Eletheria woke up feeling refreshed. She didn’t realize she had enjoyed or needed sleeping in her old bed; last night’s rest, however, proved otherwise. The sun had just risen, and the clock in her room indicated it was a little past the seventh bell. For a moment, as she was organizing her thoughts and chasing away her dreams, she considered staying in bed until the afternoon. A knock at her door, however, made the decision for her.

“Who is it?” Ele asked from her bed.

“Miss Ele, Master Zephyr sent me to bring you down for breakfast,” a female voice responded. For a moment, Ele couldn’t place the voice, but once her memory got into gear, she remembered and shouted it.

“Dee!” Ele shouted, using the nickname she had given Dionysia when she was younger. As she ran to the door and opened it, she was greeted by the elderly housekeeper her family employed. As soon as Dionysia saw Ele, she embraced her in a hug.

“My dear, I thought you...” Dionysia said, but her other words were muffled by Ele’s nightshirt and shoulder.

“A young man, Acanthio, saved me. He said his morning star warned him of something going to happen,” Ele said. Ele beckoned Dee into her room so she could get dressed and talk at the same time. Once they were both inside, Dee closed the door and faced away from Ele.

“I haven’t heard anyone talk about a morning star in years. This boy said his had warned him?” Dee asked.

“Yes, he said it had gotten brighter,” Ele replied while pulling off her nightshirt.

“You should wear a dress, dear, something nice, as there will be lots of people wanting to wish you well.” Dee interrupted Ele’s movement towards a shirt that was lying on the floor near her bed. Ele let out an over-emphasized sigh at this suggestion but moved towards the wardrobe.

“Did you have a morning star?” She asked while looking for a suitable dress to impress the people she didn’t care about. The hangers made a sliding sound as she moved dresses to the left.

“Oh, my dear, I have not been of faith in decades. I couldn’t even point it out if I tried to remember,” Dee said, and with an almost supernatural sense, she called out, “The blue one with little yellow flowers would look nice, don’t you think?” Ele had just skimmed by it and questioned how she could tell. Ele gave the blue and yellow dress a second look. A thought appeared in her mind that he would like that. That thought was followed by, which he? Ele still had not decided about Lex’s question last night. The blue dress would work, though. It was one of her nicer dresses, and it was loose enough that she could wear her leg pouch under it, and no one would notice. Ele changed her underclothes and pulled the dress over her head. With a little tugging, it was soon on her, and she then wandered over to where Dee stood facing the door. Once she was a few feet from her, Dee turned around and helped tighten parts of the bodice. Ele was thankful Dee was the one helping as Dee never tried pulling too tight. The other helper tended to tighten it too much, not seeming to understand that Ele was not as thin as other girls.

Once everything was straight and tightened to Dee’s satisfaction, she started towards the door. She looked back at Ele and smiled an aged smile, which showed all of her wrinkles. Ele had always thought that was adorable, ever since she was a little girl. Her own mother and aunt went to every effort to hide their wrinkles, to the extent that they never smiled when they could prevent it.

“Breakfast will be served soon. Mr. Zepyhr has already sent a coach, to pick up this Acanthio.” Dee said as she opened the door and stepped out of the room. The door closed before Ele could say thank you. Once the door was closed, she went over to her dresser and pulled out a leg pouch that she could strap securely to her leg. In her leg pouch, she put two metal rods and a spool of wire. Ever since she was little, she saw her brothers run around with scabbards, belt pouches, boot knives, and whatever else she had wanted, something like that. The memory of her mother came to mind telling her, “Ele, it is not lady-like to carry a sword, dagger, axe, or whatever item you are trying to bring.”

Ele had always had this inner desire to be prepared. When the pockets she sewn into her dresses were discovered, she went to hide things in a bonnet. An unfortunate accident of a fork falling out of her bonnet when she was leaning over got her grounded to her room for weeks. It was then her father had a custom satchel made which went under her dress and strapped to her leg. Then, over the past few years, he had given her variations of this design to the point where the last one was for her 18th birthday. That one she had worn with trousers, and on the ship, no one gave it a second look. Her mother, however, would not be pleased if she wore trousers, and Ele didn’t want to interrupt the current happy mood with a fight.

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When Ele got to the great hall, most of her family was already there sitting at the table eating. Plates of ham, bread, and flap jacks were easily within reach of everyone. Once she sat down, one of the house servants set a glass of cider near her and left before Ele could say thank you or even see who it was.

A few minutes passed, and from outside, a carriage rolling up was easily heard. Ele stood up to see who arrived but it would be a moment before whoever arrived disembarked from the carriage and walked up the steps. Ele sat back down, feeling a little embarrassed. To hide her slight blush, she grabbed a piece of bread to eat. She attempted to ignore the sound of the front door opening and closing as the butler let the guest in. Ele forced herself to sit calmly in her chair as they waited for the guest to get to the great hall. Soon her father stood up to greet the guest.

“Alexander, I am so glad you could attend breakfast with us,” Mr. Zephyr said with a smile. Even Ms. Zephyr smiled a little but was careful not to show any wrinkles around her eyes.

Lex strode in wearing an all-white outfit, including a matching top hat. His black goggles were the odd contrast as he removed them and secured them to his hat. He sat in a chair next to Ele and hung his hat upon the edge of the chair. His whole face lit up when he looked at Eletheria and smiled. Ele looked upwards at his sparkling eyes and returned the smile with her own.

“I cannot wait until society finds faded leather fashionable,” Lex said as he sat down. He then looked at the confusion on Ele’s face. “When it does, it will be only the 2nd time Sal has ever dressed in style.” This made Ele giggle as she remembered a few years ago when, after a long night of drinking, Sal had woken up to find himself in a dress that had been in fashion at the time. There were a few things that Sal had done wrong, and that was one thing Lex and Ele always joked about.

“Where is Sal?” Lex asked as he started digging into breakfast.

“The Vol Mortem had to go back out,” Mr. Zephyr answered. “But even if Sal wasn’t on the ship, in all the years I knew Sal when he ran around with Nico and Ty, I doubt he would even be awake for breakfast.” At the mention of Ele’s dead brothers, Mr. Zephyr’s smile disappeared. Ms. Zephyr went over to him and patted him on the shoulder while also offering a sugary pastry.

“Sorry,” Lex said, looking glum.

“It is not your fault,” Ele reassured Lex. When they were little, Sal, Nico, and Ty were best friends, and often, they would include Lex and Ele in their adventures. Sal’s aptitude in quan manifested sooner than Nico and Ty’s did. This put him on a different airship for Windmaster training. Ele could not imagine what would have happened if Sal had died also. Ele’s thoughts were interrupted by her mother’s voice.

“Ele is correct, Lex, it is not your fault. We have been on edge for the past week and are still recovering,” Ms. Zephyr said aloud to everyone in the room.

“Now if only the carriage would return with this extraordinary young man who brought our daughter back to us.” Mr. Zephyr said. At these words, Lex appeared to shrink back into his chair. Ele could see in his eyes that he really wished he had been there. Ele could not imagine how difficult it must have been for him in the past week as well. With the mood suddenly somber, everyone just sat and ate the food that was in front of them. They all appeared to have lost the energy and cheerfulness they’d just had.

The sound of another carriage coming towards the manor filled the great hall. Ele stood up again and once she saw her mother’s disapproving stare she started to sit back down. Her embarrassment was saved as Lex stood up also and started to move to the door. Lex was oblivious to Ms. Zephyr’s glare, and even more so once he had his back to her.

“Um, Alexander,” Ms. Zephyr started. “It is not our place to open the door for untouched.”

“Ma’am, that untouched saved your daughter. While he may lack quan, he certainly has something worthy of being honored,” Lex replied, still heading to the door. Ele watched Lex reach the door before the butler did.

“Greetings!” Lex started to say and he then stopped mid-sentence as he let the coachman into the house. The coachman bowed to Lex and hurried to the table in the great hall. Once he was near Mr. Zephyr, he stopped as if waiting for some command.

“Where is he?” Mr. Zephyr asked the same question on everyone else’s face at the table.

“Sir, he was not at the Queen Astoria. I was able to get Henricus to take me to his room and open the door. There was no one there.” The coachman paused to give people a moment to absorb the information. “I looked around the room and as far as I could tell, the bed was not slept in.” An audible gasp came from both Ms. Zephyr and Ele. “I threatened and repeatedly asked Henricus where the Acanthio was but he had no answer. As far as he knew, Acanthio should have been in the room.”

“Then where did he go?” Ele and Ms. Zephyr asked. They were both standing and looking at each other when they realized they had done the same thing.

“Is the Vol Mortem still docked?” Lex asked quickly, looking at Ele. Seeing her obvious distress, he stood up and moved to hug her.

“Sir, I already checked, the Vol Mortem left as soon as Sal returned last night. The dock master gave me a time of 23rd bell that it departed,” the coachman said.

“Hmm... That would be about the time Sal would have returned to the ship,” Mr. Zephyr stated, his thumb scratching at the hairs on his chin. Lex was already moving to action he had released Ele and moved towards the coachman.

“Someone had to have seen him leave. Take me to the Inn and I’ll question everyone.” Lex stood tall as he made his declaration and looked towards Ele. “Ele, come with me; we will figure out where he is together.” Lex held out a hand towards Ele. She took a step forward and took it. Together they started towards the door with the coachman in tow.

“Ele, there are people wishing to see you,” Ms. Zephyr said as they were halfway to the door.

“Momma, if it wasn’t for Thio these people would be here for a funeral and not a celebration,” Ele replied without stopping.

“Then let Lex and Pappa go,” Ms. Zephyr countered, looking more and more defeated with each step Ele took toward the door.

“Pappa doesn’t know what he looks like,” Ele called out from the doorway and then slammed the door shut behind them. Ele and Lex started running towards the carriage. Sensing the desire for haste, the coachman did not try to open the door for them. He just went to the front and hopped up in the driver’s seat. Lex and Ele got into the carriage and Ele slapped the side of the carriage. “Let’s go!” she yelled.