A Summer Holiday [Vanessa]

[Anton]

Before anyone could say anything one way or the other about Vanessa or Arthur, Amelia had shot out of the carriage like a bullet and up the gangplank. Peals of excited laughter rang from the girl as she tried to explore every inch of the Imperial made airship, the other children gawking up after her but comparatively restrained. Or terrified of the family's matrons.

"Same can be said for you, Arthur," Anton said, returning the bow. Somehow he figured one of Vanessa's relatives, especially one with a history as colorful as she had related, stood much on ceremony. The servants had already begin to unload the carriages, many letting out sighs of relief as the cramped quarters of their travel immediately lightened. Almost all of the luggage could fit within the Every Waking Moment's twenty-five ton hold, but the plan was only to store enough inside of it for the horde of Michaelis retainers to finish the ride in comfort.

The three women regarded Arthur with piercing eyes, each measuring the man up. He passed inspection. "Assistance up the gangway, if you would," Elizabeth said, the eldest of the trio taking the lead as she walked across the road towards the airship. Her daughters-in-law followed after, neither finding anything amiss with the man's character enough to dispute her judgement, all things considered. Even if they did, she was their mother-in-law.

Already clambering aboard, Anton pulled Vanessa aside as Arthur and his relatives were forced to deal with the children. "Were we followed? Maybe do a sweep back north, tell Amelia it's to show her the city from the air." Even now, this far from Zaichaer, he feared that agents of the Order were on their heels. Some may consider it paranoia, but was it if they really were out to get him?

[Vanessa Quill]

"Right away Madams!" Arthur was glad to help, and hurried off to the luggage. He took great care when carrying the noble's belongings over the gangplank and set them neatly just beside the stairs leading to the lower deck. Even from here Arthur could hear Amelia's amazement as she blitzed around the lower decks, seemingly trying out every single hammock in order to find the best one. The fact that the ship was largely empty aside from ropes, lines, cannons and provisions did nothing to deter her, and she raced back up the stairs and waltzed right into the captain's quarters, a place that promised to be even more exciting.

Arthur stepped in at that point, but only to patiently answer every single one of Amelia's burning questions. He explained the purpose of a compass, and how Vanessa had charted their course on the map at her desk. After having dealt with these questions already once before from his niece, it was nostalgic for Arthur to retread the path.

On the other hand, Vanessa was busy with Anton. "Didn't seem like it" She replied, "But we're not going to risk it. Best if we check it now so we don't regret it later." Anton's paranoia had served them well so far, and truthfully she was no longer sure how much of his fears were unfounded.

"Amelia!" Vanessa was behind the wheel when Anton's sister came trotting up the stairs. "We're about to head out, but your brother thought you might want to see how the city looks from the clouds." Vanessa bent down and slid a milk crate out from behind the captain's wheel to instead sit in front of it. "And I thought you could help me get the ol' girl into position?"

Vanessa stood behind Amelia as her uncle had once done, and helped her bring the Every Waking Moment in a smooth, lazy turn back towards the north. Amelia glowed the entire time, listening intently when the bodyguard explained how important it was to re-center the wheel after a turn or how to use the levers to raise or lower the ship's altitude. Vanessa handled that portion, bringing the vessel up ever higher, only stepping away once they'd swept far north enough for her to get a good vantage of the city gates with the city a triumphant titan of industry and power before them.

As Amelia looked out in awe over the city from the prow of the ship, Vanessa brought her spyglass out and inspected the roads. She scanned once more to be sure, but finally was sure enough to let out a relieved sigh. She looked over to Anton, and hoped to quiet his stress when she said, "We're clear. If anyone's following, they're so far back they'd lose the carriages after nightfall."

Satisfied, Vanessa returned to her post at the wheel and swept the Every Waking Moment in a wide arc back towards their destination. The sails flooded with wind once more, and her ship sheared through the sky exactly the way Amelia's stories had always described.

[Anton]

The road south of Zaichaer ran parallel with the Talacara's soft bend to the east, its gleaming waters sourced from pristine mountain springs and snowmelt, glittering in the sunset like the glass of an ancient church. (North of the city, the sight was considerably less awe-inspiring, the current carrying with it the effluvia of three million souls and the industry that employed them, but that was luckily not the scene being portrayed at the moment.) Following the river as it ambled north-westerly before straightening out, the mighty flow passed beneath the River Gate and beyond the walls.

Zaichaer itself stood proud and austere amid the unforgiving clime of the Northlands. Sheltered in the shadow of a lonely mountain, source of the vast supplies of metal, coal, and dragonshards which ever filled the city's furnaces, it overlooked a plain of the citizen's own making. The remnants of the great forest which once thronged both banks of the Talacara could still be seen further east and west, the tree tops barely visible upon the edge of the horizon from the supreme vantage point that was the Every Waking Moment. But such could not retain attention for long.

What demanded it was stone and steel. Within the city's heart, the Presidium soared above lesser works, the seat of ancient kings now the beating heart of the Zaichaer stratocracy. Rumored to have been crafted by Elementalists, it was known to have survived the Sundering of the World, and some said that its destruction would come only at the end of all things.

To it, and the river's west, stood the expansive mansions of the great and the good, as well as the vast majority of its military might. Even at this late hour, airships could be seen arriving and departing from Onneifer, the guns of Fort Cathevelle fired out to mark the time in perfect synchronicity with the chiming of the clocktower in the Hall of Inventors, and the great glass dome of the Greater Institute of Zaichaer shone resplendent as the sun slipped down the sky.

To the east, the light lining Willowby Street were just turning on, illuminating the closing shops and theaters; lights shone too in the Knob, its bars and brothels preparing for the main work of the day. The furthest east though, nearest to the mountains, glowed with an eternal fire, the great Grungeworks working day and night to shape steel for the war, the great cloud of smoke it constantly belched making the entire district seem like the lair of a slumbering dragon.

It was how Zaichaer was meant to be seen - how Zaichaer intended for herself to be seen, from so high a perch that only mankind's mastery of the world could grant one the sight. As they finished their survey of the scene, Anton silently nodded at Vanessa's confident assessment, and they sailed south once more.

Eleven o' clock at night
Twelve hours before the Doom of Zaichaer

The cluster of fields and cottages surrounding the central house were far from the might and splendor of Zaichaer, but they were no less important. From it, and of countless estates like it, came the wheat that the three million souls that called the city home consumed each day as bear and bread. It was a quiet existence, and the farmers and herdsmen and cattle were irately wakened at the sudden sight of an airship so late at night, but without it there would be no City of Brass.

Staring at the manor as they came in to land, Anton smiled softly at Vanessa. "Hard part's over then."

[Vanessa Quill]

The course to the estate was clear, and everyone had been able to watch sun as it crept down over the horizon, painting the sky in orange and purple hues. Between natural's mural she saw Anton, back to her as he stood against the railing with the wondrous expanse of Zaichaer before him. She wished then there were a painter here, someone to capture this moment in a medium other than memory. But Vanessa too was avaricious, treasuring in some small way that this image was hers alone.

When the sun finally set, Vanessa navigated by the stars. The passage was a simple one, and the wheel required little attention once they were on their way. Still, her old instincts refused to die, and she scanned the horizon vigilantly, inspecting the flags and disposition of any vessel that so much as peered over the horizon. That they were still within spitting distance of Zaichaeri patrols did little to soothe her mind. Vigilance was requisite to her work as a cutthroat, and it served her better still now that she had a ward.



Eleven o' clock at night
Twelve hours before the Doom of Zaichaer

Vanessa brought the Every Waking Moment down slowly, trying to be courteous of those who had already put in a hard day's work. There was no avoiding the sound though, the engine a constant rumble that startled skittish livestock and made many people rubberneck out their windows to watch the passing ship. the clamor only lasted until they could figure out where the ship was going, and most returned to their beds once they realized it was simply some rich family on holiday. All that remained staring at the Every Waking Moment were the starry-eyed children who would scurry back to bed once they'd been caught by their parents. But for now, in this moment, they were content to watch in wonder and imagine the adventures this ship had seen.


The sails pulled up, and Arthur tied them loosely to the masts from the ratlines. The ship coasted towards the manor now in a lazy drift. "Aye. Now all we've got to do is sit back, relax, and we'll read all about just how right you were when we get back." She stepped over to the capstan, used her boot to unstick it and sent the anchor crashing down into the earth. The boat swayed slightly, pulling against the new leash before settling down low.

As soon as the ship was still, Arthur was setting up the gangplank again and helping deliver the luggage over it.

Vanessa stepped over to Anton, and brought an arm around his shoulder. "You did good." she said, smiling back at him. "Now lets get some rest, eh?"

[Anton]

Review

Anton

Lore: 12
Points: 10, may be used for Semblance
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None

Vanessa

Lore: 12
Points: 10, may not be used for Magic
Injuries/Ailments: None
Loot: None

Notes: Surely they're just overreacting