Chapter 5 - Rumor Mill

The air was thick with the scent of salt, sweat, grilling, and a hundred different exotic spices in the simmering aeroina of Aeridor. Even though the Murky Prospector was far above it, they could hear the chanting of merchants hawking their wares on its platforms. The distant clang of hammers rang out around its shipyard, followed by the shouts and occasional expletives of the dockworkers. This was all a welcome assault on their senses.

Cowel leaned against the portside railing of the flight deck, as Alanea and Edven meticulously checked the ship's rigging. Something he was supposed to be doing himself at the time. The dive down into the artificial storm had taken a toll on the ship. Some of the lines were frayed, and there were minor dents on the exterior. Nothing catastrophic, but enough that the Port Authority might not let them fly. Aeridor was neutral ground and thus their best bet at quick repairs. It was a mixture of the two major military powers and pirate outlaws. A place where both Radephian and Argentian patrols often crossed paths without incident.

"Think they'll have fresh rations? We need dry stuff." Edven grunted while tugging a stubborn knot. "I'm tired of salted parumin already. My tongue feels like a leather boot."

Alanea chuckled, rare and delightful. "If they don't, we'll make do. But I'm hoping for some proper bread. Maybe a bath. The swamp was not good for the skin."

Cowel didn't participate in the conversation. His eyes were fixed toward the smuggling hold, and the gemstone still nestled in its padded crate. Even here, amidst the elevating noise, he could feel it and hoped nobody else could. It was beating steadily and absorbed more surrounding chaos than it had ever experienced. Alanea was still concerned about its volatility, so he decided not to mention it.

"You're looking a bit green yourself." Alanea observed Cowel with narrowed eyes. "Still spooked?"

He shook his head. "No, captain. Just... thinking. Man, this place is a lot louder than I remember."

'Yeah? That's Aeridor for you." She wiped her own hands with a rag. Which she discovered was Edven's, and just made her hands dirtier. She sighed while monologuing. "It's part of the reason I come here. Easy to blend in. Easy to get what you need without too many questions. Just don't draw attention to yourself... You know that."

It was the drawing attention part that made them uneasy. The gemin, even while hidden, felt like it could become a beacon at a moment's notice. As they descended, there were loud conversations from adventure seekers with rumors. Rumors of the discovery of a great gemin. Cowel wondered if it was just a coincidence or if someone had watched them pick it up. There was no way, right?

"Alright. Cowel, Edven." Alanea clapped her hands together fast enough that it overtook the noise of the port. "Edven, you stay with the ship and keep an eye on things. Start on the minor hull repairs and get someone to run new lines. Cowel, you're with me. We need to..." She changed to whisper. "...discreetly inquire about the value of our finds." Looking around suspiciously, with a hint of dramatism.

Cowel nodded. They would shortly begin to understand the true weight of what they carried. He followed behind Alanea down the gangplank. The wood groaned under their combined weight. It was well past the point of being trustworthy.

The aeroina was alive with merchants haggling over prices. Their voices rose and fell. Sailors scurried around ships inspecting them. Many unloaded cargo from their aeroships down to the platform. Cargo of every conceivable size was here, from a grand pipe organ filling a local house of worship to individually packaged bags of poppedpod. The smell of the meat grilling was stronger now, with sweet fruits and something vaguely metallic that he couldn't quite place. However, it was some kind of food.

"I can't wait to get something to eat." Cowel suggested, and the captain did not entertain.

They strolled through the drove of pedestrians around them. Alanea led the way with her eyes observing everyone, especially children who made agile pickpockets. She assessed each person and categorized them, judging every book by its cover. Cowel, who was less accustomed to such dense urban environments, found himself overwhelmed. He kept a hand on the small pouch at his belt where he had tucked away a few of the smaller, less remarkable gemin they had collected from the swamp. Just in case they needed to make a quick trade or to demonstrate their ability to collect and pay debt.

Colors were in a riot around the market square just outside of the aeroina. Stalls overflowed with exotic produce and intricate decorative metalworks. Alanea stopped at a stall selling navigational charts for the Radephian skylands and navigational instruments. She engaged the merchant about the latest currents, and asked where in town they could find a gemer. As she did, Cowel drifted toward a nearby stall displaying various gemin behind glass cases. They were of the common variety and were small, dull stones used for mantling, but he hoped the man would have some information.

He was portly and had a worried expression, eying Cowel's attire with suspicion. "Looking for something specific, young man?". His voice was raspy from a lifelong smoking habit.

"Just browsing around, the jewels are nice." They were not. Cowel tried to sound casual. The merchant's lower-quality stones were not so well protected. He picked a small pale blue gemin up, pretending to examine its facets. "I heard someone on the way up here talking about a particularly large gemin being found. Any truth to that?"

The near elderly merchant scoffed, adjusting his gold-framed spectacles. "Rumors will always be rumors. When in this business, as long as me, you get to know guano when you hear it. People get excited. You see, this war makes people desperate for a miracle."

"You have heard the rumors, though?" Cowel pressed, trying to keep his voice even.

"Oh, everyone has. They say it can grant wishes, immortality, end the war, and turn rhife to gold. Nonsense, guano, all of it. You think a swamp scavenger like you could find something like that? No offense, lad." The merchant chuckled with a dry, humorless cough.

"None taken." Cowel politely tried to maintain composure.

"Such a gemin would be under the protection of the highest echelons of our society's social order. If they even had such powers. Myths and legends, the whole lot of it."

Cowel forced a smile, glad that at least one person around dismissed it as unbelievable. "You're probably right. I was just curious to see if I could get in to make quick carats from it."

"Greed indeed." The merchant agreed. He turned his attention to a new potential customer. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Cowel left the merchant's stall to rejoin Alanea, who had finished her transaction. As usual, her expression remained unreadable. "Anything interesting?" Her voice remained low.

"Just rumors." He tried to maintain quiet. "Nothing concrete. The merchant heard a bunch about it, but it's desperate talk. They think whatever they know about can grant wishes."

Alanea mused, sweeping her eyes across the population of the market. "Desperation can make people do foolish things. They will believe things that they want to be real. The more valuable something is, the more dangerous it becomes."

They spent the next few beats gathering basic supplies paid for by their smaller finds. Alanea was a shrewd negotiator and got for the crew fresh water, preserved meat, new lines for the ship, and hull boards. Cowel, meanwhile, listened to the conversation around him. The rumors persisted, though they varied wildly in detail. Some claimed that the mystery stone was found in a forgotten ruin. The inconsistencies were reassuring.

Cowel approached one such large group and fabricated a story. "You know, I was over at the Hornwheel Pub in Flightfair two nights ago, and heard some guys bragging about a -HUGE- orange stone they found on the Grigret in some old ruin. Said they'd be hawking it over at Lily's." They responded by gathering up, presumably to their ship to chase this new ghost. "Huh, well that was easy."

A few more beats passed, and the night alarm, a pleasant bell, let off a tremendous ring. Lanterns were quickly lit and hung up, as was the habit of the stall owners here. Some were packing up, while others would stay working throughout the night.

Long shadows were cast by various natural and artificial gemin lights as they made their way back to the Murky Prospector. Edven was still at work, whistling a ditty, as he tightened a bolt on a cloudside nacelle bracket. He looked up as they approached with a grin spreading across his face. "Got the lines done, captain. I also went down to snag some fresh focaccia from a vendor set up on the dock. They had a little heater gem keeping it warm."

A hint of a smile touched Alanea's lips. "Great work, Edven!" As she grabbed a long slice of the oil-topped bread. "Cowel, help him stow the supplies. I need to review these new charts and plan out our next move." She grabbed another piece, then another, then one more before retreating quickly to the galley table to "review charts".

As they unloaded the provisions into the cargo hold, he could feel the change in atmosphere that the gemstones had made. It was much colder, close to being called refrigeration. He was still attached to the green gem and hadn't revealed the full extent of his connection to it with the others. He knew Alanea would be concerned, perhaps alarmed, if he did.

"You think a swamp scavenger like you could find something like that?" The merchant's rhetorical question echoed in his mind. Why did it have to be them that found this powerful gemin? Why reveal itself to him? He still had no answers and a growing responsibility.

Alanea, for once, cooked a meal. It was fresh, well-seasoned vegetables, focaccia, roasted warbird, and a single glass of stine. The three of them ate in almost total silence to enjoy the first nutritious meal they'd had in weeks.

She spread her charts across the galley table. A mantled lamp she had just purchased illuminated the entire room, and along with it the chart's intricate lines and symbols. "We can't stay here long." She traced her finger across the map. "Even with the repairs, we're still a small, vulnerable, weaponless ship... except for Edven's crossbow." She pointed with her thumb back to it down the stairs, leaning on the rear wall.

"So, where do we go, captain? Another neutral port?" Edven leaned over the table.

Alanea shook her head, "No. That's too predictable. Argentian, then I think we need to disappear for a while. Find a place where no one will think to look. Where we can assess what we have and what we're going to do with it."

Edven felt a surge of apprehension. "You mean we're not selling it?"

Alanea looked at him with serious eyes. "It's not just something we can pawn off anymore. The rumors we're hearing are enough to cause mayhem wherever we try to sell it. It makes no sense to try. They'd just kill us and take it. It'd start a scramble, everyone would get involved, and fight after it, long after we're dead. It could even accelerate the war. Everyone would want a piece of it, Edven."

Alanea continued as her voice remained firm. "This is the kind of thing where two rival military powers would temporarily cease fire and turn their attention on us. Every pirate clan on this side of the world would come at us for blood. We need to understand what we have before we can make a decision."

She pointed to a remote, uncharted region outways of the map. A mass of atmospheric trouble and noted dense skylands. "It's a rough map, but if true, we can head here. It's a blind spot and a newly explored region with no value. No regular patrols, no trade routes, no small hamlets, nothing. We do have to punch through a windwall to get there, but we'd be invisible."

Cowel looked at the swirling lines on the map that signaled navigational difficulty. It was a place of parables, lost ships, and long-forgotten people. Only the desperate and foolish ventured there, and it was known to be a fool's errand. Yet, he also felt a strange pull toward it. The gemin in the hold across, too, sensed the proposed direction and agreed. Cowel would let the stone decide this one. It was appreciative and anticipating the journey while full of hope.

"That windwall looks like it's no joke." Edven was concerned that he'd signed himself up for another day of repair work.

"I know, but we faced worse the last couple days. It's a risk worth taking. We would be truly out of sight of every ship in the world." The captain slapped the wall as if to pet the aerocraft.

Under the cloak of night, they departed Aeridor and slipped away from it. The air was cool and crisp and carried the lingering scent of the market's closing beats. Alanea stood on top of the cabin deck at the helm. Edven adjusted the rigging to catch the wind that was now in their favor. Cowel found himself drawn to the smuggling hold and sat beside it in the cold air, resting his hand lightly on the rough wood that obscured it.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the rhythm it generated, trying to decipher the unspoken messages it attempted to convey. Eagerness, the gemin was readying itself for the journey. He was beginning to trust this strange connection to the stone.

The Murky Prospector ascended into a higher cloud layer, and the sounds of the town below them faded. Only the ship's propellers and the wind against its hull could be heard. Cowel watched the land shrink below them and become hidden by the clouds.

Alanea, once locking the ship's barring, relieved herself from the helm and went down into the cargo hold to check on Cowel. "Worried?" Her voice was soft.

He opened his eyes and met her stare. "A little. It's a big sky."

"That it is." She agreed, pursing her lips, "We're prospectors and that job comes with unknowns, we have to deal with that and each other... but we do have each other."

The captain paused before hinting at an order. "Get some rest, it's going to be a long journey. We have an easy coast overnight, very little wind."

Cowel nodded, but he didn't move. He continued to sit beside the smuggling hold for some time. He knew that he wouldn't be getting much rest, not with the weight of this thing on his conscience. Its trust and immense power rested in his... their hands.

Beats passed overnight as familiar landmarks of the settled skylands faded into the distant haze. The air grew colder, and the winds erratic. Renewed by a bit of sleep, Alanea adjusted the ship's rudder. Edven, despite his earlier grumbling, worked tirelessly to secure loose equipment and check on the engine. Cowel did get more sleep than he thought he would, trading out a shift with Edven during the calmer hours.

They were making sail toward a final port before disappearing outways. Herestay was the port city furthest from Argentis' center of government. There was a gemer they knew of, one they could offload the blue gemin to for a hefty bounty. The sky was transformed into a panorama of clouds as it became alight by the Source's ignition. No warnings for them up here.

Some of the distant clouds were dark and ominous. These were the currents leading out of the settled sky. They would be encountering them in a few days. She'd have to be careful as they lay next to the Knife of Kanarde. If they did get caught up in it, it would lead them in the direction they needed to be. However, they would need to break away before reaching the Vesperwisp, a vortex that would drag the ship into the torrent.