Some people on the mainland claimed that you would never find a good time on The Lamina Isle. She had been determined to prove them wrong. Every culture in every location had some form of festivity. It was the nature of people to want to party. The Khantsi were a reptilian force who populated the island and were the group of people she was looking for. After flying through the swamp in the form of a white owl, she spotted a hunting group. Then she remembered she was in the form of a white owl. They were hunters. She quickly dipped down towards a tree and changed into her fae form. Her snow white feathers melted away and a beautiful young woman with blue hair was looking at the group of hunters. 

At first they were extremely distrustful of her but once she brought out the alcohol, she managed to gain their trust. They wouldn't allow her back to the village since she didn't have that much trust but they didn't attack her and even shared a story or two. They lit a fire on one of the few dry parts of the swamp and began talking about their personal life along with drinking more beer, wine, and the cocktails that Ciara had brought them. 

After a nice conversation, Ciara became bored with the situation. Things had settled down too much and she felt like she needed something wild. Something fun. Something that would make her regret everything. She said her goodbyes to the hunting group of Khantsi then began to travel through the swamp in her owl form. She spotted a stranger traveling alone and dropped into the tree. Ciara watched the person from her point in the tree before transforming back into her original form. She smiled, smoothing out her wine red dress and then decided to speak. 

"Hello there! What may you be doing, stranger?" She asked with a honeyed voice. 

Swamp. Swamp and more swamp.

Killian stood on a small boat and used a stick to punt himself along the water. What had possessed him to think that this had been a good idea? Killian had popped into an old Kharntsi village hoping to trade a few alchemical ingredients. What he had failed to remember, is that the last time he had ventured to this part of the world was over two hundred years ago. Back then, he had been quite literally a different man, and had worn at least two different faces. He had not been received warmly and had to flee the village by stealing a boat.

As he moved every slowly down river, he reflected on the one good choice he had made today, to park his impossible airship quite far away, (He had missed.) and then walked into the village. The plus side was that his ship had not been captured, the downside was that he did not travel on foot often. In fact, the Novella had misplaced his airship, and was now mostly going around in circles looking for it.

As he stopped his boat and climbed out ungracefully to the bank, he heard a voice. He spun on his heels and his sapphire eyes found the woman in the tree. Her hair was a similar hue to his eyes. He smiled his dangerous smile.

“Hello! I’m Killian.” He answered politely and considered her question. “I have misplaced my airship. It’s about this tall” He gestured above his head. “Sort of white colour, teardrop shape.” As he finished talking, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a foot long pipe that ought not have fitted inside. He lit it with a click of his fingers and an odd purple smoke started to rise from the cup.

The fae woman listened to him as he explained what he was searching for. A smile appeared on her ruby lips and she gracefully hopped down from the tree branch. She circled him for a moment, gazing at him from his head to his feet. Her sharp eyes scanned every part of his physical appearance but she didn't find any answers to the question that played in her mind. 

"I'm afraid I haven't seen it, sweetie." She said stopping in front of him and staring him in the eyes, "I could help you find it in exchange for a teensy weensy little favor." 

Her eyes turned from a simple grey into a vibrant violet as a swirl of magic the same shade circled around her fingertips. In a flash of light, a magical item appeared in the palms of her hands. The thing she held was a beautiful lyrebow made from crystal blue skyshards. Ciara smiled and plucked a few of the strings as if she was testing how easily they played. Her attention turned back to her unique friend and she leaned in to whisper gently to him. 

"All you have to do is listen to my song." 

She took a step back and held her lyrebow in position to play. There were no weapons on her and it was clear she didn't have much in the way of muscles. Even if she had a weapon it would be doubtful she could do much with it. Yet….there was an aura about her that showed she had magical talent, though what it might be would still be a mystery. Ciara had a little plan in mind that would work perfectly if he would just say that one little word. 

"What do you say, sweetie?" She asked with her honeyed voice. 

What harm could a little song do? 

Maybe having an airship with an outside as big as the inside would be easier to find when you misplace it? Not to worry, he would find it eventually. The woman before him was going to require a little more attention than he was currently giving her, there was something wrong – he could feel something. Just not sure what.

As soon as she started to answer him, he felt her tone of voice. His heart skipped and his stomach did a little flip. He was almost useless at flirting and was happily married. (He wasn’t sure, but he was fairly sure his wife was in one of his pockets.)

As Ciaria summoned the harp, Killian looked on with a wry smile. After a long drag on his pipe, Killian considered his next words very carefully. “On that?” Killian’s starry eyes were intense as he took a step closer, to regard the hard in greater detail. “No I don’t think so. At least not here, maybe if we find my ship first.” He replied before taking another drag on the pipe.

Then he turned his back on her and walked over to a particularly low hanging tree branch to sit down. “Why do you want to control my mind?” He asked almost as if he had asked her favourite sandwich. No malice, just pure inquiry. As he considered her reasons and tried to imagine her plan he dug through his pocket. Somewhere in there was a crystal that would glow when he was close to the Hullaballoo.

Ciara listened quietly as turned down her offer. She gave him a little pout, clearly disappointedby his reaction. Then he said, maybe which gave her a little hope. She watched as he walked over to a low branch and sat. Then he asked a particularly strange question. She smiled for a moment then began to chuckle. Controlling his mind? What a silly idea. She leaned against a tree and then decided to explain herself as she began lightly plucking at the lyrebow.

"Control your mind? Darling, I would never do such a thing." She said, "A mind is a fascinating place. It's where ideas are born and where ideas die. Nations and empires are built from a tiny little thought. Some of the most beautiful things in the world come from a person's head. Why on Revaliir would I try to control something like that? That would be like boxing a candle away instead of letting it burn."

A small sigh escaped her lips as she realized how dull this was becoming. But she might as well see this through. She turned away from Killian and touched the tree she had been leaning on. Pressing her forehead against the rough bark, she began muttering something to the tree. After a few moments, she got the answer she wanted and with a smile, turned back to face Killian.

"I'm afraid we will have to go quickly. The trees can direct me to where they saw you land your ship." She said, "But it seems a couple of swamp creatures have found an interest in your vessel. Come, I'll let them show me where to go."

She began walking off in the direction that the trees and other plants spoke about, still holding her lyrebow and plucking a few cords though never playing a full song. Ciara wanted to see this ship, that part drew in her curiosity. As for her song, she would have to find another audience if he still didn't want to listen once they found the ship. She smiled and looked back, to ensure he was able to keep up.

"Tell me, sweetie, are you always getting lost in swamps? Or am I just lucky today?" She asked.

His suspicions where proved right when she answered him again. Whilst what she was saying -was- quite nice, it was fairly obvious to him that Thou doth protest too much! Still, maybe he could make a friend? Wouldn’t be the first time he had befriended someone that intended him harm. As she continued plucking the harp, he could almost feel the notes tugging at him. Killian really was going to have to be careful.

As he continued to watch her and smoke his pipe, she walked over to a tree and started to commune with it. He had not thought she was human before, (she had bright blue hair!) but this sort of confirmed his suspicions. It helped also that had was very familiar with the fae folk, his wife being one of them! There was an awful familiarity between the way his wife used magic, and how this strange woman did.

When she reported back what the trees had said, Killian stashed his pipe back into his pocket and smiled at her. “Oh they won’t get in.” He said with an arrogance that wasn’t intended, but still very there. Whole armies had smashed themselves against his airship, and not even scratched it. As far as Killian was concerned, the inside of the Hullabaloo was -the- safest place in this world. (And a few others.)

He followed her closely as they made their way towards the ship. “No generally I avoid swamps.” As if to demonstrate why, he stood in something deeply unpleasant – he spoke to her again as her wiped his boot clean on the long grass.

“What is your name?” He asked as they started towards their goal once more.

"Darling, I never said they were entering." She responded with her mischievious smile, "You'll see soon enough."

She heard that arrogance in his voice but didn't mind it in the least. Better to have someone confident in their abilities than someone who doubted themselves every ten seconds. The fog was rolling in, making things a bit hard to locate. Ciara stopped strumming her lyrebow and began to focus on the sounds of the swamp around them. She used those sounds and the call of the world to pull her to his ship. A few times the fae woman would look behind to ensure Killian was able to keep up.

"You may call me Ciara. Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sweetie."

After some more walking, the fog began to die down a bit and the ship was easily in sight. But instead of a clean white teardrop shaped ship, the entire exterior was covered in slime. At the top of the ship was a green blob with slime dripping from its entire body resting on top of the ship. Somehow a swamp slime had gotten itself up there and was now covering the ship in green goo. Ciara sat on a boulder sticking out of the ground and watched Killian.

"Like I said, not entering. It seems the creature was just relaxing and causing a bit of a mess." She explained, "I had a feeling you would like to avoid as much of a mess as possible."

The fae woman watched the stranger with curiosity. Would he attack the slime? Would he show the creature kindness? Or would he just shove it off and try to clean the ship? There were a million things a person could do in this situation. Ciara was fascinated to see what the stranger would decide. She began plucking at the strings of her lyrebow, not using any magic nor creating any song. Just plucking at the simple little strings.

Her smile was a little devious – it made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Entering, trying to smash or burn – the ship would be there a lot longer than them. Damn, the thing would still be going when he was dead. Killian leapt across a small pool, and then took the next few steps a little faster to catch up with his guide. “Well, it has certainly been interesting to meet you Ciara.” Killian wasn’t lying, at least she was not boring.

As they passed through the fog Killian pulled his silver wand from his pocket. Without a word the end emitted a bright light which he trained on the floor before them both. Last thing they needed was to trip and break something.

The fog cleared and he immediately saw his ship, roughly nine feet tall and a maximum of six at its widest point. (The bottom – It was teardrop shaped!) It was the oddest-looking airship in Revaliir – from outside it looked as if the inside would be no roomier than an under stairs cupboard. Atop the Hullaballoo was a swamp slime, sentient green goo. Lovely. Still, it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened.

“I’ve never been afraid of a little mess.” Killian responded as he walked towards the ship. As he did, he reached out with his mind carefully, he found the warm happy feelings of the muddy blob sunbathing atop his ship, and simply encouraged it to get down. It slid down the side like something a giant might have chucked against a wall after too many ales. It left a disgusting looking trail to go along with the mess it had made of the exterior. “Friendly enough, just give me a moment to ensure she’s safe.” He explained to Ciara.

A click of his fingers and a door popped open, revealing a golden light from inside. Depending on the angle you stood at you could see right inside the much bigger space. Killian hopped in, closed the door and a moment later the ship faded out of reality with an echoing wheezing noise. A moment later, it re materialised clean and shiny as new. Simply moving the ship through the void was enough to burn off any dirt.

The doors flew open and Killian stuck his head out a stupid grin on his face. “You fancy a ride?” Killian was acutely aware that his ship was unlike anything anyone in Revaliir had ever seen before, from the way it moved to the fact that it was bigger on the inside, it was just stupidly not from this world. Much like himself.

“Anywhere, in an instant.” He was clearly very pleased with himself.

His ship was odd and barely seemed to have any room for one person. However, she felt she didn't have any reason to judge him. If he wanted to hang out in a tiny airship then that his up to him. The fae woman watched as he treated the slime creature kindly. For a moment she had a genuine smile. She had been expecting him to just throw it off but instead, he just let it crawl off. The doors popped open and a radiant golden light shone brightly.

When she looked in, she realized that it was bigger on the inside. Her eyes widened with that rare feeling of surprise. Killian hopped in and the doors closed. Soon the ship began fading out of existence. Pushing herself to her feet, she reached out where the ship had been seconds ago. Feeling nothing, she sighed and dropped the smile she had been holding for a while. She turned away from where the ship had been. A swirl of magic circled around her lyrebow as she sent it back to the storage where it belonged.

"A little unfair to go like that." She muttered to herself quietly.

Suddenly, she heard the strange echoing wheezing and spun around to see a clean version of the ship reappearing. The doors flew upon and that cheeky little man stuck his head out with a big old grin on his face. He asked if she wanted a ride and spoke about how it could go anywhere in an instant. Ciara paused for a moment and reached out to touch the outside of a ship. It was solid and seemed sturdy. Her eyes were filled with a child-like wonder and she felt that burn of curiosity run through her mind. The fae woman looked at him with an excited expression.

"What are we waiting for?" Ciara asked.

She walked through the doors as fast as possible and gazed at the beautiful interior of the ship.

He had seen her face as he disappeared, and as his ship reappeared. (Impressive considering there were no windows.) He smiled to himself as her excitement became obvious, as she moved into the ship he had his back to her, already he was fiddling with the wayfinder, adjusting runes and moving levers. “Close the door” He said simply.

They stood in the control room; it was hexagonal with a raised floor. A central column of glass came from below and went into the ceiling. Trapped inside was the constantly moving golden light. Pure Novella magic, the same thing that kept Killian alive all these years. The floor was made from pure diamond, cut so that it could be seen through like a sheet of glass. The walls of the control room were filled with bookcases, filled with everything from gardening to astronomy. Sat above each bookcase was a single bright circle of enchanted light, the only other illumination in the room apart from the central column.

“What do you think?” He asked, a cheeky grin plastered to his face.

As the door closed, he went down a cast iron staircase – There was one up to a corridor, and one down to underneath his controls, beneath the diamond floor. Here was a lot of the ship’s magical engines, and a few old chests. It was these Killian made a b-line for.

A few moments later and he was back on the main floor, only now he was holding a pair of extremely thick earmuffs. “Are we going to be friends? Or do I have to keep these on me?”