I admit I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any students around to see when me and Lys made our way outside through the school and towards the main entrance. I bet the sight of the mechanical giant would have left the very definition of a lasting impression on the student body, and with good reason. Gond sported an impressive design, and I grew even more impressed with Lys's work as I saw it in action. Its gait as it walked had a perfect rolling fluidity to it, with no hint of instability in its balance or signs that there were things griding against other things it shouldn't. Parts of that was likely the nature of the magical mind as it inherited the ingrained knowledge to move a humanoid body, something I found out did not extend to knowing how to move well in a body that was not human. Quoth, Maurice and Gaspode had been forced to learn how to move in their new bodies, with Quoth having the most difficult as he needed to learn how to fly. But the magical mind couldn't account for everything, definitely not when moving a body made of inflexible metal. Lys had really, truly, outdone herself when she made Gond.
I'd even go so far as to admit that it was more impressive then anything I'd ever conceived of. It was a bit hard on the floor though, I'd been forced to conjure up some thick rubber soles for it so it didn't leave holes all throughout Hogwarts. Now I just had to figure out how to get this lugnut from Hogwarts to wherever we were going. I suppose we could just shrink him. But I was curious if Lys had a plan for it so I kept silent.
Once we were outside though I turned to her expectantly. "So where are we going, and how are we going to get this car-sized chunk of magical metal along with us?"
"It's covered," Lys said with a smug smile and I got the feeling that she might have anticipated my question. Then she jumped into the air - and stayed there.
I looked up at her before tsking and shaking my head. "First my plasma core and now my flight suit. For shame, Lys. Is there anything of mine that you haven't cribbed?"
"If you didn't want me to make one why did you show me how it was done?" She asked smugly.
I chuckled. "Touche."
"Up you go, Gond." Lys ordered her gaudy creation.
[AT ONCE!] Gond boomed before it to rose into the air to float beside its mistress.
I laughed outright at that. "Well played, Shortstack. Well played." I called up to her before I joined her in the air. "I'll follow your lead then."
"As you should," Lys said, still smug, and a little snotty.
I rolled my eyes at her. "You have something to hide this guy too?"
Lys looked momentarily startled, but at seeing my smug smile at getting my own shot in she gathered herself and pulled out her wand and cast a disillusionment charm on the mechanical behemoth, and before I could get a taunt of she blasted of southwards, forcing me to shut up and follow after. I quickly caught up and together we slowly gained altitude until we were high enough that we would be hard to spot from the ground. I assumed that Gond was following after since it would be pretty much impossible to spot him when he was cloaked.
Once we were at altitude Lys angled off westwards towards the coast and then started to follow it downwards. Though we cut straight across Wales instead of following the coast until we hit Cardiff and then we headed west again along the Somerset and then Devon until we came to Cornwall. Lys slowed down then and started to descend slowly as she went, with me and Gond following after.
As I flew I noticed a massive fog bank slowly coming into view in the distance. it was massive like cumulonimbus cloud had fallen from the sky and settled on the ocean. I didn't know that mists could get that high, in fact, I was almost sure it shouldn't be possible.
As we descended something else was tickling the back of my head, something about this was familiar, I felt like I'd seen this place before. "Lys!" I called out, now that we were going slowly enough for my voice to reach her. "Where are we, exactly?"
"Cornwall!" She yelled back.
"Yes, I know that but which part of Cornwall?" I clarified.
"Tintagel!" She called back.
Tintagel... I knew that name. In some legends, this area was thought to be the location of Camelot. In my world there had even been a small tourist destination for those that liked to go to places with suposed connections to Arthurian mythology. I looked around at the surrounding landscape below us and immediately noted an obvious discrepancy. Back in my world, there was a small village located at this place, surrounded by farmlands, but below me was just a dense undisturbed forest.
I looked up at the towering pillar of water vapor that now seemed ever so slightly ominous as it towered over the ocean. It only touched land in one place, what I recognized as Tintagel island, which it obscured partially.
Tintagel island wasn't where we were going through, but to a rocky little peninsula about one and a half kilometers east of it, that had a small village sitting on it. I did a quick count and come up with about twenty-five houses of varying sizes. As we continued to descend we angled off towards the east side of the island where a large multi-story house sat near to the cliff's edge, precariously close. The damn thing looked to be at least five stories tall and had a very... eccentric... shape. The first floor was normal enough, but the second floor was half the size of the first floor and sported a patio. The upper floors were the same size as the first floor, but it looked like they had taken parts of two different houses and clipped them together to form a three-story structure.
For all of that though, it looked structurally sound, a fair bit more so then some wizarding houses I'd seen. It was definitely better than the Burrow from the movies. That reminded me that both Godric's Hollow and Ottery St Catchpole was located near here, over in Devon if I remembered correctly. If I had the time I might go for a visit. Take a look around and see the sights, if there were any.
"This place have a name?!" I called out to Lys.
"Billingr!"
As we landed a Jack Russell terrier with two tails came charging out of a small round doghouse that was positioned just by that I assumed was the main entrance and made a beeline towards us, barking up a storm. The doggy came to a screeching halt though when Lys canceled the concealing charm on her little creation. It didn't retreat though; it just stood there for a few moments studying the mechanical behemoth before it started to slowly approach us again, its eyes never leaving Gond.
"That's Dog." Lys said, answering the unasked question.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Dog the Crup...?"
"Dad thinks he's funny," Lys said in was of explanation.
"Eh, it's pretty funny." I decided.
Lys looked at me, unimpressed. "I'm not surprised you'd think so."
I chuckled as I watched the crup cautiously sniff at Gond's left foot while the robot observed the crup in return. Brave little sucker, a normal dog would probably be halfway to London by now. I watched for a moment more before turning around to take another look at the weird unnatural mist.
"The Mists of Avalon," A voice commented idly from beside me, making me flinch away in surprise from the redheaded dwarf that was suddenly standing beside me. "Beyond which lies the fabled isle of Avalon, the seat of King Arthur and home to Merlin, the Prince of Enchanters."
"Dad!" Lys exclaimed happily and tackled the man enthusiastically and given him a hug.
[Greetings!] Gond boomed enthusiastically.
"Oph! Easy there, honey. I'm not as strong as you are!" The short not-dwarf said, obviously struggling to stay upright under the weight of his daughter.
"I missed you!" Lys said, ignoring her father's plight. "Where is mum?"
The man grunted before answering. "She's at Pat's talking about a pig."
Lys finally relented and released her father. "For dinner?"
"For tomorrow, yes." The not-dwarf responded before he turned back to me and gave me a once over before sticking out his hand for me to shake. "And you must be Drew, names Torby, Lys father as you might have guessed."
I took his hand and pumped it firmly. His hand was surprisingly large for being so small, must be the house elf in him. "That would be me, Lys been talking about me?"
"She's mentioned you, which is more then she has done about anyone else at that school of yours." He responded with a smirk. "I was afraid she was the only one there. I'm glad she has at least one friend." He said and gave his daughter a pointed look.
"Dad!" Lys snapped warningly.
"Oh, it's not just me, she's picked up another boytoy to play with just a few months ago," I told Torby with a matching grin. Lys's fist impacted with my side moments later sending me crashing to the ground.
"Drew! I'll fucking kill you!" She yelled at me before she noticed her father giving her a speculative look. "He's lying, Dad! Edward is just helping me with my alchemy!"
"Edward, huh… You never mentioned him in your letters." Torby commented absently, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"That's because there is nothing to tell, we study together, that's it!" Lys defended herself.
"Is that what you call it these days," I commented from the ground and then immediately had to roll away as Lys sent a kick my way.
"Punching and kicking is hardly a polite thing to do to invited guests, what would your mother say?" Torby chided lightly.
"To make it hurt?" Lys retorted harshly.
Torby opened his mouth to respond, stoped, thought about it before inclining his head. "She would, wouldn't she." He said with a chuckle before looking down at me. "Well, I think we have teased my daughter enough for now."
I shrugged from where I lay on the grass before I floated off the ground and onto my feet again. Seeing that I was alright Torby now turned his attention to the mechanical wonder that Lys had brought to his doorstep and gave it a curious once over before turning to me again. "Your work?"
I raised my hands and shook my head. "Oh no, I'm innocent, that one is all on Lys."
Torby looked surprised and turned to his still glowering daughter. "You did this baby-girl?"
"What of it!?" She snapped. "Is that so surprising?"
Torby ignored her outburst with practiced ease and turned his attention back to Gond. "Amazing, I've never seen anything like it. What's it for?"
Visibly mollified by her father's paise of her creation, Lys's anger faded away enough for her to answer. "I haven't really had time to teach him any particular skill yet beyond walking and flying, but he should be able to perform any physical activity you teach him to do."
"Like mining?" Torby asked curiously and he inspected Grond's hands. As he turned them over I noticed something I hadn't before, there were several rubber pads attached to the inside of his fingers and hands, obviously to contract the difficulty something like Gond had with gripping something firmly without it slipping or breaking because the pressure he could exert.
Lys shrugged. "I don't see why not, he'd not fit down smaller tunnels, obviously. I'd have to build something smaller for that."
"So you can make more?" Torby questioned.
"Sure, Gond is just the prototype. I plan on creating several different types for different roles." Lys explained enthusiastically.
Torby nodded and suddenly vanished with a soft pop, only to appear crouching on one of the pauldrons and peering into Gond's glowing eyeslit, causing the giant robot to take an ineffectual step back. "I can see some definite uses for something like this in the mine, and in other places." He called down. "How much do they cost to make?"
"Depends on what you make them out of, I used copper I found in school. But if you want them made in Adamant it will be more expensive." Lys yelled back to which her father nodded absently before he vanished and reappeared beside us again.
"Well, he certainly won't fit on the house. You'll have to put him out back in the forge unless you want to keep him outside." Torby decided.
"The forge is fine," Lys said before turning towards her creation. "Go stand in the forge. Its located behind the house, be careful and don't break anything. Go."
[At once!] Gond boomed before striding off to follow his mistress orders.
"You really need to work on his personality," I commented. "He barely does anything without your sayso."
Lys gave me an odd look. "That's the point."
"Yeah, but you need to teach him to take some initiative on his own, or he'ss never be as useful as he can be." I pointed out to my half-dwarf friend.
Lys shrugged disinterestedly before walking off towards the enterence with me, Torby and Dog following after. As we reached the door I discovered something that I hadn't noted before. The house was built for people half my height. I looked at the door, dubious for a moment before shrugging and casting a weak shrinking charm on myself and my clothes which caused me to lose two feet and suddenly everything seemed to be the proper size again. Magic, I just love it. I noticed Lys looking faintly disappointed; she likely expected to have some fun at my expense, the little minx. I stuck my tongue out at her to which she snorted and entered her home with the rest of us following.
As I was to enter I noticed a plaque hanging by the side of the door.
Welcome
Beware of Wife
The kids and pets are shady too
Husband is Cool
I chuckled. I had a feeling I would enjoy my stay here.