“The Nigrum Crista,” Drake said back to her, testing the way it sounded. “Quite a good name.” The two discussed what to do next, and decided that the best course of action, before exploring the ship, was to set a course for Parvpora. They would need to meet up with Raile at some point, but the journey was bound to take quite some time. Calling on Raile could be done at a later time, and the two decided to go ahead and explore the ship more. If there was treasure to send to him, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to break the idea of overhauling a stolen airship with a little bit of good news.

“This is not…anything like what I was imagining,” Drake said as they walked down the solver, gold, and crimson colored halls. The rugs were a mix of disgusting browns and grays, and nothing seemed to match. “I would literally go for anything other than this.” He sighed. “What do you think?” He looked around. “I’m assuming that room at the end is the master. There are a few others on each side…and the hold is probably where the treasures are kept. Lead the way, Lady Vela” he said with a joking bow.

Vela was checking out the interiors. “He’s a dreadfully boring guy. This ship shows it. The colors suck. There’s no adventure in his blood.” She opened up the master bedroom and it was even more painful in there. Not to mention the number of female clothes strung about from his room. “Look at all of his trophies…” She took her foot and moved some of it. “Right, the first thing we do is strip the entire place. Sell what’s worth and use that to fund the new overhaul along with what I have saved up.” She put her hands on her hips.

“I always liked the color of Abed. The way it was so bright and full of life. Pinks, greens, and blues. The glassworks. The pillows! I bet Karith has a lot of it in their marketplace. Just likes of silks.” She flopped on the bed. “This is horrible.” She got up and bounced on it.

“This has no… bounce. This has to go. I would break this. We would break this like we broke that bed in the tavern.”

Drake rolled his eyes, “You really can’t expect a tavern of that quality to really invest in the furniture. We’ll be able to pick out what we want when we get to Parvpora.” He held out his hand to pull her up. “Let’s get going to the hold. I want to know what we’re working with.”

The two wandered down to the lower level of the airship, and Vela easily picked the lock on the door. As they entered and lit the torch on the wall, they both gasped. To at least Drake’s surprise, there were several large chests, paintings, armor stands filled with shining armor, and more relics behind it all.

“He may have been a lousy ex, but he’s got a hell of a haul here,” Drake said as he walked up and opened one of the chests. “There’s got to be several thousands worth of silver here!” He looked in the next chest, which was filled with fine silks and other luxurious fabrics. “Vela…this might be enough to pay off Raile for the medical bills…”

“I liked him for the way he could sniff out a good treasure chest. It was the only thing sexy about him,” she waved her hand as she popped the treasure chests open. “Raile is going to be so happy…” She hopped over to the chests and her eyes got stars in them. “They just might! He’s going to be so happy!”

She pulled the silks up gently and rubbed her face on them. “He’s going to be so happy! We did so good. This is better than all that stuff in the mountains. Though we did get him quite a little haul from there too.”

Vela did a little dance of success. “I can’t wait to have my new wing! I heard Lady Shiloh is a perfectionist and that’s why I don’t have it yet!”

Once they got to Karith they got her docked and paid the docking fees. Immediately she got someone to make it so only she and Drake could power it on. It was expensive but she threw the sack of silver easily. “There. Now we have a not so easily stolen airship. We should have Raile unload all the treasure first then just hire someone to gut the whole thing…”

The Nigrum Crista docked on one of the upper levels of Karith, and as Drake disembarked, he wondered if he had been here before. There were things about the city that felt familiar, as though he had been somewhere similar before. The quick fixes that were made to lock the airship down were expensive, but Vela seemed more than happy to shell out the silver to do it.

“We’re supposed to meet Raile in a…restaurant on one of the highest levels. I think they called it…the Ruby Dream.” Just by the name alone, it sounded expensive, but Raile was always the one picking up the tabs whenever they met. The two ascended Karith, and soon they found themselves outside of the restaurant. Like many of the upper level houses and shops, it was painting a brilliant red, with a gemstone motif outlining the whole building. Even the door handles were made of ruby.

“I’d hate to know how much all of this cost,” Drake said with a sigh. The two walked in, and were immediately met with stares.

“How may I…help you,” the red and gold vested waiter said with a sneer. “If you’re looking for a diner, I suggest dropping to the middle levels.”

“We’re here to meet with Raile?” Drake said with a confused tone.

“Ah yes…” The waiter nodded. “That…makes sense.” He grabbed a few menus, and motioned for Drake and Vela to follow. Instead of going into the main dining area, they were led behind it, and to an upper level. It was quiet here, and although there were several tables, only one was occupied.

“Ah! You made it,” Raile said with a grin. “Thank you, Ryan! I’ll be sure to tip everyone well.”

“Of course, Master Raile,” the waiter said with a half bow before disappearing.

“What…was that about?” Drake asked.

“Well…in a roundabout way….I own this place,” Raile said as he pointed at the chairs. “Sit down, please. This place has a great ‘ruby marbled’ steak. I recommend it. You would not believe what I had to do to get them imported from Onnen. They sell like hotcakes…”

Vela crossed her arms. If only this waiter knew he was talking to blue blood like that… Not that she would claim it even for this. She would die to see him shit himself.

“Who the fuck did you scam this time?” The waiter jumped as soon as Vela finally opened her mouth. She plopped into a chair. “Fine, I’ll get that. This. That.” She pointed at the menu. “And a glass of wine…. Then a glass of dragonfruit juice.” She wasn’t ordering hard liquor which was a first for her.

“Okay, let me get down to business. I need you to come to the airship docks after this. We have a surprise. We also own an airship now. The Nigrum Crista. She needs a new interior and a new paint job. I just spent all my silver installing magic security on it. That’s it, boss man.”

She sipped on her wine. “We got you a fuck ton of treasure though. You’ll love it. It’s not from the ruins though. It’s a long story but once you see it…”

Raile took a sip of his own wine, and looked at Vela with a knowing gaze. “Does it have anything to do with the fact that a certain man you used to associate with is now putting out a notice for his ship on the black market?” He was still smiling, though, and seemed not to be mad with her despite the potential problems that it could cause.

Drake looked at the merchant, and then to Vela. “What…is even going on here?” He had ordered some of the steak and a glass of wine as well. The wine came out first, and he took a sip of it. It tasted absolutely delicious, but he doubted it was really worth the price that Raile was probably selling it for.

“Weylon, as it turns out, is wanted by the authorities on Canelux. He created a rather large problem for himself on Horae sometime last month, and that’s the reason he moved his operations over to Onnen. He was trying to get rid of quite a lot of that stuff on the black market. Funny thing…” He smirked. “If I…say acquired some of his stolen goods and gave them back to Horae, they’d owe me a favor. That favor being a reward, and they’d look the other way about a certain report of a stolen airship and forged documents.”

The merchant took another few sips of his wine. “That being said, it will take quite some time for the renovations on the Nigrum Crista. As we speak, I already have arrangements being made.”

“How did you-” Drake started to ask.

“Don’t worry about it,” Raile replied before being asked the question. “Now…not everything he has was stolen from Horae. Let’s finish eating here, and take a gander, shall we?”

The meal went about as well as expected, and Drake was absolutely stunned at the quality of food that he was being served. It wasn’t long before the trio were back at the airship, and in its hold appraising the items below.

“Believe it or not,” Raile said as he dug through one of the chests. “This…here is more important than anything else.” He produced a folder filled to the brim with documents. “They don’t care about anything else…as long as they get this back, the rest of it is ours to keep.”

“Oh you are just adorable,” Vela said to Raile as she waved her hand to Drake. “He knows. He always knows. He has ears everywhere.”

Vela was pleased with the great meal she was gifted and happily plopped the meat in her mouth. “It’s been a while since I had a nice dinner like this. I think last time was when you had me dating that duke so we could get that stolen silver back…” She shivered and stuck her tongue out in gross. “Imagine being arm candy for an old man. It was gross.”

She sat up high in the hold once they were appraising the goods. “It’s almost scary how much time you have even though you have twins and two wives.” Vela leaned back and crossed her arms. “This is going to put a target on our backs by Weylon though so we best be careful.”

She hopped down and kicked open one of the chests with silver in it, “Can we use this to decorate the airship boss? I did spend all my money on the security… and I would like to make this place a home. The market be calling my name.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him,” Raile said as he closed the chest he was in. “At least, not any more than you worry about any of your other former partners.” As Vela dropped down and kicked open the silver chest, he nodded. “The main overhaul has already been taken care of. Karith owes me a small favor so it was done at a hefty little discount. The work will be done in Bay nineteen. Just have whatever you buy sent there, and it should be good.”

“Speaking of my family,” Raile said with a smile. “I have a date planned later this evening with my wonderful wives…so I really do need to get going.” He looked directly at Vela. “Please, for the love of everything…do NOT destroy anything while you’re here. If you do, I can’t guarantee your airship will be finished…they may just take it as collateral for all the damages…”

With that, Raile excused himself, leaving Drake and Vela.

“Well…I guess we go shopping now?”

She gave him the okay symbol and sighed, “Look, we have a bedroom now so we don’t have to stay in a tavern now. This means I won’t be getting into as many fights because men. So. You should be fine. Just go enjoy getting owned by two beautiful women and leave everything else to me, boss man.”

Vela took his hand in hers and pulled him with her. “Let’s go buy a bed first. Everything else is second important.” She smirked at him. “A big sexy bed… with bounce. A night headboard that won’t crack. Sound good?” She pulled both his hands as if she was convincing him. “Please…” She pulled him down and kissed him. “Pretty… please?”

They got to the furniture maker and she started to plop on beds. There was a colorful canopy one in the back but like a true master, Vela grabbed Drake and threw a bag of silver at the shop owner. “I’m going to test these beds true Vela style. No complaining. We could test them another way but that’s not child friendly.” She winked at the owner.

She finally took Drake back to the colorful bed and flopped on it pulling him with her. “What about this one?” She got close to him and kissed him. “It fits the colorful theme… The canopy is nice and sheer… You could come in after a long day and I could be hiding behind it.” She whispered a number of detailed scenes to him that were making the shop owner blush.

Meanwhile… Claude and Weylon were behind some furniture watching them. “Is she really settling down?” Claude was about to march in and demand payment for the sword she took. Weylon had lost so much more from Vela’s antics.