Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Bright the Next Morning, With Noisy Commotion

Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Bright the Next Morning, With Noisy Commotion

Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Bright the Next Morning, With Noisy Commotion

I realized pretty soon after leaving Booksie's place (Rhawr had arrived, and they were going to start breakfast together, so we took off) that getting the Beaver prepared to go in half a day was... somewhat ambitious.

It wasn't impossible, of course, but there was a lot of work to do.

Awen gave me a very flat look when I broke the news, and that made me cringe both internally and externally. I had just dumped a heap of work onto her, which wasn't a very friendly thing to do. But I promised that I'd do everything I could to help!

That probably didn't make up for it, so I promised myself I'd find a way to reward Awen as well as I could! She'd get double hug-rations from here on out, at a bare minimum!

We got back to the ship, and immediately jumped to work. We kind of expected to have a couple of weeks to work on the Beaver while attending the marriage, so suddenly having to depart in less than twenty-four hours was really putting a strain on things.

Still, I had the best crew and the best friends, and we got to work as soon as we arrived, which helped.

Steve and Gordon checked the rigging , replacing worn lines with the Scallywag's help. The balloons that needed patching got their patches done up by some professionals that Amaryllis hired from the docks, and we got a team of carpenters working on the railings that Cholondee had squished.

It was going to cost a pretty penny, a lot more than if we just did all of the work ourselves, but it was probably worth it.

Carpenters had skills that let them work faster and made their results much tougher and better-looking. We might have to hire someone to go over the rest of the rails, because they'd added little scrollwork and pretty carvings all over. Now we had one section that looked better than the rest.

At least, it did until Desiree and I attacked it with some freshly-purchased paints. The shops didn't have the same paints as what the Beaver had before, but they did have this very, very bright green that I thought was particularly eye-catching, so I covered the new railings in a layer of that.

Amaryllis didn't like it, she said it made the whole ship look like it belongs in a circus, but circuses were fun and happy places, so really I didn't see the downside.

I nipped away that evening with Joe and Calamity to pick up some supplies. I was pretty sure we wouldn't be in charge of feeding Rhawrexdee on the trip over, but it couldn't hurt to stock up a little more heavily than usual, just in case.

When we returned, there was a crew finishing up the refuelling and Awen was coming out of the engine compartment, her clothes covered in a splattering of oil and grease. "Everything that's supposed to move is lubricated, everything that isn't is nailed down. I think we're ready to go."

"Oh, well done!" I cheered before giving her a thank-you hug. Then I Cleaned both of us off, because... well, she was a bit sticky. Awen was supposed to smell like oil and metal, that's just the scent that I associated with my best friend, but that didn't mean she had to be covered in it.Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

"A liability?" Booksie asked.

She turned towards Caprica, and her club trailed with her, clunking against a shelf. "Yes, a liability," Caprica repeated.

"Don't worry about it!" I said. "We'll have a couple of days to train! I had less than that before I tried my first dungeon, and I was all alone too!"

Calamity mostly seemed to think the sight of Booksie and her bonk-stick was funny, at least until we volunteered him (as the only boy) to help carry Booksie's stuff.

She was mostly travelling light, but she still brought a very full backpack and some luggage. They were loaded with a few changes of clothes, a heap of books to read, and her pillow. We headed back to the Beaver taking our time even though we were planning on leaving fairly early in the morning

The docks were starting to become very active by the time we reached them. The day Booksie had been taken, there was a full stop and no ship was allowed to dock or leave, and even though some time had passed since, there still seemed to be a bit of backlog from the delay. It was probably going to even itself out soon enough, but still, it meant that the Port Royal docks were super busy by the time we reached the Beaver and climbed aboard.

"I'll show you to my cabin. Ah, that is, if you don't mind sharing?"

"I don't mind," Booksie said. "Does the ship have enough of them?"

"We should! We're trying to convince Caprica and Amaryllis to double up to free up another room, but it's a little tricky." I shook my head. I never thought the day would come that my airship was too small for all the friends I had.

Would I need a bigger one?

No, I couldn't abandon the Beaver like that.

So we just needed a third ship!

Admiral Bunch of the Friendship Fleet... there was a nice ring to that.

Once Booksie's stuff was stowed away, we returned to the top deck and started to prepare to set sail. Soon enough, we'd be heading out west, towards Awen's home country, and more adventure!

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