The Sky Above

The sun finally broke through the clouds as they ascended one of the many long, winding staircases up to the airdocks. Although it was still an hour before noon, even now the convoy’s vanguard had begun trickling in – little thirty- or forty-footers, their sails or balloons casting long shadows on the ground.

“We took something like that on the way here,” Twilight said, nodding up towards one of the dirigibles, its open-air platform – looking so much like a ship out of water – dangling on thick cables just below the oiled canvas. “It was a lot longer than that, though, and looked like four of them bolted and planked together.”

“Rainbow’d mentioned,” Squirrel said, momentarily looking up at the ship as they wove their way through the crowds. “The kind of thing we’ll be taking will probably look like that, too.”

“These are private ones then, I’d imagine? Tagging along for safety?”

“Yeah – you really don’t want to risk having ship failure when you’re way out in the middle of nowhere, all alone.”

“You don’t say.”

Squirrel snorted, swatting her with her tail. “Things’ll be fine this time; these big ones fail safe, anyways, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Except falling off,” Rainbow chimed in.

“Yes, thank you, Dash.” Twilight wasn’t actually worried – rescue aside, one of the first spells she’d learnt weeks ago once she’d realized that no amount of grumbling was going to get her out of this whole venture was featherfall.

They were climbing one of the auxillary stairwells – little more than a steep, switchbacking route jammed between the open scaffolds – when a dull, heavy thump rumbled through the beams. “Reassuring,” Twilight muttered, looking up and out at the sharp-edged bilge keel of a trisail that had just roughly docked, its eponymous twin finsails rocking back and forth as they furled.

“It hasn’t fallen over yet,” Squirrel shrugged. “Let’s just hurry up and get topside – we’ll still need to convince one of them to ferry us up.” Apparently this was pretty normal, as the biggest ships would only bother to dock if they had cargo to move; the problem here, though, was that the crew often didn’t want to deal with travellers when they were busy. Ferrying up before or after was thus generally preferred if you wanted to stay on good terms with the crew.

“It should be quite interesting seeing the internals of one of these major ones,” Twilight said, a mite breathless from the climb. “The small dirigible we went down on was surprisingly different than the ones back home.”

“Really?” Squirrel asked, shooting an interested glance back over her withers. “Was it just a layout thing, or were the parts entirely different?”

“Layout, mostly, but a lot of the rigging was set up differently, and I’m pretty sure the balloon’s gyros were unique, too.”

“Might be they had the new ones up there? I know a lot of overhauls changed to a newer design not too many years back.”

“Maybe...”

Twilight’s eagerness to – hopefully – get a chance to examine the ships’ inner workings hadn’t abated in the slightest when they finally reached the top and stepped out onto a narrow platform. Mooring posts and lines as thick around as her hoof lay all about the place, not least upon a pair of ships hovered gently in their berths. There were few people around.

“Time to start knocking on hulls,” Squirrel said, approaching the first of the two. “If these don’t work, we’ve still the other platforms; we’ll find something.”

Twilight did her best to squelch any trepidation at begging favours from strangers as Squirrel nimbly leapt onto the nearest deck and started poking her head around.

Conveniently doubting she needed any help, Twilight wandered to the pier’s edge and gazed northwards over the city.

“We paddled in on that one, right?” Rainbow said, following her over. “The bigger river between those cliffs?”

“You can’t possibly not know that, Dash,” Twilight chided. “You fly around here every day.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Just a conversation starter. Weird we’re leaving again, huh? Didn’t think we’d actually do it.”

“I didn’t think I’d be doing a lot of things here. It’s kind of fun though, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s just for a couple weeks too, and we’ll get a chance to see some cool places! Hopefully, at least.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Might even find something for your projects as well.”

Twilight smiled and gave her a shoulder bump. “I don’t need to be convinced, you know.”

“I know,” Rainbow smiled and bumped her back.

They stared out quietly at the horizon for the few moments it took Squirrel to thump back down onto the pier. “These guys are staying in the city, so we’ll have to find something else. Come on,” Squirrel said, nodding her head towards the next ship.

As Twilight joined her, she found herself quietly pleased that they’d shown up so early – it looked like this might end up taking a while, after all.

Rainbow was grumpy.

“I’m sure it’s just because things are too cramped down below,” Twilight tried to soothe her. “That’s all.”

“Grmbleflf,” Rainbow grumbled. While they’d finally found themselves a ship to take them up – a small, worryingly-rusty dirigible – the sailors had insisted they keep themselves on deck. “It’s not like we were going to go down there anyways, but, like, they didn’t have to just banish us to the top without even asking!”

“Well, the trade ships can’t exactly do the same to us, can they? So we’ll be fine once we get properly aboard.” They were talking near the prow, waiting for the sailors – a pair of earth ponies – to sort out a few things before leaving. Rainbow had wanted to take a fly around and simply land on the deck after they’d taken off, but the sailors had once again insisted otherwise, apparently dead-certain she’d tangle herself up in the rigging if she did.

“They’d better,” Rainbow groused, crossing her arms all the tighter.

There was shouting behind her as one of the stallions hollered out to them. “You two all ready!”

“We are!” Twilight called back to him. “Squirrel!”

Squirrel just smiled and waved back to her from the stern; despite sitting in the cockpit, she wasn’t allowed to help, either.

It wasn’t long before they’d unmoored and started drifting slowly back, the bilge-propellers humming below. Once they’d gone far enough a dull roar heralded the spooling up of the two main props jutting out either side from their mounts on stubby wings. Undoubtedly, the steering sails were unfurling beneath them, but Rainbow still didn’t feel like cheering up enough to follow Twilight and watch them.

They continued to move away from the dense network of scaffolding and countless docked ships and towards the convoy proper, now easily visible just north of the city.

Rainbow could pick out more than a dozen cargo ships with a host of different designs, from extensive dirigibles to multi-masted trisails, and even a couple that looked like little more than great, multi-platformed spires running down from massive spheres, their levels dotted with wings and sails. They looked ridiculous to Rainbow, but apparently they were fantastic in rough weather with heavy cargo.

With a huff she lurched upright and headed abaft, looking to join the others. Taking care not to bump into any of the cargo littering the deck – maybe they really were just crowded below? – she stepped down into the cockpit. “Yo,” she said, aiming for the small table and benches clustered around the companionway. Plopping down next to Squirrel, she turned to stare idly at the stallion manning the wheel. “Anything happen?”

“Nah,” Squirrel said, wiggling as she tried to get comfortable on the hard teak. “Should be smooth sailing from here.”

“It’s not really sailing without sails, is it? The steering ones don’t count.”

Squirrel rolled her eyes. “Smooth floating-with-propellers, then.”

“Much better.”

A breeze kicked up around them as they picked up speed and angled somewhat upwind of the convoy. They were apparently bound for one of the more traditional-looking ones, it being made up of a simple series of platforms beneath a quartet of long balloons. If it flew anything like how it looked, Rainbow figured they’d be in for a slow ride.

“How far is it to Drizzle, anyways?” Rainbow asked, having already forgotten what little she’d listened to of Twilight’s plans.

“In distance?” Twilight answered. “About four-hundred kilometres, I think. Timewise, though, we should be there sometime tomorrow morning.”

“They’ll time it so we do,” Squirrel added, having given up her search for a comfy spot to simply lay across her side of the bench instead. “Big ships like the one we’re heading for rarely try and offload in the night – we’ll probably end up heaving-to somewhere close by til daybreak.”

“Spending a whole day on one of these things is gonna suck.”

“There’ll be a galley,” Squirrel assured her. “We can play cards and such with the crew and any other travellers onboard.”

“Fun.”

Squirrel huffed. “Now you’re just being difficult.”

Rainbow grunted in response – she wasn’t looking forward to this.

There was a solid thunk as the gangway slapped down against the ship’s gunwales. They’d arrived at the cargo vessel, its series of platforms descending a few stories down from the balloons. The main entry point was near the bottom, on a platform that jutted out and away from the main body like a lone pier running aft; the long wooden walkway was supported by cables that ran up to the rigging above, while it was another much shorter gangway that connected to their ship.

“Are we sure this is even safe?” Twilight said, looking askance at the contraption. Every little bit of turbulence caused the pier to judder up and down, the guywires snapping between taut and slack. “How’s this thing not shaken itself apart?”

“Boundless optimism,” the sailor behind her grinned. “Now off ya go – we’ve places to be.”

Twilight took a deep breath and gave Squirrel a nudge. “Just don’t look down, I suppose?”

Squirrel gave her a tight look. “Yep. Always hate this part.” Without another word she leapt up onto the gangway and quickly crossed to the main pier, head held high as she kept her gaze locked on the cabins beyond.

Rainbow gave her a nudge of her own as Twilight found herself hesitating; she cautiously stepped up onto the gangway, muttering to herself all the way. “A quick featherfall and I’d be fine,” she mumbled conversationally, squinting at the far end as she took one slow step after another. The bridge shook beneath her. “One quick spell.”

After what seemed like ages she stepped off the narrow planking and onto the pier, only to find it was little better as the whole thing seemed continually to jump and jitter underhoof. Rigging slapped and jingled around her as the growing breeze made a sharp whining sound as it ran through the cables.

“This is terrible!” Rainbow called over the wind, her grin belying her words. “The stuff back home is waaay better!”

“Maybe I should’ve enchanted something back in the city?” Twilight continued her muttering unabated. “For Squirrel too?”

“What!” Rainbow shouted back, unable to hear her. “Let’s get inside!” She jabbed a wing towards where Squirrel was waiting for them beside a closed door.

Once they’d reached her, Squirrel slid open the door and disappeared into the cabin. Following close, Twilight stepped in – Rainbow slipping past her – and hurriedly closed the door behind. The noise was immediately muffled. “Muuuch better,” she sighed.

Turning around, Twilight found herself in a wide office of sorts. Windows – their panes giving an omnipresent rattle – lined every wall, giving a fantastic view in all directions. There were scattered tables and chairs, shelves and cabinets, all jammed together with little room to manoeuvre.

Squirrel was at one of the nearby desks, chatting to a lanky, olive-green colt. “There you are,” Squirrel said, catching sight of her. “Just have to pay the fee and find out what nook we’re bunking in.” The fee was modest – just enough to justify the nuisance of having non-crew aboard, really.

They quickly sorted it all out, learning more-or-less where everything onboard was as they did. Bidding the colt adieu, they shuffled over to one of the many doors branching off the room, none of them feeling in any particular hurry anymore. “And now we just wait, huh?” Rainbow said, rearing up to press her face against one of the windows to stare down at the ground below. “Yawn.”

“Should be a good view once we get moving,” Squirrel countered. “There’s the galley later on, and naps, too, I suppose.”

Rainbow pushed off the sill and back onto all fours. “View’s better when you’re flying yourself. The other stuff sounds okay.”

“Let’s just start with a walk-around and figure out where we’re sleeping, first,” Twilight said. “We can explore more after that.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Squirrel agreed, leading the way out the nearest door. “On that note, I’m just glad we’re getting proper berths on this one – I’ve had to do hammocks once before, and it’s not nearly as fun as you’d think.”

The noise picked up the moment they’d stepped outside, their manes and tails tossing about in the wind. Railed gantries connected the series of shack-like cabins that ran over and around the floatstone-packed keel that made up the centreline of the vessel – at least at this level. Bundles of cables ran along the rails, a faint hum marking them out as singers.

“The new jacket’s fantastic!” Twilight called over to Rainbow – she was quite pleased with how warm she was despite the chill air. “You definitely picked the right one!”

Rainbow smiled back at her and fluffed out her wings a bit. “Figured as much!”

They crossed over to the far cabin, ignoring the side paths for the moment. Sliding open the door, they found themselves in a workroom of sorts. Tools covered the walls, while numerous desks and shelves, crammed into nearly every spare space, were themselves jammed full of metal bits and bobs. No one else was here, but the room felt well-used.

“Ladder,” Squirrel noted, bobbing her head towards the corner. “Should be proper stairs around here, somewhere.” The colt had been vague about the particulars.

Twilight gave the ladder a wary look. “Let’s look for the stairs – I don’t really trust my balance on those things.” It was the swinging motion needed to get up the rungs that always got to her.

“Fair enough.”

It was after crossing another gantry that they found what they were looking for, tucked away on the inner side of a storeroom. Taking the steep, narrow switchbacked steps up to the next level, they bumped into a pair of crew on the way down.

“Tourists?” a ruffled-looking hen asked, giving Rainbow a friendly nudge. “We’ve got a few of you clumsy things around here, mucking about the place.”

“Clumsy!” Rainbow said, puffing out her chest. “I could dance on the head of a pin! Blindfolded! And drunk!”

The gryphon chuffed. “Sure, sure – you’re small enough to fit on one.”

Rainbow snorted, giving the hen a poke to the chest in turn. “Yuh huh. Where’s the galley at?”

“Oh – quickest is heading out that way,” she said, gesturing towards a near door with a wing. “Cross the keel, one cabin aft, then go up the stairs – you’ll know it when you see it.”

“Thanks!” Rainbow smiled. “Let’s keep on then, gang – it’s gotta be lunchtime by now.” As the two crew disappeared down the stairs, the three of them stepped back outside.

“I think that was the first gryphon we’ve really said anything to,” Twilight said as they started up a raised bridge of sorts, the keel passing just below as they crossed to port. They kept close to avoid shouting over the wind. “This side of the Calise, at least.”

“Really?” Squirrel said curiously. “They’re not exactly uncommon.”

“Well, aside from the ship’s crew on the way over, we haven’t really spoken to anybody outside the diplomatic team – not until our own ship went down, anyways.”

Squirrel raised a brow at that. “No gryphs on the embassy crew? Rare not to see at least a few of them with the engineers.”

“Nah,” Rainbow said. “Most of ‘em keep up north, and I know you said ours came from Squeak,” this last aimed at Twilight.

“Most do, these days.”

They paused in the middle of the bridge to stare off into the distance; from the looks of it, they hadn’t gotten underway yet. “The view really is great up here,” Twilight said, leaning lightly on the rail. “I so rarely get the chance to see it.”

“Definitely need to work out some kind of flying spell.”

“One day.”

The galley was right at the top, a full four stories up if you counted the maintenance level. There was a small amount of crew about, and even a few people dressed casually enough to be travellers just like themselves.

“I imagine the meals are scheduled?” Twilight wondered aloud.

“Yeah – too many people on a vessel this big for a make-your-own approach,” Squirrel said. Figuring there’d be plenty of time for socializing later, they took a seat near the windows – proper windows, too, and not little portholes – shucked their gear, and relaxed.

Several other ships could be seen outside – mostly smaller ones, but a pair of the larger cargo vessels, too. While Twilight didn’t have a particularly keen eye for these sorts of things, she thought they looked like they were getting ready to carry on. “Do you think many of the ships will be staying here? Some, at least, must have a good deal of cargo to move.”

Squirrel shrugged, not looking away as she continued to gaze out the window. “I’d imagine so – I’m not really up on these things.”

“As long as this one’s moving on, the others can chill here all week,” Rainbow said.

They’d been sitting there chatting and lazing for nearly an hour, waiting for something to happen, when a dull thrum ran through the ship. “Engines,” Squirrel said as she perked up. “Finally.”

“No kidding.” Rainbow, who’d been becoming increasingly fidgety, hopped off her bench and started pacing. “Let’s find our bunks – I wanna drop off my stuff and have a fly around.”

“I suspect we won’t have anything private, Dash,” Twilight said as she and Squirrel joined her. “We can look after your gear in the meanwhile, though.”

“Whatever works.”

They exited the galley through a random doorway and started wandering through corridors, gangways, and the occasional storeroom or cargo bay before eventually finding themselves in a long, narrow room, a dozen berths running down each wall, three bunks high. “Cozy,” Rainbow snorted as they strode down the aisle, ducking under the occasional low-hanging bit of netting or cables. “Think it matters which ones we take?”

“No,” Squirrel said, shaking her head. “Let’s see if there’s a triple we can snag – look for neatly-made beds.”

It didn’t take much checking before they found what they were looking for. “Dibs!” Rainbow called, leaping nimbly straight up to the top bunk. “Mine!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not like either of us could get up there easily; anyways, I prefer bottom.”

Squirrel snorted, giggling as she climbed up to the middle rack. “Who’d’ve guessed.”

Twilight paused in her once-over of the bed. “Hmm?”

“Squirrel’s just being a perv; mind if I drop my stuff here? I won’t be gone long.”

“Sure,” Twilight frowned, rolling over and giving the bunk above her a hearty kick; there was a muffled ‘oof’ above. “Squirrel here can carry them if we go for a walk.”

“Sounds fine by me!” Rainbow hopped back down and disappeared the way they’d come.

Twilight gave the bunk another idle kick.

“Hey!” Squirrel said, her heading peeking down over the edge to stare at her. “These beds are really thin, you know.”

“Uh huh. Behave and you can sleep easy tonight.”

“Sure, sure,” Squirrel grinned at her. “Would hate to have to hit up Drizzle tired.”

Twilight wiggled herself into a comfy position. “Likewise, actually. There are a fair few diamond dogs – gnolls, I mean – settled near Sweet Apples, but they keep a good deal to themselves. It should be quite elucidating to see what such an old city of them here are like.”

There was a shifting overhead as Squirrel settled back down. “Well, people are people everywhere, you know? Except, well... alright, being different species and all does make for a heck of a difference. They’re about normal, I suppose?” She huffed. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

It’d been a few hours now, and the three of them had explored most of the ship. “Well, I think it’s fascinating,” Twilight insisted.

“It’s rocks.”

“It’s the only known material that gets lighter the more mana you pump into it!” Twilight exclaimed, scandalized. “Do you have any idea how much of a breakthrough that was?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “It’s magic rocks, then.”

Twilight huffed, but dropped the subject – she was fairly certain Rainbow was just being a nuisance, anyways. “Well, I still think checking out the engine and flight mechanisms was worth the walk. And the climb.”

“It was certainly... loud,” Squirrel hesitantly agreed. “My teeth aren’t vibrating anymore, at least.”

“Yeeeah,” Twilight chuckled – the sheer number of singers running through the centralized room made things considerably noisier than she’d anticipated. “I hadn’t expected that.”

“Expensive-looking, too,” Rainbow added. “With how ramshackle the rest of this ship is, I was starting to doubt this convoy thing was even real.”

Squirrel stared at her, nonplussed. “‘Not real?’ You’re literally standing in it!”

“Coincidence,” Rainbow waved her off. “This could just’ve been some sort of hobo fleet, cruising around, looking for work and singing showtunes and stuff.”

Squirrel sighed. “And a noisy engine room means it’s legit?”

“All the best ships back home have the noisiest engines,” Rainbow shrugged. “Kwue-ee-dee, being loud equals being expensive.”

“And big expenses means big trade,” Twilight concluded, having long since gotten used to Rainbow’s odd train of logic.

“Apparently so,” Squirrel said with another sigh. “You’ve more-or-less got it though – this is the only real way to trade huge amounts of things at once if you’re not on the coast. The fleet’s a bit of a mess, but everything works, and from what I can tell the crew’s always top-notch.”

“Oh, definitely,” Rainbow agreed. “You can’t leave magic rocks to just anybody.”

“It looks so different from up here,” Twilight murmured, her face pressed up against the galley glass.

“Definitely my favourite part of these trips,” Squirrel agreed, gazing down at Autumn Beech far below. A few ships had broken off from the group to head for the docks, but their own was set to cruise past, still enroute to Drizzle.

“The fort stands out far more from up here, doesn’t it.” At this height, the town’s garden-terraces could be clearly made out, like the steps of a giant’s staircase on the northern and southern flanks of the mountain ridge. Although she couldn’t see much of it from this side of the ship, the river they’d come in on – and certainly the one on which they’d left – could be seen snaking about below. “You weren’t kidding about all the scrubland, either.”

“Told ya. Can’t believe it took us, what, three days to do this on hoof?”

Twilight shot a glance at the large mechanical clock on the wall, sitting above one of the far tables. “And only some four hours or so by air. Definitely makes sense why these convoys are so well used by travellers.” She turned away from the window and settled back into the padded bench. She’d wondered at first why their galley was so big – surely there weren’t that many crew? – but she’d sorely underestimated just how many other passengers were aboard.

“You know they have gemstones in them?” Squirrel said, bobbing her head towards the clock as she settled down next to her. “On the bearings?”

“Really?” Twilight said, shooting the clock a scrutinizing look. “Wouldn’t that make them prohibitably expensive?”

“Nah – they’re castoffs and cut bits that don’t look good enough to sell, but they’ve still got real low friction when rubbed against metal.”

“That’s... huh. That’s kind of neat.” Not particularly useful, mind, as she wasn’t really one for arcana. Still though – neat.

“Is that the sort of stuff they make in Drizzle?” Rainbow asked, staring at the clock herself. “Along with all the other things, I mean?”

“Probably,” Squirrel shrugged. “Never had cause to learn all the particulars.”

“Bet they’ve got reeeal fancy clocks there, then,” Rainbow carried on, tapping away at the tabletop; the galley was slowly filling around them as five o’clock neared, and all of them were hungry. “With great big diamonds in the centre of them!”

“It’s rubies, mostly,” Squirrel said thoughtfully. “At least, I think it is. Sapphires and corundum, too.”

“They must be worth a fortune on the big clocks.”

“They’re also the same mineral,” Twilight said, side-eying the pair of them suspiciously. “So what are we looking forward to, exactly?”

“Really?” Squirrel said, surprised. “I’d’ve thought you’d’ve scoured every atlas and almanac you could find by now.”

Twilight shrugged a touch self-consciously. “I wanted to keep the surprise; that, and there wasn’t actually much written about most of these places – their histories, sure, but their present? Not so much.”

Squirrel shot Rainbow an apologetic glance before answering. “It’s, umm, mostly industry, I’m afraid. Great views, though! But mostly just mines and workshops, through and through. Well, that and farms and homes and so forth, of course.”

“And mounds of gold, right?” Rainbow said, sitting up and looking mildly alarmed. “There has to be something like that, right?”

“Well...”

“Ahh nuts,” Rainbow groaned. “This is gonna be boring, isn’t it.”

“There are some lapidaries!” Squirrel hurried to console her, trying to hold back laughter. “And lots of famous jewels were cut there! And don’t forget the machinery!”

“Machinery can be quite beautiful in its intricacy,” Twilight hastened to add in. “Almost like a gemstone made of steel!”

“... lame.”

Squirrel couldn’t help snorting. “Hey, if you’re lucky maybe we’ll be kidnapped? That could always happen.”

Twilight nodded along. “It is technically possible. Sort of. Mathmatically, at least.”

“I guess that’s something,” Rainbow said, visibly cheering up. “We’d have to escape captivity then! We could hooffight dragons and everything!”

Twilight smiled. “That’s the spirit.”

It was a decent mixed-buffet of sorts. “You sure you don’t want any?” Rainbow asked, pointing again at her fish. “It’s very nearly fresh.”

Twilight grimaced as she shook her head. “I’m only so-so on seafood at the best of times; it’s all yours.”

“Your loss,” Rainbow shrugged. Given the melange that made up the crew and passengers, the galley had a huge range of foods set out. None of them were certain where exactly they’d picked up the fish from – they didn’t stop over at Hurricanum, after all – but since a lot of other people had grabbed some, Rainbow figured it was probably safe.

The sky was darkening outside. Autumn Beech was now but a distant smudge on the horizon, and the ground below had become rocky and mountainous with little more than sparse shrubby trees littering the slopes. According to Squirrel they were headed eastwards, intending to hook around a wide mountain ridge before cutting back north and into the long valley that led up to Drizzle.

From the sounds of it they’d be docking an hour or so after sunrise. “That means no breakfast,” Twilight said, having pulled out one of her logbooks to scribble a few notes in. “We should be able to find something pretty quickly once we’ve arrived, though.”

“Tourists are fairly common there,” Squirrel nodded along agreeably. “There’ll be places around the docks, I’m sure.”

“Oh goody – we can eat breakfast just in time to look at all the machiiinery,” Rainbow groused. “Fun.”

Squirrel rolled her eyes. “Some of the bigger jewels are on display, you know – they’ve even got one that glows!”

“Lots of rocks glow,” Rainbow huffed.

“This one’s supposed to be special! Somehow. I think. I didn’t check any of this stuff out when I was here.”

“I can’t believe we ever thought you were a guide.”

Squirrel opened her mouth to say something before settled into a pout. “I could be a guide. You just wait til we’re in Wanderbelle – I’ll be a fantastic guide then. You’ll see.”

“Yuh huh.”

“I will!”

“Yuh huuuh.”

Evening had fallen, and the three of them had retired to their triple bunks. Rainbow had settled in comfortably on her top bunk, the ceiling near enough to touch; the other two were quietly chatting below her, but she wasn’t much interested in joining in. The room was noisy, but not annoyingly so – she’d never had much of a problem falling asleep with others around, and the rest of the passengers were being fairly quiet.

The ship hadn’t been nearly as cramped as she’d feared, and she’d had some fun flying about the outside and checking out all the little nooks and crannies that you simply couldn’t hope to get to from the inside. It had certainly turned out to be more interesting exploring a ramshackle mess of a ship rather than one of the neat and tidy ones from back home.

She propped her legs up on the gear she’d stashed at the foot of her bunk and settled into a doze, the hum of the ventilation beside her oddly soothing.

Hopefully, Drizzle would be worth the trip.