Chapter Four Hundred - Inn to the City

The scallywags returned a few hours before sunset, slightly tipsy, smiling a lot, and with some new clothes on which made them look quite... unique. They were wearing navy blue slacks and ruffle-chested poet shirts along with small coats that stopped at about mid waist.

“You three are looking good,” I said as I watched them stumble onto the ship.

“Ah,” Oda said. “We spent some of our money.” He looked a little sheepish at the admission.

Joe wasn’t so reserved. “What do you think, captain? Do we look good, or what?” He flexed his arms and half-turned so that I could see his silhouette better. “Bet all the girls on the shore are going to swoon when they see us.”

“You wish,” Sally said.

“I think you look very handsome,” I said, and Joe deflated.

“When you say it like that it doesn’t make me feel nearly as cool, captain.”

I blinked and wondered what he meant by that.

“You’re back,” Caprica said as she came up next to me. “And in new outfits. I like them. A little... loose, compared to a good dress uniform, but you look fashionable, and having the crew in a similar uniform is always a good idea.”

Joe grinned, preening a bit at the attention.

“We got them all the same because they were cheaper this way,” Sally said. “They’re technically school uniforms from one of the academies, but in different colours. The tailor who made them was upset that they weren’t selling, so we got them for very little.”

“Don’t go ruining the mystique of it, Sal,” Joe complained.

“The only mystique here is how the tailor managed to fit anything over your ego,” Sally snapped back.

And then Oda joined in and the three wandered off, firing friendly barbs at each other and the occasional shove which turned to laughter.

I glanced at Caprica who shrugged. “At least they enjoyed themselves,” she said.

“I guess so,” I said. “Should we be going too? We were going to stay at an inn, right?”

She nodded. “I’ll go get my things and tell the others.”

“Things?” I asked.

“I’m hardly going to be sleeping in my day clothes while at an inn,” Caprica said.

That was probably fair. “I guess I can pack up some PJs too,” I said before following Caprica down to our rooms on the deck below. It didn’t take long for us to inform the others as well. Calamity scoffed at the idea of wearing pajamass but the others got their things all packed up, and soon we were on the top deck and ready to go, all of us with an extra backpack, except for Caprica.

“You know,” Amaryllis said as she looked at all the bags Caprica had packed. “I’d taken you for more of a... soldier-type in that you’d only bring the bare necessities with you.”

Caprica sniffed in a princessly manner. “Don’t be foolish. A proper soldier is ready for anything, which means you have anything you might need with you.”

“Is the proper soldier ready to carry her own bags?” Amaryllis asked.

Caprica looked at the pile she’d pulled out of her room. “Maybe I’ll just bring the bare essentials after all.”

With everyone ready, we hopped across the gangplank and then down the docks to the ground. Awen ended up having us pause a few times as she got caught up looking at the mechanisms for holding ships in place; big metal arms with pads on their ends, placed on unscrewing mounts with could be moved with some pulleys from near the ground to accommodate any size and type of airship.

I ended up wrapping an arm around her shoulders to help lead her away. She could poke around later if she really wanted, but right now we were heading out to have fun!

“So, the first stop is that bookshop?” I asked.

“That sounds fair,” Amaryllis said. “It should be in the centre of the city, I think, which is also probably where we’ll find most of the neutral inns.”

“Maybe we ought to get an inn room first then,” Calamity said. “Have a place to drop off our things.”

That seemed perfectly acceptable to me. Well, anything would have been, really. I was just happy to be out spending time with my friends in a new place. I was looking forward to seeing what Inkwren was like from up close.

We left the docks and entered a more residential area. The homes here were two or three stories tall and very much squished together. It looked like they were mostly condos, actually, made of a reddish-brown brick with arches over the doorways. Very smart, sensible homes, but I found that they lacked a bit of individuality. They were right up against the sidewalk, so there was no room for any lawns or anything.

The city of Inkwren was impressively packed near its centre.

On the next intersection, we came up to a signpost that wasn’t just labelled with the names of the streets, but also with decorated signs that pointed towards four different academies. All four of those signs were covered in graffiti, but it was clearly graffiti laid on by different brushes and with different paints.

“Wow, the competition here is... steep,” I said.

“A bit uncivilised,” Amaryllis said.

“Reminds me of hockey fans,” I said.

We weren’t sure where the markets and inns were, so I politely flagged down a gentleman walking by and asked him for some directions.

He ended up pointing us down the road, then gave us the sorts of directions that I’d expect from a local. “Take a left there, then once you’re at Ormic’s place, you’ll take a right. Keep on going until you’re at the place where Box’s Bakery used to be, and pass through the alley next to that and onto the next block over, then it’s a left and you keep going until you cross the mayor’s bridge.”

“Uh, thank you!” I said with a little bow. He nodded and went on his way, and once he was far enough away, I turned to my friends. “Did you understand any of that?”

“I think, a little,” Awen said. “We can always find someone else once we’re closer to the centre.”

That seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea, so we continued on, following the first of his directions until we got a little lost again. At least the airship docks weren’t going to be too hard to find since the dock’s traffic tower stood far taller than all of the other homes in the area.

Worst case, we could bounce up to a rooftop and find our way back that way.

In the meantime, I found a nice lady who pointed us towards the inns, this time with an entirely different set of directions that were just as confusing, but judging by how they were shorter, we were getting closer!

The homes around us changed to more warehouses and a few small general stores, and we crossed by a school for children which I was surprised to see wasn’t part of one of the academies.

Finally, however, after a good half hour of walking, we made it to the market quarter. There were several inns on this stretch of the city, and my friends immediately aimed for the nicest, most fancy looking of the lot.

“You know, if we’re just going to stay at the inn for fun, it doesn’t need to be the most expensive one,” I said.

“We’re hardly lacking in money, Broccoli,” Amaryllis said.

“Besides, we want quality,” Caprica said. “And that comes at a price.”

Calamity shrugged. “I just want free food.”

I looked to Awen, my last hope for an ally, but she just shrugged in a sort of ‘what can you do’ gesture, and I decided to mostly drop the subject. “Okay, but I really don’t see why we couldn’t go somewhere nice but not too expensive and save a bit of money that we could spend on more fun stuff.”

“Come on, being waited on talon and claw is fun,” Amaryllis said.

“It is sorta nice,” Awen admitted.

Rolling my eyes, I followed my friends into the most elaborately decorated and stately of the inns on the main street, past several brick pillars and up a grand exterior staircase to a door where a tiny mousey doorman welcomed us before pulling on a lever that opened the main door for us.

The inside was just as lavish. This was less an inn, I realized, as it was a fancy hotel of some sort. The kind of place that I felt out of place in.

There was a small restaurant off to the right, and what looked like a museum of sorts to the left, with some showpieces behind glass on full display with plaques and all. Tables and chairs were spread across the lobby, some of which were occupied by guests chatting, and at the end was a long counter that cut off the front of the room from the space with the hotel workers.

It looked like a nice place, at least, though I couldn’t help but feel like I was a bit underdressed. I ‘eeped’ and stepped aside as a mouse person in a suit with a little mouse secretary ambled by, cigar smoke trailing above him.

“Decent enough,” Caprica said. “There’s even some harpy nobility here, Amaryllis.” She gestured to a small group off to the side.

Amaryllis glanced that way, then back to the counter, then her head whipped around and I saw her put a hand on her dagger wand on reflex.

My ears twitched up and I looked that way too, only for my breath to catch.

There were three harpy talking, two of them looked a bit like servants, but the third was definitely a noble. He was wearing a suit with trailing tails behind it, all clearly tailored and made of some very fine-looking materials.

The problem wasn’t the noble, it was that I knew him. “Francisco?” I whispered.

“Oh no,” Awen said.

Amaryllis’ eyes narrowed then she shook her head. “No. No, that’s not him.”

At her voice, the non-Francisco harpy turned, and I saw that she was right. He was a bit taller, with a more pronounced jawline and much softer eyes. Maybe he was a year or two older as well, though it was hard to guess. His gaze flittered over our group, then locked onto Amaryllis. “Amy?”

Amaryllis let out a sigh and let go of her daggerwand. I idly noticed Calamity slinging his bow back over his back. “Hello, Valerian,” she said.

The harpy gestured to his companions, then walked over, wings spreading wide. “I haven’t seen you in ages!” he said. “Not since just before Francisco learned of the engagement. I heard you put that off. Bet he’s upset! Haha!” He grabbed her in a massive bearhug.

I had been hugging Amaryllis daily for a while now, so I was pretty sure her hug tolerance was at an all-time high for her, but it still looked like she didn’t find this hug particularly pleasant. “Yes, he took it about as well as you might expect,” she said. “What are you doing here? Last I saw you, you were in Farseeing.”

“Ah, I left the capital and ventured all the way here on a quest!” he said as he twirled away. His cheeks were a bit flushed as he brought his talons in over his chest. “A quest for love!”

This... was not what I was expecting from Francisco’s brother.

“But what are you doing here? Aiming to attend one of the Academies?”

“No, nothing like that. We’re stopping by Inkwren to refuel. We’re on our way south. Back home, in fact,” Amaryllis said. It was even somewhat sorta true. She leaned to her side, pitching her voice low so that only my friends and I could hear. “Alright, maybe you were right, the discount inn might have been a better idea after all.”

***