"What's got you in such a grumpy mood?" Vadei asked me with a brief laugh as she moved away from the campfire. The ruckus caused by the girls of our group went down once Vadei became focused on me. And when she came over to me, I focused on her as she did me. My expression was unchanging before I looked away from her.
"Nothing, but, if you have the time, I would like to speak to you about something." I told her as my mind pieced it all together. What I had been thinking up since our fire first lit up and the darkness came in.
"Can it wait? I'm on a roll here with a firm and steady lead!" she told me as she puffed out her chest.
"CHEATER!" Larishazza shouted at us from the other side of the campfire. Something Vadei took no notice of as she brushed it away with mocking arrogance.
"Do you want your family to wait?" I asked noticeably quieter. A sudden stiffness took over Vadei at that moment. The teasing and messing around with the others was set aside. She was now instead looking at me with caution and a small bit of anger.
"Fine, what is this about?" she asked me sternly as she began to walk into the darkness behind me. Following after her once I had made sure the others were not going to follow us in turn.
"As I already said, your family." I clarified to her as I moved closer to the airship. A claw gently moved across its metallic body once I was there.
"And what about my family!?" Vadei nearly growled out as her head, ears and tail rose in aggression.
"I've had a look around, Vadei. Earlier while I was sorting out my magic and back when I was just idly wandering around."
"Get to the point!"
"Just about to, see, one thing I have noticed is the gravel and the air. You can tell, can't you?" I said as one of my digits rose up into the space above.
"There's no wind, yeah. Now, again, get to the point!"
"The lack of wind means there is nothing to cause the hauler tracks to be covered up or warped." I informed her as I remembered my reaction to seeing signs of vehicles passing through. I was shocked and surprised, but, most importantly, I was optimistic. So long as the winds near my home didn't appear earlier than expected, we had a path to follow!
"You want us to follow the tracks back to your home?" Vadei asked as she stepped a bit closer. Her previous aggression disappeared as she suddenly became excited.
"No, what I want to do is to take the airship there. Just me and you."
"Excuse me...?" she then asked with a rather conveniently quiet yet still harsh whisper.
"The reason the slavers are with us is no longer there. The other two weren't even meant to come along, to begin with, and..." I began to say before I went quiet. It seems like even after stewing on the idea, I still couldn't say it.
"You don't want them to be able to drag you back to Suhurlodst...?" Vadei then asked with her eyes wide open. A display of nervousness accompanying those words and slight gestures. Gestures I responded to with my own sluggishly slow ones.
She then tried to say something else, but I stopped her with a raised claw, "This was always the intention, Vadei. I get home, I stay home. You save your family, then, you take them back to your own home." several loud bangs ending my sentence as I patted the hull.
"No! I'm not helping you abandon your friends! No! I am not doing that!" Vadei told me as it looked like she was about to yell for the others.
"What matters more to you, Vadei!? The safety of your family and people or how the others would feel if I disappeared!?" I loudly asked her in order to make her stop and pay attention. Carefully watching as her mood dimmed and her ears fell. A whimper left her mouth before she looked up at me with a glare.
"How do you want to do this?" she then asked me as she moved closer. Much closer, almost right up in my face actually.
"Simple, when the others go to sleep, turn on the airship and we get out of here."
"If we turn on the airship again we'll set off an explosion that would make them aware of what we are doing!" she told me with clenched teeth as a sharp nail of hers went up near my right eye.
"Not if you start it up in the air." I informed her while I curled my arms up and tightly clenched my fists.
"That would still cause an explosion!"
"But not one the others would be able to get involved with." I said while holding up a single digit. If I could get the airship high enough, all they would have to go on would be a loud bang. Not a trail of bangs highlighting the airship. And, thankfully, the cloud cover was too dangerous for Einervaene to follow us in.
"Alright, when we doing it?" she then asked as our attention turned back to the camp.
"We'll wait for the others to get to sleep, assuming they do get to sleep, however." I say with a frown as I remember how little time I spend sleeping sometimes. All this magic I have had in me since just before I met Vapooliar has made me rather energetic. I often fall asleep because of boredom most of the time!
"We might be able to convince them to get to sleep for now. We haven't even spent a full day in these magicless lands."
"Then we best get back to the camp to convince them, then." I tell her as I begin to head back towards the camp. She quickly caught up and when we entered the light again, she pretended to yawn.
"Tired already, Vadei?" Einervaene asked as her eyes looked over at the spot Vadei went to. A spot she had previously tried to desperately brush clear of dust and gravel.
"Yeah, so quiet down..." she said with more fake yawns before she smacked her lips together. And while she was doing that, I plopped down beside her and closed my eyes.
"Aw... I wanted to mess around some more..." Larishazza moaned before she then fell to the floor and then my lap.
"What are you doing!?" I asked with shock and surprise as this would interfere with my plan to get home. I couldn't have her sleeping on me! Not now of all times, I might have not minded it but this wasn't going to work!
"Getting ready for bed." she cheerfully answered before one of her fingers touched my snout.
"Get off." I nearly squeaked out as I was afraid of this stopping me from getting home in a reasonable manner. She, however, took this a different way and left me be while giggling.
"I'll make sure you get some privacy." she giggled out before she laid down somewhere else.
"That's not why..." I complained before sighing, my eyes briefly catching Einervaene's gaze before I faked my sleep. Only to open my eyes again to see that she was still looking at me.
Einervaene gave me a small smile before she gave me a half-hearted wave, "Sleep well." I barely heard her say before she too went down.
"Right..." I answered a bit late as I kept my eyelids nearly closed to mimic the image of me being asleep. And, as it became darker and darker, quieter and quieter... I opened them up properly again. Slowly and carefully standing up and prodding at Vadei just to make sure she didn't actually fall asleep.
"Is it time?" she asked me as she quickly got up to her feet with my assistance. A series of nods came from me as I looked about.
"It is, find a way out and be quiet about it." I nearly mouthed to her before I began to move across the gravel. Its crunches and pops making me wince with each step. But, thankfully, our campfire was quite big, so, its snaps and crackles kept my noise indistinguishable.
Then, once I was clear of the camp, I ran along towards the airship along with Vadei. She seemed to have climbed the rocks we were by to get out of the camp. And now, she was climbing up the rope ladder before she then stopped. The pair of us expressed our confusion as she looked back at me.
"How will I let you know I am ready to turn on the airship...?" she asked slowly before she looked back at it.
"You don't, you just turn it on as quickly as you can and I'll meet up with you again." I told her as I placed a hand on her and guided her up. Sort of just forcing her along gently so we could get this other with. I was already beginning to feel doubt creep in every time my eyes went near the direction of our camp.
Of the place where the woman I longed for was... The place where my close friends were... The place where the friends I was about abandon were... That place where I would leave them, never to see them again...
I even was starting to shudder as I moved under the airship. And rather than thinking about how I could lift it up safely, I was bordering on tears. Despite how important getting back home was to me, I just could not compel myself to do this. I was shaking and trembling and I was about to scream my frustrations...
But, I did not scream them until I was ready, and once the first tear was out. I let my magic flow and distort the area around me violently. Then, in that single moment as I crouched down to build up energy for the jump. The land around me exploded with a blue fireball consuming it.
And I began to soar high into the air with an airship in my grip and way. And as we got higher into the sky, I tightened my grip on whatever I could. Pipes, loose parts, even turned off and exposed segments. Thankfully, however, Vadei also turned on the airship and it suddenly jolted to a halt.
"I'm sorry..." I muttered as I felt tears fall down my face as I dangled in the sky. Tears that had no time to stay as I suddenly fell down onto the airship...? I quickly figured out what had happened, however, and I move to the edge and grabbed on. Just as quickly moving back to the process of dangling in the air as the airship flipped over again.
Then, I climbed the airship and rolled over the railings. My heart thumped loudly in my ears as I needlessly panted on the decking. A certain tailed woman soon appeared over me with an agitated stare. A huff left her just before she disappeared again.
And once I got up, I followed her in, "You best start praising me or I will kick you off this airship." she then demanded as she threw herself into the captain's chair.
"For turning on the airship or helping me get back on?"
"All of it!" she nearly yells out with wide arms. Those same arms dropped down so she could drum away at the chair with her nails.
"You'll get your thanks once I get mine for helping you save your people."
"Then you'll be waiting a long time." she snarkily snorted out while I looked out at the dark sky. Our airship gently rumbled through it as it set off the magicless air in our way.
"Keep us moving for now, I'll go down to check if we are on the right path once day breaks."
"And what if we miss the tracks by that point!?"
"We keep an eye out for a mountain range instead, one with a city shaped like a bird cage." I told her as I leaned forward. Sighing the entire time as my mind shook about with fear and anxiety about what would happen and what I had done.