Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Eight — Visitors
Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Eight — Visitors “You know, we should, by all means, just fly right on past Inkwren,” Amaryllis said conversationally. “We have enough fuel to make it to Walker’s Rest. Maybe Farseeing, if the winds decide to turn in our favour.”I pouted. “Yes, that’s true. But then we wouldn’t get to visit Inkwren.”Amaryllis rolled her eyes at that. We were both out on the poop deck of the Beaver Cleaver, from which we looked down at a lake whose name I didn't know. The winds were blowing against us from the south, so we weren’t making great time. But the destination wasn’t very far, so it didn’t matter too much.I could see Inkwren ahead of us already. It was a sprawling city, chopped up into multiple large districts that were easy to tell apart even from way up here. The city was more or less bean-shaped, with one end close to the shore and the rest stretching out and away, with plenty of fields and a few smaller villages dotting the surroundings.It was probably one of the larger cities I’d ever seen on Dirt, made larger by just how flat and even the ground around it was. There was lots of room to expand into.“We can stay here overnight,” Amaryllis said. She raised a warning talon at me. “Overnight. We won’t be staying for much longer than that, even if we end up running into any sort of adventure.”I grinned. “Okay. We can stay at an inn or something, maybe? And maybe we’ll have a bit of time to play tourist. I do want to buy a few books for Booksie’s wedding gift.”“Hmm, I suppose that’s not a terrible idea,” Amaryllis shrugged. “But let’s avoid any... local politics, shall we? Inkwren should be safe as long as you keep out of Academy politics.”I could agree to that easily enough.The city had three airship-ports around it. Two seemed relatively small, however, so we moved towards the largest of the three which seemed more commercial than the rest.The traffic wasn’t nearly as busy as in the air around Goldenalden or over the Snowlands, but that made sense.The nearest cities to Inkwren were all reachable over land, and this was an academic city, not a trading one. We’d flown too far from New Horizons to see it out to our east, but it was somewhere over there. Then there was Elkensteel to the southwest and Smoulderglen to the south-and-west-but-not-that-much-west. Walker’s Rest, the place Amaryllis had mentioned, was to the southeast, and we were likely going to stop there, too.She’d called it the breadbasket of the Harpy Mountains, which was strange since from my maps, it didn’t look like it was in the mountains at all.Since we were getting closer to the city and would probably need more help getting the Beaver Cleaver into the right spot, I called for all hands on deck, and soon the entire crew were getting the ship ready to land.Clive took the wheel for the more delicate manoeuvres that would set us down, and I grabbed out semaphore flags and got ready to send signals back and forth with the tower in the middle of the airship port.A tiny, distant figure atop a platform directed us forwards and down towards a free dock, and I waved my flags back in a polite thank-you. “Dock fifteen!” I called out across the deck while pointing in the right direction.We had to spin the Beaver Cleaver almost all the way around to enter the dock properly, but we were quick about it and soon enough the Scallywags were tossing out lines for dockworkers to grab, and the ship was carefully lowered onto big pads that rocked a bit as we touched down.The hard part was handled, but that didn’t mean that we were entirely done either. I bounced around, helping everyone secure things in place and working through the shut-down procedures. It looked like the dockmaster wasn’t around yet, so I figured I might as well be helpful.That’s when Awen came up to me, clutching a wooden clipboard. “Ah, can we talk for a moment?” she asked.“Sure, what’s up?” I asked.“Just a list of things I’d like to get while we’re here,” she said before handing the homemade clipboard over. It had a small list of items on it, which I carefully read over.“We need more gas in the balloon?” I asked with a glance up to the Beaver’s balloon.Awen nodded. “We do. Some will always leak out. Gaskets aren’t perfect, and the wind and stress squishes the balloon a little. I also need some oils and lubricants for the engine. The last fuel we used wasn’t great. I don’t think I have time to drain the entire engine, but we should at least buy better fuel here if we want to keep the engine in good condition. Um, I want to look at the gravity engine too, now that we’re settled. I can’t really maintain it completely when we’re airborne.”I nodded along. That made perfect sense. “You want us to check the rigging too?” I asked. “Didn’t we get that replaced recently?”“Yes, but I’m noticing a little bit of use on some lines. I don’t think it’s anything too concerning, but we should look at it anyway.”I couldn’t argue with that. “And the propeller?” I asked, pointing to the last item on her list.“I just want to inspect it. I might need to be lowered off the side of the ship for that. I can make a seat for it. Like a swing. I’ll need someone to work the winch while I do that.”“I’m sure we can find someone to help you. Maybe Steve or Gordon, they both know a fair bit about ship maintenance too.” Then I wrapped Awen in a quick, tight hug. “Thanks Awen.”Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.“Ah, just doing my job,” she said with a bit of a squeak.“Yeah, but you’re taking it very seriously. You didn’t need to. We didn’t become friends just so that we could have a mechanic. But I appreciate it-appreciate you-anyway. You’re keeping our home in tip-top shape!”Awen flushed. “Just get me the things I need, please,” she said, her voice turning to a whisper near the end.I gave her a last squeeze before breaking off the hug. “I’ll do what I can! I bet we can find most of it near the port too.”Awen nodded. “That would make sense.”The port had a few large hangars around it, some large enough that they might be able to fit even a ship as wide as the Beaver Cleaver if its balloon was removed. The port didn’t seem overly busy otherwise, however. There were twelve docks, and only a quarter of them had ships berthed at them at the moment.Amaryllis got to the port authority people before I did and started negotiating with them right away. She seemed to have things well in hand for the moment, so I went around and quizzed the rest of the crew about what they wanted to do.If we were going to stay in the city overnight, then we’d need to keep a team on the ship while the others got to explore, and then we could switch things around. It was still early in the afternoon though, and I wasn’t in a hurry to leave just yet, so I decided that I’d stay on until later. It would be nice to go shopping in the city in the early morning anyway. Maybe we could grab breakfast too?The Scallywags were eager to head out in any case, bolstered by their recent success in the Golden Light Dungeon, so once we had a gangplank running from the Beaver to the docks, we let them loose on the city. Gordon volunteered to keep an eye on them, just in case.Even Clive wanted a bit of shore leave. “Running out of herbs for my pipe,” he said as he walked over to the edge of the ship. “I’ll be back before dark, no worries. not my first trip out to an unfamiliar city.”I waved him off, then rocked on the balls of my feet for a moment as I realized that I didn’t really have anything to do at the moment. That was... kind of annoying, actually. We had plenty of long moments of downtime as we travelled, but here I was in a whole new city, and it felt wrong to be bored.So I started cleaning the Beaver up. Mostly that meant walking along the deck and letting my Cleaning aura scrub away at any marks left on the deck and any little oil spills or bird droppings left on the hull. By the time I’d done a quick circuit of both decks, the Beaver looked properly neat. All that was left was tidying up some of the tools and ropes that we’d left out. I recoiled some of the ropes and stored our things back in their places.Now we were neat and tidy. I nodded to myself, proud of how good the Beaver was looking.I was just finishing up when I noticed a small group climbing the ramps of the dock. We were the only ship on this end of the docks, so unless they were very lost, they were definitely heading this way.“Amaryllis, we might have guests,” I called out.Amaryllis perked up, then nodded. “I’ll get my gear,” she said.I blew a big breath out. I’d meant to tell her more so that we could get ready to receive some friends, not for a fight.Still, soon enough Caprica and Calamity were on the deck too, and I couldn’t help but notice that they were both armed as well.Awen came up soon too, though she lingered by the hatch hiding her deployable turret.“We don’t even know who they are,” I complained.Caprica shook her head. “It’s only wise to be prepared for trouble,” she said.The group was made up of three people, all wearing long black robes which probably looked serious and dignified most of the time, but our visitors had to hike them up to clamber up the ramp, to say nothing of the blustery wind.“Those look like school robes,” Amaryllis said. “They might be from one of the academies.”“Not government, then,” Caprica said, her shoulders relaxing a little.“Might as well be,” Amaryllis said. “The only advantage we might have with them compared to a government official is that the academies are all competing with each other, so if you gain the ire of one, you might have inadvertently made friends with the others.”I moved to the edge of the gangplank, then made sure my clothes were all sitting right and that my ears were properly straight, even my left one which liked bending in the middle when I wasn’t paying attention to it. I put on a welcoming smile when they finally reached the deck. I was about to say hi, but then all three of them stopped, hands going to knees and breath coming in laboured gasps.“Hi,” I said a moment later. “Do you want some water? Or a seat? We have benches.”One of them raised a hand in a ‘one moment’ gesture, reached over to his shoulder, grabbed something small and dark, then placed it on the ground.A moment later, that dark little thing... that person scurried over to the edge of the dock.They were about half a foot tall, with an angular little face on which a pair of glasses hung and two large ears. “Greetings,” they squeaked mousily. “We are here to inspect your vessel for contraband on behalf of Pedlington Academy. Please do not interfere with our official investigation!”
* * *
Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Nine — The Little Cheese of Airship Inspections
Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Nine — The Little Cheese of Airship Inspections “Wow!” I said. “I’ve never met someone like you before.”The little person from Pedlington Academy glared up at me and put his hands on his hips. “I can tell you’re not local,” he snapped.“Is it because I don’t recognize you?” I asked. I realised that I might have been a little insensitive. “I’m sorry. Let’s start over. I’m Captain Broccoli Bunch of the Beaver Cleaver. That’s this airship right here. You said you were from Pedlington Academy?”The others from the academy were mostly done catching their breath by then, though I noticed a few red faces still. They were two boys and a girl, and all three were humans, maybe a couple of years older than me and most of my friends.The little mouse-person puffed out his chest. “I’m assistant-adjunct professor Cornelius,” he squeaked. “And I’ve been sent here to inspect your vessel for contraband. I’ll have you know that judging someone like me based on height alone is the height of insult.”“Oh, I didn’t mean to insult you,” I said. “Would it help if I was closer to your size?”He blinked. “Are you mocking me?” he asked."No, no I just want you to be comfortable!" I grinned. "Watch this, it's neat!"I stepped closer, crossing from my ship and onto the dock, then distorted my proportions mid-stride, aiming to be as small as I could. The rough wood surface of the dock rushed up into my field of vision as the world towered up around me, the three humans taking an uncertain step back.That still wasn’t quite as small as Mister Cornelius. He was about as tall as my (normal) handspan was long, and at my shortest I was still about as tall as my knee (again, my normal size’s knee) so I was still almost three times his height.Cornelius still had to look up to meet my eyes, but not nearly as much as before. I grinned, then grabbed the floppy ear blocking half my sight with both hands and flung it aside.I almost toppled off the edge of the dock with the momentum.One day, I’d figure out how to make my ears and tail change size when the rest of me did. As it was, my tail was making my skirt ride up in the back in a way that was downright improper, but fortunately all the academy people were in front of me. “How’s this, then?” I asked, my voice a bunch squeakier than usual.Cornelius blinked a few times, then adjusted his glasses. “I will admit that I am intrigued,” he said.“What’s intriguing you?” I asked.“How did you become... smaller?” he asked.“Oh, it’s a skill,” I said.“Yes, I’d gathered that much,” he said. “What a bizarre skill.”“It can make me bigger too!” I said. “Ah, but it doesn’t last forever. I’m only gonna be small for a couple more minutes. It’s hard on my mana.”“Interesting, interesting. Would you like to come to the academy? I can think of a few professors that would like to study the skill. You’d receive a stipend and room and board for a week or more!”I blinked. “Um. No thanks. I think I’m independently wealthy?” I glanced back to Amaryllis, who shrugged and made a ‘so-so’ gesture. “And I have a place to live already. Besides, we’re only going to be here for a little bit. We’re planning on taking off tomorrow at the latest.”“Ah, right. I suppose that’s fair. In any case.” He cleared his throat and pulled out an itsy-bitsy clipboard from a satchel hanging by his waist. “We’re here to inspect your ship for outgoing contraband.”“Outgoing?” Amaryllis asked. “Not incoming?”“We don’t care what you bring here,” he said. “We only care for items you might be smuggling out of the city.”“But we just arrived,” I said. “When would we have time to get things to smuggle out?”“You might have contacts within the longshoreman’s union,” he said.Well, that was technically possible, I supposed. “Are you going to want to inspect the ship again when we’re about to leave?” I asked.Cornelius adjusted his little spectacles. “We might.”“Do you have the authority to do that?” Caprica asked. “It seems to me that it would be the city itself, or the local government, who would be put in charge of contraband inspections. Not... no offence, but not school enforcers.”“We are from a prestigious Academy. Not a school,” Cornileus said, sounding rather snooty for someone who could fit in the palm of my (normal) hand. “We have the authority of the Academy.”I turned around, then shoved my ears out of the way again to stare at both Amaryllis and Caprica. They were the more legalwise of my friends. Caprica was the one to answer. “I don’t know enough about Inkwren’s legal system to comment with any surety. But from what I understood, there are multiple schools in competition with each other here. I doubt any of them would allow another so much legal power even if that would mean giving themselves that much more power.”“I don’t know much either, but I’ll admit that his demands are rather suspect,” Amaryllis said. “Did you bring any proof?” The last was aimed at Cornelius himself.The mousy man harrumphed very mightily, but not all that scarily. “I come with the authority granted to me by the good name of the Pedlington Academy,” he said.“Unless he has official papers of some sort giving him more than just an Academy’s authority, I say we don’t let him or his friends onboard,” Amaryllis said.“Do you think you could stop us?” Cornelius asked.There was a sudden spark of tension in the air.Caprica’s hand strayed to the hilt of her sword, Calamity casually plucked an arrow from his hip-quiver, Amaryllis flicked her daggerwand around and started to casually clean her talon with it.Then the top of the Beaver’s deck burst open and Awen’s pedal-action, multi-crossbow turret unfolded itself from the ship’s interior and slewed towards the Academy people.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.“Ah, guys, let’s not get all threatening, please?” I said.I glanced to Cornelius and used my Insight skill on him.A level 10 Academy Administrator, very nervous.The others behind him were all around that same level. One of them was past level ten, but not by very much, and his class was Scholar of History which... well, it didn’t sound like a really obvious combat class. Unless he studied ancient combat arts or something? That could be strong.Still, the way the academy people backed up suggested they were properly intimidated.I popped up to my full height, then wobbled for a moment as I regained my balance-it was tricky going from very small to normal-sized! “Alright, alright, enough of that,” I said. “Mister Cornelius, ah, maybe a slightly more friendly approach next time? Guys, these aren’t pirates, or bad guys, or monsters, just some nice students and such.”“Hmph,” Calamity said. He flipped the arrow around and started to pick at his teeth with the head.“Yes, I can see that we made a minor miscalculation,” Cornelius said.“That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends,” I said.Cornelius CheddarDream: To be tenured.Desired Quality: Someone who’ll help him climb the scholarly ladder.Well, he didn’t seem like that bad of a guy at all. Just a teacher of sorts that was out of his depth.“I have a more pertinent question,” Amaryllis said. “What kind of contraband are you looking for in any case? What’s so precious that the Academies don’t want it leaving the city?”“Why, books, of course,” he said.“Books?” I asked.“Library books!” Cornilius waved his clipboard in my direction, but it was too small and moving too quickly for me to read. It looked like a list though. A list of books? “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to track down an overdue book once it’s outside of the city’s limits? It’s impossible!”“Uh, I see,” I said.“No offence, captain, but I truly doubt it,” he said. “We have been on the case for some books for years. Not even the most stringent regulations will stop some ne'er do wells from sneaking their way out of the city with a book.”“Wow,” I said. “That’s some dedication. Is your library the biggest in the city?”He turned his face away and mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘certain collections of ours are the largest’. “In any case,” he said after clearing his throat with a squeaky cough. “We aren’t just looking for books from our academy. If we find books from one of the others then we will return them to their proper place. Of course.”“Just like that?” Amaryllis asked.“During the monthly book-hostage exchange, yes,” he said.That sounded a lot more serious than anything book-related I’d ever seen. The most complicated book-thing I’d participated in was a bookfair, and that was mostly me walking around looking at all the nice erasers and stuff I couldn’t afford.“Well... maybe we can let them look around? I don’t think we’ll have any books that are theirs,” I said.“I’m voting no,” Amaryllis said. “I don’t need strangers rummaging through my stuff.”“Are we putting this up to a vote?” Caprica asked. “If so, I suppose I don’t mind. As long as they are supervised and we can inspect them before they leave. Trust but verify.”“I don’t care either way,” Calamity said. “But I’m leaning towards no.”“I’d really rather not have strangers poking around the engine room,” Awen said, her voice muffled by the glass ball of her turret.I counted on my fingers, which was easy since there was only five of us. “That’s three ‘no’ and two ‘yes,’ I guess that means that we’re not going to let you inspect the Beaver today. Sorry. Maybe try again when we’re about to leave? It’s not like we’ve had time to grab any books to steal since we landed, anyway.”“Not steal, merely... have overdue,” Cornelius said. “Or bring out of the boundaries of the city. There are clear rules, and a test for anyone that wants access to a library permit.”Wow, this place took their books really seriously. “Oh!” I said with a quick clap of my hands. “Maybe you can help us, actually. We were thinking of visiting the city once the rest of the crew comes back from their leave. We’re going to go shopping for a wedding gift.”“A wedding gift? Have you considered paying for the bride or groom’s tuition?”“Um, I was thinking of a really nice book. The groom is a bit... size-challenged, and the bride owns a bookshop, so I think they’d both appreciate something special.”Cornelius rubbed at his chin. “Pecorina’s your best bet. She’s an academy-neutral bookseller in the city centre. It’s a small shop, but she has a lot of specialty goods. Pecorina’s... fiercely independent, but seeing as you’re not Academy recruiters, you might have a better chance with her than I do.”“Oh, that's kind of you, thanks,” I said. I looked at Cornelius, then at the three students behind him. “Will you need help getting to the ground? We have a winch.”Cornelius crossed his arms. “We’ll be fine walking. Thank you very much,” he said.I pretended not to notice the slumping of shoulders behind him.“Well, in that case, have a safe trip back! Did you want some water before you go?”“We’ll be fine. Thank you,” Cornelius said. He narrowed his eyes at us one final time, then scurried back to one of the students who dutifully scooped him up.“Bye-bye!” I said with a friendly goodbye wave.“That mouse is gonna be trouble,” Amaryllis said.“I’ll say,” Caprica said. Then to my shock, she reached down between her legs and pulled up Orange. She’d been squishing the spirit cat between her calves the whole time? “I hope there aren’t too many mousefolk in town who want to visit the Beaver because I won’t be here to catch this lady every time.”
* * *
