Snippet #2333760

Her arms were laden with supplies, bags of random material, or so it would seem to those passing her. Rather, Runa had gathered everything she needed in the span of three hours. Cloth for sail repair, metal pieces that were mostly scraps from other ships or the like, bolts, screws and oils for all of her random repair needs. The sky pirate had the rest of the tools on her ship. So, with everything she could ever need, she started out of the city, back to her ship.

It was about halfway that she was approached by a simple looking man. She would have completely disregarded him had he not been staring right at her and his course of direction centered towards her. Slowing down, Runa peered up over the bags that she held tightly in her arms. One eyebrow raised as she watched him carefully. Did he wish to mug her? Well.. he would have another thing coming if he--

"Ms. Raruna Leautia. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, I'm Cortland. I've something I need to give you in regards to Dr. Serabel," the man introduced. He wasted no time and produced from his pocket an odd looking device. Runa watched him carefully, though she liked the fact that he got straight down to business. What she didn't like was that he knew her name already and that she had seen Dr. Serabel.

"This is a location device, all you need to do is depress this button here," he clicked down a small button inside the box like contraption, " and it will let us know where your ship is. It is run by a single lumen crystal. Depress the button every day to reveal your ships location and you'll receive 500 marks," with that he put the receiver into one of her bags and pressed a coin purse right on top for her to see clearly.

Without much time to say anything to him, Runa was left dumbstruck on the street at what just happened. Her mind whirled around in confusion, shock, distrust and curiosity. Her gaze shot down to the purse and then to the device tucked away beside the cloth for her sail repair. With a disgruntled sigh, she continued on her way back to her ship. By the time she'd reached her little vessel it was already surrounded by other vessels. For a moment she feared that no one would be able to find it, but she quickly brushed it aside.

It was getting late in the day and she had a lot of work to do. The sky pirate figured she wasn't going to get any sleep that night as she climbed up the plank onto the deck of her ship. Dropping her load right in the middle of the deck she plopped down, legs crossed under her and picked up the box that was given to her by the stranger. Her eyes narrowed in, her lips frowning as she gazed at it with an incredulous look. Did she trust the man who so suddenly approached her? No. Was she curious as to why he'd given her the box? Yes. Did the money sound good? Well sure, but since when did Runa do things for money? Was it even worth it?

She didn't have an answer to that. They were supposed to protect Dr. Serabel and it seemed like a very bad idea to be giving out the ships location. Not to mention, it was her ship and she wasn't too keen on having just anyone know it's whereabouts. Runa made her decision then and tossed the box back into the bag. She would be keeping that in a safe place where no one could find it and accidentally play with the damned thing.

That aside, the sky pirate got to her feet, picked up a large piece of sail cloth and looked up to her sails that billowed, withering in the wind. A grin spread across her face as she watched the wind-whipped cloth above her. If anything, the trip should be entertaining to say the least.

---

Early that morning

Runa was tethered to the side of her ship, her body slung in a makeshift holster as she leaned in to finish patching a small hole along the hull of her ship. She'd worked throughout the night, fixing her sails, the broken hull and repairing her gears that worked the lumen's that lined the entire hull of her small craft. Those crystals were dull right then as they had no power in them, but once powered they were a brilliant orange color.

Her tools hung in her belt at her side and she frequently reached down replacing one tool with another. A soft banging sound was coming from the hull as she worked to fit the piece that she'd so delicately matched to the hole. Just small enough to fit, and just big enough so that it wouldn't come loose. All that would be left was to smelt the thing. A tool that she'd come by some time ago would do that for her and she pulled that out last. The crystal on the bottom was a ferrum and it's heat was just hot enough to melt metal together. Oh, the ingenuity of the Barberry city of Guilds.

Once she was finished with the last hole patching, she leaned back, pulled her hat off and wiped away the growing sweat across her brow. The cool morning air was refreshing to feel across her skin. Behind her there was a large military ship that had docked sometime during the night. It was of magnificent appeal and dwarfed her little vessel. Runa pulled herself up across the hull of her ship and jumped back onto her deck. Swinging around the melting tool in her hand she looked over her handy work. The sails were tied up neatly, patches telling of her recent repairs to them. Though, one would have to look really hard to see where her patchwork started and the original sail ended. Runa prided herself in that.

The ship was ready, her wares restored and all that was left was the merry men of Dr. Serabel's escort. Speaking of which... Runa dropped the melting tool in her belt, took it all off her waist and tossed it into a crate. Putting the lid on, she secured the luggage and made her way to the plank of her ship. Looking down she spotted the very woman that had hired them. With her was the irritating Grim who had scorned Runa the day before.

She frowned but pushed away the anger at his having been so rude to her. It was a new day, and that meant new starts. Her eyes shot about the docking yard, but didn't see anyone that was familiar. Her stomach growled then and she gave a look of surprise, her hand shooting down to her stomach and her cheeks taking on a faint blush. She'd completely forgotten to eat the entire night. With food now completely on her mind, Runa rushed across her deck, took the stairs down into the hull and went to her small kitchen. If she was hungry, everyone else was sure to be as well (unless of course they ate before heading to the ship) and in that case... More food for Runa!