When Deryn couldn't sleep at night her usual haunt was topside. She found that gazing at the stars and breathing in the wind as the airbeast moved to be soothing. Tonight she felt even more antsy than usual so she not only climbed dorsal but had brought her blanket as well. She planned to sleep in one of the extra hammocks that the riggers used while not on duty. There was a perfect one at the end that no one ever slept in because it was a squick smaller than the others. She liked to think it felt lonely and would like to have a visitor once and a while, that is, if hammocks had feelings.

Deryn tiptoed past the riggers who were already asleep and found that her favorite hammock was empty as a pig's trough. Flinging her blanket across the rope bed, she double checked behind her that no one was looking before diving into it. It took a few seconds to situate herself perfectly and when she was finally comfortable she gradually closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

No such luck. Relaxing it may be, but the gentle sway of the hammock did nothing to settle Deryn's stirring thoughts. It had been only twenty four hours since she had last spoken with Alek. It was then that the dummkopf of a prince had gone completely mental and tossed his scroll of approval into the Atlantic Ocean. He had then sworn his love to her and promised they would always be together.

Well…..maybe he didn't say that exactly, but she bet her bum that he meant to say that. He did kiss her.

TWICE!

Or maybe he didn't actually love her. Maybe he was so thrilled to not have to be a barking emperor that he kissed her out of sheer happiness.

But he did say she was the reason he killed Tesla. Not for a bloody kingdom but for her! He must love her.

Yet on the other hand he never said the words 'I love you' out loud.

Well….did he really need to? He kissed her instead.

TWICE!

And how did she feel about Alek giving up an empire for her? Happy? Scared? Angry? Maybe even a bit guilty?

Barking spiders, she was getting dizzy from thinking about it so much. No wonder she couldn't get any sleep. The whole Alek fiasco was utterly confusing. She had thought once they had kissed everything would be the cat's pajamas but unfortunately Alek hadn't spoken to her since that moment.

Stupid blasted prince.

She gave a sigh and turned over in her hammock so she was facing out at the deck and the surroundings around her. A few riggers were playing cards nearby. They were sitting in a circle with a glowworm lamp, their voices hushed as they threw coins down for poker money and exchanged gossip. Deryn started to focus on what they were saying so she would stop bothering over her own thoughts.

"…..couldn't even chew, the poor sod. I swear, all his teeth were completely gone and he couldn't even bite into a bit of toast." Said one of the riggers. He was pointing to his mouth with a horrified expression on his face. Deryn thought it was an ironic thing to say since the man didn't have many teeth himself.

"What did you say he got?" Another man chimed in.

"They called it scurvy. Wretched illness that happens to people who don't eat their vegetables. We're lucky we be flying where there's plenty of green food. Those poor fellows over in the North ain't got nothin' but canned stuff."

"No kiddin'." Said one of the others. "That's a terrible story Earl. Almost as bad as the one you tell about Harris' Dad."

"What's that? I haven't heard that one."

"Poor old chap," The rigger called Earl said. "He was only thirty five when he caught that white plague business. Folks say he was choking up his own lungs."

"I don't wanna hear this rubbish," Said the last man. He was smoking a long pipe that smelled of incense and hot summers. "Let's hear a nice story. Something that'll make me laugh."

"I don't think I know anything funny."

"Course you don't, Earl, you live on others' misfortune." The man with the pipe snapped. "Tell you what; I'll give you a juicy tidbit. Real good story actually, happened to me just yesterday. T'was the craziest thing I've seen since I was a lad. ."

Eager to hear what the man had to say, the others leaned closer to him.

"You all know that one middie?"

"The monkey luddite? Lord, you don't need a whole story, just hearing his name makes me crack up."

"No, the other one; Sharp."

Deryn's eyes widened with a snap and felt her muscles tense up.

"I like Sharp, what'd he do?"

"Was he steelin' food again? I saw him take a few potatoes last week."

"No. And if you shut yer trap I'll tell you." The man with the pipe squawked. He took a long drag from a hip flask before continuing. "I was minding the ropes yesterday afternoon while all you lot were getting ready to set off from New York. Most everybody was by the gondola, so they probably thought they would be alone if they went topside."

"Who?"

"Middie Sharp and that prince boy he's always with. You know, the Austrian."

The other riggers nodded and acknowledged that they knew who Alek was. Deryn continued to stay frozen except her eyeballs felt like they were getting wider.

"Well, I was tying ropes, like I said, and those two were passing by. I didn't pay much attention at first but when I didn't hear from them a few minutes later I went to check and see if they fell or something. I followed their path and when I came across them again, you wouldn't believe it, but the two were locking lips right there in front of me."

"You mean they were kissing?" Earl spoke.

"You're lying, that can't have happened." Said another man.

"No, I swear I saw it just as I see you here. The middie and the prince were snogging up a storm."

"Damn! I've heard of that before. When men don't see a proper lady for too long they begin to get desperate and start fancying each other."

"Not after we just got done with New York. Plenty of ladies looking for a Brittish soldier to kiss."

"Oh aye! I met three of 'em! Good gals, those New York birds!"

"Then those boys shouldn't be kissing one another. You don't suppose they like the company of men over women?"

"Could be. Wouldn't be the first time it happened."

Deryn's body was shaking hysterically. How in the hell did Alek and her miss seeing this rigger while they were…..well….. snogging. She supposed they were too distracted with each other to notice that they had a bystander. What was she going to do now? She couldn't just continue to sit there and listen to them blether on about her. It wouldn't be long until their rumors made it to the rest of the crew. Deryn had to do something, and fast.

It may have been from sitting still so long, or from the lack of sleep, or even because she had one more thing to worry about with the whole Alek fiasco, but whatever it was, Deryn did the unthinkable. Before even taking a second to breathe, she had crossed the deck, raised her fist and punched the man with pipe right in the jaw. None of the riggers even noticed what had happened until they saw the blood drip over the deck.

There was a fair bit of swearing, some kicking and punching as well as lots of spitting before Deryn realized that she had a swollen lip and black eye. Her knee, which had started in poor condition, seemed to have ripped open again from one of the kicks.

She had punched and kicked back fairly well and all of the men were accompanied by a good amount of bruises and cuts. However, she probably looked the worse of the lot. When one of them had her in a head lock and another punching her in the gut, she finally heard the chorus of howling sniffer dogs.

The beasties must have gone to get help because they were joined by a crowd of other crew members.

"ENOUGH!" Screamed a voice. "What on Earth are you fools doing! This isn't the time to be fighting over a poker game!"

They let her drop to the deck in an instant and Deryn screamed as the impact of the ground hit her bum knee.

"I'm sorry sir, it was just that…..well, you see…..HE STARTED IT!"

She turned and saw that her fight partners were all pointing at her. So they were as mature as wee little school boys.

"I see. Mr, Sharp, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

It was Mr. Rigby looking down at her. Could her luck be any worse?

Slowly she stood and adjusted for her sore knee while spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"M'sorry, sir." She managed. "But you see, they were….well….they were telling false stories about me and I had to stop them." She regretted saying it, but it was the best excuse she could come up with.

"So you decided to attack five other men who are all twice your size just because they were spouting a story about you?"

"Yes, sir."

He frowned and crossed his arms while examining the other culprits.

"Sorry, Sharp, but I don't buy that tale. What do you lot have to say?"

The others had the grace to look a bit ashamed. It wasn't every day that a pack of tough riggers teamed up on a wee middie. It took a bit but finally one of them spoke up.

"He just jumped on us sir." Said the man called Earl. "We were talking and he just flies out of nowhere and socks Paulson in the jaw."

Paulson must have been the man with the pipe who had seen Deryn and Alek kissing. He was the shortest and oldest of the group, but probably the scariest looking. His face was covered with hundreds of tiny cut marks and scars from years of flying and the split lip Deryn had given him only worsened his terrifying appearance.

"Is that so? Well, so be it." Mr. Rigby sighed. "The six of you will be reporting to the latrines every day at o'sixhundred hours for morning clean up until we dock in London next week. Also, seeing that I have warned you all multiple times that gambling is a felony in His Majesty's Air Force, if I see or hear about any more card games I will be sure to write up a report to the Captain about such actions. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" They all replied and saluted. Mr. Rigby began to leave but not without nodding to the other crew members to get going. They had acquired a squick of a crowd from the commotion. Most of the sleeping riggers were awake by now.

As the people dispersed, the riggers she attacked started to leave as well. Most of them gave her the evil eye and Earl even gave her a nasty hand gesture. Everyone was soon gone except for herself and Mr. Paulson.

There was a long pause before Deryn realized he was waiting for her to say something.

"Listen," She said quietly. "I…..I'm really sorry about that, your mouth that is. I shouldn't have hit you so hard."

Paulson snorted.

"You think I've never been punched before. You're not that smart, you know."

Deryn was a bit offended by that.

"Hang on a tick! You're the one who was blabbering on about me when you should have kept quiet! I never asked you to start spreading rumors like that."

At this, surprisingly, the man smiled.

"Like I said before, it wouldn't be the first time a man fancied another man. I'm just helping spread the news."

She hadn't expected him to say that.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, son. Us boys have been kissing one another for years now, so don't think you're onto something new. I just like to make it easier for the other fellows." He pointed with his thumb to where the other men had recently been standing. "My poker buddies may prefer the company of ladies but I know I need to get other ideas in their heads so they don't hate me for it later."

Deryn was still barking confused.

"You still don't make any sense."

"Next time you kiss your prince someone else may see you. I only am trying to make it less shocking for that person."

He then picked up his pipe which was lying on the ground, placed in his pocket and gave Deryn a wink before leaving after the others.

Still a bit confused by him and now TERRIBLY confused about Alek, she slowly returned to her hammock and tried to go back to sleep. It would be an early morning cleaning the latrines and Deryn needed her wits about her in case the other riggers decided to get revenge on her. She prayed they weren't sleeping well either.