Chapter Four Hundred and Eleven - Charting a Course

It took longer to get to the Beaver than we thought it would, mostly because Cornelius insisted on looking through our stuff and Amaryllis insisted that he would absolutely not.

Calamity only splashed oil on the fire by constantly reminding us how hungry he was while licking his lips and looking at the little mousefolk professor.

Eventually, though, we did make it onboard the Beaver, much to the adjunct professor’s disappointment.

“Welcome back aboard, Cap’n,” Oda said. He was working on a knot in a long length of rope sitting on his lap. “Things went well?”

“Yeah,” I said as I crossed the gangplank. “Things went pretty alright. It was more of a side-adventure than anything else though. I think we’re looking forward to moving on.”

Oda glanced up, then set the rope aside and bounced to his feet. “Alright! I’ll go get Sally and Joe.”

Clive was smoking his pipe on the poop deck, and Steve and Gordon were playing cards on the bow, but as my friends and I climbed aboard the pipe was stuffed and the cards set down. “Are we heading out, captain?” Clive asked.

“Yup! As soon as we’re ready to take off!” I called back. We still had stuff to do, of course, Calamity and Awen went to put the books we’d gotten away, and Caprica went to get changed into something more suitable for deck work.

Amaryllis, meanwhile, tugged me along towards the officer’s cabin under the wheel. “We need to decide on where to go next, preferably before we fly off in the wrong direction for an hour.”

“Right,” I said. Besides, I had to change into my Captain’s Hat before I started Captaining.

Amaryllis cleared the desk, then unrolled a map onto its surface. It was a more local map of the Independent Cities and the western side of the Harpy Mountains. Our trajectory so far was easy to map, from the north where the map cut off near the borders of the Snowlands to Codwood, then all the way down to Inkwren. Our goal was barely on the map at all, at the very bottom right. Port Royal, where Booksie was staying.

Amaryllis traced a straight line from Inkwren to Port Royal. “We can’t just fly straight there. Unless the winds were in our favour the entire time, and that’s very unlikely. The wind currents on the western side of the Harpy Mountains are tricky at the best of times.”

“Right, so we need to stop somewhere to refuel.”

“We might not have a choice but to stop at Cherryhold. It’s a fort that blocks off the entire valley between the southern tip of the Harpy Mountains and the Seven Points. There are ways through the mountains, but they’re a little harder to navigate.”

I nodded along. “Can we make it from here to Cherryhold?”

Amaryllis rubbed a talon against her jaw. “Maybe. It might be a bit far. Again, it would depend on the wind and how fuel efficient the Beaver flies. If we move with little engine power and don’t mind coasting for a long time, then sure, we’ll make it there with some fuel to spare. We flew much further than this before, we can manage it. But I’d rather not have to.”

She reached down and tapped two cities that were closer than Cherryhold, then somewhat reluctantly touched a third. “Walker’s Rest is the nearest, but it’s hard to navigate to, and it really is just a small city, barely more than an upjumped town. It’s Harpy Mountain territory--so familiar, at least to me--but we might still have some political difficulty.”

“Because of the Albatross?” I asked. Amaryllis’ family were pretty big there, weren’t they?

“No, not because of me or my family, because of the princess.”

“Oh,” I said. That made a bit more sense. There was a heap of animosity between the Harpy Mountains and Sylphfree. Bringing the princess of Sylphfree over might... well, cause some issues that I hadn’t thought about. “Smoulderglen’s the second option,” I said, staring at the map.

“Smoulderglen, the Flame Mage City, is more or less on the path over, and it’s independent. But it’s got a reputation for being somewhat less civilised than, say, Inkwren.”

“I think we can manage that,” I said with a nod.

Amaryllis shrugged. “If you say so. I’d almost rather try for our third option. But that one might have issues of its own.” Her talon trailed down a ways, then paused somewhere where we’d been before.

Greenshade. Awen’s home.

“Ah, that’s... an option, huh?”

“It’s far, so by the time we get there, we’ll have well under half a tank of fuel left. But we can reach it relatively easily. The question then is more about our reception once we arrive.”

“And if Awen would want us to go there at all,” I added. Awen had... issues with her family. We couldn’t sneak in either, not with the Beaver being... well, so obviously the Beaver.

The sort that led to her parents sending pirates to kidnap her. Which was pretty scummy, overall.

Amaryllis and I stared at the map, each lost in our thoughts. The silence of the cabin was comfortable, a counterpoint to the low murmurs of the crew outside. I looked up and glanced over at Amaryllis. “Alright, we’ve got three options. Walker’s Rest, Smoulderglen, and Greenshade. I think... Smoulderglen might be our best bet. It’s not too far out of the way, and if we refuel there, do you think we’ll be able to fly all the way to Port Royal in one go?”

“We should be able to, yes.”

I stared at the little icon representing Smoulderglen. As the captain, my choices didn’t just affect me, but all of my friends and the Beaver itself. That was kind of intimidating, but I couldn’t let that bother me too much. “I’ll ask Clive later if he knows anything about Smoulderglen too,” I muttered, mostly to myself.

Clive had heaps more experience than any of us when it came to travelling around. It made sense to at least ask.

Standing up from the desk, I took a deep breath. It looked like we had a destination, then. Time to tell the others! I gave Amaryllis a nod and headed out the door, switching my regular hat for the Captain's Hat.

I found Clive on the deck, still puffing away on his pipe. He had a distant look in his eyes, gazing out at the airship port. He had travelled a lot, more than anyone else on the crew, and his insights usually proved invaluable.

"Clive," I began as I approached him. "We're thinking about heading to Smoulderglen. You ever been there?"

Clive took a long puff on his pipe, letting the smoke billow out around his face before answering. "Aye, Captain. Been there a few times in my younger years. A rough place, full of tough folks and tougher mages. But they're fair, in their own way."

“Rough how?” I asked.

He rubbed the backside of a talon against his chin. “They’re less of what Miss Albatross would call civilised. Honest to a fault, kind when they wanna, not so kind when they don’t. There’s some good folk there but just as many rotten apples. It’s a city where being strong counts for a lot.”

I considered his words for a moment before giving a decisive nod. "That's where we're headed then. You okay with that?"

He chuckled, patting the railing of the ship fondly. "The Beaver's been to worse places, Captain. We'll manage."

I couldn’t help but smile. The Beaver had been through a few tough spots. He was a good ship! Leaving Clive to his pipe, I moved across the deck, rallying the crew. "Alright, folks! Time to ready the ship. We're heading to Smoulderglen!"

I saw Awen’s head pop up from behind the railing of the poop deck. “Ah!” she said.

“Is everything alright?” I called down.

Awen’s head disappeared, then she climbed over the edge rather awkwardly. “Everything’s perfect, Broc! Let me pull up my swing and stow my tools and I’ll be ready to go!”

Oda jogged over, helping Awen carry a toolbox back down to the engineering section while Sally screamed down a hatch for Joe to come up and join her. Calamity, meanwhile, ran after Steve, trailing a long rope behind him as he tried to help.

The ship began to hum with life, the slow buildup of energy palpable. I took a moment to breathe it in, the tension and the excitement of taking off. This was my crew, my ship, my home. And it felt good.

The wind tugged at my captain’s hat as I made my way up to the deck. Already we were casting off some of the restraints keeping the ship in place and with the engine on we were starting to hover a little bit out of our landing pad.

With a final check to make sure everyone was on board and ready, I grabbed the wheel. "Prepare for takeoff!" I called out, my voice echoing across the deck.

Clive tapped out his pipe against the side of a bell, tolling a warning to any nearby ships, then he started to make his way over to me, entirely unbothered by the shifting of the deck under his feet.

A deep thrum resonated through my soles as I gave the engine a bit more gas.

We began to rise.

Inkwren slowly disappeared beneath us, and with a quick spin of the wheel and a few adjustments of the sails, we left the city on a southbound route, towards the distant Smoulderglen.

I hung onto the wheel as activity on deck calmed down. Now that we were in the air, there wasn’t all that much to do. The weather was a bit windy, but not enough so to be a bother, and the sun was shining on a cloudless afternoon. Other than stowing ropes, the crew had time to relax.

Maybe that was why Sally came up next to the wheel, then lingered a few paces away. “Is everything alright?” I asked her.

“Yeah, of course, cap’n Bunch,” she said. It still felt a little strange to be called captain, especially by Sally and the Scallywags, who were just a bit younger than I was.

“What’s up?” I asked. It didn’t take a genius to figure that she was lingering here for a reason.

She seemed to mull over things for a bit before meeting my eyes. “I love it here,” she said. “I love the crew, and the Beaver and spending time with my friends. We’ve all levelled a bunch, and are better fed than we ever were in Needleford.”

“That’s good,” I said with an encouraging nod.

“But...” she paused, fidgeting with one of the lapels of her new coat. “I’m still trying to figure things out.”

"Like what?" I asked, my tone soft.

She shuffled her feet a bit, looking down at the deck. "I guess... I just don't want to let anyone down. I want to be useful to the crew and do my part. But sometimes... we’re not as good as you guys.”

“Huh?”

“You, and your friends. Even that new guy, Calamity? We’re not as good, are we?”

“You mean the Scallywags?” I asked. “I don’t get it.”

“The princess was one thing,” she said. “She’s a princess. And Amaryllis is a lady, and Awen’s a lady too. Makes sense that the princess would be good at things too. But then you pick up Calamity, and he’s just a normal bloke, but he’s so much better than we are too. We’re getting better, I guess, but it feels like... like we’re just some seagulls pecking at the tail of dragons, thinking that we share the same sky.”

I frowned slightly at her words. My friends and I were probably stronger than Sally and the Scallywags. We'd been adventuring for longer, had faced more dangerous trials, and had the levels to show for it.

That didn't mean Sally and her friends were lesser than us. They were important parts of our crew.

"Sally," I said as I turned the wheel slightly to adjust our course. "Strength isn't just about how well you can fight or how many spells you can cast. Strength comes from a lot of things. It comes from loyalty, from courage, from the determination to keep going no matter what. From having good friends. And in those things, you and the Scallywags are no less than any of us, because you’re our friends, which means that our strength is yours too."

"But we're still lower level than you. We can't do as much."

"That's true." I nodded. "But that's just how it is. You're newer to adventuring than us. That doesn't mean you're worth less. We all have our roles on the ship, Sally, and everyone is important. The Beaver wouldn't fly without Awen. It’d be covered in mean rodents without Orange, and we’d probably have crashed into a mountain by now without Clive. Everyone contributes in their own way. You are just as much a part of this crew as anyone else. And as for getting stronger... well, that comes with time and experience. You'll get there."

Sally was quiet for a moment, her eyes flicking across the deck where her friends were laughing and joking as they worked. "You really believe that, Cap'n?"

"With all my heart," I said sincerely.

***