Knock, knock, Knock I grumble and turn in bed having long since gotten used to the creaks the Red Carnation makes.

Knock, knock, knock Wearily I open my eyes and remember, right I brought the new kid with me this time, and such a good decision that was It's cold and they're forcing me out of my blankets. Sighing I throw off my blankets and stand up on the cold brass floor.

"Coming, coming, can't even let an old man get his rest" I yell back. As I slip on a pink button-up shirt a black vest and a top hat with a beautiful assortment of feathers and gears on.

"With all due respect, you told me to get you if I saw anything." The kid yells back in a sarcastic voice.

"I saw something" They continue into the silence that is me putting my pants on.

I open the thick metal door and stride out of my room. "Well I should hope so I think the smokestacks are due for a new cleaning otherwise," I said eyeing the newcomer, she unlike me had a more practical sense of fashion. Wearing jeans a white button-up shirt and suspenders with an old battered conductors hat.

She stares at me with indignation, "There ORNAMENTAL Smokestacks, you don't even send the real fuel through them" She says exasperated before I cut her off.

"Insults to my mechanics skills aside you happen to be in a luck that there is indeed something," I say as I examine the violet river below. Off to the right of the ship a blue hue is spreading through the river. I ignore the smug look of my new companion as I make my way to the helm of the ship and pull a lever extending a yew pole with brass rings fastening a net to it from the side of my ship.

With a spin of the wheel, the ship makes a hard turn right and soon the net catches the object turning the water blue, a collar. With another pull of the lever, the net retracts into the ship's lower hold. I glance at the map next to me at the helm of the ship. A model of the boat chugs along the map, I frown rather close to the edge of the river for my taste, so I gently steer the ship back left and glance back at the model to check for any collisions. None good I have time to examine the remnant.

I make my way down to the lower hold, my companion is already there she speaks when she sees me, "Three days of sailing and you finally show me how you power this clunker, with how long it takes I'm surprised you're adrift at all.

I sigh as I continue to ignore her and unclasp the pendant around my neck. A small hourglass surrounded by a brass gear. And touch the collar lodged in the net. The gear starts spinning and a scene opens before me and my companion.

A sterile white hall, a metal table a girl with red hair a plaid shirt, and moist cheeks, a man next to her in a white coat. On the table is a ragged ball of fur, some sort of pet if I can remember. It's been a while since I was in the world proper and these things do change.

The man in a white coat speaks, "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do Muffles is 22 and age has simply caught up the stomach, throat, and bones are all breaking down, keeping him alive at this point is only prolonging the suffering."

The girl stares with sorrow at the ragged, AHA! a cat that's what the thing is. Yes, she stares at the ragged cat. "No other option?" She asks

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The man in the white coat shake's his head. The girl's eye tears up as she looks away and the vision fades.

I reach out and grab the collar freeing it from the net, I touch it to the top of the hourglass pendant and it begins to dissolve becoming sand which filters down into the pendant. I smile a good hall enough to justify the trip which means I can head back home.

My companion however stares at me with interest. "Do you feel nothing, Sieg nothing at all?"

I replied surprised, "What? I have emotions, I enjoy my coffee in the morning quite well thank you very much"

She crosses her arms, "You just watch someone lose their pet, forever and you smiled" She pauses for a second "You do this all the time you fuel your ship on memories and emotion and yet you defend yourself with an enjoyment of coffee?"

I raise an eyebrow, "Well my emotions make sense, I enjoy my coffee because it is good should I lose it however it does not remove that goodness, You are all the ones who grieve impermanent things when they go why am I the one you all question the emotions of?" I reply gaining steam as I get further into my rant.

My companion however stares me down. "Because it is sad when these things leave, the world is different monumental you who escape death on that point should know, every loss makes the world lesser just as every creation makes it more."

I sit down on a bench in the hold, "Is the world lesser though for the change? The cat offers something, companionship, where companionship is freely available were we not always fighting a war against being alone would that companionship matter as much? Or is it simply that companionship is rare time is finite, loneliness omnipresent that makes it matter?"

She leans against the wall not deigning to sit with me. "But she does live in such a world, time is finite to her, connections are fleeting, loneliness is omnipresent, to her the world has been made lesser." 

I think for a moment "Fair and far be it from me to tell her how to live but why is it that I should grieve for her? The world will turn I will still sail, people will die, it is as it is, if they cannot escape their fate why is it that I should bear that burden?"

My companion replies without a moment's hesitation, "because you could make the world better you sail the river Lethe and collect loss things but they are but fuel to you, instead of breaking them down you could elevate them."

I sigh, "Not quite, though Alexander has built his immortality on the weight of memory collecting these objects in that tavern of his, it aligns with who he is a collector he is aligned with stability and weight a fitting immortal for memory. Me? I travel I consume my immortality is built on novelty and change, to surround myself in fetters like you propose would kill me."

She pauses for the first time in this conversation. "If you are change then why not change to be more?" she ventures tentatively.

I smile, "That is the paradox isn't it? Regardless my ship is hardly the place for such conversations brass and fire as it is. It's time to make way for home port."

I make my way up to the bridge and eye the model boat on the map. Straight ahead, I touch the pendent on my neck and turn the gear. Sorrow is heavy emotion not as fast as joy but lasts far longer, the ship hums to life as blue sand rushes through the pipes, gears turn, and pistons mash. The ship lurches forward in the violet water towards the home port.

Later it is in sight, Carryion the town on the stilts, a black and silver crow perches atop the sign denoting the place. And eye's us as we enter. The water around Carryion is black unlike the violet of the river Lethe. I pull a chain above my head as we approach the rickety dock the ship hums to a stop. I push a bright brass button and a ramp shoots out from the side of the ship to the dock.

I and my companion make our way up towards the dock. An old melody plays through the dock from an old man in a straw hat and stringed lute sitting on a rocking chair that's been here so long that it is practically part of the dock.

My companion speaks, "How Constantine became immortal with one rift is beyond me, I mean it's all he knows what sort of musician only knows one rift"

The old man looks up with a good-natured smile on his face. "Repletion grants legitimacy, Rose beside it's not far off from you becoming immortal through sheer stubbornness if you had stopped for but a moment you would not be here."

I smile Constantine is one of the oldest in this village and it is a good riff. "How's it been, my friend?" I call out

Constantine turns towards me "Oh you know not much has changed Lee, and Kira tried to fight each other again, this time Lee brought a cannon" He lefts out a hearty laugh "Not often you see someone cut a cannonball in half.

I laugh with him "You'll have to tell me the story I'm overdue for a drink though" I wave goodbye as I make my way towards Alexander's bar. Rose tags along soon we stand in front of it. A wooden place hundreds of years old with patrons older yet. Arguments and discussions stretch back just as long, feuds, fights, and love all collect in this place. 

I and Rose step inside the weathered wood and sit down to order a drink after a long week of sailing.