Sunlight was filtering through the window for the first time in days when Keizeron awoke, but despite the warmth it brought the captain felt a chill down his spine. He sat up and stretched it out, Duchess mewing at him before jumping from his bed to the desk. There was something new settled there, a quartz prism glinting in the light and casting a rainbow over his bed. His familiar pawed at the pyramid, trying to get at a scrap of paper that was under it.

  Keizeron got to his feet, rubbing the exhaustion from his eyes as he got dressed. Once he pulled his jacket on he approached the desk, investigating the note that had intrigued his familiar so much. It was written on a fine paper, with three words hastily scrawled on it. ‘Good Luck Captain.’ At the bottom of the scrap was Lady Adalaide’s family crest, making it very clear who had sent the note, and what it meant. Keiz stared at it for several moments, before looking up and glancing around the room. For the first time since they set off he suddenly wondered if the ship had been bugged in some way. One of his conditions upon accepting the job was that he was to report the ships progress on a regular basis, but it wasn’t unheard of for a patron to have the ship on a closer watch than the captain knew. He would need to check later to make sure there were no hidden scrying spells, but for now the note was the solution to one of his problems.

  After Sola had gone to bed Keizeron had stayed at the helm the rest of the night, until the lights of Leuson port had come into view sometime early in the morning. Keiz had gotten clearance to dock, and had done the entire routine by himself before heading straight to bed without waking anyone else. The Leuson port was small, but well guarded against the wilderness that surrounded it and he trusted the dock workers. At least, he trusted them enough to let everyone get a few hours of sleep before the crew decided their fate.

  Keizeron tucked the note into his top pocket and left his cabin to the main deck. Having been stuck in that storm system for so long Keiz was startled by the clear blue skies above him. He barely had time to appreciate the weather before he noticed Sola and Zero across the deck, leaning over the railing and looking down at the small city below them. They had been talking, but when Keiz came out the pair quieted down and looked up at him.

  “You did not wake anyone last night,” Zero said in an accusatory tone. “Everyone was asleep when I awoke this morning, and Sola said you were the last one on the helm captain.”

  “We’re safe at this dock,” Keizeron replied, a bit defensively. He knew that his position as captain would be under question if they became pirates, he just didn’t think it would be this soon.

  “It’s not that, you didn’t get any sleep last night did you? Manning the helm this whole way?” Sola said, crossing his arms.

  “You told me that all things need to rest,” Zero added with a nod.

  Keizeron looked at the pair with confusion. It wasn’t that they were calling his decision making into question, they were simply concerned about his well being. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened, and he suddenly felt more relaxed with their questioning. Keiz managed a small amused smile before he added, “I’ll catch up on my sleep later. Where is the rest of the crew?”

  “Mea was finishing up with breakfast, and the others were waiting for you to eat,” Sola replied curtly. It was clear from his tone he wasn’t placated by Keizeron’s reply, but he would rather get to breakfast than continue to argue.

  The three of them made their way below deck, Sola and Zero following behind Keiz as if they were his escorts. It was rather amusing, even if they were standing behind him because they were annoyed with their captain. Aka and Willow were waiting patiently for them, and once everyone was present Mea came in. Her arms were loaded with plates, and Mittens was sitting on her shoulder. Her familiar had changed forms into a tiny newt with large frills. Most familiars liked to stay in one form and only changed when they needed to, like how Duchess was almost always a cerade. Mittens must have been the kind that liked to change up his form, or it could be that an aquatic familiar was uncomfortable being in the air for so long. Whatever the case, he clung to Mea as she served breakfast, humming as she set down plates of eggs, toast, sliced cheese and freshly peeled citrus fruits.

  They ate in relative silence, the weight of what had happened the night before taking its toll on all of them. Even Annie Mea seemed distracted as she gave slices of orange to Mittens. Once they had all finished and the dishes were cleared, Aka retried the piece of the rod from their pocket and set it on the table. The beam of light cut through the room in an unwavering path. A question that didn't need to be vocalized to be heard by the captain.

  In response, Keiz pulled the note from his pocket and set it next to the rod. “Lady Adelaide will continue to fund this expedition,” he informed them.

  Willow picked up the note, examining the crest at the bottom. “You already wrote to her?” She asked, incredulous.

  “No, I did not,” silence followed his statement.

  ((“I told you! Adelaide is hella suspicious,” Lucky cried, tapping their fist on the table for emphasis. “I don’t think I need to roll insight on this, Willow so has this woman figured out.”

  “I get where you’re coming from. Truly,” Ren put his hand on her shoulder, “but I am not about to accost the person who is paying us to do whatever dumb shit our hearts desire.”

  “This conversation should happen in character,” Caine cleared his throat, and Lucky sat back sulking.))

  “I want to find the rest of the rod,” Willow said finally, sitting forward. She stuttered for a moment as she tried to articulate her thoughts. “It’s, uh, I,, we- I think this is a clear sign it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I agree,” Zero said, nodding. “I want to keep traveling with this group.”

  “As long as we’re still getting paid I am up for whatever,” Mea shrugged.

  “I’m in,” Sola smiled.

  The crew turned to look at Aka, the only one who hadn’t decided yet. The lamb let out a short sigh and ran their hand through their thick curly hair, brushing some loose strands out of their eyes. Aka stole a glance down at their prize, and didn’t look up at the rest of the group as they spoke, “I want to keep the rod.”

  Maybe it wasn’t the smartest choice, but Aka knew it was the only choice to make. They had spent their whole life trying to be what their parents expected them to be, and it was high time they made a decision for themselves.

  “Okay, so now what?” Sola asked, leaning back over the bench. “Where is the rod even pointing?”

  “I can figure that out pretty easily,” Aka replied. “Captain do you have a map I can draw on?”

  “I do,” Keizeron affirmed. He draw a small rune in the air, and the map that was on the wall behind his desk appeared in his hands with a snap of deep purple magic. He held it over for Aka, who took it and laid it flat on the table.

  They brushed it down, placing empty plates on the edges it keep it held down. Aka looked over it for a moment before locating where Lueson was. The faun unhooked their necklace from around their neck and held it out. It was made of a fine gold with an intricate crest stamped onto the front, and with a small click it revealed itself to be a locket. It opened, and Sola could just make out a tiny compass inside before Aka moved again. It looked like the other side of the pendant had a portrait in it, but it was far too small for Sola to make out properly, especially not with his impaired vision. Aka didn’t seem to notice him staring and was silent as they used the compass to adjust the map. Once the bearings of the paper matched those of the boat they placed the rod on the table over Leuson.

  Aka pulled a pencil and a notebook from their pocket, and set the notebook under the beam of light the rod was producing. Using the books spine as a guide they drew a straight line from Lueson to the edge of the map. It was traveling north west from their current position, cutting over the continent of Regilis, across the eastern most corner of Amon, and finally through the heart of Flolon. Now that the beam was on a flat surface it became apparent the light they were following wasn’t flat either. It went up at a slight incline, implying that even though they were in the air above the city, their next piece was still above them.

  Aka curtly clicked their necklace shut and put it back on. The navigator brushed their notebook and the rod to the side of the table so they could better study the line they had just drawn across the map. The rest of the crew was silent as they muttered a few things to themselves, before taking their pencil and circling a few spots along the path. They included spots on all three continents, but while three of them were spots that were marked as important on the map, two of them looked like they were in the middle of nowhere.

  Finally Aka sat back and addressed the crew, tapping the circles in order from closest to furthest from their current position. "There’s five points of interest on the path we might take. This first one is a mine that's known for producing precious gems that typically become the lev stones most airships use. This next one is a port town known for employing wind birds in their transportation system. It may sound exciting but it's more of a tourist trap than anything else."

  They moved on from the two in Regilis and tapped the circle in Amon, “this is a thieves den masquerading as a port town. We should avoid it if we can, if we were to dock here we’d be robbed of all our valuables before we even disembarked. ((“Wow, they move quick huh?” “Efficient, gotta admire that.”)) The last two are in Flolon, which will be in the midst of their winter right now. The first circle is a training encampment for their air cavalry. The second is the old capital, Soversey, which was abandoned after it was buried by a permanent blizzard.”

  The group groaned when they described the last spot, snapping Aka out of their explanation. “What?”

  “I mean, of course the next piece is going to be lost in the eternal snow storm,” Sola shook his head.

  “I hate the cold,” Mea whined. “I’d rather it be in the thieves den, at least we could have robbed them back or something.”

  “How do you know all this?” Willow asked, looking at all the circles Aka had made. The two towns they had named were marked on the map, and the training camp had a pictograph, but the last two spots weren’t on the map at all. Why would anyone waste ink recording a ruined town buried by snow? And the mining location was probably kept secret given how valuable the resource they gathered there was.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “My family makes maps,” Aka explained, gently brushing their locket. "While I was young I would often travel with my father to these lesser known places so that our maps were more detailed than anyone else's products and always up to date. The older places I would find in various archives when I had time, but-" They paused for a moment, their ears flicking back as if they remembered something unpleasant. "It was just a hobby, I didn't get paid to look at things that weren't relevant anymore."

  They looked bitter about it, which Keizeron could relate to. Valuable information could be it's own reward, but not everyone was interested in looking at the past.

  However the mood had shifted slightly, and Willow coughed uncomfortably. The cleric set a hand on the edge of the map, trying to distract Aka. "Is this one of the ones you made?"

  “This is not one of our maps, thus the lack of descriptions,” Aka sniffed, perhaps a little judgmentally.

  “The map came with the ship, I did not pick it,” Keizeron said. Sure a Lularoon map would have been nice, but they were expensive, and given how they were only hired to do a few deliveries it made sense their patron wouldn’t have sprung for one. Though it would be helpful to have a higher quality map now that their mission had changed, maybe he would look for one in the next town.

  Keizeron looked over the map and regarded the beam of light. He tapped two of the circles Aka had made, “we can go ahead and eliminate the possibility of it being in the mine or the thieves den as you so called it.” He observed.

  Aka looked at their captain with narrowed eyes, and in response he hefted the rod into his hand. It was slight, but the angle was more pronounced now that he was moving the artifact around. “The next piece is above us. It’s not going to be down in a mine, and the continent of Amon as a whole has a lower altitude than we’re at now.”

  He barely noticed as Sola gave a breath of relief at that. Keizeron recalled that Sola had listed Amon as his country of origin on his character sheet. ((“What did you just call it?!” “Oh shit, haha yeah Keizeron wouldn’t call it a character sheet that makes no sense.”)) He recalled that Sola had listed Amon as his country of origin in his official documents. In his experience, most people who had escaped the hostile country weren’t eager to go back. But the captain had the sinking feeling they wouldn't be able to avoid going there forever. Amon was the largest continent in the world, there was no chance they wouldn't need to go there for a piece of the rod eventually.

  “Our best bet is to follow the path Aka indicated and monitor it for any changes. But for right now we should continue to fly under the assumption that the next stop is in Flolon. Any questions?”

  “When do we set out captain?” Sola asked, significantly more cheerful now that it was decided they weren’t going to Amon. ((“I know we'll need to go there eventually, but at least it’s not the first destination. I want to be a way higher level before we go back to the place Sola is from,” Zenith chuckled. “It’s not gonna be nice.”))

  “We’ll leave first light tomorrow. You all have today to hit the town and get any supplies we might need. We’ll make more stops along the way, but we’re going to have to be more careful now that we have the rod aboard the ship. Once the unity officers realize we have the rod it will make things that much harder.” Keiz said, standing up to signify the meeting was over.

  “Oh wait!” Mea snapped her fingers. “Technically, we finished the blessings run! So we get paid right?”

  “I think we've finished the blessing run for every other crew as well,” Aka gave a rare smile as they took the rod back from Keiz.

  “I’ll get the completion bonus for everyone before we head out,” Keizeron said as he packed up the map and solidified the plan in his mind. He’d need to talk to everyone individually before they went out anyway, to make sure they got all the supplies they would need for the journey ahead. Having the rod made things tricky, they might not be able to stop as often as they needed to, and should have extra supplies on hand just in case.

  The group split up as they talked excitedly about their first day to themselves since they started this mission almost a week ago. Keizeron took the map back to his quarters, pinning it back up on the wall above his desk. He debated erasing the lines Aka had drawn on it, but eventually decided to leave it up until he had better familiarized himself with the path. Honestly he should just get the navigator their own map, it was strange they didn't have one given their family. Given how annoyed they looked during the meeting it was clear there was more going on than he was privy too. Pushing it out of his mind, Keizeron opened the safe for the first time since they left Sahale. There was a small burlap bag of gold coins inside, that he had been instructed to give to the crew after they finished the blessing run. He wondered if they really deserved it after how badly things had gone.

  Of course they did, they finished a job didn't they? Adelaide didn't specify the temple still had to be in one piece when they were done and that's her fault. Keizeron split up the money, giving himself and Sola a slightly high portion for their positions. Each of the other crew mates received a whooping fifty gold coin apiece. It wasn't exactly the life of luxury, but it was much more than Keizeron had expected given their budget. He made sure to keep his own wages separate from the ships general funds, which would go to supplies for the boat and kitchen that they all shared. Once he was done he headed back out onto the deck to give the money to his waiting crew mates.

  As he handed out the money he explained to Mea about the shared funds, and in response she launched into all the ingredients she wanted to have on hand in the kitchen. Some things were out of their price range, and many more would be impossible to find in such a small port town, but Keizeron agreed to help her keep an eye out for things while they were out today. He wanted them to be as well stocked as they could be before they got back into the air.

  After a quick debate among them, it was voted that Duchess would stay on the ship since none of them wanted to miss their first chance to shop. The familiar was summoned, and watched them disembark from the ship's railing. Keizeron was confident he could hear her from anywhere in town if she needed to get his attention. However, disembarking uncovered a new problem.

  “Uh, Aka?” Sola asked as they crossed the gang plank. “Is the rod just going to keep glowing? What if someone else sees that?”

  Unwilling to leave the rod unguarded, Aka had put it in their bag as they left. However, the bag did nothing to smother the beam, which continued to point northwest undaunted. “Can anyone else even see it? I thought we were the only worthy ones,” Aka asked, shifting their bag. However after concentrating on it for a few moments the beam flickered and shut off.

  “How did you do that?” Willow asked in amazement.

  "I just, asked it to?" Aka responded hesitantly. "I've used magic items before but this is nothing like that. I feel connected to it, like it understands me."

  "It probably just needed to attune to you, some magic items take time to connect to the user. But you should have had plenty of time to do that since you were holding onto it overnight." Keizeron explained. Some magic items couldn't be used just by holding them, they needed to spend time to get accustomed to their new owner. Of course something as powerful as the senka rod would be hard to use, and it seemed that it had chosen Aka to attach to. No sense worrying about it now, he had been the one to tell them to hold onto it anyway.

  “As long as it stays off, we don’t need anything that could draw unwanted attention.” Keiz warned, and his navigator nodded. The crew decided to split up to cover more ground as they disembarked. Keiz went with Aka and Willow, whereas Sola accompanied Mea and Zero, both with their own list of things to get while they were out.

  ((“Aww, it’s so cute that Sola and Keiz are acting like the group dads,” Blair said, picking up Sola’s mini figure affectionately. “Chaperoning the rest of us, because Aria knows we need to be watched. I ship it.”

  “No, nope, nu uh. Keizeron is not going to be a romanceable npc,” Caine said quickly, interrupting the line of thought. Not to say none of the npcs would be romance options for the crew if they wanted to do that, but Caine didn’t think it would be interesting for their friends or audience to watch them flirt with their boyfriend the whole game.))

  Lueson was a small town, carved out in the heart of the Terminus woods. Large wooden walls protected the village from the numerous feral beasts that roamed just beyond. There were no land paths that lead to Leuson, the only way to reach it was by sky ship. The woods of Terminus were simply too wild to tame, thanks to a strange magical property that increased the aggression of the animals that lived there. Even the plant life was hostile, there were a number of snapping plants that took root in the area. Despite the antagonistic wild life the city survived, advertising itself as a trading hub for sailors traversing the expansive forest.

  Though lacking in readily available farm land, the area had several other exports that it boasted. They had an abundance of unique magical plants and pelts that couldn’t be found in other parts of the world. They had hunting parties that went out, though they didn’t stray far from the protective walls. The main draw of the city was a mine that was just barely encompassed by the north wall. Though not as grand as the mine that produced gemstones a few miles north of town, the mine in Leuson still produced high quality ore. The city contained just as many black smiths as any other type of store.

  Both Aka and Willow were excited to see the number of smithing shops as they exited the docks with Keizeron in tow. Aka wanted to look through all the scraps they could find to add new parts to their gun or to sacrifice to their numerous tinkering projects. Willow on the other hand was in search of a weapon. Though she had offensive spells, Willow had felt defenseless in the fight with the pirates. She knew it wasn’t her fault that Aka had been hurt, but she didn’t like that she had just watched when Lycus charged them. Sola fought with a shield, she had seen it when he protected Keizeron, maybe he could teach her some defensive moves.

  After the trio explored the area for almost an hour they found a decent blacksmith that was selling what both of them were looking for at a fair price. Aka found a decent amount of promising looking hardware, and gathered an armful of it to take to the front while Willow wandered to the back of the shop in search of weapons.

  The backroom was lined with display stands, all boasting powerful looking weapons. Signs proclaimed the swords to be the best in the land, but Willow doubted it. They weren’t bad, but she knew the land had a lot more to offer, she wasn’t going to find the best sword in Regilis on sale for only twenty gold. However, as she picked a few and gave them test swings Willow found herself not liking the feel of a sword. She passed racks of spears, javelins, axes and even a few hammers before she found a small display in the very back. A few maces were hung up, even further discounted than the swords.

  Though she had never used one before, the weight of the weapon felt more right to Willow than any of the other types of weapons had. She picked up each of them, swinging at test dummies the smithy had provided before she finally settled on one with a beautiful floral design on the hilt. The terran woman also found a round shield with the same design, and brought both back up front to pay for her new equipment.

  Despite how long she had been in the back, Aka was still arguing prices with the orc woman who ran the store when she came up front. Willow came to stand next to Keizeron, who was staying out of it but looking thoroughly impressed. The shop keep looked wildly at Keiz for support, it was apparent she had never dealt with someone like this before, but all she accomplished was Aka noticing Willow had finally joined them. The negotiations started a new as Aka added the mace and the shield to their pile, and after another twenty minutes of fierce debate they left the shop with the supplies purchased at nearly half the original price.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that,” Keizeron said in awe as Aka placed the scraps in their bag.

  “My dad taught me how to get the best price from whole salers. That woman was charging way too much for her excess hardware anyway,” Aka sniffed. Once they had put away their purchase, they brought the mace and shield over to Willow.

  “Thank you,” Willow said politely, twisting the mace in her hands. She was excited to learn how to use it. Being on the ground for a longer period of time had done wonders to boost her mood, even though she knew they’d be back on the ship for longer soon enough. Willow didn’t care for the amount of time they were stuck in the air, but she had long since accepted she’d have to deal with the never ending vertigo when she took the job. If she hadn’t dealt with her fear of heights she would have never left her hometown, Willow just wished the world wasn’t as dependent on airships as it was.

  They stopped at a large open air market next. Keizeron hit as many stalls as he could to get all the groceries and rations Mea had told him to get for the ship. They didn’t have everything on his list, but he hadn’t expected a smithing town to have all the fresh food his quarter master had wanted. Willow bought a few fruits they recognized, and shared them with her crew mates, telling them about how she used to love having them as snacks on hot days back at the ranch she’s from.

  Once they were done getting what they could from the market they stopped in one of the few enchanting shops the city had. For a town that could only be reached by air ship they had little in ways of improving a boat. Keiz browsed through the paltry selection of enchanting stones they had, feeling less and less hopeful he’d be able to find what he wanted. They had plenty of lev stones, but those were only good for changing a ships altitude. Enchanting stones could be added to a ship to empower it in different ways. Things like wind spells, fire resistance, stealth cloaks, and even minor shields were relatively common enchantments for ships. However, an already enchanted stone was currently out of their budget. Instead, Keiz was looking for a cheaper blank stone, that he could imbue with magic himself.

  It was much more taxing to add your own spells to an enchanting stone, making a permanent spell like that took a lot of magic, but it gave him the flexibility to design his own spells. Few of the other students at the academy shared his gift of magic, so he had been alone in the class that taught enchanting at this level. And now he wasn’t alone with his efforts. Mea had agreed to help him with a rain shield, which he was sure everyone would be grateful for. A stone could hold multiple spells at once, but could only deploy them one at a time. Keizeron had the feeling a stealth spell would be necessary for the group soon.

  In the entire store Keizeron found a single blank enchanting stone. He looked at the price tag with a grimace, and ended up giving Aka permission to haggle in his stead, giving them his coins and telling them the price he wanted. Then he stood back and ate another fruit with Willow while he watched the show.

  ((“You don’t want to roll against yourself for persuasion?” Winter teased as they made the check they needed to get a discount. “I’m not sure how many more crits I have in me for- oh, well would you look at that it’s a nat twenty.”

  “You’re joking. Aka is going to own this city before ya'll leave,” Caine glanced over their screen to confirm. Aka was already a persuasive character, Winter didn't even need such lucky rolls it was almost overkill.))

  After a much shorter negotiation time, Aka handed over the enchantment stone to Keiz for even less than he had hoped for. Willow clapped as he tucked it into his bag and mentally called out to Duchess to check in. His familiar sent back a faint image that resembled a thumbs up, confirming everything was alright at the ship. Satisfied, Keiz decided to do his own personal shopping before the three of them headed back to the ship to install the new enchantment stone, completely unaware of the trouble the other half of the crew was getting into.