Page 88 of Sunsplitter

Currently, one of her two least favorite daeyari in all the Shattered Planes.

“Antal,” Fi said.

“A moment.” His voice echoed inside the metal transformer.

“Antal.”

“What—” He pulled his head out. Blinked. A muttered, “Oh. Fuck me…”

“Antal! So wonderful to see you.” Yme swept into the room, claws clacking the floor, tail high and swaying. Her shawl draped midnight and silver from her shoulders. Tiny silver bells adorned her antlers, obnoxiously cheerful.

“Azaevi,” Antal greeted in tired daeyari. “What are you doing here?”

Yme inspected the factory with hands folded, crimson eyes bright, the way people looked at fair exhibits. The workers gawked at her, not least of all the foreman. Antal sighed heavier.

“I heard you were resting from your hunt,” Yme said. “And since you didn’t come for dinner…” Her tail flicked. “I thought I’d visit! Perhaps we could walk along the river? You could show me more of your city?”

Antal glanced at the open energy transformer. At Fi’s eye-roll as she drank her coffee. Then back to his mother. “I’m busy, azaevi.”

Yme cocked her head. “Busy?”

“These energy conduits need repairs.”

“Don’t you have humans to repair them? Isn’t that their job?”

“This is my city. And conduits are daeyari technology.”

“But—”

“Wait over there.” With a tone of defeat, Antal pointed Yme off the main floor, out of the way. “I’ll finish as quickly as I can. Then we can speak.”

Yme did as he asked, inspecting the machinery with a curious head tilt. Her eyes flicked over Fi, less curious, more flinty. As if Fi were a misfit thread in this tapestry.

So they still weren’t happy with each other. Good to know.

Antal rolled up his sleeves, baring the lean muscles of his arms as he worked. No longer smiling. He never smiled around the other daeyari.

“Fionamara?” he called. “I need a replacement current regulator. Can you bring one?”

Fi scrunched her nose. She walked over to a wall of tools and spare equipment, hands on her hips as she surveyed shelves of metal parts. She shrugged, grabbed a box, and stuffed several items into it.

Fi returned to Antal with her haul. When she set the box down on a table, he pulled his head out of the transformer—then frowned.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Replacement parts.”

“I asked you to get a current regulator.”

“Yeah. I’ve got no clue what a current regulator is.” She grabbed a metal cylinder from the pile. “Will any of these do?”

“That’s a relay condenser,” Antal said, flat.

“Hm. Disappointing.” Fi grabbed another item. “What about this?”

“That’s a copper pipe.”

“This?”