Someone shook her shoulder, and she lifted her head to find herself in the workshop on the second floor, the morning light slanting through the window. The next thing she saw was Rose’s concerned face.
“Huh? Rose? Why are you here?”
Rose looked into Olivia’s confused face with an expression of relief. She planted her hands on her hips and replied with annoyance, “No, not ‘Huh.’ You scared me. What happened? Didn’t you go back to your room last night?”
Olivia checked the clock with bleary eyes. It was seven in the morning. Apparently, she’d worked late into the night and fallen asleep there.
Rose sat across from her, looking concerned. “You look terrible. Are you making sure you eat?”
“Yeah… Well. Sometimes, I eat. Sometimes, I don’t.”
“For goodness’ sake. I’m gone for one month, and this happens.” She stood with an exasperated sigh. “Today’s your day off, right? You go to your room and get some sleep. I’ll tidy this place up. I’ll come get you at noon and make sure you get a proper meal in you.”
“But, my piece…” She wanted to keep going.
Rose smiled at her. “Olivia. Think this through. Do you really think any good ideas are going to come to your exhausted brain?”
Olivia didn’t say anything.
“It would be more efficient for you to get some sleep, don’t you think?”
Overpowered by Rose’s mysterious force, Olivia agreed, then thanked her and staggered to her feet.
Ugh… Every joint is popping.
She spurred her fatigued body on, squinting her eyes against the morning sun coming in through the window, and just about managed to drag herself up to the fifth floor. Once in her room, she fell face-first onto her bed.
Sigh. I guess sleeping once every three days isn’t going to work. Are there any, like, magic items that give you ten hours of sleep after only one hour?
Three weeks had passed since that day in Gordon’s office, where she realized the problem with her piece. Olivia had become so engrossed in refining her idea to maximize effect without sacrificing ease of use that she could barely find time to sleep. She tried several iterations of designs that used large stones, changing the stone, reading academic books, and trying new imbuement methods—she tried everything.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a path to a solution. There was a month left before the deadline for the competition, and she found herself at a real dead end. If she were being entirely honest, she wanted to go back down to the workshop on the second floor and keep trying…
But I really shouldn’t worry Rose that much.
Rose was right, and Olivia was out of it from lack of sleep. She might as well do as Rose said and rest.
Olivia managed to haul herself out of bed to sluggishly undress, promptly falling back into it and crawling under the covers.
Suddenly, there was a quiet knock at the door that woke Olivia, and she realized it was already noon.
“Olivia, are you all right?” came Rose’s voice.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She sat up and rubbed her eyes. It was like time jumped forward to noon. Perhaps that was how deeply she’d slept.
“I’ll come get you in another thirty minutes, and we’ll go have lunch together,” muffled Rose’s voice through the door.
“All right. Thank you.” Olivia got out of bed, her joints popping as she stretched as far as she could.
Still in a daze, she showered, combed her hair, and put herself in order before getting dressed.
Half an hour after Rose woke her up, the two were stepping out of Gordon’s Magic Appliances and walking toward one of the usual cafés.
“I’m sorry, Rose. Thank you for looking out for me,” apologized Olivia.
“It’s all right. You just surprised me. I thought I’d come in early today since I’ve been away for so long, only to find you collapsed in the workroom. I was nearly panicking,” she replied with an awkward smile.
Rose had been sent to help set up a branch store in a nearby town. She had been gone for a month and a half and had only returned the day before.
“It’s a nice place,” she noted. “It’s about an hour away on the horsecar rail. It’s not as big as the capital, but it is plenty big enough to be a city, and seems nice to live in.”
“Yeah?”
“The local lord is a duke named Flarance. He’s one of the Four Great Dukes, and he has an incredible mansion in the center of the city. His crest has a lion on it, so there are lion statues all over town.”
Olivia made the occasional comment while Rose talked. She was listening, but her head was filled with thoughts of her piece.
Once they sat across from each other at a table at the edge of a fancy café, Rose looked at Olivia with concern. “Seeing you again for the first time in a while, I feel like you’ve lost a lot of weight. You’re not pushing yourself too hard, are you?”
“It’s nothing,” Olivia replied hurriedly, evading the question. There was no point to all of this if she didn’t succeed—even if she had to push herself to get there.
Rose sighed as she saw Olivia’s gloomy expression. “That Gordon. He normally seems like a kind fatherly type but really cracks the whip when it comes to magic items.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. By the way, Olivia, do you know how many times someone has actually won gold in the women’s magic jewelry category in the past twenty-nine contests?”
Olivia thought about it. She had been told they didn’t give out gold every year. Which meant maybe it was awarded once every three years?
“About ten times?” she ventured.
Rose laughed. “Not nearly that much. Twice, Olivia. Twice.”
Olivia’s eyes nearly popped out. “What?! But that would only be once every fifteen years!”
“It is. It’s said to be the most difficult category.”
“Why is it so difficult?”
Rose lowered her voice. “This is simply a rumor, but they say it’s because nobles do the final round of judging, and they’re prideful. If they don’t absolutely love it, they won’t give it gold.”
Olivia let out a heavy sigh. “Ah. That makes sense.”
Rose looked at her quizzically, and Olivia explained how last year’s winning piece was fashioned after a design popular among nobles.
Rose looked like it was all falling into place for her. “Huh. That was why gold was awarded last year for the first time in a long time. But wouldn’t that mean this year will have loads of similar submissions?”
Olivia looked down. Rose was absolutely right. Everyone who looked at last year’s gold-winning piece would think they could win gold if they just made a design for nobles that maximized effect. And she was thinking that was as close to the correct answer as possible.
This is getting even harder…
She cradled her head in her hands. Settling in her mind was the word “compromise.” She’d been vaguely aware these past three weeks that if she compromised on convenience and design and instead made a design for nobles, she would increase her chances of winning gold. And based on what Rose told her, a design for nobles was the easiest path toward gold.
Maybe…I need to compromise…
There were reasons Olivia absolutely wanted to win gold this year. One was what happened with Catherine; she wanted to win gold and rid herself of the negative feelings she had over being made out as a design thief. The other reason was everyone’s expectations. Gordon was rooting for her, of course, but Laraconia, Harrison, and all the other artificers at the shop were too. Even Elliot had helped. She didn’t want to let them all down.
If I want to ensure I’ll win gold, I should change tack toward a design for nobles. But is that really the right decision?
The sight of Olivia’s pained expression made Rose inquire, “Is everything all right?”
Olivia looked up and asked, “If you were making a piece to submit to the contest, what would you do? Would you compromise on your design and make something for nobles so you could win gold? Or would you stick to your own style?”
The sudden question left Rose looking uncertain. After a moment of silence, she sighed. “If it were me, I’d choose the easiest path. I love my job, but I’m the type who likes to finish work at a reasonable time and go home to do what I enjoy. So, if there were an easier path, I’d choose that one. I guess that means,” she paused to smile encouragingly, “I’d choose to stick with my own style.”
She’d choose her own style?
Olivia considered that. She was trying to become an artificer who made people smile. Could she really say she was being true to herself if she won gold with a piece that didn’t do that? Could she even be proud of that?
No. I couldn’t.
Maybe people would laugh at her for being childish enough to insist on this point, but the artificer Olivia Carter could not bend in this one respect.
I don’t care if it takes years; I’ll win gold my way.
Olivia looked at Rose like a weight had been lifted from her.