A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 30 - Questions, Questions, Questions

The Captain had certainly grown on Aedis.

It had been three days since the Myf attack. Three days since Aedis had spoken with The Captain, and an eventful three days it had been.

At first, the crew was wary of Aedis. Even with The Captains favour, the Cronyp's were less than inclined to trust a man who'd survived the jaws of an Aquatic Myf. For the most part, Aedis was unbothered. The wary glances and length of distance the crew kept him at was of little bother.

Striker and Aedis had made a deal, the kind that was mutually beneficial.

"If you allow us to stay aboard your ship, we'll prevent any further Myf attacks." Aedis offered, and Striker nodded in agreement, shaking his hand, "We also get Oisia back."

That had left a sour expression on Striker's face, but he'd sighed and agreed knowing there was little use arguing.

What had been stressing Aedis the most was Honey.

There had been something in her eyes after the Myf attack, and Aedis felt that the deep trust and transparency they'd been slowly building had lost a support beam and begun to tilt off kitler. He was frustrated, unable to pull her to the side for a second and talk. She seemed bent on avoiding him, and though he didn't quite understand why, he could take a guess. All the half truths and lies were beginning to catch up to Aedis, surrounding him in an orchard of rotting apples and rotting trees. Not just lies about Honey's past, but also those about his own. There were things that came easily, and others that were as strenuous as nailing one's own hand to a wooden post. No matter how much he wanted to pound the little circle of metal he always found himself hesitating, never quite hitting hard enough to pierce into the wood, only causing a bloody and painful mess.

Most of the time Honey was scrubbing the deck, or performing other household tasks Striker said needed to be done.

Either that, or she tended to Copper.

Being able to fly the Oisia had given her a bit of relief. Her and Copper never strayed far from the ship, but she knew the Brisk-Beak enjoyed the liberty once more.

The feeling of weightlessness and wind was freeing in a way that sailing wasn't.

The ship was big and needed tending too. It took effort to turn it, to change course, to keep it moving and afloat and Honey supposed she could appreciate the dedication needed but... Up in the air was different.

Surrounded by nothing but sky and ocean, she could do whatever she pleased. Her time airborne was filled with barrel rolls and dives and swooping arcs that made her hair escape the confines of her braid and tickle her cheeks. The ocean glittered like a steel cut sapphire in motion, reflecting the light of the sun and twinkling with each wave and she leaned Copper into another dive.

The Oisia was so fast she had to duck in an effort to avoid the harsh wind. When she'd reached a low enough height, Honey used all her might to pull back. Copper's wings spread suddenly, and the angle of their flight path straightened as they weaved an invisible slalom across the seas surface. Then, she was pulling up and climbing the distance of ocean to cloud, before Copper was weighless once more and they let gravity pull them back to the earth.

Honey let out a whoop of joy that couldn't be heard from the ship.

Jortías watched with an almost concerned expression as the Oisia in the distance seemed to almost go limp in the air before catching itself and sweeping around.

"She's fine." Zemira sang out, "Honey's such a natural rider I'm almost jealous."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Jortías asked warily, and Zemira shrugged.