Chapter 512: Staying with Friends (1/2)

Autumn Leal was tired. In the course of what she had thought was an ordinary delivery run, she was ambushed by a team of Purity loyalists. Outnumbered and outmatched, she had thought she was done for until the guild team she hadn’t known were trailing her in stealth appeared. They captured and took away the loyalists that survived the resulting ambush, leaving Autumn to complete her supply contract.

She didn’t like being bait, but she did like coming home alive, so she called the whole thing even, completed her deliveries and returned to the airship for the trip back. The airship was diverted slightly to pick up an expedition of adventurers operating in the wilderness, who proved to be an unusual bunch. There was a guild team, some unaffiliated adventurers and prisoners who turned out to be some of the Builder cultists that people had been talking about for so long. The magic rods sticking out of their flesh seemed to be triggering strange aura reaction, making them seem alien and bizarre.

More unusual still, at least to her, was the member of the group she recognised. The final trio of the expedition’s membership was made up of Jason Asano, along with two women with the iconic blue hair of the Rimaros family. They were talking inside a privacy screen when Jason spotted her and left the screen to approach her across the deck.

“G’day,” he said to her, his words accompanied by a smile that looked at weary as she felt. “Another delivery contract?”

“Yes,” she said warily, nodding in the direction of the blue-haired women. “Are they…?”

“Yeah.”

The skyship Jason was riding in was an unusual design. It looked like an ordinary ship suspended from three hot air balloons by huge brass chains, except that the balloons were massive, pale blue crystals. Looking for some solitude, Jason slipped over the side and under the ship, conjuring his cloak to keep him aloft. A shadow arm emerged from his back to grip the keel of the ship, forming a tether that pulled Jason along as he watched the landscape pass below.

“Look at this,” he said happily. “This is how it’s meant to be. Magic and wonders.”

Shade emerged from Jason’s shadowy cloak to float alongside Jason.

“Loath as I am to interrupt your moment of peace, Mr Asano, Miss Hurin has requested to speak with you. Again. She is becoming increasingly concerned at my repeated refusals. I normally wouldn’t bring it up, but it is Miss Hurin.”

“Quite right,” Jason said.

As much as he was enjoying drifting through the air, he owed Farrah too much to leave her hanging any longer. He’d already brushed her off too many times during his recent emo rampage. He closed his eyes, felt for the connection to Shade and expanded his senses. He saw through the body Shade had left in the cloud house, where Farrah was pacing back and forth in agitation.

“I’m fine,” Jason said through the familiar.

“Fine nothing,” she said, wheeling on Shade. “I’d reach through Shade and choke you if I could. What were you thinking, running off in that frame of mind?”

“It wasn’t the best choice,” Jason acknowledged. “At least that's on-brand for me.”

“You think cracking jokes will make me forget that you’re one self-impressed aristocrat away from murdering someone that will get you in real trouble?”

“It’s alright, Farrah. Shade pulled me back from the precipice.”

“The precipice of what?”

“Maybe we can talk about this when I’m not hanging from the underside of a skyship.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“Why isn’t everyone? It’s awesome. I just… I needed something fun, Farrah. Something simple and joyous. It’s easy to forget that’s a thing, you know?”

In the cloud house, Farrah dropped into a chair as if the rage propping her up had just run out, leaving only tiredness and concern.

“Jason, I don’t like you being out there alone. Not when you’re running the ragged edge.”

“I’m not alone. And these Rimaros people aren’t so bad, as it turns out. I mean, the royal family dragging me into their mess was a dick move, but they did think I wasn’t around to get hurt. They might have their own agendas, but they seem pretty decent. It’s a little sad that came as a surprise.”

“Are you at least on the way back?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to portal.”

Farrah nodded.

“You don’t break up the expedition until the contract is done,” she said. “During the monster surge, that means when everyone is home safe.”

The airship descended through the skies of Rimaros. As it headed for the sky dock towers on the island of Livaros, they entered a rapidly increasing level of air traffic. One vehicle stood out, both for its design and the fact that it was heading for the royal sky island and not Livaros.

“Is that a flying cottage?” Zara asked.

A rustic garden cottage, complete with garden, was moving through the air within a shimmering orb. Jason took his eyes from the orb to peer at Vesper’s feet. Vesper noticed his gaze.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

“I was just wondering if you had ruby slippers.”

“Why?”

“Do you?”

“No.”

Jason pointed up at the cottage.

“You should be careful it doesn’t fall on you anyway. I’ve seen that happen before.”

“You’ve seen that vessel before?” Zara asked.

“Not in person, but there’s a famous story about something similar where I come from. If I recall correctly, isn’t the main road connecting the towns on Arnote made of yellow bricks?”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Vesper asked.

Soramir and Liara were waiting on a landing platform on top of the royal palace. Trenchant Moore was standing silently behind them.

“Do not speak unless addressed directly,” Soramir instructed Liara. “She’s not known for being tolerant of mortals. When I bow, you don’t.”

“Why not?”