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  [colpse]Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two - He’s a Real Fixer-Upper

  My spoonful of oatmeal--or something so close to oatmeal that it might as well have been the same thing--dropped out of my weakened hands and I found myself looking up and across the breakfast table with wide eyes. “Really?” I asked.

  Rosaline nodded. “Yup! Most of the problems it had were the kinds of things that normal maintenance would fix. The engine didn’t need repg, and most of the meiside it still work.”

  I nodded along. “I guess it didn’t have any problems caused by wear and tear if it was hardly ever used,” I said.

  “That’s pretty much it,” Rosaline agreed. “Most of the problems were straps rotting away and a few things going rusty up, but eople with skills that fix that up with a wave of their talons. The sails needed repg; they were rather moth-eaten. And the balloons were ft for too long. They needed repg too. I hope you like blue.”

  “Blue?” Awen asked. She was sittio Rosaline and oking her way through a breakfast of beans and ba.

  Rosaline smiled just a bit sheepishly. “Yeah. We had some leftover balloons, the sort used by the national mountain patrol for their little patrol ships.”

  “Are they a military group?” I asked.

  “The guard? Nah, they patrol the passages between cities. The area be a bit treacherous, especially in winter. Sometimes caravau the mountains.”

  I nodded. Having military signs on my ship--My ship!--would send the wrong kind of signal. We wao befriend people, not quer them. “So, where’s the Beaver now?” I asked.

  Rosaline huffed smugly. “In the backyard.”

  I blihen jumped to my feet and dashed over to the far end of the dining room where a bay window overlooked the gardens behind.

  It didn’t take much searg to find the Beaver Cleaver. The catamaran was h some hundred meters away, its keel almost hugging the ground. It was held there by a thicket of ropes all around it that were being tended by harpies in the Albatross Aeronautiiform.

  “Oh, oh gosh this is great!” I said. “We’ll o repaint him, and maybe buy some furniture and stuff, and... oh, this is going to be fun!”

  I turo the table to see the others sharing in my excitement, or at least enjoying it.

  Amaryllis waved a croissant through the air. “I’m certain we have some furniture leftover that we doo the cause. Right Gen-Gen?”

  The ever-present butler bowed from his spot by the doorway. “Indeed, Miss. I will ask the staff to colley spare furnishings. We gather them for your perusal by the sheds he vessel.”

  “Thank you!” I said.

  Clementine was the oo answer. “It’s nothing,” she said. And then the end of a se bounced off her forehead.

  “Don’t be so bsé!” Rosaline said. “It’s my pany that’s taking the loss you know.”

  “You were going to scrap it, it’s hardly a loss. And besides, it’s the ’s pany.”

  I left the two to their m ritual and rushed over to Awen. “Are you doing?” I asked. “We start right away!”

  “Awa? I, guess?” she said.

  I couldn’t help but ugh and grab her hand as soon as she was standing to pull her after me. “Amaryllis, once you’re done bonding with your sisters by arguing, you should join us!” I called back.

  Awen and I left the room to the sound of three harpies squawking in protest.

  Rag through the mansion with Awen was a lot of fun, but we didn’t have very far to go. Once we burst out the back it was only a few twists and turns before we reached the ship proper.

  Seeing the Beaver Cleaver h above was way different than seeing it stu a m only lit by old magical lights. It was far more impressive in the full light of day. And also a lot more rundown.

  The fking paint was already pretty rough, but I’d noticed that st time. Now iter lighting, I could make out rotting ropes and a few bits that were very much still rusty. “We still have a lot of work to do before he’s ready,” I said.

  Awen nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll work on him together, and he’ll be the ship to take to the skies in no time. Like Uncle’s Shady Lady but... ours.”

  I grinned down at Aced an arm over her shoulder to pull her closer. “That’s exactly right,” I said. “With your meical expertise and my... um, ing expertise, we’ll have the Beaver Cleaver looking like the most formidable ship in the sky! I’m thinking we paint it bright colours.”

  “Bright colours?” Aweed. “That doesn’t sound very, um, formidable.”

  “Shiny colourful things be very formidable. Formidable yet friendly,” I said.

  “Ah, okay.”

  I nodded while Aweled herself deeper into the hug. I tilted my head down so that my cheek was on her head and my ears could bend down to tickle her. “So, Awen,” I asked carefully. “I’ve seen the way you look at Rose.”

  The girl stiffened.

  “I think you two would be very cute together,” I said. “Rose needs someone who love her for who she is, and she’s the kind of girl that would do everything to help someone she loves, I think.”

  Awen looked up to me, bright blue eyes shining with uainty. “Awa. I... girls ’t--” she began.

  “Girls do whatever they want.”

  Awen’s face wehen white, then back to red iime it took to blink twice. “I... I don’t know,” she said at st.

  I tightened my hug so that I could squeeze the sad out of her. “That’s okay too,” I said. “Take your time, okay? You’re one of the smartest girls I know.” I pnted a big smoo her forehead before letting go. “Alright! Let’s start by ing this ship up! And then aint him!”

  Boung off to the side, I waved to some of the workers. It only took a bit of asking around to find the one in charge of the whole lot and then it was only a bit of work to ask him for a lot of paint and some brushes and such to paint with.

  While the workers went off to gather stuff, I bunched my legs under me, then shot up into the air to nd on the Beaver’s deck. There were a few things ohat looked new. Some of the hoops that had ropes through them, and some of the posts for tying the ship down had been repced, but for the most part it was as I remembered.

  A look over the edge showed Awen still rooted on the spot as if she’d turned into some sort of statue. I figured it would take a bit for her to get bato motion. It was time that she deserved, though, so I left her to her thoughts. If she looked sad ter then I’d do my best to cheer her up, but that was a ter problem.

  I eyed the scuffed aher-stained pnks that made up the deck. That could be a nice pce to start.

  A wave of ing magic wiped away the grime and dirt and dust, then the fky paint came off the deck like dust being blown off by the wind. It left me with a big round-ish patch a pace across that looked sparkly- o the rest of the deck.

  “Well then,” I muttered. That made my life easy.

  I started to circle the deck while ying down a stant wave of ing magic. Every step forward left a swatch of shiny deck behind me. Ohe deck was done, I skipped to the sed ded repeated the process. Some magic applied to the rails left them looking fresh and new as well.

  The at the back was a bit trickier, there were parts I couldn’t reach from the ground, but a few balls took care of them in a jiffy.

  I dipped into the s . The starboard side ’s interior was super utilitarian. There was a big engine, with belts running off to the side, and rails all around to keep people from bumping into things.

  I pushed out a big wave of ing magid was quite satisfied when it left the motor looking sparkly and new. It even cleared the dust out of the air. , I moved towards the front of the ship--the prow?--and into a series of smallish rooms. There antry with an icebox covered in ruhat was filled with lukewarm water, and plenty of shelves. o it was a little kit, and past that a cargo room with a meism built into the ceiling to push it open.

  That had to be the cargo access then. It retty much empty save for some broken boxes and bits of detritus left around. More ing magic cleared a lot of it out, but I would have to carry the boxes out myself.

  The room over were the crew quarters. One small room, probably for the first mate or captain, a little office with a fold-out bed that I guessed beloo the quartermaster, and then a room filled with hammocks that lead to a very unfortable looking washroom that had to be right uhe figureheads at the front. The rooms were all very tight, with ceilings so low that my ears brushed them if I didn’t crouch a bit.

  ing magic left the rooms clear and , but we’d still o spruce it up a bunch.

  I left the port hull and climbed ba deck. Awen was gone by then, but I could hear bings and bangs from the workshops. I hoped she was having fun and not just burning off frustrations.

  Finding the middle ground with Awen was... hard. She was a friend, and I loved her that way. I wanted her to be as happy as she could be. But she was young. I was young too. My mom told me that you were supposed to try all sorts of things when you were young in order to find yourself, but I retty happy with the bun I was.

  I didn’t know if I should have goo bother her or not, so I decided to be productive and hopped over to the hull. The starboard was a bit wider, with a baly built onto the bad windows all over that let in sunlight.

  A bit of ihe rooms much brighter as the grime on the windows faded away.

  A level down and I was t a series of big rooms. There were six in all, eae with a double bed in dire need of fluffing, a little dresser, and a port window looking out the side. They weren’t big rooms, only about as big as the cheapest inn rooms I’d ever visited, but space was at a premium on an airship.

  The room he prow was a teeny tiny ballroom, with wider windows than in the bedrooms and a floor that looked like it was meant to be danced on. I couldn’t think of a use for that kind of thing for our little crew, but it was a nice big area. We could turn it into a dining room, or a living area, or a training spot for non-Fireball magics.

  At the very very end was a little room with a stand-up shower and the other sorts of ies o keep and such. All of it was muicer than on the port side.

  The Beaver Cleaver was a stratle ship, but it was fortable too. I was sure we could make it our own in time.

  A little home for a little family of friends. That sounded nice.

  ***

  RavensDagger