The Long Route Home

From Lira:

I only made it to the last couple of days of the Faire, but I was glad I got to see what I did. And no matter how hard I looked, I didn’t run in to the Queen or anybody in her retinue.

I guess I really am on my own now.

At least I have what seems to be a relatively stable place to call ‘home’ now; inasmuch as home could be like, a house, with no neighbours, no family, no coworkers. Just Uggla and me. Not even a Disembodied Voice. BrownieCo does deliver here, at least, so I can get decent food in for both of us. I got some of my furniture there, too. But I think the delivery brownie finds me a bit odd. He won’t stay for tea, no matter how hard I try to convince him. He just keeps making excuses about other deliveries.

Anyway.

My favourite thing about the Faire was Avalon. It was like it could have been a city once. I liked that. And there were big stone circles and spirals everywhere.

Predictably, I chose not to do any portal travel. But I’m not sure the cheap, ‘grab a ride from a freight airship cruiser’ idea, though everybody kept saying how cool it was, is for me.

It was a bumpy ride. The crew and the other air-hitchers told me not to worry about all that turbulence. Of course, they also said the rumours that these freight airships cause atmospheric upheaval and lightning storms were false. But then the deck-hand made sure to shout “Mind the lightning!” at me before I climbed down.

Earlier in the trip, I’d had a good conversation with this particular deck-hand, who showed me the disembarking sequence. I was impressed at least by how clean the rope ladder was. “Oh; that’s because we’ve never used it before,” said the deck-hand. “Most of these kids stay with us all the way back to port where there’s a ramp and everything. You’re the only mid-flight drop-off I’ve seen on this route.”

Well. That was encouraging. “Wait: How am I meant to get down from there?” I asked.

“Oh, right. Sorry: I figured you manifested wings like all the other fae.”

I frowned. “No; No, I can’t do that.”

“Right. OK. Um, we’ve got a couple pairs of steam wings, but they’re not cheap. I’ll have to charge you for them. Don’t suppose you’ve got five hundred gold left over after Faire, hm?”

I blinked. “So, what’s the alternative?”

“Um, learn to fly, or go all the way to port with the rest of the kids; portal back from there?”

I coughed up the five hundred. And now I have a pair of steam wings.

I had a bit of a shaky landing. I mean, it’s not like I spend a lot of time in steam wings. This is me nearly falling off my already damaged garden wall. Before you ask, I didn’t do it: it just came that way. I have no idea why.

By that time, the lightning had stopped. Now it was raining, of course. Made the steam tank sputter, which is what I’m blaming the short landing and nearly falling off the wall on.

The deck-hand had made sure I knew I had to let the steam tank cool down before storing it, and luckily the wing blades themselves fold up and can be stored in a surprisingly small, waterproof pouch.

I propped the steam tank on my front garden bench, flipped all the vents on so that it would discharge as much steam as possible (“makes it less heavy when you go to empty the water,” explained the deck-hand), then got ready to go inside and await Uggla’s arrival. Freight ships don’t allow animals, so I had to send him via PetPortal, and that cost an arm and a leg, too: honestly, given what I paid for the steam wings and his portal passage, I could just have booked a proper airship cruiser instead of taking the so-called cheap route.

Well, I’ll know for next time. Now, it’s time to head for my pretty little kitchen, make a nice cup of tea, and then fire up the tablet to look for some display shelves. This little egg I got as a souvenir of Avalon will need a place to live.

Notes & Credits:

Enchantment’s Aetherium Nexus is open! Here’s the stuff shown in this post you can get there:

Lira:
- Dress: Les Encantades, Polly
- Boots: Les Encantades, Polly
- Steam Wings: HarshLands, Brass Wings
Deco & Other Items:
- Airship: Old Treasures, Atompunk Zeppelin
- Bench With Lamp: Aine, Enchanted Bench
- Large Brass Flowers: Esoterica, Sunflower short & Sunflower tall
- Grass: Simply Shelby, Steampunk Gear Wildflower Grass