Sagar couldn’t decide who he was more attracted to, the princess or the woman engineer.

He checked the needle of the compass built into the centre of Wanderlust’s wheel and adjusted her slightly to keep on course. It was pretty easy to navigate to Farr. He had never been out all that way before, but he knew you basically just had to head East for a long time. That was the direction he was flying them now, into the bright Aibarian sunrise.

Of course, both ladies came with their problems. The princess was an obvious choice, what with her being drop-dead gorgeous, with that golden hair and slender face and full bust. And she had a lot of money. But she was a handful and a half--no, two handfuls, if not more. A right royal pain in the arse. Almost literally. She was basically mad. And being hit by lightning from her hurt. A lot.

So then there was the engineer woman. Sagar had been almost embarrassed to admit to himself that he was attracted to her at first, and truth be told, he still sort of was. She looked too much like a boy, with her short hair and engineer’s overalls and laddish way of speaking. Being attracted to her made him feel all sorts of uncomfortable feelings that he didn’t like to acknowledge. That was why he called her ‘woman’--to reassure himself that he was being attracted to a woman. For attracted to her he was. Something about her swagger, something about her self-assuredness, something about the way she held a wrench and tended so well to his ship’s engine, got his [winds gusting].

He licked his lips, enjoying the play of rushing air moving over them and cooling them where he wet them.

Yes, he promised himself, I’ll get one of them into bed before this ‘Quest’ is done. Maybe both of them. Maybe both of them at the same time. They are sleeping in my quarters after all. How hard could it be?

Never mind that he had never actually had sex with anyone before.

Never mind that he was hopelessly, desperately insecure and under-confident on the inside.

Never mind that his brash skypirate demeanour was just a persona he had had to develop fast when he had inherited this ship and its crew from his father much earlier than he had expected to.

The girls didn’t need to know any of that.

None of the others needed to know any of that.

He tried to push these thoughts away, but they just came back stronger.

A great job he had done of looking after the ship and crew as well… Things had started well, sure, with a few very successful early raids, and then taking down that Imperial ship.

But then it had all gone wrong. Not only had he lost the ship, for a time, but he had also gotten the whole of his crew killed. He winced at the memory, and almost choked up a little, but forced the sob down hard. No way anyone was going to see him cry. It was a good thing he hadn’t been too attached to the crew. It was a good thing he hadn’t been with them that long. But he still felt guilty that they had been killed. He had left them unattended, right after taking down an Imperial warship, and then that Imperial General had specifically attacked his ship in revenge.

Damn that Imperial General. If Ryn hadn’t killed him first, Sagar would have wanted to be the one to do it.

His eye itched underneath his eye patch. He did a quick scan of the deck. The pup, old timer and scumsucker were still holding counsel about something or other at the prow of the ship. The woman was still in the engine room, for now. And the princess had not yet graced the morning with her presence.

Quickly, before anyone had a chance to turn around and see, he slid one hand up underneath his patch and gave left eye a good old itch, then withdrew it again.

None of the others needed to know that he only wore the eye patch for show, to pretend that he had lost his eye in a battle and look tough.

He would never lost his eye in a battle. Fighting was the one thing he was good at. He was good at it because he had practiced at swords with his father ever since he was young enough to hold one. He was good at it because he cheated. He used his air projection abilities to throw his opponents off and give himself an unfair advantage.

Below him, the princess stepped out onto the main deck. She was wearing a pale lilac dress with a purple sash that wove around her chest and waist, and long purple gloves. She had had a chance to restock her wardrobe before they left her home country. Damn, she’s a looker, Sagar thought.

“Morning, princess!” Sagar called down at her before any of the other men got a chance to greet her. “So good of you to join us!”

Nuthea turned and looked up at him with a scowl that creased her exquisite forehead. “I did not sleep well,” she said over the wind and engine noise. “Your bed is not comfortable.”

“Works fine for me.” Sagar said, not able or wanting to stop himself. “I’m sure it would be a lot more comfortable with me in it. You should let me join you in it to show you how it works sometime.”

Casually, almost absent-mindedly, the princess raised a finger and a single stab of lightning leapt from it and struck the ship’s wheel, leaving a black scorch mark.

Sagar let out a little yelp and jumped from fright, losing control of the wheel for a moment, and the ship lurched to one side. He put out a foot to steady himself, got his grip on the wheel back and righted her.

“Rrrr,” he growled.

“What happened?” said the pup, who had run over to see what was going on.

“I was just reminding Captain Sagar here not to overstep his bounds, and to speak respectfully in the presence of a princess. Everything is fine now.”

Ryn frowned up at Sagar, as if to say ‘Control yourself.’

Sagar wanted to blast the boy with a barrage of wind, but he bit back his spell. He was trying to get on better with Ryn. Particularly after that incident when the boy had burned his face. Things would probably go better on this Quest if they could get on with each other.

Why am I on this stupid Quest anyway?

Oh yeah, that’s right. To see if I can get laid with the princess and/or the engineer woman. That’s not going too well so far… But also because I’m going to get paid a tonne of gold for going on it. And because I don’t have anything better to do.

And I suppose that saving the whole of Mid from the Emperor of Morekemia is a relatively worthwhile thing to do as well...

“Sagar,” Ryn called, “now we’re all up, shall we have some breakfast?”

Sagar blinked, shaken out of his rare moment of self-reflection.

“Whatever,” he said. He turned to the speaking tube nearby that rose out of the floor nearby and put his mouth in front of it. “Come on, woman, it’s time for breakfast now! Come on up, and bring some waybread with you from the hold while you’re at it!”

“I’m coming, but you can get your own damn waybread!” Elrann’s voice hollered back at him through the speaking tube. “Pilot, not captain, remember?”

“Rrrr,” said Sagar as he locked the ship’s wheel in place with its mechanism and stomped off to go and get some food.