The First World Sphere

Chapter 112

Chapter 112

There was something about having your own skyship. The freedom to be able to go anywhere at any time. This journey was not going to be as pleasant as I hoped. Cilia and Leda were on the bridge waiting for me. “Take us to the port nearest to the Naval Academy,” I said as I took a seat to the side.

Cilia had a guilty look. She explained, “Loriel gave the Maelstrom permissions to land anywhere in the capital.”

“Huh, then land at the Naval Academy docks. It should save time, but I probably will not do any shopping in the city then,” I said. It was not like I had any coin. I spent my coin on the spells, and all the gold I had would need to be used for Loriel’s old Harbinger. That enchanting work would take me a full day, but I planned to drag it out to two and half days, from 5th day to 7th day.

The ship lifted off, and the cats were at the window, focused on land disappearing as we crossed the edge of the island. They were fascinated watching as much as humans. I still felt my stomach drop slightly when the island disappeared. Cilia mumbled, “So much faster than a trader,” as she went to max safe acceleration. The trip would only take minutes at maximum speed. The capital island, Skyhold, soon appeared. A Harbinger ship swung to intercept us but stopped its efforts once their spotter identified us. It was not like they could have caught us anyway.

We approached from the Citadel side of the island as the Naval Academy was not far from it. Cilia slowed and waited for the signals to approach the port. Once the light flashed, a pair, a single, and a pair again, we moved to the dock. The Naval Academy was busy with dozens of men and women. Cilia noted, “Callem has recruited three hundred women into the service. An untapped resource he called them,” she smirked.

Cilia did not have fond memories of her time at the Academy. The Naval Academy had a large pond with five Harbinger ships docked there. The mass of the ships did better in water rather than in a cradle. There were also a pair of Wasp ships on land. We landed next to one of the Wasps.

An officer met us at the bottom of the ramp, “You are expected in General Callem’s residence.” He had strong discipline and led the way. We were led right in when we reached the small estate on the Navy campus.

A smiling Nisil met me. I had not seen her in a year. She had been the Wolfsguard assigned to Admiral Sebastian Woodcraft as his personal healer. She had even saved my life when I was attacked by a giant eagle out at Twin Rocks. “Storme! Oh, how you have grown into such a large and beautiful man!” She hugged me.

I was a little stunned and asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you would be with the Wolfsguard on Stonefell Island?”

She smiled and looked happy, “I am one of three healers at the Academy. I work for the General. I live in this residence with the other healers.”

“What about Sebastian?” I inquired.

She nodded in understanding, “He has a residence here. But he spends most of his time in the yards building ships,” she smiled, “but you already know that.”

The man who escorted me inside, seeing the conversation slow, “This way Storme Hardlight.”

Callem’s office was adjacent to the entry, and he was in deep discussion with two older men. As soon as I entered, he smiled and hugged me. He was losing weight, or maybe muscle. “Storme, it is about time you visited! The Lightning Drake sent a comm message your ship was approaching the capital, and I hoped you would see me. You always came to the capital and spent all that time in Sebastian’s yards but never visited me here.”

“I was too afraid you would have me run the recruit obstacle course,” I joked as we moved to sit, and the two men joined us.

“This is Captain Zephyr and Captain Esalin. Brought them out of retirement to captain the new Harbingers. We were working through the details of the security for the Ambassadors from the Sadians.” He smirked at my surprise. “Yes, Loriel is moving fast. Free trade could be established soon, with Titan’s Shield as the waypoint by the end of the year. We have been trying to minimize traffic to Skyhold until we can establish greater security. For the visit, we plan to keep a dozen warships in the air for the dignitaries to see on their visit.”

“That is good news!” Great news for me if the traffic to Aegis city was going to increase. The warehouse I was getting in compensation was going to be immensely valuable...too bad I planned to demolish it.

“So, Storme, what brings you to my office?” He asked in a jovial mood.

I just laid it out for him, “Gareth. He is heading down a terrible path, and I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was hoping you could visit and talk with him.” Callem was figuring out my analogies, so I continued, “He is starting to drink regularly, womanizing, and being careless in the dungeon.”

Callem motioned the two captains to leave as this was a personal matter. After they exited, Callem sighed, “It would have been better for him if he came to the Naval Academy. But he wanted his adventure and dungeons,” he sighed again, “just like my son. I do not know how you managed to maintain such a high degree of motivation growing up, Storme. Gareth always followed your lead. Now that he is flying on his own, he needs to make mistakes to learn from them.”

Testing the new collar, it worked remarkably well. I could even use a higher-tier aether crystal if I wanted. This opened up a lot of possibilities. Not just for the cat collars but all my other enchanting work. The problem was the small buckle had taken nearly six hours to complete. I put the new buckle on the white collar and fastened it around Adrial. She initially disliked it, trying to use her tentacles to get it off. I attached a plain black collar on Kiara, who didn’t try to remove it but gave me sad eyes. They would get used to them eventually.

We did our morning routine, and then I was off to the Dungeon Academy. The rest of the week proceeded rapidly as I prepared to work on Loriel’s ship and experimented with adamantine. I did not see Gareth or hear that Callem had visited. I assumed he was busy with the Sadians arrival. In the evening on the fourth day, on getting back from the Academy, Ullmark found me.

“Storme. Just wanted to let you know that Namira did well enough. I don’t think she should be on the same team as Gareth, though. Seems there is some bad blood, and something is brewing. Did you hear about an incident a the Academy between Namira and another woman?” Ullmark said seriously.

“No. I can ask around tomorrow. Should we pull Namira?” I questioned Ullmark.

“I think she will be fine on our mid-week delves. Talia, Sammie, and Lana all seemed to like her, and she was competent,” Ullmark said. I really did not want to play referee in a drama situation, so maybe it is best to let Namira go. But then again, Gareth had caused friction with Talia.

“Who is on the seventh day delve?” I asked, having not looked at the posting in the training room.

“Gareth, Talia, Sammie, Lana, Kindroth, and Lorcan.” My confusion had him elaborate, “Kindroth is one of the new healers, and Lorcan is a scout. I dropped the harvester Sable after the last delve. She was not going to work out,” he mussed.

“Ullmark, it is your decision. Just keep the frost mead flowing,” I encouraged the man. He may have looked in his forties, but he was much older.

“Thank you. I think if Naira joins permanently, she may have some friends at the Dungeon Academy who can fill the roles out the way I want them,” Ullmark said slowly. “She has mentioned a few, and I would ask you or Gareth to check them out first by talking to their instructors.”

“Get me the names. I will do it through my advisor,” I said without hesitation. He left after.

The next day at the Academy, I was healing with Neelan in the duel-fighting class. Neelan was not aware of an incident involving Namira. I had a chance to talk with Namira when she took a slash to her temple. After I healed her, I asked, “Heard things went well for you on the delves. Is there anything I should know about that happened at the Academy?”

She almost didn’t say anything. “I was talking with one of the fifth-year porters. Ullmark said we needed someone competent who could be a porter and harvester after the issue on the delve.”

“What issue?” I asked, concerned that Ullmark hadn’t said anything other than saying he fired Sable.

“The harvester, Sable, he kept rupturing the queen sacs when harvesting them. He told Ullmark he was skilled enough to do it and definitely was not. I talked to someone I knew who could do it, and Gareth’s new friend, Gwenyth, took exception since he was on her delve team. Gareth stepped in to defend Gwenyth. It was a mess,” she informed me. “We both got reprimands for fighting.”

“You and Gareth?” I said, surprised.

“No, Gareth tried to separate me and Gwenyth. I think everyone thought that I was jealous that Gareth was with Gwenyth,” she finished. The instructor called her to her next match. I hoped Callem hurried up and came to talk with Gareth.

After the healing class, I returned to the Shiny Platinum and loaded the cats onto the Maelstrom. Cilia, Leda, Remy, and Rippon were flying to work on Loriel’s Harbinger ship so I could get the deed to the adjacent warehouse.

The flight was quick, as Leda knew where to go. The ship was moored on a dock near a small estate. The ship was a luxury retreat for the head of the Miaden family, which was now Loriel. The ship had been stripped of its runic enchantments, and I would have to do everything from scratch. As we landed on a patch of grass, a dozen Miaden wolfkin were guarding the ship as two dozen men worked on refurbishing the old ship.

I approached the ship expecting to tell everyone to get off and found Loriel on the deck. I bit my tongue. I just wanted to do the job and leave, and Loriel obviously wanted something else. I was not having a good week.