“I want to look around ahe big tour,” I said to Amaryllis as soon as we were ba our little room.

  “And leave me to do all the paperwork?” she asked acerbically while waving the file we had been given around.

  I shook my head. “No, no! Let’s look at it now, then... we could take the tether? It sounds like a lot of fun?”

  The harpy rolled her eyes and sat down onto my hammock to pce the folder onto her p. “No. But you’re n about looking over these now rather than ter.” She fumbled with the edge of the folder, her talons ly suited to handling the paper, but when I reached out to help she gred and tore the folder open. There were only two sheets within and they seemed identical. “Here, tell me if you don’t uand anything,” she said as she passed one over.

  “Thanks!” I took the page and sat down on the grouo my backpack to read over it.

  Exploration Guild Official Expedition SummaryExpedition No.124 of Year 398PC, Port-Royal BranchMission Statement: To explore, scout, and map the region around deissioned Fort Froger aurn to meeting poiimated time: Approx 3 daysDifficulty: Low to Negligible

  That left me with a few questions. Notably, what did the P the year stand for and who he fort we were going to explore? Asking about the year would be suspicious so... “Did they really he fort Fort Froger?” I asked.

  Amaryllis looked up from the page and shrugged. “Why not?”

  “Isn’t that a bit... racist?”

  She tilted her head to the side in a way that immediately made me think of a bird. “I think it would be speciesist, actually. And no, it’s okay if the Grenoil themselves , I think.”

  “I guess,” I said. “So this isn’t really heavy oails. Do you know anything about this fort?”

  “No, I don’t. It sounds like one of the projects that went up just after the skirmish with the Tres. I know Deepmarsh went mad building fortifications for a few years, only for half of them to go unmaintained when nothing happened.”

  “I’m not familiar with the history,” I said.

  Amaryllis sighed and pihe bridge of her h her talons. “I’ll tell you once we’re on the ground again. Go do your try bumpkin routih the captain.”

  “Alright!” I said. She didn’t o tell me twice. I scrambled to my feet and tucked the page into my bandoleer before I noticed e’s head looking around. I bit my lip. “Hey, before I go, you watch over e for me? I don’t wao get hurt while I’m looking around the ship. Thank you!” I tossed the spirit cat onto Amaryllis’ p, the kitty looking oo pleased by the sudden motion, then walked out of the door.

  Now I just o find the captain...

  As it turned out, that wasn’t too hard. The moment I climbed onto the deck I spotted him with his awesome hat standio the ship’s wheel, a colpsible telescope in one hand and a folded map iher.

  I made sure that I wouldn’t bump into anyone on the crew as I made my way to the rear se of the ship. I k was called a castle or something, but I wasn’t quite sure. I had to brush up on my nautical terminology before I became a sky captain myself.

  “Ah, hello there, Broccoli,” Captain Isaac said over the rumble of the Silver Boot’s engine and the whistle of the wind.

  I pulled my hair back out of my face, then started to tie it inth bun. “Hello, captain!”

  “This is excellent flyiher,” he said. “We should be making it to Green Hold just before nightfall.”

  “Green Hold?” I asked. Since he wasn’t looking right at me, focused as he was on his map, I decided to take a moment to s the ship. Other than a few people coiling up ropes or sitting bad taking a break, there were few people on the deck.

  The rest of the space was taken up by the big magigihing in the middle, two shirtless men both w around it with shovels in hand, occasionally tossing some glowy rocks into a bur the back.

  The front of the ship had another man with a telescope who was leaning against a rge ballista while looking around. There weren’t any s or anything like that, which was a little disappointing.

  “I take it this is your first time aboard an airship?” Captain Isaac asked.

  “It is!” I said. “And it’s wonderful.”

  He ughed, full and from the belly. “t yourself lucky that the trip isn’t even a day long. I love the Boot, but people who aren’t born for the sky find it hard to stay aboard a ship for a long while.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I said. How twisted and evil would someone have to be to not enjoy time spent on an airship of all things?

  “It is what it is,” he said. “Did you want a bit of a tour? We still have a good six hours before we make ndfall.”

  “Wait, we’re arriving today?” I asked.

  “You thought the trip would take longer?”

  I shifted from side to side and pressed my fiogether while fighting a bit of a blush. “Well, I was kind of hoping frand airship adventure. You know, sky pirates and maybe a fight with an evil dragon?”

  The captain blihen tilted his head back to ugh. “No! No, I'm afraid there’s a dearth of sky pirates over Deepmarsh. And as fons, well, we have our banners.”

  “Banners?” I repeated. Captain Isaac poio the rigging where a pair of big green banners with a strange symbol in the middle. It had wavy lihat probably represented water, and a big mouth like a crocodile’s ping its way out of the waves. Its long forked tongue was shaped a bit like a mangrove tree.

  “You didn’t hear it from me, but most dragons are on the wrong side of greedy. The sky belongs to them, so if you want to pass through their territory you o pay a tax. The banners are a sign that you’ve paid your part. They’re imbued with the dragon’s own magic. They see the bahey leave you alohey don’t and your ship is fair game. Worse, if they see a rival’s bahen you’d best hope you know the featherfall spell because your ship is going down.”

  “Whoa,” I said. “You ’t fight them off?”

  Isaac ughed, but this time it had a tinge of actual horror in it. “No, no you ’t. A young dragon will usually be in its fourth tier. A mat sheer level for the Kingsguard. The older dragons are, well, no one knows.”

  “Cool,” I whispered. I couldn’t wait to find one and ask it if I could ride it. It didn’t eveo be into battle. “Oh, so about that tour?”

  “Of course young miss, I would never fet a promise I made only a st few minutes ago. Let me show you the Silver Boot in all of her glory!”

  What followed was some of the most fun I’d had in weeks, and it was the best kind of fun, the sort where I learned a whole bunch.

  “This is ravity engine,” Isaac said as he tapped the side of the big motor in the middle of the ship. “Careful, it’s hot.”

  “How does it work?” I asked. I didn’t know all that much about motors. My dad had shown me how to boost a battery and ge the oil, and that was about where my experiended. Everything else I knew was from television and books.

  “I haven’t the fai clue,” the captain said with good cheer. “I do know that it burns through quite a lot of mana-rich coal, which boils an alchemical reagent that, in turn, flows through a plex array of runes ihe metal g. That’s what gives us our lift. The boiling reagent gives off heat that pushes out of a der. That also makes a flywheel turn, ah do you know what that is?”

  “It’s a big heavy wheel that soaks up energy and keeps turning for a while,” I said. “I know what it is, yeah.”

  “Smart girl. There are belts leading below ded to the trol meism for our two propellers, and we have a switch that allows the pilot to ge the dire they’re turning in. It breaks quite often, but most of our forward momentum es from our sails and some rune work. The propellers are merely more vehan pying with the wind.”

  I waved goodbye to the two young men w on the engine and they smiled and waved back.

  “Does w on an airship pay well?” I asked.

  Isaac made an indistinct gesture in the air as we moved to the front. “For myself and the officers it’s det. Most of the crew are quite mixed. I’ve got bcksmiths and bakers and farmhands. There aren’t that many csses suited to the work we’re doing here. Still, the pay is better than what they’d get in some little town and they get to travel. It has its perks.”

  We got to the very front of the ship where the lookout stopped staring ahead with his binocurs to give us a jaunty wave.

  “This,” Captain Isaac said as he gave the big balistea a proud pat. “Is a Rever mark four. Imported all the way from the Snownds. e a pretty copper but it’s worth it.”

  “You don’t use ons?” I asked.

  “ons? I don’t think pg a heavy lump of steel on my ship, then loading it full of explosives would be a good idea. Besides, onballs ot be aimed with the assistanarksmanship skills. At least, I haven’t heard of enemy-seeking o.”

  “Sir,” the lookout said while pointing to something out ahead. “Grey clouds on the horizon, dead ahead.”

  “Ah, damnation,” Isaac said. “I’m sorry Miss Broccolli, but perhaps it would be best if you returo your for now. I wouldn’t want to have to expin to that grenoil gentleman apanying you why one of his charges had gone overboard.”

  “Ah, yeah, alright,” I said. I wao stay atop the ship, but it wouldn’t do to be impolite and end up dead, or worse, in someone’s way. “Thank you for the tour. Your ship is wonderful!”

  “It was truly my pleasure.”

  When I returo the it was to find Amaryllis swaying lightly in her hammock, one leg over the side and her head leaned forwards until it was almost tucked into her armpit. She was sn lightly. e was rolled up in a ball oummy, back to sleep again.

  I held back a giggle at the ‘chuu chuu’ noises she was making and slid into my own hammock with my book on basic magic. The day so far had beey productive, and I looked forward to seeing all sorts of new pces ter.

  My first mission had so far beeing, but it cked... something to make it truly awesome. I figured it would e eventually, maybe as we finally hit the road and started on the adventure proper.

  My hammock rocked from side to side, apanied by my new partner’s ‘chuu-chuuing’ and I tried to imagine what the future could bring. There were dragons to ride, and airships to travel on, and sky pirates to battle. There was magic to learn and awesome skills to discover.

  I was smiling like a very silly little girl as I refocused on my book. The adventure was underway, but that didn’t mean I could sck off. I had to work hard to make the best of friends and to see all the wonderful pces the world had to offer.

  ***