Dozens of massive tents occupied the former Heritage Militia camp. As Felix approached the festival in his own airplane, he saw four airships strung together in a line, with hundreds of workers building wooden scaffolds to connect them together. Other mechanical wonders were in various states of construction within the tents. It was midday, and the shadow of his airplane raced across the frosty treetops below. He lined up for an unremarkable landing at the airfield that skirted the camp, and after the tail dropped and his craft rolled to a stop at the far end, the soldiers, and even the officers saluted him. Felix reasoned that they either recognized his piloting style, or they could feel the effects of Astrid's blessing on his draconic sorcery.

An Air Sergeant opened his canopy and offered an arm. "General Felix, welcome to the festival. The Lord Paladin is waiting for you."

The Lord Paladin was indeed waiting for him in a pavilion set up for the highest-ranking officers. Fancy rugs had been laid out over a white tarp floor, and cushioned armchairs were placed around ebony tables. Even in the early hour the bald man was sipping from a crystal glass of wine.

"Excellent," the Lord Paladin said as he stood. "Come, there is something very interesting that you should see."

White-clad airmen and officers saluted the Lord Paladin and General Felix as they made their way through the dirt paths to a wooden tower near the edge of the forest. Soldiers at the base of the tower started shouting as they approached, followed by a flurry of activity. Onlookers were pushed away, opening a clearing around the base of the tower. Felix and the Lord Paladin stood at the edge of the clearing, just behind a wind mage wearing the distinctive teal hood of his order.

A man wearing a leather harness and an oversized pack began to ascend the tower ladder, followed by another wind mage. The man with the giant backpack climbed to the very top of the tower, but the wind mage stopped at a narrow lip protruding from the near face, about one man's height below the very top. Felix could feel both wind mages connect to the Realm of Wind and begin blowing wind upward toward the tower's apex.

After a short running start, the soldier bravely leapt from the top of the tower. Felix felt sudden panic for the poor man. He released a bundle of white cloth from his hand, which caught the wind and inflated. The bubble-like piece of cloth yanked a cable out of the man's backpack, pulling a much larger bundle of cloth, which instantly inflated with a loud poof. More cables pulled hard on the soldier's leather harness, arresting his descent toward the ground. His landing looked rough, but the brave soldier was certainly alive, and in fact, he appeared to be uninjured.

The soldiers gathered around the tower began to clap, and Felix joined them.

"Who made this?" Felix asked.

"An industrialist named Isibeal," the Lord Paladin replied. "Lady Isibeal. There she is, walking toward the soldier."

The industrialist was a middle-aged woman with hair so red and bright that it illuminated the white uniforms of the soldiers with pink light. Her face betrayed fear when she saw Felix, but she quickly recovered. Her lips twisted into a false smile. "Paladin Felix," she said with a slight bow, "thank you for inviting me to this festival."

"What is it called?" Felix asked.

"I am calling it a parachute," she replied. "I believe it has the potential to save many lives."

"Lord Paladin, this is a remarkable development. Imagine a large airplane, perhaps with an engine on each wing and a huge door on the side. Dozens of soldiers could jump from the side with these parachutes and descend onto the enemy from behind. It could turn the tide of a battle on the ground, or it could be used to poison wells or burn supplies."

The Lord Paladin nodded. "I also thought of these scenarios," he said. "Though I would not have imagined an airplane with an engine mounted on each wing."

"Gentlemen, this innovation is intended to save lives, not help your murderous conquest of the south. And speaking of murder, Paladin Felix, I hope you don't intend to murder me in my own home, as you did with Owen Siofra."

"In my defense, Count Owen had a High Daughter and he tried to use the Elemental to murder me first."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lady Isibeal said, "Elementals are not real."

With a golden flash the Light Elemental appeared beside Felix. The woman froze in shock, eyes fixed on the winged Elemental.

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"I want every single pilot in the Air Force equipped with one of these parachutes, Lady Isibeal. Airmen will be sent to your factories to supervise production. I also want a surplus to train parachute troopers."

Without waiting for a reply, Felix turned and marched off. The Lord Paladin followed, and Felix slowed his stride to allow the man to catch up.

"What other innovations have been brought to the festival?" Felix asked.

"The other Generals were very interested in a new type of flying machine," the Lord Paladin said. He gestured to the south.

The "flying machine" in question looked nothing of the sort. It looked more like a giant bicycle without wheels, and a vertical boom topped with an oversized propeller. The propeller, oriented horizontally above the craft, was so large that Felix was uncertain it would even spin. A series of chains connected the engine in the middle, behind the pilot, to a much smaller propeller situated at the end of a long boom, oriented sideways.

In spite of the protests of the engineers and the maintenance crew, the pilot insisted on demonstrating the craft for Felix and the Lord Paladin. The pilot connected to three Realms, and created a locus of draconic sorcery behind him, within the center of the craft. The long vertical shaft began to spin, slowly accelerating the propeller into a whirring disk. The chains also began to spin the propeller on the rear boom. Loud and louder, trembling, the craft began to float vertically, very slowly. It was about twenty feet up when the chains snapped and it began to spin wildly, collapsing toward the ground.

Soldiers fled. Felix watched. One final surge of sorcery caused the craft to decelerate a fraction of a second before impacting the ground. One of the skids caught the dirt and the craft wobbled and rocked a few times before settling down. The sorcery vanished and the oversized propeller began to slow. The pilot began a heated argument with the engineers who rushed to free him from the craft.

"I do not find this innovation to be quite as impressive," Felix said.

"That is where you are wrong," the Lord Paladin said. "In the future, I see such craft being used by the other six armies to carry troops and supplies to camps where your Air Force does not have room to land."

Felix wanted to say, "we should kill the project," but the words would not leave his lips. The Light Elemental was preventing him from speaking the lie. It was a deeply selfish thought, and after a few moments of reflection Felix corrected himself. The soldiers in the other armies also wanted to survive and fight for their homeland. Large numbers of soldiers could be transported through the skies even without parachutes. It was a worthy flying machine.

"Why are there airships here?" Felix asked.

"The most promising of the innovations by far," the Lord Paladin replied.

The four airships were aligned perpendicular to the runway, with forest on one side and tents on the opposite. Geomancers were busy constructing metal struts and gantries between the craft. Carpenters were installing a flat deck made of wood, starting from the rear of the formation.

"Four airships to support a flying platform," Felix said. "A flying platform where aircraft can land and park. At full power, the airships will have their own airspeed. Shorter distance to land. Remarkable."

The Lord Paladin smiled. "And what are the downsides?"

What would Shane say? Felix wondered. That man was better at these sorts of contemplations. Felix was, unfortunately, unfamiliar with the specific downsides of airships. However, such a large craft, even powered by four steam engines, would be susceptible to fierce winds and extreme cold. The vision of his own airplane, coated in a thick layer of caked frost, falling derelict through Brigid's magic, filled his mind for an instant.

"Ice and wind," Felix finally said. "The crew will need to be small, to prevent losses to bad weather. However this contradicts the need for specialists. Few missions would warrant such a craft."

The Lord Paladin parsed this statement for a few moments, before he said: "Too few words, Felix. But you captured the essence of the problem. It would take a very important mission to deploy. However, I believe that we find ourselves in the exact scenario right now."

"The southern desert is frozen," Felix protested. "It would be impossible to fly airships through the freezing fog."

"The ocean is still warm from the summer," the Lord Paladin said. "The air above the ocean will still be warm. With a flying aircraft carrier, we could bring a few squadrons to the south to cripple critical infrastructure. This would grant us the advantage when we invade the south in the spring."

"Yes," Felix said. "I approve of the plan, but there needs to be contingencies. The weather may change."

"You want to go yourself," the Lord Paladin observed.

"Commander, I have the most experience out of anyone in the Air Force. If the weather changes, I can make the decision to turn back."

"We have not even seen the thing fly yet."

"It will fly," Felix asserted. Then he wondered, should I warn Shane?

"Deep in the future, aircraft carriers will be able to topple entire nations," the Lord Paladin said. "We will structure our entire military strategy around them. We need to think about the future, beyond this war with the savages in the south. If we were to simply make peace with them, and open the border to immigrant workers again, we could make use of most of their male population to assist with the construction of such craft."

The Lord Paladin looked to Felix, scowling.

"The Purple Dragon understood this fact," the Lord Paladin said. "Felix, I command you to answer truthfully. Where is Shane the Doomsayer?"

"In the south," Felix said.

"Then we can only assume that peace is not an option. As your commanding officer, I order you to attack the south with this aircraft carrier. Shane the Doomsayer is to have absolutely no knowledge of this attack. Do you understand?"

Felix nodded. "Yes commander."