Allevent

Isengrim waited for Icarus to use the aurum crystal to heal Lawrence before continuing their conversation. "Yeah, this is a bit of a departure for me," he agreed, thoughtfully rubbing the stubble on his chin. "I've been kicking around Allevent for a while now, and I've done just about everything under sun. Mostly soldiering or caithness hunting. Even spent some time doing survey work for the Orienteers, as a lark. This is nice though," he added, referring to the piecemeal work for the Applicators. "Dr. Serabel says the mission is important, which is a welcome change from the piddly-shit jobs I usually take. Be nice to think that after all this time I'm finally going to do something worthwhile..."

He trailed off as the book-eater approached -- watched her converse in her frantic way with Raruna. "So," he continued, turning back to regard Icarus, "it seems that our captain thinks the skies are safe for now." He nodded toward the cabin, where Raruna had disappeared to. "But just in case I think we ought to keep at least one of the seasoned fighters on deck at all times. You, me or Jedas..." he paused, turning to eye Lawrence briefly. "Possibly the girl," he added, noting how quick she'd been with that gun of hers during the fight. "Would you mind sticking around up here a bit?" With that he dropped a heavy hand on the lad's shoulder plate in farewell before making his way below deck.

As this wasn't to be a long trip in air, Isengrim hadn't bothered seeking out any kind of living quarters, and instead had stashed his gear in a small supply closet where it had seemed unlikely to get in the way of anything important. He made his way there just to double check on things, before heading for the engine room. Along the way his shoulders practically touched either side of the corridor, and he continually had to stoop beneath rafters or when stepping through a hatch. The engine room was easy to find, especially as he neared he could feel the steady vibrations through the wood, hear the faint, pleasant hum and then see the orange light that warmly bathed the room as he entered.

The hulking northlander circled the engine, careful to keep well away from the artifice's encasement and from the various cables and coils that flowed outward like veins from the heart. The caith crystal even seemed to beat as its glow waxed and waned rhythmically -- the heartbeat of someone sound asleep. After a few moments his idle curiosity was satisfied and he turned to leave. It wasn't often that one saw caith crystals this large or powerful -- one of the dangers being that any degradation could cause it to suddenly release all of its energy in one volatile burst, spawning caithness of size and power not often seen naturally in Allevent. The likelihood was small, especially as Raruna seemed to care for her airship's maintenance.

"So how goes it?" he asked Dr. Serabel as he passed the open hatch to the small quarters she'd been given. The young Applicator looked up from her seat at a small desk mounted to the wall. The locators from Cortland were splayed out before her in various levels of disassembly.

"I don't know," the woman admitted, not looking up from her work. "I had hoped to turn his ploy against him somehow -- change the locators' frequency to create a theta wave interference pattern--" (Isengrim zoned out for the next few sentences of the Applicator's jargon) -- "but the particulars of these artifices elude me. I don't see how they function as locators at all, to be honest." In an uncharacteristic fit of emotion she threw one of the devices against the far wall of the room, where it no doubt disappointed her by remaining in one piece.

"Oh well, as long as you're sure they're not tracking us," he replied, to which she nodded dismissively. "May as well toss them, then," he advised before making his way back up toward the deck. Everything seemed to be fine, but his eyes scanned the skies anyway as he walked it perimeter, careful to keep within reach of the railing or rigging at all times. His other hand rested idly on the head of the axe at his belt, gloved finger tracing the sleek curve of steel. "You lot seeing that!?" he called out to the others on deck, pointing windward of the vessel, where in the distance another airship could be seen as little more than a dot against the blue of sky. It was driving hard against the wind, seemingly riding on orange sunbeams as its stannum crystals were running on full burn -- a sure sign that the vessel fled from some danger, and its path was leading due south for their own ship, on its stable course north.

"Wonder what's the matter," he muttered to himself or anyone who'd gathered nearby. At this distance it was nearly impossible to judge size or speed of the approaching craft, but he guessed that it was relatively small as only a fool would run a large vessel's stannum on full burn even in an emergency, as the negligible acceleration wasn't worth the significant degradation of the crystal. The pioneers of air travel had learned that the hard way some decades back, as the largest vessels virtually all went down in flames after accidentally summoning caithness of truly monstrous proportions during tests with full burn.

The wrapping was crappy at best, but it would do enough to keep the bleeding down. When she had time she would use the healing crystal to finish the job. In the mean time, well, things would just go as they would. Runa pulled on a clean white shirt, put back on her red leather and tightened it across her lithe frame. Finally, over that she replaced her coat. The repairs to both pieces of clothing would have to wait until later. Right then, she had a ship to fly.

Donning her hat and weapons once again, the pirate left her quarters and went out onto the deck. She was in her own little bubble and so didn't notice too much around the deck and the people that were with her. That was until she nearly ran into the small girl that she'd taken hostage not to long ago. It was the girl that the doctor called the map. Runa stopped dead in her tracks as the little thing stared up at her and started to speak.

"Um...Yuseif tarwn maji..."

Runa stared at her blankly. Frozen in spot and completely lost as to what just happened, she couldn't bring words to her mouth as she stood there. What the heck? Did this girl think that she was speaking the common tongue? Maybe she was broken... Damn.

"Yu-se-if ta-r-wn ma-ji...?"

Once again, Runa was lost. The girl was obviously trying to communicate, she'd even spoken slower. Her voice was accentuating all of her words, but to the pirate, none of it made sense. She arched an eyebrow at the girl that tried to speak to her, only uttering a soft 'hu' in response.

"Washu rein, you look familiar?"

"Common.... speak common! Jeez," Runa replied, flustered at trying to figure out what the heck the girl was trying to sputter out. Only the last part made any sense to the pirate and she put one hand on her hip, "Yeah. I should be familiar, I brought you to the inn back at Barberry and got in on this gig."

"Could you... maybe tell me where I am right now? I can't seem to remember anything before our encounter in the bar."

Runa's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, "You... don't remember..." silence followed for a moment before Runa threw her hands up in the air, "God... She's broken. I knew it. Why can't anything work for me... why!?" The sky pirate turned her attention back to the woman and sighed heavily. She replaced her hand on her hip and reached up to hold her forehead in the other, "We were told that we had to accompany this doctor woman on an important mission. We have to protect her. You're apparently the 'map', not that you seem to be working properly, but hey. You're on my ship and we're heading North. Don't ask me the destination, I just follow orders right now. However! You're on my ship, that means you play by my rules. So, why don't we start with a name hu?"

Her gaze didn't waver as she tapped her foot impatiently. However, whatever reply the girl might have given was lost to Runa as her attention was suddenly caught by a shout at the bow of her ship.

"You lot seeing that!?"

Her eyes shot up from the girl and out towards the horizon where Grim had pointed off to. There in the distance was a vessel high tailing it across the skies. Raruna cursed under her breath and left the deck to go to the helm. She ran across the area, took the stairs two at a time and unhooked the ties holding the wheel in place. She was more than curious as to why they were running at full burn (even Runa didn't do that unless it was a life or death situation), were they crazy or something? The other thing that worried her was their course. They were headed directly for her vessel and she didn't think they had any intentions of stopping.

Her hands worked the levers quickly and her ship dipped off to the side to move out of the other vessel's path. Runa didn't drop their altitude, just changed their course slightly. She brought the ship back around and aimed it to be able to pass the other ship on her starboard side.

"Let's find out whats got a fire lit under their ass eh?" She said, mostly to herself and pushed the lever forward to gain a little more speed.

---

---

A pat on the shoulder was enough for him to finally conclude the truth of his current appearance. He did not look at the one who did the gesture but its meaning and sentiment was enough to make him hurl even more as he was demonstrating at this very moment. It was the word that befitting his situation and demeanor flashed brightly in neon lights in his thick skull called a brain. In short terms, he looks so very...

PATHETIC.

This is a death sentence for the One-Eyed Grim Reaper. His frightening reputation was now going to be ruined because of this clobber of wood flying in the air. This was probably one of the many reasons he hated advancement or technology at all. Men should just stay to the land where they were born and never yearned for something so unreachable much like the skies. They always do the impossible things for their own pleasure and not caring for the others getting stuck in between. How truly sickening. Actually, this reminds him of someone in particular. Oh... that is just like him. Well, scratch that thought. There is nothing wrong in doing what he pleases. After all, this is his life and all. The result, there is nothing wrong in what he does.

In any case, it was good to know that the flying caithness had finally stopped their attack on them. He had enough troubles already. In addition, he was quite busy with the main problem at hand which was his meal coming out of his mouth whether he liked it or not. Because of it as well, he was not able to hear the minor discussion with his other fellow mission contractors or the fact that the so-called captain had already left the deck and went to the cabins. He managed to stabilize himself as the ship was now flying smoothly that it did not disrupt his equilibrium. The shaking has ceased as well. Standing upright, he spoke in irritation. "If you're going to fly this thing, fly it properly." It was directed to the female captain but she was no where in sight.

After stating that actually, the ship was rocked with another strong draft of wind.Thus, it made the ship rattle and made Jedas queasy once more. The result he held strongly at the balustrade as if it was a precious lifeline and spewed everything that he could from his mouth without care. This is definitely the last time he would ever ride one of these weird contraptions. This pattern continued on as he looked very dejected in his current state. However, in the horizon he managed to catch a glimpse of something approaching him or the right word was the rickety ride he was in. It was then he heard someone yelling about seeing that or something. He sarcastically retorted. After all, the grim reaper was in not the best of moods judging by his condition as of now.

"I'm not blind." He did not care if it strike a nerve or something. One eye might be the only source of his vision at the moment however, he is not invalid due to it. Further, such statement is discriminatory, By that, this is against the law. And what he mean by the law is something that he had concocted at the back of his mind while drinking his heart out at one of the pubs that he later destroyed due to being cheated in his tab. When actually, he was not the best counter of all times. Getting back on the topic, he narrowed his one good eye and noticed it to be a ship and not a caithness. However to dodge the said ship from colliding with theirs, the captain performed a maneuver that trigger his airsickness once more.

When this was done, Jedas fell to his knees by the sudden turn of the helm. His hand gripped on a nearby column and his other hand covered his mouth instantaneously. For he could feel the bile traveling upwards his throat and wanted to exit through his mouth. Once, he regained his momentum to stand. He did so and quickly vomited his accumulated bile to down the bucket which is open skies. Furthermore, irritation could be clearly seen in his eye especially when he heard the female captain speaking about finding about something. Oh, he will definitely fine something to shut the girl up for good. Due to this, the good deed of making breakfast was cancelled and the girl propelled to second place in his list of Hate then Kill. Gaining a sense of equilibrium, he glared at the direction of the captain. "I'll kill you a sorry excuse for a captain."

However, the threat lost its charm as the ship shook once more. This made him once more prone to his airsickness and vomited his what could be left of his meal down the hatchet. In any case, the one taking the first spot on his list was none other than the airship that was about to collide with theirs. The One-Eyed Grim Reaper did not care for any reasons why the ship was out of course or somehow having what they call it burning or whatever. All that matters to him is that this thing wanted to knock him out of the air. He hated airships and this only strengthened it. So, he decided this ship will be destroyed and if not burned down. Oh, he will do it personally by his mere hands. "You're going down you piece of wood."

---

---

---

Icarus Saerin

---

Icarus nodded at Grim's request. He was planning on staying up here for a while. Since he did not like being stuck in a room for extended periods of time. He clutched the crystal and began walking over Jedas, Who was still busy feeding the wildlife at ground level a half-digested breakfast. As he approached, the ship suddenly hit a bit of turbelence pitching and rocking before stabilizing shortly after. He Heard a hefty har-rumph and look over to see Jedas continuing his usual activities with renewed vigor.
He muttered something in the direction of runa. Icarus figured it was probably best he didnt hear anyway.
Isengrim came out of the quarters and stared off into the distance. suddenly he shouted "You lot seeing that?". Icarus turned to see the black dot in the distance. He crossed next to Jedas, who was muttering something about a piece of wood, tapping him with the Crystal, a yellow pulse crossing his body, showing it had done its work, since it was just an alleviation and not a healing it didnt take much time or effort. Icarus stepped up onto the rail of the ship and pocketed the crystal, he would give it to Runa later.
He held his hand outward and the air in front of him warped, until it formed into a large convex lens, the image at its center: The Large ship headed right at them.

He turned around The lens holding its position. "Grim, Captain Runa, I can open a wind chamber once they get a little closer so that we may speak to them at a distance, or listen in if you would like. Just let me know." He said, turning back to the lens, his hand resting on his sword as he watched the oncoming ship approach.

---

Icarus Saerin

---

Icarus nodded at Grim's request. He was planning on staying up here for a while. Since he did not like being stuck in a room for extended periods of time. He clutched the crystal and began walking over Jedas, Who was still busy feeding the wildlife at ground level a half-digested breakfast. As he approached, the ship suddenly hit a bit of turbelence pitching and rocking before stabilizing shortly after. He Heard a hefty har-rumph and look over to see Jedas continuing his usual activities with renewed vigor.
He muttered something in the direction of runa. Icarus figured it was probably best he didnt hear anyway.
Isengrim came out of the quarters and stared off into the distance. suddenly he shouted "You lot seeing that?". Icarus turned to see the black dot in the distance. He crossed next to Jedas, who was muttering something about a piece of wood, tapping him with the Crystal, a yellow pulse crossing his body, showing it had done its work, since it was just an alleviation and not a healing it didnt take much time or effort. Icarus stepped up onto the rail of the ship and pocketed the crystal, he would give it to Runa later.
He held his hand outward and the air in front of him warped, until it formed into a large convex lens, the image at its center: The Large ship headed right at them.

He turned around The lens holding its position. "Grim, Captain Runa, I can open a wind chamber once they get a little closer so that we may speak to them at a distance, or listen in if you would like. Just let me know." He said, turning back to the lens, his hand resting on his sword as he watched the oncoming ship approach.

Her gaze shot to Icarus who had offered to give them a chance to speak to the other vessel. The air before him had swirled into a bubble like thing and magnified the vessel in the distance. She couldn't see clearly where she was at the helm of her ship. Grim walked over to Icarus then, though, and peered through the shifted air and then told him to open that communication with the other ship.

"Hailing southbound vessel! Ahoy, southbound!" Grim called out. Raruna didn't mind his taking that portion for himself. She highly doubted that anyone was going to answer them.

"Any visual on the deck?"

Runa simply shook her head in response, she couldn't see anything from where she was stationed and doubted that she could see any better were she to look through the magnifying wind tunnel.

"Raruna! I want to intercept that craft - can you bring us around? We've got to get aboard and disable that stannum engine before critical degradation,"

The sky pirate grinned at the man, "I thought you would never ask! Of course I can do that! My ship may be small, but I've enough power to catch that lump of metal," she boasted once more. Her eyes were wild again and her heart pounded hard in her chest. The adrenaline rush was what she was looking for. It was a kind of hi for her, putting her in an elevated state of being that she loved to be in, probably a little bit too much for her own health, but who cared about that? Adjusting her hat, she reached out and began working the levers to get ready to swing them around. Working the levers, she dragged the starboard side down and the ship tilted again, with the wheel she directed her vessel into a large half circle that turned them around. She readjusted the levers and pushed them forward again, giving the crystals power.

"You, you and... you, you'll be the ones to go aboard," Grim announced, pointing to Icarus, Zherynnia and then Raruna. Runa grinned in response to that and prepared to power her vessel to keep up with the other. If she did it too soon she would out run the other, too late and she would lose their target ship.

Her gaze kept looking behind her to keep track of where the other vessel was and when she was sure that it was in range, Runa pushed the levers forward all the way. The caith crystals hummed louder than before and her stern shook. Running full burn was something she rarely did, however, Runa knew her ship could handle it. Besides, she didn't plan to keep her vessel like that the entire time they were on the other ship. She would attack the anchors to the other air ship and pull back on the full burn, allowing the larger ship to carry her smaller one with it. In a matter of seconds the second ship was next to them, her vessel humming along near the bow of the ship to avoid the wings that jutted out from the vessels sides, it was just as Runa had planned and she locked her wheel to keep it steady.

Rushing down to her deck she picked up the tied down ropes with anchors on the ends. There were six of them, "Throw them!" She yelled the order out to anyone that could hear her and would help. She twirled the one in her hands with practiced ease and let it fly out across the distance. Her line hooked and she tied it off on her ship. Runa moved to the next and repeated the process. Once all six anchors were attached to the other ship, Runa lifted a small hatch on the side of the ship and dragged out a long plank. Lifting one end of it, she slipped it between the slot where it was supposed to go and pushed it out over to the other ship. Her plank locked on her end to keep it from sliding out completely and dropped down just a few inches over the edge of the vessel beside them. Quickly, she returned to the helm and pulled the propelling levers down just enough to stop their full burn and then leapt down the stairs back on deck.

Drawing her sword she tossed herself up onto the plank. Her ship shuddered slightly as the other one began dragging hers along with it. The ropes angled slightly and her plank did the same. Looking back she glowered at her sails that were still down, with a flick of her sword she called out over her deck, "Someone fold the sails! We're against the wind!" Then she turned and faced the other vessel, "Prepare to be boarded," she muttered to herself as she could see no one was on the deck of the other ship. Runa quickly moved across the plank and dropped down on the other deck. Her eyes flicked back and forth to try to see if anyone was on board that she might have missed the first time. Only an eerie silence met her. Runa narrowed her eyes as her fingers tightened around her sword. She didn't like the feeling she was getting.

"Such a large ship... and no one to fly it? How the hell does that work? Who in their right mind leaves it on full burn as well?" She said, mostly to herself. Runa started making her way to the back of the ship where the caithness was that powered the ship. Unlike her vessel, the power crystal was up on deck, right behind the captains quarters and wheel of the ship. Runa frowned as she took the stairs two at a time to get up above. The caith didn't look like it belonged to the ship it was powering and that made her suspicious. Eitherway, she was going to have to disable it somehow, preferably before it blew up in her face of course.

Sheathing her sword, Runa was entirely focused on the glowing contraption before her. Her eyes wandered around the tubes and wires that curled along the enormous box that held the giant crystal in its core. The crystal was glowing bright orange, almost red from it's continuous burn. The sky pirate rounded the entire thing twice before she got a general idea on where things were hooked up to and where the power was going. Rubbing her hands together she dropped down to her knees and leaned forward, "Well, lets get started shall we? Can't have you destroying my ship now can we?"

---

Icarus Saerin

---

He couldn't but be really impressed with Runa's flow on the ship. She was so at ease with it, shown by the way she handled the ship perfect. Bringing it it's maximum capacity, judging when to bring it to full burn where it wouldn't have to run too long before it caught up with the other ship's speed, and when to bring it back down so that it could drift steadily without over taking it.

Grim had picked the taskforce, and had shown a bit of his prowess at leadership with who he picked. Icarus would have been the main defense, Although he was sure Runa was capable of putting up a fight, Icarus was trained for that specific purpose. Runa knew ships better than anyone else on deck, so she would have the best chance of finding what was wrong with the ship and diffusing the situation. And Zherynnia would was the only one who most likely the knowledge capable of being of any help on the ship. Icarus himself knew a bit of the ships, but not enough to be of mention, mainly names and basic uses.

Runa got to work latching her ship to the runaway vessel. Gliding around the ship with her trademark on-board grace. Icarus noted how she was better than most of the male captains he had seen on his time on Allevent. He smiled a bit but got to work tossing the anchors and tying them in. When he looked to the side, Runa had, by herself, brought the plank to the next ship over. How she lugged the heavy thing he would never know, but he didn't question. The group walked across to the next ship over and he followed Runa around, making sure to stay alert to any shifts in nearby air pressure, in case something tried to sneak up on them. Runa led them to the crystal, which unlike her ship was up on the deck, behind the captain's wheel. She strode up, muttering to herself. And immediately got set to begin working on it. Icarus had barely noticed Zherynnia tilting back and forth with a pained or lost look on her face. He was about to check on her, when her eyes snapped to focus and she tossed herself onto Runa. Icarus grabbed the hilt of his sword, ready to draw.

"We need to deactivate the core before we touch the device" She said. pulling out her bow and sending a few warning shots into the planks above. Icarus heard some shuffling. Whoever was up there must have been deathly still and held their breathing to a low point to avoid alerting him. The book eater was already on that. But from the corner of his eye he saw a flash of a shadow from behind the core. He looked over and saw nothing there. But decided to inspect it. If they met any adversity, better to know their surroundings and what was in them. He went behind the core, and saw the hole in the ground for the cablery to go into. Normally it was tightly fit around the core, but now it was gaping, as if something tore through it. Icarus looked into the hole, Whatever he had seen must have gone through there. The hole was big enough to go through it, but he didnt know how deep it went. He held out his palm and immediately a small glowing ball of bluish-white light appeared before him. He manuevered the ball into the hole, illuminating a fifteen foot drop to a room with a bunch of cablery. Some of it was chewed through. He turned back and went to Runa. "I think I found something. I am going to check it out. Just bang on the floor to let me know if you need anything, I shouldn't be far. Ill be back soon. He said. And with that, turned back to the hole, dropped down, softening his landing with a cushion of air, and was greeted with a long silvery tentacle wrapping around his throat and flinging him across the room. He landed against one of the iron walls and crumpled to the ground. Barely able to focus on the large caithness before him. It looked like a horse-sized rat, but its body was wrapped with knots of orange-tinged wires, and its one long tail was accompanied by many other wires that moved around before it like tails as well, whipping and snapping wildly. And its eyes were trained on Icarus. The whites replaced by a cloudy black color, and the irises the only color distinguised in its eyes, looking like glowing rings the color of the caith it has been tainted with. The rat let out a low growl, and made its way to Icarus, His head throbbing and and headed clouded too far to think straight.

"Treklhe!"

Raruna was startled by the shout that filled the air. The woman turned just in time to see Zherynnia lunging for her. At first the sky pirate thought the woman was attacking her because she didn't understand what was shouted from her lips. The girl was surprisingly strong as she slammed into Runa and took them both down onto the floor. Hardly able to figure out what was going on, she blinked twice and realized that the woman on her was already sitting up and drawing her bow.

"Don't touch that!" Zherynnia said in the common tongue. Finally, Runa understood and then looked around the ship as the girl shot off an arrow up into the planks above them. Something moved up there and Raruna was sure she wasn't the only one to see that.

"We need to deactivate the core before we touch the device."

Runa finally got herself moving then, sitting up and scooting herself out from under Zherynnia who had been straddling her whilst looking up into the rafters. The woman kept her bow drawn and the sky pirate was surprised to see the change in demeanor. The girl was a fighter, and a good one at that. Standing, she watched as Icarus moved behind the generator with the caith crystal inside its middle. She wondered what it was he was looking for because she'd not seen anything suspicious around it. Icarus returned to look at her after a moment of searching.

"I think I found something. I am going to check it out. Just bang on the floor to let me know if you need anything, I shouldn't be far. Ill be back soon."

"Wait! Icarus! Don't just go doing random things!" Runa shouted and rushed after him. She barely caught sight of his form disappearing down into a large hole that definitely wasn't there when she was investigating. The floor was seemingly chewed through, the wood splintered and hardly circular. The wires that powered the crystal shuddered and shook and a loud sound from below caused Runa to wince and grind her teeth.

"Damn it!" Turning around she looked back up into the rafters to see if whatever Zherynnia had shot at was still there. The pirate's hand reached down to her waist and took hold of her sword. She had two choices. Stay on the deck and help the book eater, or jump down and see if Icarus was alright. Another, growling sound issued from the hole next to her and Runa glanced down to the dark hole. It was decided then.

"Stay here!" She shouted at the girl with the bow and hoped to whatever Gods there were that the girl would be alright on her own. If they had to find the core to the power then Raruna's best shot was to follow the wires leading below deck and disconnect or destroy whatever it was that was down there. Drawing her sword she turned to the dark hole and eyed it for a moment. A bit of a grin spread across her lips as her eyes flashed with the adrenaline rush that had begun to pick up through her body. Runa jumped into the hole and fell down to the bottom. Her boots hit the floor hard and she let her body roll forward to keep from injuring herself from the long fall.

Wires and cords rattled around as something moved in the darkness before her. Runa stood up slowly and eyed the twitching power cords. Then she noted that the thing that moved the cords was actually quite large and finally it turned to face her and she was met by the most disgusting caithness she'd ever seen. The thing looked like an overgrown rat with glowing eyes and a long sickly looking tail that flipped back and forth, the cause for the wires constant movement.

"Oh you are one ugly ass caithness aren't you," Runa commented then ducked immediately as it whipped it's tail at her, dragging with it several wires that Runa had to dance through to avoid being hit. She couldn't see in the darkness very well so couldn't tell if Icarus was anywhere near by. He must have been because he was the one who had dropped down into the hole first. Runa lunged forward after the tail that had swiped passed her. Her sword slashed, cutting through something hard and she thought that she'd hit her target. A moment later told her this was not so and she had to maneuver quickly around the incoming tail that came whipping back at her in the darkness.

What she'd cut had been wires instead of the tail and she winced inwardly. Not knowing what those wires were connected to could be a big problem, especially if the ship started to lose power somewhere else other than the propelling crystals on the hull of the ship. Runa ducked quickly as the wires came flipping back at her. The one's she'd cut were more wild than the other ones and she felt several cuts along her face and arm as the wires hit her. Raruna whirled around on her heel and faced the large rat that had twisted around to glower at her. Twisting her blade in hand, Runa took a moment before she charged the caithness a second time.

Having been in the darkness long enough, Runa had begun to make out shapes around her and decided that to get where she wanted to be, she would have to pull some acrobatics to get there. Not that she minded at all. Lunging forward, she jumped up onto a box that begun to slide forward from her momentum. As it slide, she jumped off of it to another and then to another that was a bit higher. The boxes that she landed on begun to tilt forward and she let them until she was parallel to the rats face. Pushing off the boxes, she sent them flying backwards while she went forward and swung her blade at the rats face. Her weapon cut across the right side of it's face and it reeled backwards as she hit the floor and rolled again.

At the back of her mind she wondered why the boxes she'd used were empty. Most vessels carried storage, not empty crates. Even so, she didn't really care all that much, it was a minor inconvenience to her and she slid to a stop and prepared herself for another lung forward. As she came back at the caithness, it twisted around in rage and pain, sending it's tail right at her. Runa ducked in time, but had momentarily forgotten about the wires about it's large tail. The heavy bundle of cords hit her and she found herself tangled in a matter of seconds as she came flying across the small expanse. Her sword was lost to her the moment she took the hit and she couldn't make heads or tails of the cords that wrapped around her. There were too many that were connected and wrapped around the damn caithness.

She hit something in mid flight across the room and crashed to the floor. Runa struggled in the wires frantically, hissing in irritation at her carelessness. Even as she pushed and pulled, worked her way through each loop, the rat had begun to move again and her body followed with the cords. The tail was constantly moving and thus, so were the wires. Runa refused to cut more of the wires, considering themselves lucky that her last attack and cutting of the wires hadn't done anything to the power in the ships caith crystals.

"Who... in their right mind... thought this was a good idea!" Runa cursed loudly. She twisted around rolled with the movement of the rat and was beginning to find it even more difficult to get untangled as she was being dragged around. Her thoughts whirled. It was beginning to look like she'd have to cut the wires, that or hope that Icarus was somewhere nearby and could kill the half blind rat that stumbled around. If she cut the wires, she began trying to calculate how much time they would have to get out of the hull and reach the safety of her own ship that would be dragged down. It would be do-able, but she didn't want to put the others on her ship in that kind of situation. Make up your mind Runa! She cursed to herself. Working a hand free, she reached for her knife.

---

---

She was completely out of breath, clutching her sides as she attempted to get a hold of herself. They had been running for a generous amount of time and that was enough to wear her out. Of course, it wasn't as if she was out of shape but running like that would wear anyone out. She took a few minutes to relax, bent over slightly and readjusting her hands so that she was supporting her weight with them against her knees. Xerxes padded around her ankles, flicking his tail against her legs but seemingly unaffected by the day's activities. She would really need to reprimand him later, for now, recuperation.

Her legs trembled a bit and the girl released a very deep sigh. She was going to have to sit down... She looked over her shoulder, noting they were a safe distance away from the boy she had caught sight of in the grass. Nodding to herself, she plopped down on the ground with a faint purr of relief. Out of the city at last! She glanced upwards as a rustling nearby told her that her companion was approaching her. The blond-haired elf looked just as worn as the summoner felt.

"...thank you... I feel... I feel I must repay you somehow, but I lack the funds to do so..." There was an airiness to the tone, perhaps breathlessness? The girl patted the ground next to her with a tired smile, trying her best to be friendly. She had never had any qualms about like-kin and honestly, after what happened in the city? It was comforting to be around another forest-dweller.

"No need!" She managed with a light laugh. "But if you really want to repay me..." She paused and partially extended her hand out towards the elf. "Purrhaps you can tell me your name? Mine is Xioban," She offered first. Elves were secluded creatures, much like her own kin, but hopefully asking after a name wouldn't be regarded as too intrusive. She gestured with her outstretched hand towards Xerxes, who was pawing at a lone flower playfully. "And my furend is Xerxes, though it mewbe more accurate to say he is my furmiliar." Xerxes didn't even look up when his name was mentioned and pounced on the flower, taking the stem into his mouth as he did so.

She patted the ground again when she noticed the woman still had not taken her up on her offer. "I don't bite! And I purromise Xerxes won't either; he knows he's been a bad fox." Xioban wrinkled her nose at Xerxes purposely, who slyly grinned at her before biting into the stem. He always had an odd way of showing his approval for others and she knew it would be difficult to explain that his seemingly violent acts were really shows of affection. It took her awhile to get used to it herself. She smiled a bit at the memory. Her guardian had caused her much confusion and discomfort when she first discovered his unfortunate habit of gnawing on hair.

Since then, of course, she had gotten used to such odd displays. She adjusted her position, wrapping her arms around her legs and leaning forwards so that her chin was on top of her knees. What could she say here? She felt bad about the circumstances she had met the elf under but was certain that, at least, not everything could've been her fault. Hopefully...

Oh! Idea! Her ears straightened underneath her hat, though the movement was barely noticeable given the looseness of the fabric. "I don't know if you planned to go back to the city but if you'd like, I know a safe place fur us to stay that isn't too far fur..." She cleared her throat. "From here." She didn't make any sudden movements and didn't bother to get up quite yet. The elf was still ill at ease around her, that much was obvious. And Xerxes wasn't really making things better, what with his pantomiming of biting and using the flower stem as an example. Still, she had always been taught to show hospitality when it was needed and better that she offered something than nothing at all.

---

---

She still had her arrow notched as the white-haired man moved around her and the captain, heading towards the device with an inquisitive light in his eyes. She didn't take her eyes off her target though she saw his movement out of the corner of her eyes. He seemed to be observing something near to the device and she heard what seemed to be a latch opening or something of the sort. She couldn't see what happened after that, only heard the man's statement of having located something and with a casual remark of going to investigate, he was gone. The pirate woman swore when he left, calling after him.

"Wait! Icarus! Don't just go doing random things!" The yell was unanswered--it didn't seem that he would be returning immediately. Raruna swore again, loudly at that, and angrily paced back and forth on the deck. Her sword was already in her hand as she looked between Zherynnia and where the white-haired man had disappeared to. A low growl sounded from beneath the book-eater's feed but she didn't spare a glance downwards. The target could move while her attentions were diverted.

"Stay here!" Raruna called and she, just like the man, descended into the gods knew where and in a matter of seconds, she was the only one standing near the device. She took a few hesitant steps to the side to get a better view of what was above her. Whoever was up there was apparently good at hiding because she couldn't hear any sounds, save for the rush of wind and the faint yells from the other airship. She was going to have to force whoever it was out--and possibly others who may have been lurking about.

She reached into the quiver on her back, taking out another type of arrow. She flicked the tip against the wood quickly, causing a small flame to catch onto the arrow. Notching it on her bow, she aimed it towards the crow's nest again. The arrow made contact and a few of the flames spread--a figure suddenly straightened. Their face was shrouded in cloth so she couldn't make out any features. Zherynnia did not pause, striking more arrowheads aflame and aiming them at all the high platforms on the airship. Had the whole crew been above them the entire time?

One of the men above her swung a rope with a claw attached to the end of it and secured a line to the side of the airship, using it to make his descent down to the decks. She was tempted to cut it to impair his landing but she had no way of knowing if that would literally throw him off the sides of the ship. She was one for knowledge after all and that would be a good waste of finding out precisely what was going on. She didn't move from in front of the device as several more figures descended, the group moving to try and surround her. The book-eater wasn't put off in the slightest though--she had faced worse odds... None that she could remember at the moment but she was sure that she had.

One of the men lunged forward, knife at the ready and the steel blade aimed towards her stomach. She jumped back, letting an arrow loose. He side-stepped but the metal sliced against his shin. He gasped and fell to one knee--while he was incapacitated, she quickly fired another one at his weapon to disarm him. The others did not wait, all of them darting forwards at once. She quickly assessed the weaponry--axes, daggers, and a pole-arm. And all of them had their faces covered--whoever they were, they didn't want anyone else having a wager at it.

Zherynnia bent her knees and slid to the deck of the ship as one of them swiped at her, turning over and using the momentum to fire another arrow at her attackers. Tch, this wouldn't do--she was at too close of a range! But Raruna had told her to stay near the device, if she moved away--but if she didn't, then she wouldn't be able to win this fight. She got up and decided it would be best to look after herself in the immediate moment. She ran towards the center of the airship, the sound of pursuing footsteps told her that, at least, her attackers were too distracted by her to consider messing with the device.

As she ran, she took out a few arrows and dragged them along the wood to set them on fire before releasing them at the fabric around one of the men's ankles. The cloth lit on fire and he screamed, dropping his weapon and trying to put out the flame. So long as she stayed at a distance, she would be ok--wait, where was the...

Her question was answered as a sharp blow to her back caused her to falter a few steps forward and a few more blows to her wrists caused her to drop her weapons. She rubbed at her skin, sidestepping as she looked behind her. Of course, the one with the pole-arm... She glanced down at her bow but he already kicked it to the side.

"Nowhere else to run, girl... and looks like you're without a weapon now," His other companions began to walk slowly towards her, weapons held up and at the ready. She flicked her gaze between each of them quickly--she might've been cornered... no, it only looked like that. Her arrows would still hurt. She took some out of her quiver and before her opponents could react, she dove forwards and sliced at their legs with the arrows she held in her hands. She whirled, driving an arrowhead into the chest of one of the men. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes as he fell forwards on the ground, dead before he hit it.

She had no time to grab the arrow from his chest and rolled onto the ground, grabbing her bow in the process. She now stood between her assailants and the device once more, arrow notched against her bowstring and a firm expression on her face.

"Washu ek iregyn masiit ehl." She said with a calculating smile. She wasn't going down that easy.

---

---

The cat-eared girl, despite her fatigue, actually looked up to the elf and smiled. She seemed somewhat relieved to be out of the city, away from the bustling crowds and the... thing that had apparently been chasing them. The elf, however, was rather concerned with the fox creature that was playing in the grasses around her feet. Since the market incident, she had become rather... wary seemed to be best word for how she felt, especially after she watched it begin to chew on the stem of a nearby flower. How could this girl not feel ill at ease with such an uncontrolled creature at her side?

"No need!" The cat-eared girl managed with a light laugh. "But if you really want to repay me..." The elf watched as her incidental companion extended a hand, reaching out for some sort of common ground that they could both stand on. "Purrhaps you can tell me your name? Mine is Xioban..." The girl turned to the fox now playing with another flower off to the side. "And my furend is Xerxes, though it mewbe more accurate to say he is my furmiliar." The animal did not even seem to recognize his name being called, instead occupying himself with attacking this new flower. Why did watching his creature play make the elf feel so uneasy?

The girl--Xioban, she had called herself--patted the ground next to her, almost as an invitation to sit down and catch their breaths together. "I don't bite! And I purromise Xerxes won't either; he knows he's been a bad fox." At the mention of the word 'bite', the elf flinched a little, feeling her left hand almost instinctively reach up for the same spot on her right sleeve that had been torn open earlier that day. Her eyes grew slightly wider as if someone had taken a hammer to her chest and knocked the breath out of her, but she felt the overwhelming urge to sit down, if only to get the building pain out of her now-fatigued legs. The elf took a seat across from the cat-eared girl, making sure that she was able to keep an eye on both her and her pet--moreso the latter than the former, but still...

Why was this girl so interested in knowing about her? The elf attempted to avoid all sorts of eye contact with Xioban, instead focusing on the familiar as it gnawed on the stem of the newest flower he had found. It had a... fondness for biting things, she noticed. As it turned back toward the other girl, carrying a flower in its mouth, the elf reached for her sleeve again, keeping her arm close to her body... just in case. Even as the other girl seemed to smile and giggle at this newfound docile nature he displayed, the elf was on edge--then again, when she was around people that wanted to get to know her, she normally pulled herself in tighter anyway; it was what she did, especially since she had left the confines of her tribe in the forest years ago...

The cat-eared girl's eyes seemed to widen with some sort of sudden realization. "I don't know if you planned to go back to the city but if you'd like, I know a safe place fur us to stay that isn't too far fur..." She cleared her throat. "From here." Was she serious? She had only known of her existence for a few hours, and now after their whole debacle, she was offering the elf a place to stay? The woman in red had no idea how to respond to this sudden shift in mood.

What do you do now? Do you go or do you say no?

...I have no idea what to do. She seems nice enough, but--

What if she wants to examine the wound that familiar inflicted? Don't you think that would be problematic?

But if she hasn't said anything by now, then perhaps she never noticed at all--I mean, she was rather focused on other things in the market...

And the fox? What if it decides to try again?

Why would it do that? If it wanted to, I imagine it would have tried to do so by now...

You're playing too recklessly now--if this girl finds out anything...

The elf inhaled deeply, closing her eyes to clear her thoughts before speaking. She hated the conflicting ideas bouncing around in her mind, but she had been duelling with them for years at this point--they were just as much a part as the growths on her arm...

"...I..." the elf began, her voice hitching slightly before she cleared her throat. "I don't understand why you would offer me a place to stay..." she kept her voice quiet and soft as she looked to the ground, almost as if she were ashamed and confused at the cat-eared girl's generosity. "...you barely know me, yet you treat me as kin... give me money for new clothes, which I will repay... eventually..." her voice trailed off as she felt a slight chill run across her body; must have been the wind. Yes, it must have been.

"...forgive my hesitance... It's just in my nature... I am not used to such generosity..." Her voice reflected the stifled confusion that racked her mind. Just who was this girl, and what did she want from her? Was she just like the vere from the library, who wanted information about her past? The elf could feel her heart pounding up in her throat at this point, but she dared not show her fear to this girl in case she could capitalize on it in this moment.

---

Icarus Saerin

---

When the lights stopped dancing around in Icarus's eyes and he was able to snap out of his daze, he found Runa Jumping onto the crates, trying to get to a higher point to strike the caithness. He tried to call her attention, but only managed a quiet wheeze.He pushed himself off the ground, trying to stand up, but managed to stand for about 2 seconds before stumbling and falling again. He was disoriented, having hit his head alot harder than he expected. He would have to get that examined when they got back. if they got back.

Runa was still fighting the rat, dodging wire-whips and paw swipes that the massive rat caithness tried using to take her down. Icarus shook his head. His best opportunity was now, while it was distracted. He grit his teeth and tried standing a second time. supporting himself on the wall. He walked over to the his sword, but as he bent over to pick up his sword, he heard the loud crash as Runa was sent into the pile of crates. He whirled around, only to find her caught in a net of wires. The rat was slowly approaching her, ready to finish the job.

Icarus held out his palm.

"Captain Runa! Close your eyes!" He shouted. The rat turned to face him, He closed his eyes and suddenly a flash of white light illuminated the room, bright enough to illuminate the veins in his eyelids. The rat was sent off into a frenzy, screeching and pawing wildly, crashing into a pile of crates, and then into a wall. It stumbled and fell towards Icarus, who rallied up a gust of wind that sent the rat crashing to the ceiling, and then another to smash it to the ground. The Rat quickly got to it's feet and stumbled to the empty corner, Icarus attempted to get a shot in, but the rat was still alert enough to whip at him with its tail when he got too close. He took the chance to run over to Runa. He carefully and quickly began untangling her from the wires, only cutting the most time-consuming ones .

"We don't have much time before the rat snaps out of it. And something tells me all this wire cutting wont be good for the generator up there, So we better make quick work of this thing and get back to it." He told her as he worked on the wires. In about half a minute, he got to the last of them, he put his arm around her, cut the last few wires, and her weight fell entirely on him, he gently set her on the floor, examining her quickly. It was hard to see her clearly in the darkness, but she seemed to be fine, other than a few light cuts and bruises. He pulled out the crystal she had given him earlier. " Here is your crystal. I can;t really see well, but if you feel you need it, I can cover you while you heal up." He turned to face the rat, which was now slowly approaching.

He flashed another look at Runa. The damn thing is resilient... and the way it keeps whipping those wires around wont make it easy to get in a shot. I can keep pushing it back with stannum magic, but it wont do much to finish it. There isnt enough sunlight for me to try to burn it away with a lens, and with all these potential conductors here, Lumen magic might backfire and hurt you as well. Summoning vaccuums are hard to maintain, and stannum crystal-spawned caithness are pretty good at living at little to no oxygen levels for an extended period of time... so... Any ideas? He asked. The rat was already half way to them a little closer and it can reach them in one good pounce.

Upon the call for her to close her eyes, Raruna dismissed all thoughts of working her knife out from it's sheath against her thigh. Shutting her eyes tightly she waited for a long while before slowly peeling them opened to see what was going on. The sounds of the caithness stumbling around and then lots of crashing told her that it was okay to open her eyes completely. A few seconds later and Icarus was next to her pulling the wires off of her. With all the jostling about, she'd somehow ended hooked up on something and off her feet. How that happened exactly, she wasn't entirely sure but she was glad to have Icarus there to help her out of the precarious situation.

"We don't have much time before the rat snaps out of it. And something tells me all this wire cutting wont be good for the generator up there, So we better make quick work of this thing and get back to it," Icarus said as he worked to free her. Raruna didn't say anything to him as he helped her, she was embarrassed that he was being so kind to her to begin with. This treatment was something she wasn't used to. Instead, she attempted to help him get her out of being tangled and with a few cut wires and a couple more removed, she toppled forward right onto him.

"Sorry," she muttered, but the tall man didn't seem affected by her small size. He set her down gently and then proceeded to look her over in the darkness. She was thankful then for the darkness as his concern for her well being was rather uncomfortable and she blushed furiously in the darkness and looked away, "Hey now, I'm alright. Nothing serious, not like I'm dying," she said to him.

"Here is your crystal. I can;t really see well, but if you feel you need it, I can cover you while you heal up."

Runa took the crystal from him and dropped it in her pouch, she didn't need it and was sure that he probably needed it more than she did. She peered around him as he turned to face the approaching terror. The rat was furious now and had finally gotten its bearings back. The beast was heading straight for them with every intention of ripping them both apart.

The damn thing is resilient... and the way it keeps whipping those wires around wont make it easy to get in a shot. I can keep pushing it back with stannum magic, but it wont do much to finish it. There isnt enough sunlight for me to try to burn it away with a lens, and with all these potential conductors here, Lumen magic might backfire and hurt you as well. Summoning vaccuums are hard to maintain, and stannum crystal-spawned caithness are pretty good at living at little to no oxygen levels for an extended period of time... so... Any ideas?

Again... the worry for her. She was seriously going to be confused for this entire trip if this man kept it up. Raruna didn't know how to handle it. So, she ignored it, well as best she could anyway. It still made her feel awkward and strange... having someone care... or was it just a ploy? Whatever it was, she would figure it out later because right then they had a giant rat that was hell bent on getting revenge.

"Yeah, a couple," Raruna answered with her signature grin plastered upon her face. Stepping forward she drew out a couple of her throwing knives and launched the weapons at the rat that came at them. The weapons hurled through the air and struck their target dead on. In return, the rat reared upwards and screamed in pain. Raruna searched quickly for her sword and when she found it, she turned and swung hard at the lump of wires on the ground. It was the fastest way she was going to be disable the ship and since no one was on it, having it crash in the plains lands below them was a better option then letting it explode and take out her ship as well.

Her blade cut through the wires and it took several seconds for the power to completely shut down. With her ship tethered to the larger one, it gave her approximately ten minutes (more like four minutes) to get on deck and unhook her own vessel. Reaching out she took hold of Icarus' arm and started to pull him towards a staircase that she'd spotted on the other side of the rats writhing form.

"Quickly! We only have a few minutes," she shouted at him as the vessel started to plunge downwards, bow first. In a matter of seconds, getting to the stairwell was faster than actually going up them. Runa let her body slide forward and caught herself against the railing. Before she started upwards, she made sure that Icarus was right there with her. Once they were both on the stairwell, she started pulling herself up onto the deck. Now the hard part. Getting to her ship. It was a matter of using things that could help her keep balance and not slide down to the bow of the vessel and to her death.

Runa glanced around and spotted Zherynnia soon after. Looking to Icarus she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. Perhaps she could have thought this one through a bit better... "Shit," she cursed. She was going to have to figure a way to get to her ship and then cut the ropes to untie her vessel from the one that was going to explode across the earth below. To make matters worse, they only had a few minutes.

---

---

One thing he could agree on with the Doc, that this plan was not a plan at all. It was all improvise. Well, improvisation was good so, he'll give the old-timer credit there. Other than that, he disagreed with the Doc in almost everything else that she said and specifically ordered. It seemed the vessel he was on managed to stay still without much of the swaying. Probably from all of the docking and lashed whatever they wanted to call it. So, he was able to gain some momentum of balance in a sense. He was finally able to stand on one piece and regained his charming demeanor once more. There was a certain malicious glint in his good eye as he looked at the Doc. The One-Eyed Grim Reaper offered a smirk as well with that. "I agreed to your mission. But, the one thing I didn't agree on is stating that we are expendable." He jumped on top of the railing and whipped out his Ophelia in one swift motion. "Don't worry, Doc. You hired us to protect the cargo." He gave a wink and then looked at the other ship plummeting towards the ground with theirs as company. "I'll do just as that."

After stating that, Jedas found the three wondering what to do to get back to the ship. He lifted his Ophelia and appeared to be ready to cut the ropes that was attached their ship to the one about to crash into smithereens. His eye looked at the three without a hint of camaraderie. It was more like looking down on them for being incompetent. However instead of doing that, he created a giant hand made of ice scooping the three much like an ice cream and then tossing them back in to the ship. "Life is more important though." He stated as the three should have landed on the deck in a rather loud and technically hard one. Well, they can handle such a thing. They did not fall that high in his opinion. Plus, they were old enough not cry about some boo-boos. Although, if they complained they could try a new sport like free fall or airship gliding. Hey, he would have no problems of showing them how.

Once, he was certain that the three were aboard and safe which was the last thing on his mind really. He did not waste time cutting the ropes that tied their ship to the ones falling from the sky. Icicles gathered above him as they hit the designated targets and releasing them once and for all. Still, he did one last final touch. He did say that the piece of wood would pay dearly. With one large swing, a large boomerang shaped by ice went towards the ship cutting it half as an explosion trembled the skies. When it was done, he looked at his Ophelia. "Used too much power." He muttered to himself. It seemed he would need to recharge his Vivum caith along the way. Hopefully, he does or he would resort to his other methods. On the other hand, he had a bigger problem to deal with as of now. The ship was swaying once more due to being free. He could feel the bile rising from his stomach and the spell of dizziness once more being placed on him.

If he looked cool a moment ago, he now looked much like a failed attempt on a comedy act as he fell from his stand on the railing backwards. Fortunately, it was not forward or he would have been the first to try the sport of free fall. Anyway, he fell on his back with a thud and covered his face with his harm while his other hand held on Ophelia. "Get us to a god-damned land already...!" How he wanted to shout that loudly but it was meshed with his vomit and voice coming out the same time. He grabbed hold on a nearby column once more and spilled his guts out once more on the sides. As if the thing that he did earlier never happened.

Raruna was more than surprised to see Jedas up on the rigging. She took a deep breath as he conjured a large hand of sorts and scooped up her and the other two off the falling ship and onto hers. The lines were cut as well, done by Jedas too, and Raruna's ship automatically righted itself. The jostling tossed everyone around and Jedas seemed to be the worse off than anyone else. He toppled from his spot on the rigging and landed hard on the deck. Runa got to her feet after having been thrown down and eyed him carefully. Was he alright?

He answered her question right after as he shouted something about landing, though most of what he said was unintelligible as he rushed to the side of her ship and spilled his stomach once more. The pirate winced slightly, the poor man truly hated airships. Runa got to her feet and made her way over to the helm of her ship. Reaching up she wiped at her cheek where she'd been cut by the wires inside the other vessel. Blood smeared across her hand, but the cuts weren't deep, just annoying. Working the levers once again, she turned her ship around and started back on their original course north. Locking the wheel, it was indeed smooth sailing as the air currents carried her vessel right along. There was little to no jostling about aside from the occasional bobbing up and down.

"You should get some rest if you need," Grim called to the three who had boarded the other vessel. Raruna shrugged her shoulder offhandedly. She was perfectly fine to stand at the wheel of her little airship, to stare out into nothingness and be alone. It was like old times... like every time. Adjusting her hat, she rested one hand on the wheel, the other on her hip. Only a slight throbbing in her shoulder reminded her that she was wounded. Her running around fighting the giant caithness on the other ship did nothing to help the cut given to her when they'd first started off on the journey. No matter, it would heal just fine on its own as all of her other wounds had times before.

"I'm fine. Nothing broken, just a scratch," she boasted and grinned at him. Turning her eyes away, she kept her ship steadily heading north, towards the mountains that were beginning to grow larger in size.

---

"Get ready to bring her down, Raruna," Grim called several hours later. The pirate complied and gently began maneuvering her vessel downwards. It was a slow, smooth decent that she engaged in and it took several minutes before they were down towards the docks. Raruna worked her ship carefully into the holding pen for her ship, the curved wooden structure built to hold ships up off the ground.

Snug and tight, her vessel slipped into the cradle and she pulled down the levers on all of the caith crystals. The humming that had been at it's peak for most of the trip died down as all of the stannum crystals lost their power. Runa locked her wheel once more and jumped down the steps to the deck. She tossed some lines over to dock before jumping up onto the side of her ship and hurling herself onto the other side. Tying down the ropes, she hopped back over to her ship and unhooked the larger plank for everyone to leave. This one she would need help lowering to the ground as it was much larger than the other one she'd tossed over to the run away vessel hours ago. Not one to ask for a lot of help, Raruna worked her way around the large plank, slowly working it free.

As she did so, heaving and pulling with all her might -something she was used to when she was alone-, she called out to Grim, "So... where exactly are we?"

---

Icarus Saerin

---

Icarus got to the top of the ladder and rushed beside Runa. He could see the crystal was reaching it's breaking point, White spots were appearing around the outside of the crystal, and it's usually solid dim orange glow was now a bright cloudy shine. A small crack appeared outside one of the circles. If they didnt deactivate it soon, it would blow and if the blast didnt kill them (highly unlikely) the massive caithness it spawned most likely would. Zherynnia was still busy with the people upstairs. He went to go help her when suddenly a shadow loomed over them. A semi-transparent hand scooped up all three of them, and dropped them all on the deck of Runa's ship. He hit his head again. In the same spot. When the stars cleared out he saw Jedas standing on the rail, swinging his scythe at the other ship, which was now below them. A large explosion rocked the ship, sending Jedas to his ass. Why he did that Icarus couldn't tell. The ship was never really a threat. But his head hurt to much to pursue it. He patted the back of his head. He could feel a bit of blood-caked hair. He stood uneasily. Luckily the adrenaline had not fully run out yet. He didn't bother reporting. They saw him hit the deck. He stumbled off to the quarters and and slumped to his bed. His head was spinning. He pulled out his knapsack. He figured he had a few hours to rest. He pulled out some casual clothing, showered, and went to sleep.

---

Icarus woke up to the sound of the landing gear being deployed. His head still hurt badly, but he would have to tough it out. He donned his armor and sword, collected his travel supplies, composed himself so as to not display his discomfort, and went out to the deck. Runa was busy lowering the plank. He wondered why she didnt ask for help. She was obviously capable, but it wouldn't hurt to get some aid. He walked over beside her, looking over the railing.


"So... where exactly are we?" She asked. He looked over to Grim.

---

---

The young woman tilted her head--she had heard that elves were reserved creatures but this woman certainly was setting an all-time record. She waited politely as the woman seemed to have an internal debate of sorts. Her introduction seemingly went unheeded, she was at a bit of a loss as to whether or not it was rude to re-ask for someone's name. Xioban reached out a few fingers to brush them against Xerxes' cheek, scratching behind one of his ears. He continued to gnaw on his plant stem though she was sure she heard a content growl. The elf sucked in her breath, displaying very obvious signs of discomfort and distance.

"...I... I don't understand why you would offer me a place to stay... you barely know me, yet you treat me as kin... give me money for new clothes, which I will repay... eventually..." The summoner was about to interject--she had just said there was no need to worry about that! Money wasn't much of an object to her; she only needed minimal amounts to afford foreign herbs and spices. The rest, she had no idea what to do with. She held in her thoughts, it seemed the elf was not finished quite yet.

"...forgive my hesitance... It's just in my nature... I am not used to such generosity..." Ah, she wondered if she had over-stepped her boundaries. But they were both children of the forest so why shouldn't the elf be treated as kin? Unless things had changed between their two tribes... Xioban briefly considered that perhaps the woman was unable to identify her--well, that wouldn't be the first time and people normally wouldn't be able to differentiate her from a human. Still.... had this woman never been shown kindness? The elf acted as if it were a foreign thing--strange and confusing.

Before she could respond or think of a way to ease her companion into the idea, she heard prickling laughter from the ground as Xerxes finally removed the stem from between his teeth. "Huehuehue," As always, his laugh carried with it its amused sarcasm as the fox stretched, tail flicking casually. "If the stupid woman does not want hospitality when it is offered, then she isn't worth the time."

"Xerxes!" Xioban frowned, crossing her arms. "That's a furry mean thing to say, purr." To demonstrate her distaste for his behavior, she only made one purr as opposed to two. Her familiar paid no mind to the disapproval as he padded a few feet away.

"Leave her, Xioban. We have things to do." His tone was firm, yes, she could hear it. She released a low hiss from between clenched teeth--she didn't like it when he spoke like that. Because when he used that tone of voice, that meant it was an order. And she wasn't in any position to disobey nor could she, even if she dared. She sent him a frown, the fox chuckling in response. "Don't give me that look, she obviously does not understand kindness so there is no point in wasting it."

"Xerxes, what if--"

"There are stupider, less uptight people to befriend, huehuehue." The summoner looked back over at the elf, lips pursed as she felt a flare of embarrassment. The residents of the forest weren't stupid! He was just too smart for them. "We're going home. I think I've had my fair share of sight-seeing for the week." There was nothing else to be done, Xioban was going to have to follow him. Her ears dropped just a little under her hat as she straightened, dusting off the seat of her skirt.

She muttered an apology under her breath, glancing at the elf once more. "Mewr..... I apurrogize.... but if you are still in the city, I always open my stall once a week." An intentionally loud growl from over her shoulder told the young woman that their chat time was over. She quickly bowed before turning on her heel, hurrying after Xerxes. She hoped the woman would be able to find her--ah, she had forgotten to get the elf's name! Oh well... she hadn't had the time anyway, no thanks to her familiar. Hopefully the elf wouldn't think too poorly of her after all of that.

---

---

Fraujln, fraujln! Nasamet lariik mahl!!

One moment, she had been facing a group of armed men, the floor beneath her opening up to reveal the figures of the sky pirate and the white-haired man. And now in the next, she suddenly found herself being lifted up by something ethereal and tossed roughly on to the deck of the airship! The poor book-eater had no idea how to make heads or tails of the situation or, frankly, how to even react to it in the first place. The first thing that went through her head, however, was not "what on earth was going on". She was more preoccupied with the loss of knowledge that was occurring. The knowledge that was being whisked away from her that was still on the deck of the enemy ship!

The girl could do nothing and was in no position to fight the urgings of the man that had summoned the hand in the first place. All she could do was lament over the men that were surely going to perish and the fact that they had no idea why the ship had wanted to impede their progress. She rubbed her tushie (for she had fallen on it quite hard) and stood up unsteadily. The girl's shoulders were shaking and she ground her teeth together as she turned to regard the man that was now hurling over the side of the ship. Zherynnia didn't care that he was sick, she didn't feel bad that he just could not cope with air travel. No, he had committed a great disservice to her in his actions and she wasn't about to let that go by.

With a bit of red coating her cheeks in her anger, she stomped right over to him--hands balled up into fists. "Redraklyin!" She hissed at him, a slur used by her people much as swearing would be used in common tongue. "Do you have any idea what was lost on that ship?!" Her voice came out almost whiny in its anger but she didn't care. Her eyes flashed in irritation and she drew back her fist, hitting him over the top of his head before turning on her heel.

Ugh! How could he not see what precious things were lost due to his selfishness?! She had the situation under control and she had had another plan. Her stomach gave a disappointed growl, her body just realizing that it wouldn't be snacking on anything new. She didn't even turn her head to regard any of the others as the girl kicked open the door to below-decks and walked down the stairs. How could that mafrei jhaner ek anii omerijn?!

Her mind was finding it difficult to tell languages apart in her frustration and with a deep sigh, she promptly threw herself on to one of the beds in a free room. She buried her face into the pillow, breathing into it as she gave a big huff. It was officially decided. She wasn't going to go back up there until they landed and she was never going to talk to that redraklyin for the rest of the trip. Not until he learned the precious value of information and how much of it he had so casually gotten rid of.
In her childish fit of rage, the book-eater couldn't have possibly noticed that all the information hadn't been lost and paid no attention to the figure that walked the halls behind her towards the cargo hold.

---

---

Did just a pathetic MIDGET just scold him about something he could not even careless? And even had the audacity to hit him on the head? Oh, someone was going to be slaughtered at this very moment. His ash green eye glowed eerily with as it took a certain sheen. However, it quickly dissipated as the ship jolted once more upon entering an air pocket. He was once more hurling on the side and set aside his personal grudge match with the DWARF. Once this thing was on land, he would have the pleasure of skinning her and making that flesh of hers their personal map whatever that BRAT was needed for. He would not need to bother with Ophelia as he would do it personally by his hands.

For now, he would take the old man's offer for a rest. So, when the ship would somehow stable. He would manage to walk without getting dizzy or his sense of equilibrium being bombarded by swirls of his bile coming up to his throat. Somehow, he was able to reach an empty room and a bed to boot. The haze of sleepiness immediately took over him. Like his usual habit, he took off his upper shirt and then dropped himself to the bed but not without securing a bucket near him. Fortunately, sleep's hold was more strong than his airsickness. In short, he slept for the duration of the flight like a wee-little baby. Even if he did not want to admit it that he was able to do so in a dastardly wooden death trap called an airship.

Actually, Jedas was sleeping so nicely. He did not even felt that the airship had landed. It continued on that way if not one of the companions of the Doc opted to check on him. The arduous sound of wood being knocked irritated the slumbering man as he instinctively grabbed hold of Ophelia and threw it towards the door like a knife. Its tip implanted through the wood which touched the man's forehead so subtlety making contact on the skin. It caused enough to make a cut to bleed. But, it was not too deep or anything. This made the person knocking fall on his butt at the sudden brush with death. Then, it was followed by a scream which finally brought the One-Eyed Grim Reaper back to the waking world.

"Damn bloody tourists!" He instantly rose and looked around the unfamiliar room. "Oh..." It was then he remembered that he was on a mission or something. But the oddest thing, he was not feeling sick anymore. He was aboard an airship right? Grabbing hold of his shirt and then removing Ophelia from the door, he exited the room and made his way to the deck. He sheathed his weapon and wore his shirt and noticed that everyone was already assembled. But what took his interest was they were back on land. Now, he would not need to worry about spilling his guts out. Although, he would have to think of another means of leaving this place without getting back on this sad excuse of a transportation.

He looked at the cargo they were to protect and then took notice one of the Doc's companion avoiding his gaze and even had a bandage on his forehead. Well, he was not a foreigner about not being like. So, he ignored it all together while releasing a yawn and stretching his limbs. "Let's get this started, already." Little did he know that he had frightened the man enough to have post-traumatic stress of waking anyone for the rest of his life. But then, he remembered something that made him angry. The knowledge that he was back on land over-toppled his personal vendetta. In a quick draw, Ophelia was unsheathed and then a downward slash was directed towards the whip-snapper who plonked him on the head. It would have been all good if the RAT just talked and talked. But, she had to violate his personal space. "You're going to die right now, you insect." His tone was void of its usual cockiness or lackadaisical manner. Instead, it was completely violent and bloodcurdling presence of intent to kill surrounded him like a thick fog.

The plank was put down and the ship settled in the dock. All that was left now was to get out into the city to do whatever it was they had come to do. Runa was still confused as to what exactly the doctor needed to do, but whatever, she was just the transportation. Once on the ground all rules shifted to Grim and (unfortunately) she had to follow his rules, or that of the doctors she supposed. Even so, Raruna found the town they landed in to be an interesting sight none-the-less.

"We're just south of Sweetmary. A small mining town, Sweetmary. Mostly humans, although a few of the forest races make their homes here.They mine some alumen crystals from the mountains farther north, but it's cheaper and safer to get elsewhere, so they don't supply it much farther than Barberry. Rich nickel deposits are where the real marks are. But those are well into huldrefolk territory," Grim answered. He looked as if he were really enjoying himself as he explained where they were and waved his arm off to the mountains.

"All set?" Grim asked the doctor and her group.

"Yes, shall we press on?"

Runa looked up at the ship and was just about ready to leave it behind, though she really didn't want to, when she heard a loud voice from the plank. Raruna looked over at the commotion and found herself frowning at the display. She marched up to the man named Jedas and planted herself right between him and his target, which happened to be her treasure.

"You're going to die right now, you insect," Jedas had growled at Zherynnia. Raruna blocked his view of the book-eater and glared up at him.

"This is still my ship and I won't allow anyone to kill anyone else on my ship! I'm sure Grim will feel the same about this whole expedition since he's in charge of that half. What could she have possibly done to make you want to kill her, hu? It can't be that bad," Raruna stated, putting her hands on her hips. Tilting her head upwards, she lifted an eyebrow, "I think you're still just a bit air sick. Walk around a bit and cool your head, Jedas. Get a drink or something. There's no need for killing. Though," Raruna continued with a slowly wide spreading grin and a twinkle in her eye, "If you wish to have a bit of fun sparing, I'd be more than happy to be your partner."

Raruna wasn't offering because she liked the man, no she was offering because she enjoyed showing off her skills to other opponents and it was always fun to have a mock fight. She won some, and she lost some. Runa definitely wasn't the best fighter on the planet, but she had her skills and she was always ready to show them. Of course, that depended on if Jedas took her up on her offer or not. Though, she didn't really care if he declined, it wasn't like she would pursue it anyway. It was simply a chance to have a bit of fun and alleviate her boredom.

---

Icarus Saerin

---

Icarus climbed up to the platform. It was a bit rickety, and he felt it would take a bit of practice for anyone to get a hang of walking on it, so Icarus decided to walk on a thin cushion of air to keep his balance, now was not the time to be stumbling like a child. the cushion was nothing large enough to be seen, but enough to do it's job. He walked over beside Grim. "Do you know much about this place?" He said looking around the marshy area.

((Sorry, not my best work, but I just want to move it along. two weeks of no activity from anyone is dangerous, regardless of the reasons. I know people are busy, so im sorry, i dont mean to step on any toes here.))

"Not much, no," Isengrim replied, while walking along the elevated planks that composed the town's haphazard walkways. "Been here once or twice before, but never more than to rest or refuel before moving on - same as today. Dr. Serabel and I got to talking, and she's of the opinion that we didn't pick up enough people back in Barberry to carry out this mission effectively." The hulking northlander didn't add whether or not he was of a similar opinion, but carried on with his conversation with Icarus and any of the other party members who were still with them.

"So here's the last stop between us and Huldrefolk territory - not a bad place to pick up some cheap labor, as many of these men make their livings in the northern wildernesses. I'd bet a hard emperor to your soft pip that there won't be a fighter among them, but, well, that's what we're here for, right?"

Grim ducked his head beneath the low beams of a large, squat log building that passed as Sweetmary's version of a market. The town had little more trade than provisions for traveling north, and the caith crystals that would be delivered down south. Grim used his size to clear a way into the large hut, then peered about in the crowd looking for his bearings. Despite the many gaps in the logs and thatched roof through which sunlight readily streamed, the hut was windowless and stuffed with men and their wares, making for a dizzying, claustrophobic environment.

"Right, I'll see about rounding up some men. Icarus, find us some caith, would you?" he asked. The journey from Barberry, and the random encounters with caithness and the strange fight aboard the wayward runner had no doubt depleted many of the elixers' caith reserves. An aurum user himself, Grim was running low on his precious healing magic, and no doubt Icarus and Jedas needed refueling too. "Meet you back outside, yeah?" Giving the lad a bone-rattling clap on the shoulder, Grim shouldered his way into the crowd and soon disappeared into the gloom.

---

---

The small girl glared up at the man who was currently looking at her with just as much animosity. True to her final decision, she had not once surfaced since the escapade with the foreign airship. She had only just poked her head out from the cabins when it had been announced that they had arrived at their destination. But now here she was, face to face with the redraklyin who seemed bloody intent on getting on her bad side. The book eater didn't back down at all, peering at him as her grip around her bow tightened.

Just as she was about to growl back at him, the pirate woman stepped between them with a rather unamused expression on her face. "This is still my ship and I won't allow anyone to kill anyone else on my ship! I'm sure Grim will feel the same about this whole expedition since he's in charge of that half. What could she have possibly done to make you want to kill her, hu? It can't be that bad," Zherynnia clenched her fist tighter, sticking her tongue out at the man while the woman continued.

"I think you're still just a bit air sick. Walk around a bit and cool your head, Jedas. Get a drink or something. There's no need for killing. Though, if you wish to have a bit of fun sparing, I'd be more than happy to be your partner."

"No!" The girl exclaimed quite suddenly before the man could properly respond. "If anyone is going to fight him, it should be me." She said firmly with another scowl towards this "Jedas" character. "He dishonored the value of knowledge with his actions and could've endangered us all with his ridiculous need to show off." It was decided, she did not like him at all. Zherynnia was the type to always try and give everyone a chance, for there was always something to be learned from others. But there was nothing of value to him, not if he so needlessly tossed away information.

And it was with this thought that she scrunched up her face briefly and spat on the ground at his feet. Not even bothering to continue, she turned on her heel, stepped around the pirate woman, and walked down the plank to where Grim and Icarus were chatting amongst themselves. Hopefully now that they had finally arrived, she would get the treasure that she was promised. Because so far, this whole trip was far from worth it.

---

---

It was the knocking on his door that brought his attentions upwards. The man had been recording down a few notes from the open texts upon his desk. Many notes were scattered about and an ink bottle had been overturned, the drops not heeded as they leaked on to the floor. Yet, there was a small sense of organization to the chaos before him. Books were grouped by category, notes stacked atop one another in a large (albeit precarious) pile. He would've continued his research if not for the noise from outside his door that alerted him of another presence.

His golden eyes found their way to the figure of a woman, slightly older but modestly touched with that age. "Sorry for the interruption, Sir," She said lightly, not making any moves to enter into his study. He shook his head and smiled kindly at her, putting his quill down atop the papers.

"Not at all, did you need me for something?" He asked politely, casually moving one of his papers atop another to shield the information. As sociable as he could be, he still preferred it if others did not see direct information pertaining to him. The woman nodded, gesturing behind her.

"Ah yes, well, there is a young woman here to apply for the assistant's position? She mentioned the flier in the main square." His eyes lit up--ah, right, it hadn't been that long since they had put up that flier, had it?

"Of course. You may send her in then." The woman nodded as she closed the door behind her once more, giving him a little bit of time to at least make his desk semi-presentable. It was then he noticed the ink bottle, still leaking on to the floor steadily. Ah well, nothing to be done about it now. He tilted it back upwards, making a mental note to clean that up a bit later on.

The woman returned shortly with another who was taller than her, far too tall, in fact. He scanned her over briefly as the young woman took the seat that was offered to her, long blond hair tumbling around her shoulders as she sat. He had always been quick with his observation skills and it did not take him long at all to notice her pointed ears or willowy form. This woman was an elf, one would have to wonder what she was doing in this particular part of Adelost.

Still, he had never been one to turn down those that walked into his Archives. Those who pursued knowledge came from all works of life after all. He smiled warmly at her, noticing the slight tenseness she had about her and hoping to set her at ease. "So you're here about the flier?" He began, choosing a more rhetorical question than any to begin with. "You came just at the proper time, we've been a bit, shall we say, overloaded with paperwork as of late. As you can no doubt tell from the state of my desk, I'm sure." He laughed a little, a charming sort of chuckle before shaking his head a bit.

"In any event, let me give you a short run-down of what will be required of you if you do acquire the job. This particular archive is the largest of them all in Adelost and is home to tens of thousands of books. I'll not bore you with the specifics of departments and sub-departments of literature here but needless to say, there is a book for everyone here." He paused, taking a moment to look her over again. She was a reserved one, seemingly quiet at that. Not bad qualities to possess but he wasn't one to pry.

"The job is more of a personal request of mine. Lately, it's just been difficult to manage the books here, primarily because I haven't had a lot of time to devote to the archives as I normally would. That being said," He smoothly moved away from that particular topic, no need to inform her of his personal responsibilities. "You would be responsible for sorting, categorizing, and marking off literature, starting with a section on the first floor. Before I get into too much detail, why don't you tell me about yourself?" He raised his eyebrows slightly, leaning forward in his seat to look at her more closely.

"Primarily, what brings you here, to the archives?" He decided not to bombard her with a series of questions. She did not look like a city-goer, she lacked that certain air about her. Even so, he could not simply let anyone who applied for the job work merely because they "looked nice" or "acted a certain way". He smiled at her one more time to perhaps lighten the atmosphere between them. After all, if the would be working together in the future, it would be best to be on amicable terms rather than distant ones.

"No! If anyone is going to fight him, it should be me.He dishonored the value of knowledge with his actions and could've endangered us all with his ridiculous need to show off."

An eye brow lifted as Raruna watched the girl step forward and promptly spit at the man before them. The sky pirate thought for sure that the man was going to lose it right there. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at the situation, Zhyernnia turned on her heel and stomped down the plank.

Runa grinned at Jedas and turned around as well to follow the girl, her treasure. Best to keep the 'map' in her sights. She didn't want anything happening to her precious cargo. The sky pirate caught up to the woman fairly easily as she made her way into the city.

"You said something about dishonoring the value of knowledge. What a peculiar thing to say. It was just a ship really... Oh," Raruna stopped herself, "Wait. You're a bookeater... which means..." the pirate's face screwed up into a strange facial expression as she thought about it, "You eat books as your diet??"

Zherynnia was surprised to find that the sky pirate had caught up to her so quickly. Judging from her words before, she had thought the woman quick to fight. She blinked, crossing her arms in front of her chest lightly as she contemplated the question. "It is not so much eating books," The girl said with a wrinkle of her nose. "I absorb the knowledge imprinted on that object."

She remembered vaguely, very very vaguely, that despite the fact that most people knew book eaters existed, few were in number that had actually come into contact with them. Maybe the pirate's questions were natural? "Do you find this odd?" She asked politely, unsure if the other would take offense.

"Absorb the knowledge..." Raruna tapped her finger against her lower lip, "I see. So... what you're saying is that rickety ship that had been rigged to start with had a lot of knowledge on it. And that you wanted to... err... 'eat' it," the sky pirates eyebrow rose as she tried to figure out how that would work.

Hmm, maybe it wasn't so much eating in the sense that Runa was thinking. Perhaps it was something else. Well, whatever. A meal's a meal and apparently Jedas had interfered with it. Anyone would be angry about losing their dinner. She shrugged as they moved through the city.

"Naw, I don't find it odd... just different really. I'm sure I'll figure it out completely later on," Raruna continued. Her eyes spied a shop with random pieces of metal her inner mechanic kicked in. With a gasp she lunged over to the shop and began filtering through the thousands of random bolts, nuts, screws and scraps of metal. If her eyes could have turned to sparkling stars just then, they would have.

"Never can have too much of this stuff," she exclaimed as she began picking up random pieces.

Whatever the girl had been about to say was cut off as the pirate suddenly sidetracked, darting off to a nearby vendor and looking through all the different parts. Zherynnia watched her silently through bright, curious orbs. A few random letters scrambled in front of her eyes, numbers trailing after them as they danced around the inside of her pupils. Just what was she looking for anyway? Those bits and pieces were all junk. She glanced over the supply of them, frowning to herself.

The man who was selling them knew precisely what he had done. That wasn't even iron at all--it was copper that had been painted over. "That's not..." The girl trailed off, discontent. The man didn't seem to notice that she was suspicious of him and leered at the pirate.

"If ya wan' m're missus, I g'ts som' in the back'see." Zherynnia wrinkled her nose. Surely Runa wasn't contemplating going back there.

"Hmm," Runa put on her best face as she contemplated the idea of letting him show her more stuff. It wasn't like she needed anything, but she did enjoy looking through things that could pertain to her ship. The soft whisper behind her only alerted her to the fact that Zherynnia was still with her. Good, at least the girl hadn't decided to wander off on her own.

"More in the back, hu? Why not, it's not like I need to be anywhere anytime soon," Raruna said and sent a wink back towards the bookeater behind her. The sky pirate followed the merchant to the back of his dark shop, out of the sunlight and heat. It was a bit gloomy and hard to see, but Runa was pretty aware of her surroundings.

"So, mister random ship parts seller. Anything good you got for a class 'C' style ship? Very small vessel she is," Runa asked as she bent over and began rummaging through a crate of stuff.

Zherynnia groaned to herself, falling into step behind the pirate. She couldn't walk away knowing that this man planned to rip them off big time. Runa seemed to be enjoying the sights of the shop, peering into a nearby crate and sticking her hand inside of it. The shopkeeper grinned again, gesturing to another large crate.

"Cert'nly! Thar's lotsa st'ff to be 'ad. I gots'me som' new b'lts over 'ere that'll really 'elp wif yer wheels and clogs." He offered the woman what appeared to be a miniature drill and a few bolts to go along with it. The book eater's frown deepened. This entire shop smelled terrible and it made her feel sick to her stomach again. There was nothing to be learnt here at all.

"Can we go?" She whispered furtively to the pirate, tugging at the woman's coat tails impatiently.

"In a second, I promise," Runa whispered back as she stood up to face the merchant. From her fingers she let all of the bolts and nuts drop from her fingers, a cruel grin twisting on her lips.

Releasing a sarcastic styled sigh, she put a hand on her hip and directed her sharp gaze to the man who was trying to sell his wares to her, "Unfortunately I don't think you have what I'm looking for. Not to mention that a lot of your stuff is... how should I put it... crap."

Runa reached into a pouch of hers that was on her hip and produced a shiny, yet unique steel bolt. Even she did not have a tool to fit it having picked it up on one of her random stops in a city a long while back, "You see, as the infamous Sky Pirate in all of Caith, it's hard to fool a woman who knows her ship. What you've got here isn't anything that a ship captain in their right mind would ever buy.

"How distasteful..." Raruna continued and leaned over to peer once again at one of the tools in a crate next to her, "Pitiful really. Anyway, I'm done here," she said flippantly and turned on her heel. The pirate took Zherynnia's hand in hers and lead the girl outside. With a grin down to the bookeater she continued on her way down the wooden walkway.

"What? Did you honestly think I'd buy something from that ugly, fat man?"

Zherynnia blushed, the dark reddish hue covering her cheeks with embarrassment. Of course she had, she had been genuinely worried that the woman was going to make a purchase she'd regret. "I wasn't sure..." She admitted. She fidgeted, still noting the fact that the two of them were holding hands. Runa seemed to like to lead but the confidence was a bit overwhelming at times. It made the pirate hard to predict.

She drew her hand out of the other's, letting it fall to her side as she casually brushed it on the side of her sash. "Did..." She trailed off, admittedly, she couldn't remember the man's name. "You know, the man with the scientist woman. Did they mention where they would be or are we just wandering around?" She didn't want to be dragged around for no good reason. Now that she was finally getting some fresh air, her appetite had returned.

The last meal she had had was some several hours ago and she was absolutely ravenous. There didn't seem to be any good information to pick up here, however... Maybe the pirate would let her eat one of her treasure maps... hopefully.

Runa tapped her lip gently as the girl's hand slipped out of hers, "Hmm, nope. They didn't mention anything. I think we're just stopping to get some fresh air and restock on some things. I could use another strannum crystal... You never know when one of those might crack from being used all the time."

The sky pirate kept an eye out for a good shop to buy one from as they moved farther down the street. She kept herself well aware of her surroundings, an old habit picked up from being in the slums of the lower city where she grew up. One could never be too careful, even in the nicest of towns.

"I don't want to be here for too much longer. I'd rather see this job done and over with. But," Runa sighed, "I guess we'll see how that goes."