The Blue Sky stopped a few dozen meters above the ground and the man threw down a rope ladder. Darian shimmied up first, and Theo handed Zenith back his cape before following him up.
When Zenith disembarked, he held out a hand to help Theo over the railing. Theo climbed onto the deck just in time to see the man who'd greeted them lower into a bow to Darian.
"It's been too long, my prince."
Darian thumped the man on the shoulder. "Come off it, Amaro. This doesn't suit you an ounce."
The man straightened and grinned, teeth flashing white against his dark skin. He was tall and lean, with black curls peeking from beneath a colorful bandanna. "Just thought the occasion might warrant a touch of formality. Oh, if it isn't Sir Zenith too. And this is?"
His dark eyes landed on Theo. Theo gulped and straightened, but before he could speak more people came crowding behind the man, putting up a clamor.
One person burst free of the crowd, rushing up to Darian and sweeping into an elaborate bow. Theo blinked, and blinked. If he wasn't mistaken, this person looked like...a giant, man-sized chicken stuffed into heavy robes.
"My liege! It is so good to see you!" the chicken squawked in the voice of an officious old man. "When we heard the jellywhistle, we scarcely dared hope – but to see you again in the flesh, oh, the relief!"
"As always, I only seem to make you worry, Magistrate Guntar." Darian inclined her head.
"Hardly, my liege – oh! Excuse me!" as someone shoved their way past him and flung their arms around Darian.
"Prince Darian! Prince Darian! It's really you!" the person squealed, kicking their legs up and down.
"Of all the – !" Magistrate Guntar huffed indignantly, his feathers bristling. "Fia, how many times have I told you to show our liege the appropriate respect!"
"Sorry, sorry!" the person chirped as they let go of Darian. It might've been a trick of the light filtering through the medusid, but their skin appeared a dusty pale blue to Theo. Plus they were tiny, barely even clearing Darian's shoulder, with huge, glistening black eyes and dragonfly wings frantically flapping behind their back.
"It's no problem," Darian said with a warm smile, patting the person's head. Their hair was dark bluish-green and wavy, rather reminding Theo of seaweed. "Good to see you too, Fia."
More people pushed forward. A huge woman with scarlet dreadlocks bobbed into a clumsy bow before slapping Darian on the back. Someone else ducked beneath her arm, as squat as she was tall, and whose skin was hard and green like jade. She politely curtsied Darian before bustling straight toward Zenith.
"Sir Zenith, are all your systems functioning properly?" she asked in a surprisingly high voice. Just like the rest of her, her hair seemed to be carved from jade, round like a mushroom cap and shading her eyes like a helmet.
"Everything is well. Thank you, Nevy," Zenith said.
"Good to hear. All the same, I'd like to perform a checkup as soon as I can." When Zenith nodded, Nevy turned toward Theo.
Even with her eyes hidden, Theo felt her attention sharpen like a dagger. The next thing he knew, she was squeezing his wrists with rock-hard hands and pelting him with questions.
"Are you a human? Oh yes, you can't be anything else. My, what a strange color your hair is! If you wouldn't mind, could you tell me everything you know about Earth technology? I hear you have devices called...pa-hones? Would you happen to have one on you?"
"Um, er, ah, uh," was the best Theo could get out.
Suddenly Nevy's crushing grip around his wrists vanished. Theo reeled, blinking at the sight of the huge dreadlocked woman dragging Nevy away by the back of her jacket.
"Seriously Nevs, have some tact," the woman said, shaking her head. She grinned apologetically at Theo. "Sorry about that. Nevy loses all reason when it comes to gadgets. Anyway, I'm Kress, first mate of the Blue Sky. Nice to meetcha."
"Y-yeah, same here," Theo stammered. "I'm Theo Hua."
"My wizard." To Theo's surprise, Zenith stepped up to his side. There was no mistaking the possessive pride in his voice.
Theo blushed. Kress grinned wider. "That so? Congratulations, Sir."
"If you could spare a moment, would you please allow me to examine your pa-hone?" Nevy piped up, though she made no effort at escaping Kress' grip.
Theo was spared from answering when Darian stepped forward and clapped her hands. Just like that, the bubbling chatter trickled away and all eyes turned toward her. Seeing her like this, proud and confident on the deck of the Blue Sky, Theo thought she'd never looked more in her element.
"Now that we're all here," she said, "it looks like some introductions are in order. Everyone, this is the crew of my skycraft, the Blue Sky. And these are the allies I've found on Earth."
"I'm Amaro." The tall man with the bandanna stepped forward, flashing a salute. "Captain of this here rig. Welcome aboard, everyone."
Kress came up by his side, arms behind her head. He was tall, but she outstripped him by at least two heads. "Kress, first mate and weapons master."
"Nevy, mechanic." Nevy looked like she was about to say more, but Kress slapped a hand over her mouth.
While Nevy squirmed, the tiny youth darted forward, flapping the ends of their large poncho. "I'm Fia Mare. I'm the ship's boy, I guess, except I'm not a boy. Not a girl either. Just Fia! Hope we'll all be friends!"
And here Theo thought he'd never meet anyone more energetic than Sam.
"Welcome, all." The huge chicken bowed again. "You may address me as Magistrate Guntar, Prince Darian's first minister."
Her first minister was a chicken. Well...probably a were-chicken? At any rate, Theo shouldn't judge.
"How wonderful to meet you all." Meg took charge on their side, bold as ever. "I'm Meg Ruby."
Introductions passed around the group. Ryan puffed out his chest as he said his name, but visibly deflated when nobody showed any sign of recognizing it. To Theo's surprise, Sam didn't bounce around delivering an introduction to put Fia's to shame; instead, she practically mumbled her name.
Sam had seemed pretty down these past few days. Guilt squirmed in Theo's stomach. Well, of course; as exciting as she might have found this at one point, she'd never asked to be here. Theo's selfishness had dragged her into it.
Soon, he promised. Soon she'd get to go home.
Ryllis was the last to introduce herself, just grunting her name. "Is that everyone?" Darian said, glancing around. "Oh, hold on." She craned her neck back. "That would be our symbiont, Eulyn."
Who? Theo followed her gaze up to the center of the medusid's bell. While the thicker, sturdier tentacles on the outside of the medusid held up the craft, the thinner tentacles were folded up beneath the bell. And – Theo squinted – they seemed to be wrapped around something.
No...someone. A woman, it looked like, ghostly pale and her white hair descending in a curtain around her face.
"What the fuck is that?" Ryan blurted, tactless as ever.
Meg kneed him in the back, but aside from a twitch in his eyebrow Amaro didn't look offended. "Like the prince said, that's Eulyn. As the symbiont, she keeps our medusid nice and fed with her Levia. Without her, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere."
A faint smile crinkled his dark eyes, at once fond and a little sad. Theo wasn't sure, but he felt like that smile was as much for the medusid as for Eulyn.
Theo stared at Eulyn, who remained still and silent as if fast asleep. He couldn't imagine choosing to live a life like that himself.
A scoff cut through the air. Theo lifted his head, alarmed, to see a slender figure leaning against the cabin near the back of the deck.
"Oh, right…." Amaro rubbed the back of his head. "I knew we were missing someone. There you are, Cay."
The person tossed his head, slate-gray hair swirling around his face. "Welcome back, my liege," he said, not even looking at Darian, before kicking open a hatch at his feet.
"Cayelci!" Guntar huffed. "Where do you think you're going? Come back and properly introduce yourself!"
"Yeah, it's awesome!" Fia cried, pumping their fists. "Look how many new friends we've got! The Infernal Legion won't stand a chance now!"
Sam jerked and gasped softly at that. Darian exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Meg before turning back to Fia. "Well, we're not all staying. Sam and Ryan need to go home, so first things first we're taking them to the nearest portal town."
Sam hung her head. Ryllis moved closer to her, but Cay let out a louder scoff.
"I told you all along we didn't need wizards, my liege. What use are they if they're just going to run back to Earth like cowards?"
Though his voice was quiet, the disdain in it sliced like a razor. Then he whirled around, white robes flapping, and disappeared through the hatch.
"Hey! HEY!" Ryan yelled, lunging forward. "What was that? Say that to my face, you – "
While he raged, Theo turned toward Sam. Should he say something, try to comfort her?
He stepped forward, but before he could speak, Amaro let out a noisy sigh and rubbed the back of his head again. "Sorry about that...that's just...kind of the way he is. So yeah. That's Cay, our medic and cook."
"Never mind him," Darian said briskly. "Now that we're all here, we've got business to attend to."
"Yeah, yeah!" Fia jumped up and down. "Prince Darian, you gotta tell us everything you did on Earth!"
Nevy perked up at that. "Oh, yes! I want to know all about pa-hones! And is it true Earth skycraft are called era-plains?"
Well, so far Theo didn't quite know what to think about the Blue Sky crew, but one thing was clear. There'd never be a boring moment with this bunch.