This past weekend we enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures. Even with cloud and rain, we saw highs into the teens. It helped to melt more of those final stubborn piles of snow. More importantly, it afforded me the opportunity to air out my bedding! However, Monday rolled around, the temperature plummeted and now I am back to my normal state of being cold. As it is only the middle of February, I am not complaining – just noting the facts.

Anyway, back to the short story ~

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

‘No Tammerik. No Tams. No Tarrek. No Timmins. No Tannik.’ The woman’s voice droned on the edge of irritation.

‘Could she be listed under her first name?’ Sophie suggested.

‘Look girl, I don’t know why you have come to Dawn City and I truthfully don’t care. It doesn’t matter if you are chasing your sister, your father or your own shadow. Unless you want to submit paperwork for claim or retrieve paperwork regarding a claim, then you need to leave.’

‘But I don’t know where else to go.’

The woman shrugged. Long fingers shuffled sheets of paper on the long counter. The nameplate on the counter read Ms. Weatherstone, but Sophie wasn’t sure that referred to the woman scowling in front of her or another employee of the Territorial Claims Office. The clerk sighed, ‘Look girl…’

‘Sophie, my name is Sophie.’

‘Irrelevant. Our job is to maintain records of the claims, active and closed, for the government. We work with the owners of each outfit, who pay to submit their paperwork…’

‘I don’t have any money,’ Sophie interjected.

‘…not with the workers.’ The woman’s deepening frown was the only indication she heard Sophie’s comment. ‘You could have an entire clan of Thaines out there and we would never know. Have you tried to walk those streets? It is not my job to keep track of every weed that blows through here. You want to know about a specific person, try the bank. Most people keep an account with them: some to save their gold but most to withdraw more than they have.’

‘I have!’ Sophie wailed barely resisting the impulse to stamp her feet on the wide plank floor. ‘I have been to the bank, the post office and to every hotel and boarding house I could find. I spoke with the station master for the air-carriage and the ships master handling the river boats. I have run out of places to go.’

‘Then go home and accept that you sister ran off elsewhere.’

‘She didn’t! Anika wouldn’t do that to me. Anika is my sister, she is…’

‘She is family and most families are jerks.’

‘Families are special,’ Sophie whispered.

‘You can tell yourself that all you want. But either she lied to you and didn’t come here, or she is working a claim.’

‘How do I search the claims?’

‘Ha ha! You are serious? There are hundreds of claims set into the hills around Dawn City.’ Ms. Weatherstone leaned over the counter to look down on Sophie. ‘It would take you more than a year to search each one and that’s only accounting the official ones. Besides changing owners and going bankrupt means the workers drift from one claim to the next like fluff in the wind.’

The door opened to the chime of a small brass bell. Ms. Weatherstone straightened behind the desk surreptitiously smoothing the fabric of her green striped vest. A faint smile started to bloom but died as heavy boots pounded atop the floor boards.

‘Georges,’ Ms. Weatherstone said in the same flat voice with which Sophie was growing accustomed. ‘The answer is the same as last week. I cannot grant you rights to the claim. Only Mr. Mitchel has that authority and he will not be back in town for two months.’

‘Penny,’ the man boomed, the gap between his front teeth obvious as he favoured the clerk with a wide smile. Removing his battered hat revealed a mat of dull brown hair flecked with grey. It hung in limp chunks framing his square face. ‘Penny, it is always a treat to see you. And entertaining a guest,’ he added spotting Sophie. Dark, thoughtful eyes scrutinized her from head to toe. Sophie tried to summon a smile and a greeting, but the words became lodged in her throat. She flashed one last desperate look at Ms. Weatherstone, but the clerk had drawn forth papers and was busy trying to appear occupied. Dismissed and frustrated, Sophie left the Claims Office.

What was she going to do now? It would take ages to search all the claims according to the clerk and the woman ought to know. She had an awful detailed map spread across her counter with countless tiny markers. Dawn City was little more than a couple of dots. Sophie would need transport from town to the claims, but she couldn’t ride and she certainly couldn’t afford anything better than a new pair of sturdy shoes.

She was running dangerously low on funds. Barely in town three days and already her small savings had nearly run out. If only Anika hadn’t been so thorough in selling off anything of value. While Sophie appreciated the cost of travelling north, Anika had taken most of what they had collected.

‘Watch out!’

The shout jerked Sophie out her reverie in time to side step an over full wagon. Wooden poles and bits of canvas stuck out from the vehicle’s box. Sophie

a step to avoid crashing into another pedestrian. She moved over to the edge of the street and looked around to gather her bearings. Across the street was a saloon. The ridiculous half doors would have been appropriate to a small desert town in the south. Raucous shouts of laughter spilled from the dark interior. To the right was a grocery and to the left was a blacksmith. Neither establishment was of any use to Sophie. On her side of the street was a small book shop, a ladies clothing store and directly in front of her a Charm Shop.

The sign above the store depicted the symbol of the star and crescent moon. Replicas of sturdy, neat homes, of ships and tools in different sizes hung in the wide glass window. Drawn as a moth to a flame, Sophie entered the butter yellow building.

All around her were everyday objects like spoons, small knives, books and coins. There were more exotic objects such as steamer ships, surveying tools, and unfamiliar animals. Some were decorated with lines etched in flat disks or coloured beads of different shapes. Many of the objects were cleverly crafted from gold and silver, small delicate work with thin loops to be attached to bracelets. Others had been made with thread, bone or wood. These larger scale designs were better suited for the home or aboard a ship.

Next to the cashier was a barrel of lumpy golden blobs. A small sign read, Gold Nuggets – call the gold from the earth to your hand. As she moved around the space, Sophie listened to the faint sound of singing that came from somewhere deep within the building. It was comforting in its familiarity.

A back door opened. A middle-aged man walked out. He was neatly dressed in a striped shirt and dark trousers. Silver charms hung from his wrists. A pair of oddly designed glasses rested on his nose. The right lens was larger, longer and blue. The left lens was tinted red. He smiled brightly at the only customer in his shop.

‘How might I assist the young Miss this morning?’ he asked pleasantly. As he stepped around the counter Sophie saw he wore a wide belt with various tools strapped to it.

‘You have lovely charms.’

‘I sell the strongest, most potent charms in all of the North. The gold ones in particular are exceptionally powerful. The gold is mined locally, so I get it before it has been handled by many people. It is shaped and designed with one purpose to ensure a superior quality. It holds the song longer than any other charm you can purchase. They are an incredible bargain.’

‘I understood that the processing of the materials was just as important preparation for the charm to hold. Do you not need the gold to be properly worked before it can be made to hold a design and song?’

‘Ah, so you are familiar with the basics of charm theory, young lady? Yes, the gold must be melted and purified during which the proper songs need to be sung to prime the metal for charm work. However, the fewer hands that touch the metal, the fewer imprints are left on it. Virgin gold, taken from the body of the earth herself is pure, unaltered by old songs and charms. With only a few people involved in its processing, that native strength is retained.’

‘So you argue the strength of the charm is directly related to the amount of contact that material has experienced prior to charm formation?’

‘It is not an argument but the truth. I have seen with my own eyes the superior handling of natively mined gold.’

‘I understood recent research has shown the quality of the charm is proportional to the strength and skill of the charmer, not the materials they use.’

‘Then the researchers have not seen the work I do here. Come, choose a piece and you will see for yourself the incomparable affect it has on your life. This here is a charm of fortune,’ he added with an appraising look at the drab, tired dress that hung awkwardly from Sophie’s frame. The blue dress had once belonged to Anika and had been a favourite of hers until she had outgrown it.

‘It is very pretty,’ Sophie said. ‘You must need many employees to maintain this quality and quantity of merchandise.’

‘I hire only the very best charmers.’

‘I am well educated. I trained closely with Reverend Hong back in Chesico City.’

‘Another city charmer come to the north.’ The shop keeper’s demeanor dimmed. ‘I am sure you were very good at whatever little charms you practiced down south. However, I have a full staff and even more charmers waiting for those positions. I do not lack for employees.’

‘I have excellent training,’ Sophie rushed. ‘I could demonstrate for you now, if you would like? I could show you any type of charm. I know them all.’

‘All?’ he said skeptically. ‘You have no experience with the mechanicals. Machines, some at least, don’t take kindly to charms. They need an expert hand. Besides, as you can see, I have a shop full of charms for sale, no need for another charmer.’

‘But…’

‘This is a shop,’ the man said firmly. His brown eyes darkened. ‘I do not run a charity.’

She turned away. The slow trudge back to Patal’s Palace seemed far longer than the three blocks she had to go. Upstairs in her tiny room, Sophie looked at her pathetic assemblage of belongings. She had nearly nothing. There was nothing to trade for more time in the boarding house. She was a trained Charmer but couldn’t get work here. She still couldn’t find her sister.

Sophie fingered the charms on her bracelet. Her fingers traced the two interwoven stars, the charm their mother had given both of them. Twin stars for two sisters, she had said. At least, that was what Anika always told her. Sophie didn’t remember their mother. She had only vague recollections of their father. Anika was her family. Anika was her whole world.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, Sophie’s wandering mind lit upon the only remaining solution. She was a charmer. Perhaps she could use that to find her sister. It was a ridiculous idea of course. Charms couldn’t do anything so active, so immediate. Charms were the physical manifestation of positive thoughts; they were wishes more than anything else.

Need was a powerful motivator. Sophie looked at the hem of her blue dress. She remembered exactly how Anika had looked in the dress: tall, powerful, capable. Worrying about the hem, Sophie removed a long blue thread. She then rummaged through her bag for a faded red handkerchief. It was all that remained of the red shirt Sophie had destroyed through constant wear. It took time to remove a red thread of similar size.

Sophie twisted the threads together. The charm was a physical manifestation of what she wanted; like to like was the philosophy. She joined the threads, as she wanted to be joined once more to her sister. As she worked, Sophie sang. She sang about family, about finding lost people and about the strength of bonds. She worked the thread into the twin star charm on her bracelet and pictured the other end extending to Anika’s matching metal charm. She sang and thought and wished until the sun slipped below the horizon and sleep put an end to Sophie’s thoughts.

*

The room was stuffy when she woke the next morning. Not for the first time, Sophie wished she could open the window and capture whatever faint breeze stirred outside.

She moved slowly. Her body ached from an indifferent night. Sleep had come but had been far from restful. Fatigue and worry still pulled at her. She woke with no brilliant plan, just the steady resolution to do whatever it took to find Anika. After splashing tepid water on her face, Sophie collected grabbed her bags. Methodically, she removed every copper she had carefully saved and hid.

‘I have seventeen coppers,’ she informed the room. ‘I will need twelve to return to Chesico, and that is assuming we skip some meals. This room,’ she frowned as she said the words. ‘Will cost another seven coppers to keep for another week. I simply don’t have enough.’

Sophie blew the air out of her lungs in one explosive breath. ‘How am I going to find Anika in the next three days? I have exhausted every lead in town and outside…well, the clerk laughed at me.’

She surveyed the scraps of her life; everything could fit in two bags. ‘Is there anything I could sell?’ She had a broach and silver spoon. Both items had been given to her by her mother. Sophie wasn’t certain how much they were worth, but they must have some value.

Sitting back on her heels, Sophie’s fingers moved to her bracelet. The star charm seemed to glow in the morning light as she moved her wrist. ‘Once we are back in Chesico we will find jobs. That is not an issue. The problem is still finding Anika. That is all I have to do.’

It was one small, impossible task that had to be completed in the next three days. Sophie repacked her bags. She put the things she thought she would need to search the claims in the small sack.

‘What if Anika wasn’t able to come into town?’ she asked the room. ‘What if she wanted to come but couldn’t? Perhaps she has been injured. Maybe she is being kept hostage.’ She would come otherwise. Even though her sister did know Sophie was coming north. Anika wouldn’t want to be isolated from civilization. Unless something prevented her, she would be known in town. Sophie’s stomach tightened with anxiety.

She had to find Anika and she couldn’t do that from the floor of her tiny rented room. Sophie piled some clothes into the smaller of the two bags and stuffed everything else into the larger. She would walk to each claim if she had to; she would find her sister.

The dining room was empty when Sophie made her way down. There were dirty dishes stacked in a metal tub at one end of the table. On the sideboard were a few scraps of toast, some rubbery scrambled eggs and three biscuits. Sophie wrapped the biscuits in a handkerchief and stuffed them into her small bag. She slathered strawberry preserve on the toast and drank the bitter, cold tea remaining in the pot.

She then walked out of the boarding house and straight into a man.

‘Oh!’ Sophie gasped as she rocked backwards and came down hard on her bottom.

The man grunted and peered down at her from beneath a wide-brim hat. There was something very familiar about the square head and gap-tooth smile that he favoured her as he stuck out his hand. Sophie eyed him warily as she accepted his help. On her feet, she did the best she could to brush the pale brown dust from her skirts. It was almost impossible, she thought, to stay clean here.

‘Are you Tammerik?’

Sophie frowned at the man. ‘Do I know you?’ she asked warily.

‘I am looking for Tammerik, a Sophia Tammerik.’

‘It’s Sophie. No one calls me Sophia except… Did Anika send you?’

The man’s smile deepened. ‘I heard Anika’s little sister was a charmer. You are Sophia, er Sophie? You look similar to your sister. It is the eyes, I think.’

‘Who are you? You know Anika? Anika Tammerik? You know my sister? Where is she? Is she alright? Can you take me to her?’ The questions poured from Sophie’s mouth like water over a falls. She could no more stop them than dam a river with her bare hands.

‘Aye, I know you sister. I know where she is. I can even take you to her, if you want.’

‘Of course it is what I want. It is the only reason I came here. Oh thank the Maker. I thought I would never find Anika.’

Sophie tilted her head up to observe the man. He had dark eyes, half hidden by the shadow cast from his hat. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his trousers. His boots, like everything else about him, were tired and falling apart. He looked like so many of the miners Sophie had seen in town. The only thing that was really different was the thoughtful glint to his eyes. They looked at her speculatively.

‘You are a charmer?’ he asked slowly.

‘Yes, yes, I am a charmer.’ A successful one, Sophie added silently. I sang a charm to find my sister and here you stand ready to complete my wish. ‘Is Anika far from here? Can we leave immediately?’

‘I heard you are church trained?’

‘I studied under Reverend Hong back in Chesico. Though I doubt that means anything to you.’ Sophie’s brow furrowed. ‘I know! You are the man from the Claims Office yesterday. Why didn’t you say anything at the time?’

The man smiled down at her. ‘The name is Georges. I didn’t recognize you at first. I was distracted by my own business.’

‘Is Anika safe? Will it take us long to get to her?’

‘We will get there, all in good time. First though, I am going to need something from you.’

‘What do you want?’ Sophie took half a step backwards. ‘You do know my sister?’

‘Oh, I know Anika. She works for me, on my claim. Works the rig. What I need now, however, is a charmer. That would be you.’

‘What will I have to do?’

‘I need you to do a charm for me, once we get back to the claim. You do that and I will take you to your sister.’

‘You are offering me a job in exchange for bringing me to Anika?’ Sophie couldn’t keep the incredulity from her voice. Yesterday had appeared so bleak. Today she was going to have her sister back. The job was a nice twist of fate, not that she wanted it. Still, one charm in exchange for Anika, the fates favoured her today.

‘That about sums it up.’

‘I will get to see Anika.’

‘Today, if you are ready to leave.’

‘Yes, I am ready.

Georges stared down at the small bag flopped over in the dirt. ‘You have anything else?’

‘What do I need?’

‘You should bring what you have. Wouldn’t want to leave anything around here unattended. You don’t know where it will end up. Food and lodgings you will get at camp, everything else is your responsibility.’

‘I am to live on your claim?’

‘That is how it works. The claim isn’t that close to town. All the workers, both the mechanists and charmers, stay there, expect for their time off.’

‘You have other charmers?’ She felt rather sad about that. Not that she was planning on staying anyway.

‘I need a lot for the charm I am going to perform, six to be exact. The other five are already working at the claim.’

‘Six is a powerful number,’ Sophie observed thoughtfully.

‘This will be a powerful charm,’ Georges replied. ‘I will get the wagon, while you collect your belongs.’