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May 4th, 1884

New Freedom

by Maelie Arsenault

“Change heading three degrees to port.”

First Officer Vasko’s voice resonated through the bridge. It simultaneously felt like he never raised his voice, yet everyone always heard his orders from one end to the other. His vaguely threatening demeanor was one of the reasons Maelie Arsenault had hired him. Now she had a matching set of vaguely threatening tabaxi. One in the air, and one on the ground.

She walked up to the helm and smiled at the pilot. “I will take it from ‘ere, Monsieur Ascher.”

“Aya-aye Captain.” The dwarf shuffles to the side and moves to another station.

Mae gently adjusts the wheel, feeling the tilt of the ship beneath her feet. “ ‘Ow different dis is den on de water.”

“I do not think it so different.” Vasko replies in his Patlovian accent.

“There’s no waves in the sky.” Mae replies with a grin as she adjusts the speed of the Elemental engine, hearing the distant roar from the far behind her.

“There is wind. And waves will carry you to shore on the ocean. Up here… you just… drop.” Vasko says as a warning.

“Dat is why we ‘ave parachutes and feather fall tokens and scrolls!” She grins brightly as she looks out on the clouds. “Monsieur Vasko, I appreciate your instructions as I learn to pilot but can you per’aps rein in de dour warnings of disaster? I assure you dey ‘ave little effect on me, but de rest of de crew…”

Several of the bridge crew were looking considerably less enthusiastic about the current topic and Vasko let it go with a sigh. Instead, he tilts his head a moment and turns to an observer. “What is wind direction?”

“East-Southeast.”

Turning back to his new captain, “This angle into wind could make turbulence.”

She seems about to dismiss the concern then gives him a more serious look. “Wit’out sacrificing speed, ‘ow do we ‘andle dat?”

The First Officer nods and explains the new heading.


Maelie sipped her coffee in her spacious quarters now. Not as big as her bedroom at home, but not bad for doubling as a traveling office. She was learning quickly and even drew some compliments from her first officer regarding how quickly she was learning to pilot.

She glanced at the new set of maps she purchased during the tournaments in Capistrello. Several copies of each of the mountain region along with almanacs and other navigational data. Airships could only go so high into the sky and the burgeoning travel routes were mostly uncharted in those areas as they preferred to avoid the mountains entirely. But mountains were both where an airship could slip across a border undetected and… where dragons might lair, hidden in the cloudy tops of the Shattered Peaks or Samezzano Mountains.

Laying out one copy she made notes on a piece of paper, a potential path through the Shattered Peaks. There was enough traffic through there that she didn’t expect many dragons, but it was a good place to start for her new crew.

Dragon patrols, smuggling routes, exploration. It was difficult to decide what to do with the sky available to her now. She could go anywhere. It was a whole new kind of freedom.

Continue reading...

  1. The Last Rule
    November 27th, 1882, - Novandria
  2. The Den
  3. Am I losing?
  4. A Close Call
  5. Plans
  6. New Toys
  7. Mistakes were made
  8. Too close to home
  9. Not like you.
  10. This City is Mine.
    February 6th, 1883
  11. Aimless?
    March 5, 1883 - Novandria
  12. The Game Begins
    February 13th, 1883
  13. Too much like You
    March 13, 1883
  14. Safer in Shadows
    April 3, 1883
  15. New Beginnings
    April 7th, 1883
  16. Ready to Run
    April 17th, 1883
  17. Home
    April 25, 1883
  18. Can you steal a heart?
    May 8th, 1883
  19. Trouble
    11th of May, 1883
  20. Heartbreak
    14th of May, 1883
  21. Hunter or Prey?
    16th of May, 1883
  22. Guilt
    19th of May, 1883
  23. Untrustworthy
    21st of May, 1883
  24. Why am I like this?
    25th of May, 1883
  25. Worthy
    8th of June, 1883
  26. The One She Left Behind
    13th June, 1883
  27. Annnd it's back...
    July 1st, 1883
  28. Learning to Fly
    July 4th, 1883
  29. Thrill of the Hunt
    July 29th, 1883
  30. From the Embers
    21st of August, 1883 // 1867
  31. Mother Knows Best
    16th of September, 1883
  32. A Snake, a Star, and a Fox
    25th of September, 1883, Novandria
  33. It wasn't him.
    28th of September, 1883, Novandria
  34. The New Blade
    13th of September, 1883
  35. Something Good
    October 31, 1883 - Novandria
  36. The wound that won't close
    18th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  37. Promise
    25th of December, 1883 - Novandria
  38. Fallen through the cracks
    6th of January, 1884 - Novandria
  39. Day to Night
    7th of January, 1884
  40. What's Left to the Shadows
    22nd of January, 1884, Novandria
  41. The World without Colour
    18th of February, 1884, Bellancourt, Montaigne,
  42. Seventeen Roofs
    26th of February, Novandria, Eisen
  43. Crossing the Board
    4th of March, 1884, Novandria, Eisen
  44. New Freedom
    May 4th, 1884
  45. Saved
    5th of May, 1884/16th of July, 1858

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.042 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 00:51, Nov 15 2024