Chapter 17

Airship Adelisa Aiglentine

Monday

Jan. 5, 1920

Mid-Atlantic

Aoife POV

Aoife had to say that the journey had been going well so far. Ada had asked her to teach her some self defense and she'd decided it was a good idea. Ada needed to know how to defend herself and protect her loved ones, especially being a Shelby. As it stood right now she was cannon fodder.

They'd started a training regimen, building up some muscle and working on basic moves and enjoying a run around the deck to help with endurance. Another week and she'd start her on sparring.

Michael seemed to be enjoying learning about the different jobs on an airship. He found navigation to be particularly interesting and had been sitting in with Eirnin who didn't mind, as he called it, on the job training.

The kids and Finn didn't squabble about having study time after breakfast until the afternoon. Though she figured that might change when they reached warmer weather. The nice thing about living on an airship was that they could change the schedule to suit them. So when it got warmer out they could allow the kids out in the morning and have studies during the hotter hours of the afternoon.

Joseph or Merle as the kids were calling him seemed to be enjoying being their teacher. She couldn't say that she blamed him, it kept him off rotation on deck. He was also the best qualified to deal with teaching small children. The man had patience and a penchant for making learning fun. It had always amazed her how he could take the most mundane and boring subject and create hands on lessons that you remembered for years to come. He'd been a member of the crew since her parents sailed the ship and she'd had a few lessons from him herself.

Finn had asked if he could learn the different jobs aboard ship. She'd setup a schedule for him to shadow a different crew member each week. She'd told him once he found something that interested him after shadowing everyone, she'd see about an onboard apprenticeship for him during the rest of his stay.

The weather had been favorable so far. They'd heard a call out about a low pressure system that they were heading towards. The additional cloud formations weren't that worrisome , and if they got a bit of rain that would be fine too. They just needed to hope the winds didn't become too strong. They would be heading into it and that could set their time back as well as create a turbulent ride.

It was Monday and Aoife had told Tommy she'd check in. She would need to get that call out soon. If they were heading into weather she may not be able to get patched through. She didn't think it would be long now, she was already starting to feel the change in the atmosphere.

She quickly made her way down to the comms to see if it wasn't already too late to get a line out. She wouldn't have time to get anyone else, if she was lucky she'd have just enough time to tell whoever answered that they were all good and she was just checking in before the storm hit. It was going to be a storm. The rain was already starting to come down in a steady rhythm, the boat was swinging slightly as she started to hit the wind.

Small Heath

#6 Watery Lane

Tommy POV

Tommy was just entering the den when he heard the bell start to ring. The boys were hard at work and Johnny Dogs was waiting for him. He had a meeting he needed to get to. He'd only come in to tell Polly he was heading out and that she was in charge. As he passed John he asked him to see who was on the bell, he was already late.

"John boy, answer the bell, deal with it or take a message, eh."

"Yeah all right Tommy."

"Polly you're in charge until I get back."

"Where are you heading off to?"

"I've got a meeting I need to get to."

"With who?"

"The Lee's Phuri Dai."

"Well, good luck with that then."

"Johnny Dogs got me an audience, he's been traveling with them of late."

"And if you don't come back?"

"Then you're in charge for good Aunt Pol."

"I hope you know what you're doing Thomas."

"I guess we'll see, I'm off, the mad house is yours."

Aunt Polly nodded at him as he turned to leave. Hopefully he'd be returning.

John's POV

John went into the office and grabbed the line, "Shelby Limited."

"John?"

"Aoife?"

"Sorry about the connection we're heading into a low pressure system, I don't know how long we'll have before the connection goes. I'm just checking in. Everyone's doing fine, we're half way to the Colonies. Has Tommy said anything to you about the buyers he was looking into?"

"Nah, he hasn't said anything, I'll tell him you were asking."

"All right, depending on how large this system is, it might push back our timetable a bit. I'll check back in next Monday. If he has a buyer tell him to tell Alfie, he'll be able to send out a relay message, he knows the codes to use so..."

"...Aoife?...Aoife?"

Fucking hell, they lost connection. He hung up the line and stepped out of the office only to see Lizzie Stark standing by Polly's desk. It looked like whatever they were talking about was going to start escalating into a shouting match. He walked over to see if he couldn't stop it before it started.

"Lizzie? What are you doing here?"

"John. Is Tommy in?"

"Does it look like it?"

"He told me to come down. Said he had a job offer for me."

"...Job offer?"

"I've been taking classes, typing and shorthand, he said he'd pay me to be a secretary."

"Is that right...well he ain't here right now. I'll tell him you stopped in. I'm sure he'll get back with you when he can."

As he turned away, thinking the matter was settled he heard Aunt Polly's voice, it had a bite to it as she spoke to Lizzie.

"You do know there ain't no future between you and Tommy, just because he says he has an honest job for you."

"What's between me and Tommy, is none of your business."

"Don't get all high and mighty Lizzie Stark. I know Tommy has had a habit of visiting you from time to time. Things have changed, he won't be visiting you anymore. If he has a job for you, it's just him being charitable."

"I'll do as Tommy asks me, Mrs. Grey. As it's him I'll be working for."

John watched from the corner of his eye as Aunt Pol shook her head and gave a flick of her wrist, telling Lizzie to go. Lizzie faltered in her steps when Polly's voice reached her as she told her not to say she hadn't warned her.

Doing an about face he turned back and made his way to Aunt Polly.

"What was that about?"

"Silly little chit thinks she's somehow special to Tommy. Like just because he's offering her real work that will get her off her back he somehow has feelings for her. If Tommy hires her, she's in for a rude awakening when Aoife returns."

"Didn't even know Tommy'd been visiting her."

"Tommy's been very discreet about it. Hasn't been to see her in over three months from what I understand. Apparently he saw her recently to offer her a job...for his sake I hope that's all he did."

"...That was Aoife on the line. She was just calling to check in. Said everyone was doing fine."

"Why didn't you come get me?"

"Lost the connection. She said it might happen, they were heading into some weather, said she'd try again come next Monday. Tommy hasn't mentioned anything to you about buyers has he?"

"No, he hasn't."

"Right. Well back to work then."

Tommy POV

Johnny Dogs removed his white cravat and tied it round a stick, waving it in the air as they entered the Lee's encampment. He'd made sure to tell him how difficult getting him an audience had been. They walked through the camp passed armed men who'd like nothing better than to put a bullet in his head. Thankfully this meeting had been granted and he had safe passage for the moment.

Johnny knocked on the door of the Phuri Dai's vardo. The door opened and he climbed up, the door closing behind him. Greeting the woman with the respect she was due as the Lee's elder mother before sitting opposite her. She picked a bible up and told him to put his hand on it.

He was honest with her, "I don't believe. Anyway I didn't come here to lie. This war is cutting us all off. A good man with no part in our war died, many more innocent people were hurt."

"No one is innocent."

"I say enough. Your boys tried to kill me. Tried to kill the woman who took offense at being handled without permission. It didn't work."

"A woman?"

"Yes. The one who put one of your lads out at the fair. Guess your boys took offense to a woman defending herself against them."

"Why are you here?"

"I come with a proposition."

Tommy reached into his pocket and removed the bullet he'd been carrying handing it over to her.

She examined it and quirked her brow, switching over to Romany. "I thought he was your ally?"

"I plan to betray him."

"No wonder you won't touch a bible."

"I have ambitions. I need your boys."

"For what?"

"Kimber's not the brains, there's a gadze who runs the races. I'm collecting smart people, but I need strong men too."

"You come in here boasting you're going to do a man down and in the same breath ask me to trust you."

"On my mother's side, we are kin. Let us talk family business."

**************0**************

Tommy walked back into the den and went straight to his office. Things needed to be timed just right and he needed to get certain things down on paper before calling it a day. As he walked into the darkened room he saw smoke rising into the air, so he wasn't surprised when he heard Aunt Pol's voice.

"What's going on Tommy?"

"I'm handling it Pol."

"I want you to tell me what is going on. How are you handling it Thomas?"

"...I'm working on brokering a peace between us and the Lee's. If I can manage that we'll be working together in the near future."

"Do I even want to know how you intend on brokering peace? Or heaven forbid what we need the Lee's working for us for?"

"I don't know Aunt Pol, do you?"

"Tell me. And don't leave anything out."

"The only way to assure peace is through marriage."

"Ada will never go for it, and I won't stand for that either."

"I wasn't considering Ada."

"It sure as hell isn't going to be Michael either."

"No, not Michael."

"I'm listening."

"John."

"John? Does he know this, or are you going to throw him a surprise wedding?"

"He doesn't know. You've been hearing him talk about needing a mother for the kids just as much as I have. The Lee's have a girl who's gone a bit wild, they're looking for husband to settle her down."

"Huh. You'd better not fucking tell him till you're there, he won't go and even look at her otherwise."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"All right, I taught you well, say John agrees and we have a family connection. That will put an end to the war. What do we need the Lee's for?"

"We're going to remove Kimber and take over Cheltenham."

" Obviously didn't teach you well enough, rule one you don't punch above your weight."

"Billy Kimber is there for the taking."

"Says who Tommy Shelby? I ran this business for four years."

"Yeah, while I was away fighting. A place where I learnt some things, such as, you strike when your enemy is weak."

"I hope you know what you're doing Thomas..."

"I do."

"...Lizzie came in today, said you'd asked her to come. Something about a job."

"...Fuck, I'll take care of it."

"Becareful with that one Thomas. She thinks you have feelings for her. That you offered her this job because you don't want her spreading her legs for anyone other than you."

Tommy stared at Polly for a moment before running his hand over his face. All the air in his lungs came out as her placed his fists on his desk and leaned over.

"Fuck."

"I tried to tell her. That if you offered her a job it was because you were just being charitable. That nothing other than a job was coming her way."

"And?"

"She said she'd do as you told her, as you're the one who's to be her boss."

"Perfect, just fuckin perfect. FUCK!"

"...Aoife called a check in while you were out as well. They were heading into some weather and the connection was lost but she managed to say everyone was doing all right. Said if you have a buyer lined up to get the information to Alfie, he'd know how to send a coded relay to them."

"Anything else?"

"You'd have to ask John, he's the one that spoke with her."

Airship Adelisa Aiglentine

Evening

Aoife POV

They'd been flying into the storm for a good three hours now. The weather had taken a drastic turn and they'd battened down the hatches so to speak. The crew on deck were attached to the safety lines and were staying as protected from the elements as possible. Her man up top would let her know if they started to get lightning. In that event she'd be heading topside herself, to help with non-powered guidance. They'd have to shut the engines off and ground the propeller, hoist the sails and actually use the air currents to fly her.

She was surprised that none of the Shelby's had complained about motion sickness yet. The Adelisa was pitching pretty good when a crosswind would come through. Finn was sitting up in her hammock and enjoying the natural swing from it, so that was probably helping him deal with it. Perhaps the others were utilizing the hammocks in their cabins as well.

Aoife herself was trying to stretch out her limbs, and limber up. She'd opted to take this opportunity to practice some yoga poses that focused on balance. Curious as ever Finn was asking her what she was doing. She'd explained the practice of yoga and its origins in Northern India. It helped her stay physically fit, kept her flexible and helped her find and maintain her center of balance.

Most of the time you were to hold the poses for a decent duration of time. She preferred to move fluidly from one pose into the next with a brief hold of each. As she moved into each different pose, she would tell Finn it's name and explain to him what muscles it helped and why it was good to maintain those specific ones in regards to working on an airship.

She began with vriksasana (tree) and moved into garudasana (eagle), padangustasana (toe stand), dandayamana danurasana (standing bow), and then flowed into ardha chandrasana (back bend), ending with svarga djivasana (Bird of Paradise). Bringing herself into adho mukha svanasana(downward dog) before moving into bakasana (crane), astavakrasana (eight angle), parsva bhuja dandasana (grasshopper) and ending with pincha mayurasana (feathered peacock).

Balance and flexibility were important to have when you worked and lived on an airship. These especially came in handy during rough weather. As she went through the circuit of her poses the second time she noted Finn's attention stray to the hand drawn pictures she had on her walls.

"Aine drew those. The best I can do is a stick figure for when we play that word game, 'Hangman' to pass the time."

"She's really good. They look almost like a photograph."

"Yeah, she's always been good at art. We had to dock in Italy once for a few months the ship needed repairs. She befriended a small group of artists. They were nice enough to teach her some techniques and she constantly creates pictures like these. She always takes note of places, scenery that I'm drawn to and then she draws or paints them for me, so I can look at them whenever I like."

"She enjoys all sorts of mediums. My favorite are the ones in color, brings the memory of the landscape back more clearly. Sometimes it's the colors that make what you're seeing beautiful to begin with anyway."

"Do you think she might teach me some of those tech...techniques that she learned in Italy?"

"No harm in asking her."

Finn POV

Finn studied the drawings on Aoife's walls, they were beautiful. It was hard to believe that they were actual places that Aoife had seen. There was one in particular that he found captivated him. It was a picture at night with the stars shining and a white landscape beneath it. But there were streaks of colors across the sky and Aine had made it seem like they were shimmering. He could make out a part of the ship in the foreground, so you could tell it was a view that they'd seen onboard.

"Where is that one from Aoife?"

Finn pointed out the picture as Aoife looked up to see which one he was pointing at.

"That is the aurora borealis, in particular that was seen when we were near Tromso in Northern Norway one polar night in January.

"What's a polar night?"

They call winter nights, polar nights because the sun doesn't rise, though they have a semblance of daylight from 10am to around 1pm. The aurora borealis is really something to see in person. Aine's picture is a great representation but there is nothing quite like seeing it with your own eyes."

"What's it like?"

"The night is dark and the sky is clear of clouds, the stars are twinkling. Then all of a sudden the sky lights up in moving shimmering streaks of color. It's like the colors are dancing across the stars. It only lasts for about thirty minutes before they disappear the same way they came. It's spectacularly grand, true beauty."

"It sounds grand."

"I'm sorry we won't be heading anywhere that we can see it while you're aboard. I promise though there will be plenty of other truly beautiful sights for you to see in the next three months."

"It's okay, maybe one day I'll be able to see it. Tommy's working really hard to make it so we can do the things we really want to."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, but he says I need to stay in school and do my work so's that I can be whatever I want to be when I get big like him. Maybe I'll have a job where I travel and that will be one of the places I go see."

"More likely you'll go on vacation, not many jobs that would take you up to Northern Norway. If you go dress warmly, while the coast tends to be mild, it does get fairly windy and those can make you feel like you're freezing your arse off."

Finn laughed at the image but nodded his head, as she'd certainly be the one to know, since she'd actually been there.

"How many places have you been Aoife?"

"Och, I don't think I'd be able to tell you for certain. More than I can count I assure you. I was born on this ship Finn. It's been just about everywhere in the last twenty three years."

Ada POV

Ada wasn't sure if she could take much more of the ships rocking back and forth, when it got hit with the wind from outside. She had found some comfort laying in the hammock as the kids seemed to enjoy it and weren't feeling sick from the constant motions.

She'd tied the lavatory doors open with a pair of her stockings in order to hear and talk with the girls without having to leave the hammock. She feared she might toss her tea meal if she did.

Her cabin door was also held open but that one actually had its own tether to keep it from closing. She could hear the muffled sound of Finn and Aoife's voices in conversation but she couldn't make out the words over the sound of the wind and rain outside.

She hadn't been up to checking in on Michael and the boys but she had faith that Michael was watching over them. If they got sick she was sure Michael would come and get her to help deal with it. She wasn't quite sure why the male population didn't seem to know what to do when people were sick. In her experience they automatically sought out a woman's assistance the moment vomit became involved. As if a woman was somehow magically predisposed at knowing how to deal with it.

It was utter rubbish of course, the only difference was that a woman had maternal instincts apparently. She'd known plenty of times when Tommy had sat with Finn when he was ill, before the war. Hell when Tommy became ill himself he stayed in his room and dealt with it himself. The only times he seemed to allow someone to take care of him was when he'd been beaten or stabbed. Thankfully there were not many occurrences of that happening to him. Even then, as soon as he could move about himself he did so.

She always hated it when one of the boys would have to be carried home and she'd have to worry that they weren't going to make it through the night. Arthur was the worst, always fighting, coming home bloody and bleeding. The amount of times he needed patching up and stitches too many to count. John wasn't usually one to get hurt too badly, he didn't lose his self in a fight. Always cautious but ruthless towards his enemies.

Tommy hadn't really been into any kind of serious altercations since he returned home, at least none that brought him home injured and in need of nursing. It surprised her sometimes that he somehow managed to be relatively unscathed during any skirmishes that happened in Small Heath.

How on earth did her mind get sucked into thinking about her brothers being hurt. Was it possible that she actually missed them all ready? Ugh. That wasn't something she wanted to contemplate, they'd only been gone for nine bloody days.