Two Lines
(human male, female wolf)

>A small gasp escaped my mouth as I looked down at the little thing
>Two lines
>My paws shook.
>I squeezed my eyes shut and fought tears, then, very deliberately, I turned it over before I looked at it again, this time from the underside.
>The whole little stick of white plastic fit easily in my paw, and I mused over its delicate lines and curves.
>I wondered, as I often do, about human things, about who made this little thing and how.

>Human technology both fascinates and terrifies me.
>Before the The Alignment reopened portals long forgotten, the most complex machine I'd ever seen was a Dwarvish ice maker at Mayfair.
>It was a massive affair- a noisy complex maze of pipes and bellows that required three dwarves to operate.
>My parents dismissed it as utter foolishness at the time.
>As far as they were concerned, when one needed ice, one went to ice sellers that either managed an ice-house, or knew the appropriate cryomantic spell.
>Between nature, craft, and magic, machines seemed like nonsense to them.
>But...
>BUT
>as for humans...
>...
>For some reason, magic was so stunted in their world, it was practically non-existent.
>Everything, and I do mean
>>>>EVERYTHING<<<<
>is done by their machines.

>When I first moved to Border, I saw humans building a massive building, far taller than any castle I'd ever seen.
>Instead of human mages levitating blocks of stone, they had enormous machines lifting long pieces of metal, and strange carts with spinning metal bins on the back that made gray mud into hard stone.
>It was neat to watch them build, and both Folk and humans were watching
>I was told by one of them that all of this was being done by ordinary humans.
>I didn't believe it at the time, but later learned it was true.
>There were no magic users among them, nor any pre-cast spells in use.
>No. Magic. At. All.
>
>NONE.

::::::::

>I met anon that day, and asked (disbelievingly) how humans could build so incredibly high without magic, and he laughed.
>"7 stories," he'd said, "really isn't that big of a building."
>"There are plenty of buildings that are 80 stories or more."
>I didn't believe him, of course, because even if you could build something like that?
>no one with good sense would even bother to climb that many stairs or ladders

>I told him so, which made him laugh again.
>While it was a good-natured laugh of surprise, not mockery, I was irritated none the less.
>I growled out that it was less than polite to laugh at strangers, which made some other nearby humans back away, but for some reason he asked me if I wanted to get tea, and...
.
.
.
>and
.
.
.
>and I said yes for some reason, probably curiosity
>and we kept talking, likely mutual curiosity
>and we started to spend way too much time around each other
>and we've since gotten to know each other
>and I've come to trust human technology
.
.
.
>and... my parents would disapprove
>
>A part of me views human technology as some form of magic even though anon insists it isn't
>I have a hard time convincing myself.
>Tall buildings built in weeks instead of years, flying machines, ice boxes that only need be wired to the wall to keep cold, moving paintings with noises that can allow one to view events many leagues away, yet it totally isn't scrying.
>Supposedly.
>Somehow.

>Glass is inexpensive and they routinely use more types of metal than I knew existed.
>Real wood is rare for some reason, but their plastics are both common and amazing.
>They can be strong and tough to break, yet soft and flexible.
>I started to compare it to green wood once, then stopped because I always wind up embarrassed when I try to compare the things I know to human things
>To my surprise, anon agreed.
>Not for all plastics, he'd said, but for many, that type of strength and flexibility was why they were important.

::::::::

>Others were more brittle, but strong, lightweight, and easily shaped.
>so I've been told
>anon told me that there were machines that can shape plastic into pretty much anything
>They can do it again and again, the exact same thing, perfectly every time

>That was something else I was skeptical about until I went into the human shop in Border
>Humans living in Border mostly get their things there.
>Not that humans don't go to the marketplace-
>They do at times, but mostly to look
>not at wares, as one might, but at Folk
>Humans that have been in Border for a while don't stare and do buy at the marketplace
>The new ones?
>they don't buy, and they do stare
>stare at Folk, not wares

>I asked about things at the human store and was told that, at a human store, you always knew exactly what you were getting
>a human crafted thing would be the same, every time, since the machines did it
>There were a few things that were seasonal or different, BUT
>Anything with a particular maker's marks would (and must) be identical with other such things with the same marks.
>That was how humans ensured everything worked

>Including the white plastic stick I was holding right now
>I turned it back over and looked at it again
>Two lines.
>I am pregnant.