Yirath was a big city. Not as big as Eburah but easily as big as Farna. The city spread out on either side of the river, with bustling markets and busy streets. I couldn’t help rubbernecking a bit, it was all so exotic and, well… just like a jrpg come to life.
“Ugh, I can’t believe your hair dye is fading again.” Soriya fussed as we finished our entry procedures and passed through the entrance gate.
I blinked. “What, really? I thought you made this last batch extra strong?”
“I did!” she exclaimed. “Your hair just… refuses to stay dyed!”
I tapped my lips, frowning. “This is the 3rd time you’ve had to do this, and the dye is less effective each time.” I turned to her, a worried frown on my face. “You don’t think…?”
Soriya grumbled. “I do think.” She sighed. “The world doesn’t like your hair being anything but bright pink. If we force it…” she shrugged. “Well, you know what happens when we Break things.”
I scowled. “This world sucks sometimes.”
Eshaan spoke up. “I don’t understand, you’re saying her hair won’t stay black because… the world won’t let it? Why would the world want Lily’s hair to be pink?”
I snapped “The same reason you showed up right when we were about to enter the cave of trials. The same reason our village almost got wiped out.”
Soriya shook her head. “It must be something similar, but not quite the same. It did let us dye your hair, at least for short periods of time.”
“It let us save the village too, but we don’t need to keep saving it!”
“No, that’s true. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening, I’ll have to study it.”
Eshaan turned and held out his hand. “Hold on, I have an idea.”
I blinked in surprise as he dashed off into the busy stalls and market square, then turned to Soriya. “Eshaan… has an idea?”
Soriya smiled and shook her head again. “I don’t know. Sometimes they’re genius, sometimes they’re sad. We’ll see which one this is.”
Shortly, Eshaan returned, waving a brightly colored scrap of cloth in his hand. “Here!” He brandished it triumphantly before me. “See? Bandanna!”
We looked at him blankly. “Bandanna?”
“For your head! It covers your hair!” He raised his hands, then stopped. “Um… may I put this on you?”
I swallowed, and fidgeted.
“Oh! It’s a head kerchief! Yes, that’s… actually a good idea!” Soria looked at me then burst into giggles at my expression. “Oh, let him do it, Lily. You won’t catch cooties from him!” She giggled.
I glared at her, then turned to Eshaan and nodded. “Yes, ok.” I grumbled.
He smiled and slipped the cloth over my head, tying it neatly into head scarf, tying it together behind my neck under my hair. He tucked loose strands under the cloth, then let the cloth fold over the back of my head. His hands were very gentle, and otherme gave a quiet little swoon.
When he was finished, he stepped back and smiled. “There! Now your hair is less obvious!”
I fussed with a strand of hair that had come loose, looking at the fading black dye from the corner of my eye. “I don’t think this is going to work…” I said doubtfully.
“Trust me, it’ll be fine!” He said. “The colors of the bandanna will disguise it! Besides, it looks really pretty on you.”
Soriya shrugged. “It’s better than a blazing pink beacon? It’s a good stopgap, until I figure something else out.”
I sighed, and tucked the strands of loose hair back under the bandanna. “Alright. Let’s try it. Keep an eye out for roving kidnappers, I guess.”
Eshaan patted my arm. “Don’t worry Lily, we’ll rescue you.”
I gave him a flat stare. “The point, Eshaan. Is that I do not wish to be kidnapped in the first place.” I ground out through gritted teeth.
He looked abashed and nodded. “Well yes, of course you don’t. I didn’t mean-”
“Oh leave off the poor boy.” Soriya said. “Can’t you see he’s trying to help? Besides, you came and rescued me when I was kidnapped. And then we came to rescue you. So if anything, it would be Eshaan’s turn to be kidnapped and then we can rescue him!”
Eshaan’s eyes got wide, and he looked at me. “Is that true? Am I going to get kidnapped?!”
I rolled my eyes, and stalked off into the crowd, letting the other two follow me.
Behind me, I heard Eshaan asking Soriya worriedly “Am I really going to get kidnapped?!”
“Don’t worry! That never happens. Well almost never. Hardly ever, really!” Soriya said lightly.
Eshaan said “Lady Soriya, I am very much not reassured…” in a troubled tone.
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Even without looking, I knew she had to be flipping her hand dismissively. “Trust a witch!”
Eshaan was silent, but I could feel his doubt.
I twisted in indecision for a bit, then finally huffed an angry sigh and said over my shoulder “It’s almost unheard of, but not completely impossible. I don’t suppose you’re the product of some secret military training experiment or imbued with some super-secret ancient artifact?”
Eshaan stared at me, then said “No…? I don’t think so. I think I would know about that?” in a very doubtful tone.
“Well then, there you go. You won’t be kidnapped. And if you were, Soriya and I would come rescue you. So it’s just fine.”
“I’m… still not entirely reassured, Lily…”
I stopped and turned to him. “Then now you know how I feel about a casual reassurance that you’ll come rescue me. So it’s better if we avoid a kidnap scenario entirely, yes?”
He nodded rapidly. “Yes!”
“So what’s our actual plan here, besides avoiding kidnapping?” Soriya asked.
“Oh. Um.” I stopped again, then said “Well, we need to get to Spyre. I guess we spend the night, replenish supplies, and keep walking.”
Eshaan frowned. “It’s 9 days by foot, isn’t the competition in 5?”
We stared at each other, then Soriya cursed quietly. “Shit. It is.”
“We need to get there faster then!”
“But the airship’s not ready yet, and there’s no way we can afford a ticket on a commercial liner!”
“Commercial… are you talking about an airship?” Eshaan blinked. “For hire?!”
I stared at him. “Isn’t that a thing?”
“No.” he said bluntly. “I mean, we might pay for passage on an air freighter, but it would cost… I don’t even know! A lot!”
I blinked. “Oh. Wait, there are air pirates! How do they get a ship if you can’t have private ships?”
Eshaan looked at me with an expression that I’d never seen before. He said very gently “Lily… they steal it. Usually by pretending to be the crew, and then taking over.”
I could feel the heat of my blush turn my cheeks red. That was obvious now that he’d said it…
“Oh. Well. How do people get places fast then?”
He shrugged. “The usual ways. Horse, caravan, boat…” he smiled mischievously at me. “Teleporting by ancient magics?”
I huffed angrily at him. “Yeah, that one’s right out, until I can get a save spot at Spyre.”
He smiled. “I know, I know, I was just-“
“Yes. Making a joke.” I sighed then smiled against my will at his earnest expression. “It wasn’t a bad joke.”
Soriya laughed. “Yes it was!”
I glared at her. “Not helping.” I said flatly.
“Well then, let me help. We shall take passage on the riverboat!” She gestured grandly, and I followed her sweeping gesture to see that we’d reached a broad intersection, one of the streets leading downwards to the river and it’s teeming wharfs. I was about to comment that a sailboat was hardly going to be rapid transit, when one of the ships flickered with a blue green glow, and started moving upriver without any sails at all.
I immediately felt stupid. “Oh. Technomagic. Of course.”
“This near Spyre, the empire’s technology has made real improvements for everyone!” Eshaan said enthusiastically.
“Is that so…” I said thoughtfully, looking at the riverboats.
“So, are we going to buy a ticket then?” Soriya asked.
“I suppose so. Eshaan, can we afford a riverboat ticket? Will they get us where we’re going fast enough?”
“Uhm… well, I don’t know, and I’m not sure. So…” he shrugged helplessly.
I sighed. “I see. Well.” I turned and started walking. “Let’s go find out.”
The answers turned out to be ‘no, and ‘not without a lot of money.’ Several hours later, Eshaan, Soriya and I were sitting on the river walk wall hunched over and discussing our complete failure to find an affordable fare. We’d found several, in point of fact, but they were going upriver much slower than we needed. It seemed regular sails and sailboats hadn’t completely lost out to the fancy new imperial technomagic. A coach would get us there faster than walking, but still wouldn’t get us there in time, and we certainly couldn’t afford horses of our own! I chewed on my lower lip in frustration.
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“There’s got to be a way to get there in time!” I burst out.
“Lily, I admire your optimism, but why are you so sure about this?” Eshaan looked at me puzzlement.
“Well it just has to be!” I waved my arms. “There’s always a way around every obstacle, always a way through every challenge! All you have to do is find it! The story always has a path forward, and I refuse to believe there isn’t a path forward here too! All we have to do is find it!”
Soriya frowned. “I’m not entirely sure that we can rely on our knowledge of the games here to guide us?”
“But don’t you see?! It’s true in the real world too, there’s always a way forward, you just need to change your point of view, look at the problem differently…”
I trailed off, seeing one of the vast cargo airships slowly lifting into the sky from the docks and chugging westward.
“Like pirates!” I pointed at the airship. “That’s how we’ll do it! We’ll work as crew on the airship!”
Eshaan looked at me in horror. “Lily! You’re not thinking of actually stealing a ship are you?!”
“No, no…. no.” I said.
“Maybe.” said Soriya.
I swung around to glare at her. “No! I really mean it! Darshanna’s playacting is cute and all, but I draw the line at actual for real air piracy!”
Soriya smiled mischievously, a twinkle in her eye. “What if they’re really bad people?” She tapped her lips in pretend thought.
“Well that….” I stopped and put my hands on my hips, glaring at her. “No! We’re not going to steal an airship! We have one being custom made for us!”
“Oh how hard can it be, push a few buttons, haul some ropes, this is our shot! Come on!” Soriya started off towards where the airship had taken off from as Eshaan and I trailed after her.
“Soriya, I am serious! No! We are just three people!” I said to her.
Soriya raised an eyebrow. “Lily, I don’t think you realize just how cool we are. Those thugs were… probably a big deal locally. You sank an airship.”
“On accident!!” I stared at her in horror. “And it killed a lot of people!”
“Actually, she didn’t sink it at all.” Eshaan pointed out quietly.
“That is not the point!” I shouted angrily. I stopped, breathing heavily.
Soriya stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. “It’s ok. Breathe. I didn’t think you’d take it this seriously. I don’t plan to actually take over an airship.”
I swallowed and nodded, taking a few calming breaths. “Ok. Ok, good.” I swallowed again, and then looked towards the airship docks. “This really does sound like our best shot though. The plot demands it, right?” I asked, hating how reedy my voice sounded.
Soriya shrugged. “I don’t know, Lily. We’re kind of off the rails, you know? Just like everyone else in the world.”
I looked down at my boots for a moment, thinking, then looked up into her eyes and nodded. “Right. Sorry. You’re right, let’s keep doing our best.”
She smiled and nodded, her usual energy returning. Pumping a fist in the air, she shouted “Onward! For glory and adventure!”
To my dismay, Eshaan echoed her cry with enthusiasm. “For glory and adventure!”
I groaned quietly.
The air docks were surprisingly close to the waterfront, though if I thought about it, it made plenty of sense. This was already where the warehouses and cargo shipping occurred, so it made sense to build the air docks nearby. The military section of the docks was heavily guarded, but it was much easier to navigate the civilian side. I couldn’t help but notice the military air docks were considerably larger than the civilian side, showing of recent construction.
After some polite questions, we were pointed towards the two major mercantile companies, Ghalagher Shipping and Caitbre Exports. Mentally flipping a coin (and judging which company was closer) we headed towards Ghalagher Shipping first.
The office was busy, as you might expect. A long low building that smelled of exotic scents and far away lands, with people and loaded wagons constantly rushing back and forth, loading and unloading. We carefully steered our way through the crowd with only a few near misses, before arriving at what looked like a very normal (if smaller than I expected) office and reception area.
A frazzled receptionist looked up at us over huge round glasses. “Can I help you?” she said, clearly beyond distracted.
Eshaan took the lead before I could say anything. “We are here to work, we’re looking to crew passage to Spyre.”
She sighed and shuffled some paperwork. “How much experience do you have?” She said.
“None!” Eshaan answered proudly.
Soriya rolled her eyes and gave me a sidelong glance. I shrugged sheepishly. It was true, at least.
The receptionist stopped and put down the papers. “None.” The look she gave us could freeze boiling water. “I have 12 inventory assignments overdue, 3 mission freight shipments, 5 cargo routes to plan and you are WASTING MY TIME!” she rose from her seat with each word until she was shouting into Eshaan’s face. She sank back into her chair and gave a heavy sigh, then looked back up at us, pushing her glasses up onto her nose.
“I’m sorry, the Ghalagher Shipping company does not have an opening for you at this time, good day.”
We looked at each other awkwardly. Eshaan opened his mouth to say something, and I hurriedly grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him away.
“Thankyouforyourtimegoodbye!” I said hurriedly as I pulled him out the door.
I could have sworn the door slammed closed more forcefully than it had any right too.
We stood staring at each other for a moment. “Well. That was a bust.” Soriya shrugged cheerfully.
“How are you taking this so calmly!” I said to her. “This is your presentation, your shot!”
She smiled broadly. “Lily, this is an adventure! Even if I don’t get to make a presentation at the Royal academy, the presentation was only ever to get us access to study the artifact! We’ll figure something out, it’s what we do!”
There was a polite cough from behind us, and we all jumped.
“Excuse me… did I hear you correctly? Are you adventurers?” A very mild looking teenage boy stood behind us, wringing his hands earnestly.
Actually, he’s fairly cute. Otherme piped up.
I thought you were hot for Eshaan? I asked snidely.
There’s no harm in enjoying the scenery. She sing-songed back to me. Besides… look at him. Really look.
I did. His clothes were very well tailored to him, made of good quality material and well cut. His face was clean and earnest, though with a few teenage pimples, and he was in very good health. His hands were clean, and far too soft to be a swordsman, but they had the callouses of a lutist.
He’s a rich kid. A kid bard?
“Well… we’re not exactly guild licensed.” Eshaan ventured. “We are on an adventure though.” He grinned. “I suppose you could say we’re unofficially adventurers? Did you have a request you wanted handed?”
The boy nodded rapidly. “Yes! I did! My name is…” he paused, rather too long, and then said “Allen. Galgos.”
I raised an eyebrow, looking at Soriya.
“Well Allen, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Eshaan took the boys hand and shook it. “I’m Eshaan, this is the lady Lilyanna, and the dark witch Soriya.”
I could see from Soriya’s smile and slight widening of her eyes she was pleased with Eshaan’s introduction. I smiled and gave a slight curtsey to ‘Allen’.
“Ah… ‘Allen’.” I said carefully. “We don’t mind a false name-”
He almost jerked out of his skin in startlement, and I hurriedly raised a hand to forestall him. “We deal with them a lot; your business is your business. But I did want you to know. We’re not… we don’t do…” I stalled awkwardly.
Soriya spoke up “If you want shady business, we don’t do assassination, thug work, kidnapping or extortion. Outside of that… we’re listening.”
Allen’s eyes got huge as Soriya casually listed off the crimes. “No no no! It’s nothing like that! Crystal Dragon’s tail, no!”
“Good.” She smiled in a friendly kind of evil way. “So. Is there a place we can talk that won’t cause a problem?”
Allen looked around nervously, then said “I can’t talk long, I’ll be missed soon, and Indira will have my head if I don’t help her organize those shipping manifests. But there’s a café on the Auran Boulevard, just north of the fountain. The Silver Scales. We can talk there. I should be able to slip free in a few hours?”
I glanced at my friends and caught their interest and agreement. I nodded at him. It was certainly an intriguing little diversion, and he looked so incredibly earnest. I had to admit, my curiosity was tingling.
“We’ll be there.” Soriya agreed.
“Yes!” Eshaan agreed.
“In a few hours then! Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me!” Allen gabbled, and then dashed past us, into the main warehouse shouting for someone.
We stared after him for a bit, then looked at each other again.
Soriya grinned at me. “I thought we weren’t doing any side quests?”
I squirmed uncomfortably under her knowing look. “We’re just going to listen. And it’s not like our plan to get hired here went anywhere.”
“And he’s sweeter than one of your festival cupcakes.” Soriya grinned as she sank the barb in.
I refused to dignify that with an answer, and headed out the door, ruthlessly not paying attention to her wicked smirk.
We headed towards the center of town, asking directions as we went. The fountain in question that Allen had alluded to turned out to be an ornate and extremely elaborate confection of white stone and relief carvings, while Auran Avenue was lined with shops that clearly catered to the rich and powerful of Yirath.
Soriya’s smile only grew as we looked about ourselves. Even Eshaan was rubbernecking at the posh surroundings. I tugged nervously at my peasant’s dress, feeling increasingly out of place and awkward.
“Relax, we’re adventurers!” Soriya said confidently. “We do stuff like this all the time!”
Eshaan raised an eyebrow. “We do?” He laughed. “I admit, this is not how I saw my life going after I met you, but you two ladies have yet to disappoint!”
I squirmed uncomfortably, taking refuge in my knowledge of JRPGs. “Right so, what do we know? That boy is clearly some nobleman’s son. I’m not all that keen on getting pulled into political intrigues of the rich and powerful.”
Eshaan blinked in surprise. “Boy? He can’t be much younger than… oh. Oh right, you’re… not just 17, you’re… say how old are you?!”
Soriya gave him a look, and he wilted instantly.
“Oh, right. You’re… not supposed to ask a lady their age.”
I coughed, blushing. “I told you I’m 17, Eshaan. So is Soriya. But that’s not really even the point. We do have more life experience, but for all the knowledge I have of this world, I’m still just a 17-year-old girl from a backwater village. You’ve seen more of the world than I have. This city, the trip we’re on, the magitech steamboats and airships… it’s all new to me. Let’s… just leave it at that, alright?”
Eshaan nodded seriously. “Of course. I’m sorry.” He rubbed at the back of his head nervously. “I just… say things, sometimes, you know?”
I sighed. “Forget it. We all say things sometimes. Let’s just look for the Silver Scales.”
A short exploration in the street found it. As expected, an extremely upscale tavern, with a picture of silver scales inlaid on a signboard hanging off a building’s side. The smells coming from inside made my stomach growl loudly. I rubbed my stomach with embarrassment. “Do we have enough money to afford…” I stopped and looked inside. My heart sank. “Um. Anything at all in this place?”
Soriya pulled out her purse and counted quickly. “Probably not much more than a few breadsticks. What about you, Eshaan?”
Eshaan rummaged in his purse, then shook his head. “We haven’t sold off any of our monster hunting yet, I’ve only got around 20 zeni.”
“Right. Well. I guess we wait for Allen then.” I looked around for a place to sit, and finally settled down on one of the nearby benches. I sighed, plucking at my dress. “I never realized how useful self-cleaning fabrics are.”
“We’re in a big city. We’ve got some stuff to sell, we can afford laundry, maybe even a new dress for you.” Soriya said.
I frowned. “Soriya, we’ve been over this. I can’t get a new set of sages robes-”
“I’m not talking about adventurer’s robes silly girl. Just a new dress! Surely, they must have normal clothes here!”
Hm… both halves of me were very interested in new clothes… for different reasons, but…
I nodded. “Well… that does sound nice. I guess it can’t hurt.”
We sat outside on the street bench, waiting. The shadows were getting long and the restaurant staff and patrons were starting to give us the meaningful stink eye, but just before they were about to call the guard to remove our peasant selves, Allen showed up, panting slightly and out of breath.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m so late!” He wheezed, his hands on his knees as he wheezed to catch his breath.
Eshaan stood up and patted Allen on the back. “Easy there, take your time and get your breath back.”
Allen nodded gratefully, and panted for a bit, before slowly straightening up. “You’re still here!” He smiled at us, almost pathetically grateful. “I was so worried you’d already left town!” I saw a glint of a very sharp mind in his eyes when he followed up with “So you do need airship transport out of town then!”
Eshaan gaped at him, while Soriya suddenly eyed Allen with wary respect.
“What… makes you say that?” She asked.
“You’re still here!” He gestured to our little group. “You came to our offices to ask for working passage, you’re willing to listen to somebody you’ve just met…” he gestured again. “It’s obvious?”
I smiled. “So it is.” I lifted an eyebrow and gestured to the Silver Scales. “So, if you’re going to pitch something slightly… grey scale to us, how about you feed us?”
He appraised me thoughtfully, then nodded. “Alright, that’s fair. In return, you have to listen to my whole proposal before you say yes or no.”
I looked him over slowly, liking what I saw. His eyes radiated determination and sincerity, so like Eshaan. Perhaps a touch of naivety that appealed strongly to both of me.
“Alright, it’s a fair deal. We’ll listen.” I said.
We headed into the tavern to considerable surprise and consternation from the patrons and staff. I had to suppress a slightly vicious feeling of vindication in me seeing that as we were ushered to a table and seated.
Menus were passed out, and our waiter discreetly vanished, leaving us alone in the quiet corner.
I glanced over the menu, then set it down and looked Allen in the eyes waiting expectantly.
He looked away, then put down the menu and met my gaze. Taking a deep breath he announced “I want you to help me and my fiancé elope without our families catching us.”