Throughout the previous day Bevel and I had gone through the airship from top to bottom, doing our part. Bevel had found all the leaks and Inertia’s crew followed along behind her, patching as they went.

While they were doing that, I checked over the limited enchantments throughout the ship, which consisted mostly of the filters, anti-air resistance and the spell-sensors.

Inertia had then activated the filters to start the process of filling the central envelope. It was a slow one, and we weren’t expecting proper lift off until around noon.

I got there just in time, Vendil trailing in my wake, tugging nervously at his beard. He’d originally come in via the Howling Defier and not been bothered one bit, but the new airship unnerved him.

“Not enough magic to stay in the air. Unnatural, it is,” he’d said, tugging at his beard so hard I thought he was going to trip himself.

Everyone was waiting when we got there. Well, almost everyone. Calbern still wasn’t back from wherever his investigation had led him.

Inertia and Tresla were there, engaged in conversation with Selvi, who’d been training several of her sentries to pilot the new airship. Not that they’d been able to get any practical experience yet.

Off to the side, Bevel was bouncing around, her magic, carrying her up and around Tanis and a boy I didn’t recognize, who sat on a pile of crates.

I almost made a bee-line directly towards them when I heard Bevel laugh at something the boy said.

The only reason I didn’t was because Tamrie and Arizar intercepted me first.

“This is quite the machine,” Arizar said even as Tamrie snaked her arm around mine. “To achieve so much with so little enchanting. A marvel.”

I followed her gaze. She was right. It was impressive. We couldn’t quite fit a football field inside, but it was close. “And it’s just the prototype.”

“Such an oddly delightful concept, prototypes,” Arizar said, shaking her head. “I’ve read of such things, of course. Yet it relies heavily on the belief that there will be many copies of the final design. Father believes such standardization should be reserved for the most essential parts of society, such as food and sanitation.”

“Some would put travel in that category,” I said, gesturing at the airship.

“The tidelifts are precisely that,” Arizar said, nodding. “Yet ships such as this… anything of sufficient majesty should have similar devotion dedicated to its design.”

“Don’t remember that being in your father’s tenets,” I said, noticing Bevel making her way over, waving goodbye to Tanis and the boy.

I narrowed my eyes but didn’t say anything as Arizar replied, “Not everything my father does is directly tied to his tenets. Or perhaps, you’re saying that you are solely bound by the oath you took and are thus incapable of thinking one word beyond it?”

“Fair enough,” I replied, shaking my head with a wry chuckle while pulling Bevel into the side that didn’t have Tamrie.

Bevel regaled us with a secondhand story of adventure, regarding the young boy who Tanis had apparently started training to hunt while we waited. Bevel’s story cut off when she spotted Inertia and Tresla approaching, ready to grab me for the test. Before they reached us, she’d already darted off to her next adventure.

“Inertia is looking forward to today’s flight. She hopes you have not grown afraid of the air,” Tresla said, nodding as they joined us. Then, more casually, she added, “Personally, I think she’s just nervous this thing won’t fly.”

“It’ll fly,” I said, turning to give Tamrie a quick kiss, leaving her and the others behind to watch while we boarded. Only after we’d moved out of Tamrie’s earshot did I add. “The only question is how long it’ll stay up.”

Inertia nodded, letting out a whistle hiss of laughter.

“Inertia wants me to remind you that putting the air resistance runes on a separate circuit was your idea,” Tresla said as we made our way in through the main loading ramp. The ramp was large enough I could’ve drove a bus up one side and a second down the other while still having enough room for us to walk up the middle.

Which wasn’t too different from what was going on around us, except, replace bus with ‘gaggle of workers.’

“The only time we should need those runes are when its taking off or moored to something,” I said nodding towards the back where the bridge was hidden away. “Most airships like this crashed when they weren’t in use, from what I’ve read.”

“That explains a lot,” Tresla said, her cloaked head moving in what I was sure was a nod. “Inertia failed to mention that.”

A ratcheting hiss issued forth from my large friend, Tresla’s hood turning in her direction.

“Did she… just huff?” I asked, bemused.

“Effectively,” Tresla said, laughing her musical laugh. “She also said that she would’ve told me if I’d asked.”

“Just need to know what to ask, obviously,” I said.

“Obviously,” Tresla agreed.

We found the sealed doors at the back of the room and I used my Spellkey to grant us access, along with the half-dozen Tethered Selvi had chosen to serve as the initial piloting crew. Assuming the entire thing didn’t come down around our ears, they’d operate the ship over three separate shifts, ensuring it stayed in the air at all times.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I personally thought we should have another set of Tethered for when people got sick, but… well, even before they became ensouled, the Tethered hadn’t gotten sick often. And between ensoulment and the physical awakening from Tender’s trials, that was only likely to decrease.

Speaking of sickness, one of Vendil’s updates had touched on a recent wave. I hadn’t been personally involved, but apparently a wave of sickness had passed through the refugees that Nexxa had brought in. The Tethered had been fine and before it could get bad, Xoth had swept through the refugee camp and purged the thing in its entirety.

And he’d done so with a first Order spell with a name almost as horrible as Minor Heal’s original, though he just called it Bolster Body. Appropriate, since all it did was bolster the body’s immune response for a short time.

How it avoided the downsides of an overactive immune system, I hadn’t had time to figure out.

Vendil’s way of informing me of the event had been a request to provide ten enchanted rods of Bolster Body, which I had been quick to enchant myself, as soon as I’d gotten the spell from Xoth.

As the doors to the security-gapped room opened, I looked back over the main chamber. It was an outright storm of chaos, despite the fact everything was supposed to be finished already. I found myself smiling as the security doors closed. There was always something that needed to be checked ‘one last time’.

If they’d been taking her up themselves, I doubted most of those people would still be checking things over.

It was the fact Inertia and I were on the maiden cruise that inspired their last round of ‘double’ checks.

As if a little thing like an airship crashing could hurt Inertia. Or me, if I had half-a-moment’s preparation.

“So, do you want me to give you a lecture for sneaking on board now, or later,” I asked the corner of the room, where an innocuous crate had been left.

The crate rustled, and Bevel popped out, one of the spare sails draped over her right side. “Uh, is neither an option?”

“Neither is an option,” I said, rolling my eyes even as a smile made it’s way onto my face. “Why didn’t you just ask? I would’ve let you join us.”

“Did you see how many people were watching?” Bevel asked, crossing her arms in front of her. “No way was I walking aboard with all of those people looking at me.”

Everyone present ended up laughing at that, and I pulled her into a one armed hug, ruffling her hair. “Fair enough, kiddo. Fair enough.”

She nodded, letting out a loud huff that sent her hair fluttering, before whispering, “Sides, it’s more fun this way.”

“It is,” I agreed as the security timer finished and we were allowed into the command section of the airship. I technically had the code to skip the timer, but we were running things by the book at the moment.

The entrance area opened into the lowest levels of the command crew’s quarters. They’d each have their own space to sleep on the ship, a luxury we could easily afford since the team required to fly the thing was tiny compared to the size of the vessel.

We ascended the stairs leading up to the command deck, passing by three more sublevels of bunks and one that held the common area and kitchen.

When we reached the bridge, Selvi’s teams moved in groups of three to one of the two stations. Technically only one of each group would be taking the controls at a time, but they’d all be taking turns over the course of the shakedown run.

In the center, the pilot’s station resembled a large egg-shaped chair, surrounded by several displays of the exterior of the ship.

Next to it, the navigator’s equally egg-shaped chair showed maps that tracked the local terrain as well as other important data, such as air and mana density. The magitech sensors that provided the navigator’s feed had been the single most impactful thing I’d brought back from my time on the Dauntless. Well, for our new airship, anyway.

There was a third command egg on the other side of the pilot’s chair but considering we hadn’t mounted any weapons yet, it didn’t have much use. Didn’t mean we didn’t have a crew going over the controls, testing the single non-functional weapon mount.

Mostly non-functional. It had a regular strength petal wand attached, with all of seventeen petals.

While they were doing that, the four of us looked out through the transparent window. It was still made of stone, unfortunately, but Inertia had figured out a way to form thin hexes that were much stronger than the basic wall I normally created. The entire lower deck was obscured by those hexes, though the general shape of things was easy enough to make out.

“Fraying awesome,” Bevel muttered while pressing her face up against the transparent stone.

It was pretty awesome, I had to agree. Especially once the overly concerned workers started filing out and the main cargo doors lifted into place.

With a thud that reverberated even in the bridge, the solid latches secured that entrance until the next time the airship landed or docked.

“We should probably look into enchantments that allow the main door to be used as a landing area when she’s in flight,” I said even as my eyes went to the auxiliary entrances set every fifty feet or so along the sides. “Might be easier to control in case we deal with airborne hostiles.”

Inertia let loose a loud whistle-hiss of laugher, which was quickly followed by Bevel’s and Tresla’s.

“When, Papa, not if,” Bevel said, only pulling away from the transparent stone long enough to correct me.

“Right, when we deal with airborne hostiles,” I said, chuckling.

“Inertia has several such plans drawn up already, though she has obviously left the enchanting designs to you. There are also measures designed to make landing difficult at the secondary entrances,” Tresla said, tilting her hood to the side. “I’m surprised you didn’t invite Tamrie.”

“Said she wanted to watch from the ground,” I replied with a shrug.

“She just doesn’t trust Aeternia’s Shield to make it,” Bevel said, finally stepping back from the stone, flexing her hand. “She’s squishier than us, so I understand.”

I just shook my head in mild amusement at that. One short sparring session and Bevel had relegated Tamrie to the weak and squishy category.

It wasn’t entirely unfair. Tamrie was weaker than… well, pretty much everyone else in Cape Aeternia. Even with the enhancements from Tender’s trials, she hadn’t exercised much until recently. She certainly wasn’t on the level of the incredibly fit Tethered nor the enhanced Vox Knights to whom Bevel was comparing her.

Her ensoulment hadn’t seemed to help in that regard, almost making her weaker, if anything.

Still, she was trying, and that meant the world to me.

Thankfully, my apprentice turned daughter wasn’t quite so tactless to say such things where Tamrie could hear them.

The crew behind us finished their pre-flight checks, and the chosen pair who’d won the honor to pilot Aeternia’s Shield on her maiden flight took their place in the chairs.

Already near the tipping point from their earlier preparation, air began filtering into the central chamber at a rapid rate, audible as a soft hum from where we stood. Special enchantments on the edge of the transparent stone lit up, showing the current air pressure and mana charge of the filtration enchantments.

It took nearly ten minutes for the central chamber to achieve sufficient buoyancy. When the ship broke free, it almost seemed to lurch upwards.

A ragged cheer broke out among the Tethered at their stations, clapping each other on the back and laughing.

Our group was a little more subdued, though Bevel and I were both smiling. I suspected Inertia and Tresla were too, even if I couldn’t see it.

The ship rose slowly, cutting into the ever present westward-blowing wind. There were a few moments of panic as we ascended, as little hiccups emerged. One of the exterior displays wasn’t showing anything. At least one of the air filters hadn’t stopped filtering once we were at buoyancy. Despite the effort Bevel and I had put in to ensure otherwise, one of the auxiliary entrances was leaking.

There was creaking everywhere.

Inertia let out a rattling hiss of steam, and I nodded, not needing Tresla to translate for me.

“Yep. Everything just changed.”