Seren woke up to Rive shaking her shoulder. The room was chilly, dark, and the moonlight she’d been looking at when she’d fallen asleep was gone. Instead, there was weak light coming from the mostly closed lantern, and outside was a dismal grey.

“Darfar made sure I was up,” whispered Rive, putting a finger to their lips. They were wearing a long blue vest, a cream-colored pair of pants, and a light blue wrap around their chest. “We should be as quiet as possible, the rest of the house is still sleeping.”

She nodded.

“Did you get what Darfar wanted to give you?”

It was hard to see their expression in the dark, but Seren thought Rive looked a little... worried about the answer.

“...yeah.” Rive shook their head. “He did. Another reason we need to get into the air, actually.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, it’ll be better, and easier, to explain when we’re not within earshot of anyone.”

A closer look at their vest, and Seren could see that out of the four pockets, two sewn on each side, three were bulging. Was whatever Darfar had given them in one of those pockets?

“Okay.. Did you get your key?”

“Yeah, Atrema sent a messenger, and I went where he wanted to retrieve it from him.” They stood up and picked up a backpack she hadn’t noticed before. “Are we chatting all day, or did you want to leave?”

Seren sat up, the blanket falling down around her waist, and Rive immediately shut their eyes and turned, facing the wall. She giggled.

“Rive, you’re fine. I slept in my clothes. And that means to get ready I’ll just need my shoes.” Seren was already reaching for them, snagging the laces with her fingertips.

“Wasn’t that uncomfortable?” they asked, turning to face her again. “And too hot?”

“Not really? The temperature was a little colder here at night than at home, so I was at a perfect temperature.” She tied her shoes, then looked at the pillow, blanket, and mat. “I feel bad just leaving them out. Where should I put mine?”

“Don’t worry about it, that’s Ghaste’s chore now. He’ll take care of it, or force one of the others.” Rive picked up the lantern and slipped out of the room, Seren following closely behind. The stairs creaked as they walked down, but other than that, it was quiet. No voices, no shouts, no yells.

“I can’t believe this is really your house,” Seren whispered. “I thought it could never be this silent.”

“You believed my house was always full of loud people making as much noise as possible?” Rive paused long enough to look over their shoulder, and with the lantern held high, she saw them wink. “No idea where that idea came from.”

The two of them snickered as they moved toward the kitchen. Inside, the dishes were drip-drying in a rack, and there were two bags sitting at the door.

“One of these is full of home cooking,” Rive whispered, grabbing the bigger bag. “The other one is full of supplies that can be kept for a while, dried and preserved things.”

“That was really nice of them!”

“We’ll have to send something back from the first port we find.” Rive nodded. “As a thank you gift.”

Seren nodded as she picked up the remaining pack. “Then, this is it.”

“Yep. It is. ” Rive nodded. With them in the lead, the two left the house, the doorway beads clicking and clacking gently as they pushed their way through. Outside, there was a faint smudge of bright on the horizon, and it touched the greyness with a little light blue. Seren sniffed, then sniffed again.

“What—”

“It’s the Naamuk family bakery.” Rive took a step to the right, where the ‘shroom was located, but suddenly they pivoted on their heel. “Just one more disla before I go, that’ll be the last one!”

“What—?”

Rive turned to her, licking their lips.

“It’s worth the couple of minutes, I promise. And this means we’ll have something hot in our stomachs when we take off.”

That was important. As chilly as it was on the ground, Seren knew it would be much colder up among the clouds. She sniffed the air as she followed Rive. The scent reminded her of earthy vegetables like pumpkin and squash, but there were scents she wasn’t sure about. Nothing like Dardar’s spices from yesterday, though, the red ones with the smell that had made her nose run. This was more... ugh, she didn’t have a better word other than earthy. Could something clayish be food?

“So, they actually bake a couple of different disla—” Rive cut themselves off. “You probably don’t know what that word means. They’re like pouches, really, since they all have fillings. The Naamuk family sells sweet cold ones, too, but I think the hot ones are the best. They can be spicy, like Darfar’s—”

“Please, no,” said Seren, shaking her head and rubbing her nose. “I can’t handle that amount of spice.”

“I was going to say that there are savory ones too, and salty if they can get a few rarer ingredients they need.” Rive let out a sigh. “We’re going to need a cook on the ship, aren’t we?”

“Where would we put one? We’re still trying to figure out sleep schedules so one of us can have the bed,” Seren pointed out. She could see that there was a line now, next to a building that had been pained in desert shades. The brightest oranges were where the front counter was, and there were beings standing in line through shady sand, rosy red rocks, and darker terra.

“Do we have time to stand in line?”

“No, which is why we’ll be cutting in at the front.”

Before Seren could mention that maybe wasn’t the best plan, Rive had already lengthened their stride and was elbowing their way to the dark-haired person at the counter.

“Pitdestraens! My gracious friend, the most beautiful lady on the block, the songbird of the melody in my heart.”

Seren’s mouth dropped open as the torrent of endearments. The woman behind the counter simply snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t even think about it, Rive!” she snapped, reaching to grab a brown bag from a shelf. “I don’t know what you want, but you’re using my full name, so I’m already going to tell you no.”

Rive leaned against the counter, elbows and arms on the wooden top. Seren hunched over a little and tried to hide since mutters were starting up. Unhappy ones.

“Pitdes. You’ve known me for years.”

She shot Rive a glare, then motioned for the next person to step forward. Seren moved out of the way, positioning herself behind Rive and putting them between her and the line.

“I’d like two disla.” The bearded cat-being turned to Rive. “Don’t cut in line.”

Rive put up their hands and gave a full-teeth smile.

“I’d love not to, but there’s a slight problem with a deadline. We’ve got to be up in the air within the hour. Pitdes, is there any chance I can call in that favor you owe me? And I’ll spend it on introducing a new customer to your delicious cuisine as well?”

“Doubtful,” she replied, taking one larger piece of paper from the hissing cat-being and giving back smaller pieces. “What scheme are you working on now?”

“Nothing like that at all! I’m an engineer on the good ship Picotree Drop, of the Raintide faction.” Rive gave a slight bow at Pitdes’ gasp. “We’re shipping out as soon as we get to the ‘shroom.”

She stopped and just stared, a disla in one hand and a paper bag in the other. Pitdes shook her head and stuffed food into the bag.

“How long will you be gone?”

“That’s still up in the air for now,” said Rive. “Unlike us.”

From the side, Seren could see a giant smile bloom on Rive’s face.

“So, since I might not be back for a while, could you take my favor and give us some of your disla?”

It looked as if Pit wanted to. Seren watched as she bit her bottom lip and shifted on her feet. Finally, she shook her head, black ringlets escaping from being tucked behind her pierced ears.

“I can’t make that call and you know it.” She turned and put a hand to the side of her face. “Thelwa! Mom!”

Seren snickered as Rive’s face paled and they frantically made a crossing gesture with their arms, shaking their head no.

“Rive’s calling in their favor!” Pit turned back to Rive and gave them a sharp grin. “Sorry, Rive, but you understand. I’ve got to deal with customers, so you’ll have to take your plea up with mom.”

“She’s gonna kill me!”

“She might,” Pit nodded. Then she laughed and took pity on Rive, leaning forward to pinch their cheek. “But I doubt it. She’s got a soft spot for you and you know it.”

“Soft spot and hard fists,” Rive shot back, rubbing at the red mark.

“Rive, my little lovely, sometimes you need a knock on the head.”

Seren peered around Rive to take in the tall being who’d just walked in from the back. She was a mountain of a woman; sturdy legs, thick arms crossed over her chest, and muscles that looked like they went on for days.

“So.” Her voice was husky, like when Seren had sung too many songs and needed a bit of honey to soothe her throat. “Rive.”

“Ma’am.”

“Tell me, lovely. What’s going on that you’re calling in your favor for our food?” Her red lips twisted into a wry smile. “I honestly thought it would be for something else.”

“Yeah, well, Atrema might come by later to talk with you.” They muttered before raising their voice. “I, on the other hand, am an engineer and will be flying off once I and my captain get our hands on some of your wonderfully warm and tasty pouches.”

Seren gave a small wave as Rive pointed at her.

“Is that so?” Thelwa raised an eyebrow. “I won’t have to worry about you snitching the raw dough as it chills, or trying to distract my counter person so they give you incorrect change back?”

“That wasn’t me,” Rive said, holding up their hands. “That was Ghaste and Minnis.”

Thelwa started laughing, loud enough that Seren saw the people in line stop talking so they could stare at her.

“You’ll be sorely missed!” She wrapped her arms around them and squeezed. “Pit! Two of each, wrapped and bagged for our friend and their captain!”

“Mom?”

“Take it out of mine for today and tomorrow, it’s fine.” She waves a large hand in the air. “I’ll expect you to pay in stories when you get back Rive.”

“Yes’m” Rive said, giving Seren a thumbs up. They waited for a few minutes, chatting with Thelwa about things that were happening in the neighborhood—the clock tower chiming at weird hours, the amount of people showing up at one person’s house—Seren didn’t try listening in on what was clearly a private conversation. Instead, she looked around the street they were on and watched the people that were waiting to eat something at an hour when most people were in bed.

Most of them, she noticed, were tired, yawning as they talked to friends, and she realized that Viadora was large enough to have its own night force; these people, well, most of them, weren’t waking up early for breakfast, but going to bed late after a hard day at work.

“Ready?” Rive’s voice startled her and Seren let out a yip of surprise. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But we’ve got breakfast and lunch, maybe even dinner or a light snack depending on how hungry we’ll be up in the sky.”

“You’re done?”

“Yep!” Rive smiled. “Did what I wanted to do, and it’s time to fly.”

************

They weren’t the only people at the ‘shroom. A small crowd of kids huddled around the books, jotting down notes on pieces of paper in their hand.

“They’re not crew members, are they?”

“Nah. They’re apprentices. In the morning, they all scramble out here to view the updated books, and they get the information back to a journeyman in their trade. After that, it’s up to the journeymen to make sure they have the time, equipment, and ability to repair the ships needing it. If they don’t, they’re friends or family with other repair places and they’ll do their best to make sure the opportunity goes to someone they’re connected with.”

“And then the next time there’s something their friends or family can’t do,” Seren nodded, already seeing how it worked, “they give that opportunity back to the people that helped them out the most.”

“Exactly!” Rive gave her a quizzical look. “For someone who grew up alone, you picked up on that pretty quick.”

“My father talked a lot about politics and political intrigue.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure why, honestly. It’s not like we were ever in a court or anything.”

“He’s the one that charms, right? From what I know, and trust me, it’s not that much, intrigue and politics is something a lot of Charmers need to figure out. If they charm the wrong person into doing the wrong thing, then they could be thrown in jail.”

“Or killed,” agreed a voice behind them. Seren and Rive spun around to see Briarrshi standing behind them. “Something Threaders need to watch out for too.”

“Didn’t stop you.”

“Don’t you sleep?”

Bri arched an eyebrow at Rive and shook her head. “You said you would leave at dawn, or a bit after it. I’m here to see you off myself, since your departure needs to be logged.”

Bri grinned and once more Seren was drawn to that flash of red. “After you leave, I’ll be done for the day and head home.”

Rive grinned.

“Well, it’s your lucky day, we’re packed and ready to go.”

“Captain Juji and Jo are still here, aren’t they?”

Bri shook her head and Seren felt her stomach drop.

“But... I was going to get my 10 eyes from here...” her voice trailed off as she glared at Bri. “If you actually gave them.”

A few of the heads bent over the books looked up at their group, but Seren saw that the three of them were quickly dismissed as not relevant and the kids went back to the work they’d been sent here to do.

“I did,” said Briarrshi. “Handed them over to First Mate Jo himself. However, I thought you knew?”

“Knew what?”

Her mouth twisted into a grimace, and then she sighed.

“You came in with the captain, and so I assumed, wrongly, that you knew of his quirks. He leaves earlier than his listed time. Always.”

Rive was nodding, Seren saw, and seemed unconcerned about their sudden lack of funds.

“No worries. I’m sure we’ll see them in the future.”

“True.” The berth manager briefly smiled. “He has that way of turning up when a person least expects it. And when he does, you’ll have your coin then. Now, since you have places you want to go and I need to get some sleep, let’s walk to your ship.”

“I wanted to get my money before we left,” grumbled Seren, following.

“It would have been good,” agreed Rive after Bri remained silent. “But, we weren’t depending on it, so it’ll be a surprise to enjoy in the future.”

“Aren’t there fees we have to pay for the ship being here?”

“Each ship that docks here needs to pay a daily berth fee, and when they file their papers at the guild, they need to pay a fee for that as well. In the case of ships that run passengers, there is a passenger fee. For imports and exports, there is a fee based on either the weight of items or on the number of items.”

“How much money does the ‘shroom make?!” asked Seren, the numbers already dancing in her head.

Bri shook her head.

“Enough to pay a good wage to the people working here, to make sure there’s enough security, and to pay for all the items we use daily.”

They were in front of the beaded door again, and this time there was only one curtain.

“You have your part?” asked Bri, looking over at Rive. “And you’re sure it’ll work?”

“Yes, and yes.” Rive pulled the small part from inside his chest pocket. “Worried I don’t know what I’m doing and I’ll crash the ship into the city?”

“Honestly? That’s always a worry.”

Seren could feel her eyes grow wide at the thought of a ship plunging to the ground, and all the buildings and beings it would land on.

“However, that’s why we also clamp down tightly on the places that offer repairs.” She reached out and pulled the beads across.

Here, all the nervousness and excitement that had been building up in Seren came to a tangled feeling in her stomach. The Crimson Cloud was gone; Bri hadn’t lied about Captain Juji taking off early. That meant, though, that the entire berth was nestling her little Picotree Drop, and almost emphasizing how small it really was. And it was going to be back up in the air, with her and Rive on board.

She looked over at her engineer and they nodded at her, the two of them smiling hard enough to hurt the sides of their faces.