Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Seven - Daytrip

Booksie ended up spending the night on the Beaver with the rest of us. Not that it was quite that simple.

When we arrived, arms loaded up with boxes of stuff that Awen had picked out, we discovered that we had been followed. At some point, some local grenoil had taken to tailing us across the city. Calamity was the first to spot them, but there wasn’t much we could do. They’d hop away if we approached them and they generally kept out of the way.

At the Beaver, the grenoil gathered along the pier, some of them sitting on crates that were stacked up there, others just milled about on the edges.

I helped my friends and Booksie set down the things we’d bought so that Awen could sort through it all, then I went to check up on the grenoil.

At first, they tried to casually move away from me, but the ones sitting on the crates were at the end of the pier, and it was easy to stand in their path, hands on my hips and my most fearsome pout on display to keep them rooted in place. “Hello,” I said. “I’m Captain Bunch, of the Beaver Cleaver, and I’d really like to know why you’re all sitting around here.”

Two of the grenoil looked at each other. They were younger, I noted. Maybe in their early to mid teens, about the same age as the Scallywags, though they were, of course, a lot froggier. “I don’t know if we’re supposed to say,” one of them hedged.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I just... well, we’re a little bit worried, is all.”

The young grenoil rubbed his chin, then shrugged. “Ze great and all-powerful dragon, Cholondee, mistress of Port Royal and scourge of ze docks...” He made a few rolling gestures with his wrist, as if to say ‘and so on and so forth’ before he continued, “Has tasked us with keeping an eye on miss Booksie.”

“Oh,” I said. These were probably some of the ruffians that Cholondee had recruited into her sorta-gang, then. “Well, Booksie’s nice and safe on the Beaver.”

“You say zat, but we heard zat she was kidnapped by the sylph,” he said, his big eyes narrowing. “New travels fast in Port Royal.”

“That was mostly a misunderstanding,” I said. “Did you want to talk to Booksie? Wait, does she know that you’re following her?”

The grenoil looked at each other again, then shared a few shrugs. “I don’t zink so,” he admitted. “But zat’s not our problem. Cholondee, ze all-powerful, most beautiful, etcetera etcetera, said zat we need to keep an eye on her.”

I rubbed at my own chin, the same way the grenoil had done. “Well, alright, if Chlondee says so, then I guess it’s not so bad. She’s just looking out for a friend. Do you guys need anything? Blankets, food?”

“We... are okay?” he said.

“Okay then!” I said with a clap. As long as they were comfy, then it was alright. I didn’t really mind that Booksie had some people watching out for her. If anything, it was probably a bit of a comfort. If anyone tried anything, there would be some nice locals there to help her in a jiffy.

I returned to the Beaver after saying my goodbyes, then I checked up with the crew that had stayed behind.

As it turned out, the Port Royal docks were very busy, which meant that there were all sorts of businesses running out of the docks. One of those was a service where some enterprising grenoil pushed around carts loaded up with local foods and sold them to the sailors stuck on board their ships.

The Scallywags had met one of those earlier, and had loaded up on Port Royal delicacies. That was probably for the best, since I hadn’t refilled the pantry yet!

The evening was nice. We showed Booksie around the ship, then I had the fantastic idea of hosting a sleepover, even if we had rooms to spare. Amaryllis and Caprica returned just in time to squeeze into the pillowfort Awen had erected within the dining room. Amaryllis, of course, thought that this was the height of silliness, but she flumped down onto a pillow herself and was soon wrapped up in warm blankets that muffled her complaints.

The next morning, we woke up ravenous.

“We have nothing to eat,” I complained as I looked into the pantry.

That wasn’t entirely true. We did have food, the problem was that it was all canned stuff and I wasn’t in the mood to eat that so early in the morning. We were definitely out of fruits and veggies though. I discovered a lost and forgotten potato at the very back of the pantry that had tried to turn into an eldritch abomination of seeking roots and which was probably not edible anymore.

“So, that’s the plan for today, then,” Amaryllis said. “We need to get supplies, and visit the Exploration Guild. And I imagine Booksie would like to get back home at some point.” She squirmed out of the eastern wing of the pillow fort, which had unfortunately taken some damage over night as it was sieged in our sleep and assaulted by stray arms and legs. “Also, someone needs to put this mess away.”

“Who’s staying on watch?” I asked. “I did promise the crew that we would be letting everyone have some fun in Port Royal.”

“Ah, I want to come, if that’s okay?” Awen asked. “To see Uncle again, if that’s where we’re going.”

Amaryllis nodded. “I basically need to come, otherwise you’ll get yourselves into all sorts of trouble.”

Booksie smiled, but shook her head. “I need to get back to my shop,” she said.

“I’ll escort you over,” Caprica replied. “I think the Scallywags wanted to head out today. If they don’t mind escorting Booksie home first then I can play babysitter with them.”

I nodded along, that made sense. I didn’t want to send out any of my friends all on their own, but all of my friends were independent, and I couldn’t be with everyone all the time. The next best thing was making sure that everyone at the very least had a buddy.

Caprica with the Scallywags, to watch over them and make sure they didn’t get too excited, and for them to help if Caprica got involved in something political again, and I could go with Amaryllis, Awen and probably Calamity to the Exploration Guild headquarters in the centre of the city.

“The buddy system wins again,” I said.

“What are you on about?” Amaryllis asked.

“Ah, nevermind,” I said. “We should mark out a few places to meet, in case we get lost.”

“Obviously the Beaver should count as one of those,” Amaryllis said.

“And my shop,” Booksie added. “It’s a nice place. If any of you, or the other crewmates, gets lost, I can always make room for one more for the night. I have couches and blankets to spare.”

I nodded along. “That’s a good start. There’s the Rock Inn and the Roll Inn. They’re right next to each other. I stayed there for a while, and the owner, Julien, was a very nice grenoil. It’s close to the centre of the city, too, and I bet the locals will know where it is if anyone asks.”

“Ah, and the Exploration guild,” Awen said. “We’re not all members, but as long as one of us is, it should be alright to go in?”

We split up soon after, giving everyone time to use the washroom and in some cases change into something different for the day out. I changed back into my usual gambeson and gear, though I decided to leave my breastplate and other armour behind. I didn’t expect to run into any trouble in Port Royal, so the extra weight would just be senselessly exhausting.

The Scallywags were anxious to depart once everyone was on the topdeck, so I gave everyone their goodbye hug and told them to be safe while Amaryllis shared everyone’s pay out.

Once Caprica was gone with the Scallywags, I asked Clive to keep an eye on the ship, then it was our turn to head out.

The Exploration Guild was nestled on a street on the western end of the city, not too far from the docks, but a bit higher up the mountainside. The way the roads were laid out meant that we actually had to move deeper into the city before circling back and up. It at least gave us a chance to stretch our legs and wake up properly.

We also discovered early morning food peddlers all over the place. “I love this city,” Calamity said as he came away from one cart with a pair of skewers with little blocks of steaming meat on them.

“It’s nice,” I agreed. “It’ll be a nice spot for Booksie’s wedding, I hope.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to that,” Calamity said.

“Because of the food?” Amaryllis asked.

“Because of the food,” Calamity agreed.

I rolled my eyes (because Amaryllis did it, and it looked fun) but didn’t poke any fun at Calamity. If he wanted to obsess over new foods to eat, then that was up to him.

We actually got lost a little while searching for the Exploration Guild, but I figured that was just part of the fun of walking around and exploring. Next time we wouldn’t get lost as easily because we’d seen a little more of the city.

Guild Row was one of the main streets in the upper parts of Port Royal. It was built at a fairly steep angle, so each step really worked on one’s calves. Colourful buildings lined both sides of the road, some decorated so that anyone looking at them could guess at which guild they belonged to.

The culinary guild had pillars that looked like utensils, and the Courier’s guild had a semaphore tower poking out of the top of it.

The Mage’s Guild, of course, had a bunch of floating pillars and little balls of glowing magic. I’d been very impressed when I’d seen it for the first time all those months ago. Now I recognized the spells and was even more impressed. How were they keeping them active for so long? Was someone recharging them? Could people even do that?

The Exploration Guild headquarters were near the middle of Guild Row, a stately building with a large compass rose built into its front and the guild’s name beneath.

I entered the guild first, then paused some ways into the lobby. Of all the Exploration Guilds I’d been to, the Port Royal branch was always the busiest, and today was no different. A group of grenoil moved around us towards the exit, all of them heared up for adventure. We traded polite nods when the leader of the group noticed the pin stuck to my lapel.

“Greetings,” said a grenoil woman behind a waist-high counter. “Welcome to the Exploration Guild. How can I assist you?”

“We’re looking for Abraham,” I said.

The grenoil winced. “There’s no one by that name here.”

“There isn’t?” I asked.

“You’ll have to find this Abraham elsewhere if he owes you any money, I’m afraid,” she said.

I blinked. “Uh. What?”

Awen sighed. “Uncle Abraham’s my uncle,” Awen said. “Hi. I’m Awen Bristlecone. Do a lot of people come here asking him for money?”

The secretary deflated a little. “Money, complaints, once a young lady brought a child that she claimed was his.”

Awen stared, mouth opening then closing a couple of times. “W-was it?”

“Oh? Oh no, I don’t think anyone has to worry about something like that,” the grenoil said with a dismissive wave. “If you don’t mind giving me a moment, I’ll go see if Abraham is actually here. You never know, with him.”

“Thank you!” I said. I figured we wouldn’t have to wait long either way. If Abraham was somewhere, then it was usually obvious that he was around.

***