His plan was the reason she did all that work. It was her childhood dream come to life and since it was illegal, it was all the more exciting. The Circle of Stars was put together to construct a flying machine, to fly out and away from the city. In a city where flying was forbidden, there was no way to escape except by ship, and that wasn’t going to work. Ordinary civilians weren’t permitted to board ships. Besides, sailing away had been done by a handful of rouges. Flying away had never been done.
The name for their group had been the Leo’s idea. He had spent the last few years digging up anything he could about the old mythology and beliefs, which had been about the Star Signs and everything they stood for. Of course, that had been all been banned many years ago, which made it the perfect thing to name their little group after. They were all named for the ancient Sign they had born under, making Enigma the Libra. The scales, the balance, which made sense to her. She seemed to balance out everyone in this mismatched group.
As the minutes crawled by, the remaining members of the Circle showed up. The first one to do so was the Capricorn, who was a rouge soldier, and then the Pisces showed up. The Pisces was the first one she recruited, because she knew him personally. He was the son of a legendary cat burglar and he’d been dubbed the Prince of Thieves. The Libra deeply respected him, though she would never say that out loud.
The entire Circle was now here. The Libra finished untying the plans and she handed them out to their respective members. They took them silently and began their work throughout the cave. The Libra studied them all carefully, watching them do their work. It was interesting to observe them and see how they were contributing to this insane project. The Aquarius was scribbling out calculations, with the Scorpio peering over her shoulder. The Capricorn was talking quietly with the Pisces and the female soldier was scowling as the thief prince gestured with his hands. The Leo was reading something, leaning against the wall, his feet crossed causally. This was how these meeting usually were and the Libra wondered if anything more was going to be accomplished tonight.
They had already had five meetings, which always took place under a full moon, meaning they had been at this for five months. The Libra had wondered from the very start how long this flying machine was going to take to build. Just as she was thinking this, the Capricorn spoke.
The soldier ran a hand through her curly red hair and asked, “How many times are we supposed to meet for this, eh?”
From his place against the wall, the Leo raised his eyebrows. “It depends on how diligently everyone works. This could take months, years perhaps.”
The Pisces exclaimed, “Years? Are you insane?”
“Please, Pisces, you didn’t think this would take just a couple meetings? This is a serious and a difficult project.”
The Pisces opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it and shut his mouth. The Libra resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she turned her gaze to the mouth of the cave. Though it was already late, it seemed to be getting darker and darker outside. She could hear the wind start to howl, with the sea churning violently below them. A storm was definitely building up out there.
Several minutes passed. The members did their work and kept mostly to themselves, with the occasional comment or question. There was no talk of their personal lives and no questions