"This is a horrible idea," said Hester, staring up at the zeppelin from her perch just behind Iorek's head. In fact, her preferred perch was on top of Iorek's head, but as the bear was currently looking up as well, even leaning back slightly on his back legs to do it, it was not a prudent place to sit for either of his current riders.
"It would…certainly be faster," said Lee, who clearly had mixed feelings on the matter. He liked flying, and he hated being a passenger for their travels, and he felt it his responsibility to get Lyra to her father as quickly as possible but…he did not want the journey to end.
"Oh, I knew you would love it!" said Anna Koskinen, sweeping around their heads.
"I'm with Hester," said Lyra. "It's a horrible idea." As Lyra tended to think all of the witch's ideas were horrible, that opinion might not have held much more weight than that of a petulant child's, except neither Iorek nor Lee were inclined to treat her views as such and, at any rate, she had some rather good points to back up her opinion. "Those…those evil men came from it. What if more find us if we take it? What if we're taken for…for bandits and shot from the sky? Anyway, anything they had is bound to be full of…of horrid things."
"Nonsense," said Anna Koskinen. "I looked all through it. The worst thing I found was the remains of its pilot, and those were easily returned to the earth. It does not even smell."
Lyra continued to frown, clearly not swayed.
"It would carry your balloon, Lee Scoresby," said Iorek, and Lyra's frown deepened even as the bear finished with, "We would need to leave nothing behind."
Iorek did not say, 'and I would not have to carry you or pull a cart like a common pack horse all the way back to civilization' because that was not something Iorek considered as a burden. Lee did not say it either, but he did think it, because he did care about being a burden to his friends.
Lee did not want to take the zeppelin, but he knew it was the right choice. He glanced at Lyra, and he rather thought she knew it too, and was dead against it anyway, judging from her scowl.
"…Lyra," Lee began, because as much as he did not want to shorten their time together, he especially did not want their last days together to be spent in stony silence or anger. "Your father…I got you lost in the wilderness and now we can get unlost…without making Iorek drag my balloon, without my limping along or…or"
"Iorek can pull you with the balloon," Lyra pointed out. "He wouldn't mind."
"I would not mind," Iorek agreed. Lyra grinned in triumph until Iorek said, "But I do believe Lee Scoresby will find flying a more comfortable ride."
"I'm not made of porcelain, you know," Lee grumbled. But Iorek's words had done what Lee's had not and Lyra stopped scowling up at the zeppelin and started giving Lee sideways sort of looks. That, in Lee's opinion, was worse than the scowls. "You know, actually, I think walking is the way to go," he said.
"Good sense in that," Hester said, and then she poked him on a sore spot, gently but unexpected, making him wince back. "Riding has more sense, down here or up there."
"I could walk," Lee protested, though his argument might have had more merit if he weren't currently sitting on Iorek's back. That had been a compromise when he had refused to wait at the camp while they came to see Anna Koskinen's 'great idea' for aiding in their journey.
"Of course, much depends upon whether Lee Scoresby has the ability to direct this aircraft," Iorek pointed out.
Lee did not immediately answer because he was too busy sputtering in outrage at the idea that he lacked the ability to fly.
"He has a point, Lee," Hester said; "Zeppelins aren't exactly the same thing as what we're used to…and the balloon has given us plenty of uncertain moments."
"If I can fly a balloon with half the instruction manual missing and I'll have you know I've never had a flight I didn't walk away from yet, then…then that fancy contraption up there en't going to give me a lick of trouble!"
"I can always offer my aid in guiding the craft, should the need arise," Anna Koskinen put in.
"And I can be your copilot," Lyra insisted.
"Now hold up," Lee said, starting to feel just the slightest bit played, "We still need to make sure this thing is safe."
"I found nothing of danger," Anna Koskinen objected.
"And you fly around on a tree branch. Forgive me, Ma'am, if I take the time to have a look over the machine myself."
Doing so was not quite as simple. The zeppelin was entangled in a tree. To bring it down risked both damaging it further or grounding it without means to help it lift after. Bringing Lee up to it either meant him climbing, which he was willing to try but no one else was willing to let him, or a ride with Anna Koskinen, which was uncomfortable to contemplate for completely different reasons, for all of them. Lyra and Pan because they did not want the witch hanging onto their Mr. Lee. Iorek because he did not fully trust the witch; he considered Serafina Pekkala a friend but scarcely knew this witch, and allowing those he did not trust near his injured friend was trying. Lee and Hester because the woman had made her interest in them very well known and it was awkward to be as intimately close as a flight would necessitate. And Anna Koskinen because she was not entirely sure how well her bough would support the extra weight, and that could be embarrassing.
The finally settled on a pulley system with Iorek doing the pulling and Anna Koskinen acting as a sort of safety net, ready to swoop in if there was trouble. There was not trouble though; the ropes they used were strong and Iorek was more than enough to do the lifting. The most annoying part was figuring out how to do the seat for Lee and Hester to ride; Lee thought a loop for his boot sufficient while Lyra and Iorek whispered about elaborate constructions to ensure his ability to not fall did not rely on his ability to hold on.
They compromised and had a sort of swing Lee's end when Lee started to point out the lateness of the day and that they still needed time to return to their camp (a good hour's walk away even at Iorek's brisk pace) before dark.
"Are you ready, Lee Scoresby?" Iorek asked, once the rope was arranged using the convenient pulley already attached to the zeppelin (the previous users had had a similar arrangement for getting people up and down; a ladder just did not cut it when one had a wolf daemon, it was only too bad the original rigging and basket had gotten burned in the fire).
"Ready and willing," Lee answered with more spirit than his physical appearance suggested. In fact, he looked rather worse than he felt, what with the late stages of bruising and the way that bloodmoss dulled what remained of the worst of the welts or his surgical wound. He was sore and moved stiffly and tired easily but he felt well enough to grow annoyed with how everyone tiptoed around him.
"Are you ready, Hester?" Iorek asked next.
"As ready as we can be," Hester answered from her position in Lee's pocket. She looked better than Lee by this point; daemons don't hold wounds long, though scars often remained. That did not mean nothing lingered; she was still skittish when anyone moved close to her who was not Lee, and she had long moments of silence when even Lee did not get a spoken answer to a question. No one spoke of it, but Lyra, Iorek, and Pan all knew.
"Then hold on tight," Iorek ordered, and finally he did pull and Lee and Hester rose. Getting off the swing into the zeppelin was tricker than Lee would admit to, but he did not push Anna Koskinen away when she offered her help, which spoke volumes for the aeronaut's difficulties.
He took his time looking at the zeppelin.
"Can you fly it?" asked the witch, looking over his shoulder at the controls. For a long moment, Lee did not answer.
In truth, the assumption that a pilot of one craft can easily fly a completely different craft is nonsense; aircraft come in many varieties and all of them have their tricks and quirks, and getting it wrong tended to be more fatal than mistakes in landbound crafts. But at the same time, all aircraft have similarities. This one's instruments were not unfamiliar to Lee; there was one to say how high they were, and one to track direction, and one that likely had to do with air pressure, and another for speed.
The controls were not utterly alien to Lee, and not just because he flew his own balloon.
"I've seen one piloted before," he answered the witch. And then, "I can fly it."
"Oh?" answered Anna Koskinen, instantly interested by his words. "When was this?"
Lee did not answer right away. Finally, he said, "There was a battle. We fought in it. Rode in one of these for a bit. I was curious; I watched the pilot fly it."
"But you've never flown one yourself?" Anna Koskinen asked, not judging, simply sounding interested.
"Briefly," Lee answered. He glanced towards Hester, half expecting her voice to chime in with 'you mean we crashed one, once' and then he would have to explain the whole story or everyone would think he could not fly. That he knew what he was doing when he crashed it, and it was perhaps one of the worst things he ever had to do, but he did tell those soldiers to jump first and if they chose not to it was their choice and Lee and Hester survived it all and Iorek was safe. But Hester kept his secrets, just scooted closer to him, offering comfort.
Then Lee went back to the door and called down, "It will fly!"
Of course, things did not happen directly. All their things were still back at the camp and they needed to be carted and brought and then hauled into the zeppelin, and it was late already so really all this had to happen in the morning. And in-between there was discussion and arguments because no one was completely sure this was a good idea except for Anna Koskinen, who smiled the whole time and looked puzzled whenever someone came up with a reason against it.
Breaking up the camp had its own difficulties.
"I will do this," Iorek said. "You will lay still and watch that all is done well."
"It's my balloon, I should be the one loading it up," Lee answered.
"Do you not trust me with your balloon, Lee Scoresby?"
Which was unfair, especially when said in that tone, sad and low. Lee started to answer, then glanced towards Lyra and Pan, and swallowed his first words.
"Darn it, Iorek, you know I trust you," he answered when he felt he could get the words out cleanly. Lyra probably already knew worse words but that did not mean Lee had to expand her vocabulary himself.
"Then I will do this," Iorek said, tone satisfied, "And you will watch."
"What do you want us to do?" the child asked.
"Sit on Lee to hold him down," Hester suggested.
They got the cart loaded in the end, mostly Iorek, but everyone helped, even Anna Koskinen, though her help was more along the lines of spreading the ashes of their firepit and encouraging the forest to swallow all traces that they had ever been there. Not that there had been much trace anyway; a bear knew how to build a camp that blended into the surroundings.
Getting everything into the zeppelin was more awkward than difficult. With a pulley and a bear there was no difficulty with the lifting, but moving it inside was not so easy even with Anna Koskinen pushing from atop her bough and Lee and Lyra pulling it in.
Getting Iorek into the zeppelin was the hardest part of the entire process, and even that proved easier than anyone thought. Even as the others were putting their heads together to figure out how they could pull him in, Iorek calmly sat himself on the same swing the others had used and, just as easily as he had pulled them up, he pulled himself up. He was already half inside before the others even knew he was coming.
"Iorek!" Lee scolded when the bear made the whole structure tilt as he scrambled inside. "You should have waited for us to help."
"And you should not have exerted yourself as you have," Iorek answered, looking closely at his friend, and making the others look closely as well. Lee wanted to object, strongtly and at length, but now that he was sitting still it turned out he had exerted himself rather hard in getting everything and everyone settled.
"You look awefuly pale, Mr. Lee," Lyra put in, frowning.
"M'fine," Lee mumbled, which was practically an admission of not being fine, because if he were fine he'd have had a lot more to say about it and he wouldn't be sitting still and breathing heavily and looking likely to fall over at any moment. Then, "Just give me a moment and I'll have us flying."
"We are in no hurry," Iorek assured him.
"M'fine," Lee said again. And then, "Don't look so worried."
"Are you worried?" Anna Koskinen asked, curious, and peering hard at the bear. As far as she could tell his expression had not changed.
"Let us have some food," Iorek said instead of answering.
Lee was absolutely certain he would feel better after a bit of a rest and some food. So it was rather startling to blink his eyes open some time later and realize he had been asleep. More to the point, it was growing dark; he had slept for the entire afternoon.
"Hmm-what?" he said, blinking away the last vestiges of his slumber. Then, "What time is it? Why didn't you wake me?"
"We were all tired," Lyra pointed out. The girl was curled next to him, not asleep, but not restless either, Pan a small brown hare nuzzled at her side.
"It is better to rest well before our journey," Iorek said, not resting, but vigilantly keeping watch, looking outward. Anna Koskinen was perched near him, one bird on her shoulder, another perched on Iorek.
"It will be too dark to fly, soon," Lee complained, not wanting to admit to himself how much better he felt after his nap. Better in some ways at least; he also felt stiff and sore as he always seemed to get when lying still for too long. He stretched, forcing his muscles to move no matter how they protested.
"You have flown many times at night before," Iorek pointed out.
"In my balloon, which I know. This thing…it'll be tricky enough in daylight."
"I can fly before you to guide your way and lead the wind in your favor," Anna Koskinen suggested.
"I can keep watch from above and alert you to dangers as well," Serafina Pekkala's daemon said.
"And I as well," Anna Koskinen's daemon agreed.
"And I can be your copilot," Lyra announced.
Getting the zeppelin free of the tree was simple with a witch to help; as much as Lee often felt annoyed by her presence he had to admit she was not a bad friend to have. She more or less asked the tree to led them go, and then nudged and prodded at the craft, and they were free.
"You sure we can do this?" Hester whispered softly as Lee made himself comfortable at the controls. Lyra and Pan were distracted by figuring out their own seat and looking at all the instruments and switches with keen interest.
"If I can crash it, I can fly it," Lee answered, surprising himself with how much eagerness filled his voice. He had gotten so used to his own snappishness during his recovery that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to not be sore and restless and annoyed.
He had forgotten what it feels like to watch the world sliding away below, as he took to the air and flew.
"What does that do?" Lyra asked, and Lee grinned, buoyed on her enthusiasm and the sight of the sky above. It was not his balloon, and it lacked the feel of the wind in his face, but he could hear the creak of the zeppelin around him and he could see the sky and it was enough.
"See that? It says how high we are. And if you turn this, it should get us higher. Go on…give it a try." Cautiously, as if she expected Lee to make her stop at any moment, Lyra did. Then she gave a whoop when they all felt the pressure from rising. Lee grinned.
This was what living was. A sky and a balloon. And good friends.
'We could keep her' Hester's voice whispered in his mind, and for a moment his smile faltered.
'Live for the moment' he whispered right back, and forced his smile back full force. One day soon, they would land and he would give Lyra and Pan back to their father. But for now, they flew.
Note: So...the TV series continues...and gives Lee a completely different background from the one I have implied here. As far as I can see there are a few ways one can look at it:
1. This universe's Lee is not that universe's Lee despite them being similar; the childhoods do not have to match.
2. the TV and books are different and this story is more in line with the books.
3. Alternatively, this Lee does have the same backstory as TV Lee but because he always saw his dad's abuse as 'deserved' he does not view it in the same way as getting beaten up or whipped by his peers. So he does not call it 'being beaten' despite literally being beaten. He locks it away in a different category completely, along with all the fights he's gotten into and lost over the years.
Look at it however you prefer but I'm certainly not rewriting half this story to fit the new TV canon.