Talk to it like it’s a horse, Phila says, and don’t insult the ghost in the machine. There are metal-spirits and wood-spirits; water and fire and air all have their souls too, ancient beyond reckoning, and a good mechanic knows that. Sing the body electric, magnetic, and thermal–opening line of an old, old hymn.

We’re servants of the elements, still and yet.

Phila wishes they’d provided her with a cybernetic horse. After all these centuries, she still misses the steeds of South Continent.

In time, in time, I say.

There are things you don’t learn about someone until you have to share an Avatar at close quarters.

***

The narrator is Naime the Shipwright. From character interviews for the Ship’s Heart universe.

Weekend Writing Warriors offers a selection of eight-sentence excerpts from many different writers. For the full selection, see here.