And then they had a whole day where it rained. They had to land and hurriedly convince somebody to let them store the balloon in a barn, and then they worried about damaging the thing and drying it out with careful use of fire magic. It was awful. "Educational, anyway," Vonn grumbled. He and Tazo spent the rest of the day trying to fend off livestock, inspect the hardware, and practice spells.

The nice thing was that some of the villagers came to see and touch the airship, letting Vonn give a lecture and say how any of the young people might get to build such things.

#

Late the next day, a lake shimmered in the distance. Wider and wider it loomed on the horizon, confusing Vonn; he'd spent so long focused on the linear paths of the rivers that he hardly recognized it. He shut his eyes for a moment and thought back to the Atlantic Ocean, seen from the sky.

Soon an Aves patrol went up to spot them, and again he helped drop their altitude to something they could more easily reach. But the wind down there was stronger, blowing westward. "Faster descent," Vonn said, hoping to get through that air layer.

A dangerous few minutes later they were in sight of a fort of white stone, looming up on the lake's northwest. A guard blew a trumpet and men swarmed up to a turret to stare, some with bows. Vonn and Tazo waved with desperate friendliness while an Aves came up to spy more closely. Much shouting and confusion later, the airship set down with a thump in a clearing as men yanked it a bit northward by ropes. They'd come dangerously close to both the fort and a cluster of low outlying buildings.

Now that they'd anchored, a squad of ten Human and Aves troops with spears surrounded them. Their captain, a red-tailed hawk by the look of him, glared. "Explain."

Vonn said, "The wind blew us off course, sir. We're travelers from Shieldpoint testing an airship commissioned by Baron Bogstep."

The captain walked around and inspected the hull. "'Bell of Freedom'? Never heard of it."

"Few have," Vonn said, with a note of sadness.

Tazo jumped in. "His lordship the Duke might want to know that this technology exists."

"Yes, he will. And your lord chose to inform us by sailing a preposterous boat right at us with children aboard?"

Vonn said, "I'm a level six Engineer, sir, and my sister has plenty of skill too."

The guard blinked, motioning one of his fellows over to stare at each of them. "Engineer six and Mage five in their highest classes, sir." That was a scanning ability of the class called Inquisitor.

Their captain whistled. "Are you here purely to show up and fly back? Do you have a place to stay?"

Tazo told him, "We're sightseeing and shopping too, hoping to meet with an inventor named Firefern."

"Oh, that makes sense. Stay at the Gull's Rest and expect to give a demonstration of your... boat to some of the Duke's men."

Vonn's stomach fell as he realized these guys were about to study the ship in detail while his back was turned. "Please don't disassemble it, sirs. I'd be happy to explain the design, and it's touchy. Flammable, in some parts."

As he'd expected, he and Tazo got shooed away without parking the ship anywhere he could watch. That at least let him borrow a Human porter who guided them to the inn that the city guards "recommended" for suspicious outsiders.

#

The city of Liiros stretched all along the river mouth that emptied into the lake. It looked like there'd been a bridge but only broken pilings remained. The swampy ground and a swath of sunken land with new shacks in it suggested the Starry River had changed course slightly. Most of the buildings shined in grey and white limestone, often two or three floors tall. A faint smell of chalk reached him.

"Aves style," said Tazo, pointing out rickety bridges between some of the upper floors. Many Aves walked the streets or flew overhead. Humans were the second most common.

Their escort said, "You're here in time for Longflight. I wonder how your flying contraption will go over with the Duke."

Vonn laughed nervously. "What's the Duke like, anyway?"

The man shrugged. "Duke Redwind fought in the war, and he remembers how the lizards got within sight of here. Besides that he's been trying to build this place up as a trade hub to rival Salaford on the far end of the lake. So he might listen to you if you've got ideas."

Vonn wasn't sure he wanted yet another noble's attention, but he nodded.

The Gull's Rest was a compact three-story block of what he thought of as motel rooms with a long mildewed canvas slanting down from the roof to the ground. Their porter set down his bags and told them, "Come and go as you please, but expect an invitation."

Vonn said, "From the guards?"

"From the Duke or somebody under him. Likely after the festival tomorrow, though."

Vonn tried not to show his worry.

#

He and Tazo loaded their backpacks with blueprints and other scientific things. Vonn fidgeted, continually turning away from the task at hand to look through his spare clothing and toys for sale and so on. Tazo was dawdling, too. But she was the first to say, "Let's go meet the Engineers."

Wagons rumbled through the streets on magically smoothed cobblestone. Following one of the more shabby roads led them to a low warehouse-like building of stone and plaster with a new-built set of wooden apartments atop it. The sign read "Steamflower Works" and its doors stood tall. Vonn took a deep breath, then slid one aside.

The Works was built for the bulky Centaurs who ran it. A young man with a wild red mane looked up from working a mechanical drill press, saying, "How complicated a tool do you need?"

"I like them cutting-edge. The name's Vonn, and this is my sister Tazo, from Shieldpoint."

The man's ears stood up taller. "Selen the Alchemist's friend? The engine maker?"

"Both of us, yes."

"Well! With the boat traffic you won't be sailing out of here in the next few days, so --"

"It's fine; we flew."

The Centaur's brain apparently broke. Tazo stifled a giggle. Finally he said, "Can I see?"

"We docked the airship out by a fort."

"That would explain why Pa got called away suddenly."