Heart of Light

    "Is this really your Castle?" It's a high-pitched voice of a little undine girl. She doesn't need to be carried now that they are in a safe place, but she still seems to want to stay close to the Legends that saved her. And her parents, only a little ways off, rest at a bench not far from the statue of The Beautiful One, in the Arcade of Eas.

    Elly laughs softly, shaking her head. "This is the concert hall, Yui. In the future, we will have music here."

    It all seems to go over the head of the little Lander, though. She's too busy hopping from stone to stone. It's a bit repetitive, but she enjoys it. Perhaps being uncomplicated isn't all bad.

    "Thank you, again, for all the help, my friend," Elly says, turning her attention to Goldenblade. "Without your help, I don't think everyone would have made it here."

Goldenblade smiles to Wake, watching the kid play under the parents' tired but watchful eyes. "You guys would probably have done alright," she says modestly. "Maybe not come home with as many hit points, but it was a pretty solid group, even the new guys were pretty squared away." And /someone/ would tank. Maybe. "But even if you don't have a tank, you've got the heaviest DPS and a strained healer, and that's almost as good, as long as it's not a raid-level boss." She chuckles dryly, also watching the child, and says, "Anyhow, I had a few ideas for the power plant," she switches topics, because she's obsessing about that since she's put her nose to the grindstone.

    "Just as well that we didn't find out just how well it would have turned out." Elly shakes her head, letting her attention return to the child's play. "So, what are your ideas? I imagine it's very much on your mind."

    Strange moods and all that. It takes a collossal effort to even change the topic, much less put it from one's mind for a whole day. "Impressive that you could hold off so long. I imagine you must be excited. And proud."

Goldenblade hrms to Wake, who's correct that the strange moods are distracting, but she says, "You kids don't know how to multitask. You pay too much attention to one, not enough to the other, and you do two things badly. The secret is no one multitasks half as well as they think they do. You need to switch off completely between tasks to do two things at once. That's how real multitaskers get things done. One hundred percent and just time share - each thing in its timeslot. I new we'd be coming back here, I just needed to be off task for a few hours, really. On task, for fighting the Palace Landers, but off the iimportant task."

As for excited and proud, she says, "Well, a turbine's pretty complicated. But wiring and lighting are simple ... just time consuming. You know inventing the light was entirely trial and error?"

    "I am a terrible multi-tasker," Elly admits softly. "So I can understand that. But when I first became the Ice Queen, I simply gained a terrifying eye for things. A clarity. Yet now, and here, I am untroubled."

    She considers what Goldenblade has said, unbothered at all at being called a kid. It's rather hard to argue with someone who can back it up with many more years of life experience.

    "I know a little about the invention of the light bulb. I am afraid I was never that good of a student for that manner of thing. My calling was in other directions. I was more interested in people and how they work."

Goldenblade shrugs about Wake's multitasking. "I'm bad, too. In construction, they give you a stack of tasks, and want them all done, but the smart foremen will keep everyone at one job. Switching horses midstream has a bad rep for a reason." She nods gravely about being untroubled, and again at being interested in people. "They don't work, by and large, to my way of thinking," she says simply. "That is, I put myself in their shoes, and would do something different most of the time."

"But as far as lightbulbs, it's dead easy since we /know/ what to use as a filament. Glassblowing's not /that/ complicated, and the vacuum pump is maybe a little complicated, but not egregiously so."

    "Not complicated for you, dear friend. For me, it is no easier then climbing to the moon," Elly admits. The Baroness crosses her legs, leaning back. It's a posture that is almost foreign on her. Relaxed. At ease. But still practiced, to a studious eye, and perfectly measured. Her relaxation isn't relaxation. It's communication.

    "And people work in ways that are complex. They rarely think about why and how they think what they do. It's interesting that we work as wel as we do, really." She turns her attention back to the heart of the matter, though, "So you seem to have a relatively clear plan. I mean, clear for you. I stumble on the technical matters. What I most wish to know is how I can help."

Goldenblade is entirely at home in what most project planners would call deep in the weeds of technical details. Her background is literally putting one brick on top of another so that it'll stay there in a 9.0 earthquake. But much of her Construction skill, apart from bricks, has been gained here. Not the project management parts, though in RL she'd been more the subject of project management than the manager. "People -are- complex," she agrees. "But most of them are good with a clear, achievable task, with a suitable reward. How can you help? Feed them well, pay them when it's done, promise them more work later. They'll be yours as long as you like, with that."

    "While all that is true, I was thinking more to the matter at hand. How can I help you achieve your objectives?" For a moment, she looks out through one of the arches in the arcade, off towards the distant Olympus HQ.

    "I will not make a light bulb for you. Though I am sure you would get a good laugh out of my attempt. Instead, I will try to connect you with others that can help. To be someone who can unite those who are most able and willing to contribute."

    It is clear Elly is happy in this role. Just as happy as she is to hear a child's laughter in Eas again. "The air is lighter when there is joy here. The Beautiful One smiles upon this. And upon what we've done."

Goldenblade hrms at what Wake can do for her now. Sandwiches and a bath, judging from her current state, but they're small details that don't occur to her. "Keep the support supporting," she says. "Our workers are good, they have a plan, they just need to not have a Palace Lander army fall on top of them. I wish I'd been here when they came last," she says with a sigh. "I was waiting here, and found something I needed to know in the Library, and that neccessitated a quick trip, and they came while I was gone. A suspicious person would think they were waiting for me to go, but I'm not vain enough to think I am so great a fighter as that."

Goldeblade considers, "If you know a way to get others to help or contribute, that's definitely a plus. Lights will be needed. I was thinking, once we have a generator, electric motors are basically the same thing in reverse. Instead of applying motion to generate power, you apply power to generate motion. But we could have electrically winched catapults. I think that would decimate any attackers."

    Elly doesn't react negatively to the talk of the war. It is, after all, a thing that must be addressed. A constant gray fog that finds its way into every conversation, dimming the joy.

    "I will look beyond Olympus for the lightbulb, if I must. The Scale Emblem is likely to be interested in what you are doing. I enjoy a very positive relationship with Prophylaxis and Robert, so it's easy to navigate requests and exchanges. You wouldn't mind working with them, would you?"

    Wake turns away just a moment to murmur something into her chim. Probably an order for food. Best part of being a Baroness, she has something superior to Uber Eats in every corner of her realm.

Goldenblade nods about working with Scale. "Scale's reliable, and Proph wishes he had me. They build a lot, too. Hint that I could help with their projects, and he will probably fall all over himself to help out. But I think Olympus needs your direction also. We've been rudderless for the most part, and you're providing people things to do, ways to focus their efforts, that really is what modern leadership seems to be. Poeple don't follow other people because they know how to do what they do, they follow other people because they can see the big picture clearly. So, as long as you keep giving us a big picture, we can fill in the details."

    "I will let Prophylaxis know. I am certain he will be delighted. I know they have a project involving hangliders as well, but I've been able to get that appropriately staffed." She has been busy, that much is certain.

    "You are right about Olympus. Which is why my paperwork has doubled. I have created a posting and filing system. Anything that should be shared or requested of the alliance now has a coordinator. So Baroness of Eas and.. administrator of the Olympus Alliance? The potential conflict of interest troubles me, but until another puts him, them, or herself forward, I will manage it just like I managed my office."

    As for a bigger vision, she looks out at the Lander child playing. "I will.. do my best. My vision is here already, to be seen and touched. But perhaps Olympus players want someone to provide the beginnings of some context, as well."

Goldenblade nods to Wake about Proph and hrms about a hang glider, and about filing. She was never one for paperwork, in RL or here. If someone's not shouting at her, it's not sufficiently urgent. She shares that perspective with several people at a much higher level than herself. "People will write down anything, though. just writing it doesn't make it important to anyone." Apart from someone trying to manage all the information, of course. Which is not Goldenblade.

She nods about Wake doing her best with the bigger vision, and context. "You're doing well. Just keep it up, and we will create things that will be great." She gives Wake a thumbs up.

    "I have fallen into the role of making sure the writing is organized enough to be of some value. Our Alliance is prone to progress without doing the foundational recording of what we've learned and done."

    Elly turns to Goldenblade and smiles. "I will keep on, then. The things you have made thus far have been awesome, certainly."

Goldenblade considers the recording of things, and admits, "That's important. If a thing's not recorded properly, nothing else works right." She's thinking of work hours, now. "And then people will argue about it. A piece of paper will shut people up." But she nods about things people have made. "That's a good thing to record, too. The game records some stuff, which has worked in my favor, but far from 'everything'. Not even 'everything important'. So what you're doing -is- critical to us as adventurers."

    The Baroness sighs at herself. She knows that her time for repose is coming to an end. "I hope so! I will absorb the things others don't like, ideally freeing them to do the amazing things they do."

    She rises and has the look that says everything. Still, she speaks. "Speaking of which, there is paperwork waiting for my review. I hope to hear from the refugees in the Tower. Either today or tomorrow, I should get their message."

    A curtsey is offered and she bows her head. "Thank you for all your help, Goldenblade. I look forward to seeing you again soon."