Upon completion of Silent Breach, my focus shifted to the second micro-fiction piece for the month, a tale featuring Elara Finch. While I’ve enjoyed exploring her life, I spent a few days without an idea for this micro tale. Then something sparked as I watched her carry about her day in my mind’s eye. With sudden clarity, I hopped onto my computer and let the brief tale flow through my fingertips.
Elara’s workshop wasn’t built for comfort. She claimed the narrow space between a tanner and an apothecary, where the walls held the scent of treated hides on one side and bitter herbs on the other. While most visitors found the mingling odors unbearable, Elara stopped noticing them long ago.
Shelves crowded those walls, burdened with jars, bent tools, half-finished mechanisms, and pieces of inventions that survived long enough to earn a second chance. Her workbench bore the scars of her trade, reminding her of every problem she refused to leave unsolved.
In the corner, her automaton stood beneath the shadows cast by the workshop’s wan lights. Its plates caught the faint glow whenever it shifted, though it refused to move unless Elara ordered it. Outside, rain tried to wash away the ever-present scents, but the alleyway held them close.
Excerpt of Weighted Request
Elara’s gaze drifted to the letter. She covered the words with a steadying hand and released a breath. Her eyes darted from Kaleb’s request to the remnants of her day. The cracked washer left the bench with a tap against the weathered wood.
With a huff, she rose and dropped the washer into a wall tray. Scattered tidbits went into a chipped ceramic bowl before her gaze returned to the letter. Elara’s automaton stood motionless in the workshop’s shadowed corner. Elara scoffed, grabbing a nearby rag. “Stop watching me clean.”
The automaton’s head shifted, its eyes pulsing.
Soft laughter filled her workshop as she wiped down the bench’s surface. “I suppose that’s fair since I study you.”
Rain rattled the windows, though the pitter-patter proved it wouldn’t become a full-throated storm.
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