The airplane with the large propellers did behave as Ingrid had predicted. The engines on the end of the wings could rotate, from vertical to fully forward, allowing the craft to take off vertically. The propellers could spin in opposite directions, and were extremely loud. It took several Wind Elementals to create the barriers to protect their ears.

Vaska rifled through Ingrid's crystals, which were now placed in a proper handbag instead of a navigation chart. Ingrid looked out the window of the aircraft, down at the vast open ocean far below the misty clouds.

"Here, this one is strange," Vaska said. She handed Ingrid a teal-orange crystal, except it was lopsided. It was more teal than orange, and wasn't swirled as much. There was a symbol made from orange crystal, three dots in a triangle and two circles, in a large section of teal.

"How many are there?" Ingrid asked.

"It looks like there are three of them," Vaska said.

"Those must be the keys to the portal. When I summoned all my crystals in the Captain's map room, they must have also been included."

"Can I study these for a while?"

Dangerous, she will open the portals again, Paranoid said. Ingrid figured that the little Light Elemental needed a name.

"Absolutely!" Ingrid said.

The aircraft began to turn, and make a wide, sweeping arc through the sky. The engines slowed, and they were also beginning to descend. Ingrid assumed that the airplane was on approach for a landing.

"I wonder where Ayaru got these things?" Vaska said. "I mean, were they just lying around in some temple somewhere?"

"Does the Empire have any of these crystals?" Ingrid asked.

"If we do, my father would know."

Ingrid looked around at the other soldiers on the airplane. They were wearing civilian clothes, like those Marines.

"Who are these people?" Ingrid whispered.

"Oh, yeah. I guess you are not from the Empire, so you don't recognize the colors. The airplane is painted with the Marines livery. However, these men are... Fia."

"Fia?"

"Foreign Intelligence Authority, FIA." Vaska said. "Spies, saboteurs, and well technically they are all civilians."

"And those Marines I flew with?"

"The same story. Right now our interactions with the Taisians go through the FIA. So any Imperials you encounter on a foreign airship will be FIA. They are temporarily transferred for the duration of their mission."

They had descended very far, perhaps just a few thousand feet above the ocean. The engines roared again, and the pylons rotated vertically. They began to slow. Ingrid was surprised when the deck finally passed under the airplane, much slower than she expected.

The airship was similar to the Taisian version, but larger and the airplanes parked on the deck were also larger. In fact, Ingrid strayed away from Vaska to take a good look at those fighters. They were maybe half again as large as a Taisian fighter, with three missiles on each wing. They had two tail fins angled slightly outward. There were two bubbles made of glass, one on the top and one on the bottom, just behind the canopy.

"What are those bubbles behind the canopy?" Ingrid asked as Vaska walked towards her.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Those are for the ocular demons, so they can see above and below. One eyeball goes into the top, the other goes down into the bottom. Then there are no blind spots."

"So the Empire keeps the good designs for themselves," Ingrid said.

"Taisian aircraft are more likely to be captured. We make sure that we don't risk too many of our more advanced designs. If the Taisians want better airplanes, they can design them for themselves. We've done enough, I think."

Vaska led the way through the airship to the command deck. Like the Taisian variant, it was a dim room filled with glowing clock-like devices in the walls, portholes, telescopes, and steering wheels. The Captain of the airship appeared to be a stern, experienced woman. She had scars on her face, light brown hair, white trousers, and a dark green sleeveless shirt with thin black stripes. They had no marks of rank. Perhaps a FIA airship Captain?

"Elizabeth, let's meet in the map room," Vaska said. "The other members of the team have already been summoned."

While Vaska explained the situation with the portals to Elizabeth, Ingrid stood by a porthole and watched the deck. A large, propeller-driven airplane landed on the deck. Unlike the other airplanes that she had seen, this one had low wings and a sleek, predatory shape. Also, the tail dragged across the ground supported only by a tiny wheel.

Maybe it was an older version of a fighter jet? One with a propeller?

"What is that?" Ingrid asked, pointing to the airplane. Vaska needed to stand on her toes to see out the porthole.

"Oh, Ivan is here," Vaska said.

"Still flying that old warbird?" Elisabeth asked.

"Looks like it. Ingrid, those things are called warbirds. They were used in the Unification War almost fifty years ago. Ivan was only thirteen years old when he joined the Air Navy and that was the airplane that he flew in. He lied to the recruiter about his age, and I'll admit he is quite tall."

Ivan arrived a short time later and he was indeed quite tall. He took off his leather helmet and goggles, revealing an almost completely bald head with a tiny bit of gray fuzz above the ears. He was pot-bellied, but his old military uniform fit him well.

The next to arrive was a thin, hawk-nosed man in an immaculate striped suit. He also had a pair of large spectacles. "This is Rudolf," Vaska said. "He is the Imperial Ambassador to Taisia."

"I had to fly here from the Capital," the man complained.

"I think you have already met the last member of the team," Vaska said as the door opened and a woman stepped through. It was Glenice. "And she is our contact with the Marines, while also serving as a mole in the Taisian Air Navy."

"My father is the Secretary of the Military," Glenice said. "The Marines are a... family inheritance, you might say. As you can imagine, I am very popular with the FIA and other institutions. Such as this fine one." She waved her hand across the room.

"Ingrid," Vaska said. "Allow me to welcome you to The Feathers. Glenice, Rudolf, Ivan, Elizabeth, myself, and now you. Feathers, this is Ingrid, Princess of the Ten Skies."

"You added the word 'Ten' in there," Ingrid whispered.

"It sounds better, trust me," Vaska replied. "There are ten Elemental Planes, so if anyone asked what airspace you are the 'Princess' of, you can answer without clashing with any existing nation."

That seemed reasonable.

"I have called this emergency meeting of the Feathers," Vaska said, "to discuss a situation that has recently developed in southern Taisia. Rudolf, you no doubt have already learned about the situation."

"Unfortunately no," Rudolf said with a nasal voice. "These Taisians don't report anything accurate to their superiors. They want it to appear rosy and sweet up until the moment the Capital is sieged by the enemy."

Vaska nodded. "Indeed." She held up the three crystals she had identified earlier. "These crystals can be used to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Wind."

Silence.

Vaska repeated (thankfully leaving the embarrassing bits out) Ingrid's entire story. Rudolf just nodded. When Vaska described the dogfight in the Plane of Wind, Ivan was transfixed. Glenice looked horrified when she learned that Ingrid had been invited to speak to the Captain.

"He tried to shoot you didn't he?" Glenice asked.

"Let me finish," Vaska said.

"Well Ingrid did score the first confirmed kill in human history during a dogfight in one of the Elemental Planes. Even I would have tried to shoot her and take credit for that. In fact, where is my gun? Ingrid, hold still."

"Our first order of business is to close the portal in Ayaru," Vaska said, ignoring Glenice.

"I disagree," Rudolf said. "We cannot invade Ayaru with Imperial forces, even if disguised as FIA. There is only so far we can stretch the law."

"Is it possible to use those crystals to open the portal?" Elizabeth asked. "We could fly our airships into the Plane of Wind from here and then close the Ayaru portal from inside. I don't see any legal problems with that approach."

"I agree," Vaska said. The others nodded in agreement as well.

"Fine," Ingrid said. "However, I want a better airplane. The best airplane that the Empire has to offer."

"We have our objective," Vaska said. "Feathers, get to work."