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A brown tri-pointed hat rode low on a silver forehead, covering a green bandanna and sitting above vivid green eyes.  The eyes were used to seeing everything which went on around them, as the soul which those eyes reflected was much larger than the body that held it.  In truth, the soul was held by two bodies, one metal, one as much spellwork as it was wood.  Falcon Freeborn let a smile touch his face, secure in the fact that it was hidden behind the silver mask that protected the expression, covering him from just below his eyes to the tip of his chin.

It had once been that his crew had been nothing more than sailors which the ship had accepted to set foot upon her decks.  Now, however, he had acquired more permanent residents who, though they all had their quirks, worked well together.  A thin and small form thudded to the deck next to him, covered in a patchwork of multicolored clothing which seemed to be able to blend in with just about anything, the deck included.  Rhythm straightened from his crouch, watching his captain carefully.  The young man was wary, pale gray eyes hooded to show no more than slits, equally pale gray hair fluttering in the breeze which was pushing the Swallow's Rest forward.  The young adult had a reason to be wary; he was the newest addition to the crew and was still feeling out where he fit.

"Somethin' ain't right, Cap'n," he said, his voice holding musical tones even when he was speaking.

"I know," Falcon said calmly.  "It can wait 'till we've cleared port, master Rhythm."

The sound of metal gently chiming together was a soothing one for Falcon but Rhythm jumped, whirling and backing out of the way of the deceptively delicate-looking gundam crossing the deck toward them.  Peregrine nodded to the newest member of the crew, her darker gray eyes unreadable, as always.  "You still've not made clear our heading, Falcon," she said, an unmistakable strength under her breathy voice.  The chiming came from her wings, which were several inches taller than she was and covered in razor-sharp golden feathers.  Falcon didn't shift his eyes from the horizon or his hands from the wheel but still seemed to reach out to her, drawing her close enough so one of her wings gently overlapped his shoulders.

"I will when it suits me," he replied, his tone just as calm.  Peregrine gave him a sharp look, the only soul aboard who could get away with doing so and with good reason: she was his wife.  "To your place, lad," he added.  Rhythm knew immediately that the Pirate was speaking to him and scrambled back into the rigging, making leaps which looked impossible because of his small stature.

"He be touched," was Peregrine's quiet opinion, watching the young man work with another member of the crew, Rhianna, her black and white striped hair flashing in the sunshine.  The girl was a tall, dark-skinned beauty, her lithe form hiding surprising physical strength.  Neither Falcon nor Peregrine had been able to figure her exact race, since she clearly wasn't human, and despite being made of metal, wasn't robot or gundam.  Since she herself had never volunteered anything about her background and had come on board alone, it was a mystery they had yet to solve.

"Aye," Falcon agreed, just as quietly.  "Ain't a one of us be normal, Peregrine.  Gonna hold it 'gainst the lad?"

"What's this?" She asked, wrapping slim arms around his shoulders from behind so she wouldn't block his view or force him to let go of the wheel, "Falcon Freeborn, Pirate, advocating for leniency?"

"Get off me, wife," he growled, not meaning a word.  "It be my ship, I decide who her crew be!"

"If he proves dangerous," was Peregrine's only other statement before she let him go and crossed the deck to begin helping with the multitude of tasks which always needed doing on any sailing ship, even a magical Sky Ship.

"Cargo stowed, captain," Path rumbled, thumping up from below decks.  The large gundam was originally from Lacroa but had decided against joining the Knights, when it was made clear by the Royal Family that no gundam born in Lacroa was to be forced into serving.  Stoic and steady, the only thing left of his origins were the jewel in his chest, seen through his open vest, and his turn of phrase.  "Secure and ready for rough seas."

"Thank you, Mr. Path," Falcon said, shifting the wheel slightly against the current pulling the nose of Sparrow's Pride toward the breakwater protecting Lacroa's Port of Roses.  "Have a pleasant visit home?"

"Not my home," Path replied, his steady blue eyes glinting for a moment with good humor at the familiar give and take.  It was repeated just about every time the Swallow's Rest left Lacroa.  "Just where I came from."

"Go pull Mistress Taiyomaru from the bowspit, there's a good man," Falcon said, spotting the ronin from Ark from a flash of her black-and-tan armor.  "Before the gundam succeeds in killin' her own self by fallin' under the keel."

"Aye-aye, captain," the large gundam said, making his way easily across the deck, ignoring the pitch and the yaw with long practice.

"All clear, cap'n," a voice on the edge of his hearing said.  He knew without looking that it was Kittiwake up in the crow's nest, the place the quick Pirate gundam had claimed upon his arrival to the ship.  "Need I should be bracin' for liftoff?"

"You know th' answer t'that Mr. Kittiwake," Falcon replied, not bothering to raise his voice.  Falcon's voice could be heard anywhere on the ship if he wanted it to be.  "Speak t'me, Miss Pelican.  You be the only one as not checked in."

"Ship's secure," came the response from deep below decks.  The last member of his current crew looked up from where she was making sure the hull had no breaches.  "None's here who ain't supposed t'be an' Rest don't got any holes weren't there 'fore we arrived."

"Right then," Falcon said, pushing more of his awareness into the body of the Swallow's Rest, feeling the ship out like he would his own body before some rigorous exercise.  "All hands, brace for liftoff!"

**

The end of the quarterstaff thumped Rieka soundly in the center of her chest, knocking her from her feet.  The other Knight-in-Training she had been sparring against looked entirely surprised and trotted over to see if the wolf-gundam was all right.  "Never been able to knock you down before," the young Knight Gundam said, offering Rieka his hand.  Feeling dazed beyond what the blow would have caused, Rieka got to her feet carefully, one hand on the side of her head.

"I," she said intelligently, "ah.  Sorry, I just...all of a sudden I got very dizzy."

The Royal Knight Nataku strode over, a frown in his crimson eyes.  "Something wrong, Rieka?" He asked, "I've seen you block that strike a hundred times before."

"I don't think something is wrong," Rieka said, weaving where she stood.  "I just need a moment, sir Nataku, I'll be all right.  We should continue with the training."

"You're going to the healers," Nataku said, his tone booking no arguments.  His gaze shifted to the Knight-in-Training Rieka had been sparring with.  "And I'll be your opponent for the rest of the match."

"Lucky," Rieka said to her friend, smiling slightly.  "I mean it.  You'll be better than me by the time I get back."

"If I'm not in bitty pieces," the other gundam shot back, though his gaze was worried.  "Go to the healers, Rieka.  See you later."

"Later," the wolf-gundam agreed, making her way from the practice fields and toward where the palace healers were trained.  On the way she saw something strange enough to make her detour: her father, leaning against a wall with his eyes closed.  "Da?"

Fang's gentle brown eyes came open slightly, looking with surprise down at his cream-furred daughter.  "Rieka," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder gently.  "Somethin' wrong, pup?"

"Got dizzy, sudden-like," she replied, joining him in leaning against the wall.  "Few minutes ago."

"Bayard thought that could happen," was the strange reply.  "He sends his apologies, lass.  We be talkin', he'n I."

"What's going on?" Rieka asked, frowning.

"Your brother's made a decision," Fang said, ears folded back in an emotion Rieka finally decided was regret.  "He be leavin' the Pack, albeit temporarily."

There was a sudden snap that caused Rieka's fur to stand on end and she shuddered, confused when the vertigo was abruptly gone.  "Why?" She demanded, remembering how horrible she had felt when she had been isolated from the rest of her Pack-- her beloved family.  "Da--!"

"Easy," Fang said, tightening his grip on her shoulder.  "I'd no warnin' myself, he only just told'jer Ma'n me.  'Spect he be needin' to find his own place in this world, or another."

"He'll be back, right?" Rieka asked, her emotion rebounding from angry to forlorn.  Her brother, her twin, had always been part of her life, even while she had been magically Locked from her Pack.  "Why didn't he say goodbye?"

"He thought we'd stop 'im," Fang said, shaking his head slightly.  "Might've been right.  You know he's always been distant, Rieka, your Ma says it be 'cause he be of the lone wolf type, unlike us three.  We be needin' our Pack.  He be secure enough in hisself he just be needin' himself."

"Guess so."  Rieka looked down, her ears flat down in distress.  "But--"

"He be a bit young t'be considerin' the feelings of others," Fang said, pulling his daughter into a gentle hug.  "Don't mean we won't be givin' him a sound lesson, when he be gettin' home."

"You've got that right," Rieka agreed, giving her head a slight shake and returning the hug.  "And he's got his spirit-wolf, besides.   Thanks, Da."

**

The Sky Ship Swallow's Rest was called a Sky Ship for a very simple reason: she could sail the clouds as well as she could sail the sea.  It took a bit of doing to raise her from the ocean, to raise her speed until her bow lifted from the water and the rest of her followed, but these kinds of 'running starts' were easier for Falcon than the straight-up rises that his daughter Kestrel Freeborn, captain of the Sky Ship Sparrow's Pride had mastered.  He could do both but preferred the running starts that the spells on his ship were engineered toward.

Only once they were in the air and past the point of the cross-winds that were prevalent in the first hundred or so feet above the ocean's surface did he relax and let Swallow's Rest settle into her own pace, easing his mind away from direct control of the spells keeping them aloft so he could interact with the rest of the crew and even sleep, if he wanted to.  "Now," he said, turning to Pelican who were coming up the stairs from the main deck, "I'll be havin' a word with our guest."

"Doubt he knows you know he be on board," Pelican chuckled, her orange eyes glinting in the sunlight.  The Pirate gundam shook her head to ruffle the slate-blue feathers cascading down either side of her helm and crossed the poop deck to help Path tip over a large crate which had been brought on board during the loading of the other cargo from Lacroa.  While they playfully jostled the crate back and forth, the rest of the crew gathered around, each watching the sport in their own way.  Finally Taiyomaru gave the back of the crate a solid round-house kick and a form smaller than any of those gathered besides Rhythm tumbled out onto the deck, ending up sprawled on his front and covered in straw.

"Bayard Kanid," Falcon growled, his moss-green eyes glittering dangerously, "son of me brother-in-law Fang, Royal Knight of the Hunt an' Mercury Kanid, what be makin' you think I won't be turnin' right back 'round an' dumpin' you at th' Port of Roses, you dirty stowaway?"