Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Seven - Double-Time

I didn’t know how stressed I was until Needleford came into sight and I could make out the yellow splash that was the Beaver Cleaver tucked away in the city’s airship port.

A deep breath escaped me, and I melted into the side of the Manatee. Safe. We were safe. Or at least, we’d be safe in a little bit.

The others insisted that I stay seated so as to not reopen my cut. It was very silly of them. I was fine. A bit tired, but fine.

Which meant that there was no time like the present to look at what I’d gained stats-wise from all the fighting and running and fireballing.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Mad Millinery skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank E is a free rank!

That made some sense. I’d been wearing my captain’s hat all day. It didn’t exactly have skills that were too useful aboard Golden Roger’s ship, but I supposed I had acted a bit captain-y. Or maybe the skill went up because I looked particularly dashing with all the plumes and broaches atop my head?

Oh well, I wouldn’t say no to an upgrade.

New Skill Acquired: Captaining
Rank: E

I blinked.

Then it clicked. Mad Millinery had gone up a rank, and then the subskill I gained from that skill inherited the same rank. So they matched. That made sense. It was actually a nice change. Most skills didn't seem to do much below Rank D, so it was good to get closer to that.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Dancing skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank C costs one (1) Class Skill Point!

Dancing was up! That wasn’t too surprising. I’d been practicing that one for a bit, what with the ball and dancing around baddies. “Hey, Amaryllis, or, uh, I guess Awen too. What does Dancing do at Rank C? The one where you need a point?”

Amaryllis looked away from Needleford in the rapidly shortening distance and back towards me. I probably looked a bit too comfy pressed up against the side with my hands interlaced atop my tummy. “Dancing at disciple? That depends on whether it’s a specific kind or not. I think the skill just called Dancing allows you to spend mana to predict your partner’s movements.”

“It’s a useful combat skill, but only when fighting against people specifically targeting you. In a melee it’s not as useful, and seeing a blow come isn’t always enough to dodge or parry it,” Bastion added.

“Cool,” I said.

I wouldn’t put a point in it yet, but maybe once I got Cleaning up one more rank I’d drop a few points into it. I had a few skills that I wouldn’t mind upgrading, but for now, the priority was on getting Cleaning to Rank S. I didn’t know what would happen then, but I bet it would be awesome!

I yawned as my friends started talking about dancing and the like. It was hard to follow the conversation, especially when I noticed that I was shivering a bit. I had to get changed as soon as we landed. I didn’t have any soup on the Beaver so getting a cold was out of the question.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Way of the Mystic Bun skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank D is a free rank!

I grinned. That was great! Way of the Mystic Bun was pretty much my go-to fighting skill. It was actually about time that I started getting a bit stronger. I didn’t want to be a fighter, but if I was going to keep running into mean people like Golden Rogers... yeah, I needed to get stronger.

Plus it wouldn’t do for a captain to be weak, that would just be lame.

As we swooped down and Amaryllis started shifting things around so that we’d land right on the Beaver, I let my head rest back and pulled up my main stats page. I hadn’t been paying it as much attention as I probably should have, so it was good to take a look at it again.

That looked pretty good. I didn’t have anything to compare my growth to, really, but for someone that had only been around for... about a month? I felt like I was doing alright. A bit slower now than when I was caught in Threewells, but that was fine, I had friends now.

I still needed to grow some more. Maybe after this whole debacle with the Sylph we could take the Beaver Cleaver and explore some neat dungeons.

For now I had a bunch of General Skill Slots left open. That was five skills I could still learn! There were so many neat things available. Maybe one or two airship-related skills? Or maybe Dragon Riding. That had to be a skill!

I yawned. It wasn’t even late, and I wasn’t shivering anymore, so I wasn’t quite sure why I felt a little tired, but it was okay.

The Manatee slowed down as Amaryllis deployed more sail, and we went around in a big circle before Amaryllis guided us nice and slowly between the Beaver Cleaver’s deck and its great big balloon.

Clive was there, a pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth as he helped Gordon lower the Manatee onto the deck. “Ahoy there ladies and gents. Wasn’t expecting much by means of guests, especially not delivered like this.”

“No time for pleasantries I’m afraid,” Amaryllis said as she jumped off and landed on the Beaver with a thump. “Did we get refueled yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, ma’am,” Clive said. “Steve’s off too, getting some supplies for the galley.”

Amaryllis huffed. “Fine. Gordon, come with me. We need to put pressure to get the ship in tip-top shape. Clive get us ready to launch. These three kids are yours now.”

I started to climb up and Awen jumped to help me. “Careful,” she said. “You look a bit pale.”

“I’m probably fine,” I said. “Just need to get dry.”

I noticed Amaryllis and Gordon running off the deck to one side while Clive stood there and puffed away. “You look like you ran into a spot of trouble, Captain.”

“Yeah, something like that,” I said. “Some jerks kidnapped Awen, so we went to rescue her. She’d figured it out though, at least, mostly.”

“Awa, I would still have been stranded on Roger’s ship.” Awen helped me over the edge, keeping an arm across my back as she did. “I think you need to rest Broccoli.”

“‘M fine,” I said.

Bastion appeared next to me. I didn’t see him move, the sneaky paladin. He pressed a hand to my forehead and frowned. “That cut, what was it from?”

“Huh? Uh. Roger’s sword?”

“I think you might have been poisoned,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that kind of man putting something lethal on his weapon.”

“I used Clean on the wounds,” I said. “I... think I did?”

“It wouldn’t take much,” Bastion said. “Clive, I’m heading into the city. Awen, I suppose that means you’re in charge along with Clive here. Try to get as much ready as you can.”

“Awa?! Broccoli!” Awen said. She was by my side, but hesitated, hands wiggling as if she wanted to grab me but didn’t know if she should. Bastion started walking away, and the others all kind of just looked around.

“Where’re you going?” I asked Bastion.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said, which didn’t answer my question at all.

Clive took one last puff, then stepped to the side of the ship and tapped his pipe off over the edge. He turned to the Scallywags and fixed them with a birdy glare. “Right, you lot. Seems like you’re working alongside me now. I’m Clive, I do all the ship stuff on this here beauty of a vessel. By the looks of it, I was a veteran when you lot were still twinkles in your daddy’s eye. Let’s get that skiff secured on the starboard deck. You.” He pointed to Joe. “You know your ropes?”

“Uh, yeah,” Joe said.

“Good. Undo every-other mooring. Every other. Not just any half of them. Do it evenly.” He stuffed his pipe in a pocket, then moved over to the Manatee. “My old bones can’t lift this thing on their own. Take your ends.”

“Come on,” Awen said as she guided me towards the back.

“We should be helping,” I said.

“We can help later. You need to lay down to rest a bit.” She brought a hand up and touched my cheek. “You’re very hot.”

“I’ve always thought of myself as a bit more plain actually,” I said.

Awen giggled and held the door to the port cabin open for me. We stumbled our way down. The ship must have been rocking a little because it was hard to stay up on the steps. Awen slipped into my room and looked around all of my dressers in a hurry. She laid out some underthings on my bed with a blush, and a nightgown next to that. “H-here, can you put these on while I wait?”

“I should take a shower first,” I said.

“Awa? Can’t you use Cleaning on yourself?”

I blinked. “You’re so clever Awen.”

“I don’t think I’m all that clever, Broccoli,” Awen said. “Can you clean the poison away too? Maybe that’ll help?”

I frowned. Not at her of course, just frowned in general. “You know, you can call me Broc if you want. And I’ll call you... uh... Awen, I can’t make your name shorter.”

Awen laughed. “That’s okay. It’s already small.”

“But making it smaller would be even cuter.”

Awen shrugged. “You could call me Awa?”

I shook my head. “No no, that’s your noise. It’s like... Awen’s trademark sound.”

“Trademark?” she repeated. “Ah, it’s just... when I was a baby, I made that noise a lot. It’s why my parents called me Awen. They thought it was nice. Until I grew old enough to speak and my mother... she didn’t like it anymore. Um. I’ll leave you to get changed.”

“Right,” I said.

“Broc?” Awen asked as she stood by the door. “Thanks for coming to save me.”

I grinned back. It must have been a good grin because my cheeks felt nice and rosey from it. “No problem. You know I’d do nearly anything for one of my best friends.”

Awen nodded and pulled the door shut. “Tell me when you’re done.”

You’d think that with the amount of times I’d changed my clothes before, it would be really easy to change again, but I kept dropping things and having to shift around to keep my balance. I did manage eventually though. I used up a bit of mana to clean myself off too, of course. It didn’t help with wiggly feeling in my tummy though. The nightgown was very pretty, with lace trim and a sort of silky material that felt really nice. “I’m done!” I called out.

Awen opened the door a crack and peeked in. “Ah, good. Um. Did you... awa, want me to tuck you in?”

“You sure I need to sleep?” I asked. “I’m not tired.” I scrunched my nose. “Not too tired.”

“It’ll make you feel better. Remember, Bastion thinks you were poisoned.”

“He could be wrong. I don’t feel poisoned.”

Awen came over and moved the blankets aside on my bunk, then pressed me back down so that I was sitting. “Lay down,” she said.

I mumbled something that even I didn’t understand, then Awen pulled my blankets up and pressed them down around my collar. “Just try to feel better, okay?”

I nodded. Maybe I did need to rest. I felt really tired. “Okay. Good night Awen.”

“I’ll be here, okay Broc?”

I nodded, and then I slipped into sleep.

***