“Alright, you can get up from your seats. We’re going on cruise control until this evening.”

I must say, that sudden take off had left me with my heart in my throat.

I could see Zaya was already full of excitement and questions. As soon as the Viscountess gave us her permission, she had already freed herself. I tried to follow suit, but the weird belt mechanism was easier to close than to open. So, my lovely wife helped me disentangle myself, with nary a mocking glance. Alas, if knew her at all I would pay my debt to her graciousness later, when I least expected it. And they called me vicious. Other Mother was watching us with a tiny smile

“Not one for flying much?”

Unlike my wife, I had no interest in the latest Automata inventions. I preferred pure old magic, thank you very much. Especially some thousands of yards above ground level.

“I’d rather drive,” I said, shivering a little

“But darling, you can’t drive.”

“Honey!”

“Or don’t you remember how last time you-”

“Honey!” I said again, full of dignity. I did not whine. “Honey, didn’t you want to ask some questions about the MarkIII?” Bait, launched.

Zaya stopped. Bait, taken!

“Ah, she’s right,” she said and gave a deadly half-bashful, half-pleading look at the Viscountess.

“Arianne, I heard the new models can go up to three hundred knots?”

Now the Viscountess smiled wider. “Ah, a fellow enthusiast. No, that’s the speed with eight passengers. We’re three, so we’re going a bit faster.”

“Wait, so it’s just us?” I’d assumed there was someone to check the route, someone to oversee the integrity of the ship, like on the sea boats I’ve been on. I’d thought there would be someone to make food at least!

“Yes, I only brought those two guards with me. This was a very secret endeavor.”

“Hence why it was so alarming that Yanai knew about you,” I said slowly.

“Indeed.”

“But to be fair, Arianne, you did land on Azura’s territory with a very conspicuous vehicle.”

She shook her head.

“I was cloaked, of course.”

“...which is a war crime,” I said. That was too far! This woman was far too extreme! Why not just use an Auto or send me an old-fashioned carriage if she wanted the dramatics!

“You think the Queen and I wouldn’t think about those type of consequences?” She told me, scolding. “We did. It’s not a war crime in the Solaris Alliance, if we’re not at war. In fact, we are cloaked right now.” I was still not fully convinced. It started to dawn on me even more the seriousness of the situation.

“We did it for your safety, Beatrice,” she added again, perhaps sensing my thoughts.

I was getting tired of that mysterious excuse. Before I could tell the Viscountess exactly where she could put her safety, I was delayed by a sudden revelation. I was so tired from all the drama happening to me that I wasn’t investigating all the drama happening to others!

“Speaking of- Mother!” I said to soften her a little, “Who is this new queen anyway?”

It had the exact opposite effect- she was Madame Stoneface again.

“Elianor of Antara.”

“Like the one Victa executed when she took the throne?” Zaya joined in. She was much more up to date with other countries’ happenings thanks to her family’s business. As for me, I had no particular attachment to Antara, besides all the stories Auntie Sabine used to tell me. That would be about to change, for better or for worse.

“Exactly.”

“Oh?” Revelations!

“One of our dearest friends offered to be in her place. I managed to swap them during the execution. I won’t speak further on the matter.” ...During? This was woman was as daring as she was ruthless.

I chose another topic.

“Where you and the Queen already lovers at this point?”

“Yes. In fact, we were set to be married the next spring.”

I heard Zaya make a sound and I put my hands on my mouth.

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“I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t even imagine going through that with my wife.

The Viscountess looked away for a moment, lost in her memories.

“It doesn’t matter now,” she said finally. “Everything is as it should have been. And I had four wonderful children from my marriage to that usurper’s pawn, which is more that can be said for most people involved.”

So, I had four half-siblings. They couldn’t have been too happy about their father’s arrest and their mother’s newfound bastard child. Who defrauded the eldest of the Artoi inheritance. Yes, yes, the golden eyes thing- I had no doubt that Queen Victa would have found a way out of that pesky tradition, sooner or later. Well, too late to back down now. I would see for myself when I met them.

“But enough about that, now. Come, let me show you around.”

She brought us to the bow of the ship, in front of the helm. It was made of clear Crystallite.

“This is the fulcrum of the ship’s protection magic – protection against the wind, against pressure and against the elements. In addition, it’s a very good sightseeing point.”

It was indeed a magnificent sight.

I saw peaks of white rock popping out of big swathes of green, I saw tiny iridescent lights scattered here and there – some lost hamlets’ wards.

I didn’t even feel faint, feeling the solid support beneath my feet.

“The...Arxai mountains? Already?” I was a bit breathless. The view from up there was truly fascinating.

“Indeed.” I could feel the smile in her voice. “We’ll be at sea in the next half an hour.”

Amazing.

She let us look for another moment, then she led us to the door and then, on the lower deck. We were in the tiny corridor, all bronze walls and red carpet and mysterious closed doors.

“These are all the rooms for the passengers.” Individual rooms and not bunk beds? This was truly a luxury ship.

“Then the last one at your right is the motors’ room and at your left there’s the kitchen. We mostly have provisions Azura’s given us, but it can hold up to a month’s worth. Yes, Zaya?”

“May we see the motors’ room? Please.”

“Of course.” Again, a wide smile. I was glad to see they were getting on so well. Most nobles wouldn’t have accepted somebody with a commoner father as a spouse for their children. Even if they were richer than few others. Even if the hypothetical nobles were full of debts. Like most were. I resolved to ask the Viscountess about her- our family’s finances eventually and to mentally prepare myself for the possible answer.

The motors’ room didn’t have any actual motors, of course. Nothing like on a steam train or vapourboat. It had three big Crystallite spheres- two at the opposite ends of the room and one in the center, bigger than the other two. Like our planet, orbited by her two moons. It was also extremely loud in here. The humming of the magic was reverberating through my bones and making it hard to think.

“May we get a closer look!” Zaya asked. She must have been shouting but I barely heard anything.

“If you know what you’re doing!”

“Of course!”

We had to use the maintenance path to get closer. The path was a meandering line made with chalk, going from between the spheres to circle around the big one in the center. This path marked the dead zones of the magic, in which the interactions between all the thaumaturgical motors cancelled each other out and it was safe to walk. So, I made very sure my feet stepped precisely where they had to.

When we got there, Zaya blanched.

“This is wrong! The spell is wrong!”

“What!”

“Something was scratched off!”

“We’ll land the ship!”

“No!”

“Let’s get out and talk properly!” I shouted as well.

We rushed back, carefully. Once the door was closed and that awful noise disappeared, I could finally hear myself think.

“Explain,” demanded the Viscountess. She was all military business again. Which I did not blame her for, given the circumstances.

“Somebody sabotaged the motors-”

“Clearly.”

“Yes, but they didn’t make them not work. Checking them before landing is the procedure everywhere, right? They must have known you’d notice.”

“They wanted us to land.” I said, realizing. “Which means it won’t end well if we do.”

“Yes. It was well planned. It was a small modification, I only noticed the full consequences because well, this is my specialty.”

“The modification being?”

“A small delay in the positive feedback loop.” Zaya bit her lip. “Yes, we’d be able to descend. But then we’d accelerate. And we’d never stop.” Fucking hells. This day was just full of surprises. Was it only this morning that we’d returned from our honeymoon?

“Landing somewhere is still the safest thing to do, preferably on water.” Other Mother decreed. “We don’t like the power to do so, we lack the control. At least for the time of the delay. Beatrice.”

“Yes.” I resisted the urge to stand straighter and salute.

“I’ve received all your university reports over the years. I know what you’re capable of and I know you’ll be able to do this.”

I’m not proud to say that I opened my mouth once. Twice. To be honest, I didn’t know what to tackle first.

“Be able to control the spell?” I hazarded to say.

She smirked.

“Exactly. I need you to hold the spell together while I begin our descent. It shouldn’t be a problem for the ‘greatest mind for spell-weaving this profession has seen’.”

I was blushing. Trust me, I was not the modest type. But parental approval always left a mark, I’d guess.

“Wait,” I blurted, as an urgent thought crossed my mind. “Can this airship work as a ship?”

She stared at me. She didn’t blink once.

“Yes, daughter. This ship can, in fact, work as a ship.”

Well, better safe than sorry! There are no stupid questions in a life-or-death situation!

“Now. I’m going up. As soon as you see us moving, I want you to take over. Zaya, stay with her.”

This time I saluted.

“…you’re doing it wrong. Here.” She adjusted my hand on my temple.

“I’m a pacifist,” I said with all the dignity I could muster. She sighed.

“I trust you two. See you later.”

She went up the stairs.

“I’m a pacifist,” Zaya repeated mockingly.

“Honey!”

After my dose of marital mocking, we went through the motors’ room.

When we got the big sphere, things started moving. Just in time.

“Put your hand on the motor!” Zaya told me.

I did.

I could feel all the ship. Its impossible weight, straining against gravity. The sheer force of the wards, cutting though the winds at this height and the resistance at this speed. I could feel all the magic, so strong as it tried to rip everything apart. Ripping me apart. I resisted. I imagined a closed fist over the airship, keeping everything together. The magic was pushing me from within, trying to make me open my hand. I resisted. I squeezed harder. I resi-

I felt hands tearing me away.

“It’s over! Good job!”

I fell to my knees.