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  [colpse]Chapter One Hundred ay-Seven - Double-Time

  I didn’t know how stressed I was until Needleford came into sight and I could make out the yellow spsh that was the Beaver Cleaver tucked away iy’s airship port.

  A deep breath escaped me, and I melted into the side of the Manatee. Safe. We were safe. Or at least, we’d be safe in a little bit.

  The others insisted that I stay seated so as to not reopen my cut. It was very silly of them. I was fine. A bit tired, but fine.

  Which meant that there was no time like the present to look at what I’d gaiats-wise from all the fighting and running and fireballing.

  gratutions! Through repeated as your Mad Millinery skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank E is a free rank!

  That made some sense. I’d been wearing my captain’s hat all day. It didly have skills that were too useful abolden Roger’s ship, but I supposed I had acted a bit captain-y. Or maybe the skill went up because I looked particurly dashing with all the plumes and broaches atop my head?

  Oh well, I wouldn’t say no to an upgrade.

  New Skill Acquired: CaptainingRank: E

  I blinked.

  Then it clicked. Mad Millinery had gone up a rank, and then the subskill I gained from that skill ied the same rank. So they matched. That made se was actually a nice ge. Most skills didn't seem to do much below Rank D, so it was good to get closer to that.

  gratutions! Through repeated as your Dang skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank C costs one (1) Css Skill Point!

  Dang ! That wasn’t too surprising. I’d been practig that one for a bit, what with the ball and dang around baddies. “Hey, Amaryllis, or, uh, I guess Awen too. What does Dang do at Rank C? The one where you need a point?”

  Amaryllis looked away from Needleford in the rapidly shortening distand back towards me. I probably looked a bit too fy pressed up against the side with my hands interced atop my tummy. “Dang at disciple? That depends oher it’s a specifid or not. I think the skill just called Dang allows you to spend mana to predict your partner’s movements.”

  “It’s a useful bat skill, but only when fighting against people specifically targeting you. In a melee it’s not as useful, and seeing a blow e isn’t always enough to dodge or parry it,” Bastion added.

  “Cool,” I said.

  I wouldn’t put a point in it yet, but maybe once I got ing up one more rank I’d drop a few points into it. I had a few skills that I wouldn’t mind upgrading, but for now, the priority was oing ing to Rank S. I didn’t know what would happen then, but I bet it would be awesome!

  I yawned as my friends started talking about dang and the like. It was hard to follow the versation, especially when I noticed that I was shivering a bit. I had to get ged as soon as we nded. I didn’t have any soup on the Beaver so getting a cold was out of the question.

  gratutions! Through repeated as your Way of the Mysti skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a free rank!

  I grihat was great! Way of the Mysti retty much my go-to fighting skill. It was actually about time that I started getting a bit stronger. I didn’t want to be a fighter, but if I was going to keep running into mean people like Golden Rogers... yeah, I o get stronger.

  Plus it wouldn’t do for a captain to be weak, that would just be me.

  As we swooped down and Amaryllis started shifting things around so that we’d nd right on the Beaver, I let my head rest bad pulled up my main stats page. I hadn’t been paying it as much attention as I probably should have, so it was good to take a look at it again.

  NameBroccoli Bunbsp; Ra (Riftwalker) First Cssamon Bun Bun First Css Level

  10? Sed CssWondernder Sed Css Level

  2? Age

  16?  Health

  135? Stamina

  145? Mana

  130?  Resilience

  45? Flexibility

  60? Magic

  25?  SkillsRank amon Bun Bun Skills ingA - 37% Way of the MystiD - 00% GardeningD - 24% AdorableD - 100% DangD - 100%  Wondernder Skills Tea MakingD - 92% Mad MillineryE - 00%  General Skills InsightC - 87% Makeshift on ProficyD - 100% ArcheologyF - 65% FriendmakingC - 56% MatchmakingE - 32%   amon Bun Skill Points

  4? Wondernder Skill Points

  1? General Skill Points

  4?   First Css Skill Slots

  0? Sed Css Skill Slots

  0? General Skill Slots

  5?  That looked pretty good. I didn’t have anything to pare my growth to, really, but for someohat had only been around for... about a month? I felt like I was doing alright. A bit slower now than when I was caught in Threewells, but that was fine, I had friends now.

  I still o grow some more. Maybe after this whole debacle with the Sylph we could take the Beaver Cleaver and explore some dungeons.

  For now I had a bunch of General Skill Slots left open. That was five skills I could still learn! There were so mahings avaible. Maybe one or two airship-reted skills? Or maybe Dragon Riding. That had to be a skill!

  I yawned. It wasn’t even te, and I wasn’t shivering anymore, so I wasn’t quite sure why I felt a little tired, but it was okay.

  The Manatee slowed down as Amaryllis deployed more sail, and we went around in a big circle before Amaryllis guided us nid slowly between the Beaver Cleaver’s ded its great big balloon.

  Clive was there, a pipe dangling from the er of his mouth as he helped Gordon lower the Manatee onto the deck. “Ahoy there dies as. Wasn’t expeg much by means of guests, especially not delivered like this.”

  “No time for pleasantries I’m afraid,” Amaryllis said as she jumped off and nded on the Beaver with a thump. “Did we get refueled yet?” she asked.

  “Not yet, ma’am,” Clive said. “Steve’s off too, getting some supplies for the galley.”

  Amaryllis huffed. “Fine. Gordon, e with me. We o put pressure to get the ship in tip-top shape. Clive get us ready to unch. These three kids are yours now.”

  I started to climb up and Awen jumped to help me. “Careful,” she said. “You look a bit pale.”

  “I’m probably fine,” I said. “Just o get dry.”

  I noticed Amaryllis and Gordon running off the deck to one side while Clive stood there and puffed away. “You look like you ran into a spot of trouble, Captain.”

  “Yeah, something like that,” I said. “Some jerks kidnapped Awen, so we went to rescue her. She’d figured it out though, at least, mostly.”

  “Awa, I would still have been stranded er’s ship.” Awen helped me over the edge, keeping an arm ay back as she did. “I think you o rest Broccoli.”

  “‘M fine,” I said.

  Bastion appeared o me. I didn’t see him move, the sneaky padin. He pressed a hand to my forehead and frowned. “That cut, what was it from?”

  “Huh? Uh. Roger’s sword?”

  “I think you might have been poisoned,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a stretagihat kind of man putting somethihal on his on.”

  “I used on the wounds,” I said. “I... think I did?”

  “It wouldn’t take much,” Bastion said. “Clive, I’m heading into the city. Awen, I suppose that means you’re in charge along with Clive here. Try to get as much ready as you .”

  “Awa?! Broccoli!” Awen said. She was by my side, but hesitated, hands wiggling as if she wao grab me but didn’t know if she should. Bastion started walking away, and the others all kind of just looked around.

  “Where’re you going?” I asked Bastion.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he said, which didn’t answer my question at all.

  Clive took o puff, then stepped to the side of the ship and tapped his pipe off over the edge. He turo the Scallywags and fixed them with a birdy gre. “Right, you lot. Seems like you’re w alongside me now. I’m Clive, I do all the ship stuff on this here beauty of a vessel. By the looks of it, I was a veteran when you lot were still twinkles in your daddy’s eye. Let’s get that skiff secured oarboard deck. You.” He poio Joe. “You know your ropes?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Joe said.

  “Good. Undo every-other m. Every other. Not just any half of them. Do it evenly.” He stuffed his pipe in a pocket, then moved over to the Manatee. “My old bones ’t lift this thing on their own. Take your ends.”

  “e on,” Awen said as she guided me towards the back.

  “We should be helping,” I said.

  “We help ter. You o y down to rest a bit.” She brought a hand up and touched my cheek. “You’re very hot.”

  “I’ve always thought of myself as a bit more pin actually,” I said.

  Awen giggled ahe door to the port open for me. We stumbled our way down. The ship must have been rog a little because it was hard to stay up oeps. Awen slipped into my room and looked around all of my dressers in a hurry. She id out some uhings on my bed with a blush, and a nightgowo that. “H-here, you put these on while I wait?”

  “I should take a shower first,” I said.

  “Awa? ’t you use ing on yourself?”

  I blinked. “You’re so clever Awen.”

  “I don’t think I’m all that clever, Broccoli,” Awen said. “ you the poison away too? Maybe that’ll help?”

  I frowned. Not at her of course, just frowned in general. “You know, you call me Broc if you want. And I’ll call you... uh... Awen, I ’t make your name shorter.”

  Awen ughed. “That’s okay. It’s already small.”

  “But making it smaller would be even cuter.”

  Awen shrugged. “You could call me Awa?”

  I shook my head. “No no, that’s your ’s like... Awen’s trademark sound.”

  “Trademark?” she repeated. “Ah, it’s just... when I was a baby, I made that noise a lot. It’s why my parents called me Awen. They thought it was nice. Until I grew old enough to speak and my mother... she didn’t like it anymore. Um. I’ll leave you to get ged.”

  “Right,” I said.

  “Broc?” Awen asked as she stood by the door. “Thanks for ing to save me.”

  I grinned back. It must have been a good grin because my cheeks felt nid rosey from it. “No problem. You know I’d do nearly anything for one of my best friends.”

  Awen nodded and pulled the door shut. “Tell me when you’re done.”

  You’d think that with the amount of times I’d ged my clothes before, it would be really easy to ge again, but I kept dropping things and having to shift around to keep my bance. I did manage eventually though. I used up a bit of mana to myself off too, of course. It didn’t help with wiggly feeling in my tummy though. The nightgown was very pretty, with ce trim and a sort of silky material that felt really nice. “I’m done!” I called out.

  Awen opehe door a crad peeked in. “Ah, good. Um. Did you... awa, wao tuck you in?”

  “You sure I o sleep?” I asked. “I’m not tired.” I sched my nose. “Not too tired.”

  “It’ll make you feel better. Remember, Bastion thinks you were poisoned.”

  “He could be wrong. I don’t feel poisoned.”

  Awen came over and moved the bs aside on my bunk, then pressed me back down so that I was sitting. “Lay down,” she said.

  I mumbled something that even I didn’t uand, then Awen pulled my bs up and pressed them down around my colr. “Just try to feel better, okay?”

  I nodded. Maybe I did o rest. I felt really tired. “Okay. Good night Awen.”

  “I’ll be here, okay Broc?”

  I nodded, and then I slipped into sleep.

  ***

  AnnouAre You Eained?

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