RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Nine - Ironcd Hugs

  “Do you have everything?” Amaryllis asked. Only her head oking into my room, the rest of her not visible since she was leaning in from the corridor.

  I looked at my backpad nodded. “I think so. I guess I’ll be travelling light, huh?”

  I had my best clothes on, armour atop that, and my spade was waiting for me by the door. My bag was nearly empty though. A few books for the flight, some spare clothes, including the suit I’d worn at that ball, some tea-making supplies, and a couple of hats. My captain-ing hat, my top-hat from that one dungeon, and my turtle helmet that was currently sitting on my head. That was it.

  “Travelling light is fine,” Amaryllis replied. “We might do some shopping while out in the capital.”

  I gnced up. “I thought we were going to be doing diplomatic stuff?”

  “Of course we are,” Amaryllis said with an eye roll. “But that won’t take up the eime that we’re there. Our mission is important, yes, but for the most part it boils down to delivering a few messages to the right ears. Perhaps a few bribes and a bit of proof here and there.”

  “We’re not going to be bribing people, are we?” I asked.

  “Oh, not that kind of bribe,” Amaryllis said with a wave of her wing. “But I make promises on behalf of my family. There’s a lot to be gained from trade between Sylphfree and the ing Mountains, trade that would very much be lost in the case of a war.”

  “That makes sense. Make the merts want to avoid fighting because fighting would mean making less money.”

  “Exactly,” Amaryllis said. She stepped into my room fully. She had all of her adventuring gear on, with her dagger strapped by her hip and her feathers looking freshly preened. “I’m ready to head out whenever you are.”

  I nodded and stuffed a b into my pack. Getting caught without a b, or at least a towel, would be terribly silly. “I’m ready too!” I picked up my turtle-shell hat from o the door and wiggled my ears into the helm’s ear-holes. It always made my fur go the wrong way when I put that on.

  Amaryllis and I peeked into Awen’s room while I rubbed my ears straight. “Hey Awen,” I said.

  The meic looked up to me from the floor. She was on her knees o an open duffle bag filled with all sorts of tools and kniacks that looked like they were on the heavier side.

  At least it meant she was finally pig up her room. So many loose things were probably a hazard if we did any maneuvering.

  “Oh, awa, hi,” she said. “I’m nearly done?”

  “Did you paything other than tools?” Amaryllis asked.

  Awen looked down at her bag, then blinked. “Oh, I guess I’ll need an for clothing and toiletries.”

  “I guess I help,” I said as I stepped in, careful not to pce a foot on anything sharp-looking. “Do you have a sed bag?”

  “Yes, here,” Awen said. She found a backpa one of her drawers, uo even more tools, a on the grouo me.

  “Right!” I said. “You’ll want some formal wear, maybe that pretty dress from the ball? And some everyday stuff. Your armour, of course, in case of adventuring. Don’t fet t enough uhings too. One for each day, plus one more in case of emergencies.”

  “B-Broccoli!” Awen whined.

  “ht, I guess I just use ing magic if anything happens.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Broc,” Awen groused. She pouted at me, and I couldn’t help but grab her and give her a hug. What did I do to deserve so many cute friends?

  “e o’s pack up the rest and head out, I don’t think we’re risking being te, but it’s only polite to arrive early.”

  “I’m certain they would wait for us,” Amaryllis said. “Though this is a sylph transport. They might be a little anal about punctuality.”

  "Some people are like that,” I agreed.

  We finished pag up Awen’s things in a jiffy, then climbed back to the top deck. The rest of the crew was there waiting for us. Clive was the first to step up. “Captain.”

  “Clive,” I said. “You’re in charge of the Beaver while we’re off. Keep him in tip-top if you . Just do your best!”

  “Aye aye, captain,” Clive said. “We’ll be dog him up to new in a day or two at most. Lady Albatross left us with plenty of resources, if we need ‘em.”

  “Well dohen,” I said. I spread my arms wide, and the old harpy chuckled as he accepted the hug.

  were Steve and Gordon, both of them saluting easily as I approached. “Have a safe trip, ma’am,” Steve said.

  “You’ll have to tell us what the capital is like, once you’re back,” Gordon replied.

  “I’ll try to remember to grab souvenirs!” I said. “Hugs?”

  My hugging Proficy was getting so much experieoday!

  The Scallywags were , all three of them standing together. Joe looked a bit sour, but that ar for the course. The other two looked just fine. “You three keep safe, alright?” I asked. “And if you fier work around here, at least stick around so that I give you even more hugs when I return, alright?”

  More hugs were had!

  Then it was down to the very st--but most important--member of the crew. “Did you want to e with us?” I asked e.

  The cat looked up to me. At some point, she’d gone from being a spirit kitten to being a spirit... teen? Young cat? Whatever the step was. She was about as tall as my knee when standing up on her hind-legs, which she didn’t do often enough.

  e looked up to me, then stood and did a figure-eight around my ankles. “Oh! You do want to e! Well then, is there anything you want t? I don’t know if you have any toys or anything. Actually, we should get you some toys, shouldn’t we?”

  e pounced up and installed herself on my shoulder, tail tapping the shoulder opposite the one she was resting on. I scratched her tummy fluff while she was there.

  “Okay,” I said before turning around. I gnced around the Beaver. It might be a few days before I got to see him again. “We’ll see you all super soon,” I decred.

  The four of us jumped off the Beaver and nded onto the dock. e cuddled closer so that she wouldn’t bounce off with the motion. The docks were lively and filled with people moving about. A few ships had arrived retly, and they were being unloaded by teams of dockworkers while freight was being shifted about, ready to head out ohe newly arrived vessels took off again.

  Our destination was all of three ships over from the Beaver.

  Her name (or at least I think the ship was a girl-ship) was the Little Ats, but she wasn’t all that little.

  From bow to stern the Little Ats was twice as long as the Beaver Cleaver and almost as wide.

  Uhe Beaver the ship didn’t have a very ship-like appearance. She was a lot boxier, with a prow that was angur and a hull that seemed to be entirely made of steel ptes riveted in pce.

  Amaryllis, Awen and I moved out of the way of a group of sylphs pushing a cart loaded with boxes freshly transferred off of the Little Ats. We waited for the coast to be clear before stepping up to the ship. There were a few pnks set up to allow people to cross over, and one of those had the person that I figured had to be the captain.

  She was a sylph that I suspect was on the shorter side, only ing up to my chest, but her captain’s hat more than made up for it. It was a very ately hat, a bi with a few smaller feathers on the side and a nice badge pio the other.

  “Hello!” I called out with a wave that I hoped roperly jaunty.

  The captain looked up from some papers she was flipping through and looked our way. She said something to one of her crew then stepped over and folded her arms at the small of her back. “Greetings. May I help you?” she asked.

  “Yes ma’am,” I said. “I’m Captain Broccoli Bunch, and these are my panions. We have a, uh, charter onboard your ship today.” I go the side, just to make sure the name on the side of the ship was right. It did say the Little Ats in big bun-high letters.

  “Ah, I see. Yes, I received word about your arrival,” the captain said as she pulled out her papers and checked through them. “A little early, but better tha says here you would be four? Including a... Padin?”

  “That’s probably Bastion, he’s a bit busy, I think. I haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon, but I doubt he’ll be te, that’s just not like him.”

  “I see. I’m Captain Risa Galebane, of the Snapdragon Transportation sortium. It’s a pleasure to meet a fellotain.” She extended a hand to shake, and I leaned forwards to grab it. She had a good grip.

  “I’m still very o the job, so I’d love to hear any advice you have,” I said. Also, she had the coolest name for an airship captain. Way better than “Bunch.”

  “I’d love to share a meal, perhaps once we’ve taken off,” Captain Galebane said.

  “So, permission to e aboard?” I asked.

  “Granted,” she replied, a slight smile twitg up the ers of her lips before she gestured bato the ship.

  We climbed aboard, and I couldn’t help but stare around. There was a balloon overhead, ohat was nearly as rge as the ship itself. There had to be a lot of gravity geors on board to pensate for the small size of the balloon. The ship didn’t have as many sails as the Beaver, but it did have a lot more propellers. Two on the side, o the front in a rge housing, and a rge o the rear.

  “Iing design,” Amaryllis ented. “I think we experimented with multi-prop figurations like this before, but we never found it all that effit.”

  “The gearing must be so plicated,” Awen said. “Uhey have multiple engines, which would bring a whole host of other problems along.”

  “I imagine,” I said.

  Someone ran up to us, a younger sylph who bowed before us. “Hello, and wele aboard the Little Ats. I assist you with your things? I’ll be showing you to the guest quarters.”

  “Sure,” I said. “That would be really nice of you.”

  Awen handed him her dufflebag, which was the only non-backpack bag we had. He hugged it close, then with a grunt of effort, led us to the rear of the ship where a door ced uhe quarterdeck. We went down a level and past a rge cargo hold, parts of the ceili aside to make room for packages being lifted out by the ship’s crew.

  The quarters we had were at the very front of the ship, a small se behind a door with a little living area and some rooms to the sides. They were smaller even than the rooms aboard the Beaver, barely more than a bed and a door, but they’d do for the trip.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I think we’re going to have a great flight.”

  ***

  RavensDagger

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