Work Text:
“What’s this?” Bluestreak stretched so that he could peer over the edge of the trader’s table and look at the picture on the plastic there. His friend was drawing something onto it carefully with a brush, but it didn’t make sense to him.
Maybe it was a grown-mech thing.
“It’s a map.” Charter leaned back and set his brush down on an absorbing mat. “Come here, I’ll lift you up so you can see.”
“Okay.” Bluestreak moved to his friend’s side and the trader lifted him up into his lap. He peered at the ‘map’ again, but it didn’t make any more sense now than before. “What’s it for?”
“Well, in the city, we use these to help us find our way.” Charter reached down and pointed to a star at the bottom of the picture. “This represents Iacon. The black line is the path we are taking from Iacon to our trading partners in Simfur. The brown bits are the mountains, the green is the plain and the silver is–”
“The river! If your map was bigger, we could see all the river and the Mythril Sea and the other cities!”
“Yes, very good, Bluestreak. I think it took twenty joors of explaining before your cousin understood. I am filling in the map as we travel, so that other traders will know the safest route, even if we can’t travel with your people.”
“That’s really smart. But make sure you warn them about cryo-dragons in the mountains. They’re really mean.”
“I will make sure everyone knows to avoid the mountains and the dragons, thank you.”
Bluestreak beamed up at Charter for a moment, glad his friend was listening even though Bluestreak wasn’t an adult yet. He didn’t have to be a grown-mech to know things.
“Would you like to watch as I work?” the trader asked, and that was part of why Blue liked Charter so much. He was always ready to show him something new or different.
“Yes, please!”