![[Image: ThirstyWell.jpg]](http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j189/kyatai/ThirstyWell.jpg)
She spent the first several hours looking over the tools. They were fascinating and so delicate. She had had a brief flurry of fear that she might break one of them too, making her in even more trouble than she already was already in, then dismissed it.
It was only a tool. Surely he had more, and surely these were not his best tools. Only an idiot would leave intricate and costly tools in the hand of an inexperienced child...
She ran her finger along the shaft of one, her eyes sparkling at the blue glow that intensified at the tip at her touch. She wanted to see what it could do.. would do..
And wondered exactly how useful such a thing would be at home.
She touched the edge of the table with the tip, then immediately jerked it back with a gasp. The glowing tip had melted away a small round area. She looked back at the tool with awe, stroking the haft- and this time noticing the intensity of the light grow and fade.
Her mouth watered with desire.
Her eyes darted to the tent flap, then back to the small case of tools thoughtfully, then frowned. She couldn't try to leave... not yet. Not until Papá's sundial was fixed. And that wouldn't happen until th- Petyr's... Oculus was fixed.
She picked up another tool, testing how it handled, then another.
She was in love... so light and easy to manipulate. She could pick up the smallest component with this one... solder it with that one, tighten with this other...
She jerked, her head darting to the door as she heard one of the men cough, then laugh outside the flap. She had, of course, heard them milling about outside, but this one...
Chiané frowned.
She had a guard. How annoying.
She took a seat at the table, then picked up the Oculus, looking it over.
The golden casing seemed intact, but lens casing appeared to be... cracked and one of the components within, loose. Part of her cringed at the sheer delicacy of the tiny screws and parts- even as it simultaneously filled her with excited curiosity.
She carefully unscrewed the back, then laid it down, removing the front casing.
The fine interworkings were a mystery.
A beautiful, enticing mystery.
Her eyes darted over the elements, her fingers absently twitching as they hovered above it.
She had no idea where to begin. Everything was a symphony in the smallest scale... and she both wanted to dismantle it to understand it... and not touch it for fear of disrupting the music.
She frowned, gently using the magnetic end of one of Petyr's tools to lift the loose gear from the lens face. She carefully set it aside, then grabbed the magnifier. She gasped at the interlocking discs, tiny gears and cogs. Strange writing appeared to be etched into some of the parts...
And suddenly, everything beyond the Oculus was irrelevant.
She quickly hopped up, grabbed her notebook and a stylus and began rapidly sketching and making notes.
**
The fifth bell of the morning found her seated on the table, legs drawn up and chin resting on her knees. Before her lay her notebook full of notes and sketches and the mostly reassembled Oculus. Mostly... since a few of the minute parts had somehow fallen off the table and were swallowed into the abyss that was made up of the dirt rug covered floor.
The lens was still cracked- nothing she could figure out to do about that.
She closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her knees. Her eyes burned, her fingers ached and the side of her left index throbbed and still felt as if it were on fire from the soldering tool's burn.
She'd tried. And failed.
And Papá's sundial was still non-functioning due to a depleted crystal.
Whatever that meant.
Where would one find a full crystal anyway?
She paused, eying the Oculus. It had had a crystal... albeit very small. Of course, the one in the sundial had also been very small- that was obviously how she'd missed it.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily, then returned her head to her knees.
The night was quiet, only the soft sound of night bugs singing, a few croaking rivertoads and several discordant snores... and an odd high pitched whine. She frowned, focusing on it, trying to locate the source...
She rose, moving silently to the tent flap and peeked out. The camp was still and the fire dampened, but all around the perimeter was this faint odd blue glow.
Chiané glanced down at her guard, who sat slumped against a pole, the faint glimmer of drool dampening his lip and darkening his shirt. She glanced around, seeing the still shapes of another, wrapped in his cloak by the fire. The others... seemed to be in their tents.
She swallowed, her eyes flickering to the woods just beyond, then back to the one by the fire and the one near her feet.
Papá would recommend incapacitation followed by a rapid extrication.
There was wisdom in this.
If she could get to the forest, they would never find her...
She rubbed the side of her nose, then glanced back at the box of wondrous tools and the Oculus. She wanted the tools. She needed the tools. But they would likely weigh her down, slow her escape...
She bit her lower lip. But a few?
She quickly dismantled the Oculus again, removed the crystal, then reassembled it. A quick look at the sundial with the magnifier identified a small socket where the crystal clearly sat. She gingerly socketed it, smiling quickly as the device began to glow and the moons set themselves.
She glanced behind her, then slid three of the most useful tools into her pocket.
A slight rustling, then silence as a body resettled in sleep. She smiled, moving quickly as she noted the time. The sun would be rising very soon...
And the benefit of shadow would be lost.
A quick dismantling of the static aspects, secreting them into its protective case, and the sundial was dropped into her other pocket. She slung her pack on her back before slowly and carefully making her way to the tent mouth again.
The moment she emerged and stood, four faces looked back at her.
