Keizeron left Duchess with Mea, instructing the sick aquan to let his familiar know if she needed anything else. He went back to continue working at his desk, his writing occasionally interrupted by Duchess sending him images of water, ice, or at one point an extra blanket.
After a few hours the rest of the crew returned with a number of shopping bags in tow. Once she had checked up on Mea, Willow went down to the galley and took a turn cooking dinner for everyone. She made a special vegetable curry with rice and spices she had brought from home.
“If we’re ever near Slaowin we should stop at my family ranch!” Willow said as they ate. “My parents would love to meet you, my dad would use any excuse to cook a feast.”
As the rest of the crew enjoyed the food and murmured their agreement, Willow was suddenly struck by how awkward it had the potential to be. After she had written to her parents about her new crew mates, both of them had independently asked if any of them were marriage candidates. Willow had sighed loudly when she read the letters. Even before she left the village her parents reminded her constantly that she was of marrying age and should consider settling down. Lets just say that Willow never wondered why her sister wanted to leave so badly. Willow had to write patiently back to her parents that while she was not opposed to being in a relationship it was simply not a priority at the time being. Though they were aware she was looking for Wisteria, they didn’t know she was also trying to find the pieces of the senka rod. Keiz had asked the crew not to tell anyone, as it could put them in danger once Queen Odella caught on.
After dinner the crew decided to take off and sail for a few hours before settling down for the night. That way when they reached the cloud layer they would start sailing over it in the morning instead of the middle of the day. It would give them the most time they could get to become accustomed to flying over the clouds before having to do so at night. They wouldn’t be able to stop to rest anymore, since there wouldn’t be anything for them to anchor to.
They left Kriencliff in relative silence, letting the last lights of civilization fall behind them as they went. There were more port towns closer to the edge, though smaller and not near as grand as the one they were leaving behind. Keiz wanted to avoid them, as he didn’t want to leave a trace as to where and when they left the country. But as fate would have it, hiding wouldn’t be as easy as he hoped.
~*~
Aster stood on the helm of the Forgers Dawn, silent as her crew sailed northward. In the days that followed the theft of the senka rod she waited in cold terror for the queen to send her sentinels to drag Aster back to the capital and execute her for her failure. Aster knew the reigning monarch had low tolerance for such things when she took the job, but she never thought she could mess up so badly. Aster had been at the top of all her classes at the sailing academy, second only to Keizeron. How had she let a team of uncoordinated pirates best her?
But as the hours ticked by, night turning back to day, no execution order came.
Instead, after two days of waiting she was given the go ahead to take Lycus to where he told them the rest of his crew would have taken the rod. After some below the board interrogation, Lycus revealed to her that they had been hired by the king of Flolon to steal the rod. An obvious attempt to take power away from Regilis and ultimately, the queen herself.
In her orders, Queen Odella commanded Aster to follow the pirates, but wait until King Lamin had the rod so that they could catch him red handed. With clear proof he stole the rod, it would be easy for Aster to arrest him under the authority of the coalition. Aster felt sick reading her directions from the queen. It was clear Odella’s intentions were the same as Lamin's. Aster was just a pawn in a ploy for power and she was helpless to do anything about it with her life on the line.
King Lamin had been Odella’s most powerful rival during her early reign, making enemies with him when his older brother, King Gwennalarch had died shortly after his marriage to Odella. If she could remove Lamin from the throne there would be no one else to take the position as he currently didn’t have an heir. Flolon would fall to Regilis just like Belphagora and Oceas had centuries ago. Amon was an oddity, as they didn’t have a structured central government. They had joined the unity when it was first formed, as joining the coalition was the easiest way people found to escape the inhospitable environment.
Despite her reservations, Aster still intended to do as she was told. Her only other choice was to abandon her post and become a rouge, but that would be even more dangerous. The only thing Queen Odella hated more than things she couldn’t control were things that had escaped from her control. Being a part of the fall of Flolon would restore Aster’s honor, maybe even make her a hero among the commoners. But was it really worth destroying a nation?
~*~
The next morning the crew of the Fortunes Favor assembled on the deck, glad that Mea was among them again and feeling better.
((“You good?” Caine asked when Ren had arrived.
He gave a thumbs up. “Nasal passages clear! Mea is ready to be as chatty as ever!”))
“I need everyone to be on guard when we sail over the cloud layer.” Keizeron told the waiting crew. “There are a number of things that can go wrong, and there will be no help if it does.”
“Aw geez.,” Mea sighed. “No pressure or anything.”
“I have every confidence we will arrive safely in Flolon in a weeks time, because I have complete faith in this crew.” Keizeron continued, ignoring her.
Though there was still tension on deck, the crew raised the sails and started off over the clouds. Despite the fact that there was no discernible difference between sailing over clouds and sailing over land, they could all feel an unspoken change. To crash over land would leave traces. To crash here would leave nothing behind. As the continent slowly left their field of vision, Willow stood as far from the edge as she could, all but hugging the center mast.
“This sucks.” She said bluntly as Sola came over to her.
The first mate managed a small laugh as he leaned against the pole. “Yeah I hated the first time I left Amon. But aren’t you from Slaowin? How did you get to Sahale if you didn't fly over the clouds?”
“I took a teleport rune, we should really invest more in them,” Willow replied, nervously brushing her holy symbol.
“There isn’t a rune big enough to take a ship through,” Sola shrugged.
“Then we can rent a cart every time we go to a new country. I’m just saying all this flying is so dramatic. And unnecessary.” Willow complained.
“You said you would face your fears,” Sola pointed out gently.
“And I am, but I think I also have the right to complain about it while I do it." She huffed back at him.
The day passed slowly, with the only thing of interest appearing a noon when another ship sailed over the horizon. Keizeron pinged the other crew with a spell, and they responded to the hail immediately. Upon hearing land was so close he could even hear the rest of the crew cheering, not just the person who received the sending. They didn’t cross paths, but the other ship drew close enough that Keiz could make out an avian person in the crows nest, waving to them as they passed. On the deck of the Fortunes Favor Zero waved back enthusiastically.
That night the first of many challenges presented itself. Since there was nothing to anchor to, they would need to keep sailing, but they couldn’t have the whole crew up for the entire night. Without getting at least partial sleep they would be too exhausted to face the dangers that presented themselves in the areas off continent, or even sail properly at all. The compromise was that two people would be on shift as usual, but one of the pair would have to be someone who could man the helm in the dark.
Keizeron was the first choice, and though his night vision was terrible Sola insisted he could also take a watch. During the day Aka had been learning from them, and to their surprise Zero asked to learn as well, picking up the basics by watching what Aka did. That left Willow, who was simply too scared to take a turn, and Mea who was only just getting used to sailing and didn’t need the extra responsibility.
In the end Keizeron took two shifts, one with Aka and another one with Zero where he showed them the fundamentals of night sailing. Sola took the last shift with Mea, watching as she spent most of the time training with Mittens. The tiny familiar was still in his axolotl form, and had the mystifying ability to twirl in the air around Mea as if he was swimming. Sola had never seen the crab form use this power, and wondered if he had different abilities for the different animal shapes he could take. He’d never had a familiar himself, though typically they were acquired by people who were learning difficult magic. He debating asking Mea about it as she wandered around deck, peering over their surroundings but ultimately decided against it.
((“Can you two make a perception check for me?” Caine asked, keeping their face neutral as they rolled a set of dice behind the screen.
“You always do this!” Zenith shouted as the dice clattered on the table. “You wait until the half blind guy is on the helm and THEN you do your checks!”
“To be fair, you rolled really well when the cloud chasers attacked us,” Ren pointed out.
“Yeah, but I had advantage that time because I was familiar with the enemy. But this time-”
“Oh right! Zee you have disadvantage, thank you for reminding me.”
Zenith groaned loudly. “My own lover, how could you. I worked so hard on this boy.”
“We need to get you some night vision goggles.” Winter said, thinking of the pair her character Aka used. “Or just a monocle I guess?”
The boys rolled, and Zenith rolled again for his half blind character with no night vision. The group stared at the results.
“Oh, we are so dead.” Lucky said cheerfully.))
Sola watched the sky wearily as they sailed, Mea returning from another lap and looking over the edge with a tired sigh. Sola had hoped that if he took the last shift he’d be able to wake up faster, but with only an hour until sunrise he was still as groggy as when Keiz woke him. He was grateful Mea could manage herself, as he was having a hard time keeping focused on the helm. The wooden wheel felt antagonistic in his hands, and he had to concentrate on keeping the ship from drifting and getting them off course.
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“Hey Sola?” The first mate jumped back to attention as Mea spoke directly behind him. He had lost track of where she was.
“What?” He asked wearily, turning to look at her without releasing the wheel. It hurt his neck a little bit, he needed a new pillow.
“Did the cloud layer always have a hole in it?” She asked, leaning over the railing and pointing down. Mittens was frantically pulling her tentacles back, as if the little newt could get his partner away from the edge.
Before Sola could respond the two of them felt the boat rock as something large bumped the bottom, followed by a loud cracking noise that shattered the silence of the night. ((“I want you to imagine a scene inside the ship, where Zero is sleeping peacefully and suddenly a claw busts through his room, taking his night cap off.”))
“No, I don’t think it did,” Sola replied, a tad unnecessarily as he saw the lights to Keizeron’s chambers come on. “Do me a favor real quick, could you ring the emergency bell?”
“Seriously?” Mea snapped as they saw a large clawed paw reach above the deck and grab onto the railing.
Sola struggled to keep the helm from reeling against the sudden added weight. “The captain will get on my case if we don’t!”
Mea made a snort of frustration, but quickly drew a light blue rune in the air, forming an icicle that she hurled at the bell across the deck. With a loud ping it went spinning over the deck, and the bell clanged loudly to alert the rest of the crew below deck. It was unlikely they weren’t already awake, but routines needed to be followed if they were going to become habits.
A second set of talons reached over the edge of the ship, bringing a large feathered head into view. Sola watched as an enormous pair of wings flared out, flapping violently to stabilize the monster as it tried to pull itself onto the deck. It was a parafin, and a large one at that, but Sola could immediately tell there was something wrong with it. The feathers on it’s head were coming out in large patches, and its breath was labored just from trying to pull itself up. It wheezed out small puffs of black smoke, this thing was sick and it was desperate. Which made it a truly dangerous thing to fight. Keizeron slammed his door open as the griffin roared.
((“Roll initiate.”))
Sola hesitated as he watched the parafin cough, knowing it was going to try to light up the deck with its fire breath. He was already struggling to hold the helm steady against the added weight to the port side, if he let go to join the fight the ship would list or worse, capsize. He gritted his teeth, knowing he wouldn’t be able to protect his crew mates from the attack.
To his surprise it was Mea who got a spell off first. With a move she had been practicing recently, Mea flicked her hand creating a ring of water around the monster’s beak. The water tightened around the struggling creature and froze as it tried to spew its fiery breath at them. Instead a few jets of fire shot out from the corners of it’s mouth, catching the already damaged feathers of its face ablaze. The parafin let out a muffled screech, loosing its grip on the deck to scratch at its face and shattering the ice ring.
With the creature sufficiently distracted, Keizeron traced a rune with his sword in the air in front of him, and a purple bolt of arcane magic shot out at the griffin. It seared across the claw that was still holding onto the deck, causing it to recoil backwards and lose its grip on the ship. A huge chunk of the railing came with it, and it roared again as it used its wings to keep near the boat.
Sola cussed in annoyance as he watched the piece of the deck fall, he would have to fix that later. He noticed something else move on the deck, and saw Aka poke their head out from the door that lead below deck, trying to survey the situation. The parafin let go of where its hind claws had punctured the deck, flying above them now. It looked way thinner than a monster this size should be. Parafins were cousins to the flighty griffin, falling into the same family, but had a number of draconic features. Fire breath, and a long reptilian tail were some of the main distinctions. Sola had seen a few in his travels before, but none like this which is why he hadn't been expecting the attack.
Now that it was further from Mea’s range, it coughed out another plume of smoke and a fireball hit the deck with a crash. Sola heard the door to the lower deck slam shut and could only assume Aka had successfully ducked for cover. Keizeron quickly backed under the cover of his quarters, but let out a hiss of pain as the sleeve of his night shirt caught fire. At least the monster’s sickness kept it from doing a full attack, as the fires pittered out before they could reach the helm where Sola was standing. Mea moved around him, creating little bubbles of water to douse the fire before it had the chance to spread.
Keizeron quickly patted out the sleeve of his shirt, and snarled in annoyance as he looked around the scorched deck. They had spent some time water proofing the deck since they had been stuck in the storm so long when they started, they had not yet had the chance to fire proof things. It didn’t look like the attacking monster had the strength to permanently damage the ship, but that didn’t mean Keiz could forgive what it had already done.
Below deck Aka nearly lost their balance on the ladder as they ducked to avoid the blaze, shaking their hands in reaction to the sudden blast of heat that came from the door.
“What was that?” Willow squeaked, holding her rose mace at the ready. She had been ready to follow her younger crew mate up, only to be surprised when they almost fell on top of her.
They knew that Sola and Mea had had the last shift, and that Keizeron’s quarters were above deck. However in the confusion Aka had lost track of where Zero had gone. The three of the woke up before the bell had even gone off when the thing rocked the boat, and had seen each other in the dimly lit hall in various states of readiness for a battle. Yet when Aka and Willow started to make their way above deck, Zero had gone a floor lower. Aka decided not to follow it, and instead trust that Zero knew what he was doing.
Once the roar of the flames died down Aka tentatively opened the trap door again. The parafin was still hovering over the deck, but a bit lower now and its back claws were once again scraping the outside of the Fortune Favors hull. It’s attention was on the crew above deck, so Aka took their chance to level their gun on the edge of the door frame and fired twice in quick succession. The two bullets ripped through the creatures left wing, and it staggered in the air, dropping below deck.
It roared in pain as it sank, grabbing onto the railing again to keep from falling further. It scratched at the burnt wood of the trap door and yanked it off it’s hinges, reaching down below deck for the person that just injured it. Willow let out a startled yell, pulling Aka away from it’s reach.
Above deck Mea and Keiz recovered from putting out the flames in time to see the parafin scouring the inside of the ship. It withdrew it’s paw and leaned down with the obvious intent of blasting the hallway with fire. Mea traced a newer rune she had learned, summoning a number of small ice shards. She flung them at the creature as it lowered it’s head, and the sharp fragments sliced across its skin sending blood and feathers scattering across the deck.
The parafin squawked in protest, shrinking back further down the hull. Using the distraction, Keiz leapt forward, slashing his sword across it’s leg and chest. The creature let out another choked sound, a plume of black smoke escaping instead of a proper roar. With its one uninjured arm it sliced down at Keiz, only to bounce off a sudden shield charm that formed around him. He looked up in surprise and saw Sola holding a hand up, the shield rune on his knuckle glowing a bright gold. Keiz gave his first mate a quick nod, and then withdrew from the parafin while he was protected.
Sola dropped the spell as soon as his captain was out of danger, it was too risky for him to keep up for extended periods of time, even using the rune as a channel. As he got the helm back under control he felt a shiver down his back. Sola stole a glance behind him and winced when he realized how badly he had messed up. Mea was staring at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. She knows. Sola turned back to the wheel in front of him, knowing now was not the time to lose his focus. They would have to have a chat later.
The griffin let out another furious screech, cinders pouring from its mouth as it got ready to torch the deck again. Keizeron and Mea both prepared to counter, when a loud boom rocked the ship. The parafin was violently ripped away from the deck, a new gaping wound in its stomach. The creature let out a pathetic wail as it fell away, it’s scream cutting off as it fell below the clouds once again.
Keiz raced to the edge of the deck, looking down. He saw the tip of one of the cannon poking out from its window, and Zero leaning over it to make sure he had hit his target.
“We have cannons?” Willow asked in surprise as she finally made her way above deck.
“The whole time,” Keiz responded, still looking over the edge. Zero withdrew from the window, disappearing from Keiz’s view and taking the cannon with him. The window clicked shut, and Keizeron turned his attention back to the crew.
“Anybody hurt?” Willow called out, looking up to the helm where Sola and Mea were.
“Fine up here!” Mea called, giving the cleric a thumbs up and patting Sola affectionately on the arm. He shot her a warning look which she promptly ignored.
“Captain? Are you alright?” Willow asked, turning back to Keizeron.
He pressed a hand to his burn, considering if it was even worth wasting magic to heal. It would heal on its on over the course of the day if he didn’t do anything too strenuous. As he tested for the severity of the injury he winced in pain. Not badly, but enough that Willow approached him without another word and cast a minor healing spell. He simply held his arm out to wait.
“So,” Mea said, leaning on the helm towards Sola, her eyebrow raised in an inquisitive way.
“We will talk later,” Sola cut her off immediately, looking past her to where Aka and Zero finally made their way above deck. Mea frowned at his dismissive response, but grudgingly accepted it and made her way to the lower deck to make sure there were no more fires to put out.
The crew slowly assessed the damages to the wood, and were relieved to find other than the damaged railing and a few holes in the wood near the crew cabins it was mostly cosmetic. There were a number of scratches on the hull from where it had scrambled with its lower legs to get purchase, but they hadn’t gone through in more than one or two areas. The burns to the top deck looked bad, but Mea had put out most of the fires before they could spread, so they were mostly contained and only surface level. However this meant Sola would have to fix them before he could go back to bed and catch up on his sleep.
((“Why are you making Sola do the repairs?” Winter asked, flipping through her notes.
“Is he not the boatswain?” Caine raised an eyebrow.
The group went dead silent. “That’s- that's not what a boatswain is.” Ren pointed out quietly.
Caine pulled their phone out, holding up a finger to indicate the group needed to be quite. They furiously typed something into the search engine, and the room was still as they read through the results. Caine’s face flushed a bright red with embarrassment. “We’re cutting this.”
The rest of the group laughed as Caine sank behind their screen. How would they ever show their face around these parts again when five of their closest friends knew they got a somewhat niche word mixed up?
“Wait! No, Sola Rea is the boatswain and general carpenter!” Winter shouted, pointing to her notes from the first session.
Zenith looked at her, and flipped his character sheet over. He quickly read through the background info; “evil parents, escaped from the, hmmm, was a stowaway, failed to save his- oh! Was signed on to the Fortunes Favor as a boatswain and general carpenter! I have proficiency!”
“So I was right that he was supposed to fix the ship, I just had the reasoning wrong. Wait, so if the boatswain is a senior ranking officer, was he basically already first mate before I made him first mate?”
“Wrong formula, right answer,” Lucky giggled.
“Boatswain and first mate are different positions, you didn’t cause any overlap. Though Sola is a busy guy now, being the only person on the ship with three jobs.” Zenith pointed out. “Wonder if I could convince Keiz to give me another raise.”
“Well, I think I can help out with one of your problems,” Lucky said, pointing to one of Willow’s spells.))
Sola sighed, making his way across the deck and wondering what supplies he had on hand to fix things when he noticed Willow crouching next to one of the larger scorch marks. She was muttering to herself, rubbing her hand over the marks. Sola came to crouch next to her, watching curiously as she drew a complicated rune over the wood. Willow tapped her holy symbol, and with a start he remembered that her powers weren’t light based. They were earth based. With a bright green glow the board repaired itself, the burns being taken over by new growth.
Several tiny sprouts materialized and Willow finally pulled her hand away, cutting the spell when she realized she was over doing it. “It’s still wood, even if it’s not attached to a tree anymore.” She shrugged when she looked up and saw Sola staring at her, mouth agape.
“Can you fix the rest of the hull?” Sola asked hopefully. The less planks he needed to use now, the more they would have later for instances where Willow was low on magic.
The first mate followed her below deck, and together they repaired the hole the parafin had punched in Zero’s room. Sola noticed that she was hesitant to lean out to get a better look, and sighed. He’d have to get out there himself, and wouldn’t be able to rely on her magic to finish fixing the scratches to the outside of the hull. Once they completed what they could, he begrudgingly made his way to Mea. As the quarter master, she had access to the supplies he would need to finish the job.
Sola was dreading going to see her, but knew that he wouldn’t be able to avoid her questions forever. She kept her calm as he approached her to check their supplies, but as soon as they were in the storage room together she slammed the door shut and rounded on him. Sola was annoyed, but didn’t stop her. At least she had the decency to confront him alone.
“You have magic,” She said quickly, her eyes wide with excitement.
Sola grimaced in response. He doubted he’d be able to lie his way out of this, but he had to try. “I have magic tattoos. One of which can summon a shield or create a shield spell.”
She shook her head in annoyance. “No, I know I'm not the brightest but I know the difference between using a rune for magic and using a rune for a particular spell. If you removed the tattoo you wouldn't be able to use the shield spell anymore, but you’d still have magic.”
Mea stared at him, confusion crossing her face. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t want to use his powers, and after a moment he finally broke eye contact. She huffed as he looked around the room, trying to find something to say. There were a couple of crates with some spare cloth, the clothes he bought, some food that didn’t require special storage. He was sure the extra planks he needed were under the boxes and just couldn’t be seen at the moment. But there was nothing in the room that would get him out of this conversation he found himself in.
As the time drew out Mea let out a concerned huff. “Look, I’ve also had troubles with my magic before and I’m still trying to learn. If you need help we can ask Keizeron-”
“It’s not that,” Sola interrupted. “My magic has a bad source and I’d rather not use it if I can help it.”
“A bad source?” Mea repeated with concern. “Does it not come from you?”
“I-” Sola crossed his arms defensively. “My parents had me with the intention of creating something powerful that they could use. They were awful people who didn’t care about me, other than what purpose I could serve them. I tried to run away several times when I was younger, and finally when I was seventeen my dad did this,” Sola gently covered the scars on his face and his blind eye. Mea gasped, covering her mouth in horror. “But I got lucky. My dad thought he had killed me when he saw what he did, and when he went to get help he left me alone long enough to get away. I never looked back. I crawled into the first airship I found out of town and the captain was kind enough to let me stay. I do not want or need the magic my parents forced onto me, and I don’t want to draw their attention by using it.”
“Sola I’m so sorry to hear that happened to you.” Mea timidly held her arms out, and after a moment he accepted her embrace. She hugged him tightly for a moment before pulling back. “I know what it feels like to be disconnected from your magic. If you ever decide you want to take it back, I’d be willing to help you. It’s not their magic Sola, it’s yours and you should be able to use it.”
“Maybe,” Sola took a step back from her. It wouldn’t be that easy and he knew it. “but right now I’d rather not think about it. Mea, please don’t tell anyone about this. I’ll tell them myself when I’m ready.”
Mea hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. “I promise.”
((“Have to update my sheet about who knows what about who,” Caine grumbled. Aria forbid any of them meta game. It would be a lot more interesting once everyone's secrets were finally out in the open, but they had a while to go until they earned that.))
Sola took what he needed to finish the job from the storage room and left Mea to count what was left. He went above deck, feeling a chill in the air despite the sun finally rising and prepared himself for another long day of sailing. While he was still uncertain about his abilities, he felt just a little bit lighter knowing there was someone who cared enough to help him.
