I looked up at the Siren’s flight. Just after noon, Louprak had said. I could not know for myself since the sun had decided to hide behind milky clouds, but the harbour had a Timekeeper close to the Bourse and she had assured me that it was noon. I had not eaten much. My stomach had tightened up. I had just grabbed a few clementines to eat on the way.

I tapped the bag on my shoulder. My notes were there, along with a few items I planned to use in my presentation, blank paper and a quill in case I needed to write more. This was it. I was ready.

“Hello?” I yelled at the Pterar leaning against the railing and looking bored.

“What do you want?” he called back.

“I’m Luc, I’m supposed to meet Louprak.”

He stood up with sudden energy. “Oh, you’re the Human? Come up then. The Trade Master’s not back yet, but you can wait for him here.”

The sailor bent down and grabbed a plank that he laid on the railing. I grabbed the end of it and put it down. It was thinner than the planks I had seen when the ship was being unloaded, but it made sense. Those were likely heavy, not practical for simply boarding the ship. Seeing my hesitating advance, the Pterar gave me his hand and helped me up for the last few steps.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No worries, I’m Rolik.”

“I’m Luc.”

“Yeah, you said. First time on a ship, Luc?”

“It’s not actually. But the ones I’ve been on before were either smaller or far, far bigger. Easier to get on.”

“What do you mean bigger?” he said, frowning at me. He had brown feathers and a youthful, eager look. “Siren’s flight’s a great ship! You won’t find many merchant vessels larger. Maybe some military galleys, with all their rowers, but that’s it.”

I held up my hands, smiling. If only I could show him pictures of those giant ocean liners from Earth, but my phone had disappeared before or during my fall in the harbour and besides, I doubted that magic could somehow link to the internet.

“I meant no offence, friend. This is indeed a beautiful ship. Would it be possible to get a tour while waiting for Louprak?”

He perked up at that and became full of enthusiasm.

“Sure! Help me pull the plank and I’ll show you around!”

“This is the main hold,” Rolik said, opening his arms. We had followed a wide, slightly descending, ramp close to the deck where we were. We had come into a large, dimmed space that smelled of wood and a mix of earthy scents.

“It’s empty right now ‘cause we just unloaded, but it can carry about 80 barrels. We usually put the rest in the lower hold. That makes about 100 barrels total, though you need a good wind to push her around when she’s heavy like that, ah!” He slapped the wood of the wall like it was a mate’s shoulder.

“So you just roll the barrels on this ramp, onto the deck, and then down to the pier?” I asked. I had a vague idea about how it worked, but I would need more details if I wanted to offer the best services.

“That’s right! Hard work. Those things are heavy. Specially when they’re full of wine or oil. Still, better than crates. Or grain sacks. One time, we had to carry some sort of gravel in big sacks. That was bad.” He shivered at the memory. Then smiled again. “Gave me a level though. A strength Skill. I needed it, all the others have one like it.”

“Yes, I imagine it makes things easier.”

Though I hoped it didn’t make them too easy, otherwise my ideas would fall flat on their face.

“It does! Come, I’ll show you the upper deck! You can look at all the ships from there!”

Before we had gone back to the light though, a terrible voice issued from the pier.

“Rolik! You lazy, wingless, fledgeling! Where are you?!”

The fledgeling in question visibly blanched.

“Oh shit,” he said, “They’re back!”

He hurried back to his post and I followed.

A male Pterar was standing on the deck, his arms crossed and cold anger in his eyes.

“Rolik!” he yelled. “What were your orders?”

The young sailor was hopping from foot to foot and making low gargles.

“To stand watch, sir.”

“To stand watch! And what were you doing just now?”

“Showing the Human around, sir...”

“Showing the Human around! Unbelievable! And who was standing watch while you were gallivanting around the ship?”

“Nobody, sir.”

“Nobody! Now, Rolik, do you think I would have ORDERED you to stand watch if I wanted nobody to actually be watching?”

“Hum.. No? Sir?”

“Damn right!” he yelled.

At this point I felt so bad for the poor sailor that I stepped up.

“Sorry, sir,” I said. “It was my fault. I asked Rolik here to give me a tour. I’m Luc.”

The Pterar turned to me with an appraising look. He extended a hand.

“I’m Koltrak. The Siren’s First Mate. The Trade Master will be here shortly. Will you need anything?”

“I brought two jugs, yeah. I was going to fill them with water for a demonstration.”

“Rolik!” he yelled abruptly, making the both of us jump. “Grab Mister’s Luc jugs and go fill them! At once!”

The sailor almost ripped my bag trying to execute his orders. I gave him the jugs that I had bought earlier from a cheap potter. They had a handle of the side. He took them in one hand, ran to the railing, saw that the plank was still on the deck, looked at his superior with round eyes, tried to manage with one hand, finally realized he had to put the jugs down, lowered the plank, delicately took back the jugs and practically jumped out of the ship.

Koltrak and I looked at each other. He shook his head.

“Fledgelings.”

I was standing in Louprak’s cabin. My two jugs, filled with seawater, had been set down on the desk in front of me. Louprak was sitting on a stool on the other side, with Koltrak hovering over his shoulder. Next to them, a Schalass was watching me intently. Her name was Flyssa. She was wearing a nice light brown tunic with a woolen cape clasped around her neck. Her scales were of a slightly deeper green than other Schalasses, and she was the key to my plans.

“Go ahead, Luc,” Louprak told me with an encouraging smile.

“Thank you, Louprak,” I began. “And thank you, Miss Flyssa and Koltrak for attending. I realize that you do not know me at all and that I will both make claims that you cannot easily verify and present you with ideas that are no more than that at the moment. I will try to be as forthcoming as possible. Please do not hesitate to interrupt me with any questions you might have.”

I stopped and looked the three of them in the eyes, one by one. That was important. You had to address your audience. I went on:

“I am both an Aether Mage and an Enchanter. Still at the lower levels of both of those Classes. However, I have been practising and experimenting on combining their effects. For a few weeks now, I have been working with two Messengers, one of them a Pix who has since found great success in running jobs for the Guard. They have not regretted it...” I paused there. I wanted to add “so far” to make a joke, but, looking around, none of them seemed in a joking mood.

“The gist of it is this: combining a Magic Imprinting rune and Aether manipulation, I can significantly augment a container’s capacity, for a limited period of time. The time depends on the quality of the rune. Mine, tested on small to medium containers, hold magic for about a day before needing to be recharged. The capacity’s improvement seems to depend entirely on my Skill with Aether. It currently adds about 60% in volume at a constant weight. I brought these two jugs to demonstrate what I am talking about.”

“Please do,” said Flyssa. She was leaning forward, which I took as a good sign.

“All right,” I said. “I bought both of these earlier today and a sailor here filled them with sea water.”

I thought I detected the corner of a smile on Koltrak’s face on the edge of my vision.

“Nothing else has been done to them. Would you please inspect them to verify?”

Both Louprak and Flyssa got up. The Pterar simply looked them over with distant curiosity, but the Schalass carefully examined them.

“Please compare both of their weight too,” I added. She did so, taking one in each claw.

“They seem mostly similar,” she said. “This one has a small defect but I don’t think that was intended.”

“It was not,” I said apologetically. “They were not particularly expensive.”

“It’s fine,” she waved and they both sat down. “Go on.”

“Thank you.”

I approached the desk.

“As I said, this enchantment acts both on the inner volume of the container and the weight of what is contained within. I won’t claim to fully understand it, but I believe the rune acts as a conduit between the item and the Aether. I will now enchant one of the jugs to show you the effects I am talking about.”

I took the left jug in both hands and focused on it. By now, the rune came easily to me, though I did not want to make them wait too long so I was somewhat sloppy. I then poured Aether magic into it. I looked at it as pouring in the magic or fuelling the rune, but I wasn’t sure that was the best way of thinking about it. Still. Now wasn’t the time for a deep reflection on the link between Aether and this world. Done, I placed the jug back on the desk.

“You saw me enchant this jug with a Magic Imprinting rune and then charge it with Aether magic. If you could please inspect both of them again.”

They stood up. This time, Louprak checked the jugs with more consideration. Even Koltrak took an interest. Having compared the weight of the two jugs and put her claw in the enchanted one, Flyssa studied me.

“60 per cent, you said?” she asked finally.

“Well, there are two ways of looking at it. If there were ten parts of water in the jug, you could now put another 6 parts, indeed. And with 16 parts, it would weigh exactly – I think, I could not do more precise tests, the same as it did before with 10 parts. Or, you could say that, once enchanted, the jug with 10 parts of water now weighs 62.5 per cent of what it weighted before. That’s the basis of my proposal. Putting more into an enchanted container, like, for example, pouring three barrels of wine into two enchanted ones before rolling them out, wouldn’t speed up the process much and would be a source of accidents. What I want to do is create holders for the containers. I have many designs for these holders that I want to experiment with. Once we have them, my idea was that we would rent them to ships during the day for loading and unloading and I would charge them all in the morning. What do you think?”

I looked at them expectantly. I thought I had made a decent speech. Perhaps I had been too honest about how much I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to make them believe I was some kind of great Wizard only to be disappointed later on. I had plans and they did not involve cheating my business partners.

Louprak was still holding both jugs and comparing their weight, a frown on his face. Koltrak was watching and whispering with him. Flyssa just stared at me.

“How often can you do that?” she asked.

“Once they’re enchanted, I can charge around ten holders in a day depending on their size.”

“You spoke of trying out designs. What do you have in mind?”

“Well actually, I was hoping to confer with Louprak and Koltrak about that. I have a few that may work, but I don’t have the practical experience necessary to know whether I’m right or wrong.”

Hearing their name, the two Pterars glanced up and put down the jugs.

“We’ll be docked here for at least a week,” said Louprak. “I can lend you a few of my sailors to figure out the best way to use your magic.” He turned to the Schalass. “If, that is, you believe this proposal holds merit, Miss Flyssa?”

“It does,” she replied. “You know it does. But I must ask before going further: why did you come to me and not one of the more established Banker or Merchant?”

The Trade Master made a low chuckling sound. He pointed at me with his beak.

“Luc here is a friend of a friend. He is new at this. I would be unkind to throw him to those monsters. Besides, I believe that you two would make a good match. There is potential for growth here, and you are well-suited to bring it to light.”

She thought silently for a while. The look Louprak gave me told me to be patient. Finally, she nodded.

“I’m in.”

“Great!” I exclaimed. I applauded. I had made the first step!

Flyssa smiled at my enthusiasm, then addressed Louprak.

“What part do you wish for in this enterprise, Trade Master?”

“I’ll take a tenth. For putting it together and for the funds I will contribute. I’ll help when needed. I only require that the Siren’s flight be given priority to Luc’s services when we’re in port.”

“Acceptable,” Flyssa said. “Mage Luc. I will provide you with funds to get started, a workshop close to the harbour and my contacts for whatever you will need. You will do the actual work. I propose that we split the rest equally. Nine twentieth each. Are we in agreement?”

I made a show of mulling it over, but in truth, this was more than I had hoped. This would allow me to start this business soon while not having to worry too much about the non-magic part of it.

“We are,” I said. “But I want to stay out of the spotlight. I already had one person asking intrusive questions. I don’t want people to know me as the Aether mage.”

“I will do what I can,” Flyssa replied. “Though you won’t be able to escape it forever. If this works well, and I think it will, you will gain attention. Both good and bad.”

“Yeah, I figure. But I’d like to delay that moment as much as possible.”

“Perfect. Then I’ll handle the administrative side of it and get back to you once I’ve found a place. How can I get in touch with you?”

I glanced at Louprak and he nodded at my unspoken question.

“Inrak’s bookshop,” I said. “Do you know it?”

“Vaguely. You will be staying there?”

“For the foreseeable future, yes.”

“Excellent. Then I’ll stay in touch. Trade Master, I’ll give you an answer tomorrow for that other business.”

“That’s fine,” he said. “Thank you for coming, Financier.”

When she had left, Louprak gave me a strong clap on the back.

“I knew you had it in you, Luc! We must celebrate! Let me get glasses. Wait, how long will the enchantment hold on this jug before the water spills all over my desk?”

“Uh… I wasn’t very thorough… We should probably empty it.”

I was a little drunk when I got back to Inrak’s. Obviously I had shared the good news – not the details, but that I had found backing for my project, with Sirmy and she had insisted that we drink to my success. So it was with somewhat more fervour than usual that I shouted as I entered the store.

“Inraaak! I did it! I got money!”

Inrak and the Schalass customer she was talking to whirled around. I winced. I probably should have looked inside before yelling. But my best friend in this whole wide world yelled back and ran at me with open arms.

“I knew it! I knew you could do it!”

We hugged and jumped and laughed under the puzzled eyes of the Schalass who quickly took his leave and said he’d be back later. I told her how the meeting went and what would come next. We talked for a long while. She assured that even when I had a place to work in, I would be welcome to stay here whenever I wanted. I thanked her again and again for everything she did for me. We might have shed a few tears at that point.

Afterwards, I rediscovered the great benefits of a good nap. My pallet wasn’t the most comfortable, but I was too cheerful to care. As soon as I woke, I opened A detailed look at the Aether and threw myself in my studies. I could not rest on my laurels. I was still far from home.