Chapter 19

Unlike her experience at Cloudreach, Maeryn had no issue at all reserving a pair of rooms at the first inn she visited, a well-kept-looking place with a polished sign bearing the name Dancing Dragonflies. Maeryn had actually seen dragonflies before in her time on the surface, and the idea of it made her smile.

The innkeeper, a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard and a long, carefully groomed mustache, took one look at her outfit and blinked in surprise before quickly standing and greeting her. “Ah, good day, Captain. I am Gerald, the innkeeper of this fine establishment. What can I do for you today?”

His voice was cordial, welcoming, bordering on but not quite subservient. It was vaguely disquieting in a way that Maeryn had trouble putting to words. Clearly airship captains were more highly regarded in Zephyrian society than Maeryn had believed, but the thought of a man so clearly her elder treating her like that simply felt uncomfortable.

"Two rooms for three days, please," Maeryn replied after a moment to collect herself, returning his smile. “Next to each other if possible, though that’s not a hard requirement.”

“Just a moment, let me check my records.” Gerald flipped through a book of some sort behind his counter, then nodded. “You’re in luck. I have adjoining rooms on the third floor that should do perfectly. Six bronze per room per night is the going rate, but I’ll let you take those two for ten bronze.”

Maeryn nodded immediately and immediately pulled out thirty bronze coins from her pouch. She had plenty of silver left from Lorn’s bag, and each silver was worth one hundred bronze, so she had no issues at all with the price, even if it was more than double what she’d paid back in Cloudreach. “Done.”

“Excellent. And whom shall I reserve the rooms under?”

“Captain Maeryn of the airship Stonewing.”

Gerald quickly wrote into the book before snapping it shut. “Perfect. I’ll guide you to your rooms. Please, enjoy your stay, and if there’s anything I can do to make it more pleasant, simply ask.”

As Maeryn followed him, she noted the clean, polished wood floors and the faint scent of lavender in the air. It was a cozy place, far from the hustle and bustle outside. Actually, now that she was paying attention, she couldn’t really hear the people outside at all. “Impressive noise cancellation,” she commented.

“Of course! It’s one of our main attractions. Airspire never truly sleeps, after all, and we would be poor hosts indeed if we could not guarantee a good night’s rest,” Gerald replied proudly as they ascended the stairs. “Ah, here we are. Rooms 303 and 304. Here are your keys, Captain. Please enjoy your stay.”

“I will,” Maeryn assured him, and Gerald smiled at her before returning downstairs, leaving her to enter her room. She immediately noted that the bed looked much softer than the one back on Cloudreach, and she laid down on it experimentally. It felt absolutely wonderful, and the price of the room instantly felt more worthwhile. “Guess you get what you pay for, huh. I wonder how many researchers had to experiment with bedding to get beds like these…?”

Now that she had a comfortable place to stay, Maeryn unexpectedly found herself with the entirety of her afternoon free. She flipped through her notebook, but as she’d expected, she’d exhausted everything on her to-do list. She sat up on her bed and looked out the window, contemplating the question as she watched the people pass by, hurrying one way or another towards their destinations.

Maybe she could hire some additional help? Someone skilled at combat, maybe a ranged specialist, to help out when the time came for Dan to do his research close to the Mist? Or maybe a backup pilot for Frankie? Or perhaps even a long-term research assistant so Dan didn’t have to do everything himself.

Maybe. But anyone Maeryn hired would inevitably find out about the group’s origins, and given the anti-Geovan sentiments she’d encountered back on Cloudreach, she was a little hesitant to try. On the other hand, there could be others like Terrance, people who were more interested in resolving the Mist problem than in hating Geovans…

Maeryn grimaced, then stood and dusted off her pants. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to see if anyone’s available and their prices, at least. Maybe Gerald will know more.”

The innkeeper straightened up immediately upon spotting her descend the stairs, and Maeryn had to wonder yet again at the level of respect issued to the uniform. “Captain Maeryn. What can I do for you?”

Maeryn picked her words carefully, trying to reveal only as much as she wanted. “Hello again, Gerald. I might be in the market for an additional crewmember or two. A backup pilot, and a ranged fighter - I mean, a wing-combat specialist,” she rapidly amended, remembering the fight against the Rocs. Any of the wing-combat specialists there would have done perfectly for her thoughts on a ranged fighter on the ground, and it couldn’t hurt to have someone able to fight on Stonewing while she was in the air. “It’s my first time in Airspire, and I was hoping you might be able to direct me to any likely places where I could do some recruitment.”

Gerald nodded agreeably. “Had a couple members of your crew retire, one way or another, I imagine? Happens all the time from what I hear. Your best bet would be to visit the Recruitment Center down the street. Used to be that we had separate places for different lines of work, you know. Airship crew would register at the airfield, general laborers in the market, researchers at Zephyr Research Central. But the Council of Winds realized that it was inefficient, since the researchers frequently needed available people from all of them. Now it’s all centralized. You’ll find just about anybody you might need there, if there’s somebody to be found.”

“Sounds perfect. Could you point me in the right direction?”

“Certainly.” Gerald smiled broadly. “Down the street to the next fountain, make a right, and it’ll be on your left. It’s a pretty wide building, but small - only three floors. Can’t miss it.”

Maeryn nodded, committing the directions to memory. “Thanks again.”

“Of course, of course. Anything else I can do for you, Captain?”

“Not at the moment, thank you.”

“Right then. Best of luck to you, hope you find what you need.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Me too,” Maeryn agreed, then turned on her heel and exited the inn.

It didn’t take long to find the right place, but Maeryn had to stop, eyes wide in astonishment as she took in just how large the building was. Just as Gerald had said, it only had three floors, but those floors were enormous in width. “Just what do they need all that room for?” she breathed. Shaking her head and getting a grip on herself, she entered the building and looked around.

The inside of the recruitment center was even larger than Maeryn had expected, with the walls apparently covered in cork boards, and those boards were absolutely plastered in papers. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of requests on those boards. It was hard to get anything close to an actual count, however, as there were dozens of people inspecting the papers, taking them down to read them more closely before putting them back.

The scent of fresh ink and paper permeated the air, and the sounds of paper ruffling and people shuffling about created enough noise that it would have been easy to get lost in it. There were other airship captains, judging from the uniform, but also people in all sorts of outfits and ages, even children.

“First time?” a kindly voice asked, startling Maeryn. She looked forward, seeing a round receptionist desk with a dozen people behind it. Two of them were deep in discussion with clients, but a kind-looking middle-aged woman was looking directly at her, obviously having been the one to get Maeryn’s attention.

Maeryn rubbed the back of her neck a little awkwardly. “Guess it was a little obvious, huh.”

“Just a little,” the woman teased lightly before she straightened up. “Now, what can I do for you, Captain? Are you looking for crew members, needing to post a request, looking for work, just wanting to browse?”

Maeryn blinked. “Looking for crew members,” she answered after a moment. “A backup pilot and a wing-combat specialist.”

The receptionist nodded. “You’ll want to take a look at the ‘For Hire’ section under the ‘Airship’ category. You see the blue bar above the corkboard against that wall? Anything under that color is related to airships. Light blue is the ‘For Hire’ section, dark blue is ‘Hiring’ advertisements, and the dashed section where it alternates is a request for transport.”

“Oh, that’s really convenient!” Maeryn exclaimed. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. If you need to make a post, just come to us and we’ll work it out. Good luck.”

Maeryn moved towards the For Hire flyers, and quickly realized that the format was fairly standardized. Each paper had the name, age and occupation of the applicant, as well as where they were staying and what sort of pay they were expecting.

“Lean pickings, huh,” a man commented next to Maeryn. Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he too wore the captain’s uniform, though he looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. He was carrying a three-pointed hat - a tricorn, she abruptly remembered - gently under his arm. Was that supposed to be part of the captain’s uniform? Maeryn tried to visualize herself wearing one of those ridiculous hats, and repressed a shudder. She was sincerely grateful that hers hadn’t come with it; she didn’t need to give Frankie more fuel for that ludicrous pirate captain joke. “What positions are you looking to fill?”

“Backup pilot, wing-combat specialist,” Maeryn answered blandly, continuing to browse. She hadn’t found either of those yet - there were a number of airship mechanics of varying specialties, a few ‘stewardesses’ - whatever those were - and several other positions that Maeryn figured only really applied to luxury airliners. Stonewing was small enough to require a tiny crew, and she definitely didn’t need entertainers on their trip.

The other airship captain nodded gravely. “Definitely lean pickings, then. Pilots are hard to come by outside of Zephyr, and wing-combat specialists are usually snapped up by the airfield management.”

“What about you?” Maeryn asked, out of courtesy more than anything else.

“Looking for someone with the right personality to be First Mate.” The man hummed, shaking his head ruefully. “I’d need a few months to train him or her up and get the crew ready for it, but finding the right individual is definitely something of an issue. I’m beginning to think I might have to take someone with no experience at all and train them from scratch.”

Maeryn nodded thoughtfully. “There’s some advantages to that,” she said lightly. “No bad habits to train out of them, for one thing. Might take longer, though, and it’s hard to know whether they’re actually cut out for it.”

“Aye, you’ve caught the thermal there,” the man agreed. Maeryn did her best not to frown at the unfamiliar phrase. He probably meant something like ‘got it right’? “But I’ve been looking for the better part of a season, in different cities no less, and haven’t found someone suitable. I don’t suppose you know anyone you’d recommend from your crew? I might be interested in doing a trade.”

Maeryn shook her head. “My airship’s small, and we’re running on a skeleton crew as it is. Appreciate the offer, though. If I find someone appropriate, I’ll send them your way.”

“Ah, you’re one of the good ones, then. Excellent. I’ll keep an eye out for pilots and wing-combatants then in return. The name’s Captain Jenkins of the airship Breegull. You?” He stuck out his hand, clearly offering a handshake.

Maeryn grasped it firmly. “Captain Maeryn of the airship Stonewing. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. Always good to expand one’s social network. Never know when one might need to call on a favor.” Jenkins smiled. “I will say it’s rare to see an airship captain of your age, though.”

“I get that a lot,” Maeryn agreed with a chuckle. “But when needs must, you have to rise to the occasion, you know?”

“Aye, I understand that perfectly,” Jenkins firmly concurred. “How long will you be on the ground?”

“Depends on what my researcher says. My mission’s to transport him around and get him where he needs to be. But I should be here for at least a few days.”

Jenkins nodded. “Ah. Your man’s catching up on the latest Mist research, I take it, before heading to the surface?”

“That’s the idea.” A moment later, the words registered, and Maeryn turned fully to face the other captain. “How’d you know?”

“There’s a fair few researchers who’ve done the same in recent months.” Jenkins gestured toward the far end of the Airship category of flyers, where the Transport category was. “Carried one of ‘em myself just last week, though he didn’t find anything useful by the sounds of it. I was thinking about taking another one soon, give a prospective First Mate some experience. Besides, the pay’s decent, and the work’s important.”

Maeryn nodded, unable to help the smile that crossed her face. It was wonderful to hear that others were of similar mind to her and her companions. With any luck, Dan would be able to speed up his own work with the other researchers’ results. “That sounds like a good plan,” she agreed. “Might not be a bad idea to take a short contract over the next couple of days. No point in staying idle while I wait for him.”

“Now you’re catching on,” Jenkins praised, pressing a thumb to his nose. “You never know when you might need the extra funds. I’ll let you look around - and remember, any First Mate material goes my way, yeah?”

“Will do,” Maeryn promised before meandering to the Transport category of flyers with a smile on her face. She’d actually quite enjoyed her conversation with Jenkins, and she was rather hopeful she’d see him again. “Let’s see, what do we have…? Too long… too long… no idea where Breezehome is, but it’s probably a lot longer than a few days… Stonewing’s not nearly big enough to transport that much… Hmm?”

Maeryn carefully removed the paper that had caught her eye. It was a request to check on a researcher who had established a small research lab in the mountains nearby. She looked over it again. “Less than a day’s flight from here, from the looks of it. Combat not expected. And we might get some additional research notes. Pay is… three silver. Not bad at all. Yeah, this’ll do.”