Chapter 4

  The Southwest entrance of Rosavento is just as dirty as the floor of the piers. Stained stone pillars hold up a smudged stone architrave both decorated with rusted iron and simple Hesforian patterns. The opening is wide and allows for large cargo and machinery to be transported. Beside the pillars the wood walls and milky white windows complete the less than appealing facade of the harbor. A shadow is cast most of the day by the massive viewing decks above, so lanterns running on fancy Hesforian technology are on most of the day. Minot and Iv pass a few workers carrying tools as they enter.

  Iv is joyfully swinging around as she flies, still thinking about the Cloudbreaker. "Such a beautiful beast, hehehe", she mutters while humming a song.

  "Ship-lovin' freak...", Minot exhales. He has long accepted his fairy companion is very excited about and interested in ships. From what he has heard fairies come from the forests and are usually found in them, not greasy at a harbor. Whenever he thinks about it, he always feels impressed at how a fairy can build a vessel and its internal machinations. And pilot one, too, for that matter. He will never forget the scene he saw at the junkyard when a small fairy, covered in grease, soot and sweat, was carrying a gear wheel as big as her. She was wearing a dress cut from a repurposed cloth bag. He must've been 15 then. When both their gazes met they stared at each other for a solid minute in befuddlement.

  What is a kid doing at a ship junkyard?, Iv had asked then.

  What is a fairy doing at this boat trash heap?, Minot had replied.

  That was the moment of their first argument over what is a boat and what is a ship. Ever since then they have worked together as fisherman and ship mechanic. Many years have passed and they still operate the ship she was constructing with his help back then. He has sown her an overall from clean cloth and leftover jeans rags so her outfit matches that of the other mechanics. She is still wearing that overall to this day. In return Minot learned to fix and care for the ship's machinery and hull. He will need to borrow a welding kit again to remove the cuts the weird bird created.

  The interior of the Rosavento is a jumbled mix of stone pillars, heavy machinery, crates - big and small -, and a lot of scattered trash. This time the pillars feature the Empire's banners, protected from the dirt washed up from the outside. Still some stains have found their way onto them. Minot spends a moment looking at the banner. White foundation, green stripes and gold accents. At the center is Rosavento's Guild sigil, a compass in grey. He has never really cared to know what the colors stand for. Because whatever noble message is hidden there, it is completely lost in the basement of Rosavento that they all call the harbor.

  Minot swifts his gaze forward again. "Man, this fish is heavy", he complains fiddling with the bag. "Mind lending me a hand?"

  "Sorry, but I'm at my carrying capacity already carrying this pouch", Iv replies with a smug look on her face.

  "Pah! You've carried tools twice your size before, and now you're overencumbered by a small pouch?"

  Iv fakes an old person's cough. "I'm not as spry as I used to be."

  "Tsk, unbelievable, making the injured work hard", Minot retorts with exaggerated emotional pain.

  "Ah, shut it! You've turned up with cuts and bruises all over before and still hauled crates 'round", Iv barks back, throwing him an annoyed look. "Now stop complaining, ya sea slug, and let's sell this fish."

  After crossing the large inside area the two are approaching the center where the reception is. Wherever anyone is in Rosavento, the internal architecture is designed in such a way that everyone can see the central column that reaches from the bottom to the top of the building. Every shop faces that direction, and every main path leads to it. The column is a wide cylinder of stone, polished and adorned with iron and gold. Attached to it is a big statue of a deity the people in this world venerate. It is supposed to face the Capital of Relva Hesfor. The base has a wood strip going around it and acting as a decorative ornament and stabilizer. Several well dressed people work behind a large circular table. Among them and facing Southwest is Lise, smiling as ever.

  Iv pokes Minot's side. "Remember, this is a professional transaction. Don't accidentally ask her out or anything", she taunts him with a devilish grin.

  Minot doesn't reply. His gaze is fixed on Lise and his face is rigid, lips slightly pressed.

  "Greetings, honored sailors!", Lise greets them with a clear and friendly voice.

  "No need for formalities, Lise", Iv replies. "It's us."

  "It's my job to greet you with proper respect and appreciation for your work!" Lise is the poster child of a model employee. Her green suit is spotless, even the little brooch on her chest is perfectly aligned with the buttons on it. A cute white bow is tying her light-blue hair back into a low ponytail, the strands on top of her head neatly combed to the side. Her blue eyes radiate an innocent and honest energy that is completely foreign in such a dirty place like this.

  "So, Minot! I see you brought in a nice full bag of fish?"

  Minot doesn't reply, he is stun locked. All he is doing is staring at her face and scanning every last detail. The blush from earlier today returns slowly. Always the same with this guy, Iv thinks.

  Lise notices the awkward silence. "Uhm..."

  "Ignore him, he's gone", Iv comments.

  "Oh, I hope he returns soon!", Lise responds worriedly.

  "Wha..."

  Iv always wonders what Minot sees in Lise. She does look good, increased thousandfold compared to the rest of the port, but she often appears to be rather simple-minded.

  "Freakin' airhead", Iv mumbles. "You two really are a match made in heaven..."

  "What?"

  "Nuthin'"

  "Okay!"

  Iv sighs and flies closer to Minot's face.

  "Oi, birdbrain!" She pokes his cheek. "We're here to sell, remember? Drop the fish."

  Minot's gaze doesn't move as he lowers the bag and puts it on the table. What Iv finds weirder is not Minot's creepy staring but Lise returning the stare with her usual honest smile. The two are staring at each other for way longer than any normal person would be comfortable with.

  "F-fish..." Words stumble out of Minot's mouth.

  "Sweet! Now let me weigh them real quick and pay you for your work."

  "Uh huh."

  Iv facepalms. "Ugh, you hopeless romantic."

  Lise opens the bag and empties the contents into a container attached to a scale. The container drops a few millimeters. The fish slosh around with uncomfortably wet noises as they are dropped. A small display on the scale lights up and shows the total weight of the fish. 21 kilos.

  "That is a nice weight!", Lise exclaims while noting it down on a sheet of paper. She closes the container, lifts it off the scale with a lot of effort and places it on a conveyor belt where it gets transported to a storage unit in the distance.

  "Don't break your arms, sunshine", Iv comments.

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  "Don't worry!" Lise grabs her left arm and flexes her biceps. "I'm used to this!" She is clearly out of breath, huffing and puffing.

  "Whatever you say."

  Minot still hasn't looked away. A bomb could go off and he would still be staring at her. Lise opens the register after a few quick calculations in her head and pulls out a generous amount of coins and bills. With a gleeful smile she says: "The Empire thanks you for your efforts! Here is the payment you earned! 836 Sols!" Iv whistles at that sum. Lise is handing it to Minot.

  After a few seconds of silence Iv kicks him in the arm and then he picks up the money. His hand barely touches hers and it looks like he would faint.

  "Oi, Lise", Iv calls her attention.

  "Yes, Iv?"

  "When do you work here at Porto Branco usually?"

  "Every fourth day of the week! The rest of the week I am working at the capital."

  "So I should work every fourth day then...", Minot mumbles.

  "What was that?", Lise asks.

  "The monkey learned to talk apparently", Iv replies in his stead. "Anyway, having you work here is a lot more enjoyable compared to that Marlon dickhead."

  "Yeah...", Lise agrees embarrassed. "He is known for being a 'difficult' receptionist, even at the Capital."

  "Doesn't surprise me!", Iv exclaims. "Smug lil' shit pays us squat and dares us to do anything about it. And whenever we complete a mission the grease dick waits until the last SECOND to file it so we can get our pay, the barnacles on his ass having stingy lil frog fucker!"

  A few people turn around during the fairy's tirade. A loud laughter is heard coming from the other side of the column. Lise is standing there, still smiling, a sweat pearl traveling down her forehead.

  "... I understand your frustrations and will ask administration to scold Marlon appropriately."

  "Good!" Iv calms down. "Minot, let's go, we still got to see Callan."

  Lise bows politely and wishes the two well on their future fishing trips. Minot awkwardly waves back and follows Iv. The spell on him slowly lifting.

  "You back on land, lover boy?", Iv asks.

  "I think I learned how to fly...", Minot replies, the heat on his face cooling off.

  "Pfft, being poetic doesn't suit you."

  "Shut up, let's just go to Callan."

  The two walk across the room to the other side. Minot sneaks in one more look back at Lise before moving on. Past a mechanic's workshop, through a side path formed by a butcher's shop and a cold storage unit and up a few stairs there is Callan's office. The facade is a lot more intricately designed than the rest of the floor's shops. The carvings on the door, the iron decoration and the flag hanging on the door resemble the central column and the Hesforian architecture more than a functional building. The door swings open and a small bell rings as it is struck, announcing Minot and Iv's entry.

  The office is quite big, but all the shelves with artifacts, books, rolls, antiques and tablets on them make it very cramped. It smells like old paper and dry leather with a hint of ink. The big table in the middle and the smaller desk at the opposite wall make the space even smaller. On the table rests a large object hidden under a green sheet which has lost its saturated color and shows signs of wear. The object appears to be an elongated slab with a handle attached to one side. On the wall above the desk is a bulletin board with dozens of pins, papers and fancy symbols sketches onto more papers. In front of the desk a man sits hunched over writing something down in a book full of notes sticking out the sides. The book gets closed as soon as the bell rings. The man moves his head up, fixes his messy and faded blonde hair with one hand movement. He stands up and turns his head to face the visitors.

  "I'm busy. I don't take any customers ri- Oh, it's you." Callan's rough and smokey voice changes from dismissive but polite to annoyed and irritated. He places his thumb and index finger against his nose bridge, showing his annoyance. His glasses are pushed up a bit during it. "What do you idiots want?"

  "Aw, is this how you greet your colleagues?", Minot replies. "We came all this way to you because we need your help."

  "I only want to see you two when I want you to do a mission." Callan every so often gives Iv and Minot missions to complete. Partly because the two are cheap. Missions include hauling cargo, delivering equipment, cleaning his office, fixing his shelf or dealing with unreasonable clients.

  "Don't be like that, four-eyes", Iv says. "We got something you will definitely find interesting~"

  "I trust you as far as I can throw you, and my pitchin' days are long over." If he could throw them, he would throw them out of his office. "Besides, I AM busy. The Empire wants me to research some shit for them again."

  "Don't they have enough book rats at the Capital?", Minot asks.

  "Apparently not." Callan sighs, contemplating if whatever his unwanted visitors have can at least serve as a distraction. "Ugh, fine. What do you have to show me? And it'd better not be another fish that you say looks like me."

  "But it really did! With glasses and all", Iv insists. Callan's face doesn't change expressions, his arms crossed. "Anyway", Iv speaks in a polite voice. She moves to the big table and drops the pouch. Callan looks at it and his face changes slightly, from annoyance to intrigue.

  "Take a look at what we got inside this pouch, but I suggest you don't touch it with your hands." Iv turns the pouch over and lifts it up, letting the gold object fall onto the table with a bright 'clink' that echoes slightly in the room. Callan narrows his eyes as he looks at the object.

  "No idea what this thing is", Minot explains. "We got attacked by a weird dusty bird and when I hit it it poofed out of existence and dropped this."

  Callan stares at the object for a while, his eyes analyzing every corner of the object. One hand goes to his short beard as he is thinking. After a few seconds of contemplation he looks up above his glasses and stares at the two.

  "A... bird dropped this?"

  "Yup."

  "What did it look like?"

  "White, gold sprinkled on its body, spewin' mist everywhere and talons sharp enough to cut iron."

  "Hmm."

  Callan moves over to one of his shelves and pulls out a book. He flips through the pages looking for something.

  "You got an idea what this is?", Iv asks.

  "Not in the slightest", Callan replies dryly.

  Minot and Iv sink a bit after the revelation and let out a loud and annoyed sigh. They were getting their hopes up that he would know what it is. Callan stops at a page.

  "But I think I can guess where it came from." He spreads the book where he stopped and shows them the contents. It is a collection of drawings resembling the shape of the object.

  "This book is about the architecture and culture of ancient civilizations on this world. I don't know how a bird is connected to it, but at least this object has ties to the distant past."

  He puts the open book on the table and grabs the sheet covering the large object. "And probably to this thing, too." He pulls the sheet away and reveals a massive slab of stone. It is longer than Minot is tall, has unusual streak marks going down its length and sharp edges. There is a relief of a person holding a burning sword. The person appears to have wings. Engraved into the stone is a bunch of characters and letters that appear like text, but it is unreadable. Some parts of the text appear warped and there are large cuts over the text. More interestingly, what appeared to be a handle turns out to be a sword hilt made entirely out of gold.

  "What in the pink blossoms is this?", Iv asks surprised and impressed.

  "The thing the Empire wants me to research. With Imperial decree and seal of Imperial General Yilagh. They call it the 'Cinzite Sword'." The ash-grey stone looks very close to the material Minot's harpoon is made out of. In fact, that is Cinzite, too. "As you two know, Cinzite is the stone we use for a lot of our tools, especially when dealing with stuff from the Night Ocean and beyond the Frontier, right?"

  Both nod.

  "It's also used in magical contraptions as a conductor of magical energy. And it's part of the protective equipment on ships that move through the Frontier. And this... sword, as they call it..."

  Callan grabs a hammer and strikes the sword with a lot of force. Iv and Minot jump at the sudden strike. The table shakes and the book's pages flap around. The thing that surprises the two more than the sudden violence is that the Cinzite Sword shows no sign of damage.

  "Normally Cinzite is strong but breaks with enough force. Specially treated it can be used as armor and weapons. But this", he points at the impact area that is completely devoid of deformation, "this is on a different level."

  "And something like that would be a perfect weapon for Hesfor?", Minot continues Callan's explanation.

  "Yes." He flips through a few pages of the book. "An Imperial fleet found this thing on an island in the Storm and sent it to me to figure it out."

  "So you're gonna decipher the text or what?", Iv asks a bit confused.

  "I would if I could." He shows pages with ancient texts, but none of the letters match the ones on the sword. "Whatever text this is, it is older than whatever I have in my office. Or it might be a dialect." He looks over to the artifact. "Besides, I am certain the thing you found and this sword are linked. So for this one time in your lives you actually brought something of interest here."

  Iv and Minot high-five. Callan adjusts his glasses, grabs pliers and raises the artifact up. The warmth coming from it is felt in the whole room. After a quick once-over he comments: "At a glance this material looks the same as the sword hilt's. I'll keep this for research." He doesn't try to ask for permission, but that's what Minot and Iv want anyway.

  "If you find anything interesting about either of those things let us know!", Iv requests with both hands folded.

  "We're your good friends after all!", Minot adds.

  Callan gives them a cold stare. Calmly he replies: "Get the fuck out of my office."

  Minot and Iv smile innocently and rush out the door. Before the door closes Iv rings the bell a few dozen times until Callan yells at them to leave.

  Callan stands there with the artifact in his hands. He looks at it, then at the Cinzite Sword, then at the book on his desk, then back to the artifact.

  "In the end we're no smarter than before...", Minot laments. "Hoped the smartass would have more to say about the thing."

  "We did get a lot of juicy info, though", Iv objects. "I'm smellin' another mission from the nerd. We might even be able to squeeze some extra pay out of him."

  "Hehe, I like the sound of that."

  After an uncharacteristically long trip at Rosavento Minot and Iv walk back to their ship. They still have to fix the scars of battle it endured. Minot prepares himself mentally to grab Iv if she starts daydreaming about the Cloudbreaker again. It is still anchored at the piers.

  But what he didn't prepare for is the sight of a woman standing on their ship and gazing into the distance.