Wah…learning French is so…tiring…

…and, um, not meaning to sound horrid or anything, but it would be nice to have some feedback (via the nice purple review button…). Thanks to those who're still following the weird story! Oh, and the first bit of shipping shows up this chapter! Admittedly, it might not be obvious, but you can try guessing what it is if you feel like it…

Last note: 'marchpane' is an old way of saying marzipan, and trepanning is a prehistoric method of curing headaches by taking a bit of bone out of the skull.

Flight

A couple of days had passed since the three Venus Clan members had disappeared into the forest, and the Lords and Ladies of Mars in Angara had called a meeting to discuss the Seekers.

Garet was a guard, and he was good at his job. There were perks that came with it, especially for those who looked too dumb to understand anything. His skills at eavesdropping on important, supposedly private meetings were highly developed. Of course, his skills at passing on the information for the right price were even better. If the information let him spend more time around Jenna, the relatively elusive inspector who was also his best friend, all so much the better for him.

But this meeting was only spouting about things every self-respecting Mars Adepts in Angara knew. I've been here for a whole hour and all they've done is wait for my flower-obsessed sister to show up and start yakking about the Empire. I could be collecting the betting money…

The Empire: a supreme nation spread over most of Weyard's surface, headed by the Mars Clan. It was old, bloated on power, but it worked. The other Clans were collectively beneath the Mars Clan, differing in importance from continent to continent. While the dangerous if reckless Venus Clan was at the bottom of the pyramid in Angara and Gondowan, the Mercury Clan took its place in Hesperia and Indra; the Jupiter Clan was most disliked in Osenia and numerous island communities scattered like leaves on an autumn day across the Great Western and Eastern Seas.

"The Seekers are the most dangerous threat to the Empire since the Venus Uprising here in Angara and Gondowan a hundred years ago. All we have to do is call 'em out and crush 'em, like we did with the Venus Clan!" Garet heard the Second Lord say. There was obvious frustration in his voice, and the resounding thump of his fist hitting the table accentuated it.

"Agatio, sit down." Menardi's annoyed, Garet thought. "We have next to no information on the Seekers, even after the capture of an entire squad of them in Hesperia. There are at least three squads similar in size in Angara and Gondowan. Finding them would be difficult." There was a sound of paper or parchment being shuffled. "There is one thing we know for certain though. The Hesperian squad mentioned someone called 'Mariner'."

Garet concentrated on listening when the Second Lady gasped. "You can't mean –"

"All the evidence points towards it, Karst."

"But Saturos, that would mean he's…dear gods, he must be at least…"

Concentration was all very well, but what Karst was saying was drowned out by Kay talking over the Second Lady. Garet wanted to swear – so close to something good! – and stuffed a fist into his mouth to silence himself. Kay was saying something that sounded…new. Interesting. "The Hesperian squad captured must have had loose tongues. I only got a snippet of information out of the three from an Angaran squad – and even then I wasn't able to follow up on any of it. Jenna found no letter, and the three children disappeared in the ten minutes it was between the inspector leaving and Lord Saturos arriving."

Menardi's lips were probably pursed, her expression sourer than a lemon. "Ah. Meaning that at least one of them could read. Karst, sister, what of the other inspections your group made? Did they find anything similar?"

"If you're referring to the first inspection, when I took those three Venus, then no. And the recent inspections within the Venus sector came up with no literate children." Karst paused. "Although there was a girl with the Clanless mark who clearly isn't. If you two were there, you'd have been able to check for me, but I'm fairly certain she was Jupiter." Another pause, long and scarily polite, filtered into the air. "Why wasn't she discovered earlier, though? Nobody can become an Adept if they're born Clanless."

"Because they suck. Right, Garet?"

The unexpected voice that had whispered in his ear made the guard jump round, frightened. He scowled at the giggling Jenna. "Not funny. I'm trying to find stuff out, and you're making fun of me."

Jenna smiled and punched his arm amiably. "C'mon, let's get out of this stuffy palace. Sheesh, Garet, you spend any more time snooping around and you'll end up with some dumb title like 'lord eavesdropper'. That, or Kay'll chuck another plant pot at your head for being an idiot." She set off up the mirror-coated corridor, ignoring the multiple reflections of her that trailed behind slightly. Pausing at the small door within the massive official one, ornately carved until there was no blank wood left, Jenna looked back down the corridor at her friend. "You coming? We don't have all day. I've got to get back to work at three."

"So that's why you're not in your armour," Garet replied with a grin, catching up with her. "You look better without it." As they wandered through the spacious courtyard, he frowned. "Uh, where are we going?"

"I thought Mercury sector would be nice. They say a couple of Angelical Healers from Imil showed up recently in Vault, so we might get some news of them from the traders. Oh, and plus, you can only get those chocolate pastries from Mercury sector. And it's too hot to risk Jupiter sector – it'll be storms everywhere." Jenna kicked a pebble across the ground, grinning when it collided with one of the terracotta pots. "Heh. That'll teach Kay to blab about me messing up on that letter to Karst."

Garet watched the hairline crack spread up the pot. "You're a lot stronger than you look." Turning his gaze back to Jenna, he swallowed. She was glaring at him. "H-hey…that wasn't meant to be an insult…it's just that you don't look all that tough when you're not in armour…"

"Are you saying I look feeble? Because if you are, I'll slap you."

As they walked through the city towards the elegant Mercury sector, Garet caught his mind running through what was know about Jenna. She was popular in the three main sectors, able to socialise with nearly everyone who called out to her, but that was only because her origins were kept strictly secret. Hell, I only know because she wanted to tell me. There's only a handful of us that know. It'd be the end for her if anyone else did.

Jenna, with her unique hair and eye colour, had been discovered in the Venus sector as a baby, seventeen years ago. Up until the day of the inspection, her Clan alignment had been suppressed by an unknown psynergetic source. By mere chance, the suppression had failed to cover up her psynergy that day – and had revealed to the Second Lady of the time that the baby's mother was also faking being Clanless, hoping to stay with her Venus husband and son. The Empire's laws wouldn't allow for such a thing to happen, especially after the Venus Uprising in Angara and Gondowan; both mother and baby had been taken to their correct place in the Mars sector.

It had been a scandal at the time, but gradually over time it had been forgotten. Since the death of Jenna's mother, when Jenna was six, Menardi and Karst had taken the girl under their dark red wings and gave her the proper sort of life for a Mars Adept…

It's a miracle she didn't end up with a heart made of frost like those two harpies, Garet contemplated as he watched Jenna come running back up the street with a brightly-wrapped parcel under one arm. I wonder how it happened…that she stayed human instead of going lizardy and horrid…

"Hey, Garet! I never told you about it, did I?"

"Eh?" He frowned at her. "About what? And if that's the chocolate, can I have one?"

Jenna sighed at the typicality of his response, pulling one of the warm pastries out of the paper bag and handing it to him. "Still thinking with your stomach, huh?" She shook her head, watching him bite into the pale gold pastry and start chewing. "Ugh, never mind. I meant about the rapier we found in that Venus cottage."

"Nope," Garet replied through a second mouthful of pastry and chocolate. He swallowed the mouthful and brushed crumbs off his mouth. "Did somethin' come up about it?"

Tugging a second pastry out of the bag and biting into it, not bothered by her manners, Jenna nodded. "Sure did. I handed it over to Karst, and she got the smiths to check it out. Apparently, it's actually Attekan steel, which is some of the best around, and there's a spell on it. It's got some weird name I can't pronounce. But it's definitely one hell of a good weapon."

Finishing the pastry and brushing golden flakes off his gloves, Garet lifted his eyebrows. "Those Venus kids are gonna be dead when the Lords and Ladies get their hands on 'em. Kay'll have a field day, interrogating them. Can I have another pastry?"

"You've still got chocolate on your face from your first one," Jenna replied. She laughed as he swiped at his face wildly, his warm eyes confused and worried. "Come here, you idiot. Seriously, you look terrible with a moustache." Quite how he didn't notice I'll never know. Reaching out with one finger, she swiped the brown smudge off his top lip and licked it off her long digit, eyeing his expression of first fear and then anger. A smile spread over her face. "Mm. Tastes better for being in the air."

The anger vanished to be replaced by a blush. "Jenna! That was mine!"

"Yeah, and I'd like to see you try getting it back," she scoffed in reply, twirling on her heel and walking back through the streets towards the Mars sector. The soft splish of water falling onto her head made Jenna look up at the sky. A minute ago it had been clear, with only the slightest hint of cloud; now the heavens were opening upon Angara, flinging down rain droplets at high speed. The air was heavy; her arms felt moist, and not just from the rain. But there was something else in the sky, something Jenna knew shouldn't be there.

"Jenna? We should be getting back before we're drenched," Garet pointed out. He felt her grab hold of his orange sleeve, and followed her gaze up into the sky. He squinted at the thing flying through it, passing over or under the clouds. "Isn't that a ship? What's it doing up there in the sky, of all places?"

"Flying…" Jenna replied. Despite the rain that was making her shiver, she licked her lips and turned back to her very wet friend. "We've got to get back to the palace. There's no such thing as a flying ship, and we can't be hallucinating." Water, cool and refreshing, slipped between her lips and down her unresisting throat. "C'mon, Garet. We really need to get back…to report this…" she said, setting off down the street again without another glance at the guard.

Her mind's always on the job, Garet thought sadly. He looked up at the sky for a last glimpse of the ship before traipsing after the girl. That's why I can't get through to her sometimes. Sure, she stayed human. But…I dunno…she also lost some emotions, I guess. Like noticing what others think of her.

"Please tell me this is all a very bad dream, Isaac."

"It's not."

"Damn."

For Wings and Seer, the pair of Venus Adepts had been acting weirdly. Maybe Isaac was gradually opening up to the two of them, but Felix was only drawing further into the protective shell created by his wariness and general dislike of others. In fact, it seemed like the two of them only properly relaxed when they were around Sheba, and then only when she was happy.

The first night they'd spent on the ship, Sheba and Isaac had both stayed in the cabin occupied by the unconscious Felix, not wanting to leave in case something happened to any of them and unused to the idea of having a room each. Oh, and after that, it had been practically impossible for the three of them to accept new clothes to replace their muddy-brown ragged ones. In the end, Wings had put her foot down so hard it nearly smashed through the deck; that had been enough for Isaac to change very quickly, and the other two weren't far behind him. Of course, separating Isaac from his scarf was a useless exercise, and he hung onto the yellow fabric with the grim determination of a tigress protecting her cubs. A warning from Sheba about how volatile Isaac's temper could be when in reference to the scarf had been enough for Wings to give up quickly on taking it away.

With a soft sigh, Wings left the two Venus Adepts and returned to her position next to the mast. Drat it, Ivan! You can get Revealer to teach Sheba when we get to Contigo. You're just making the job of flying the ship even more difficult than normal, she grumbled mentally, clasping her hands together as if in prayer and concentrating on the flow of psynergy necessary for the ship to fly. I'm going to be so tired later…Mariner can't hold this by himself till we reach the sea. A strong breeze buffeted her, sending the long blue strands of her hair into imitation waves.

"It's beautiful," Sheba murmured. She and Seer were standing in the crow's nest, watching the ever-changing patterns in the clouds and letting the damp wind cool them down. "There are pictures in the air! And the wind's so strong up here!" Her smile showed off a set of strangely-perfect teeth. "Amazing…"

Seer smiled back at her, nervously. It was unusual for people to not be aware of their Clan until they were fourteen – he'd known of his since his fifth birthday. Not only that, but Sheba's presence was disturbing. The closest comparison Seer could think of was the feeling he got whenever he entered the strange sanctum close to his hometown: pure, holy, almost…angelic? No, that's Mia – Wings! This is different. Only the Imilian healing orders had that presence. Celestial was probably a better description. This is too weird for words. She's just another human. Another Jupiter Adept, like me.

"I still don't understand how the ship's flying, though," Sheba said, snapping him from reverie.

He swallowed nervously and attempted to explain. "Well…this ship's special as it is. It can't be crewed by anyone except Adepts – so the Clanless humans wouldn't be able to move it at all." Her intelligent eyes seemed to understand, so he carried on. "It's already powered by psynergy. There's a special Jupiter psynergy that can prevent gravity from affecting you, and the wings attached to the ship work by concentrating psynergy on that power."

"Is that what Wings is doing?" Sheba asked, looking down over the barrier at the deck. Looking back at the sagely nodding Seer, she frowned. "Wings can't be a real name. Nor can Seer, or Mariner. So who are you really?"

"Well, collectively we're part of a group called the Seekers. But our names are revealed on a strictly need-to-know basis," Seer replied. He gulped, hoping Wings wouldn't hear. "I know Wings' real name, and mine, but nobody knows Mariner's real name except him. And I can't tell you the names I know."

"That's just mean," Sheba complained.

While the landscape (now a rough collage of green fabric, brown and yellow dust, and the occasional sapphire-blue satin ribbon) rolled on below the ship, seemingly endless, the clouds that flitted in the atmosphere gradually darkened to rich grey beasts that waited in the sky above the towns and tossed rain down, almost flippantly. Lightning flashed and forked downwards over the mountains to the north and south; thunder crashed at random, its loud chords deafening most of the ship's crew. The pair of Jupiter Adepts waited in the crow's nest, Sheba still pestering the unfortunate Seer for his name. He wasn't giving it.

Half-listening to the arguing duo, Isaac decided to leave Felix to his pessimistic musings of falling out of the ship or being swarmed with flying monsters and went to stand next to Wings. She must have been standing there for a couple of hours, and she looked wan and tired. Eventually, her eyes opened and she called out, somewhat blearily, "We'll have to land soon, Mariner. I can't give much more of my psynergy to the ship before I'm sapped completely dry." She yawned and looked up at Isaac. "Can I help you? Only I'm a bit woozy right now."

"It'd be nice to have a conversation with someone other than the pessimist," Isaac replied with a small smile, sounding jovial, jabbing a thumb in Felix's direction. "And, where are we going exactly? You three never said." He didn't fail to notice the almost undetectable glance Wings had cast in Mariner's direction.

In turn, she knew he'd noticed. "I…can't honestly say. Not to you, not yet." Mariner would kill me. Ivan – Seer, I mean – would probably be angry, too. Wings felt the boy's penetrating innocent blue gaze try to cut through her skull and into her thoughts, but he was no mind reader and his virtual trepanning skills weren't good either. Nonetheless, the clarity of the feeling was uncomfortable, as if she was being judged critically, and she glanced back up at him. "Look, you're not a Seeker yet. I can't tell you."

Not yet, eh? "Aw, please?"

Wings laughed at Isaac's pleading expression. "Stop it. I'm patient, but I can't stay calm if you pull stupid faces." Rain splashed across her face and clothes. "Ah, we must have reached the Western Sea if we're going below the clouds. That's good." More water splattered down noisily onto them from above as the ship continued to descend, and the chords of thunder became more resonant. Wings gasped and tensed up, gripping her staff hard. "We're going too fast!" she said, terror in her voice. "We'll go under the waves if we land like this!"

"Can't I help?" Isaac asked, confused and worried by Wings' words. "I mean, it just needs psynergy, right? So can't I try –?"

Wings shook her head emphatically. "You don't know how to control it! Not with the wings!" Her head snapped round when Felix came out from behind the corner, looking concerned and yelling something about why ships shouldn't fly. "Don't try anything!" Wings shouted at him. "It'd be suicide!" And we've already lost enough Venus Adepts recently, with Dora, Kyle and Jasper being found out!

In the crow's nest, Seer was occupied with not panicking. He tried to tell Sheba to move, to get onto the deck so he wouldn't hit her with his psynergy, but the words stubbornly wouldn't come out of his mouth. In the middle of a storm, his psynergetic powers always went slightly out of control, and often people near him would get hurt by errant lightning bolts. He had to make her move, somehow, and help Mariner stop the ship from hitting the water too hard! But – Oh, for the love of the gods, get out of the way! Seer yelled, hoping Sheba could lip-read. Frantic as the ship sped towards the ocean, he pointed repeatedly downwards, his body and clothes crackling with static lightning when he moved.

Sheba frowned at him, shook her head, and looked up. The unfriendly-looking purple waves resonating from the air were heading straight for Seer, and if she wasn't careful she'd be caught up in them. Finally getting the message, she dashed for the ladder and fumbled on the steps as she climbed down, slipping on the wet metal and almost falling off completely. She held onto the bars grimly.

Psynergy pulsed through the ship when Seer concentrated and tried to stay calm. The red and silver wings fixed to the ship reacted to the waves of psynergy, keeping the bulk of the ship hovering in the air for a little longer. The descent slowed slightly and after a minute the ship eased jerkily into the midday-coloured waters of the Great Western Sea, splashing cold waves up over the sides of the ship and drenching the Adepts on the deck. A few common, tacky pink jellyfish were stranded on the now-sodden deck.

Mariner looked up from the tiller, panting from the amount of psynergy he'd lost. He immediately reached for his sword. "Grab something you can use as a weapon!" he yelled over his shoulder at the pile of drenched Adepts as they picked themselves off the deck and each other, plucking multi-coloured seaweed and the occasional tiny fish from their saturated clothes and (in Wings' unfortunate case) hair.

The three-headed sea serpent roared, angry for the loud and unanticipated disturbance in its territory, and lunged with all three heads at the ship.

Kay slept, her body covered in sweat despite the thin silk sheets. It was only two in the afternoon, but the heat and humidity was too much for her to stand when wrapped in heavy, horrible, sweaty robes and artificial chain mail. She didn't have any jobs to do until the refreshing coolness of the evening, and until then she was going to sleep and tend to her thriving colony of flora. But her sleep proved to be fitful, and she tossed and turned while her mind forced her through a series of terrifyingly real dreams that were more alike memories than true dreams…

She was five, and sitting happily in front of the hearth playing with a doll. Flowers festooned her ginger hair – it was long even then – and she was talking to her disgruntled little brother. Passing him a bowl full of marchpane sweets, she watched him happily stuff a large handful into his mouth and try talking with his mouth full. While she was laughing at his foolishness, the door was thrown open to reveal the striking figures of Lady Menardi and Lady Karst; both of them were looking at her…

Seven years old and maturing fast, Kay was learning how to use a small sword. What was Garet doing there again? Probably acting like an idiot, smacking the wall as much as he did with his bare fists. Something clipped her head, and the stern face of her instructor became the immediate centre of her attention. She had always remembered the athletic lady's punishments for slacking off and neglecting to pay attention, and even in the dream the slap on her arm stung.

There would be a red mark there when she woke.

Her eyes always viewed the world in two different lights when she was ten. One view was of how great the Empire became through the hard work of its subjects; the second was almost rebellious – why was this like this, and that like that? Did she have to do as she was told? Did all of these ragged creatures introduced to her as the Venus Clan have to know about her? They looked so disgusting and poor; she wanted nothing to do with them at all.

She was left alone for a few moments by Menardi, so Kay sat on a dry tree stump and eyed the Venus Adepts as they went about their work, in her eyes peculiarly happy to be doing such difficult jobs. A handful of children, her age and younger, were helping the adults. But also, she could hear two voices, children's voices, calling a single name over and over. Pointless, she thought. Whoever it is won't respond. For a few minutes she sat watching the workers with contempt, until someone caught her eye: a little blonde girl, maybe five or six, looking lost and frightened amongst all the other people. Privately intrigued, she watched the little girl stumble around and eventually fall into part of the forest that surrounded the Venus sector.

"Milady? Excuse me, Milady, but have you seen a little girl?"

Kay regarded the person who spoke silently. He was maybe a month or so older than her, with dark brown eyes and hair, loose, down to his shoulders. She recognised panic and worry in his eyes. "Maybe," she replied. Why am I even talking to this Venus? "Why?"

He bowed, a little stiffly and unsurely. She noticed his trousers were too short. "My sister…she's my little sister, and I've been looking for her everywhere, Milady. She's only six, and she can't defend herself against monsters, so I've got to find her!"

The worry in his face was real enough. He was so worried he'd risked talking to a Mars Adept and a lashing. Kay had to admire the foolish bravery. Very reckless, she thought. Maybe I'll help him. "A little girl with blonde hair? About this high?"

He nodded silently, before remembering his manners. "Yes, Milady."

"She went that way," Kay said calmly, still observing the strange boy when she extended a hand in the direction the girl had vanished into. Within his eyes, a bright, fierce light had flared into life like a candle flame. In a way, it was a mysterious light, one she hadn't seen in a Venus Adept before. And yet, in another way, it was unnerving. Kay heard, but didn't listen to, what the boy said next, calling over his shoulder to a slightly younger boy with a stupidly long and incredibly yellow scarf. She was too busy trying to work out where she had seen that look in someone's eyes before.

When he and the other boy headed off into the forest, Kay vaguely wondered if they would ever find the girl…

Waking, Kay frowned and gathered one of the silk sheets around her body. All those things had really happened to her, during her childhood. Sitting up with a yawn, Kay slid out of bed and reached for her lightest robe. She drew it on slowly, and began to wander through her haven of plant life to calm down in the soothing greenery. Her hands were shaking when she tipped her small watering-can over the soil in the warm plant pots, and she wasn't certain as to why – certainly, the dream had felt real enough, but that shouldn't be allowed to shake her when she was perfectly in control of her life.

"My Lady, your brother has come to visit you. He is very much in a hurry."

Was it maybe those eyes?

"My Lady, he says it is most important he sees you!"

She hadn't mentioned to any other Mars Adepts that a Venus boy had spoken to her…it couldn't be guilt that made her tremble, because he couldn't have been punished. It was probably just the weather: the storm was getting worse even as she thought, with delicate patterned filigree sparks of lightning showing in the angry thistledown clouds. The temperature was fluctuating up and down sporadically. Kay always had been fairly jittery when a storm was thrown at the city; probably that was what troubled her.

"My Lady?"

"Kay, you stupid woman! There's a ship flying out there! What the hell are you doing, watering your dumb flowers when something so weird's happening? Kay!" She was half-aware of someone shaking her, knocking her off-balance and almost forcing her onto the floor. "Kay? Are you alright?"

No…no, it wasn't the weather. She'd seen those eyes somewhere very recently. Same colour, same sort of determined and fiery expression. The only question was where? And why was it making her so worried and shuddery?

"Kay? Sis?"

She frowned up at her brother's concerned, incredibly confused expression, and desperately wanted to stuff it full of marchpane again to make him not look quite as gormless. As it was, she recollected his comment on her flowers, screwed her face up with anger, and smashed him across the face with her watering-can. "Garet," she told him coolly, "You should know by now never to interrupt me. And if you go anywhere near my flowers again, I will hit you even harder. With my trowel."