Green Canyon Magic - Ch.24 - The Missing Element (Patreon)

"How are you planning on doing this?" Flora asked as she peered down the small dark shaft that led to our supply of lake water several meters below. "I guess you could just lower the pump by its hose and power cable?"

She turned to look up the top half of the shaft and added, "I can't see any way to get the other end of the hose up to the reservoir though. This is too narrow for someone to climb, but even if it was bigger I still don't think I'd be comfortable with any of us going in there. Not that I don't trust you Stella, it just feels a bit hazardous."

I shook my head, "Don't worry, nobody's going in there."

We'd all finished a great breakfast a little while earlier, now Stef and Charlotte were cleaning the dishes while Flora and I decided to install our new water pump. And Theo was outside, perhaps doing some hunting or maybe just getting some exercise.

"So how are we going to do it?" our guest asked again as she turned to look at me.

My tails all twitched as I grinned, "Magic, of course! Give me a hand hooking up the pump, please? And let's straighten out the cord and hose too."

Flora took the thick sturdy hose so I grabbed the power cord, and together we laid the two out in a long line away from the small 'utility closet' I'd made in the hallway. Finally the athletic brunette carefully attached the hose to the pump's outlet, and I could tell by how her lithe muscles flexed there was no chance of that fitting ever coming loose on its own.

The power cable was a little more fiddly to connect, because we had to make sure it was completely sealed and water-tight afterwards. And finally, under Flora's watchful gaze, I put a hand on the stone wall and concentrated. It only took a second or two, then a little stone 'shelf' appeared inside the shaft.

"There we go," I smiled. "We'll set the pump on that shelf, then if you could feed the hose and cable into the shaft I'll lower the pump down below the waterline."

She held the cable and hose and smiled, "Of course. Magic, like you said."

My tails were swishing back and forth behind me as I placed both hands on the stone next to the shaft, then I closed my eyes. Between hands and feet I had plenty of contact for my stone sense, so I could control the pump's movement very accurately. I had the little 'shelf' start descending, slowly and steadily, while Flora carefully fed the power and water lines down after the pump.

She made sure the lines didn't get twisted and there weren't any kinks in them as she guided them down the shaft. She also kept a grip on them so the entire length didn't accidentally fall down the shaft after the pump.

It only took a couple minutes before I was happy with the installation. Human eyes would never see it, but I'd made a large circular chamber down below the water line, with the pump set into a depression in the middle. Little fingers of rock held the device in place so it could never accidentally tip over or move out of position. As long as Lake Thaya didn't drop by more than a meter or two we'd always have plenty of fresh water.

"That's step one complete," I finally announced as I opened my eyes. "The pump's secure in place below the water line."

Flora nodded, "I already know how step two's going to happen. Magic again, right?"

"Right," I nodded with a grin, while my tails swished around some more.

I left her holding the power line while I took the thick rubber hose. This would require even more concentration, but there wasn't anything she could do to help so I handled it all on my own. I held the end of the hose next to the stone at the back of the shaft, while I focused and had two more little 'fingers' extrude from the rock. They joined to form a stone ring that held the hose fitting, which I then sent slowly climbing up the shaft, pulling the hose along after it.

A few meters above us the shaft reached the top of the reservoir chamber, which was another area human eyes would never see. It took a bit more focus but I had the hose pulled up and over that corner, then about ten centimeters down into the stone water tank. I stopped it there, and finally added a few dozen more of those little stone rings to keep the hose in place all the way from top to bottom.

"And that's step two done," I said as I opened my eyes again.

Flora was obviously curious as she responded, "All that's left now is to plug it in and turn it on. And I'm dying to see how that's going to work."

She'd already noticed the strange egg-shaped crystal with its delicate copper lattice mounted in the polished hardwood frame, and she found it fascinating. Especially the fact that it had four very normal-looking power outlets at one end, yet didn't have any moving parts or any other obvious way to generate electricity.

Since she was still holding the end of the power cable I gestured, "Why don't you do the honours and plug it in? Then I'll turn it on."

The tall brunette rolled her eyes but she went ahead and did so. Nothing happened at first, because we hadn't bothered charging the crystal yet. Stef and I figured there wasn't any point, not until we needed it.

Flora took a step back, then I moved forward and crouched so I could put a hand on the opaque white crystal. It felt just like charging magic into my new phone, but on a larger scale. I concentrated and focused my power into the generator, and after a few seconds we heard a faint 'click' from the end of the strange contraption where the outlets were located. A moment after that an electrical humming sound came up the stone shaft, and finally the gurgling sound of water at the top of the shaft let us know the pump was working.

"It's called a 'Modestone'," I announced with a smile. "It turns magic into electricity."

Our guest slowly shook her head in amazement, "That's incredible. Obviously another gift from Gaia."

"Yeah," I nodded. I was just starting to tell her about the 'research team' when Stef and Charlotte joined us.

My enbyfriend's tail and ears were all standing up tall as they said, "Sounds like you got the pump working. Well done, my little star!"

I smiled, "Flora helped, it was a team effort."

"We've got the dishes all clean and the kitchen tidied up," Charlotte said. "So how about we start that tour? And maybe go swimming?"

Flora and Stef were both happy with that plan, but I asked if they'd mind waiting a few more minutes first. I wanted to know how long the pump would take to fill the reservoir, plus there was no automatic shut-off so someone needed to be there to unplug it when the tank was full.

Nothing bad would happen if it overflowed, the excess water would just run down the shaft and back into the lower chamber. Still, there was no point wasting power or magic, and it didn't make sense to leave the pump running when it wasn't needed.

"All this because none of us got water magic," Stef joked. "Air, Earth, and Fire, but we're missing that last element."

Fortunately we only needed to wait about a half hour, then when it was done I unplugged the pump and the four of us set off on a little tour of the area. Stef took the lead, and Theo joined us not long after we'd left the house.

My enbyfriend led us on a little hike through the woods, more or less due east towards the impossible mountain. We talked more on the way, and Stef and I both showed off a little more with our magic. Like the catkin was able to point out birds dozens of meters away, because they could sense the small creatures through the air. And I could identify small critters on or under the ground, due to being able to sense them through my bare feet.

"Oh wow," Charlotte gasped when we finally emerged from the woods near the mountain. "That's incredible."

Flora nodded, "It's also a little scary. In fact it's awesome, in every sense of the word."

They both stared for the next half minute, as lightning emerged from the base of the impossible spire then climbed up along its edges before arcing out into the air far above our heads.

"C'mon, let's keep going," Stef urged with a wide smile. "You can see some cool waterfalls on the other side of the natural dam."

Our guests both seemed wary, if not outright uneasy, as they followed Stef and Theo and I out across the cleared terrain towards the mountain and the dam.

We'd only covered a few dozen meters before the cute blonde asked, "Is this safe? I mean, the ground? And um, the mountain itself? That lighting looks pretty serious."

"The ground here is stable," I assured them. "And if we want to go right up to the edge I can use my magic to make sure it's safe there too."

Theo added, "It's not safe to get too close to the mountain itself. It's fine as long as you stick to the top of the cliffs. Don't try and move out onto the dam though, that's too close."

Charlotte suppressed a shudder, "Oh Goddess there's no way in a million years I'd be climbing out ontop of the dam! That's madness!"

"Yeah same. I'll be sticking to solid ground," Flora agreed.

Despite their initial hesitation our friends both seemed captivated by the view as we got closer. It was a little dizzying looking down from the edge of the cliff at the valley floor below, but the water flowing over the dam made for a spectacular waterfall. They were just as impressed by the view of the lake, not to mention the mountain itself.

"It's too bad our phones don't work here," Charlotte sighed. "I'd love to get some pictures of this. It's incredible!"

Flora added, "The government posted some photos in a press release. Apparently they were taken with an antique camera, with film and everything."

Stef nodded, "We sort of met the photographer. His name was Seidl, I think? He's been here for all three official visits."

"This is where we meet with the humans," Theo added. And since we were on the subject he moved to a specific point then said, "This is where I was talking to Hannes when some of the others started shooting at us."

Both our guests looked equal parts curious and uneasy about that topic. Rather than dwell on the shooting, Flora decided to ask the easier question, "Who's Hannes?"

Our wildcat friend answered, "He's the nicest of the government people, the only one I'll negotiate with. Susanne was nice too, but I like Hannes better."

Charlotte gave my enbyfriend and I a questioning look, so I elaborated. "Hannes Huber is a staffer for the Ministry of Climate and Energy. And I'm sure I don't have to tell you who Susanne Schulz is."

Our guests' eyes widened and Flora half-demanded, "President Schulz was here?! You met her?!"

"She wasn't here when they shot at us," Stef clarified. "Susanne was part of the third visit, last week."

"And now you're on a first-name basis with the president of Austria?" Charlotte asked with a smile and a teasing tone in her voice.

I smiled back at her, "Well she did give us her personal contact information. I don't imagine she hands that out to just anyone."

"We should have asked Hannes for his 'contact information' too," Theo commented, and he sounded almost sad about it. "I hope he comes back to talk with us again soon."

Stef and I exchanged a look, and I could tell my enbyfriend shared my feeling of surprise. We knew our wildcat friend preferred speaking with Hannes out of all the other government people, but it seemed like neither of us realized he actually missed talking to the guy.

"It's almost a full week since they last visited us," the catkin pointed out. "And Susanne did ask us to let her know if negotiations stalled again. If you like Theo, we could try and get in touch with her tomorrow, and ask when Hannes will be visiting next. Perhaps she can even help us contact him directly."

Theo replied, "I'd like that, yes. Thank you Stef."

With a smile on my face and my tails swishing back and forth behind me I told our guests, "Apparently we'll have a bit of official work tomorrow. For now, why don't we continue on with the tour?"

Charlotte and Flora were both a little surprised at how casually we talked about giving the president a call tomorrow, but that soon passed as we started moving again.

Our next stop was the top of the cliffs above our new home. It wasn't the most spectacular view during the daytime, but Stef and I explained that it was a great spot to look at the stars at night. And you could also see the distant lights of civilization, out beyond Gaia's no-tech zone.

From there we descended back down towards the water again, but rather than heading directly for Lake Thaya we led our friends to the west. Soon enough we came across the staircase I'd made in the solid rock, and followed that through the trees until it opened out on the stone dock on the edge of our quiet swimming area.

"Here it is," I announced as the five of us stood side-by-side next to the water.

"You can see where it connects to the rest of the lake over there to the right," I gestured. "Before everything changed this was a deep ravine, where a creek flowed into the Thaya. Since all that was flooded it's now our quiet little swimming hole."

Flora smiled as she looked around, "This really is beautiful. Quiet, peaceful, your own private cove with direct access to the rest of the lake. We really seriously need to get a boat in here. That and some fishing gear. I can bring a rod and some tackle on my bike, but I have no idea about the boat."

"Forget about the boat," Charlotte said as her eyes lit up. "I want to go swimming! Do you think the water's still warm enough?"

Stef nodded, "Should be, yeah."

That's all the cute blonde needed to hear, so that's where our tour ended for the day. Theo opted to stay on dry land, but I was almost as eager as our guests to get back in the water. Stef joined us too, and for the next hour or so we all enjoyed ourselves in the water. We spent most of the time just swimming around within the confines of our little cove, but at one point I did lead Charlotte and Flora out into the larger lake, so they could see it and the rest of the landscape from a different perspective.

When we'd all finally had enough of the water, Stef took the opportunity to show off again by drying everyone off with their air magic. I was used to it, but our friends were both startled to find themselves in the middle of a miniature whirlwind. And the magic blow-dry did some very amusing things to their hair, along with my and Stef's tails.

About the only disappointment was neither Charlotte or Flora experienced anything magical during or after their swim. The cute blonde said it just meant they had an excuse to go swimming again tomorrow, which was fine with me.

By that point it was late afternoon, and the five of us ended up sitting around our new fire-pit. We relaxed with more quiet conversation, and another bottle of wine. Nobody was ready for dinner quite yet, but we nibbled on some snacks as we enjoyed a little fire and the fresh autumn afternoon air.

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Lucy who commissioned it! **