Firstborn of the Frontier

Soon as I put Riverrun in our six, Gunnar shuffles over with hat in hand looking all sorts of contrite.

"Howie," he begins, but I hold up my hand to keep him from saying more while I finish chewing my bite of chorizo bocadillo. The second one I bought from Mr. Serrano, as it was just too delicious to leave to cool like the third one I put in the fridge.

Soon as I've swallowed my food, I say, "If the next words outta your mouth was gonna be some sort of apology, then there ain't no need." Unable to give him my full attention as I navigate the Longhorn Belle through traffic, I keep my eyes on the prize while doing my best to reassure him. "You hired me on to provide protection, but I done brung you trouble for it, so I should be the one apologizing to you. So here it is." Taking a deep breath, I exhale slowly while imagining all the anger draining out of me, even though it don't do nothing. "Sorry about that. Didn't think we'd run into problems so early into the trip. Can't say it won't happen again, but if it do, just know you did the right thing."

Glancing around, I see we got a bit of an audience in Elodie. The sweet girlie seems a little out of sorts as she hugs Stella and Terrance both while crouched on deck. She's scared, but judging by the set of her pout, she's plenty angry too, only not rip snorting mad. More sullen than anything else, as she didn't much appreciate being strong armed like she had, but wasn't brave or foolish enough to do something about it. Astrid's more or less in the same place, with her skin all aglow with a golden light as she paces and pouts about how things could've gone if she'd done this or that. Gotta nip that right in the bud here and now, because a loose cannon is dangerous to allies and enemies alike.

Raising my voice to be heard, I throw in some Arcane Sign Language for Chrissy's sake as I say, "All y'all did the right thing back there. So long as no one's been hurt and no weapons have been drawn, then there's no reason to start nothing. Your best bet when trapped by thugs like that is to follow whatever instructions you're given and sit tight. Answer their questions, don't give them any reason to hurt you, and wait for me to show up."

Astrid don't much like hearing it, and her explosive temper flares up once again. "You're not the only one who knows how to fight you know!?" The set of her jaw and purse of her lips makes her cheeks puff out, so she comes off more adorable than intimidating as she exclaims, "I could've taken all five of those men out with a single Spell." When I say flare up, I mean literally as a bright golden glow flows from her belly to her right hand and culminates in the same readied Spell she'd shown before, a Scorching Beam bouncing about in the palm of her hand that'll cut clean through your target and several people behind it. "All I had to do was point and they'd drop over dead."

She's not really angry, so I try not to take it personal. She's just scared is all, and it's easier to be angry than it is to be afraid. Course, some fear is good for your, so I respond as calm and cooly as I can. "And the Sheriff would've wasted no time clapping you in cuffs for it." Meeting Astrid's glowing golden eyes, I give her a look that says I ain't her daddy and won't tolerate her tantrums. Settles her down right quick even though she looks hurt to see it, crossing her arms and sitting back down in a huff. "I showed you all the cameras already, and yes, they was running the whole time, same as the camera on my hat. Told you any time we might run into strangers, I'd be turning them on without saying as much, because it ain't difficult to pull a crystal and destroy the evidence."

One caveat is that my ship's security system don't record Audio, because I only looted Record Video Cores from the Pugliano house. That's the way it is with security cameras though, because Audio means you gotta install microphones too, which'll really only pick up the wind or spray of water on a boat like the Longhorn Belle. Or worse, feedback since microphones tend to pick up on Aetheric Flux and make all sorts of unholy noises, so I figured my money was better spent elsewhere.

"Cameras which would've picked up the whole exchange," I continue. "Now, you and I know they was gangsters and they probably threatened to hurt you if you didn't do as they said, but ain't no microphones to pick that up and show a court of law. Quality on the cameras ain't good enough for lip reading either, which wouldn't be admissible regardless." Takes some doing to get all these words out while Signing it all out for Chrissy, but I want her to be a part of this conversation, even if it's a silent part. "That means that all they'd see on crystal is you showing up and killing five men dead without first meeting the terms of justified self defense as outlined under the Accords. Yeah, they was standing aboard a ship they wasn't supposed to be on, but that alone ain't enough to warrant deadly force. They had no weapons drawn and made no threatening movements, while you gave no warnings or ultimatums, which means if you'd done as you just said, then you'd likely be charged with murder in the first degree, the punishment for which is twenty-five to life, or death."

That cools Astrid's temper some, and while I can tell she still wants to argue the facts, she don't know enough about the law to say anything about it. Her daddy is also giving her stern looks now, and I can't blame him. Can't be none too pleased to hear how quick on the trigger his little angel be feeling, and even though she's mostly talk, most people are before they're forced to walk the walk, and it either gets easier or harder from there. To keep her honest, I lay it all out in plain English and ASL, because Elodie and Chrissy need to hear it too. "So say you killed them, and the Sheriff's got you in anti-magic manacles while you sit in jail and await your trial, one which will be expedited because most of you are powerful Innates and therefore held to a higher standard. Ain't fair, but it is the way it is, so ain't nothin' to be done besides go along with it. Let's even say you get a good lawyer who wins your case despite the time crunch. Get's you off of a murder charge and even gets any lesser charges dropped for whatever reason. Great, but you ain't free and clear yet, because you're Innates, and now you gotta prove to a committee that you ain't a threat to the general public. A committee that ain't a part of the Federal Justice System mind you, but an independent entity altogether who only answers to themselves."

That would be the AICC, the Agency for Innate Containment and Control. They're the same folks who'll drop by to administer Frowny's MCCE, the Magical Creature Compliance Exam when they got time for it, and they don't mess around. Their whole job is to police Innates with powerful Spells which can't be taken away, and since their purview is so narrow, most average Americans don't care what they do since it only ever affect Innates, a small portion of the population. That means their burden of proof is much lighter than the criminal court, in that if a federal agent of the AICC declares you to be a threat, then there ain't much you can do to fight it.

Course, they ain't exactly a thriving, well-funded organization here on the Frontier. Innates weren't all that common back in the old world, not in the U.F.A at least, and them far-sighted politicos who arranged all this didn't think things would be different on the Frontier. They was wrong, so the AICC is overworked and underpaid even more than most government grunts, which is why we got so much time to work with Frowny before he gotta take his exam. Does mean that most agents are overworked and likely jaded from having seen all the damage the worst Innates have done, so I wouldn't count on any softballs being lobbed their way if Astrid should chain melt a bunch of faces or Elodie Wildshapes and slices someone apart.

Or worst of all, if Chrissy should kill someone with a Big Restricted Spell.

Sweet as it was for her to ask if them mafiosos were bad men before doing anything about it, I'm getting real antsy seeing her be so… proactive with her Spells. Almost like she's eager to use them against some bad men, if only to protect me and her friends, but I'd really rather she didn't. In a reasonable society, they'd see that she acted against a threat and wouldn't nothing else come from it, but we don't live in a reasonable society. Like I said, there ain't no justice in the Federal Justice system. It's about keeping folks line, a modicum of law and order that looks the other way so long as lawbreakers don't go too far. That's why they come down hard on folks defending themselves, because they gotta keep up the illusion of law and order, point at the nail sticking out and say, "That's not normal," before hammering you back down.

That's why I'm so worried about Chrissy. I can speak for myself in a court of law and dodge whatever tricks opposing counsel sends my way with a little help from Mr. Tillman, but Chrissy would answer everything openly and honestly without clarifying a thing. Like if they asked if she felt like she was in danger when them Zampanos boarded the ship, she would likely say no, because she knows good and well she can handle a couple men with guns. Or at least she thinks she can, and most days she'd be right, but that's the thing about Illusions and Enchantments. They'll all or nothing, so when they work, they work really well. When they don't work though? Then you in big trouble, because you done just lobbed a Big Spell and got nothing to show for it.

Either way, I'd much prefer if Chrissy limited her Spells to targeting Abby and Abby only. Even then, we saw good and well how the folks of New Hope reacted when they thought I used a Big Spell against them Harpies, so I'd hate to see what'd happen to Chrissy if they knew it was her. Just like how them mafiosos ain't all that afraid of the lawman, most folks in New Hope are more 'concerned' about my actions than outright scared. With Chrissy though? You can't rightly know when she might make a mistake or maybe even snap, because they don't know her the way I do and can't be expected to understand.

And they won't. They'll kick up a big fuss about how she's a threat to the community, and some AICC drone will likely agree. Psychic Scream is already pushing it, while Command, Suggestion, and Beguile are some of the most reviled Spells for how easily they can be twisted to nefarious means. The first two Chrissy already has, and she's likely to come into the third at one point or another, so throwing in Phantasmal Force could well be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Lucky for us, Chrissy learned that one through her Intuitive ways and could scrap it before the Sheriff's blood test, else I might well have gone and broken her out of jail by now and gone on the lam to keep her free and clear of the AICC.

Because an Innate that's been labelled a threat to society don't got nothing to look forward to besides a lifetime in chains, if not necessarily captivity. Chrissy though? They'll take one look at her and claim she ain't in her right mind, so they'll lock her up and say it's for everyone's safety while treating her like a goddamned criminal for no reason other than fear. It's all a hold over from World War Two, as Innates were made out to be the big bad boogeymen of the war who committed all sorts of horrific war crimes. Which was true, but plenty of normal people did the same using Spells they learned the regular way or weapons crafted by Arcanists in a lab, and don't no one say anything about locking those folks up.

So Chrissy, Elodie, and Astrid all got more to lose than the rest of us. Well, Harald too, but he's so deep in his books, I'm not sure if he even noticed he was being held hostage against me. Or if he tastes any of the seafood stew he devoured without putting his book down. Can count on him to stay out of trouble at least, but not do anything if the situation turns bad, so I gotta stress this for the rest of them. "Unless you have an ironclad justification for acting," I say, "Then you sit tight. I'm talking a gun to your head, a knife to your throat, or equivalent. Even then, keep a cool head and only target people who've given you that justification. If there are five men in a group, with four shooting and the fifth just holding his weapon, then best go for the four first until that fifth raises his gun, because every Spell you sling will be looked at with the utmost scrutiny to determine if you are a threat to the general public."

Eyeing Elodie who's looking awful subdued, I add, "Same goes for anything you do while Wildshaped. Won't no one care if all you done was swipe a man with your claws, they'll treat that as an extension of the Spell. One banned by the Geneva Conventions mind you, making it extra illegal and seemingly more dangerous to the uninformed." Not sure how it works with her being First Nation and having a free pass for the Spell, or the fact that it's more akin to a Spell-like Ability rather than an actual Spell, but a technicality won't save her from overreach by the AICC. "Also, if you already Wildshaped and someone raises a weapon at you, you still might get in trouble if you hurt them, as an argument could be made that you looking the way you do with all them claws and fangs could be construed as a threat."

It's as ridiculous as it sounds, and I hate having to be the one to lay down the law. I get the necessity for policing dangerous Innates. I do. What I don't get is why the Feds are allowed to treat some Innates like criminals before any crime has been committed. This ain't even about innocent until proven guilty. It's about proving you ain't a criminal just because you got a certain Spell or three in your possession, Spells you can't get rid of even if you wanted to, and that ain't right. You can't prove a negative, because that's not how things work, but it is when it comes to Innates. That's why Aunty Ray always been real careful about teaching Tina and Chrissy both the ins and outs of the laws. It's no different from the careful games I gotta play to avoid getting drawn up on murder charges, only ramped up to eleven because of general anti-Innate sentiment that don't no one care to change because Innates are such a small percentage of the population.

Much higher here on the Frontier, but still a definite minority. Back in the old world, their numbers were dwindling worldwide, and not without reason. When technology can do almost anything magic can and your safety was mostly assured, why risk your health, sanity, and freedom by eating a Spell Core?

"It is all so very complicated, yes?" Elodie declares, looking all sulky and pouty as she buries her face in Stella's feathers. "Make it simple."

"Can't do that Ella-dee," I say with a smile. "The Accords are complicated, and Federal Law even more so. Best I can do is tell you this: unless your life is directly threatened, then you don't act unless I do. Even if I do, you're better off taking cover than anything else, because I can handle myself just fine. You just keep yourself safe and everything will be alright."

Ain't entirely true, but for Elodie's purposes, it's the best I can do. As for Astrid, she understands everything just fine. The problem is I ain't so sure she'll listen to my advice, and I can see her daddy got the same reservations. I said my piece, so the rest is for Gunnar to manage, as I can't be held liable if she flies off the handle. Would hate to see it happen, but I got enough on my plate with Elodie and Chrissy, with the former still trying to wrap her head around things and the latter showing no signs of having understood the nuance of everything involved. Might be best to avoid people wherever we can, but half the fun of travelling is trying all sorts of different cuisines made by different chefs. Even if the meal's got the same name, people from different areas on the Frontier might use different ingredients to recreate those dishes, leading to a whole lot of variety and a good reason to try everything at least thrice.

That's the only way to get a general baseline of what the dish should taste like after all, as there's bound to be some overlap between three different approaches.

Won't be making no stops again any time soon, though maybe things will be better downriver once we get away from New Hope and Riverrun both. With that in mind, as soon as we clear of the press of ships moving from Lake Last Chance to the Wayfarer, I give everyone a warning as I open up the sails to pick up speed and cover as much ground as possible. Don't take long to get us going at a fair rate of knots, and the scenery starts flying by as the central currents carry us away along the Wayfarer. Being a catamaran, it's not as bumpy as it could be, but we're still skipping over the water a fair bit which makes it hard for most to keep their footing. Ain't no surprise to see Elodie loving every minute of it as she runs this way and that to take in all the sights, while carrying Stella and Terrance both mind you. Meaning she don't got her arms free to steady herself, but she moves across the bouncing deck like an experienced sailor without so much as missing a step.

It's all too easy to forget given her silly and guileless ways, but Elodie is no less physically adept than Battle-Monk in training Jinfeng. What's even more interesting is how they went about it in vastly different ways. Jinfeng's mastery of her physical form comes from rigid training and ascetic control, utilizing precision and economy of motion to strike with minimal effort for maximum effect. It's all very cut and dry, nothing fancy, just proper movements and countless hours of practice, so much so that I was able to copy her movements after experiencing it only once and almost pull the same move off against Ao Tian.

Were Jinfeng here, she'd no doubt match her steps to the movements of the ship and flow across the deck seemingly without effort. Elodie on the other hand is all instinct and intuition. There ain't no deliberate timing or economy of motion in her movements as she strolls across the rolling deck with carefree ease. The ship is rolling, and she most certainly is getting thrown off by it, but she simply adapts and thrives with almost no attention paid to the efforts she's putting in. It's a little bit of action and reaction, whereas Jinfeng would be all premeditated action.

It's the difference between someone who does math using a mental abacus, and someone who just knows the answer off the top of their head. Both are impressive, but I'd say it's easier to learn the first, as opposed to just getting good enough at math to do the second. Elodie's display here ain't something I can replicate without years of dedicated practice, similar to Carter's movements when he fought off that Abby attack. Man was running, jumping, and cartwheeling all about, but it wasn't some routine he'd practiced thousands of times before. He was just moving in ways I could never copy because he's so familiar with his body that he was able to move in ways that almost seem supernatural. I'm not talking like a gymnast of acrobat; I'm talking like contortionists who got the same bones and muscles as the rest of us, yet can do things only a few can ever replicate for reasons I can't rightly explain.

Stolen novel; please report.

Might be that Elodie don't even need to Wildshape to be a threat. Would be interesting to see her tussle against Jinfeng in a friendly match without any Spells to speak of, and I'm not just saying that because it'd be a sight for sore eyes. I'd like to see it because I ain't so sure who would win anymore. Would've put good money on Jinfeng this morning, but Elodie is quickly changing my mind. She don't got that killer instinct, but she got them feral ones, as I saw firsthand when she carved up that pack of Mudkippers and Merhounds the first night we met. Sure she was already Wildshaped when she did it, but if those instincts can translate over, then Elodie might well be a force to be reckoned with.

Course, she's the only one besides me who enjoys the ride as I maintain our speed along the Wayfarer. Gunnar is the first to call it quits, shakily heading inside to sit with his son because it takes too much effort to stay standing. Astrid follows suit soon after, though not before shooting me a glare that says she thinks I'm doing this on purpose. Which I am, but not for the reasons she thinks. I got no interest in bullying her or her family. I'm pushing the Longhorn Belle to see what she can do while we still relatively safe. Turns out, my ship can really move, already skimming over the water faster than a horse at full gallop on the Highway, and I ain't even used any Cantrips yet.

The key one is Gust, which is like Mould Earth for air. You wouldn't think it's all that big, being able to move a bit of air at a fairly slow speed, but in this case, it's the medium that makes the magic, not the Cantrip itself. See, once you get air moving, it tends to want to keep moving, because conservation of energy and all that. Ain't much friction in air, so you can easily get a current going that'll almost sustain itself once enough air gets moving. Do that once, and you can put a little more wind in your sails, but do it several times by placing your moving currents in areas where they won't interfere with one another, and you can double, triple, or even quadruple the windspeed moving in a certain area.

Course, one caster can only maintain so many currents since sooner or later, momentum will play out without anyone sustaining the current. I don't know the Cantrip well enough to do any of that, but I would like to learn. Problem is, about ten minutes into my joyride, I spot Chrissy standing there looking all calm and distant like always, with Frowny clutched in one arm and Cowie braced up against her side. It's my partner that gives the game away, because I would've expected to see him hanging his head over the side so he can enjoy the spray and the breeze. He ain't though, which means he got more important matters to attend to, like supporting the white-knuckled Chrissy who's scared as can be but don't want to say nothing for whatever reason.

Breaks my heart to see it, because I think she knows she pushed to come along on this trip and don't want me to regret bringing her. So in an effort to spare her feelings, I gradually slow the ship some until we ain't skipping across the surface anymore, and only then do I mosey on over to see how she's doing. Under the pretext of saying hi to Cowie of course, at which point I give Chrissy a big grin. "Whew," I say, wiping my brow with my sleeve before breaking out a clean kerchief to wipe the spray from Chrissy's face. "That was one bumpy ride. Don't think I can handle that for long."

Chrissy don't say anything, just releases her death grip on the railing to grab onto my arm instead, and I give her cheeks a pinch before wrapping her in a hug. "Sorry about that Princess. I didn't know it'd be that bad, but I had an idea. If I cast Floating Disc and stand on top of it, that should handle the worst of the bobbing and heaving since the Spell takes time to adjust to whatever's underneath it. Won't be fully steady, but it should be close enough." While explaining all of this, I pull out what I need to cast the Ritual and gently detach myself from Chrissy so I can Conjure a Force Disk up. "I'm a little worried it won't work all that well, and I'll fall and hurt myself while trying to stand on it and sail the ship. You think you can help me out and take this for a test spin?"

Don't need to ask her twice, as she steps up onto the invisible pane and promptly collapses into a side seated posture. Cowie sticks close to her while Frowny snores in her arms, no doubt all tuckered out because he used up all his Spells again. Probably in response to all the strangers on the boat. Didn't see it happen, but I'm thinking he casts Ablative Armour every time he feels threatened and puffs his chest out. Which makes me real glad he ate that Core instead of say a Bolt or Blast Core. I leave guns stashed all around the place just in case I need them, and while a kiccaw would have to crack it open and do some finagling to get at the Core, the chances of it happening ain't zero.

Slim to none perhaps maybe, but never zero, as they be persistent little birdies. Not like Cowie who knows not to touch my Aetherarms no matter how tempted he might be. That's Aunty Ray's training for you though, and I fear I'm doing Frowny a disservice by not teaching him right.

I'll do what I can though, and Chrissy does seem to help as he's been much better behaved today than usual. When he's awake at least, though I'm not sure if it's because she's keen to correct him, or if she just gives him all the attention he desires. Even asleep, she cuddles him close while sitting atop my Floating Disc and finally enjoying the ride. Once we get back up to speed, the invisible platform keeps her more or less steady and looks right proper comfortable. So comfortable she even tugs on my sleeve to get my attention before signing a request. Don't know why it is she doesn't just ask out loud, but we've asked before and she don't got no real answer than because she don't want to. No matter though, because ASL lets her 'talk' just fine as she asks if I can tether the Disc to Cowie so he can bring her around the deck.

A request I happily fulfil before sending Cowie out to play with Elodie. He ain't nowhere near as graceful as the green-haired girlie, but he tough even as a calf and can handle a spill or three. Has a whole lot of fun doing it too, and the three of them get to playing the day away and just having a grand old time. As for the Askefjords, Harald acts like he don't even notice the boat beneath him as he reads the day away, while Gunnar and Astrid Conjure themselves Floating Discs to sit on after seeing how well it works for Chrissy.

Course, what they don't see is how much practice and familiarity I got with the Spell, which means keeping it stable atop an unstable surface ain't as easy as it looks. I've been using Floating Disc as a means of travel for years now, and snowboarding for even longer because it hurts less when you fall off your Floating Disc and land in snow. Gunnar don't strike me as the snowboarding type, and I don't think Astrid's ever done any sort of athletic activity in her life. While she's not as bad as her brother, she's a right proper house mouse who likes to keep her nose buried in a book. That said, she's sharp as a tack she is, as she figures out the trick to keeping the Floating Disc stable right quick even though I myself ain't of much help. It's hard to describe is all, like… twirling a pencil between two fingers. I'm sure there's a trick to it, some sort of equation that can tell you exactly where to place your fingers for any given length, weight, and thickness of pencil, but I don't know it. I just go by feel, move it around a bit until I find the sweet spot, and after doing it for so many years, it's pretty much second nature.

Feels bad I can't be of more help after seeing Gunnar struggle with it for the better part of an hour before giving up and sharing Astrid's floating Disc. Prickly and pouty though her mouth might be, she's sweet as molasses when it comes to her daddy and brother. Dedicated too, as soon as she's settled, she gets to tinkering with her Etching wand and carving circuits into what will hopefully one day become the shell of her skitterbot Automaton. She's making good progress too far as I can tell, though she got issues with confidence as she keeps coming out so I can check her work. I'm more than happy to, but truth is, I only know a little bit more than she does, and that won't stay true for much longer. Even then, I can't tell if her Etches will work until they're powered up for the first time, and I tell her as much.

"Don't test it on the boat though," I shout, as she uses her hands to propel her Floating Disc across the deck and back towards the safety of the interior cabin. "In fact, don't test it close to anything flammable either. I mean it! I ain't kiddin'." My first prosthetic didn't blow up, but that was more luck than anything else, and I made sure I'd be safe if it did. You'd think a family of four with less than thirty fingers between them would be more cautious about things that go boom, but they're all shockingly cavalier about it. Especially Harald, who's only still reading because I forbade him from conducting Alchemical experiments on board when I saw he'd packed a whole lab kit to bring with him.

An odd bunch of ducks the Askefjords are, each and every one of them. Gunnar is a brilliant Alchemist who makes some of the best products around, but he falls far short of the stereotypical image of an Alchemist we all got in our heads. You know the type. A mousey academic who's probably fussy and fastidious to boot, because you don't want to get your measurements wrong when it comes to Alchemy. Or at least that's what I learned from all them plays, but the truth couldn't be any more different. Just like popular culture got Diviners all wrong, them writers didn't do no research when coming up with their Alchemists. Take measurements for example. They might be important in Chemistry, but like Gunnar once so emphatically told me, Chemistry and Alchemy are not the same thing.

Chemistry is all about mixing things together in the right proportions and not getting blown up in the process.

Alchemy is all about mixing things together and sometimes getting blown up even when you get everything right.

Which explains why Gunnar ain't all that meticulous or methodical. Fact is, he's kind of a graceless slob, one who spilled stew on his shirt several hours ago and still ain't noticed yet. Or he did and just doesn't care enough to wipe it away or use Prestidigitation to clean himself up. It's a wonder Harald and Astrid ain't as slovenly as he is, and a damn miracle he got a daughter willing to not only put up with his unkept ways, but also pick up after him. And her brother while she's at it, and seeing what Astrid goes through over the course of the day, I can understand why Gunnar insisted we bring her along. If we didn't, I'd've kicked both father and brother off of my ship for being downright disgusting.

Didn't neither of them wash up the jars Mr. Serrano ladled his stew into, or the cutlery they used to eat it. Both like to spread out while they study, with Gunnar scattering pages willy nilly with no concern for keeping things in the proper order as he scrawls out notes and formulas in various different books while doing some sort of calculations it looks like. Or keeping my tables ink free as he taps his pen against the wood while thinking on what to write next. Harald don't take as many notes, but he do jump from book to book. Which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have so many of them, two whole chests jam packed with them and just a single rucksack stuffed with clothes. To make matters worse, he got no system for organizing his books, which means every time he wants to read any particular one, he gotta dig through the whole pile to find it. Then he gets to reading, while leaving books strewn all about the floor and living space.

Which is where Astrid comes in, pausing her own studies to tidy up after her brother and father every hour or so. Does it without so much as a peep too, though she do pout through the whole thing. I can't blame her either, because by the time she's done tidying, Harald and Gunnar have already made a mess of things again. She's not cleaning up; she's fighting a losing battle against the mess her brother and father generate by sheer virtue of their existence and doing just enough to keep it from getting out of hand. It's amazing to watch both men just become utterly unaware of what they're doing or Astrid's presence hovering around them to grab what books and pages she can before putting them away. Then she goes right back to her own work, Etching away at her frame or popping over to ask me a question while Gunnar scrawls things on the back of her Floating Disc.

So yeah. Odd ducks. Then again, might be that's how you gotta be to understand Alchemy. It's a complicated process, infusing Aether into a physical medium so that it can act as a metaphysical pipeline for the flow of Aether in the material world. This is different from an Etch, which is a physical pipeline for the flow of Aether in the material world, which explains why potions are so much more unstable and why Astrid rolled her eyes when warned her not to test her skitterbot on my boat.

It'd be like someone handing me a kid's slingshot and telling me to be careful. Yeah, you can do some real damage with a slingshot, but I been handling Aetherarms ever since I was eight, so I know how to stay safe.

All in all, we got ourselves a strange little group here. Three reckless Alchemists, one whimsical Wildshaper, a Princess mostly locked away inside of her own head, and me, a rootin', tootin, shootin' gunfighter and Spellslinger with anger issues and an itchy trigger finger. Who also turns out has become the dedicated cook of the group by virtue of the fact that don't no one else knows how to work a stove. Elodie I can understand, as she's wont to eat raw clams and dried roots when the mood strikes her, but I get the feeling Miss Alice spoils Astrid the same way Astrid spoils her brother and father. That's why even though Astrid can identify hundreds of different plants on sight, she can't tell the difference between a side of pork and a side of beef. I don't mind though, because while I ain't one to cook for myself, I'm more than happy to cook for others. Especially Chrissy and Elodie, who are right proper appreciative of my Sailor's Pasta, which is a lot like Hunter's Stew except I made it on a boat.

And added pasta, because the first harvest of breadroot come in after the winter so I don't gotta conserve my flour anymore.

Salted pork, smoked sausage, pearl beans, rehydrated allium root, and jarred caddishes, with a couple old potates to bulk it out, that's the base of my sauce, and when it comes time to add the pasta, I let it simmer for longer than usual to really soak up all the flavour. To top it all off, I add a whole bunch of grated cheese courtesy of Momo who needed milking before her calf came in, and with the addition of fresh baked bread with allium butter, we got ourselves a proper travel meal.

"We made good progress today," I say, sitting up on the side rail beneath the setting sun with Chrissy and Elodie both. "Almost two-hundred klicks as the crow flies from Riverrun already. At this rate, we'll make it to Thunder Bay in five days flat." Which was what I figured, but I ain't ever pushed my ship to full speed before today, so I wasn't entirely sure if the salesman was being honest about her specs. Glancing over at Cowie who's stretching his legs and doing his business on shore, I say, "We'll need to set a watch though. I'll take second, while Elodie, Astrid, and Gunnar can spit the rest in rotation. Sound good?"

Tugging on my pants to get my attention again, Chrissy signs, "I help."

Brings a smile to my face it does, and since she's feeling so proactive, I say, "How about this. You take watch with Elodie and keep each other company. That work for you?" Which'll hopefully keep the green-haired girlie from falling asleep, though it might have the exact opposite effect.

"Okay," Chrissy signs, which just goes to show she's serious about this. If all she wanted was to play or spend more time with me, she would've asked to take watch with me. Then again, it might just be that she don't relish the prospect of sleeping four hours, coming awake for four hours, then going back to sleep again. That's why I take second watch after all, because it's the least pleasant and most dangerous time of night, and I leave it to the rest of them to decide who goes first. For tonight, Astrid will take first watch and Gunnar third so Elodie and Chrissy can sleep through the night, which works just fine for me. As for Harald, I don't even try to include him, because putting him on watch duty might as well be leaving us open to attack.

He knows it too, and don't take no offense or feel any shame. Or give any indication that he's listening even, as he done gone ashore to run a few Alchemical experiments after a long day of study. Not far enough for my liking, as there's barely ten meters between him and my anchored boat, but Gunnar told him to stop there when he saw that I wasn't gonna go with him. Sure, I signed on to protect them, but I also asked Harald to wait until I was done eating. He couldn't even wait until I was done cooking, which is why his portion is still sitting on the stove. He's safe enough though, as he got Cowie there to watch his back, and I can cover him from anything coming out of the forest, while anything coming out of the water would attack us first.

Yeah, we in the wild Frontier now, which means there be Abby about. My daddy cleared out every Proggie within 25 klicks of New Hope, but that's a small drop in a very big bucket. Everyone talks about how things are safer out west, but you gotta remember that's only in comparison to the Eastern Front, where we got the badlands, the Divide beyond it, and the Coral Desert to the north. Makes for a wide-open area where Abby don't exactly reign supreme, but got a strong foothold in the area as is the case with the Coral Desert. So sure, things are safer here, 200 klicks west of Riverrun, but it's still the Frontier after all, so you can't ever take your safety for granted while out on the open road.

River. Whatever.

Since Harald looks like he's settled in for a long haul, I deliver him his dinner using a Mage Hand, though I come up a little short. Takes a bit of doing to get his attention, but he comes to soon enough and receives his dinner with his flaming Mage Hand. It don't actually burn anything; it just looks like it's on fire, whereas my missing right hand feels like it's on fire. Bringing it out for five hours and doing all the stretches didn't help much, but since Uncle Art said the pain was all in my head, I do what I can to power through it and will the pain away.

Doesn't work in the slightest, but I been trying extra hard to go without after I saw how quickly I went through all that Red Sun Balm. Got a fresh tin in my first aid pouch that's oh so close to hand, and the temptation to reach in and grab it is almost overwhelming. Thing is, there ain't much privacy on the Longhorn Belle, and the last thing I need is for Astrid or her daddy to think I got a problem.

I do. I got a pain problem, and the Red Sun Balm makes that pain go away for a little bit. Yeah, I know Astrid said it can be addictive, but it ain't like I'm chasing the rush. All I want is for my hand to stop hurting, so that hardly seems like an addiction.

In the end, I manage to power on through for a little longer yet with help from Power Word Endure, enough to even smile when Chrissy brings out her fiddle and plays a few songs for me to sing along with. Never really understood why Chrissy don't like singing, as she got a voice like an angel same as her sister and mama. Leaves me to sing solo though, as Elodie don't know none of the words to the songs and just watches me sing instead, with big moon eyes that make me almost forget how her daddy could dismantle, dismember, and disappear me in three seconds flat if he was of a mind to.

Apparently, being a sorta-sister only protects Chrissy from my amorous affections, as my lower brain still sees Tina and Elodie as fair game.

And every other mildly attractive woman in my life to boot.

Still got a deep yearning for Josie, but that don't stop me from thinking about other women too. Sarah Jay yeah, and Kacey and Gabriella too for no reason besides they pretty. Jinfeng's big, round eyes feature prominently in some dreams, and Elodie's green ones too. I also been extra harsh on Astrid because I know she got a bit of flame for me and I don't want to complicate things even though she's a lovely woman with pouty little lips that I wouldn't mind tasting. Even that Who Die girlie shows up every now and then with her lovely blue hair and smouldering eyes, ones that haunt my dreams even though her daddy killed mine.

It's Noora who I dream of most often though, right after Josie. For most people I care about, it's out of sight, out of mind. Even Tina, Chrissy, and Aunty Ray sometimes, though I still think of them every now and then. With Noora though? Every time I find a bit of peace and quiet, or when I sing a sappy love song like Hungry Eyes, I find myself thinking of her and Josie again. Didn't escape my notice that Noora told me her intended destination was five-days away by boat. Now, my catamaran is pretty small and fast, so it can make it all the way to Thunder Bay on the west coast in five days flat, but most commercial freight ships would need at least twice as many days to make the same trip.

Meaning that in the next day or two, I might well pass the village Noora is now calling home, or on any day after that between here and Thunder Bay. If that happens, then I thought that maybe, just maybe, I might catch sight of her while I'm passing through. It's pathetic, I know, but I can't help myself from hoping it happens. Hate how we left things off, but wasn't no other choice. Told her I wouldn't stop her from leaving, that I wouldn't do nothing except cry to see her go, and the only way I knew how to hold myself to that promise was to avoid seeing her after the fact. Last time we talked was just before I beat Dave bloody, and the last she saw of me was when I got dogpiled by the other guards.

Hardly an ideal goodbye, but who says goodbye has gotta be forever?

Now let me be clear. I ain't chasing after Noora in hopes of winning her back. Even if we do run into one another, I wouldn't want to open up that can of worms again. Mostly because I know she won't want me back, and I can't take that hurt again. Thing is, even though I know all this in my head, my heart still wants to see her at least one more time again. I just wanna see her smile. That's all. Last time I saw her, I made her cry, then scared her something fierce by telling that fool of a boot to aim for my head. That's how she'll remember me for the rest of her days, our last memory together being one of fear and misery, and I don't want that. I want her to remember all the good times we had, and I want to remember them too.

And who knows? Maybe these last few months were enough to convince her that this sort of life ain't for her, and all she needs is a reason to up and leave.

Ain't likely to happen though. Even if the stars somehow aligned and I found myself face to face with Noora tomorrow, we ain't ever gonna be a thing again. Not in the way I want at least, the happily ever after, American Dream sort of way. You know, big house, white picket fence, two point five kids and all that jazz, the sort of thing I dreamed about having with Josie. Except now, instead of missing her the way I should, I'm dreaming of a life with Noora, except I know she don't want that. Not now at least, and even if she do come around to it in time, maybe not with me.

That's what I tell myself at least, as I drift off to sleep in the hopes that Noora won't show up in my dreams again. Or any other woman, because I still ain't over Josie and don't really want to be. My dreams of her hurt something fierce when I wake, but I can't decide what hurts more. Thinking there might be some chance, unlikely though it might be, to maybe get back with Noora, or knowing there ain't no chance I'll ever see Josie again.

Not in this life at least, and that dream right there is the sweetest of all.