54. Air

"So... do you think the Strahl can fly with the top open?"

Five pairs of eyes turned to stare at the speaker, who put up both hands in front of himself as if for protection. "Alright, alright. I was just asking."

"Why would you even want the top open?" asked Penelo, unable to stop herself from the old habit of entertaining every question her best friend ever had.

Vaan waved a hand around vaguely. "Y'know, the air in here gets a little stale sometimes, what with there being so many of us. It would be nice if we could enjoy the sunshine and a fresh breeze while we're in here."

To everyone's surprise, a chuckle emerged from the cockpit. "That's an idea I consider every summer," Balthier called out. "Unfortunately, aerodynamics is a harsh mistress. Not to mention everything you hold dear would have to be bolted down if you don't wish for them to fly out the roof."

"You speak as if from experience," commented Fran.

Balthier shrugged. "Not to worry. There was nothing I held dear in that airship. Except perhaps myself... and in that regard, you can plainly see that things turned out excellently."

From behind the pair of street children, Ashe barely held back a snort of laughter.

"Vaan, why don't you just go out onto the deck?" suggested Penelo. "There's plenty of breeze out there."

"Either I've grown recently, or the railings just aren't high enough for me," said Vaan.

Penelo rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go outside and stop distracting Balthier and Fran from their piloting. Someone needs to keep an eye out for Imperials, anyway."

"I will accompany you," said Basch suddenly, wincing slightly.

"In case either of you do end up falling off," added Ashe, withdrawing her elbow with a look of satisfaction.

In somewhat awkward silence, the unusual trio made their way through the back door and out onto the deck. The sun was indeed out and shining brightly, though the wind was not so much a breeze as an aerial riptide that had them clinging onto the railing for support.

Vaan staggered across the deck and looked down. "Occuria, how fast is Balthier going, anyway? This can't be all wind. Everything at ground level looks perfectly peaceful."

"These would be poor circumstances to encounter an enemy," agreed Basch.

From behind them, Penelo groaned. "Why did you have to say that, you two? There's something approaching fast from 7 o'clock. I can't see what it is, though..."

The three of them peered in the same direction for a moment before a lengthy shriek reached their ears. "Not an Imperial," said Penelo with relief.

"A bird," suggested Vaan.

"A Charybterix," murmured Basch, turning pale. "Penelo, I hope your quiver is full. Vaan, use Telekinesis, as I demonstrated to you last week."

"Huh? But- I haven't got the hang of it yet. I can't possibly..."

Penelo pushed him aside and drew her bow. "Just do it, Vaan!"

"If I end up falling to my death, you'll be sorry," Vaan muttered under his breath.

He conjured up the memory of practising it with Basch and tried to recall the way he had moved the few times he'd managed to succeed. His body had felt light as air as he'd gone up to meet the target, and felt just as light when he found himself back on the ground a split second later.

Just do that again. Light as air up, light as air down.

When the Charybterix was close enough, Vaan bit his lip and went for it. One moment he was on the deck, the next he was about a meter away from the bird, hacking at it with his sword. The beast screeched in pain and clawed at him, but by then he was already back on the ground.

"Well done," called out Basch as he stabbed at the bird's wing. Several arrows flew past in rapid succession, a few reaching their target on the Charybterix's chest.

Emboldened by his success, Vaan went for a second turn. This time, however, he was not so lucky – his swing missed the bird completely and he must have taken too long to get back to the ground, because all of a sudden he found that he was stuck.

He heard Penelo gasp from below and saw her put her bow aside. Something dragged on the back of his vest and he felt himself being lifted higher into the air.

"Oh," said Basch.

"Let go of me!" yelled Vaan, flailing his sword arm around in hopes of cutting himself free.

The bird shrieked in response and only lifted him higher.

Vaan gulped as he looked down. The deck was somewhat far away now, and the ground below even further. The strong winds were not helping, either; the Charybterix was having trouble keeping up with the ship, which was bad news for when it would inevitably drop him later.

Penelo was picking up her weapon again. "Should I aim for the wings?"

Basch paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "I, too, will aim for them. With luck we will be able to bring it down to the deck."

"Don't let Penelo shoot! She'll hit me for sure!"

"Well now I'm definitely going to hit you," snarled Penelo, drawing her bow. "Don't struggle so much!"

Vaan was vaguely aware of letting out a scream as he watched her loose the arrow, but even as he sighed in relief to see it sailing past his head, Basch appeared beside him and grabbed his torso with one arm while his other sunk a sword into the beast's wing.

The next thing Vaan knew, his cheek was firmly planted to the smooth wooden planks of the Strahl's deck. A few feet beside him was the corpse of the Charybterix, feathers ruffling morbidly in the wind.

Basch was holding onto his arm. From the looks of the puddle of blood at his feet, the bird had gotten him with a talon as he was rescuing Vaan.

"Cura," Vaan croaked with gratitude.

A cloud of green light surrounded the wound, knitting together the edges and stopping the bleeding. "Thank you," smiled Basch.

For once, Penelo didn't have something to say to Vaan; instead, they exchanged wide-eyed grins and chuckled at each other's windblown hair.

By the time the trio staggered back inside, the still air of the cabin never seemed so sweet. Ashe looked slightly worried when she saw that Basch had acquired a long scratch on his arm and the teenagers were sporting hairstyles as if they'd just been electrified, but they reassured her that they were fine.

Nevertheless, the princess went with Penelo to the infirmary to bandage Basch's arm, leaving Vaan to approach the cockpit. He took the seat next to Balthier and collapsed against the older man's shoulder.

"How was your trip out to get a breeze and some sunshine? Do you still want to fly Strahl with her top open?" asked Balthier, turning his head to raise an eyebrow in amusement at the state of his apprentice.

The boy laughed haggardly. "You really should have bolted me down."