The barn door groaned when Bryce pulled it back, and the smell came out to meet them—leather, timber and the faint trace of whatever had been spilled, cleaned and aired out after the night before.
Saige stepped past him without waiting for an invitation, her boots sounding sharply on the polished concrete.
Elara followed her in.
The renovated barn opened ahead of them beneath the overhead lights. The central aisle barreling toward the stage at the far end. Heavy curtains hung tied back across the bays, the old half-height walls still visible beneath them. The bar gleamed to one side.
And then there was everything else.
The stockade.
The cross.
The restraint chair.
Equipment along the walls.
The electric hoist waiting beneath the old lifting beam.
Saige stopped.
“It’s still a barn,” she said.
“It is a barn,” Bryce said from behind her. “That’s the point.”
Saige turned slowly, taking it in. Her eyes moved over the old stall walls, the curtains, the bar, then up toward the beam.
“It doesn’t look anything like it used to.”
“No,” Elara said.
Saige looked down at the floor.
“This is new.”
“Polished concrete.”
“I worked that out.”
Bryce’s mouth twitched.
Saige walked a few steps down the aisle. Her boots echoed faintly from the timber walls.
She stopped near one of the drains.
“These were part of the renovation?”
“Yes.”
She looked toward Elara.
“For cleanup.” Bryce added.
Elara smiled.
Saige gave her a look. “I’m not asking.”
“Good.”
She kept walking.
The circle Si mark caught her eye on the timber of the stockade.
Saige stopped and ran her thumb over the darkened mark.
“There it is again.”
Bryce came alongside her.
“You said it wasn’t on everything.”
“It isn’t.”
She looked around.
“You’re working on it.”
Elara laughed.
Saige traced the mark once more before letting her hand fall.
“What does it actually mean?”
Bryce looked at the burn.
“Silicon.”
Saige waited.
“The circle is oxygen.”
She looked from the mark to him.
“Obsidian.”
“Closest I could get.”
Saige smiled faintly. “Of course that’s what it means.”
“What did you think it meant?”
“I didn’t know. That’s why I asked.”
She moved around the stockade.
The dark oiled timber and blackened steel were unmistakably Bryce’s work. Two padded rests waited low for the knees and shins. Ahead, a leather-covered support would take the upper body, with padded restraints forward for the wrists.
At the rear, the machine sat drawn back.
Saige stopped.
“Oh.”
Elara folded her arms.
“That’s the stockade.”
Saige looked at her.
Then her attention returned to it.
“What does the machine do?”
Bryce looked at Elara.
Elara smiled.
“You said you wanted to see the barn.”
Saige narrowed her eyes. “You said you’d show me the whole thing.”
“We are.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“A little.”
Saige crouched beside one of the padded knee supports without touching it.
“And you actually use this?”
“Yes.”
“Definitely you?”
Elara laughed. “Definitely me.”
Saige stood again.
“Okay.”
She stared at the rear mechanism for another second.
“Moving on.”
Bryce laughed behind her.
Saige followed the aisle toward the stage.
Four heavy timber pews sat nearby, moved back from the centre rather than arranged formally in front of it.
She stopped beside one and ran her hand across the back.
“These were here before.”
“Yes,” Elara said.
“I remember these.”
Saige looked from the pews to the stage.
“But not like this.”
The stage remained fixed at the far end, the space around it changed by everything Bryce and Elara had added since.
“People sit here?”
“Sometimes.”
“And watch.”
“That’s the idea.”
Saige glanced at Elara.
Bryce coughed into his hand.
Elara turned on him. “Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Saige laughed and stepped onto the stage.
Her eyes found the cross.
She moved closer.
“This gets used too?”
Elara joined her.
“Yes.”
Saige touched the timber.
“By you.”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Elara smiled.
Saige looked over the leather restraints, then back toward the stockade in the central space.
“Do you have a favourite?”
“Depends what we’re doing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the answer you’ve got.”
Saige shook her head and stepped down from the stage.
She moved toward one of the curtains, pushing the heavy fabric aside enough to look into the bay beyond.
“What’s in these?”
“Depends which one you pick.”
Saige looked up at the number.
“Five.”
“Private room.”
The solid wall and lockable door beyond it made the distinction obvious.
Saige let the curtain fall.
“For when people don’t want everyone watching?”
“Among other things.”
“There you go again.”
“What?”
“Answering without answering.”
Elara smiled.
Bryce walked past them toward the centre aisle.
Saige followed.
Her attention shifted upward.
The electric hoist sat beneath the old lifting beam, its hook raised clear of head height.
“That’s the winch.”
“Hoist,” Bryce said.
“You knew what I meant.”
“I did.”
Saige looked along the beam.
“This replaced the old chain one?”
“Yes.”
“I remember that thing.”
“So do my shoulders.”
Elara laughed.
Saige looked at the nearby storage, then back overhead.
“What do you lift?”
Bryce nodded toward the cupboards.
Elara opened one.
Inside were attachments and restraints fitted into their places. She reached past them and pulled the leather harness partly free.
Saige’s expression changed.
“Oh.”
Elara held it up.
“For you?”
“Mostly.”
“And that thing?”
Saige looked from the crossed lifting frame to the hoist.
“You actually lift her off the ground?”
Bryce nodded.
Saige looked at Elara.
“Completely?”
“Sometimes.”
“What’s it like?”
Elara considered the question.
“Different.”
“Helpful.”
Saige waited.
Elara ran her fingers over the leather.
Saige’s gaze went back to the hook.
“Do you like it?”
“Very much.”
Something in Saige’s expression shifted, quieter now.
Elara put the harness away and closed the cupboard.
Saige noticed the seam disappear.
“Where did that go?”
Bryce kept walking.
Saige stared at the apparently solid wall.
“You’ve got hidden cupboards?”
“One or two.”
“How many exactly?”
Bryce looked over his shoulder.
Saige pointed at him. “Don’t.”
Elara laughed.
They continued around the barn.
Saige looked through the change area. The bar got considerably more attention.
She leaned against the counter and looked along the shelves.
“This I understand.”
“Finally,” Elara said.
Saige looked beneath the counter, found the fridge, then straightened.
“You really built an entire bar.”
“People gather around a bar.”
“Apparently.”
Her attention caught on another circle Si mark beneath the edge of the counter.
She smiled.
“Not everything?”
Bryce ignored her.
By the time they reached the people wall, Saige had stopped trying to hide her curiosity.
She looked at the restraint points, then at Bryce.
“What happens here?”
“Whatever someone decides to use it for.”
“That’s vague.”
“Because it changes.”
She looked at Elara.
“Have you used it?”
“Yes.”
“For?”
Elara smiled.
Saige groaned. “Fine.”
She stepped back into the aisle.
For the first time since they had entered, she didn’t immediately ask another question.
Her gaze travelled the length of the barn.
The stage.
The pews.
The curtains.
The stockade.
The cross.
The bar.
The hoist above them.
The equipment disappearing behind doors and panels until the place could almost become ordinary again.
Almost.
“It’s bigger than I thought,” she said.
Neither Bryce nor Elara answered.
Saige looked at the stockade again.
Then the stage.
“I get why you wouldn’t want someone wandering in.”
“Good,” Bryce said.
She glanced at him. “I said I get it. I didn’t say I’m suddenly less curious.”
“I didn’t think you were.”
Saige walked back toward the centre of the barn.
She stopped beneath the lifting beam and looked up once more.
“Last night.”
Elara waited.
“What was happening in here?”
Bryce leaned against one of the old posts.
“You know the answer to that.”
“I know the general answer.”
“That’s the answer you’re getting.”
Saige smiled faintly.
“Fair.”
She turned slowly, looking around again.
Then her eyes settled on Elara.
“I want to see one.”
Elara didn’t answer immediately.
“A gathering,” Saige said. “I want to see what this looks like when people are actually here.”
Bryce straightened.
Saige looked between them.
“I’m not asking to do anything. I just want to watch.”
Elara glanced at Bryce.
He looked back at her.
Saige waited.
“You’ve only just seen the barn,” Elara said.
“I know.”
“And this morning you only just found out what happens in it.”
“I know.”
“That’s a lot in two days.”
Saige smiled slightly.
“I’m good at pushing.”
Elara’s mouth twitched.
“Apparently.”
Saige looked at Bryce.
He hadn’t answered.
“Bryce?”
“We’d have to talk about it.”
“That’s not no.”
“No.”
Saige’s smile widened.
Elara pointed at her. “Don’t look so pleased with yourself.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You kept asking until you got the answer you wanted.”
“That’s still not doing anything.”
Bryce laughed.
Saige looked around the barn one last time.
“When?”
“We said we’d talk about it,” Elara said.
“I know.”
“Then stop pushing.”
Saige walked toward the doors.
“No promises.”
Elara watched her go.
Bryce came alongside her.
Neither spoke until Saige had stepped outside.
Then Elara looked at him.
“She’s going to keep asking.”
“Yep.”
“And you’re going to give in.”
Bryce looked at her.
“So are you.”
Elara smiled.
“Probably.”
They followed Saige out, leaving the barn empty behind them.