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Not so long ago, a little gnome child named Sasha was told stories about great inventors who could reshape the very fabric of the universe. She listened with rapt attention as her father told her about Ingston the Smelter, who was responsible for the rivers of gold that ran outside their home. She begged her mother to tell just one more story about Hesbur the Glowing, who used the luminescent algae around his home to create the lanterns that filled their home. Even the miners who passed by were badgered into telling her everything they knew about the gnomes who had first carved out the caves that they worked in.
[[These stories shaped her life, and eventually the world->Blocks]]
Little Shasha's world came tumbling down around her when her father explained that she would never be able to tinker and create the way she wanted to. Their family was far from wealthy, and only the greatest legends made good coin from their inventions. All of that was compounded by her smaller-than-average frame, which her father said would make her unable to use the proper tools. Sasha listened with tears in her eyes as her father explained that she would have to work in the family bakery once she grew up.
That night she locked herself in her room and cried. Her entire life had been built on the dream of creating marvels, and in one conversation it had all come tumbling down. What was she going to do now? The thoughts that had bounced through her head kept her up all night, but by the time the day-shift miners had come in to work she had a plan.
[[Did she follower her parent's wishes and become a baker?->Quiet Life]]
[[Did she run away to find a place to tinker?->Alone]]
[[Did she balance the two?->Tightrope]]
[[Did she find another career entirely?->An Abrupt Change]]
[[Or did she wait to decide until later?->Stuck]]
Sasha lived the rest of her life wondering what could have happened if she had tried to keep tinkering. Those thoughts were quickly brushed away in favor of focusing on the bakery. It was a fairly simple job, but her parents kept adding more tasks and responsibilities to her already full plate.
By the time that Sasha's parents were ready to retire they had trained her to run the entire business, including having her take on both of their workloads. She came home every night completely exhausted, with no room in her head for tinkering or other dreams. She stayed in this quiet job for the rest of her life, with only the occasional pang of regret remaining of her tinkering days.
[[The End->End]]
It took Sasha a few days to gather everything she thought she needed, but after that she left the moment her parents weren't looking. She considered leaving a note, but decided that it would probably give too much information; after all, there were only so many places that would make a good tinkerer's workshop. Her parents might find her if she told them anything about where she was going.
So off she went with a rusack full of spare parts and sandwiches, quietly shutting the door behind her. The streets were dark as she dashed down them, dodging guards and late-night wanderers. Little thrills of fear and excitement shot through her at every near miss, and she wondered why other people didn't do things like this more often.
She paused at the very edge of town, debating over where to go next. There was a tunnel system fairly close that she could hide in forever, but she was a little bit worried that she would get lost. There was also a cave outside a village a few days away, but she worried that the people there would send her back to her parents.
[[Did she go to the tunnels?->Lost]]
[[Or did she go to the cave?->A New Home]]
Sasha's parents never knew what their daughter was planning until the day she left, despite the hints she left them. They never noticed her tired eyes and scraped hands after long nights spent gathering scrap, they never noticed the piles of notes that accumulated in her room, even the smudges of grease went ignored. It wasn't until she had her bags packed and one foot out of the door that they asked her what she was doing.
She considered telling them about the letters that she had been sending. She considered telling them about the ache in her tiny heart that formed when she was kept away from her worktable. She even considered telling them about the human she had found who was willing to take her to the surface.
Then she remembered the way her father had pulled her away from //anything// related to tinkering, to the point that he wouldn't let her see any friends who were involved in it. She remembered the way her mother would scold her when she was young and found the twisted bits of wire carefully arranged on her shelf. She remembered the night they thought she was asleep and threw out everything she had ever made.
[[Does she tell them the truth?->Support And Denial]]
[[Or does she lie?->Strange Meetings]]
Well, no one could have said that Sasha was anything but determined. Her parents just wished that she wouldn't be so contrary. At first they were glad when she said she was giving up tinkering, but then she said that she wasn't going to be a baker either. When they asked her what she would do she grinned and proclaimed that she was going to become a smith.
Her mother's face had blanched and her father had hurried to tell her no, but nothing seemed to deter her. She brought home books about metalworking, left at odd hours to find precious gems, and spent most of her days at the forge on the outskirts of town. Even her friend group shifted, changing from the quiet children who spent their days learning to the rowdy smith's apprentices.
Her parents watched this change with exasperation at first. They figured it was a bit of rebellion before she settled down. They didn't consider that this might be a permanent change until their once sweet and silent daughter announced that she was going to be moving in with a group of other young smiths so that they could focus on perfecting their craft.
As Sasha packed her bags her parents watched, taking in all the changes that they had missed. Her once-thin frame had filled out with muscle from working the forge. Ash and soot were caked under her rough nails. Her eyes held a spark of fire in them, as if staring into the coal fires for so long had changed them to match. This was not the little girl that they remembered, the one who would happily spend hours in a corner with a few wires and a bundle of scrap metal. This Sasha was energetic and fierce, with both the physical and mental strength required to turn a hunk of metal into a piece of art.
As their daughter walked out the door they prayed that someday they would get to know this new woman she had become.
[[The End->End]]
Sasha decided to wait before making a decision. After all, this was the rest of her life that she was thinking about. It demanded proper consideration, not just a rushed thought in the middle of the night.
With that in mind Sasha rolled over and went back to sleep, content with the knowledge that she had plenty of time to figure things out. She didn't expect that the next morning her parents would have her start training in the bakery, or that the next decade of her life would be taken up with running the bakery. By the time that she realized she wasn't where she wanted to be she was stuck.
The night she realized that she paused, wondering where it had all gone wrong. Was it when she agreed to take over the bakery from her parents? Was it when she decided to go along with their training? Or was it when she was a child who decided not to decide? In the end she thought that it didn't matter. Her opportunity had long since passed, and the bread needed to rise overnight.
[[The End->End]]
"I'm going to the surface," she said. For a moment her words didn't register, but when they did both her parents started to shout.
"Why in the world would you do that?"
"Absolutely not, young lady!"
Sasha sighed and waited for them to stop. She had known that they wouldn't like her plans, and it seemed like they were taking it about as well as she expected. When they took a break to breath she said "I've been exchanging letters with a man who works at the Merkasha Tinkerers Guild, and he's agreed to put in a good word for me when I get there. There's another man who agreed to take me to the surface waiting not far from here."
Her parents stared at her for a minute. "Have you ever met this man in person?" her father asked. When Sasha slowly shook her head her mother asked "Do you know anyone who can vouch for him?"
Once again Sasha shook her head, and her parents shared a look. Her father leaned forward as he said "Sasha, we can't let you go out on your own like this. This... Contact of yours might be trying to lure you to someplace terrible! You're our baby girl, and we can't let that happen."
Sasha's shoulders sagged. She wasn't surprised by their reactions, and honestly they had a point. It was just a shame that they wouldn't let her out of the house now...
"That's why we're going to find you another route to this Tinkerers Guild."
Her head whipped up as she stared at her mother. "What?"
Her father sighed. "Obviously we can't stop you from running off after this dream of yours no matter how hard we try, and we very well can't let you get hurt in the process. So we'll find you another way." He leveled a stern look at her as he added "I'm warning you now though, if you can't handle this Guild then we're bringing you right back here."
Sasha smiled as she nodded, relief and joy spreading through her. This wasn't quite the outcome she was expecting, but she would take it.
[[The End->End]]
"A friend on the edge of town isn't feeling well, and she doesn't have anyone to take care of her," Sasha lied. "I was planning on staying over there for a few days, keeping her as comfortable as I can you know? I probably won't be able to make my shifts at the bakery, so you'll need someone to cover for me."
Her parents turned back to their books and knitting as soon as she said that, clearly placated by her excuse. "Be safe sweetie," her mother said as she waved Sasha out the door. She left with a lump in her throat and a thrill in her heart, realizing that this may be the last time she sees her parents.
The human she met on the edge of town had a strange gleam in his eye, though she chalked that up to him not being used to gnomes. He was probably wondering about the huge eyes, or the floppy ears. He kept quiet about it though, and the ride towards the surface was uneventful.
There was a stop at a border town that gave her pause though. Her guide had gone to buy feed for the ponies, leaving her to wander around the streets. Just as she moved out of sight from her guide she was stopped by a burly man covered in scars. "C-can I help you sir?" she squeaked out.
"Miss, do you know who you're traveling with?" the man asked. He continued before she could respond, saying "His name's Billus Briksfore, or so he says, but we know him as the guy who comes through with a new "friend" every few months. He's always heading towards the tunnels near Palpburn, but the kids he brings with him say that they're going to all sorts of places."
Sasha hadn't moved as she looked up at him, her eyes wide with fear. When she didn't say anything the man sighed and turned back the way he came, leaving her frozen in the middle of the street. Once again confusion and worry spun through her mind, leaving her with questions that she needed to answer right away.
On the one hand, Billus had been the one chance that she had at reaching the surface, and she was a bit scared of the strange man. His warning had worried her though, especially when she thought about the Palburn Tunnels. She had seen a few maps, and the tunnels were nowhere near the road to the surface. Could the man that she had been corresponding with for over a year really be taking her somewhere she shouldn't be?
[[Does she continue on with Billus?->Caged]]
[[Or does she find someone else to take her to the surface?->A New Path]]
It took Sasha a few days to realize that the man in town had been right. At first she noticed little things, like how they seemed to be going down much more than they went up. Billus explained it away as old paths that miners chiseled out, but Sasha was still wary.
Next she noticed that the rations that Billus had sworn would last them until the surface were running low. She almost said something, but decided against it. After all, she had heard that there was a town right on the border where they could resupply.
Later, as she watched the bars of a cage close around her, she wished that she had paid more attention to the signs. Billus had tied her up while she slept and stuffed her in this cage, only letting her out for a few minutes at a time. It was just like the man in town had said, and she had no way out.
As they traveled deeper into the tunnels Sasah wondered what had happened to her parents, and if they would ever find out what happened to her. She would never see them again, and they would mourn their lost daughter.
[[The End->End]]
After a few minutes of thinking Sasha rushed back to the cart and grabbed her bags. She couldn't risk Billus double-crossing her, and her head was filled with stories her friends told her about young gnomes who trusted the wrong people and were never seen again. She was gone before Billus came back, and as far as he knew she was out of town by the time he was finished.
She actually stayed in the town for a few days, searching for someone to take her to the surface. Some of her wages from the bakery earned her a room in the local tavern, and she stayed there in between asking traders if they had room on their carts for her. None of them seemed to have space though, and by her third day she realized that she was going to need funds soon.
That was when the man who warned her about Billus found her, huddled over a stack of papers in the tavern. "You're still here?" he asked, obviously surprised. "Most of Billus' friends are gone before we can talk to them again!"
She barely looked at him as she said "I might be here for longer, but I don't have time to talk. I need to find another way out before I'm stranded here."
The man pulled a chair over to her table and sat down. "Stranded?" he asked.
Sasha nodded. "Yep. My coin can only stretch so far, and I'll need at least 50 left to get me in to the Tinkerer's Guild."
She didn't see as his face lit up and his back straightened, but she heard the excitement in his voice as he asked "You're a tinkerer? Really? Can you work with copper?"
She finally looked up at him, confusion written on her face. "...Yeah, I can. Why do you ask?"
The man grinned as he held out his hand and said "My name's Perc, owner of Perc's Steam Shipers. I've been working with copper tinkerers for years, and I'm in awe of what you people can do. Are you looking for work? Because while my guys are great, they're starting to get old and they've been asking for some new blood around the workshop."
Sasha didn't say anything, surprised by the sudden enthusiasm. Perc lowered his hand with a sheepish expression and said "Of course, if you still want to leave town I can probably help you find someone to take you up. I've got a few suppliers who don't come into the town proper, so they'd probably be happy to see a new face. It's all up to you, of course."
[[Does Sasha stay in town?->New Family]]
[[Or does she move on?->Hello World]]
Of all the places that Sasha expected to end up, this was not one of them. All around her shouts and clanging rang out, nothing like the quiet workshop she always imagined herself working in. All around her gnomes and humans dashed about, shouting instructions and quips to each other. The system she was working on was messy and chaotic, a side effect of the many tinkerers that had worked on it over the years.
Sasha loved it.
True, it was almost nothing like she wanted before. She was fixing machines and improving them, but it wasn't her creations. There were no solo projects that brought her glory or fame, and she was really working in someone else's creation. There was more action, more strength, involved than she had ever planned on. Yet she loved it even more for that.
The other workers at the shop had become another family to her. Perc, the owner, had been overjoyed when she agreed to sign on. There had been a little bit of a snafu when he saw her getting taller and found out that she was pretty much a child when she first joined, but that was cleared up as soon as he made her write a letter to her parents.
Then there were the other copper workers, though they had retired not long after she started working. They treated her like a little sister, eager to show her the ropes and win her favor. They still came by the shop to talk to her and have her show off her latest work.
Last but not least was the accountant that kept the shop running. She had given Sasha a hard stare when the gnome had admitted that she was staying in the tavern and started muttering about living conditions and mites. Within a week she had found a new place for Sasha to live and a reliable source of food. She reminded Sasha a bit of the mother that was left behind, only she had more confidence in Sasha's ability to take care of herself.
Yes, this was a happy life. Her parents were still mad at her, but she had a new family that meant the world to her, and her job rocked. She had wondered as a child what the perfect life would be, and she thought that this might be it.
[[The End->End]]
Sasha ends up taking Perc up on his offer to help her to the surface, though a part of her wondered what it would be like to work in the shop. The trip was fairly nice, and she got along well enough with the traders. Her hands itched to create though, and by the time that the caravan reached the surface she was almost ready to jump out of the moving cart and dash to the nearest workbench.
Her first impression of the surface world was awe at the shear //openness// of it. The night sky seemed to stretch on forever, with twinkling stars and a bright moon casting silver shadows over trees and hills. "This your first time up here?" the driver asked as he glanced at Sasha. She didn't respond, too enraptured by the world around her.
The days after that were filled with wonder and shock. No number of descriptions or stories could have prepared her for the daily challenges that came with living on the surface, especially when she reached the city. Everyone was so tall, and the sun was so bright, and //what was she doing up here?//
Thankfully she was close to Merkasha, and the Tinkerers Guild that called it home. No one seemed to know what to do with her though, and so many of them tried to point her towards the various magical forests. It was enough to drive her insane, and she was starting to think that she wasn't cut out to deal with these surfacers.
[[Did she find a workshop away from people?->A Closed Loop]]
[[Did she push on to the Tinkerers Guild?->Struggling For Respect]]
[[Or did she go to one of these magical forests?->An Odd Family]]
Eventually Sasha decided that she couldn't take the invasive questions and wary looks that the surface dwellers were giving her. She needed solitude to work, and she wasn't going to get it surrounded by people who were about as understanding as her parents were. Her solution? To lock herself away from people for as long as she could.
It took her another week to find a cave that she could work with, and a few days after that before she reached a trade agreement with the locals. After that the progress just flowed, from creating the perfect workspace to designing new farm equipment for the locals. Something seemed like it was missing though, and she knew that she needed a big project to work on...
[[Did she take her inspiration from home?->Nostalgia]]
[[Or did she take her inspiration from the surface?->Wand Of Wonder]]
If Sasha had a copper for every time that some puffed-up Legacy Tinkerer sneered and said that she didn't have the "proper lineage" she would be able to buy the whole city. It seemed like the only way to get them off her back was to beat them soundly in any competitions that they participated in, and even then they would grumble about how she must be cheating somehow.
All in all, it wasn't a fun place to be. All of the learning she thought she would be doing was discarded in favor of avoiding the worst of their attention. Sure, she was making things, but they were to keep others from judging her too harshly instead of creating for the sake of creating.
The worst part of it was the loneliness. She hadn't been able to afford the postage to send a letter to her parents, she hadn't exactly made friends in the Guild, and all of her free time was spent making enough money to keep the little hovel on the edge of town. She never expected to have an overabundance of friends, but having someone to talk to would be nice.
As she gathered up her materials and dodged the Legacies she wondered what it would be like to have someone here who wouldn't mind talking to her. She figured that it would be nice, having someone who was on her side. She didn't have anyone though, so she just packed her bags and moved on to the next job. She needed to make rent, and the Legacies had knocked over one of her commissions that morning.
[[The End->End]]
Never let it be said that Sasha was unwilling to try new things. She had handily disproved that when she marched into the "Forbidden" forest and called for whoever was in charge. The pixies had been sympathetic when she explained what had happened to her in the human city, and had agreed to let her prove herself to them.
Over a decade later the forest had changed almost beyond recognition. The creatures that lived there had only been able to find old contraptions designed by humans who didn't want them anymore, and many of them had different needs than humans. Once Sasha had realized this she had started using the materials available to her to create custom pieces designed for nonhumans. The once-quiet forest was soon filled with mechanical creaks and laughter as the residents enjoyed their new toys.
Sasha herself changed, becoming wilder and free. The worries that plagued her during her travels seemed trivial now. There was no reason to wonder what might have happened, because her life was full of everything she needed.
[[The End->End]]
She spent hours carefully twisting wires and hammering metal plates, focused only on the task at hand. She hummed as she worked, a song that her mother had sung as she baked. It shaped her work, guiding her hands as she created.
She laughed as she looked at the finished product. Her time at the bakery had influenced her more than she realized, and it shone through in every aspect of her creation. It was a machine that would make bread on it's own, without the user having to work for hours on end. Her parents would have loved to have something like it.
As she tilted her head to look at it she noticed that most of the parts were fairly simple, and there wasn't much fine detail-work needed to recreate it. Maybe... just maybe she could keep this prototype with her, and send another to her parents. She smiled at the thought and started to gather what she would need. Yes, that would be wonderful. Hopefully they would forgive her for running off like she did.
[[The End->End]]
Sasha thought of the wonder she felt when she first stepped out to the surface, of the openness and awe that the night sky inspired, and realized that she //needed// to create something that inspired that same wonder. She immediately started to work, grabbing any material that felt right. Copper, gold, wood, animal bone, and water from the nearest spring all went onto her table. Rocks that a child had given her were added to the pile, along with powdered gemstone.
She was never able to recall just how she managed to create what she did, or even what it was supposed to do. All she knew was that this creation, this beautiful thing, was //wondrous//. She had poured her heart and soul into this wand, and it showed in the curves and shine.
That sense of wonder stayed with her, even when she had forgotten about making it. The wand itself was carefully packed away in a box and put in the very back of her workshop. Eventually Sasha forgot that it was there, and a strange fog filled her mind whenever she tried to remember what her first great creation was.
She never knew what her Wand Of Wonder was capable of, or what it itself created. She never knew about the countless young mages who suffered horrible fates because of wands that shimmered and shone. She never read the books warning students about the temptation of limitless power. She stayed in her workshop, oblivious to the chaos and destruction her creation had caused.
[[The End->End]]
''Thanks For Playing!''
[[Read Again?->A Humble Gnome]]
Or come play the game at agacata.io[[Play The Game|https://www.agacata.io]]
[[Read More Stories|https://www.agacata.io/stories/index.html]]Sasha ran out of sandwiches within a week, and by that point she couldn't have found the outside world if she tried. And oh did she try. When she realized that her food was running low she started looking for a way out, only to realize that she hadn't really paid attention to the path she took.
By the end of the second week she had figured out what mushrooms and plants she could eat, though not before she made herself sick. Between that and the limited amount of water she could collect from the tunnel walls she was often too weak to move beyond the chamber that she settled in, much less find her way out.
Eventually she lost track of the days, marking time only by the dwindling of her supplies and the trickling of water down the chamber walls. If anyone had found her they would have been stunned, unable to understand this creature that had forgotten how to speak long ago. But no one ever saw Sasha again, and so they never found out what happened to that sweet little gnome child who dreamed of becoming a tinkerer.
[[The End->End]]
It took a bit of convincing herself, but eventually Sasha started the trek to the caves. It took longer than she would have liked, and by the time that she arrived her food was half-gone. The rest lasted long enough for her to get set up, but the empty space in her pack was enough to worry her. That, and the fact that she had forgotten to bring any money from the small chest in her room, threatened to bring her entire plan down.
She sat for hours, staring at her pack. She didn't have any money, and there wasn't anything that she could trade for food. Well, maybe one thing...
She spent that night hunched over wire and scrap metal. By daybreak her fingers were sore, and her eyes were tired, but pride and excitement kept her going as she skipped down the trail to the village. Workers in the mushroom fields gave her odd looks, and people closer to the village stop and stare. She supposed that they were entitled to it, considering that she's a child who showed up out of the blue.
She didn't let that distract her from her goal though, and she didn't slow as she dashed to the first house that looked like it had children inside. A few quick knocks brought a woman to the door, and Sasha didn't hesitate to start babbling about her creation. She held it up as she talked, showing off the way the legs moved in time and the head bobbed. She had never seen a horse in real life, she thought she did a fairly good job making a mechanical one.
The child who peered out around his mother's legs seemed to agree, and before she knew it Sasha had one less invention and one pouch of coins more. She hummed as she skipped towards the market, coins jangling in her pocket. Fresh food sounded wonderful, and if she had enough left over she planned on seeing what parts she could buy.
More odd looks followed her as she wandered through the market, especially when she starts muttering about what will keep the longest in the cave. She's standing in front of a bean stall when an older woman came up and asked her where her parents were.
[[Does she lie?->Shipped Back]]
[[Or does she tell the truth?->The Toymaker]]
"N-nowhere!" Sasha squeaked. When the older gnome raised an eyebrow Sasha said "Really! They're fine with me being here! Totally fine! And besides, it's not like they're anywhere close by, so-"
The older gnome listened as Sasha babbled, growing more and more unimpressed. She remembered her brothers, and what happened when they ran away. Her older brother had been careful, choosing good friends and safe roads. Her younger brother though... She could still remember her parents' sobs as they huddled over his sickbed, and the paleness of his face as he realized that he would never walk again.
Sasha reminds the gnome woman too much of her little brother, and so she acts accordingly. "Young lady, do you have any idea just how much panic you've probably caused?" she demands. When Sasha didn't respond the older woman sighed and shook her head. "That's it, we're going to find your parents and send you home."
Sasha's eyes widened and she started to tremble. "Please miss, they'll be alright!" she pleaded. The older gnome wasn't having it though, and within a week Sasha was deposited back at her old home. Her parents almost never let her out of their sight after that, and when she wasn't feeling stifled by them guilt crept in. She really never meant for them to worry so, and she spent her days at the bakery wondering what could have happened had she done something different.
[[The End->End]]
"They're back home a few villages over," Sasha replied. She paused, guilt starting to creep in at the corners of her mind, and added "I didn't tell them I was coming here. They didn't understand that I wanted to be a tinkerer instead of a baker, and that I could do it without starving. They would have stopped me, and then I would be stuck working in a bakery my whole life."
As Sasha stared up with pleading eyes the older gnome remembered her older brother. He too had felt trapped in the life their parents had set out for him, and he too ran away. Then he had sent word back that he was fine, that he had followed his dreams and was happier than he had thought possible. He had only managed to achieve that because of the friends he made along the way, and the older gnome wondered if this child had anyone like that for herself.
"Darling, do you know much about the market here? Where are you staying? Do you have the parts you need?" the older gnome asked. Sasha's face lit up, and she started babbling about the cave she had turned into a workshop, the toy horse she had sold for a pouch of coins, and even the various scraps she had taken from home. The older gnome listened with a smile, happy to provide support for this bright child.
That support proved invaluable as Sasha grew. There were bumps in the road, times when her inspiration ran out or her toys weren't wanted. She always managed to bounce back with a little bit of help though, and before long word spread of the tinkerer who made toys unlike any others. Eventually she sent a letter to her parents, explaining where she had gone and why. They took her up on her offer to come see her workshop, and while they were still a bit mad at her for scaring them they admitted that she had done well for herself.
Years later, long after Sasha had grown old and the ones who first saw her enter the village were gone, stories were still being told about the Toymaker, a great tinkerer that brought joy to everyone that she met. Even those on the surface treasured her creations, though she never cared about that. She just made her toys, content with the dream life she was living.
[[The End->End]]