Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Seven — Bright the Next Morning, With Noisy Commotion
Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Seven — Bright the Next Morning, With Noisy Commotion I realized pretty soon after leaving Booksie's place (Rhawr had arrived, and they were going to start breakfast together, so we took off) that getting the Beaver prepared to go in half a day was... somewhat ambitious.It wasn't impossible, of course, but there was a lot of work to do.Awen gave me a very flat look when I broke the news, and that made me cringe both internally and externally. I had just dumped a heap of work onto her, which wasn't a very friendly thing to do. But I promised that I'd do everything I could to help!That probably didn't make up for it, so I promised myself I'd find a way to reward Awen as well as I could! She'd get double hug-rations from here on out, at a bare minimum!We got back to the ship, and immediately jumped to work. We kind of expected to have a couple of weeks to work on the Beaver while attending the marriage, so suddenly having to depart in less than twenty-four hours was really putting a strain on things.Still, I had the best crew and the best friends, and we got to work as soon as we arrived, which helped.Steve and Gordon checked the rigging , replacing worn lines with the Scallywag's help. The balloons that needed patching got their patches done up by some professionals that Amaryllis hired from the docks, and we got a team of carpenters working on the railings that Cholondee had squished.It was going to cost a pretty penny, a lot more than if we just did all of the work ourselves, but it was probably worth it.Carpenters had skills that let them work faster and made their results much tougher and better-looking. We might have to hire someone to go over the rest of the rails, because they'd added little scrollwork and pretty carvings all over. Now we had one section that looked better than the rest.At least, it did until Desiree and I attacked it with some freshly-purchased paints. The shops didn't have the same paints as what the Beaver had before, but they did have this very, very bright green that I thought was particularly eye-catching, so I covered the new railings in a layer of that.Amaryllis didn't like it, she said it made the whole ship look like it belongs in a circus, but circuses were fun and happy places, so really I didn't see the downside.I nipped away that evening with Joe and Calamity to pick up some supplies. I was pretty sure we wouldn't be in charge of feeding Rhawrexdee on the trip over, but it couldn't hurt to stock up a little more heavily than usual, just in case.When we returned, there was a crew finishing up the refuelling and Awen was coming out of the engine compartment, her clothes covered in a splattering of oil and grease. "Everything that's supposed to move is lubricated, everything that isn't is nailed down. I think we're ready to go.""Oh, well done!" I cheered before giving her a thank-you hug. Then I Cleaned both of us off, because... well, she was a bit sticky. Awen was supposed to smell like oil and metal, that's just the scent that I associated with my best friend, but that didn't mean she had to be covered in it.With everything looking pretty good for the moment, I stepped out and bounced over to the nearest restaurant and ordered a little feast to go. I returned a few coins lighter carrying a couple of large sacks filled with all sorts of yummy-smelling goodies.I felt a little bad for the last few workers picking up after themselves on the Beaver. They all perked up and sniffed at the scent of warm food, but they were heading out, and didn't seem to want to intrude on our little mini-party.We ate, chatted, and drank, interspersed with some storytelling and lots of laughter to spice the evening. Then it was off to bed, because the next day was going to be busy.And it was! I awoke at the crack of dawn, used the washroom, got dressed up, then picked out the only friends that were already awake (Caprica and Calamity!) to head out and see if Booksie was ready to go.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.Fortunately, she was!We arrived to find Booksie tugging on a tight leather jacket with what looked like metal inserts around the midriff. "Come in! Come in," she said as she opened the door. "I was just getting ready.""Hi!" I said before waiting long enough for her to get the coat on. Then it was hug time. "Is that armour?""Of a sort," she replied. "I ran out last night and bought a few things. This is something I picked up. It's meant to be riding armour, for hunters and the like. It's not too heavy, which is nice. Oh, and it's padded on the inside, and very warm."She opened the jacket to reveal that the interior was lined with some sort of fuzzy fur. I ran my hand over it and 'oohed' appropriately at the softness. It had little metal inserts that I could feel as I touched it, but they were spaced so that they overlapped and didn't restrict her motion."I got new pants and boots too," Booksie said with a nod. "I, ah, visited an armoury for a weapon, but after talking to the owner for a while, he suggested... well, this." Booksie wandered over to a desk then returned with a weapon... of a sort.It was a club. Not just a simple chunk of heavy wood, but a properly sculpted club, with iron bands around the head and a comfortable looking leather grip. It even had a large sheath with little holes for the tiny spikes on the end of the club to fit into."That does look kind of scary," I said."I suppose. I wanted a sword, but the owner had me swing one around and told me that my form was terrible and that I was liable to cut myself more than any monsters," Booksie replied. She raised the club, then swung it up and down a few times. It swooshed very satisfyingly. "I guess anyone can bash someone's head in, even if you've got no training.""Well, this took a turn for the worse," Caprica said. "If you don't mind, I think I'd like to at least spar with you a little on the trip over. You might not have time to pick up anything past the very basics, but at least you'll be less of a liability.""A liability?" Booksie asked.She turned towards Caprica, and her club trailed with her, clunking against a shelf. "Yes, a liability," Caprica repeated."Don't worry about it!" I said. "We'll have a couple of days to train! I had less than that before I tried my first dungeon, and I was all alone too!"Calamity mostly seemed to think the sight of Booksie and her bonk-stick was funny, at least until we volunteered him (as the only boy) to help carry Booksie's stuff.She was mostly travelling light, but she still brought a very full backpack and some luggage. They were loaded with a few changes of clothes, a heap of books to read, and her pillow. We headed back to the Beaver taking our time even though we were planning on leaving fairly early in the morningThe docks were starting to become very active by the time we reached them. The day Booksie had been taken, there was a full stop and no ship was allowed to dock or leave, and even though some time had passed since, there still seemed to be a bit of backlog from the delay. It was probably going to even itself out soon enough, but still, it meant that the Port Royal docks were super busy by the time we reached the Beaver and climbed aboard."I'll show you to my cabin. Ah, that is, if you don't mind sharing?""I don't mind," Booksie said. "Does the ship have enough of them?""We should! We're trying to convince Caprica and Amaryllis to double up to free up another room, but it's a little tricky." I shook my head. I never thought the day would come that my airship was too small for all the friends I had.Would I need a bigger one?No, I couldn't abandon the Beaver like that.So we just needed a third ship!Admiral Bunch of the Friendship Fleet... there was a nice ring to that.Once Booksie's stuff was stowed away, we returned to the top deck and started to prepare to set sail. Soon enough, we'd be heading out west, towards Awen's home country, and more adventure!
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Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Eight — Get On the Same Page
Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Eight — Get On the Same Page Leaving Port Royal was surprisingly easy. A half dozen ships were trying to come in, so any traffic leaving the city had it easy. I suspect that the captains of those ships sitting around and waiting to dock saw every ship that left as one more berth opening up for their own vessel.They'd be a little bit disappointed in our case. Caprica mentioned offhand that the embassy had rented out our berth for the next month and a bit, so that we'd have a place to return to and so that they'd know where their princess was going to be.They were... a little bit upset that Caprica was leaving, but she put her foot down and personally shoo'd away any guards that tried to accompany us. I heard her muttering something about how she'd only allow handsome paladins to follow her around. Was she talking about Bastion?It had been a while since I last saw him. I hoped he was doing alright!"Alright!" I said as I smacked my palms on the captain's desk to bleed off some excitement. "It's time to plan!"Amaryllis gave me a supremely unamused look. "Calm down, Broccoli.""Aww, but this is super exciting!" I said."I'm aware, but I don't need you bouncing off the walls," she replied before scanning the room. It was just the two of us, and Awen, and Caprica, and Booksie, and Desiree. Actually, it was most of us. Calamity was taking a catnap on the deck with Orange resting on his tummy, and the Scallywags were working on the ship while Clive watched over everything.Booksie reached into a satchel of books, then pulled out two. The first was a familiar tome, the Exploration Guild guide to dungeons. The second was a rolled up map which she unfurled onto the desktop. "I brought this. I hope it helps?""It should," Amaryllis replied as she leaned over the map. "This is more of a political map than a navigational one.""I'll admit, I don't know the difference," Booksie replied.Caprica gestured at the map. "See how the map shows the entire Kingdom of Deepmarsh, and carefully indicates how it is bordered by other countries? That is the chief point of a political map. In this case, we also see the internal provinces, and all the major and minor cities. Since this map is fairly localized, the scale is large enough for features like rivers and lakes to be visible."Booksie nodded."An airship navigation chart will typically show a smaller region at a larger scale," Caprica continued. "That allows the chart to show a much greater density of information. It will show every village, every road, every river. Most importantly for airships, it will show topographic heights and prevailing winds. For this trip, I believe it's short enough that we have a chart that covers the whole route?"Amaryllis nodded. "Indeed." She pulled open a wide drawer and paged through a stack of maps for a moment, eventually retrieving a map which she pinned onto a large clipboard. She placed it next to Booksie's wider map.Desiree leaned forwards. "Where are we?" she asked."We're here," I said, pointing to Port Royal on both maps with twin taps. "And the dungeon we're heading to is... here." I traced my finger across the map to the west and a little ways south. Across the Seven Points mountain range, and not too far to the north of Port Hazel. There was a small blip for a town on the map, but no name for it."The village isn't on the navigational charts," Amaryllis said. "We might have to circle the area for a moment.""Rhawrexdee can help," Booksie replied. "He should be catching up soon enough, and he says that he can see the white of a rabbit's eyes from above the clouds. I'm sure he can spot a town easily enough."I nodded along, that sounded perfect. Once we were close enough, it would solve itself, basically."Awa," Awen said. Amaryllis, Caprica and I all looked her way, and I noticed both Booksie and Desiree looking up with confusion. It was kind of funny, they weren't used to Awen's Awenness. She was usually too shy to butt into a conversation, but she had her ways of letting us know she wanted to add something. "This small town, how close is it to the capital?""The Capital?" Desiree asked."I think she means the capital of Mattergrove," Caprica said. "Port Hazel, right?"Awen nodded."It looks like it's... hmm, a day's carriage ride distant? Maybe a good morning by airship with the wind being neutral," Amaryllis said. "Do you think we'll encounter any issues? We are flying into Mattergrove without any permits."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it."Do we need one?" I asked."Most countries want you to have a permit to cross their border. You also can't just have an unregistered airship. There are people that verify that at every port. But we've mostly been skirting around it by dint of being an Exploration Guild vessel registered in the Harpy Mountains. We might have had a hard time in Sylphfree, but we had Bastion onboard at the time, so he smoothed things over with his presence," Amaryllis said."Oh," I said. "Well, that's ... good. And this might be a problem in Mattergrove?""Maybe," Awen said. "One thing you should know about Mattergrove is that the nobles there are very envious. They're also very jealous of their own power and their... looks? Um, I don't know exactly how to put it, but it can be a mean place to be if you have to deal with the nobility.""How awful," Desiree said. "If a noble dares to besmirch the good name of their fellow nobility for nothing more than petty greed and jealousy, then they ought to have the fur shaved from their tails!"Awen blinked, then shrugged. "I think we should just be careful.""We're flying in from an odd angle. There shouldn't be any real watch posts along this path," Amaryllis said as she touched a talon along the route. "If we fly low, then it's unlikely that the capital will see us, and we won't be spending too much time in this village here, will we?""We shouldn't have to," Booksie said. "Unless we're hiring a local as a dungeon guide?""We'll see about that once we land," Amaryllis said with a firm nod. "In the meantime, let's talk timetables. I think we'll be arriving at the mountains late into the night, so, winds willing, we might arrive at the village tomorrow night. We'll want to use the daylight to cross the mountains themselves.""Too dangerous?" I asked."A little. Not nearly as bad as the Harpy Mountains. These aren't so tall as to be impassable. We can just fly over them, but our charts don't have very precise measurements, so I'd like to see where we're going, or at worst fly much higher than necessary, just in case.""So we'll be there by tomorrow?" Booksie asked. "And back in... four days?""Just about, assuming all goes well and Broccoli doesn't get distracted," Amaryllis said."Hey!" I said. "That's rude, I don't actually get distracted that easily.""Broccoli, if we flew over a menagerie advertising that you can pet all of the baby animals for free, I think you'd find a way to stop the Beaver dead in its tracks."That wasn't fair! Who wouldn't?I pouted and crossed my arms, but didn't rise to Amaryllis' bait, because she was right, and she knew it, and judging by her smug huff, she knew that I knew that she knew."So, are we concerned about time?" Amaryllis asked."Well, I am getting married in two weeks," Booksie said.There was a beat of quiet. "Wait, you mean to tell me that if we're late, you'll be late to your own wedding?" Caprica asked."Rhawr is flying with us. I think if both the bride and groom are late, then it hardly counts," Booksie said."I... suppose," Caprica said. She sounded halfway scandalised. "Well, in any case, having a dragon with us should provide a certain degree of leeway when it comes to dealing with the local authorities. In Sylphfree you'd have the entire army mobilising, Paladins and all, but I suspect that a backwater nation-no offence, Awen.""None taken," Awen peeped."-Won't have the resources or experience to handle a dragon to begin with," Caprica finished."Rhawrexdee won't be coming into the dungeon with us," Booksie said. "He'll be waiting around, however. Probably grabbing a local snack or something.""Oh... we'll have to set some money aside for that," I said. "We don't want to ruin anyone's reputation by stealing a cow or two from some poor farmer.""Yes, that's true," Booksie said. "Half the time I think that the only reason dragons are so rich is because they eat freely and pay no rent."Well, that was certainly a new perspective on things. I hadn't really put much thought into it myself, but I guessed she was maybe right about it.In any case, the trip was on. Soon enough, we'd be over the mountains and landing in Mattergrove!
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