Beyond the Endless Sky

Chapter 16

Clarissa was happy for a reason to leave Captain Locklear's company.

As a child of the Monastery, Clarissa wouldn't be a wholly inappropriate target for the captain's ire. She was, after all, a representation of his clearly complicated relationship with her home. A relationship strained by a defective device, the implications of which Clarissa knew she didn't understand.

What she could deduce suggested the box contained something that could not be allowed out. The captain's gallows humour was curiously specific, and being attacked by pirates in the forests of Volante hadn't brought out the controller fear he showed now.

The mystery of the box's contents made Clarissa wish she had paid more attention in class. Not that anything she had learned yet covered the shield's power source, or physics enough to make an educated guess.

She tried to push her frantic thoughts back as she stomped her way across the hall. Walking with magnetic boots was still strange, and she didn't trust herself to attempt some of the maneuvers Mercy had used. So she plodded across the hall until she reached her room.

She picked out a warm coat and a scarf, wrapped a hat on her head and a pair of goggles over her forehead. Only after that, and taking out a pair of gloves and checking to make sure her harness still worked, did she make her way down the rest of the hall, to Yannick's door.

She knocked twice. "Yannick? It's Clarissa. Are you awake?" she asked, just before the handle moved, and the door began to swing open.

She helped pull and took over outright when she saw Yannick's arms laden with equipment. Two telescopes rested on his shoulder, a satchel was slung over his shoulder, and he was dressed warmly. "Oh, uh, Clarissa. Hi," he said.

Clarissa smiled, relieved to see him. "Captain said we'd need a new course, since we're not riding the whirlwind. I thought I'd come and tell you that, but it looks like you already know."

"It didn't feel like the Whirlwind. But it's nice to know for certain. Good to see you, again," Yannick said. He turned his head away during the last sentence and made a show of scratching his head. "I could, uh, use a hand. Carrying all of this."

Clarissa nodded and extended her hands. Yannick handed her a telescope, shifted the other to the same shoulder holding the satchel, and shrugged his shoulder once to test the load. "That's great. I, thanks," Yannick said.

"What's your plan, Yan?" Clarissa asked, indulging in how relaxed she began to feel now that she was with him. She poked him in the ribs, gently, and stepped ahead to open the door.

"Yan?" Yannick asked.

"It rhymed. What's the plan?"

"Oh. Measurements. Olencia, Volante, the Ruins. Should be all I need to map the drift over the next few days," Yannick said. Clarissa frowned in disapproval, finding the explanation distinctly unhelpful. Much like almost anything Yannick said, everything someone needed to understand him was there. It just did not come pre-assembled for her convenience.

"So you want our position relative to those three islands you mentioned, so that you can get our position to compare to your map. Then you'll plot the island drift and look for the most efficient course to our destination. Right?" Clarissa elaborated.

"That's what I said," Yannick said, frowning. As if finding her a little slow.

Part of Clarissa thought his deadpan snark was cute. Another part wanted to bash him over the head with his own telescope. She settled for scowling at him while holding the door open.

Yannick moved deftly once they stepped out on the deck, setting his safety clips onto a nearby rail without looking at it, as he marched down the length of the deck. He unfolded the tripod as he walked and only stopped when he reached the bow of the ship.