Chapter 55: Voice of Stone
The town hall smelled like sweat, sawdust, and burning copper.
Caelen sat at the long table, surrounded by parts. Wire coils, wood frames, tiny gears, and tools were scattered everywhere. Borin hammered a round wooden box into shape while Dorgrim held up a small glass disk.
"This is the speaker?" Dorgrim asked, frowning.
"Kind of," Caelen said, rubbing his forehead. "It'll carry sound through the wire when someone talks into it."
Zira leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Still sounds like magic to me."
Caelen smiled. "It's science. Which is just magic you can explain."
Zira rolled her eyes. "Well, explain why this wire keeps bending wrong."
She held up a long copper string—twisted and useless.
Caelen chuckled. "Because you're holding it like a sword."
Borin added, "More like a club."
The group laughed lightly. But the work was slow. They had finished only one part—the base of the telephone. It looked simple, but it took hours of shaping, measuring, and fixing mistakes.