Chapter one: Starting over

Trigger warnings for those who need them

No trigger warnings (yet).

The sun is low and bright, trying its best to clean up the winter snow that fell these last few months.
Normally my first response to snow is curling up inside with a book or five.
But instead, Xuiyo and I are standing outside on a very strange dock. It’s a shooting range, off into the frothy blue. They’ve fenced off a large section that’s off limits to any boats, swimmers or ice skaters.
The targets are swan-shaped-buoys with coloured targets on their backs, bobbing along at different distances.
I can’t deny it’s original but I’m not quite sure if it’s an ingenious way to utilise the surrounding sea in a city that has already built several layers of buildings on top of one another.
Or a silly way to waste ammo and possibly pollute the waters below.
I think there’s a game involved but the person who sold us the ticket talked too fast for me to follow and Xuiyo didn’t have the patience to wait for me.
I get it, it’s been a while since we last had the time to come here.
“It’s your shot.” Xuiyo tells me as he hands me the plain aluminium hand-gun.
I look at the scoreboard, even without knowing the rules it’s clear to me that Xuiyo isn’t having a good time with this weapon.
They won’t let him use his own for safety reasons and this model is much lighter than the black steel gun I gave him for his birthday. He’s got an upward correction which I why I gave him a heavier model in the first place but now he’s missing most of buoys.
I don’t think I like winning just because of that.
“Right, thanks.” I accept the gun and point it at a red-scarfed bird all the way at the back. I train my eye on it. Try to really focus in, then point my aim a little to the left before pulling the trigger and missing the thing by a hair. “Stupid gun.” I curse, then hand it back.
Xuiyo pulls up an eyebrow. “You did that on purpose to make me feel better.”
“What? No, no I didn’t.” I lie.
He rolls his eyes “That’s enough for today, let’s go home.”
“Oh…” Well that wasn’t what I wanted. “How about a cup of tea first?”
“And waste money?”
“Oh come on, tea isn’t that expensive. We’re allowed to enjoy ourselves at least a little.”
Xuiyo sighs “Fine, one cup.”
I concede that’s probably wise, then hand the gun back to the clerk and together we enter Venusia proper again.

As a lover of architecture this place does feel like a bit of a miracle.
It’s very strange seeing hoity-toity powder box style built directly on top of thirteenth century black beam with its little towers and flags. Then another building reminds be of our time back in Callahaggy with the brick carvings and curved tiled awnings over the windows.
Ladders and steps are bolted to the sides of houses and safety railings line the rooftops.
Renting an apartment here can mean having a room that used to be a balcony on the fourth floor and no way to get in but clambering the rooftops of your downstairs neighbors. For the sake of accessibility we’d like to find a place somewhere attached to the street. But the easier a place is to get to, the more you’re paying for that luxury.
On the way to the tea house we pass a stream that runs through the middle of the road with little kids racing paper boats down the water.
I look at them with a feeling of light happiness, Xuiyo just passes them by without a second look.

The tea house is crowded with conversations in every language being held around us. I order two green teas, then pull out my father’s wallet to pay the waitress.
After she walks away, I quickly count the mixed collection of paper money, silver sticks and copper pieces. It turns out when you’re travelling your wallet turns into a bit of a mess.
Well, father’s wallet.
I promised Dana I’d send it back when I could.
But I also expected that to be much sooner. It’s not like we’re really short any money. We have the Royal Griffin to live in so most expenses go to food, drink and fuel to keep the place warm as winter comes and goes.
The problem is that there’s no new money coming in.
It’s been how long already? Three months wait- four months, and I’m already feeling like we set out on an impossible task.
“How’s the tea?” I ask.
“It’s tea.” he responds.
I chuckle “You know for a chef I’d expect your palate to be a bit more refined.”
He shrugs “I know the difference between green and white tea now.”
“I guess that’s an improvement, yes.” My eyes sink down into the depths of my cup as my brain reminds me over and over again that I’m feeling off.
I think Xuiyo can feel it too, the impatience. “Hey, Xuiyo.”
“Huh”
“How long do you think this will last?”
He pulls up an eyebrow “Will what last?”
“The waiting to get started again.”
Xuiyo shrugs “I wasn’t there when Yobu had to find a place to build his restaurant, but I don’t expect things to be easy.”
“I don’t expect things to be easy either.” I bite back, sounding a lot more defensive than I meant to sound. “It just…takes longer than I expected.”
Am I the only one who though this would go faster?
Back in Choumuri, the money I stole would have been enough for a decent looking place to start over again.
But Venusia isn’t like Choumuri at all.
Out here, competition for real estate runs fierce, fast, and I’m pretty sure there’s backhand dealings happening as well.
It doesn’t help that space is a commodity worth its surface area in gold.
I’d almost suggest going back if the kashuya weren’t still after Xuiyo. Plus, I imagine my father would wanna lock me up in a real prison rather than just the locked city after the stunts I’ve pulled.
Stealing a wallet from one of the wealthiest men in Choumuri pales in comparison to openly fighting the kashuya. Not to mention the secret gun-slinging lessons.
I’d have a lot of explaining to do if we got caught.
It’s a good thing we’re using fake names.
Xuiyo sets down his cup and averts his eyes to the rest of the tea house. “You can always go and look for a job if you’re bored.”
“I guess…” I sip my tea and wonder why I feel the need to justify myself not having one yet. It’s not like I’m needed in the ship each hour of every day.
I just don’t think anyone would hire me. I have no previous work experience, no skills aside from book knowledge.
I can fly, but we had to flee Choumuri before I got my license proper.
I smile at my tea. We wouldn’t have made it this far without Dana’s help.
But even as my flying teacher she can’t just hand me a licence.
Meaning my current contribution to the group is ‘has ship’ and that’s it.
And technically I stole the airship, but only technically. It was gonna be mine in like, two weeks. And time was of the essence.
“Wanna head back?” Xuiyo asks, his cup is already empty. Mine’s only half empty but it it’s also half cold so I finish it in a single gulp.
“Sure.” We head out into busy streets and from there out, out and further out to the edge of the city. To the long, man-made island that’s a parking space for the airships that started popping up long after the island ran out of room.

The Royal Griffin isn’t a large vessel, it’s in the friend-ship range. With four cabins, a kitchen, parlour, and cockpit on the ground floor. Then if you were to take the steps down into the bowels of the ship you’d find a machine room, a laundry room for your clothes and a water closet for yourself.
It’s especially small if, like me, you’re used to living in a literal palace.
But I don’t mind. It feels cosy to me.

We walk down pale blue wallpapered corridors and onward to the parlour where Hamala is sitting at the table by the window where we usually take meals. She’s bent over a pile of paper, trusty chubby dictionary at her side.
Xuiyo heads straight towards her “Hey.”
“Hey, how was shooting?” Hamala asked before giving Xuiyo a kiss on the lips.
Xuiyo makes a grumbling noise which the girl seems to understand perfectly. Then follows it up with “How’s the hunt for a space?”
This time it’s Hamala’s turn to grunt “Well, apparently I’m not allowed to just apply for any space. I need to ‘announce my intent to run a business’ and register the restaurant before it even exists yet.”
“Why?” Xuiyo asks. “Zoning I think? Or competition…they list a couple reasons but it mostly comes down to ‘we wanna be able to reject you if your business doesn’t fit the ‘vibe of the neighbourhood’”
“That’s harsh.” He tells her with a hug.
“Yup, and the woman at the desk was very dismissive about me not knowing that yet and she gave me all this paperwork to fill out but I don’t know what half of it means and I tried to ask for a version in Jigani but either they didn’t understand, didn’t have it or just didn’t care to go look for one.”
“Can I see?” I ask walking to the table.
“Of course.”
I sit down across the pair and turn the pile of papers towards me. Then pull my notebook from my coat pocket together with a stubby pencil and start to write down all the terms I don’t know.
I’m glad to report the conversational bits go relatively painlessly…but with documents like these I still end up with a long list of terminology.
I swoop the dictionary off the desk and start leafing through it.
All this legal language and technical terminology is making me wonder if it’s even Charan at all or if I’m reading something completely devoid of meaning that’s just there to taunt me and my basic understanding of the sentence structure.
It doesn’t help that some words are the same in both Charan and Cygnian and other words just look similar but they mean completely different things.
It’s frustrating.
Xuiyo kisses Hamala on the forehead “Want some tea?”
“Yes please.”
“I’ll be right back.” Over the sea of written words I hear Xuiyo close the door behind us.
“Alice?” Hamala asks gingerly.
“Yes?”
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask but I’m not sure if I’ve got the courage.”
I look up from the page “What is it?”
“Do you want to be here?”
Then put the book down. “Of course I do, I wouldn’t have flown for twenty-five days to bring you here if I didn’t”
She smiles at me but it’s one of her waitress-smiles that doesn’t reach her eyes “That’s good then.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well…” her gaze drifts to her hands “Ever since we landed I’ve had the feeling you’re waiting to take off again.”
Damn her and her observant senses, “Well, I can’t really do that when you’re all living in my ship.” I chuckle.
“Exactly.” Her eyes look too seriously for my liking.
“That was a joke. I mean I’m not opposed to adventure, seeing the rest of the world and all that, but building a restaurant is also adventurous right?”
“It is to me.”
“Good.” Why do I feel like that wasn’t convincing
“I won’t go anywhere okay? Not as long as I’m needed here.”
“Of course, thank you.”
“Alice I’m going to need you to fill out these forms for me.” Dana announces as she enters the room with yet more paper in her hands.
“Oh great, more forms.” I cry out sarcastically “I haven’t even deciphered these ones yet.”
“They’re for your flying certificate. You flew halfway across the world without proper certification once but you’re not doing it again.”
I sigh but can’t deny she’s right “I know, I know, can I see?” I put my current task on hold for now and look over the new document “Wait, I need to do the exam on the mainland?”
“Unfortunately yes, since Venusia doesn’t have the space.” I cross my arms in petty discontent
“But what if Hamala finds her restaurant before that time, we can’t just uproot everyone to fly there.”
“That’s what boats are for?” She pulls up an eyebrow and I suddenly feel very silly.
Except, hold on “How do I prove I can fly without my ship?”
At that question Dana starts to smile widely.“You won’t need the ship because the exams are held in the world-famous Bloaker flying simulator.”
“The what?”
” Maybe it’s only world famous if you’re interested in technology.” Dana concedes.
“But I’ve never flown a flight simulator! What if the button layout is different than the Griffin and I fail because I pressed the wrong button out of habit?”
She seems taken aback by this. “That’s a good question.” She leafs through the remaining papers in her hand “It says here that the simulator is based on a 405 base model from 1878. A pretty common model. I might be able to find one for-“
“Oh! Uhm, I didn’t mean to give you work. I can figure it out for myself.” I quickly tell her, feeling like I’m asking way too much of her already.
“Okay.” Dana smiles at me and pats me on the shoulder as if to say good job.
My heart jumps at the sensation. I quickly face the form, trying my best to hide my reddening cheeks behind my hair. I fill in my false details and push the paper to the corner of the table for Dana to pick up.
“There you go” I announce softly.
“Thank you.” Dana picks it up and heads over to the sofa.
I try my best to focus my attention back to the list of enigmatic legalese until Xuiyo returns with tea.