Chapter Five Hundred and Forty — Love Matters
Chapter Five Hundred and Forty — Love Matters "So, you wanted to talk?" Caprica asked.We'd made it to the Beaver... eventually. It took a bit of getting lost before that, but we did make it back. By then, the sun was set, but it was pretty much winter, so that wasn't anything too special, the sun was setting pretty early.Caprica and I, as well as a few others, were in the dining area of the ship. Calamity was recounting the day's adventure to the Scallywags who'd had their own mini-adventure out in the docks, trying out local foods and daring each other to eat the biggest, juiciest bugs they found for sale.I smiled and nodded. "Yup! It's nothing too serious. Um, maybe in your room? Or up on deck, if you want?""The deck would be nice," Caprica said as she made for the door. "No, Bastion, I'm not fleeing, and this sounds like a private thing, you can stay here." The last was, obviously, aimed at Bastion, who'd started to stand from his seat. He paused, then nodded and sat back down.I supposed that the Beaver was a relatively safe space, even at dock.I followed Caprica to the rear of the ship in companionable silence, then up the stairs and onto the portside main deck. It had been a warm, muggy day, but as soon as the stars came out, it had cooled down quick-the air was chilly and humid. I took in a deep lungful, let it warm up inside me, then exhaled it slowly as a wispy trail of vapour. Just cold enough for that, which was nice."Reminds me of home," Caprica said. "The cold air, I mean. Though home is a lot dryer than here.""Yeah. I like the cold too. I guess Sylphfree is colder all year round?""Indeed," she said before she made her way to one of the seats next to the rails. She sat down, then stretched back to spy at the stars around the ship's balloon. Only the brightest were showing. Deepmarsh wasn't as well-lit as an ordinary city, but there were lights around masking the stars. "What did you want to talk about, Broccoli?""Hmm... I don't know where to start," I said honestly. "But I guess it's like a band-aid.""A what?"I giggled. "These little... plaster things that you put on small cuts. They're sticky, with a pad in the middle that absorbs blood. They keep boo-boos clean, but they hurt when you rip them off. We have an expression about them. It hurts less if you just take it off quickly, instead of picking away at it.""I think I see what you mean," she said. "So, I suppose... rip away? I already know what you want to say to me."I blinked. "You do?"She nodded, then her head tilted down, and her shoulders hunched up, like she was dreading what was coming next. "You want me off the Beaver.""... Huh? No I don't," I said.I think something in my tone must have conveyed how surprised and confused and a little bit hurt I was, because she looked up to me right away. "You don't? Broccoli, this... this kind of meeting is how you deliver bad news! Wait, is it something worse?""No! I just wanted to talk in private. I mean, I guess it's a little sensitive, but it's not bad. Not really?""Oh... well, I've made a fool of myself, then," she said.I paused for a moment, then giggled. "Just a bit?"She huffed in a very Amaryllis-like way, though she didn't quite have the touch. "You're supposed to be comforting, I think.""Sorry," I said. "But... yeah, I did want to talk." I moved over and sat next to her, then scooted to the side until our hips bumped. "It's, ah, it really is a delicate thing.""'Rip the bandage'... or however your saying goes."I nodded, then adjusted one of my floppier ears (the right one) back up straighter. "It's about Bastion," I said.She tensed up. "You have a crush on him and are madly in love," she declared."No? I mean, he's cute, I guess. He has a nice rugged chin.""His chin?" Caprica repeated."But yeah, I mostly wanted to talk about your crush.""What crush?" Caprica asked. I suspected that she had a skill that helped her keep a diplomatically expressionless face, or maybe it was just practice, but her expression remained unnaturally neutral.I shifted to the side a bit, my upper arm bumping against her shoulder. It was strange, most of the time I didn't notice it, but sitting next to her... Caprica was tiny. Sitting down, the top of her head only barely came up to my shoulder, though her wings were taller than me, even folded up."Your crush on Bastion.""I do not know what you're talking about, Captain Bunch."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site."Too formal," I said.Caprica crossed her arms. "I don't have a crush on Paladin Bastion," she said.I placed a hand over my mouth as a giggle escaped me. "Caprica..." I said.Caprica stiffened. "I meant... as an example. I could also be denying a crush on Calamity, for example, or, or Clive.""Isn't he like, the age of your dad?" I asked. Not to be mean to Clive, he was a great pilot and a good friend, but he was a bit... senior compared to all my other friends."Well, maybe I like older men!" Caprica said."I mean, yeah, obviously. Bastion's way older than you," I said."Only a few years," Caprica said, then she blushed all the way to the tips of her ears. "Argh! Please tell me I'm not so obvious.""You're not so obvious," I lied. I didn't like lying to my friends, but she had asked.For some reason, Caprica covered her face and groaned. Was my lie not convincing? "Everyone knows," she moaned. "Bastion... does he know?"I reached an arm around her shoulders. "I actually don't know," I said. "I mean, I'm sure he thinks you're fond of him, but maybe he just thinks that he's your favourite Paladin?""He is," she said before slowly uncovering her face. "Broccoli, what do I do? I love him so much, and he barely even looks at me.""I'm sure he thinks you're very pretty," I said."That's not what I mean!" she pouted in a very princess-y way. "Am I not feminine enough for him? I tried to look as pretty as possible in Sylphfree. I wore dresses, did my makeup, took care of my hair and skin, and barely a glance.""Oh, Caprica, boys don't notice it when girls make a lot of effort to be pretty. Only other girls notice that," I said.Caprica groaned again and let her head fall back against the edge of the railing with a soft bonk. "That's so unfair," she muttered, staring blankly up at the stars. "Why go to all the trouble if the person I'm doing it for doesn't even realize?""Because you want to," I said. "And because you deserve to feel pretty and confident and good about yourself, even if no one else notices.""That's not the point," she said. "I want him to notice. Not everyone else. I don't want to be admired by strangers, or have other girls compliment my hair. I want him to stop treating me like I'm still twelve and made of glass."I leaned a little into her side. "Then maybe you need to show him that you're not."She gave me a look. "How do I do that, exactly? Start flexing in front of him? Challenge him to a duel?""Could work," I said with a grin. "You're pretty good with a sword, right?""I'm good, but he's amazing." Caprica let out a dreamy sigh. "If he took me seriously, I would get my butt handed to me.""Well, I think it's less about martial prowess and more about impressing him as a, ah, peer? Maybe? I don't know how Bastion thinks, but maybe he'll spend less time thinking of you as someone he needs to protect and more time thinking of you as a friend if you need less protection?"Caprica considered it. "To be his peer would mean being as strong as him, Broccoli. As strong as a Royal Paladin. I've been working on that for years now!""You could also just tell him how you feel," I suggested."I think I'll start training to become stronger right now," Caprica said after gulping."You don't have to pour your heart out in a love letter sealed with rose petals or anything. Just... tell him you like him. Invite him to go for a walk, or watch the stars, or punch a monster together. Something casual.""I don't think Bastion does casual.""Then do serious," I said. "You're good at that."She opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. Thoughtful. "Maybe... maybe I'll try."I nodded. "That's all you need to do."We stayed up there a little longer, turning to look out over the water beyond Deepmarsh. A wispy fog covered the lowlands, glowing softly in places from the lights of the surrounding villages and a few adventurous boats. Overhead, a scattering of brave stars shone through the city's glare. The night was quiet, gentle, like a held breath. Caprica leaned against my side again, and I let her, happy to offer what warmth I could."I'm glad you didn't want to kick me off the ship," she said softly."Why would I ever want that?" I asked. "You're part of the crew."She smiled, eyes closed. "Still... it's nice to hear."I reached up and gently tugged one of her braids. "If you ever need to talk again, I'll be here. Even if it's just about Bastion's chin."Caprica gave a soft laugh. "Especially if it's about that."
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Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-One — Go West Young Bun
Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-One — Go West Young Bun We could have left early the next morning... but it would be a bit lame to come all this way and then leave less than 24 hours later. Besides, once we started to think about it, it wasn't hard to come up with valid excuses to put off our departure until the early evening.For one, I wanted to take the whole crew out for a nice lunch. Something like a mini-party. That involved finding a nice eatery not too far from the docks that could handle all of us at once on such short notice.In the meantime, there were other things to take care of in the morning. Amaryllis wanted updated maps for the region around the Ostri desert, and Awen wanted to check the Beaver's... everything, really.We had a few bits that needed maintenance, because airships seemed to always need some amount of that, and Awen warned us that if we were heading west and near the Ostri desert, then we'd definitely need better filters for the engine and some additional equipment and water.Bastion had some suggestions as well, which led to him and Caprica heading out to buy some loose-fitting clothes that would better serve to wick off the heat. They came back mostly empt— handed though. That kind of stuff wasn't popular in Deepmarsh.It wasn't like they had deserts here. The entire country was basically one big swamp.Amaryllis' and Awen's initiatives worked out better. Amaryllis popped over to the Deepmarsh branch of the Exploration Guild with Calamity and returned a few silver poorer but with a tube container filled with detailed aeronautical maps of the region.In the meantime, Desiree and Ifound and booked the entire back of a restaurant, with enough seating for the entire crew. We also hired some guards from the docks to keep an eye on the ship while we were gone, just in case. That had been Amaryllis' idea, though. I was too trusting, according to her.We came back just in time to fetch everyone, then it was party time!A rather subdued party, actually.The Scallywags knew how to have a good time, and Gordon brought a little banjo-like instrument along to play some tunes for dancing to, but too many of my friends were the shy, introverted sort that didn't know how to just let loose and goof off.That was okay, though, it meant that there was a slight split in the group, half of us dancing and clapping and making merry, while the other half watched, enjoying the food and having highbrow conversations about ... taxes, I guess.Somehow, we ended up back at the Beaver four hours later than we had planned and half the crew was a little bit inebriated and all of us were stuffed full of local foods that we just had to try.Still, we were all there, and enough of us were sober to get the ship unmoored from the docks and moving along.We flew west.The first night was mostly getting out of the airspace around Deepmarsh. Unfortunately, the winds kept shifting, coming first from the north, then from the south at a bit of an angle. It was a weird twisty air current that we either had to fight through or slow down to handle, and it was easier to just slow down.By the time the next morning came, we were still so close to the capital that I could make out the lights around the city against the morning sky.Still, the next day wasn't all bad. We gained some altitude, gained some speed, and soon were cruising at a respectable clip towards the south west.The fastest route to where we wanted to go actually had us skirting the shore and riding along an ocean-side air current that would have us skimming past a port city called Fort Tempete and then heading past the Darkwoods and towards Needleford.I'd been there before, to Needleford. It was where Awen was kidnapped for the second time, and where we met the Scallywags.I had time to ask the three of them if they wanted to return to their old home, but they seemed more than happy to stay on with the Beaver's crew. They were learning a lot about adventuring, making steady progress with their levels, and visiting the occasional dungeon, which wasn't an opportunity that they might otherwise get.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.Their plans had changed a little, actually. Now all three of them were planning on eventually joining the Exploration Guild. They had a decent resumé now, having worked with us for a couple of months, but we could make it even better!Speaking of levels and the like, I decided to train up my own.Mana Regeneration and Thick Skin were taking a while to get there, but I did have access to one entire Paladin, and Paladins were very chivalrous.I asked Bastion to help me train my Chivalry skill, and we ended up using Caprica as a guinea pig to test the skill on.Mostly, that involved me walking up to her, bowing, and doing things like helping her across imaginary puddles or giving her my arm to walk more steadily.I think she only volunteered because Bastion would show me how to do it with her first, and that involved hanging off his arm and acting like a 'proper lady' around him, but Bastion was too professional to notice her batting her eyes at him.Poor Caprica.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Chivalry skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank C is a free rank!But not poor Broccoli!I was actually getting to the point where most of the skills I had were levelled to the point where I'd need to spend skill points to get them freed up for more levelling.It took the rest of the day to make it to the shore near Fort Tempete, and from there, we coasted westwards through the night.The next day, we sailed past the southernmost edge of the Darkwoods, where the thick forest tried hard to cling to some rocky terrain next to the ocean. Desiree said that if we flew a few hours south, we might be able to see her home way out in the distance, but she was happy to continue with us.By early evening of the second day, we made it to Needleford.I hadn't had the nicest experience in that city, so we swooped in quick, docked, and restocked on food, water, and fuel, all without stepping off the ship unless it was necessary, then took off again, this time aiming straight west towards the open ocean and skirting around the south of the Seven Points.We weren't going to stop by Port Hazel, the capital of Mattergrove. Instead, we refuelled so that we could make a straight flight all the way to what passed for a capital city for the ostri.The Ostri Desert's ostri people were always friendly and respectful to me, but I was a little worried about visiting their desert's only city.Its name was Come Here and Die, which I found to be a less than welcoming thing to call your home city.Why couldn't they name it something nice and welcoming? Happysands, or Come Here and Try Our Yummy Desert Fruit?Apparently there was some historical reason for the name, but I never got to hear the full thing.In any case, we had two days of sailing ahead of us. The season was cold, but that also meant that the winds were calm and somewhat predictable around these parts. We'd be flying into the warmer wind coming off the top of the Ostri desert, but that was fine! If anything, a bit of warmth would be nice.I was looking forward to arriving at Come Here and Die, too! Ostri food was super spicy, but also very yummy, and every ostri I met was cordial and polite.Flying over the ocean was weird. For a while, we couldn't see any land at all, just endless lapping waves below and the open skies above. We did get to see some flying whales dip down close to the water for a drink at some point, and some normal whales swimming just under the surface in big schools of darkened shapes.Two days later, we spotted land once more.It wasn't the lush green of the fields around Mattergrove, or the deeper green of the Darkwoods, or even the muddy browns of the Deepmarsh swamps, but an endless sea of golden-yellow sand.We'd made it to the Ostri desert, and from here, we were only one big stop away from our final destination!Come Here and Die would be our next stop, then, we'd sail straight towards that island that Professor Celiga had talked about!
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