Cinnamon Bun Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Three - Sanity Check

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Three - Sanity Check

The work of getting the Beaver fixed and ready for flight was tough, but not impossibly so. We found two intact helium sacs at the first cry airship, and one at the second. They were considerably smaller than the sacs the Beaver Cleaver had by default, but Amaryllis and Awen did a bit of math together and figured that theyd be enough, if just barely.

The better news was the intact helium tank aboard one of the ships. It was a big brass cylinder that took two to lift, but we managed, especially as so of the townsfolk from Mistrust didnt seem to mind giving us a hand.

Initially, they werent super open to helping us, but they were quite neighbourly after we proved we didnt intend to cause any trouble.

Amaryllis seed fairly pleased with her negotiations. We were going to lose a lot of the produce we had. As it turned out, Mistrust lacked so very basic things, and the mayors were both interested in getting all of the potatoes and turnips and onions we had in our pantry, even those that had started to sprout buds.

The town would soon have more vegetables to eat, which seed to excite them a lot. When I asked Mayor Marques about it, he said that they had a few local crops for their gardens, but not many. Mostly carrots and so local plants theyd discovered were edible.

By the ti noon rolled around, we had all the new balloons mounted within the wrapping tarp of the Beaver Cleavers original balloon. With one of the burst sacs repaired and refilled, the Beaver was slowly gaining back so of its buoyancy.

It would be a bit of a rough flight though, with us relying on our gravity generator to reduce our weight. Awen was in the engine room monitoring the machinery while so of our other chanically-inclined teammates scurried over the ship and patched things up. It wouldnt do for a bad bit of sewing to open up a tear.

Your crew is quite competent, Mayor Fallfront said as she ca to stand next to .

I grinned and nodded. We have so of the very best, I said. Maybe not the most experienced, but theyre all people Id consider friends, and thats important, I think.

Hmm. Where will you be flying next? Not sowhere too distant, I imagine?

Sylphfree, I said. Its not too far now, and were late to arrive already. I think well make it though.

The mayor humd again, then looked at critically. You might want to be careful. Sylphfree is a beautiful nation, with so excellent people. Smart, talented people, but they value certain virtues more than others. Propriety is greater than kindness in the eyes of many a sylph.

Oh, I said. That wasnt great. She didnt seem to want to explain much more than that, though, and soon returned to the other mayor. The town was organizing things so that their best gardeners would get so samples from our pantry. Amaryllis had also traded away a bunch of other foodstuffs, things they couldnt get here. Flour and grains and such. I think they were hoping to find so seeds they could plant too.

We ended up eting mostly outside. I slapped together so sandwiches with what we had left--we really would need to restock soon--and handed them out to everyone in the crew.

By the ti the sun was clearly starting to dip, we were just about done fixing up the Beaver as best we could.

The detour to the Lonely Island had cost us about a day, I figured. Maybe a tiny bit less since we had flown as fast as we could after the Grey Wall, as opposed to just taking our ti.

Still, it was my failing as a captain that was leading us to be even later to our appointnt. I didnt regret the fun we had, or the great adventures helping people that needed helping, but it was still my fault that wed be late.

As we were packing things up and picking up the tools that had gotten scattered around, I noticed a familiar cry hovering closer. Moonie!

Hello, Moonie said. I wanted to greet you one last ti before you took off again.

I grinned and bounced over to the cry to give it a quick, tight hug. Its nice of you to co say bye. Did you make any new friends?

We are... uncertain if we have made friends, but we have certainly t new and interesting cry. This place is better than I had imagined or hoped for. There are still many things to do, and the cry who are here are very different from the cry I know, and even more different from each other.

That sounds nice, I said. You get to et not just new people, but strange new people.

I have! Moonie spun around, and while I wasnt an expert at reading cry body language, I figured that was a good sign they were happy.

We chatted, just for a little bit, but it was obvious that Moonie was excited to return to their new friends, and I had a lot of work ahead of too.

It was hard, being all responsible and stuff.

Once everyone was back aboard the Beaver and the sails were tucked in, I turned to Clive behind the wheel and nodded. Alright, bring him up.

The engine rumbled to life and I felt the ship shifting a mont before we started to rise. The crew cheered. Well, mostly it was just , but technically I was part of the crew too.

It was slow, no faster than I could walk, but we were moving upwards, the ground dropping below and the cry towers sliding past. The wind picked up a little, and set us to rocking, but with Clive at the helm, we managed to stay right in the middle until we cleared the tops of the towers.

Clive, full speed ahead! We have so catching up to do!

Aye, aye, captain!

We deployed the Beavers sails, spun up the propeller at the back, and shot forwards over forests and rivers and hilly landscapes. We were heading north, to the next leg of our adventure, and hopefully to Sylphfree where, if everything worked out, wed be able to stop a war.

I stood on the foredeck, eyes peeled and ears straight despite the wind battering them down every so often. I was expecting soone to co up and talk. The excitent had died down a little and there wasnt all that terribly much to do on the Beaver when we were just sailing peacefully along. I wasnt expecting the friend to co up to to be Joe.

I hadnt been spending all that much ti with the Scallywags.

That was probably a bit weird. We were on the sa ship, and we had breakfast, lunch and supper together everyday. But still, all three of them tended to hang out together as their own little clique aboard the ship, the sa way Steve and Gordon and Clive tended to hang out together. There were plenty of tis where wed all mix together, and I was pretty sure that everyone considered everyone else a friend.

Hey, Joe, I said.

Hey, Broc, Joe said. He moved to the rails and leaned down, elbows against the wooden surface. That was exciting.

Yeah. That fight with the rocket planes was kinda fun, but scary, then the airships. Im glad no one was hurt, I said.

It might have been a near thing. The Beavers a tough ship, but he still took a beating.

I cringed a bit. I guess so. I really wish things had gone easier. Next ti, Im sure well do better.

So there will be a next ti? he asked.

I nodded. Definitely. Joe, Im not the sort of bun to not do what I can to help people out. Sotis, that ans getting into a bit of trouble. Other tis, that ans flying halfway across the world to try and stop a war. And sotis its risking hide and hare to clean so Evil roots. I want to be a good person, and that ans acting on what I think is right.

Joe chuckled, his head bowing. Yeah, I think I see that. At least youre not all talk.

Is it too much? I asked while gesturing vaguely around us. The adventures and the other crazy things we get us to?

Its a lot, yeah, but I think I can handle it for now. I still think the Scallywags and I will be heading out one day, but maybe... maybe well do sothing similar? I dont know. It feels wrong to do things when theyre not things thatll pay you well. But it feels right to do things to help folk. I guess we might need to find so middle ground?

You could join the Exploration Guild, I said. Which reminded : we hadnt done much guild-related stuff in a while. Did they still owe us for that flower thing way back when? Theyd give you an excuse to move around a lot, et new people, explore new dungeons.

Joe laughed. I dont know if Im made for that kind of adventure. Just being on the Beaver is a lot for us already, I think. I cant imagine doing what you and your friends do.

I dont think we do anything that weird, do we? I asked.

He shook his head. You dont realize how wild you are, all four of you.

Four of us? I suppose he was counting Bastion in our party. Which was probably fair. He was pretty close, and he had co on all the scarier adventures lately. Were just people trying to do our best, I said. Even if that sotis ans doing things that are scary.

Youre all insane, Joe replied with the certainty of soone that knew they were right. But its not a bad sort of insane.

I pouted at him. I wasnt nuts.

Joe chuckled as he stood up and stretched his back. Well, Im getting back to work. Soone needs to organize our tools and such, and it sure wont be Oda who does it. Keep us safe, captain.

Have fun, I said. And dont work too hard. Take regular breaks! I called out.

I felt like a bit of a hypocrite there. Breaks were for people who wanted to slow down.

I wasnt sure exactly what to do. It didnt feel like a good ti to start making noise. Maybe I could take a few hours to just... train things.

A final glance around showed that things were pretty calm, all said and done, so I headed to the rear of the Beaver and down a level.

I found Awens room empty; the girl was likely in the engine room again, or tinkering on her cool turret thing. Amaryllis room wasnt empty. My bird friend was on her bed, face buried in so pillows and the rest of her laid out flat.

Uh, I said.

Im sleeping, she said.

Are you sleeping... well?

Yes, Broccoli, Im sleeping well, Amaryllis said into her pillows.

Do you need anything?

I just spent a few hours negotiating after a very stressful morning. Not everyone is as capable as you at dealing with chaos.

She sighed and pushed herself up to stare at from the corner of her eyes.

I desperately need a nap.

Okay then, I said. Uh, nap well.

I stood around in the corridor of the ship for a mont, then sighed. Maybe I did have a problem. I couldnt sit around and do nothing. If I could at least train, maybe, or help soone with sothing.

I thumped a foot on the ground and stomped off to find sothing to do. I might, maybe, have a wee, tiny sliver of insanity in , sure. But that was sothing I could bother with later. Right then and there, I needed a distraction.

Id find soone who needed a friend, or my na wasnt Broccoli Bunch.

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