Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Six — Come Here and Fly (Away)
Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Six — Come Here and Fly (Away) We carried what we could back to the Beaver, and what we couldn't carry came by cart. Chloe hired a few random ostri off the street to pull along a large cart that had a repurposed fuel tank strapped to the back of it.It was funny, she just stepped out of her shop and asked the first few ostri passing by. Most refused her, but eventually a few of them shrugged and accepted, just like that.Apparently long-term jobs were a weird and uncommon thing here."So... no one has a day job?" I asked."Of course they do," Chloe said. "You don't gain levels without specializing, everyone knows that. But most ostri, especially the younger ones, prefer to wander from job to job. Some will find something they're passionate about and stick to that for the rest of their lives, but a lot wander for a long while before finding their vocation, if they ever do. There's a reason that the ostri are unconquerable.""I can't imagine trying to tax them," Amaryllis said.Chloe snorted. "Good luck with that. If you even manage to explain the concept to them, they'll wonder why you need money to do things when you can just do it yourself instead of hoarding wealth to do it later.""The city is very nice and clean," I mentioned. "And pretty friendly.""It's cultural," Chloe said. "You clean up after yourself. You might pick fights with anyone here, but you need to be looking for a fight, and so does the person you'll fight. Beating up someone just minding their own business is such a faux-pas that it's just not done. It's unsportsmanlike, dishonourable, and gains you nothing."Oh. Well, I liked that attitude. Best to make friends rather than punch people. "So if you're looking for people to work on something, you just ask?""And you won't find harder workers," Chloe said with a nod. "But don't expect them to show up again the next morning, let alone in a week.""I don't know where they fall in the trifecta of good employees," Amaryllis said."Ah, the what?" Awen asked."Hard working, cheap, timely," Amaryllis said. "It feels like they hit two out of three, but miss the third one so much that it makes them poor employees."Chloe laughed, which sounded a little like birdsong. I side-eyed Amaryllis. Her laugh usually wasn't so melodic ... unless she giggled involuntarily. Was she trying to make even her laughter sound uptight and serious?Chloe caught her breath. "You'd lose that Harpy Mountain attitude quick enough, if you stayed here for any amount of time, princess.""I'm hardly a princess," Amaryllis said. "Especially not when you use the term so derisively."We reached the Beaver and I stepped back to let the experts take care of refuelling the ship's bunkers. It was something sensitive and dangerous enough that I knew better than to stick my bun nose into it.Since the city didn't seem so bad after all, I told the crew that they could head out and explore the city if they wanted, and some of them took up that offer and did just that. The rule was to stick close, and politely refuse any offers to fight.The scallywags went out for something similar. They wanted to try the local food.They came back an hour later, Oda's face covered in tears. As it turned out, the food here was more than just 'spicey'-it was nearly lethal. He was tearing up and snot kept flowing out of his nose, but he was also putting on a brave face.A bit of Cleaning magic blasted at his face and into his mouth actually did the trick, which was good because I wasn't sure if there was a cure for eating something too spicy.It took a couple of hours to move things into the Beaver and finish the refueling. By the time we were set to leave, it was already mid-evening, and the sun was starting to dip down towards the horizon.Usually, I might have wanted to stay, but... we were on a bit of a timetable, and the information we'd picked up from Chloe and some others in Come Here and Die suggested that the safest route out was north and around, which would add a good day to our travels compared to the straighter route we'd planned on taking.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.Our next destination was the impolitely named Weakling's Rest, far to the north.The Beaver rose, catching a thermal on our spread-wide sails to soap up until we'd climbed to a nice cruising altitude, then we pointed our prow north and spun the engine up.I watched Come Here and Die slowly scroll past behind and below us. I think it would have been fun to spend a few weeks there, and get into some fun trouble, but time wasn't always so free.I'd be back, I decided, one day. Maybe with fewer friends, or more of them. We'd stick around, get used to spicy food, and live the hard but carefree lives of ostri for a while. It'd be fun!But for now, I had a different sort of fun to handle.Since I was too energized to sleep at the moment, I told Clive to head down and get some rest while I took the helm. It wasn't too hard. I just pointed us due-north, the mountains of The Brake way, way off to the left, and the desert ahead and to our right.A few hours into the night, I felt a good wind coming in from behind us, so I shut the main propellor engine down to conserve fuel and helped deploy our sails to near-full to better catch the wind.It was pushing us a little to the east, but the occasional adjustment of the rudder kept us on track.Almost everyone was asleep soon enough, and I found myself nearly alone up on deck. The exception was Orange, who came up and curled down atop a heap of ropes just next to the helm. She was sleeping too, but sometimes her head would move and I'd catch a glimmer of kitty-cat-green eyes in the dark. She was growing up into a fully adult kitty.Time really did fly when one was... flying.I needed to put more thought into that one.In any case, a few people woke up in the middle of the night and came up to see if I wanted to switch out, but something about the warm air and the swaying of the ship was keeping me in this lethargic yet still awake state. So I stayed at the helm and just floated along until I saw the first glimmers of sunshine on the horizon.That's when the sleepiness hit me, and I decided to head down and crash onto my bed.I awoke a bit after noon, to the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen. Someone had opened my door at some point, and it was squeaking back and forth slightly.I yawned big, stretched until my toes shivered, then got up.The scent wafting from the kitchen was pulling me out of the room. It was spicy and warm and... a bit savoury? Was that pasta too?I glanced down at myself, and felt a bit grossed out on realizing that I'd slept in my day wear, not even taking off my shoes of the night. A wave of Cleaning magic made it less bad."Sleep well?" Awen asked from behind the stove."I did," I said. "Or I probably did? I don't remember sleeping at all. I think I could use some more.""Hmm, might be best to, ah, not?" Awen said. "You'll only stay awake all night again.""True," I said. "Need a hand?"Awen smiled. "I wouldn't mind one! I'm making... actually, I don't know.""You don't?"She shook her head, blonde hair rippling. "No. It's just whatever cans we've had for the longest, and some spices that Calamity bought. It smells nice, though, I think? There's no meat!"I came over and peered sleepily over her shoulder. It was, as she said, a bit of everything. Chopped and diced... unfamiliar veggies. I did recognize some chopped carrots, peas and cubed-up potatoes, as well as some radishes and eggplants that looked like they'd been bought at Come Here and Die.I supposed that chopping up any veggie and adding it to warm water wasn't the wrong way to cook them. Plus, the water had turned into more of a broth.Sniffing it from up close made my tummy rumble to remind me that breakfast had been missed. It also smelled very spicy, but in a good way. "Oh, I think this might be good, like chili without ground beef! Get me a bowl, I'll help by taste-testing!"
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Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Seven — All Friends Forever
Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Seven — All Friends Forever Apparently I'd 'captained' too much for one night, so my friends and crew told me to take a day off.It was so hot that I felt like I might melt, but I wasn't one to lounge back and do nothing all day. It was so warm that my ears weren't sticking up straight and kept flopping down in front of my face, like limp noodles. I was obviously not a desert bun, otherwise I'd have ears good for radiating heat. I was more of a winter bun.I made a circuit of the Beaver, splishing and splashing some Cleaning magic here and there and straightening up some clutter. If there was a sudden change in altitude, or some hard turbulence, then anything not fixed down was liable to go flying.Otherwise, the ship wasn't that dirty. I'd hardly spent much time on other airships, but I had the impression that the normal state for most ships was 'grimey' at best. The Beaver, in comparison, was nearly spotless.I supposed that I might have been leaking Cleaning magic here and there, and using it all the time, and generally blasting some as practice... ah, well, it wasn't a bad thing. If we ever ran out of plates we could eat off the floor and not be worried one bit.Soon enough, I ran out of stuff to clean and things to inspect, and with everyone else busy and with it being way, way too warm for training, I decided to retreat to the 'captain's quarters' which was the little office space at the back.Amaryllis had gone around the ship and slapped down some cooling magic here and there along with some spells that made a small gust of constant wind, like a directional fan. The spells didn't last too long, not without being enchanted into an item and being empowered by... magic stuff that I didn't quite understand, but they were still nothing to complain about.The office had a nice desk, and in that desk were papers. Some of these were the well-sorted records and notes that Amaryllis took, but there was room for a lifetime's worth of forms and paperwork.There was stationery on the desk too. Nice pens and blank pages, even some envelopes for letters.That... was an idea.I hadn't always been a very sociable girl.Oh, I always wanted to be, but young Broccoli wasn't as extroverted as I'd become. I was a bit shy when I was small, and that, coupled with the way we moved so often when I was young, made it hard to make and keep friends.I'd still managed, though. At one time, because of a few frequent moves, I ended up with a small collection of penpals. They were mostly older ladies from the neighbourhoods we'd lived in for a while.That had been fun, though more time-consuming than I think most people were ready for. I'd enjoyed it, though. My little shoebox with old letters was one of the few things that I never parted with as we moved.Maybe it was time to get back to that? I had made plenty of friends on Dirt.I sat down at the desk and laid a fresh page in front of me, then I picked up a pen and tested it on a spare page. It was one of Amaryllis' fancy pens, and after fiddling with it for a moment, I figured it out.My handwriting wouldn't exactly be pretty, but it would be perfectly legible.Now... who to write to? I'd made a lot of friends across Dirt in the few months I'd been here. Some of them were out of the reach of a letter, of course. I couldn't send a letter to Oak the dryad or even those cute bees I'd met a long while back. I didn't think they had addresses.I tapped the back of the pen against my lip for a moment while I thought. The air in the office was cool enough that my ears were finally starting to straighten out, like plants reaching for the sun, which was nice."Ah!" I said.Dear Gabrielle,I'd never had too much time to talk to her, but I always thought she was fun and cute, and the thought of plants made her come to mind, she had such a pretty garden that she tended to. Gabrielle was Caprica's little sister, and a princess in her own right.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.I hope this letter finds you in good health and with good company. I'm writing to say a hello from very far away. I heard that your sister hasn't been writing as much as she should (I got on her case about it, don't worry!) and so I decided to write to you myself.We've been travelling a lot since Caprica joined, it's been one big adventure after another, but I'm sure Caprica will tell you all about that when she gets back home one of these days, or in a letter of her own.If she doesn't send one, let me know. I'm her Captain you know? So I can boss her around (a little).Anyway, how are you? And how's your garden? Have you made any new friends recently? If you want to add one more to that list, then feel free to reach back to me! Long-distance friends count too!I bobbed my head from side to side as I kept writing about this and that. It wasn't anything too important, but it felt... nice. Like a rather one-sided conversation.I signed the letter at the bottom, then pulled out another page.This one would be trickier to deliver. I was certain that mail made it to Sylphfree. It was one of the capital cities on the continent, after all. But this one...Dear Carrot, Mom, and all the other Buns!Hi! I don't know if you remember me, but it's Broccoli Bunch. My friends and I visited your little town a while ago, and now we're out on another adventure, but even though I'm very far away, I still sometimes think about your little village of little buns and the fun we had there.I couldn't come up with anything amazing to write about, so I asked how everyone was doing, and requested advice about being a good bun. They'd certainly know more than I would.My only other example for bun behaviour was Booksie, and she'd run away from home, opened a bookstore on her own, and married a dragon. I didn't think she counted as all that usual as far as buns went.I signed the end of the letter, then set it aside next to the one for Gabrielle. There weren't lickable envelopes, so instead I'd have to light a candle (or use magic, I suppose) and stamp a bit of wax to close the letter... which sounded really fun, even if it was a bit of a fire hazard.The next letter took me a long time to write.Dear Emanuel,I hope you've made good friends, and that you're a good friend to them.That one sentence wasn't much, and I wasn't sure if I should even send it, but the cervid definitely needed a friendly reminder that he was remembered.It wasn't always the friendly people that needed friends the most.So I went on a bit of a preachy rant that filled the rest of the page and spilled onto the back. It was Broccoli's Tips and Tricks to Making Lots of Friends.Be the kind of person who celebrates the small wins. Like, did your new friend finally manage to do that one thing they were struggling with for ages? Maybe they got out of bed before noon or something? Then be happy for them and with them. Tell your friends that you're proud.And be present. Emotionally. Not in a spooky 'I know your schedule' way. More in a 'when you talk, I'm actually listening' way.Sometimes people don't want to be fixed. They just want to be heard. I had to learn that the hard way.Oh! And if that doesn't work, try just being nice.People are weirdly drawn to confident weirdos. It gives them permission to be weird too. And the weirder someone feels, the more likely they are to let their guard down. You make space for others by being brave enough to take up your own and kind enough to share it.I squeezed in my signature at the very end, then tossed that onto the 'to send' pile.There was a knock at the door just a moment later, then Caprica poked her head in. "Captain? We've spotted our next stop up ahead. You might want to be on deck for this one.""Oh! Let me put everything away, and then I'll be right with you!" I said.That had been fun! I'd write a few more later on. Maybe to other friends, maybe to my parents even if... even if sending that one would be hard.Keeping in touch was an important part of being a good friend, after all!
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