Jonah marveled at everything on the top deck, eyes wide with wonder. Diana didn’t blame him, seeing the Pirate’s ship in working order was quite the sight. The whole thing creaked in its propulsion forward, a giant wind ward dappling and translucent across its front as it cut through the air. The sails were drawn and the engines whirred with effort.
Coal circled around Jonah, pointing out every rope and crew member, urging him into taking in the fresh breeze. Jonah shook the hands of the first mate, Killigan Grabhammer, a rather short balding Dwarf, who tried to pop the joints to no success. Then there was Crug, the violet skinned Troll with gorilla sized arms, who’s slightly feminine face and huge tusks attempted a smile at Jonah. There were several automatons swabbing the deck, but they weren’t worth an introduction. The half mechanical man was a cause of fascination, equal to the level he gave them. The Pirate clapped him on the back, giving him an empty threat of a mop. Stephan made sure to introduce himself, examining his creations with hardly a word. Finally, Jonah was led by Kalyah to sit beside Diana at a wide table at the main mast, a seat that wasn’t vacant until the mechanic bolted up from it.
Jonah breathed heavy, exhausted from the effort of all the greetings. He started at the presence of Aiko, unable to to process that before the huge body pressed against the mast called a hearty salute. The Guardian's broad shoulders took up a large slice of the table, his tanned skin in a brown tunic camouflaging him next to the mighty pillar of wood.
“How are you feeling?” the Guardian asked when Jonah went silent, staring.
“Good, fine,” Jonah stammered.
The Guardian nodded, his fingers as thick as spear shafts scratching his massive rug of a beard. Before him and Diana were the maps and charts of various Ash Maker sightings. “I knew your kindred, young man,” he said with a nod. “He sustained quite a few injuries as well. He patched himself up as you are, half his body made of steel. Hopefully, any more you receive, though I wish no wound on you, you can mend yourself.” He leaned forward, his seat creaking in protest of his shifting weight. “It’s an amazing feat to mold metal as a Machinist does.”
Jonah nodded too, behind him were both Kalyah and Stephan. The mechanic’s gray eyes fixated on the machine limb he had lifted without hesitation. Jonah didn’t seem to care, his arm limp in the air. “He’s already showing strong signs, he’s faster than most mechanics,” he said, as if to himself.
A deep laugh from Gregore could be felt through the deck as he leaned back, shoulder blades making the mast tremble. “I’ll never understand magic more complex than that of a Wizard,” he said. “A magic of forged steel… such a difficulty to create already.” He shook his great head.
Jonah grunted as his hand was displayed to the table by Stephan, the mechanic rudely pointing to the metal fingers. Singling them out, he did not seem to care for the joint he had made.
“See, see, I made the fingers round. He made the edge here,” the mechanic said, tapping his sandy finger like a woodpecker.
Jonah pulled his hand free, checking it himself.
Kalyah swatted at Stephan’s hand when he tried to snatch his quarry back. “Leave him be for one minute,” she snapped.
The mechanic pouted his lip.
Quietly Jonah scratched at the table with the slight edge of his fingers. “Really, they were round before?” he asked.
“Yes, they were,” Stephan said, his hurt look still focused on the Pixie. “I made your limbs to be adaptable to your magic. There’s no power cell and the metal will shift at your influence. They are meant to absorb technology as well, like your phone sheet.”
“What took you so long then?” Kalyah asked. “If they’re just puddy metal, then shouldn’t it have been faster than it was?”
Stephan scoffed. “I’m not a born mechanic or Traveler,” he defended. “Even one of them would need time to create such a good conduit. I also made four of them. I don’t know why you think it’s easy to make them.”
“The Machinist did have a hard time teaching his pupils what came to him naturally,” Gregore spoke up, no one able to ignore his booming voice.
“The edges, they are to pet Aiko,” Diana said, her familiar cat hopping into her lap.
Jonah nodded. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “Where is my phone?”
The mechanic held out the sheet of glass. “I was hoping I could see you with it,” he said quietly.
“Hmm…” Jonah hummed, flipping it over and deftly pressing the correct button. “Why the hell does it have a full charge? It wasn’t even fully charged when I was driving home.” The whole rest of the table leaned towards him, trying to see. Self consciously, he shrunk away from their watching eyes. “I, uh, have something private on here…” Diana spotted another risque photo from the corner of her eye as his thumb moved along the glass. “No signal, I mean, of course.”
Stephan drummed on the back of the chair. “Try it, try to absorb it,” he urged.
“Um, how? Why?” Jonah asked.
“Think hard enough, you can do it,” he said, leaning heavily over the other man, his corded hair streaking across Jonah’s head.
Leaning away from the mechanic’s presence, Jonah frowned. There was clear exhaustion in his eyes, he had been working to get better all day. Kalyah tugged on Stephan’s hair like a leash, a scowl on her face, she said much the same as Diana thought. “Leave him be, you big lug,” she added. “Jonah hasn’t even had his midday meal, he needs more strength before you pester him anymore.” She apologized to Jonah as Stephan went off for a quick walk around, clearly pouting. “Go see if Monty needs help bringing the food out.”
Stephan went off on his goal, grumbling.
“I just don’t know what he means,” Jonah said, yawning. “It doesn’t feel like anything will change.” He stared at the phone sheet in his hand, now held like a foreign object.
“Pushing magic too far tends to end poorly, young man,” Gregore declared, with an encouraging tap of his fist on the table. “You should work with the princess, she is learned and quite the prodigy, I hear. Your mother does not dole out compliments lightly.”
“Thank you,” Diana said, glad for the praise.
Gregore nodded. “I’ve looked at these charts too long. If I could fit in that kitchen, I would bring out the meal myself.” He regarded Jonah. “I’ve heard you can eat nearly as much as me, lad. Let us have a friendly competition between us, shall we?”
Eyeing the mountain of a man, Jonah put his phone in his pocket. “I’ll eat as much as I can,” he said.
“Don’t try to compete with him, I think he could eat you,” Kalyah told Jonah.
The Guardian laughed, causing another notable tremor. “I’d never do such a thing, there’s not enough meat on his bones and my teeth are too dull for metal!” Jonah’s wide eyes caused the quake to continue.
The princess leaned over to him. “He’s joking, of course,” she said with a smile. “The giants he comes from have sworn off human flesh.”
“That at least explains it,” Jonah muttered back.
The tremoring laughter went on a while longer.
Jonah got to meet the chef Monty as the carts were wheeled in. The short and stout greenskin wore a buttoned white chef’s coat that, like all the outfits the Traveler had seen so far, was slightly askew from familiar fashion. This one much longer, fitted to contain and emphasize the barrel form of his upper chest as well as a double cuff at the wrist. The chef introduced himself, as if they might have forgotten, bowing his head to Jonah and kissing the hand of the princess. His catching mit hands consuming hers in reverent patting. The beastly and proud man’s face was overtaken with such a sturdy jaw, filed and capped tusks shining with gaudy gold and gems.
“We have not had such a figure as pristine and glorious as you in all my years,” the chef said in a tugging of his stretched green lips, that desperately pushed forth his accent through a throat more suited for a warrior’s bellow. Jonah might have been more afraid if it wasn’t so goofy to see what should have been frightening as a farce. Diana did her best to respectfully retrieve her hand and thank him.
From across the table, which had been filled to brim with chairs, the towheaded Pirate cleared her throat. “Monty, we would like to eat now,” she said with a sharp undertone to her voice.
“Yes, of course, captain,” Monty said with an incline of his head. “I do hope you enjoy this midday feast that I and Coal prepared with such passion to please all the present palettes.” He gave a grand sweep of the table.
The Tengu, wings covered in a netting and plain clothes changed to a tiny silk suit, flapped around the table freeing the platters of their covers. Steam gently wafted off the colorful collection of sauces poured over spiced meats and tender vegetables. It took a few moments for the chef premiere to explain each and every detail. There were a few alien ingredients to Jonah, berries and fruits that might exist on his planet but he had never bothered to look up or eat. With a Druid beside him, they couldn’t be poisonous to him, he hoped. The nurse was on the other side, so if they were, he wouldn’t die. The name “dragon’s jewels,” for a sliced scaly fruit bearing marble sized seeds inside it didn’t seem too peculiar, but the description of its rich earthy spice and sour sweetness did. Thankly tuna made sense, but its neon red glaze of “fire sugar,” didn’t appeal to him.
“I normally prepare these selections in smaller proportions, but our wise captain has demanded I tailor my work to more of a feast setting,” the chef lamented at the end of his explanation.
Angelina had seemed to be sucking in air for the last few items and let it all out as an angered snort. “Thank you, Monty, that’s all,” she said stiffly.
The chef left with a dour bow.
The Witch, sitting beside her, smirked. “He’ll get over being starstruck,” she said. “He knows the Heroes, but he’s doing this for the princess and the Traveler’s benefit.” She swiped a finger of spicy sauce from the edge of a tray and suckled it off, violet eyes pleased at it. “And if he doesn’t, then I’ll make him. I just think it’s cute to see him all happy, but it will get annoying, as it always does.” Her gaze fell to Jonah, who was drawn by a strangely adorned and beautiful woman. Somehow her every movement of her arms caused her pale corseted chest to crease sharply into a sultry cleavage. The primal part of his brain was constantly drawn to the display, even trying to glance away. She kissed towards him across the table with a quick click of her full lips. In his peripheral vision he was aware that Diana was staring back at the Witch.
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He started as Kalyah touched his arm with a sly smile. “Honey, I’m gonna make you a plate, nothing too spicy yet, okay?” she said, taking his dish from its place.
“If you eat fast enough the spice doesn’t matter!” the Guardian declared, shoveling helpings onto his place with little care of what complimented what. All Monty’s meticulous guidance didn’t matter in the end.
“He needs to avoid upsetting his stomach with all the medicine in him,” Kalyah defended.
“So I am going to win?” Gregore trumpeted in laughter.
Sighing, Kalyah handed him a decently sized plate. Saying a prayer over it, white light shimmering in an outline over it. “Don’t go too fast,” she said, caressing his arm in concern. Behind her Stephan glared at him with jealous eyes, dropping it the moment she could see him again.
“Thank you, really, so much,” Jonah said with sincerity.
“The only thanks I need is for you to recover, honey,” Kalyah said with a smile.
The swelling of Jonah’s stomach over two blessed plates of food demanded to be walked off and he did so with the help of Kalyah and Diana’s staff. The finely made stick handed to him with a grin, packaged with the far off watcher of tiger Aiko to “make you accustomed to the size of her true form.” So his steps were stalked by the predator, who was chuffing and panting, making itself as casual as possible. The Tengu also followed, back to his usual garb, complaining about the net he was forced to wear as presenter of the banquet. The Guardian was still shoveling food into his mouth when Jonah began his walk.
The sun crept down towards the horizon, the ship flying parallel to it as Jonah rested against the railing or taftrail as Coal named it. The crow stood on it with him and Kalyah now, drilling him on the parts of a ship and congratulating his progress simultaneously.
“Then, tomorrow we shall have you run from the poop to the bowsprit,” Coal said, talon pointing around, a devious smirk on the cornering lips off his beak.
“Wouldn’t it be better to run from the foremast to the mizzen mast?” Jonah asked, feeling so much lighter.
“Good, good!” Coal praised. “A good goal as well.”
Jonah yelped. His body was tired, limbs awoken by the Pixie elf’s strong fingered massage. She explained that the anchors had to be spread up his muscles. The need and kindness of the masseuse didn’t stop the pain, which came in jolts only to be quelled. If it wasn’t for Coal’s jovial nature, he would be standing in misery.
“You’re not going to be running anywhere,” Kalyah spoke up, a comforting hand on Jonah’s back. He had to take his jacket off to be massaged and the chill went through him, even with the warm sun peeking past the shadows of the masts. “I don’t think you really ran much before coming here, did you?”
Jonah shook his head, the depth of her knowledge about his body was a little unsettling.
“He will soon, he will soon,” Coal encouraged, nodding, beak closed tightly.
“Not too soon, not too soon,” Kalyah smiled. She helped him back into his jacket. “I’ll give your leg cuffs a good going over tonight. Better to do those on a bed. Plus, it will make Stephan all needy and desperate for me.” She winked.
“I feel so used,” Jonah said, trying to bring out more of the humor that had laid dormant for so long. He was rewarded with a pleasant laugh from his caretaker. Though thinking of her like that made him sad, but there was nothing wrong about needing someone. That was a thought his mother had shared when she had needed her nurses for every embarrassing thing.
Kalyah’s short pointer finger landed on his chest. “I could worship with you, should you so desire,” she said, her voice thick, eyelashes fluttering.
He flushed at the offer and she gave him a loud giggle.
“Honey, you’re nowhere near that level of activity,” she said happily. “Plus…” She leaned in closer to him. “I think the Witch has some interest in you. I still have a monitor on your heartbeat, I could feel it racing when that legendary lady was looking at you.” She giggled more at his continued silence.
Coal had gone quiet, blinking, appearing like a common bird perched on the taft rail.
“Don’t pester the kid like that, you know Fia would eat him alive,” came the voice of the Pirate, her boots tapping across the deck as she came towards them. Her parrot was wavering drowsily on her shoulder. “Eat, eat, Gray needs to eat! Bored to death, bored to death!” The Pirate took a place by Coal, setting a peanut into the smaller bird’s awaiting talon. As she greeted them all, she turned to her navigator. “Coal, there’s a new course to be set, keep the sails tied, Fia will be scrying still. Gregore has the coordinates for you.”
“Yes capt’n, right away. Farewell fellows!” He bowed, waving a talon.
Diana came from the table as well, the tiger beside her, staff in hand. It had been given back to her once Jonah stayed still. There was something so powerful in her walk, the armor adding to it the force, not to mention the white furred monster. A tiredness showed in her eyes, but each step seemed practiced. An aura assisted by her billowing cloak, the farther she got from the table covered in papers, the more wind picked up. Her hair was loose around her tiara and it flared out with her walk. The wooden armor fitted wonderfully to her figure, practical, yet fashionable. All the etched bark patterns drew his eyes and he imagined what excuse he could come up with to feel them. He suddenly wanted to be closer to her, like he had been with Kalyah, but not so innocently. He recalled all the times that she had touched him fondly. Swallowing a lump at the thought of being so near again.
Kalyah leaned into him, on her toes to reach his ear. “Ba dump, ba dump, ba dump,” she whispered quickly, drumming her fingers on his shoulder.
Jonah shook off the nurse like a moth had landed on him. “Hey, hey, got a place to go?” he asked as Diana stood before him.
“We do, finally,” Diana said with a heavy sigh. “It would have happened sooner if Fia wasn’t such a pessimist…” She glanced back at the Witch still perched on her chair while the Guardian gathered up the papers.
“Come now, princess,” Angelina said with a diplomatic sweep of her hand. “Fia came up with all the locations, but she knew that not all of them would be good.”
“I would rather go to all of them than leave it up to tea leaves and a reading of the stars,” Diana said flatly.
“Be glad that we have a Witch so talented to be able to read those things instantly,” Angelina offered.
That didn’t sate the princess, but she mumbled an affirmative and folded her arms. “How do you feel after your exercise?” she asked Jonah. The question was a bit pointed and she added a smirk.
“Fine, fine,” he answered. The nurse’s joking had corrupted his current thinking and a change of the wind brought him Diana’s earthy natural scent. Not a perfume, but some sort of strong forest aroma from her armor and a dustiness from her cloak. Which she had informed him was spider silk when he had asked about its strange pattern. His reply and staring had shot the conversation dead in the face.
Angelina swooped in on the silence. “Glad you were able to finally stretch your legs Traveler,” she said, taking off her tricorn hat. Her parrot went fluttering off, annoyed at all the movement as she undid her bandana. “You don’t know how many people thought you might never wake up.” She puffed up her blonde curls with her fingers, no longer looking like the official figure, but more like the sail on the main mast. Coal had made it his mission to show him it, the fabric limp, protected by the wind. The mermaid illustration was so imposing he had to step back some twenty feet to really appreciate it. The model turned to him now, dimples joining the azure freckles on her cheeks. “You were in such a horrible state I think only Kalyah and Coal really believed you would get up. Worrying would require some sleep and Stephan didn’t get much. You proved us all wrong, good work there!”
“Thank you, I’m glad you saved me, really and kept me around,” Jonah said, he didn’t need the nurse to tell him he couldn’t handle beautiful women looking at him. Especially when praise was included in that equation.
“Fia was ready to wake him without limbs to read his mind,” Diana added with a glowering glance.
“I told you, she’s just a little intense,” Angelina said evenly. “Even more so now since the assassination. You haven't seen her cabin, there’s no room to walk with all the spells going at the same time. There’s just a trail so she can check on all of them when she returns to it.”
“Yes, I understand,” Diana mumbled.
“And Jonah, don’t worry, we would have never thrown you off after fishing you out of the ocean. I would have liked to drop you off at a Corpine temple to be healed by a dozen priestesses instead of our one.” Kalyah made a grunt at that. “We have a lot of cabins available anyway. They cleared out a lot since the assassination. I had strays working every job possible on this ship. Monty used to have all the help in the world, these decks didn’t have a single automaton. They were all gathering dust in the hull.” She shook her head.
“What happened?” Jonah asked, curiosity winning over his nerves.
“Well, they were all afraid to be riding alongside me in an actual war,” she said with a sigh. “It’s not your fault, don’t ever think it is, but a wounded man aboard made so many of them feel that they might join you. That they might not survive. Years of service only to retire at the smell of danger. Your arrival and the news of the princess came only hours after each other.”
A sudden chill crawled up his spine.
The mermaid smiled, rubbing his shoulder. “Really, don’t worry about anything you can’t control. Even Fia cleared you of any connection to the other event.”
“How would the two be possibly connected?” Diana said loudly.
“No way, none at all,” Angelina said, waving her hands to dispel the thought. “Anyway lad, I’m glad to see you strong. We all are, you even impressed Fia with your exercising today. She might come to grill you about that fascinating land of yours. There’s a few books somewhere in her room, about what little she could get out of the Machinist. Beware, she might get a book out of you too.”
“Yeah, some day,” Jonah said, nodding.
“You wouldn’t believe how much our Machinist changed the world,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Our?” he wondered.
Angelina sighed, lips drawn into a line. “Yes, the Order had their own and ours left them, disillusioned with the bloodshed, which was supposed to have some sort of point. Though, no one thought it did on our side. The good, the Heroes.” She tapped her chest. “I can’t tell you what I felt when I saw the first flying ship over the ocean. Tubes that burst into fire falling from it…” Her eyes grew distant, lost in a memory of slaughter. The flames might as well be flickering in her brilliant blue pupils.
Jonah had read an account of Dresden, of the fire bombing it recieved in the second World War. People boiling alive when the bombs hit a water tower. One would think that fire would sizzle uselessly on such impact. Not when it came to bombs of that strength. In this world, there could be magic to make it burn hotter, maybe forever. “I’m sorry,” he said with that same reflex.
The Pirate shook off the memory. “No, no, don’t worry about it,” she said. “That happened before most of you were even born. Several times over, ya know.” She spun her hand, gesturing to the multiplication of the decades. “I got my revenge, and it will be got again for Diana. Soon, before any armies rise.”
The Druid breathed a hiss through her nose.
“I am serious about that, we all are,” Angelina continued. “No matter what you might think or see us do to relieve that stress. I know it well, I lived through all those years of anticipation, princess. I have given into my weakness, but I’m never lazy. I would be ready to command and fight Blodwyn no matter the hour or state of undress.” She chuckled lightly, though the determination was still clear in her stance.
“I believe you,” Diana said, pushing the answer out.
“I have to go give orders out,” Angelina bowed. “As much as I’d like to swim and stretch out my fin, there’s no time to start sailing again. I’ll see you all in the morning. I hope to reach our destination by midday.”
The others wished her farewell.
After another successful dinner in his room, Aiko pawed the door as he began to settle. He didn’t say anything to keep Diana from leaving, not that he could get her to anyway. She might have been sorrowful to leave, but he couldn’t read the expression on her face when she walked out. Kalyah gave him the promised massage, not as relaxing as he hoped laying on the bed. There was Daisy sap added to it, enchanted by the Druid to an easing purpose. The result being a much more oily fluid than the last few times he had felt it.
As Kalyah went to leave, the room felt hollowed out. She returned to the bedside, asking if he needed a sleep aid.
“Yes, please,” he said.
She regarded the emptiness. “I can sleep there, or lay by you, if you want. It’s not beyond the normal care of a Corpine worshiper. Nothing sexual, honey, only comfort,” she said with a gentle smile.
He thought for a moment, then a few more. It was so tempting and he had no real reason to refuse, but one. Some wispy little thread had sprung out of his being. It made him terrified that agreeing to the comfort of the nurse, even if it was only that, would send the thread up in flames. When he pictured Kalyah beside him an image of Diana’s displeased sneer rose with it. All of it was so stupid, he’d fallen for a half dozen girls, that never felt the same. That thread having sprung out and wrapped around over the course of months and years, only to wither away unceremoniously at the end of a school year or when the girl picked a man brave enough to open his mouth.
“No thank you,” he said before the Elf could speak.
The nurse smiled, pink lips thin across her porcelain skin and teeth. “The heart wants what the heart wants,” she said, giggling. “I’ll make sure you have a long peaceful rest, no nightmares. Maybe some sweet dreams.” She picked up his hand, drawing her finger on it. The tip of it sparked with her pure white magic. “Close your eyes, breathe deeply, I’ll be here in the morning, honey.”
He did as she said and by third breath he was out.