"Okay, now that, that is out of the way. I don't believe I have properly introduced myself, my name is Wastla, I am Vadei's mother as I am sure you know." she said, a small grin coming to her face as her eyes closed a bit.
"I'm Einervaene, and this is Larishazza." I then greeted, doing it as well on my friend's behalf as she still seemed to be in a mood. A mood I hoped she would get out of as this wasn't like her at all.
"Oh? You're Einervaene!?" Wastla then asked me in a cheerful and familiar tone. The kind of tone my own mother made when she found someone who could embarrass me. Which, if Nin was ever to meet her, would probably be him. That is if we remained friends or became something more...
"I am, why? Has Vadei mentioned me?"
"She has!" Wastla answered before she opened a cupboard near her husband. And then, all of a sudden, her arms were full of drawings. My drawings, in fact, each one of them being one of Vadei or a body part of hers. A bright, mischievous smile was now on Wastla's face as she held these.
"You like them?" I then asked her as I wasn't quite sure what to do about this. I had a very firm understanding of what might happen. But it was something else to be confronted with it. It was a mixture of awkwardness and the urge to smile.
"I do, especially these ones!" she said as she showed me the ones her more animalistic body parts inspired. Primarily amongst these, a suit of fluffy pyjamas that would make her look more like an animal. Well, if one was able to look past the intentionally made cuteness aspect of it.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you then, but, I don't have the material to make most of these." I then awkwardly laughed out. Yet, Wastla did not suddenly become disappointed, she just kept enjoying the drawings.
"That's fine, when we finally get home, I can make them! If I have your permission to keep these, of course." she said as her smile beamed so bright you'd forget she was just tearfully begging for our help.
"S-Sure, they're just sketches I did to pass the time. If you want them, take them." I tell her before I smile at the fact someone liked my designs this much. And, that made me curious about my journey to this land. I had made a few drawings in that period, so had that resulted in others taking them for their own? How many places had been influenced by me!?
"Thank you! I'll be sure to put these to good use." she told me as she put them all back in the cupboard. And then, her smile gave way to a frown which directed me towards Larishazza walking off.
"Hey! Where are you going?" I asked my friend as I suddenly went after her. Catching up with her quickly and following her into the washroom. Frowning myself as we walked into the surprisingly empty room. And then, she began to look at the airship's water supply in the room near the entrance.
"I want to see if I can help them..." Larishazza answered with a quiet mutter before she began to sense for magic.
"You want to see if you can make it so that the water is able to safely heal them as well?"
"I want to try... But I don't know if it is a good idea to do so." she tells me as she cautiously moves away from the water tank.
"Can't Vadei alter the contents of the water more accurately? We can get her input if that helps." I then explain to her. Something she slowly nods at before she suddenly walks off again. And, once again, I would follow her through the airship until we saw Vadei again. Who, had not really changed much in mood since we last saw her.
"O-Oh... Can I ask you guys for something?" she asked nervously from her chair while holding her tail.
"Your mother has already brought up your sister." I tell her quickly so we could get it out of the way. Something that made her smile briefly before she got confused by Larishazza's actions.
"What is she doing...?"
"She's trying to alter the magic contents of the water supply. She thinks she might be able to help make everyone better."
"Th-That's right! You're a water user, aren't you?" Vadei said as she jumped out and rushed over to Larishazza. Interrupting her efforts and refocusing them by bringing up several screens.
"I think I am." our friend would then joke before she stared long and hard at the screens.
"I can't alter the properties of the water beyond heating it up or cooling it down. This airship has nothing in it capable of adding or removing magic from the water. It can collect small portions as we travel in order to refill its tanks, but as this was made by wind-magic users..."
"You'll need me to put compatible magic into it?"
"Y-Yeah, I can put some magic into the vents and that, but I don't think it is having much effect as I have so little magic to work with. So maybe, if we do something with the water we can give everyone a bigger boost to their magic reserves!" Vadei explained with hopeful excitement as she fully got into it. Making it all the clearer how much she was worrying for those around her. Especially given how endangered two of her family members are...
"Alright then, let's go help your family and friends!" Larishazza cheerfully chirped before she began to take Vadei to the washroom.
"What about these two!?" I called out to them while pointing at the slavers. The way the others looked at them made me particularly concerned. Even if neither of them was particularly close to me.
Vadei frowned in annoyance before she suddenly gained a mischievous grin, "Bring them! We can test the water contents on them!"
"Well, you heard her." I then told the short duo who seemed happy to go along with it. As I am sure they are more than aware of their current situation.
"You wait. I handle." Heiya's Father told his daughter as he protectively held on to her. With the father, in turn, seeking my protection as we went past the freed slaves. Various growls were directed in my direction but not at me. Yet, they still bothered me either way as they were all still so close...
"Alright, you two, go in." I said while ushering them in. Closing the door behind us and shivering a little at the experience I had just gone through. It wasn't me getting growled at yet it still bothered me!
"So, yeah, try not to make it go beyond this bar." Vadei then said to Larishazza whose arm was once again in the tank. A screen was also before her face with it being clearly marked with a warning as well. A guide for how much magic Larishazza should try and get into the water. Meanwhile, the two slavers were getting ready, with the elder taking up the centre while the younger hid.
Then, all of a sudden, a loud blare came out from somewhere. At first, I had no clue what it was, but looking at Larishazza made it clear what. She had passed the warning threshold the moment she tried to apply magic to the water. Then, all of a sudden, Vadei shot a showerhead at the father, soaking him partially.
"Lower the magic levels." Vadei ordered as she kept the shower head pointed at the slaver. Who, interestingly enough, seemed to be a bit bemused by what was happening. I guess he was expecting worse seen as he had warned his daughter. And, when said daughter stuck her head out in confusion, she got soaked as well.
"AAAH!" she yelped before hiding her face to the backdrop of a cackling Vadei. And, for a moment, it felt like Nin was still here as that is something he would very much do.
The alarm went off again, "Come on... Go lower..." Larishazza complained as she focused on the screen completely. A soft blue glow came off of her arm as she jiggled it about. Though, I had no idea if that was just her moving it or if it played a meaningful part. And, once again the elder slaver was shot at with shower water by a joyful Vadei.
"How about just extracting the magic? Put some in, then slowly take it out at the same pace." I then offered as advice. Kneeling beside her so I could get a better view of the screen.
"But that will take a while." she complained impatiently while also pouting.
"A while that will save lives, Larishazza." I reminded her with a small smile.
"Okay..." she said quietly and slowly before she supposedly gave it a go. And, as we stared at the measurement, we could see it go down. But, as she said, it was going down slowly. So slow, in fact, that despite offering the potential solution, I wanted to rush it.
"No hurry, no hurry-" I began to mutter over and over. Much to Larishazza's annoyance which she directed at me with a close-proximity stare.
"Shhhhhhhhh." she then let out at me in time with the metre which then made a happy bing.
"PERFECT!" Vadei then cheered before she began to just let the shower shoot out at the two slavers. Something she kept up until she could be sure both were fully soaked. And, she even nearly went for me until she remembered my magic type.
"Careful!" I warned while holding an arm out while Larishazza freed hers. A loud clang filled our ears once the tank was secured again.
"So will I have to do this again?" Larishazza then asked as she looked at the red marks on her arm.
"Most likely, their bodies are so desperate for it that they are likely to take it all in."
"It better last until we are back then." Larishazza said as she crossed her arms. Her words very clearly referred to a certain friend of ours. One who we would clearly be spending some time trying to find.
"So where was the last time you saw Nin?" I asked after taking note of Larishazza's attitude. It would be nice if we could be done with it as it does scare me. Nin was strong, but she was far stronger and her acting like Nin when he gets angry was not something I wanted to see.
"The last time I saw him was on the airship before he jumped down. The last time I knew where he was, he was going up the mountain, here." Vadei explained as she summoned a recording for us to watch. A large and mighty flare of magic lit the screen up before we then saw a fuzzy outline of Nin.
"So we follow him through that way then?"
"It would get us nowhere, if Nin didn't want to be found, do you think he would linger there?"
"We might get a hint, no? He is making quite a few stops." I comment while gesturing at how often he stopped. If I was to guess anything, his sudden eviction of all that magic had left him drained of energy as well. Something he is likely to never recover given his location... Which, if we weren't quick enough...
And as I pondered my friend, another watched, "He could be in the same state as your dad." Larishazza then said as she spoke what I was thinking.
"So that just means we have to find him quickly while also trying to find..." I began to say before looking over at Vadei.
"If... If I was to guess anything, he won't be able to go out the way he came in. And, I'm not saying this to be selfish! But, going for my sister and the rest before Nin might be what we have to do. Unless one of you wants to go out past the city to get a headstart?"
"I'll do that, then." Larishazza says before she begins to leave for some reason. Why I couldn't really grasp as we hadn't even started heading towards the city Nin is from.
"A-Are you sure? We have no idea what is out there." I said in order to contend with this statement of hers.
"There's no magic out there, nothing will be able to hurt any of us. Especially me seen as you are all so weak in comparison. Besides, I am better with my magic, I can find him and we can drag him back if need be." she explains rather bluntly in an almost demeaning way. And as I frowned at her, she walked off to another part of the airship.
"Moving on to another topic... Uh, as you can see. We are pretty packed right now. So you might not be able to get a bed." Vadei explains while rubbing the back of her head. The two slavers meanwhile started drying themselves off as Vadei had lost interest in soaking them.
"Do we even have enough supplies for this many people?" I asked her while thinking about how many faces I had seen. Sure, the airship was quite well stocked for us prior. But the prior I am on about just involved six of us, not more than a hundred...
"I did get warnings from the airship's systems about that. It is very much an issue, but, so long as we are careful with our supplies and not being wasteful. We should be able to make it last until we can stock up."
"Wouldn't money be an issue at that point? Larishazza might have paid for our time at that festival, but a few friends having fun is hardly comparable to feeding a village."
"Given the state these lot are in, we could just hunt some weak game in the outer continent." Vadei offers up as a solution. Something I could agree with as me and Nin did have some experience with that. Well, more so him as he and Baltanthan did most of the hunting and food-fetching. Me and Rossie-chira usually just handled the camp, more so me that time, however.
"We would be unlikely to need anything else then? We do have a lot of injured so perhaps so bandages or something?"
"I think with these lot..." Vadei began to say before she looked at the showers once more, "Magic is the best thing for them. Granted, I'm not a healer or anything, but, magic did quite well for you and Nin, no?"
I rubbed my arm that was formerly broken, "Yeah, but me and him were able to bounce off of each other." I explain before smiling. Even if I did not feel the same way as I once did about Nin. That memory of me saving him was something that made me smile a lot. The time we spent together afterwards also stuck itself quite firmly in my head, too.
"Well, in the meantime... I beg of you, don't draw anything with me on it, please! Mom has been showing off each one to me at regular intervals. All she can talk about is what kind of event would make me want to dress up like that." Vadei bitterly and joyfully grumbles which is something that gets a few laughs from me.
"You are making a very sound argument for why I should make more." I tell her, giggling at the end as I wanted to see more of Wastla being a mother to Vadei. In fact, I was happy to help her pester Vadei as much as she wanted.
"No!" Vadei moans before she checks the door. Her ears twitched at the slightest sound she heard.
"You haven't seen your mother for so long and you want to avoid spending time with her? Vadei, I'm shocked!" I say while putting a spread-out hand on my chest. Showing off my bemused expression to Vadei as she took offence.
"I have been spending all the time I can with her! It's why she is able to freely travel the airship like you guys!"
"She's even keeping slaves of her own." I say mockingly, possibly going a bit too far by making a slavery joke.
"I just can't trust them to not get themselves blown up outside!" she justifiably points out, fully aware that we all knew about the magic problem.
"Calm down, I'm just teasing." I tell her with a smile before quickly rubbing her hair.
"Don't do that!" she moans as she uses her nails like a comb to smoothen it out again.
But, then, I got all serious once more, "So what is your sister's name?" I then asked her as I never had any siblings. The circumstances of my birth, or rather, my magic, scared my mother away from any more pregnancies. That was one thing I wanted to change about her, actually, to free her mind from the anxiety so I can be a big sister who spoils her siblings!
"Conquei, her name is Conquei. She looks similar to me in terms of the colour of the hair, but her eyes are a darker grey compared to the silver of mine and she also has shorter hair."
"I'll try to remember that when me and you save her then, but, what is she like? I presume you two are quite close?"
She then sighed and looked away, "Given how worried I have been for her, you might be surprised to find out we never were that close. She preferred playing with the boys while I preferred the more girly things."
"Really? I always thought you were quite tomboyish with your behaviour."
Vadei snorted in amusement, "The oxfuinei definition of girly."
"And how does that differ?" I ask as I put on a smile, curious about what that might entail.
"Like, it's hard to explain. Some of it seems to be pretty much the same, you know, motherhood, keeping of the home and all that. But other aspects are quite different. Seen as our noses and ears are a lot better, just competing with them is seen as girly while finding good spots to nap is also girly."
"Having a nap is girly...?" I giggled out while being baffled by such a fact.
"Yeah! It's the process of putting yourself on a pedestal and then having the men try and get your attention."
"No men have come for you then?" I joked as I realise that Vadei does nap a lot when she can.
"Shut up..." she complains while looking away.
"But, I think I understand what you're getting at. Outside of being a mother and keeper of the house, it's mostly a life of relaxation?"
She shrugs, "I guess, relaxing isn't exactly girly or feminine for us, but being active is very much something the men and boys do compared to us."
"That doesn't sound too different to what I have seen in my time at home and on the move. The heavier duty labour is typically considered something for the boys while refinement and magic is considered more girly." I explain to her.
"Isn't magic being more of a girls thing always the case? Like, the term 'witch' is technically a female word despite it always being used on anyone who can cast spells."
"Back home, it was more of the art of casting that was considered feminine. Being able to control magic, however, is masculine, somehow. I'm not too sure how it works. I guess it comes down to where the magic is from. Self being feminine while the land about you is masculine." I try to elaborate for her.
"Ah, alright. But, yeah, to get back to my sister. She was never really one for acting like what she was despite Mom and Dad's nagging related to it."
"She's the kind to do something just to spite someone?"
"I guess, you tell her no and that just encourages her to do it more. The only time we have gotten her to stop anything is when Dad has just gotten sick of it."
"He puts his foot down hard?" I asked, hoping I could at least censor or blunt Vadei's response.
"He will ensure he has terrified her before leaving her alone."
My eyes went wide, "Oh."
"Yet, despite all of that. We still love her as she is family, after all, despite all the problems she has caused me... The reason I ended up meeting Nin was because I stood up for her. She acts tough but she cracks very easily." Vadei admitted as her ears went down alongside her tail which went completely limp.
"Nothing surprising to hear about that, now, let's start our reunion a little better, hm? Let's get your sister and the others and be on our way."
"Sick of the gravel already?" Vadei then joked, something that set me right off given why I was walking in the wastes.
"Don't even start." I told her with a forced smile before we moved on to another part of the airship.
"You two! Stick close if you want to stay alive." Vadei then growled to the slavers who were quick to follow. And very soon, they were huddled up against us as it wasn't long until we found Vadei's new passengers.
"What are we going to do with them exactly?"
"I want to kill them." Vadei answered as she kept her head facing forward.
"But, if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here as you'd have never had your hand... And, well..."
"I wouldn't even be here at all had these two not enslaved most of the people on this airship?" Vadei questioned with a very straight face.
"Yeah..." I croaked.
"Don't worry, we'll wait for Nin to get back here. As, quite frankly, I don't think he will say no to Larishazza given her..." Vadei began to say until we found her in the cafeteria. Right behind the counter with a smile on her face and a bunch of children around her.
"Yeah, I can see why Nin can't say no to that smile." I joked with a small one of my own as we watched Larishazza play with the kids. Her face was covered in powder and other things while others watched them.