Lizzy was working on mending some costumes, breakfast was done and Jericho found himself standing in front of the fallen Eli. He sighed, it was going to be a lot of work. He placed a hand on one of the metal bars and could feel where it had broken. “Alright!” He heard one of the roustabouts say behind him. “Let’s tie her up and get her up.
A group of rousties attaches a series of ropes to the top of the Eli and. Center while others grabbed long poles to slide under to act as levers. Jericho moves to one of the ropes and helped pull as the others pushed with the levers. A smaller group of men stood at the base with yet another pole, working to position the Eli up on the base.
They all heaved, the large metal structure creaked as it rose in the air. The group at the base guided the large wheel into position. “Jericho!” The roustabout leading the task called for him and he hurried over, his hands held onto the metal and manipulated it, forcing it to melt and bond with the metal of the base.
Once done with every point, the large man dropped to the floor, sitting below the larger rise, taking a breath as he recovered from the task.
Of course Kieran was there to help. He didn’t see the Eli go down, his only focus had been on Jack. Jack the boy who had become his special project as a healer, the one who became a man and a lover. It was only later after a majority of his work was finished for the night that he realized the Eli had toppled over. Two things he cared for deeply ended up on the ground that night and he would do everything in his power to right it.
Joining the other roustabouts in pulling he watched as Jericho fused it together and made his way over to the man with a flagon of water. “Here drink this. How are ye feeling?” As usual, Kieran was above all else a doctor.
One leg up, arm resting on his knee, Jericho looked up at Kieran with a nod as he took the water. “Thanks. Doin okay, just dragged.” He was used to bending and manipulating metal almost nightly. He worked on fine projects for friends and Lizzy, fixing or making new things. But the amount of metal and forming that the Eli took to make sure it would remain stable was a bit much all in one go. Maybe he was just out of practice on the big things. Ironic for the large man.
“But glad she’s up again.” He said, looking up. “Place looked off without her. Now, ‘f only the lights would come back.” It was still not common knowledge that Edi was missing, or that it was her that powered the lights. Only a handful of people actually knew about her. Most just figured the lack of light came with the time jump (which everyone had found out about).
“All thanks to ye. Don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have the Eli.” Probably just treat more patients but in truth he was happy just to be here amongst like minded people. It wasn’t as if they had medical emergencies all day and he liked to see the look of joy on the children’s faces when they stepped off the ride.
Kieran thought about it, he’d had to do plenty of maintenance on the Eli before, perhaps he could take a look at it and see if there was anything he could do. Surely there were electricians they could hire if it couldn’t be done within the carnivals employees. He stepped up to the board and opened up the control panel, a burning smell coming from it. “Well, she’d fried alright, going to have to hire an outsider most like.”
Since Edi had gone missing they’d have to figure out a way to deal in modern currency. From what he could tell, inflation had grown exponentially and an electrician wasn’t going to come cheap.
Jericho shrugged slightly. “Sure someone’ll figure somethin out.” Delia had been in charge with help from Louis after Kristoph had…
Lizzy had cried on his shoulder for almost a full day upon hearing of Kristoph’s death. The man had been like a father, uncle, brother to many- all of Zion. A lot of people were worried about what would happen to them now? Delia had assured people at breakfast the morning following… everything, that Zion was still protected and everyone was still family. No one would be abandoned. That was also when they were all informed of their century jump in time and wrong location. Oregon- New Orleans… easy to confuse he guessed. Still, he couldn’t hide from himself that he was concerned- from others he could. Though, most of that concern was for his daughter. He did his best to keep trust in those who’d Kristoph had trusted to be his seconds.
“Ya been in town yet?” He asked, holding the water back out to Kieran.
He looked out toward the exit of the carnival where the future lay and shook his head. “I’ve been alive for quite some time, not sure if I’m ready to see this part of it, not yet anyway.” He replied and shrugged his shoulders at Jericho. Who knew if they’d ever get back to their time period, for now it seemed like they’d be here forever and Kieran wondered what he could have missed.
He returned to look at his colleague. “How about ye? Ye got any time outside the grounds?” He asked, curious to know what the future could possibly look like. He wasn’t sure he was ready to know but it wouldn’t hurt to get some background on where they were.
Jericho shook his head. “Nah. Lizzy’s been beggin me ta go. Not sure bout it all though.” He was a man of pattern, set in his ways. The whole ordeal had him off kilter and he wasn’t a fan. “Sides, there’s plenty to do about here. No need to go somewhere we don know and don belong.”
Kieran nodded in agreement with that. “I suppose so. How’s Lizzie doing? Still growin I presume.” He teased, giving Jericho a friendly pat on his shoulder. The two didn’t see much of each other but Kieran thought Jericho was friendly and seemed to be a good man. There were many around Zion he wouldn’t say the same about.
“Every day it seems. Thank god for her talent with the sewing machine.” He laughed. She often made herself new dresses when her old ones started getting too small. “She’s so much like her mother.” Jericho smiled a sad, but happy smile as he thought about his late wife. She’d been such a force of nature around Zion, and many had felt her absence. Those who knew her tended toward his daughter because they saw her mother’s same spirit.
Kieran peered up to the erected Eli. He wondered how long it would be before he could run it again. A sigh came from his lips as he looked at his beloved ride. “She’s a lot like ye too, ye know? Ye’ve raises a good one.” He replied, offering a smile back at Jericho.
Jericho smiled. “I’ve tried my best. Eden helped a lot, now we’re doin’ what we can. Swear she’s the one raisin me sometimes.” He chuckled, getting to his feet.
“Looks better.” He said, looking up at the Ferris Wheel. “Was a damn shame seeing her on the ground. Swear, whoever hurt us… they come back and…” his fists tightened. Whoever they were, they found a way to bypass the protections. They’d killed Kristoph, rumor had it Edi was missing too… Made the big guy mad.
Kieran didn’t like the sound of that. No matter how much someone was hurt he never condoned violence. “We don’t know what happened, not really and I think ye should focus on taking care of your daughter rather than planning retribution.” He’d been around a long time and seen his fair share of violence. Zion was his home and he didn’t want any more bad things to happen there.
He placed a friendly hand on the man’s shoulder. “Yer a good man. Don’t do anything that would change that.” He then patted his shoulder and moved around the side of the Eli to see how it was holding up.
A good man who’d defend his family. But he didn’t push it with the doc. “Speaking of, I should go check to make sure she’s not getting into any trouble.” She was likely just working and helping someone out. “You take care Doc. Your ride’s gonna be good as new once we get power back.” He assured. And he was right. You couldn’t even see the seams where it had broken.