Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty - Captain's Logs

Squaring things away didn’t take long, not with the size of our rooms and the few things we brought. I don’t think anyone had plans to really get changed for what would be a day-long flight.

“So, we’ll be reaching the capital before night, right?” I asked.

Amaryllis situated herself on a bench at the very front of the passenger quarters. There was a small porthole there, but because we were at dock, all there was to see were some metal struts a meter or so away from the window. “I think so, yes. It would depend on when we leave. They’re still unloading the ship.”

“Really? How do you know?” I asked. The noises from the other side were all clangs and bangs, nothing really telling.

Amaryllis pointed to the window. “We’re rising, slowly, but it’s visible.”

“Huh,” I said. “You’re such an observant bird.”

She huffed.

“I wonder if I can look around the ship later,” Awen asked.

The door leading into our compartment opened and Captain Galebane slid into the room and clicked the door shut behind her. “I would be honoured to show you around,” she replied. “We have a mechanic aboard, all ships do as a matter of protocol, but he’s an apprentice from Goldenalden. A little wet behind the ears, but well-meaning.”

“Hello captain,” I said. “Your ship’s very neat.”

“Why thank you,” she replied. “I came to ensure that you were all settled in. My first mate is taking care of things above. He needs the experience as well.”

“That’s two new people on your crew,” Amaryllis said.

The captain nodded. “Indeed. I think over half the crew is green, or nearly so. Most of the better sailors have been dragged off to the navy. Promises of better pay and the like are robbing us of a lot of good experienced people.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I said.

The captain shrugged a shoulder. “It is what it is. I don’t blame them for accepting more gainful employment, even if it might only be on the shorter term.”

“Aren’t you worried? Such a green crew can be troublesome,” Amaryllis said.

“Oh, there’s no worry. Most of those green sailors are from the navy. Sylphfree allows companies in good standing to hire personnel to train them further and give them a bit of applicable experience. It means that part of their wages are covered, and the navy gains more people who have a wider breadth of experience.”

“That’s clever,” I said. “Our crew is pretty mixed, experience-wise.” The captain was being very forthcoming about things. I looked at her, and had the impression she hadn’t had the opportunity to rant about things in a good while.

Captain Risa nodded. “Your ship is that... interesting twin-hulled vessel? I saw it while coming in to dock.”

“That’s the Beaver Cleaver, yeah,” I said. “He’s a good little ship. Though I guess he’s a little weird-looking.”

“Certainly unique,” the captain agreed. “Have you been a captain for long, Captain Bunch?”

“Nope!” I said. “It’s been... uh, about... a week?” How long ago did we leave the Nesting Kingdom? I know that I spent a few days sick, so that might have been throwing off my sense of time.

“A week,” she repeated.

“A very busy week,” I agreed. “We got off track over the Darkwoods, then we ended up stopping a smaller war between a big company and some dryads, then we visited Needleford where Awen was kidnapped by pirates. We damaged their ship--wait, is it sinking a ship if the ship is an airship?”

“It is,” she said.

“Cool! I thought so, because ships kind of sink out of the air,” I said. “Not that we sank the pirate ship. We just did a number on their engines.”

Awen looked like she was holding back a giggle, and Amaryllis just shook her head and pulled a book out from her bags and started to read it.

“You took out a pirate vessel?” Captain Risa asked. “I’ll admit, I have ten years as a captain, but they were mostly safe. Other than a few run-ins with some nasty creatures, I’ve never had the misfortune of fighting a pirate aboard my vessel.”

“Oh, we didn’t use the Beaver for that. We used a skiff. The pirate was called Golden Rogers, and he’s a nasty, mean guy.”

“A skiff?”

“Like, a really small boat that flies?”

“I’m aware of what a skiff is. What sort of vessel did the pirates have?” she asked.

“Uh,” I replied. I couldn’t recall the name of the ship. “It was quite big. Maybe half again the size of your ship? But more water-ship like. His crew was rather large, I think. But we managed to save Awen, even though she’d mostly managed to save herself, really.”

“It was called the Golden Grove’s Revenge,” Awen said. “And it couldn’t operate because I destroyed the engines and I think Broccoli lit the insides on fire.”

“Just a little,” I said. “It was me, Amaryllis, and Bastion. It was very scary.”

“Three of you took on a pirate ship?” Captain Risa didn’t sound entirely convinced.

I crossed my arms. “I can hold my own in a fight, you know. And Amaryllis is scary too. Not to mention Bastion. He’s a paladin, so he’s great at butt-kicking.”

“Ah,” she said with a nod. I had the impression that everything just clicked for her. The people in Sylphfree seemed to think very highly of paladins. “I suppose that it was quite the adventure.”

“I know! And that was only in the first three days! Then we got to Innsmouth, fought in two dungeons, then we ran into some very angry cry and had not one, but two battles in the air against them! They have rocket-powered planes and airships, but it turned out okay because we have Awen and we made some cry friends. Did you know that lasers are terrible for airships?”

“I can imagine?”

“They really are. We ended up almost-crashing on the Lonely Island,” I said.

“The penal colony?” she asked.

I nodded. “That’s the one.”

“I imagine that must have been harrowing, landing in a place so hostile,” Risa said. She smiled as if it was entirely self-evident.

“Huh? No, not really? I mean, the airship fight we had over the island was scary but the people of the island were pretty nice. Not super welcoming, and I wish we had more time to spend there so that I could make proper friends there, but they seemed about as nice as the people from Granite Springs, for example.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, then we made it here after some repairs. And that’s about all the adventures we’ve had since launching the Beaver Cleaver. It’s been a busy week and a bit.”

“I... see,” the captain allowed.

The door to the passenger quarters opened, and in walked Bastion, looking as fresh as ever with a bag by his side and some equipment in a sack slung over his shoulder. “Bastion!” I called out as I bounced to my feet. “I was getting worried.”

“Hello, Broccoli,” he said. “Amaryllis, Awen, and you must be Captain Galebane?”

The captain stood taller. “Indeed. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said.

“Likewise, captain. Your first mate gave me permission to board, but I had hoped to meet you at some point.”

“O-oh?” Risa asked. Was she blushing?

“It’s nothing very urgent,” he said. He tossed his bag into one of the rooms where it landed on the bed with a thump. “Were you entertaining others?”

“Broccoli was telling her of our adventures,” Amaryllis said off-hand. She turned the page in her book. “As it turns out, Broccoli has a gift for understating things in such a way that they sound grander than they were. It’s outright bizarre.”

“I didn’t exaggerate anything,” I said.

“You didn’t,” Amaryllis agreed. “If anything you did the opposite, but you also listed more wild adventures than most sane people would experience in a lifetime.”

I wiggled my ears in thought. That made sense, I supposed, we had been through a lot together. “I kind of like having big adventures though,” I said. “It’s fun. But... well, do you guys like that kind of thing?”

Amaryllis snorted. “It’s harrowing and terrifying, but you have no idea how rapid our growth is compared to most.”

Awen shrugged. “Uncle’s stories were about as full of adventure, so I think it’s kind of normal.”

“I’m not sure if using Abraham Bristlecone as a measuring stick is entirely wise,” Bastion said. “But I suppose compared to the likes of him, this crew’s travels have been quite calm.”

I grinned. For all that the passenger section on the Little Atlas was a bit cramp and spare, it was still a lively, happy place. Mostly because it was filled with so many nice people in it. “How did things go?” I asked. “With the general and the commander and all the soldiers?”

“Relatively well,” Bastion said. “The... event fell into disarray once the main threat was eliminated. Fortunately, it was the better sort of disarray. Some of the miners had cooking equipment, and the mole people brought some barrels of mushroom ale and shared it around. There was something of a party, though I doubt the official reports will call it that.”

I laughed. “That’s great. It’ll give everyone a chance to make friends.”

“Indeed,” Bastion said. “There are some crates of salted meat coming with us, as well as some decently large segments of amphiptere leather. A fine reward for a day’s work.”

“I'll ensure that everything is properly secured, sir paladin,” Risa said with a small salute.

“Thank you, Captain. But I’m certain that your crew will do a fine job. Now, if no one minds, I haven’t slept since yesterday, I’m quite overdue for some rest.”

I raised my arms for a hug as Bastion moved by, and he allowed me to give him a quick squeeze. More experience! And more hugs too!

“If anyone needs me, then feel free to wake me up,” he said before carefully closing the door to his quarters.

Captain Risa placed her hands over her face. “I didn’t offer him my cabin,” she muttered.

“I don’t think he minds,” I said. “Bastion seems like a simple sort of guy. Anyway! We have a long trip ahead of us, is there anything you do for fun? Usually on the Beaver I’m too busy doing captain things or training. I like both, but I don’t think we can do either here.”

“I’ll bring over a deck of cards,” Captain Risa said. “Maybe I can teach you a few games later. There are a few that are quite popular with the crew, and there are the more noble games, of course.”

“Noble games?” I asked.

Amaryllis lowered her book. “Some card games are considered lowbrow, often depending exclusively on chance; more involved games are customarily the purview of the nobility. They tend to be a little more complex and rely more on deception and one’s ability to read people than on pure luck, though there’s usually some element of luck at play.”

“Oh! Why didn’t we ever play any of those?” I asked.

“Because you have about as much chance to deceive someone as a puppy has of hiding a misdeed,” Amaryllis said. “And at the same time, your ability to read people would make playing against you just plain irritating. You’d be at once a terrible opponent and a terrible player.”

“I bet I could beat you though,” I said with my smuggest grin on.

Amaryllis carefully dog-eared the top corner of the page she was on and set her book down. “Captain, would you be so kind as to get that deck? I have to teach my dear friend here a lesson she’s unlikely to ever forget.”

***