Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Nine - The Party Boat is Already Split

We reached the gantry next to the Beaver Cleaver and paused. “Did you want to get aboard first, Captain Bunch?” Rosaline asked. Her big smile only grew bigger when Amaryllis harrumphed from somewhere behind me.

“I’d love to!” I said.

With a hop, I bounced up and onto the deck, landing on it with a dull thump of shoes meeting wood.

The Beaver Cleaver was an interesting ship. There were two decks connected together in the middle, with only a bridge allowing for passage between them. It meant that while the ship was actually pretty wide, it didn’t have all that much space atop it.

It was definitely bigger than the Shady Lady though not nearly as big as the Silver Boot. I liked it. There weren’t any weapons aboard, but there were lots of spools and ties for ropes and sails tucked into the sides.

“Broccoli!” Rosaline called out. “Lower the gangplank!”

“Right!” I called back.

Rosaline walked up the plank without a care in the world, but Amaryllis and Awen came together, with Awen clasped on tight to Amaryllis’ side.

Was she afraid of heights? Or was it the way the plank was swaying a lot over a hundred-foot drop that worried her?

“Captain Bunch welcomes you aboard!” I said while giving the girls a salute.

“Idiot,” was Amaryllis’ quick reply.

“Awa, I’m glad to be on your ship, Captain Bunch,” Awen said. “It’s very... nice?”

Rosaline shook her head. “It needs a lot of love, but it has some good... ah... ideas behind it.”

I lowered my hand and took in the state of the Beaver, it could definitely use some cleaning up. “It’s a cool ship, but yeah, it needs some help. Do you think we could fix it up?”

Rosaline’s anwer was a huge grin. “Why not? It would be interesting, at the very least. This ship never even had a maiden voyage you know? It would be a shame to wreck it without at least knowing how the design handles.”

“Huh? It was never used?”

The harpy shook her head. “Nope.” She patted one of the rails, then grimaced as some paint flaked off and stuck to her. “This ship has a bit of a weird story. More like a joke among those in the know.”

“Tell us!” I cheered. If I really was going to be a captain, and of the Beaver Cleaver no less, then I certainly wanted to know the ship’s story.

Rosaline pointed to the other side of the ship. “Want to talk on the port deck? It’s got benches.”

We ambled over to the other side of the ship, crossing the narrow bridge that covered the gap between the two decks until we were on a similar but not entirely identical deck on the other side.

The opposite one, the starboard I assumed, had been all utilitarian. The port side was a bit different. There were benches along the edges and the railings were a lot prettier, with engravings and tooled bars.

The back had what looked like a bar of all things, and the cabin was also a bit bigger. I wondered if the port side was meant to carry passengers while the starboard held the crew and such? It would kind of make sense. There was only one propeller on the ship, right in between the two cabins. It was obvious that the engine was on the starboard side though.

“So, the Beaver Cleaver,” Rosaline began. “It was commissioned some seven or eight years ago by Lord Edgar Corvus of Clan Corvus. It was meant to be a party boat, of all things. So that he could parade around with some strumpets and curry favour with other lords and ladies and so on. This ship wasn’t actually built in our shipyards.”

“There are others?” I asked.

Rosaline nodded. “The Owl clan has one, as do the Hawks. This one was Owl-built. Their engineers are actually quite good, their other departments... not so much. See, Lord Corvus wanted the front to have a pair of beavers as figureheads for the world knows what reason.”

We all turned to stare at the tophat wearing ducks at the front. “Um,” Awen said. “Those are ducks.”

“Yes. Yes they are,” Rosaline agreed. “See, the sculptor they hired didn’t know what beavers were, so he asked around, and somehow got it in his head that they were just furry ducks.”

I snorted, then pressed a hand over my mouth as a giggle escaped. A look at the figureheads did show a distinct lack of feathers. Instead, the ducks had thin furry carvings all over. “Oh no!”

“Oh yes!” Rosaline said. “And then it got worse! Lord Corvus wanted this thing painted black and gold. The clan colours, you see. The balloon was meant to be a nice stately green.” We looked up and the balloon was indeed quite green. “They got that right.”

“But this ship is yellow,” Awen said.

“Yup! They ran out of black paint, so they figured they’d paint it all gold. But gold paint is expensive, so the painters went with yellow.”

“Did the lord know?” Awen asked.

Rosaline’s grin said it all. “He found out the morning of the ship’s unveiling. It was a big spectacle, of course. He had a pretty girl break a bottle of wine on the side, and then they pulled the tarp off and... voila!”

Awen slapped a hand over her mouth. “What did he do?”

“He walked off in quite the huff and refused to pay for the ship. It made the Owl yards look quite bad. Good for our business though. We ended up buying the ship for a pittance and dragged it over here to look at their engines and the like. Some parts were a bit better than what we had.”

I ran a hand over the railing, some cleaning magic keeping the paint shavings off of me. “Do you think we could restore her?”

“I think that this ship might be a ‘him’ actually,” Rosaline said with a snort. “And I don’t see why not. You need a ship, we have a shipyard. This isn’t too big a vessel that it couldn’t be manned by a small crew that knows what they’re doing.”

“What about a crew that doesn’t?” Amaryllis asked.

Rosaline dismissed that with a wave. “We can get a few people to go with you, teach you the ropes while you’re heading over. Just... what, two or three experienced sailors or so? I think this ship needs a minimum crew of five to run.”

“That would be wonderful!” I said. “Could we repaint her--him ourselves?”

“Awa, I’d love to see how the engine works too,” Awen said. “And some of the rigging too.”

Rosaline nodded. “Certainly. I’ll put in an order to have him refurbished, at least the basics, and then we can park him at the estate so that you can tinker away.”

“You’ll park this abomination at our home?” Amaryllis asked.

“Did I mention that the entire port side is nothing but one big flying home for rich patrons? Three smaller bedrooms with en suites, a master bedroom at the fore, a smoking room and a small kitchen. It’s basically a yacht with a strange design.”

“I suppose it can’t be all that bad,” Amaryllis changed tacks.

Rosaline clapped. “Perfect! Now we just need to get you girls all nice and dressed up for a proper diplomatic mission. It’ll be wonderful. I know all the best shops!”

“Don’t you need to work?” Amaryllis asked. “I doubt even you can avoid work this many days in a row.”

Rosaline’s good mood crashed. “But work is lame.”

I patted her on the back. “It’s okay? You seem to enjoy your work though.”

“Not the paperwork part of it,” she said. “Some of it is alright, but I’d rather go with you.” She perked up and slid next to Awen. “Say, love, wouldn’t you want me to be there when you pick out something nice to wear? The kind of thing that will have all the ladies looking at you with envy?” Rosaline asked.

“Awa, I, I wouldn’t mind if you were there, I guess,” Awen said. She was growing a little red, especially when Rosaline squeezed her close and squee’d into her ear.

Amaryllis stepped in to save Awen. “We can wait until after you’re done for the day to head out. The shops will still be open by then. At least, they will if I send Gen-Gen out to ask.”

“Ohh, that’s why you’re my second-favourite little sister!” Rosaline cheered.

“Second favourite? I’m your only little sister!”

“Broccoli is my favourite now.”

“Hey!” I said. “What about Awen?”

Amaryllis turned to me with a look of complete betrayal on her face. “You’re not even going to try and defend my position after usurping it?”

“You called me an idiot,” I pointed out.

She huffed most huffily. “That was just me pointing out the truth.”

Rosaline giggled and pulled Amaryllis into a hug that she didn’t react to. “I still love you. And Awen is too precious to be a sister; if you know what I mean.”

“Keep your degenerate talons off of my friends,” Amaryllis warned as she poked Rosaline in the stomach.

We left the deck of the Beaver Cleaver in high spirits. I imagined the ship would appreciate a bit of laughter on his decks after so long being unused.

Our trip backup to the Albatross Aeronautics main offices was faster than our trip down, and soon Amaryllis and Awen and I were saying farewell to a teary-eyed Rosaline who really didn’t want to get back to work. But there were a bunch of important-looking harpies waiting for her, and she was dragged away without too much protest.

“Are we walking back?” I asked.

“Certainly,” Amaryllis said. “The exercise will do us good.”

I grabbed onto my friend’s hands and talons as I placed myself in the middle of them. “Great!” I said. “So, Awen, what do you think about Rose?”

“Awa?” Awen asked as she looked up. “Miss Rose? W-what about her?”

“Oh, I don’t know. She seems to like you a lot.”

Amaryllis sighed. “The subtlety of a Sylph in a goldsmithy.” She shook her head. “My kinder sister is very... open about her relationship status. She’s been looking for the perfect partner for years. If you think you fit the bill Awen, do try your talon.”

“Awa?!”

I tried not to smile at how flummoxed Awen looked. It... might not have been too nice to play matchmaker, but I wanted Awen to be happy, and Rosaline seemed like a very caring, if a little flighty, person. She wouldn’t hurt Awen, at least not on purpose.

And, best of all, it might help Awen come out of her shell a little. It was a neat solution to a lot of little problems.

That didn’t mean it would work.

Love wasn’t something I was well versed in. I loved my friends lots, but I didn’t love them that way. I hoped that this was a better solution than hurting Awen’s heart. For all that she was a tough girl, I didn’t want to see her hurt. Worse, Amaryllis and I were the only support she had in this place.

“I, I don’t... I don’t know what you mean,” Awen said.

I let out the tiniest little sigh and pulled her into a sidelong hug. “That’s okay too,” I said.

***