concept, but making it really work was impressive. Couldn’t they bounce light down to the main cavern? Was it too far down?
Shinni took them away from the stone island toward another space where she heard water running. Women not in brown ponchos stood over a raised basin with a small waterfall coming through a hole in the ceiling. The sight was charming, with sunlight shining off the water—the perfect place to have a picnic if they hadn’t been in a mountain.
Seeing one of the women stepping away with a dripping load in her arms, she realized they were washing clothes. The fae moved into an area with row after row of thin rock walls about four feet tall. Clothes of all sizes were draped over the tops—even children’s garments.
Many girls of all ages roamed the kitchen area, helping the women. But where were the boys? Were they with the soldiers? That was a bit old fashioned if you asked her. Some of the best chefs were men. And she knew some women who could totally beat any man’s ass in a mixed martial arts cage.
Coming back to the island where women cut and diced food, Lilah noted the women who had their brown sheets off had bodies the same shape as she did. The climb from the throne room to here solidified in her mind the reason for such muscle-laden bottoms.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, her elbow bumped a bowl off the surface to break into stone pieces when it hit the floor. Horror shot through Lilah. How long did it take them to carve the large bowls from rock? Days? Weeks?
“Don’t worry,” the woman next to her said, bending over to gather the pieces. The fae set the chunks on the island and mashed the parts in her hands like they were dough. As Lilah and Daphne watched, the female squashed the doughy sections into one gray ball then worked it into a bowl shape. She moved the dish to the middle of the table, where it slowly hardened into the rock it had been.
Holy shisterbots! That was amazing. Their magic was manipulating the material they had in abundance—stone. That explained the stone cups, plates, and other items lying around. Her attention went to the knives used to cut food.
The blades were shiny and looked sharp as hell as they sliced through carrot-looking items with ease. The swords which the warriors trained with didn’t shine. She wondered if there was a difference between the two materials that made each.
“Shinni,” Lilah said, “do you have the same problem with your knives as the guys do with their swords breaking?” The raucous reaction from the women startled her. Some slammed their knives on the table. Some gave her a look of disgust. Others snorted. “What?” Lilah asked, afraid she’d said something to offend them.
The woman standing beside her stopped chopping. “The men do as they wish. If they want to be stupid and not listen to us, then that’s their loss.”
“What do you mean?” Daphne asked. Valori gave the woman a sharp glance, and she returned to her work.
“It is of no matter,” the elder said then nodded her head toward her and Daph. “Give Lilah a chunk of rock.”
Daph leaned over Lilah’s shoulder. “Why are they doing that?” Lilah shrugged, as a fae went to a wall with several pockmarks. Her fingers sank into the hard stone like it was sand, and she scooped out a large handful. Lilah followed the fae’s movement toward her, and the small boulder the dainty hands set on the table in front of her.
Lilah looked up at the others. No one paid her any attention. What was she supposed to do with this?
Valori glanced at her. “Go on. Make you and your friend a cup to drink from.”
“What?” Lilah replied. “How?”
Valori responded with a scowl. “Split the rock in half.” Lilah lifted the rock and banged it against the tabletop. Giggles went around the work area.
Why did the old woman think she could mold the rock like they could? That was ridiculous. Despite the stupidity, she mimicked what the other woman did to dig the rock from the wall. She placed her fingers over the center of the stone and slowly pushed them down. The hard surface pressing against her tips gave, and she slid her hand through, splitting the rock.
Daphne’s jaw dropped, and she snatched half of the rock and pounded her fingers against it, unsuccessfully. Lilah dug her thumbs into the claylike material and hollowed out the center like she’d done as a kid with colorful sculpting clay. The soft material warmed even more against her palm, bending and stretching as her fingers demanded.
“How are you doing that?” her cousin whispered. She just shrugged. “Here.” Lilah took the other stone half and repeated to make another cup. After finishing the second dish, the first had transformed back into hard rock.
“Now, you can get your own water to drink.” Elder Valori nodded to the side where tall barrel-like containers sat. She and Daphne approached them, seeing water in each. She dipped her cup into the liquid then drank water tasting better than the day before in the forest.
“Bring two chunks of rock back with you,” the elder said.
Lilah handed her cup to Daph and dug out two handfuls of the closest wall. “Very good,” Valori said, “but we have a special a wall to take from. You can’t be all willy-nilly where you take from the wall strength.”
Lilah panicked, thinking the ceiling would cave in on top of them, and slapped the material back into place. Her hands sunk in up to her wrists. The ladies giggled again. Her face heated as she yanked her arms free.
Daphne led her to the place the other lady had claimed their cups. “Here,” she said. Lilah scooped out a couple holes, and they returned to the stone island prep area. Her head was in a tailspin. How was she able to do this? Nothing like this happened on earth. Though she never tried to make a mug from a rock.
“You know,” Daphne said, voice low, “Wren can make tree limbs bend to make chairs. Maybe you can bend rocks to make dishes.”
“Like that’s helpful.” Lilah rolled her eyes.
Daph shrugged. “I can’t do it.”
“Now,” Valori said from the other side of the work island, “crush one of those into dust.” One of the females looked up with surprise, noticing no one else reacting, then went back to chopping.