Rising Ark

The Rising finally got its spot in the Veciran port. The hatch slowly opened, allowing Sam and Noah Ark to step into the desert air.

Sam Ark looked like many spirit mages: Pale with white hair and slightly milky eyes. He wore himself with the confidence of someone who was good at his job, medical work in his case.

His sister, Noah Ark, looked very unlike her brother. As they were both adopted, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. Noah was of Korean descent as far as she could tell, shorter and stockier than her brother, and with a greater confidence of person than skill, which she considered an asset as the captain.

“Is it too late to call dibs on staying with the ship?” Sam asked. He wasn’t fond of the heat on Raosi, and Vecira seemed to have it the worst.

“The Widow can’t stand sand,” Noah said, “Says it gets in her joints or something, and your girlfriend has to stay with the ship.”

Blossom Gentry, engineer and mechanic of the Rising, was busy setting up a seat for herself. With red hair and gray eyes, she could make herself into quite the unique beauty if she didn’t choose to keep the oil and dirt of her work on herself. Her abundant freckles were also considered a flaw in certain circles, but Blossom took pride in them.

She tossed Sam and Noah masks like the one she was putting on.

“Keeps the sand out of your lungs.”

“But then they’ll miss my winning smile,” Noah complained.

Sam put the mask on.

“Good, your smile might ward off customers.”

“Nonsense,” Noah said, her slightly jagged teeth on full display.

“What do we need?” Sam asked Blossom, unamused by his sister’s antics.

“Customers,” Noah said.

“Plant seeds,” Blossom said, “And nanotech if you can find it. Raosi tend to keep things clunky though.”

“And I need some medical supplies,” Sam said, “And maybe some med-tech. Raosi’s hard to read, but their tech doesn’t generally need an AI to work.”

“Good luck,” Blossom said, making herself look extra comfortable. Sam kissed her on the forehead and joined his sister on the way to the market.

“Why do I feel like she was only wishing you luck?” Noah asked.

“Because I’ll need it to keep you out of trouble.”

Blossom closed up the Rising and moved her chair over to the gathering of other engineers. Most of them considered the adventure of interworld travel to primarily be keeping their ships in one piece, so they stayed at the dock, offering advice to anyone looking to hire a ship, while everyone else left. They were their own corner of the community.

“I’m looking for transport,” a man asked, approaching their strange council.

“To where?” Maven, the oldest among them, asked.

“To Muninn.”

“I’d choose a ship with a Djinn on board,” said Kyrie, a clean and proper looking woman, who hid callouses beneath her gloves.

“Or a spirit mage,” Lovo, a man around Blossom’s age and twice her size, said, pointedly staring at the Rising.

“I believe that means the Rising is your best bet,” Blossom said, pointing it out properly.

The man looked the Rising up and down. On the outside, it looked incomplete. Neither Blossom nor the Arks cared much about aesthetics if what was inside worked fine, so their repairs never went toward them.

“Will it run?” The man asked.

“The Rising will stay together as long as I’m on board,” Blossom assured, “What is your name?”

“Smith,” the man said, offering a hand.

“Smith what?” Blossom asked.

“Smith Watt, actually.”

Blossom added the name to the manifest.

“We’re liable to leave port in a few hours. Muninn may not be our first stop depending on what other jobs we take. Is that satisfactory?”

Realizing his extended hand would remain untouched, the man nodded.

“Excellent.” she shooed him off as the next petitioner came up.

The market of Vecira is a pleasant one. There are pieces of fabric draped across buildings to cause shade, and many of the individual stalls have their own methods of reducing heat.

When you first enter, or finally leave, you find the food stalls and grocers. This was where the siblings Ark found the seeds for Blossom, sure check they weren’t food seeds.

The next part is craftsmen and their wares of all kinds. This is where Sam asked after medical technologies and supplies. Raosi medicines are considered best among all the races, and Vecira is the best place to find those tools meant for broken bones and deep cuts.

The final part is the circle, Noah’s favorite portion. The circle is a place for challengers to meet each other and fight. People from every world come to Vecira to train in fighting, and even before the worlds made peace, it was where Raosi went for that purpose.

The circle is a rudimentary place to fight, and encourages those traveling between worlds rather than residents of Vecira to participate. In short, it was exactly what Sam was worried about. Those fears were proven the moment Noah caught the circle empty.

“Have you gotten all of your supplies?” Noah asked.

“One more stall,” Sam lied.

“How much money do you need?”

“All we have,” Sam lied.

“Great!”

Noah took the price for entry from the wallet and went to sign up.

Sam regrettably took a seat to watch his sister do great violence to a stranger.

The spot next to him was quickly occupied by a human nervously fidgeting as they watched the circle. They had brown skin, and hair a few shades darker.

“Got a friend competing?” Sam asked.

“Couldn’t talk him out of it.”

“I’m here because I couldn’t talk my sister out of competing.”

The two became friends with a handshake.

“Vyrna and Noah,” were announced. The new friends both turned at the names of their companions. “First to exit the circle loses.”

“That’s your sister.” Sam’s new friend deduced.

“That’s your friend.” Sam watched the middle-aged man of seemingly Korean ancestry, like Noah was, stride up confidently.

Sam and friend offered consoling smiles to each other.

Noah twisted her arms to shoot out two bone blades. The audience made impressed sounds. Vyrna made an unimpressed gesture.

The two circled each other, watching for anything that could offer them an opening. Noah’s patience wore out first.

She kept distance with the blades, making shallow cuts instead of pushing in. Vyrna moved forward with each one, trusting Noah’s lack of lethal instinct.

As they neared the center, Vyrna grabbed the blade Noah stabbed with and pushed her to the ground.

“Concede now, kid, you’re out of your league.”

Noah twisted her ankle, making another blade from her leg, and stabbed him in the shin. He howled in pain, falling to the ground. The audience cheered.

Noah pulled the leg-blade in as she stood up. Bending down to grab Vyrna, she had her arm grabbed and forced back to the ground, her foot suspiciously close to the edge.

The fight turned to a wrestling match from there. Noah recognized Vyrna as the more skilled between them, but Vyrna recognized her ferocity as greater. Neither allowed the other any afford at victory.

Noah pushed Vyrna back to the ground after some time, standing herself up. She intended to kick him out of the circle, but instead found herself knocked down again, her head just past the edge. She pulled her blades back into her arms with a groan.

“Vyrna claims victory!”

Vyrna stood up to applause, his wounds all but disappeared. He offered Noah a hand up.

“You fight well,” he said, “Who trained you?”

“Solarluna sparring matches, and testing myself at places like this.”

The smug look of victory on Vyrna’s face was replaced with one of awe.

“All that on self-teaching? I’m impressed you lasted this long.”

Noah rubbed the dirt off her clothes. With a now less combative presence, Vyrna felt familiar to her when she looked up.

“We all need hobbies.”

“That was a terrible idea,” Sam’s friend said, uselessly smacking their companion’s head, “What if she was willing to kill you?”

“It’s against the rules,” Vyrna and Noah said together. The friend scowled at Noah. Noah stared back.

“Besides, Enrys” Vyrna added, “We’re leaving town soon anyways.”

“We need a ship for that,” Enrys said, “Which we’d have by now if you didn’t have to fight.”

“We have a ship,” Noah and Sam said.

“And we need customers,” Sam added, “We should be leaving in a few hours. This was a quick stop. Where are you heading?”

“We have cargo,” Enrys said, “It has precautions involved.”

“We’re very cautious,” Noah said. Enrys and Sam gave her unconvinced stares. “Or at least we should be able to accommodate. Just let our engineer know what you need.”

“You get the package,” Vyrna said, “I’ll stay with them and let them know what’s necessary.”

“You don’t remember what’s necessary,” Enrys stated, “I’ll go with them to insure it’s within parameters.”

“You never told us where you were heading,” Sam said before Vyrna could go.

“Anywhere,” Vyrna replied, “We’re wanderers.”

Though the outside of the Rising was dinged metal, the inside was very much alive. Blossom’s ability as an empowered altered the plants she spoke to for long enough into something both living and mechanical.

The plants could carry electrical current, required no sunlight, and moved like tentacles. They all listened to Blossom and communicated back to her. United as they were to form a ship, it was like a great hivemind subject to the whims of the engineer.

Enrys was fascinated. They were a researcher at heart, and symbiosis like this was captivating.

“We require a separate room from the rest of the cargo,” they explained as the awe shook off.

“Are you and your companion sharing a room?” Blossom asked, leaving her hand in the wall to maximize her connection to the Rising.

Enrys laughed.

“Vyrna and I threaten to tear each other’s heads off even without sharing a space to sleep.”

“Sometimes it works for the better,” Blossom said, recalling some of her early fights with Sam.

“It would not in our case,” Enrys said, “He snores.”

“Then that removes the option of placing it in one of the rooms. How large does the separate room need to be?” Blossom looked around the hold. There were a few sections, and the last batch of flowers were ready for harvest to keep the Rising alive, which meant she could afford to have it make some new walls.

“Large enough for a box about this size.” Enrys made large gestures, “probably a little larger.”

Blossom nodded, pulling Enrys away from the corner as the plants forced themselves from underneath the grating, and from the ceiling above them. The result was a small room just large enough to hold a few people.

“How long have you been able to do that?” Enrys asked.

“As long as I’ve had something like the Rising to work with.”

As all their passengers stepped aboard, cargo included, Blossom stood at the center of the deck.

“Greetings, I am your ship’s engineer, Blossom Gentry. You will likely be seeing no more of me beyond this point, so ask your questions now.”

“How’s the AI manage?” Watt asked.

“We don’t have one,” Noah said, “The Widow works out just fine without it.”

Enrys and Vyrna looked relieved, but Watt looked more concerned.

“If you don’t want to go with us, say so now,” Blossom said.

“No, I need to make it to Muninn in time.”

“Great.” Blossom waited a tick for any other questions before disappearing toward the engine room.

Noah grabbed Enrys and Vyrna before they could go to their rooms.

“I’ve had this nagging feeling since we first met that we’ve seen each other before.”

“You attended Solarluna, right?” Vyrna asked, “You mentioned sparring matches.”

“Yeah, never graduated though,” Noah admitted.

“My photo might still be there,” Vyrna said, “Though I’ve grown out my hair.” he gestured down his beard.

Noah nodded, turning toward Enrys.

“I attended for a year or two,” they admitted.

Noah gave a more hesitant smile.

As the passengers took the places in their bunks, Sam moved toward a section of the Rising’s plants that nobody else could notice to be different. He used his gift of intangibility to let himself fall through there to the engine room. Blossom was busy humming to the seeds she’d just planted. He moved quietly behind her before solidifying and lightly skimming her shoulder.

“Hello, beautiful.”

She stood from her position, coming to her full height a few inches above him.

“Planning to spend the night in here?” Blossom asked, gesturing to the haphazard sheets near an alcove.

“Only if you say please,” Sam said.

She gave a playful smile, pulling him into her alcove as he pushed a kiss onto her.