Sam wiped her brow, squinting beneath the hot sunlight. Out on the plateau, the only shelter came from the shadow of the Blue Sky, and that had shrunk to almost nothing by noon.
Not that she was going to complain. She still couldn't believe they'd survived last night's crash landing, let alone the fight with Ulrich. Really, she should count herself lucky the sun was now the biggest of her worries.
And she was more than grateful for the solid rock beneath her feet. Nah, the experience hadn't put her off from flying forever, but that didn't mean she was in any hurry to return to the skies.
Though it might be a while before that happened. After everyone had slept off their exhaustion, Kress had gathered a group to survey the damage. What they'd found didn't look promising.
A huge scrape marred the port side, while the deck remained crumpled where the Himmelsfestung's ramp had struck. Worst of all, the keel had torn clean open from its rough trip across the plateau.
Still, it could be a lot worse. All thanks to Cay, who'd landed them here in the first place. Earlier Kress had made noises about breaking into the Blue Sky's moonshine stash and throwing him a party, but the man of the hour had barricaded himself inside the infirmary.
"Hey!" Speak of the devil, Kress was shouting at her right now. "No slacking off!"
"Ah, right!" Sam ran over. Kress, Ryllis, Avia, and Lodo were busy wedging boulders beneath the Blue Sky's keel, trying to lift it enough to survey the damage. While Sam doubted she'd be much help with this, she noticed Fia scuttling about with a tape measure.
"Need help?" Sam asked.
"Oh, yes!" Fia chirped. "Here, you take this end and I'll take the other, we'll see how wide the hole is…."
As Sam grabbed the end of the tape and crouched down, she heard footsteps from behind. When she turned around and saw Theo, her heart did a somersault.
"Hey," she began, only for him to cut her off.
"Don't tell me I shouldn't be up, okay? I feel better, so let me help."
A huge grin spread across Sam's face. Yep, classic Theo. "Funny you should say that, 'cause I was just about to ask."
~*~
As he stumbled through the corridors, Theo swallowed down a yawn. He'd spent all afternoon helping the crew with repairs, which mostly involved glopping some sticky substance onto the open holes. It would dry into a protective coating that'd hopefully last long enough for the Blue Sky to find a repair station.
Now his muscles ached and the smell of the glop clung to his skin even after diligent scrubbing. A shower might help, but they were offline along with other nonessential functions.
Oh, well. At least the dinner Lodo had whipped up still sat warm and heavy in his stomach. The others stayed outside, laughing and chatting, but Theo had something to do.
The thought had hit him like a lightning bolt – what had happened to Ulrich's scepter? After asking around, he'd learned that Guntar of all people was studying it.
Strange, but Theo figured he might as well drop by and check for himself. Before long, he reached Guntar's door. To his surprise, it was slightly ajar, spilling a line of golden light across the corridor.
Despite himself, Theo hesitated. He didn't know if the pompous magistrate would take all that kindly to being interrupted. 'I'll make it quick. Just to see if the Star shard is fine.'
With quiet, careful steps, he approached the door. Peering through the crack, he saw a cabin overflowing with books – not just lined up on shelves, but also stacked on the floor. Guntar himself perched atop one stack, head bent over a book on a reading stand. Clucking a little, he turned the page with the tips of his wing feathers.
And leaning against the stack was a familiar scepter. Relief swept through Theo – along with a wave of Levia from the Star in his pouch.
An answering blue glow flickered from the shard on the scepter. Squawking, Guntar whirled toward the door.
"Ah, um…." Theo waved his hands. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
Guntar cleared his throat. "No problem at all. So, Theo my boy. What can I do for you?"
He sounded warmer than Theo expected, and that helped him relax. "I just, uh, wanted to see the scepter."
"Of course, of course." Guntar hopped off the stack of books. "Come in, make yourself at home."
"It's okay, I just wanted to look – "
"No, no, I insist!"
So Theo found himself inside Guntar's room, squeezing into the narrow gap between the book stacks and the bed. "Um, so you were studying the scepter?"
"The Star of Miriel, to be exact," Guntar said. "Trying to find references to it in the histories, though I can't say I've been having much success."
"Maybe you could ask Meg to help you," Theo blurted. "She likes books too. She had a store on Earth."
"Oh?" Guntar ruffled his feathers. "Perhaps another pair of eyes wouldn't hurt."
"Yeah, so, um…." Feeling awkward, Theo began to inch toward the door. He'd done what he'd come here to do, after all.
But his gaze fell on something in the center of the main shelf – probably because it wasn't a book. Instead it looked like a painting, its colors rather dull but still allowing Theo to make out a golden-haired woman with a serious face.
"Who's that?" he asked.
When Guntar gave him a sharp look, Theo mentally kicked himself. Why was he poking into Guntar's personal business?
He opened his mouth to apologize, but Guntar spoke before he could. "That would be Lady Colunna, Prince Darian's dearly departed mother. I painted it myself – in human form, of course. Unfortunately, wings aren't much help when handling a brush."
Though it was hard to read expressions on Guntar's bird face, Theo couldn't miss the fond caress in his voice, nor the faint mistiness in his eyes. But one thing he'd said kept ringing in Theo's ears. Prince Darian's mother.
All Theo knew about Darian's mother was she'd raised her daughter on the wasteland. He certainly hadn't expected Guntar would have anything to do with her.
"So you knew her?" burst out before he could stop himself.
"Ah, yes," Guntar said, eyes riveted on the painting. "I was the first Tielan to find her after she descended from Miria. She told me quite a fantastic story, one I'd scarcely have believed if she hadn't still borne the ragged remnants of her wings. I helped her survive on the wasteland, and several months later, I delivered her child."
"Wait." Theo's heart pounded. "So you've been with Darian since she was born?"
"Indeed I have," Guntar declared. "Always, I have been by my liege's side. Teaching her everything I knew, everything that might help her become a wise ruler. And after we lost Colunna...well, I do believe she would be quite pleased with the prince her child has become."
His voice softened, but became no less proud. A strange ache filled Theo's chest. From the sound of it, Guntar meant far more to Darian than just a minister; he might be the closest she had to a father. Though he doubted Guntar would appreciate hearing him put it that way.
"So that's why you're with Darian?" Theo glanced at the portrait again. "For her mother's sake?"
"Hm." Guntar stiffened, raising his tail feathers. "No, I don't follow Prince Darian merely out of sentiment. I follow her because I believe in her mission, and I will give my everything to help her fulfill it."
He lifted his head high, his gaze becoming stern. And though he might look like a giant chicken, somehow Theo couldn't help but see an echo of Zenith in him. Or rather, Darian herself. It was that same resolve, hard as stone.
"You see," Guntar went on, "in the village where I grew up, the people prayed to the Fortresses for everything. A good harvest. Protection from monsters. We believed that as long as we put our faith in them, the seraphim above would reward us."
He sighed deeply. "Of course, more often than not our prayers went unanswered. Rather than lose their faith, the elders insisted we simply needed to pray harder. That we did not believe enough, and the seraphim could sense our unfaithfulness. But as I grew older, I began to think otherwise. The Fortresses had no interest in answering our prayers."
The bitter edge to his voice made Theo shiver. He'd never heard anything like it from Guntar.
"When I met Lady Colunna, I learned my suspicions were correct. To the Fortresses, we on the ground might as well have been ants."
"But Darian…," Theo found himself saying.
"Yes." Guntar nodded sharply. "Prince Darian wishes to change the Fortresses – and she has the power to do so. I have seen her fight countless battles for the sake of her fellow Tielans. I know I can believe in her."
Theo had heard words just like this before, hadn't he? From Zenith, his eyes sparkling as he spoke about his liege's dream. A dream that went far beyond Darian herself.
Theo had sworn to fight for the same dream, for Zenith's sake. And it didn't have to be Zenith alone, right? Abstract ideals and succession politics might be beyond him, but understood full well what it meant to help his friends.
"And she believes in you, Theo." When he heard his own name, he started. Guntar was looking right at him, piercing him with solemn dark eyes. "Because of that, I will believe in you too. And I will do whatever is within my power to aid you. That I promise."
Theo swallowed. To his shame, his first instinct was to recoil from the responsibility – but he shoved the cowardly urge as far away as he could. The Star itself had trusted him. The Star, Zenith, Sam, Darian, even Cay. And now Guntar.
So he met Guntar's gaze and nodded. "I'll do my best."