[h1]Katrina Meyer[/h1]

Kat wasn’t paying any attention to her surroundings, or the conversation that occurred after that devastating piece of news: [i] The stone people can be returned to their former selves[/i]. That single statement left her mind in such a whirl that when she came to she realised she had sunk to the floor, the adrenaline which had been pushing her forwards suddenly dissipated. Of course, she had no way of proving her siblings had become stone like the others- there was still a myriad of ways in which they could be in trouble. However, she couldn’t help but feel that this was no longer hopeless.

The next thing she noticed when she came to was that Maria was midway through what appeared to be a friendship speech (which felt odd, given that they had known each other only a few hours, but sweet nonetheless) followed by a candy offering to the Queen. [i]The Queen[/i]. Suddenly remembering where they were and who was before them, Kat stood up.

“Thank you… Ma’am.” She started, trying to recall what everyone had been discussing whilst she processed the new information. “I won’t lie; I am scared for my brothers and sister. I’d do anything to know they are safe.” Kat paused, thinking through what was best. [i]See it like a mechanism- which pieces need to fall into place[/i]. “But if I just go straight to them now, can I protect them? Whilst the Grit ravage the city, seems to me that having stone skin is better than relying on my terrible marksmanship.”

Yes, that was it- they needed to solve the problems in the right order. Skip ahead to the first and you mess everything up. Kat had seen numerous mechanics fail but trying to address the most immediately obvious problem, and ignored the things which led to that in the first place.

“So I will go to the mine if that is where you would have us start to fix this. But can I ask one thing- can you send one of your robots to find my family? I just want to know they are safe.” Kat looked over to Liam. “Maybe she can do that for you, too.”

She gulped. It felt very strange to make demands of the monarch- surely the usual was that the monarch made demands on them? 

“There’s just one other thing…” Her mind was still whirring- she was doing the math. “’Soul stones’, those are those little pink things, right? Everyone who got hit with lightning had one floating in front of them. So what happens when a grit absorbs them- can you get them back? Can you make new ones?”

If there was a finite amount, then she would need to start collecting the things as others had- but the thought of doing so made her stomach clench. Would they have to choose who to revive and who to pass over, if there weren’t enough stones?