Chương 563: Day Five Hundred And Sixty-One

Dear Diary, Strange, how different people look at what being an adult means. Hell, even the same person over the course of their life. I remember for most of my life up until High School I was a bog standard kid with the bog standard kid definition of 'adult'. That being 'adults get to do what they want'. That lasted right up until I heard one of my classmates spout that to one of my teachers.

I still remember how the dude at the front of the room, always so good humored and low key energetic, turned around with the most fatigued look I'd ever seen on his face and said, "that is the most immature thing I've ever heard someone say." When the kid got all flustered, he said, "not your fault. You're a kid. Kids think adults do what they want." At that point he shook his head and said, "Adults do what they have to do." That stuck with me.

I mean, my definition of 'what I have to do' has changed over the years. Shit, it took me a while to even look past the humor of hearing one of the big braggarts in the class, a dude who worked his own corner and had his own money, be so thoroughly shut down by somebody who looked so haggard in that moment. But once I did, I realized that maybe being an adult wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

That might have even been when I started thinking, somewhere in the back of my head, about how my mom hadn't worked herself to death because she loved working, but because she loved me, and the only way she could take care of me was to fit twenty years of work into the five years she had left. I guess there's more to it than even that old dude knew, though. Or maybe more than he told us in that moment. Yeah, kids think adults do what they want. Adults realize that adults do what they have to do.

But along with that adults also do what they should do. Adults do what other people should have done but didn't. So many things that define adulthood. Shit, at least part of being an adult, from what I've seen here and now, is not doing everything you get the impulse to do. The worst of the Gods have definitely not learned that lesson, and it shows. Not just in the actions of the ones I've had to throw down with, but even in the shit that Dionysus did to and with the Maenads, and Zeus... Fuckin' Zeus.

That pretty much covers it. I'm pretty sure Poseidon isn't much better than his brother. Of course, Dionysus and Diana prove that even the Olympians can learn better. Shit, Dionysus proves that all of them can do it without me shoving their heads up their own asses. Or without the fates doing it, like they did to Loki. I'm not certain I'd lay the blame on the Fates, or the Norns, daughter. Blame? That's for One Eye. I was talking about credit for getting you to a point where you could see the world like an adult.

I'm not sure whether to be offended or pleased, daughter mine. Aw, c'mon, Dad. If you hadn't grown up to be more mature than your peers, you wouldn't be the best. Which you are. That got me a chuckle rumbling through my skull. I know. My daughter tells me so often. So after going over the rules of the road regarding the equipment sheds, which included no more than four people per shed at once, people leaving the shed loaded having right of way, followed by people going into the shed loaded.

People with free hands being the ones who should get the fuck out of the way. Or duck. Whatever. Nobody lost any body parts. Permanently. Everybody wound up paying close attention during the formation drills, because they'd had a close look at what the edge of a shield could do, not to mention the pointy end of a spear. I wasn't sure how the Squadball game would go, after two days of Hildegarde and Citron having no real opportunity to beat the shit out of one another. I shouldn't have been worried.

They sent each other to the Infirmary again, although this time was after a couple solid minutes of the two of them dueling with their impromptu Squadball Fu. By the time the sun went down, everybody was ready for dinner, but I dropped down to the smithy and had a conversation with Jon about what I wanted. He told me he'd have a prototype ready on Tuesday. Once I finished there, I stopped by Lancaster House and asked Larry if he had any time free on Tuesday.

"Of course, Commander. What did you need?"

"Trying to maybe make Squadball a little less... I dunno... several wars ago?" He raised an eyebrow, but just nodded.

"Afternoon works better for me, unless you'd prefer I clear my morning?"

"Nah, my day's clear other than what I'm working on. I'll swing past here to pick you up at lunch?" He nodded, and I stepped home. Karen? Yes, my Goddess? Do you have anything that can't be shuffled around on Tuesday afternoon? Of course not, my Goddess. You have need of me? Yep. This Tuesday afternoon in the Practice Yard. Possibly next Sunday afternoon as well. Ought I bring anything? Just you and your uniform and your brain. She made an affirmative noise, then Good to have at least one of each of those.

Still not sure whether I'd just been dissed or not. Fuck it, if I had been, that's some low key funny shit right there. I'll allow it. At any rate, when I arrived to dinner, the kids all looked over at me, and a sort of pall that had been hanging over the room dissipated. Saffron smiled at me and thought, the children thought you'd forgotten. Uh... She laughed and thought, you did forget, didn't you? Forgot what? The sleepover? Black Dragon? Oh, shit, that's today? Are we eating here or there?

She looked around the room and asked, "so, girls, would you like to eat here or aboard ship this evening?" When the kids responded as expected, she held up her hands and got near instant quiet.

"Marie, if you could please let the cooks aboard the Black Dragon know we'll be eating aboard this evening as well as tomorrow?" When Marie nodded and disappeared, she turned back to the kids.

"Go gather your things. You'll want night clothes, because the Captain's Cabin isn't as well insulated as our bedroom. Everyone bring at least one blanket or large pillow as well." They all just stood there vibrating with eagerness until she said, "go on now, come back here when you have your things together." Funniest thing had to be how the absolute thunderous cacophony of our horde hoard went near silent when they got to the Bore. They took the 'no running on the stairs' rule seriously.

I looked over at Siobhan, who'd arrived as the kids were thundering off, then sat there looking a little forlorn, and said, "You coming, Ice Pop?"

"Will I be needed on this trip?" I held out a hand.

"Silly Siobhan Darling. It's not about needed. You're family." An instant later I had Siobhan plastered to my side under my arm, and Saffron chuckling as she slipped under the other one.

"Sometimes you seem too good to be true, Tabitha." I shrugged, but before I could reply Saffron said, "our Goddess is real, and she's amazing."

"Hey, that's my line!"

"You have a Goddess?" I leered at her cleavage and said, "I mean, I do kinda Worship them." She purred at me.

"I do so appreciate that, wasteful or not." While we all waited for the kids, Siobhan pondered, "I wonder what that would be like." When we both looked the question at her, she said, "having a body part inhabited by the spirit of a Deity. Or somehow achieving Apotheosis on it's own." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I snuggled them both in and said, "Yeah, but if Saffron's magnificent mammaries ascended, they'd be far from the bottom of the list, brains-wise, even without them actually having brains." That got me the thorough tickling it deserved, along with some groans. Ten minutes later we had seven little girls with their arms full of bedding and clothes, and Saffron said, "Siobhan, could you?" Siobhan picked up Daya and took Lindsey's hand. Saffron lifted David onto her hip and took Alex by the hand.

I got one hand each from Ria and Maze, while Isnomi jumped up my onto my shoulders like a little monkey. Saffron looked around at the kids, then at us, then nodded, and we all stepped to the aft deck of the Black Dragon. Swanson met us there, looking a little out of place; his uniform clearly had the Cadet cut, but in Camden Yards' blue and white.

"Good Evening, Imperator. Champion. Concubine...." Gently yet firmly, Saffron cut him off with a simple, "Sister Darling has recently achieved the title of Archmage." He took that pretty calmly for a dude who'd been handing out women as party favors less than a year ago.

"Apologies, Archmage." Siobhan just blushed and said, "Sister is fine.... Captain?" He chuckled.

"Admiral, technically. Since the Champion is officially the Captain of the Black Dragon." Definitely a weird custom, but then I'm not sure it had been before I came along and poofed a modern capital ship into existence.

"Would you like me to assign some sailors to take your little ones' luggage to the Captain's cabin?" I shook my head.

"Nah. They can carry it there themselves before dinner. Which I hope we're not too late for?"

"Of course not. Follow me then, if you would ladies?" We got the kids stuff squared away, and it turned out that the Captain's cabin had a couple hammocks strung up in it. Probably for the best, since even if we piled atop one another, we couldn't really all fit in the bed. Marie joined us there, and we all joined Admiral Swanson and his officers in the officer's mess. Thankfully, the girls decided to be on their best behavior.

Okay, they all kind of followed Ria's lead, since she's probably got half of the total politeness skills of our entire hoard, with Maze having half of what's left. I don't think the kitchen really expected anybody to ask for seconds, but Marie stepped away and returned from the galley with another big tray of... something that reminded me of Salisbury steaks. Ground meat patties in gravy with mashed potatoes. Solid stuff, the kind of food that my mom would say 'stuck to your ribs' when I was little.

Wound up having to carry Isnomi and David, who'd both decided to keep up with the appetites of the bigger girls and proceeded to stuff themselves. When we got back to the cabin, Marie and I insisted that Siobhan and Saffron take the bed. I think both of us thought that would let them fit more of the girls in with them. At which point we wound up each getting a pair of the girls; Ria and Maze climbed into my hammock with me, and Alex and Lindsey did with Marie.

That left the three little ones to snuggle in with my littler ladies. Not sure if the hammocks were really as comfortable as they ought to have been with three of us in each of them, but the kids loved it anyway. When we woke up this morning, Saffron gathered the kids together.

"Girls, we'll be spending until dinner this evening aboard the Black Dragon, as you asked. However, you'll need to remain inside the ship most of the day, and I want you to stay with one of us the whole time. You needn't cling to our skirts, but you must remain within reach of us."

"Why?" Of course Menace got to fire off the Big Question. Saffron just smiled at her.

"It's a secret, but I promise you, you'll love it." She looked over at me.

"Not unlike a certain someone else, unless I miss my guess." Then she looked around at the kids.

"This is a rule like the steps, children. A safety rule. Just as important, just as serious. This is a working warship now, not a museum, and a more dangerous one than normal." When all the kids solemnly nodded, reminding me of how they'd all slowed their headlong dash to walk up the Bore steps carefully, Saffron said, "well, let's be about our tour and our day then!" We toured a bit, the kids asking questions, managing to get almost all the questions I wanted to ask into the air before I had to ask them.

We all got to climb into the big turrets and look through the gunsights. All four of us nixxed the idea of the guns actually firing with the girls aboard, let alone in the turrets. Finally, midway through the morning, Saffron led us all onto the navigation bridge.

"Is everything prepared, Admiral?"

"Are we ready, then?" At Saffron's nod, the Admiral barked an order to one of the sailors, who did something on the control panel in front of him, and a Really Obvious Warning Klaxon started up. Saffron brushed my hand and Co-Located just the two of us to one of the boiler rooms, where I asked the one remaining question.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing at a very obviously etched and Enchanted shiny Copper column rising from the deck, where a bunch of thick copper rods extended away from it.

"That, my love, is the station for the Mages aboard. There are six assigned to each boiler room, where they can keep the boilers heated to conserve fuel. I thought today you'd want to perhaps take a turn yourself, though." I smiled down at her.

"I guess you figure I'm worth all six?" She giggled.

"All twenty four, actually." I rolled my eyes.

"So how do I...?"

"Form a Mana Network and include the pylon." I made the Shape, and sucked my Kitten into it as well.

"So forward." Up on the bridge I slipped an arm around her.

"Yeah. well. So, how are we gonna navigate down the James? My Black Dragon, she a big girl." She looked up to me and smiled, and down in the bowels of the ship guided me in pouring Mana into the ship. I Co-Located to the other boiler rooms and did the same, the novelty making it kinda fun. On the bridge, an officer in a Phileo Cadet uniform turned from a control station that had obviously been altered to include some Divination stuff turned and called out, "Mana one hundred percent plus twenty." Swanson nodded.

"Start the auxiliary engines." A guy sitting next to the Diviner, this one wearing a Cadet uniform in New Amsterdam colors, said, "yes, sir. Start auxiliary engines. Engine power one hundred, two hundred..." He kept counting upward until he hit three thousand.

"Engaging auxiliary engine." I almost lost my concentration on feeding the ship Mana as the whole fuckin' thing vibrated just the tiniest bit. That's when Swanson said, " Black Dragon, ascend."

"Ascending, sir." The next moment the whole fuckin' ship went straight upward, and despite her best efforts, our little Menace absolutely lost her fuckin' shit.

"DA THIP ITH FYING!" The next moment she dangled from the inside of the window, looking out, practically vibrating with a need to be outside as the remaining trees in our field of vision, not to mention the assorted masts and rigging, dropped below where we could see them. I couldn't help it. I Co-Located up to the top of the mast and watched as the ground receded. A moment later Saffron joined me.

"Terrible example for the children," she chuckled and snuggled up to me as she said it though. A moment later the Mage at the flight controls said, "extending stabilizers. Configured for propulsion." A pair of thick, stubby wings made out of Mana extended from below the sides of the ship, and a moment later I heard the very familiar sound of a fuckin' jet engine. Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, my Black Dragon accelerated, wings turning her to face northeast as she did.

Swanson turned to me and asked, "Champion, would you mind providing the Mana to take us out to the Atlantic?"

"Shit, I'd go further, but I think we really ought to have the kids home before you pull into Saint Boltophsburg Harbor." It was all I could do not to cackle with glee as the wind started whipping past my hair. I realized at that point that the only two people not indoors were the Saffron and I on the mast. I looked down at her and asked, "You want to go back inside?" She smiled up at me.

"I wouldn't miss this look on your face for the world, love." So we rode at the top of the mast, my love warm against my side, as my Black Dragon flew over what would have been Virginia in another world, then over the Chesapeake, and finally, well after the kids had already had breaks for lunch and bathroom, the Atlantic. As the coast receded behind us, I asked, "is this the fastest she can go? Not complaining, just wondering." Swanson shrugged.

"We're not racing today. This would only be our second airborne cruise. Also our second cruise. With no battle we're needed for, I thought it best to keep us well within what I'm sure we can maintain."

"So this is..."

"Roughly one quarter our best possible speed. Although maintaining that best possible speed left our Mages mostly depleted by the time we arrived. This speed I'm certain they could maintain for the better part of a day if we needed them to. Call it twice what I've read the Black Dragon can do in the water, but we've less than an hour at that speed."

"She's one hell of a ship, Admiral." He smiled.

'Admiral' or no, he definitely had the kind of possessive pride you'd take in a ship. No big. I'd been working on banishing my jealousy anyhow.

"She is, Champion." At the top of the mast, I looked down at Saffron and said, "she's fuckin' perfect." She must have heard the hesitation in my voice. With a coy little smile, she asked, "are you missing something, love?"

"It's stupid." One of her eyebrows went up, and I sighed.

"Back in Camden, there was a show I used to watch. The one I got the song from. The whole flying battleship thing. She had this badass gun..."

"Nine Sixteen inch guns aren't enough for you? Ought I feel inadequate?" I laughed.

"Like I said, it's stupid."

"Lift me up." Obedient to her will, I lifted her until she wrapped her legs around my waist and stared into my eyes. Down on the bridge, she asked, "Admiral, are we out of sight of shore?"

"We should be."

"Excellent. May I?" He nodded to her and stepped back, waving her forward.

"I work for you, Imperator."

"Reconfigure auxiliary engine for offensive operations."

"Target?"

"Elevate the bow ten degrees, then fire directly ahead."

"Range?"

"Let's show off for our Patron, shall we? Maximum." I heard the glee in the Mage's voice when they said, "bow elevated. Reconfiguring auxiliary engine for offensive operations... now." Out on the mast, the jet turbine beneath the ship cut off, leaving us with nothing but the wind in our ears as the ship pointed herself just a touch at the sky, coasting uphill as we did. Then I heard a sound that I almost didn't recognize, not because it wasn't familiar, but because I'd never heard it quite so loud before.

I looked down at my Kitten, who grinned up at me, nodding. And then a fuckin' foot wide Mana Blade extended from beneath the bow of my Black Dragon, extending all the way out to the fuckin' horizon and beyond.