Chapter 10
Early in the morning, Rollan stepped out on the backside of the castle into the zone, where the stall was located, which had a couple of horses standing in their own boxes. Rollan looked around the area, then crossed the place to head to the boxes and looked up at the signs, each marked with a name on it
"Okay, one of you must belong to Peter," Commented Rollan glimpsing into the first box to spot a sleeping horse. Rollan furrowed his eyebrows, then moved to the next box to spot an awake horse, which noticed Rollan and did a whinny. "Don't worry, I come in peace," Rollan promised, then opened the door slowly. He looked at the strong, Swedish warmblood and gazed astonished.
"Wow. You're a well-built one," Commented Rollan looking up at the sign over the box to see the animal's name and got surprised by seeing it was a female. "Valhalla?" Questioned Rollan. Rollan opened the door watching the horse step back, then Rollan held his hands up to calm the mare down. "Don't worry. I'm a friend of Prince Peter. I don't know if you understand me," Spoke Rollan watching the horse step forward and reach her face towards Rollan to sniff him on his face, making him chuckle. "You're tickling," Commented Rollan hearing the horse puff, then Rollan shove his hand into his leather vest to take out an apple and showed it to the horse. The horse picked up the scent, then Rollan opened his hand, so the horse could easily grab the apple of his hand to eat it. Rollan smiled at seeing the horse eat it, then nudged it the horse on the nose to befriend it.
"Look I don't know if you care about Peter or the entire kingdom, but I want to help them solve an error they're about to commit and I need someone to bring me to the neighboring kingdom. I thought it would be good, if I could take you," Rollan spoke, then stepped aside watching the horse get out of the box to look at the area, then moved to the side of the stall to go drink. "Maybe, that's a yes," Murmured Rollan, then heard a silent voice complain.
"What are you doing?" Said the voice, then Rollan looked back to see Mille, the girl he met the other night approach the Spaniard and punch him on his chest. "You can't leave Valhalla out of the box like that,"
"I know I should have asked, but the thing is…...I just want to help you and Peter in being able to have the life you two want by going up to the other kingdom to talk about this. Maybe I will find that princess there as well and question her about it as well,"
"Don't you think, this is crazy? You're not even a friend of any of us. How do you think this is going to work out?"
"It's worth trying. No matter how ridiculously low the solution of the change is," Answered Rollan, then Mille placed her hand in front of her forehead unsure about the situation. "You don't have to worry, I won't mention your name, ever," Commented Rollan, then Mille sighed and walked into the stall to take a look at the available saddles.
"You're completely crazy," Commented Mille taking down one of the saddles, then Rollan came to help her carry it.
"My girlfriend….uh fiancé says the same about me," Confessed Rollan, watching Mille stop to open the door to another horse.
"I was actually telling that myself to going to let you go," Corrected Mille watching Rollan look bewildered at her.
"Uh is this horse better?" Questioned Rollan watching Mille nod.
"Valhalla is pregnant. It's the best for her to stay here," Commented Mille. "Take Muskel. He's good with strangers,"
"Oh I had no idea," Commented Rollan opening the door to see the woman enter the box to adjust the saddle on the horse, while Rollan watched her taking care of the kingdom's horse.
Hours later the entire crew of Alfida stood in the hall of the king watching the king talk with the female captain, while the queen sat on the throne watching her younger daughter paint a small artwork on a canvas.
"I'm glad to have had you over here for dinner and I'm sorry I have let the rest of the crew overnight at my ship. I didn't own enough bedrooms for everyone here," Stated King Erik making Alfida nod.
"They didn't seem to be bothered about it so far I know," Spoke Alfida looking at the crew, then Redhorn stepped further.
"Your majesty, to be honest, I wouldn't mind a real bed for once, but we pirates have been living on the sea and sleeping on hammocks our entire life. It didn't play a role for us or for me at least,"
"It did to me," Commented Alec, then got hit on his head by Kulekonge, which growled at his friend. "Hey I'm free to have an opinion," Commented Alec punching the other pirate on the face, afterward he was kicked between the legs by the friend followed by a yelp.
Alfida groaned, while doing a facepalm and looked at Kai, which wasn't surprised about it and shrugged.
"Could be worse," Stated Kai, then shrieked as the door of the hall was opened up and a guard ran with a roll in his hand towards the king.
"Your majesty! Here's a message from King Hans from the Falkenberg kingdom!" Warned the guard stopping by the king, which exchanged looks with his son.
"Could it be about the wedding?" Questioned Peter unsure, then Erik opened the letter to see the message from the king.
"Hello Erik. I was amused by your proposal back last year to have our oldest kids get married in order to bring our bond of the kingdoms together. Now that your son sent me one of his weird friends to propose me peace without anything in exchange is far the most ridiculous idea I have heard off. If you two really have a better offer to make, then come here and don't send any random European to do your job. Think fast. Your friend is here in jail with the other prisoners. I'm sure your son doesn't want his friend to be executed as well," King Erik read out loud making Peter and Alfida wide their eyes in shock in knowing it was their friend Rollan.
"European…...wait…..where's Rollan?" Questioned Kai looking around the area, seeing Inkbeard from the pirates shrug his shoulders.
"Are you kidding me? Why did Rollan go there in the first place?" Questioned Alfida watching the prince shrug his shoulders.
"I know he said, he would help me convince my father to change his mind, but he never told me anything about going to speak with King Hans about it," Commented Peter worried.
"We wouldn't have this problem if you didn't tell your friend about it. Just accept for good, that you're engaged to his daughter. We're all going to bring peace into both kingdoms and end of the story!"
"It's easy for you to talk. You're not the one with the problem. We still can avoid wars or arguments as long as we look for another solution," Commented Peter serious.
"Then go ahead and go solve it. Nothing's going to change anyway. The deal is set and there's no way King Hans is going to say otherwise," Commented the king watching Peter frown and walk away without saying a word.
"Why are you not going?" Asked Alfida noticing the king didn't plan to do anything.
"This isn't my problem. No one asked your friend to go there and put himself in danger," Commented King Erik making Alfida frown and take her knife out of her coat to threaten the king.
"Excuse me?!" Asked Alfida seriously. "You received your guests with your arms wide open and now, that one of them is in danger you simply shit on it?"
"Watch your language young lady!" Ordered the guard pulling out his sword at the captain's face.
'm a pirate. More importantly…...a captain!" Warned Alfida, then the pirates got around the three acquaintances to pack the King and the guard by their arms to prevent them to hurt Alfida. Peter stood along with Kai, a little bewildered about the situation, and looked at Alfida, which smirked at the king, which mirrored her expression with a frown.
"Guard, put your weapon down," Ordered the king watching the guard drop the sword and the pirates took their arms down as well making Alfida chuckle.
"Alright. You did promise us a ride back home," Spoke Alfida using her knife to clean one of her fingernails. "Here's this. You help us get our friend Rollan back and we help you and your son find a different solution to this issue. I'm good with words. I won't leave a bad impression on you, I promise," Alfida said watching Peter nod, which rolled his eyes as his father grunted uninterested in the idea.
"Okay, if this isn't a good idea, I will go with Kai on my own and the rest of my crew will stay here and get to know the corners of the castle better…..And boys, you can do anything you want, while I'm gone. How does this sound?" Asked Alfida watching the pirates laugh and stare at the king, which began to get frightened about the men's action.
"Okay, Okay! I'm coming with you! But I don't want any of them here in my palace!" Warned the king making Alfida smile.
"Perfect!" Responded Alfida making Peter smile.
"Okay, the best thing for us is to take an airship to go there. It makes us faster and we all fit in there," Suggested Peter earning a nod from Alfida, which exchanged looks with Kai and he placed his arm behind his girlfriend's back to peck her on the cheek.
"You're the best!" Complimented the artist earning a smile from her.
Gerda and Irma had spent the night at the beach with the trolls of the troll kingdom and had prepared themselves to leave the area altogether. With Irma's magic, a large sled was built by herself and with remaining pieces of the troll's airship, a sail was built, which helped them slide on ice-made wheels across the land to head to the next civilized village. King Arrog and his right-hand soldier stood at the front of the vehicle watching the way, while the rest of the troop sat leaned against the wall of the sled waiting for the time to pass. Most of the troop just sat there, while two of them were talking with each other about life.
Gerda and Irma sat on the other side beside two trolls, which were analyzing a map together figuring out, where they could be right now.
"Did you sleep well?" Asked Irma looking at the blonde girl. "You do look a little tired,"
"It was a little uncomfortable on the sand to sleep," Commented Gerda. "I also had a weird dream, which kept me a little on alert,"
"Was it about your friends?" Questioned Irma making Gerda nod.
"More or less. I had seen myself on the ship of Alfida traveling around. Kai was there. He was with Alfida at the steering wheel. She was demonstrating how to steer it like a pro. Rollan was on the ship as well. He had shown me a table on the deck, which was put with my his least favorite meal," Explained Gerda followed by a chuckle making Irma tilt her head.
"Okay, that's weird," Commented Irma making Gerda nod.
"It was Spanish Paella. I don't know why though. I haven't eaten that in my whole life, but I know Rollan told me about that and that he doesn't like it…..Moving on, we both were eating and suddenly one of the pirates came along with a guitar and began to play on it and sing with a really terrible voice. The rest of the pirates joined in singing with other instruments and the strangest part was, that I was enjoying their rather terrible number. Rollan took my hand, so I would dance with him together on the deck. That was normal in a way, but then it got strange. We looked together out of the ship to see we were flying underwater seeing all the fishes pass around us. Kai came to us and commented, that he would transform into a beautiful swan if the moon in the sky would become full, and later on it did, but he ended up transforming into an emaciated goose,"
"What?" Asked Irma confused making Gerda nod.
"It's sick I know," Commented Gerda. "I wonder if this has a meaning,"
"Maybe it's saying, that your friends are all alright," Commented Irma making Gerda nod.
"It wouldn't be the first time this happened to me. Which sounds weird, if you want me to be honest," Commented Gerda and looked at her hand, where she had her engagement ring. "I can't lose the best thing, that happened to me again,"
Irma nodded, then watched one of the trolls move further to the front to point up in the air calling the attention of the two girls.
"Your majesty, it's those ice creatures!" Warned the troll and Gerda stood up along with the girl to get to the front to join Arrog, which looked at the sky to an ice creature in the air flying around in a circle.
"That's the creature, that took us down. Except there was more of them" Warned Arrog. "We couldn't stop them with our own weapons. The fact we're not frozen was pure luck,"
"I think I have an idea," Gerda commented and looked at Irma. "Can you make a cannon with ice cannonballs?" Questioned the blonde seeing the brunette look at the trolls, then nod.
"I can try," Answered Irma making Gerda nod.
"You can't try. I know you can. You made this sled here, so you're able to make a canon. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just able to be used," Told Gerda making Irma nod.
"Stay here guys. I will go further and see what's up in there," Gerda announced earning a nod from the king, which watched Gerda transform into her dragon form and take off in the air to head towards the village, that the spirit was flying around. Gerda tried to be faster with her wings on approaching the village upon the approach she noticed, that on the middle of the village stood the Snow Queen shooting ice rays with her staff to try the three available spirits, that had surrounded her. To help herself, the Snow Queen wielded an ice-made shield to deflect ice breezes from the spirits to hit her. Gerda approached the ground to collect from the ground snow to form it into a large snowball, then yelled at the snow spirits.
"Watch out, spirits!" Gerda saw the spirits look in her direction and one of them was immediately taken down by the Snow Queen, then Gerda threw her large snowball against the one spirit, which dodged it laughing. The Snow Queen froze the creature, then watched both spirits leave her and fly against Gerda. Gerda turned around to fly back to the sled, while the spirits followed her and she noticed on the ship Arrog wave his arms warning Gerda to not come in their direction. Gerda changed direction and flew up passing above the spirits passing her tail throughout the head of one spirit, which looked up and followed her, while the other one moved towards the ship, making Arrog drop his chin.
"Irma, how long do you need?" Questioned Arrog looking at the girl trying to shape the front of the canon.
"I just need to finish the end and create a few canon balls," Mentioned Irma, then a troll soldier pointed at the upcoming spirit.
"You gotta go faster, the spirit is coming after us," Warned the troll and Irma looked at the spirit coming closer and tried to work on the last part of the canon.
"She's coming closer!" Warned Arrog, then Irma stopped and moved at the front to shoot an ice breeze towards the spirit causing it to get frozen and fall on the ground. The trolls on the back moved the steering bar on the back to turn the sled aside passing with the wheels from the side over the back of the spirit breaking its tail. "Thank you, Irma," The king said placing his hand on the girl's shoulder, which returned to the canon and watched two trolls applaud for her.
"Great save," Commented a soldier making the girl smile from seeing them appreciate her as well.
The soldiers arrived at the village to encounter the Snow Queen, which looked at them surprised and saw Irma had finished to make the canon.
"Did Irma build that?" Asked the Snow Queen making King Arrog nod.
"Yes, she did. Quite a skilled, little girl," Complimented the king watching Irma exchange looks with the Snow Queen, then she looked away a little intimidated.
"Let me guess. Those ice spirits took you down, right?" The Snow Queen asked making Arrog nod.
"And if we can, we will help Gerda and you to deal with them," Offered Arrog making the Snow Queen nod.
"Well, there's just one thing. You can only defeat them with ice," Warned the queen earning a nod from Arrog, which pointed at the canon.
"Well It's a work in progress, but it's going to work out well," Commented the troll king, then one of the soldiers gasped and pointed at a statue, which showed the troll Orm frozen doing the mom seatbelt around three cubs and the blue-skinned woman looked there as well.
"Oh right, your troll friend Orm found the missing princes and during the fight here he got frozen by trying to protect them," Explained the Snow Queen as Arrog gazed at them in shock. The queen approached the statue, then placed her hand on the ice causing it to transform into magical sparks, which along with the ice disappeared freeing the four trolls and Luta, the weasel.
"Kids, what are you doing here?" Asked Arrog, then watched the triplets look at their father and ran into his arms for him to embrace them. "You could have died," Arrog mumbled and Luta climbed on his shoulder to look down at the cubs, then Orm approached the troll soldiers to high-five them.
"You okay?" Asked one of the soldiers making Orm nod.
"Yeah, I think fighting those spirits isn't as easy as it seems," Mentioned Orm looking back at the young cubs, then Arrog took them down and noticed their fur's different color.
"Uh what happened to their fur?" Asked Arrog looking back at the older cousin, which shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. The Snow Queen found them like that," Commented Orm earning a nod from the Snow Queen.
"And no, nothing in my palace would do that to them," The white-haired woman warned making Arrog nod and pet Tavi's head.
"Alright. We will see that later," Commented Arrog, then one soldier pointed at Gerda, which was flying around with the two spirits behind her.
"I think we should help her," Said the troll, then looked at Irma, which had created a couple of ice balls and took a break to look at the others around the sled.
"Go back into the sled and move on. Irma kept creating more ice balls," Ordered the Snow Queen watching Orm pick him his cousins to put them in the sled and along with Arrog and two other soldiers they pushed the sled forward. The Snow Queen looked at the dragon-girl flying around, then she moved her staff aiming the spirits, then shot an ice ray watching it hit one of the spirits, which frozen and ended up falling. Gerda went in the direction of the village and the Snow Queen moved her hand to assure the girl to come closer. Gerda sank faster, almost reaching the ground and took control of herself and head towards the Snow Queen, which got ready to take care of the spirit, that came after Gerda.
As Gerda got closer to the Snow Queen, she heard the spirit behind her launch a breeze, shrieking Gerda, which took up in the air feeling her tail get hit by the spirit's ice forming with the end an hook. The Snow Queen held her shield in front of her, then used her staff to push Gerda by the tail aside watching the spirit stop in the air to watch Gerda fly down trying to control herself, but she landed on her chest. The Snow Queen frowned at the spirit flying above her with a smirk and before the Snow Queen could so something, a large ice ball was thrown against the spirit causing it to get frozen and fall down, making the Snow Queen move her shield above her head to defend herself from the frozen creature. The Snow Queen looked at the sled, which had stopped at the other side of the village and saw Arrog along with another troll give a thumb up.
The Snow Queen looked at the other side, where Gerda had fallen and got down to her to remove the ice from her tail.
"Are you alright, Gerda?" Asked the Snow Queen watching Gerda nod and the woman helped the younger one up. "It doesn't look easy to fight in the sky with a villain, you can only defeat by using ice,"
"The worst part for me, I can't produce ice or anything. I'm just capable of hand-to-hand combat or wield a sword in that place," Noticed Gerda. "This is probably one of the first times I do really depend on other magicians' help,"
"Don't worry. The fight is not over yet. You're going to find a way to get through this," Commented the queen. "Write yourself another story you can tell your family and friends in the near future," Snow Queen said making Gerda smile at the woman's words, then both walked together towards the sled, which waited for them.
"Couldn't fire defeat the spirits as well?"
"You spit fire?"
"Nope, but usually it should do right?" Questioned Gerda making the Snow Queen nod." I think I just had an idea for myself….."
The group reached the castle with the airship of the Larsson's and docked in by the side of the harbor, where two guards waited for their arrival. Prince Peter made his way to the exit to encounter the guards, then the guard looked at one sheet he held on his arms.
"Prince Peter?" Questioned the guard making the prince nod.
"My father King Erik is present as well and two guests. If you don't mind, they're coming with us," The prince added making the guard nod and step aside to let the prince pass through along with his father, Alfida and Kai.
"Follow me. The king is waiting for you," Asked the guard leading the quartet along the harbor towards the main entrance of the castle. Upon entering the main field of the castle they spotted tho foreign King standing there with his daughter, which were waiting for the visit.
"Good morning you two. Good to see you," Greeted King Hans.
"King Hans. Good to see you," Spoke Erik, then Prince Peter stepped closer to the blonde adults.
"Your majesty. There has been a little misunderstanding. My friend Rollan there heard about, that I wanted to change my about our deal and I don't know. I had no idea he came here to talk with you. He just wanted to help me and sort of took it serious. Leave him out of here. He just wanted to help me and his friends miss him," Peter explained and showed the King the two young adults, which looked confused at the prince, then Alfida nodded.
"For real?" Questioned King Hans, then Kai stepped forward to bow in front of the foreign king.
"Your majesty. Rollan is a good person at heart. He does very often act impulsive and does not think his actions through. This is one of the actions, that happened. He hoped he could solve the arranged wedding between Peter and his fiancé," Kai explained making the prince nod.
"I'm here for this. I want another solution for this arrangement. We can solve our common issue as well with another idea. One I and Tilde can agree on it, honest as well," Prince Peter explained, earning a curious look from the princess.
"You're really not interested in our wedding?" Questioned Tilde making the prince nod.
"You're a great friend. Just I won't be able to see you the way I see…..the one woman I really love," Commented Peter making Tilde furrow her eyebrow surprised.
"You think you have a better offer to make?" Questioned King Hans looking at the two Larsson men, then Peter exchanged looks with his father, which just frowned at his son.
"There's a lot we could do…..like…..uh….analyze the past history of our kingdoms?" Suggested Peter watching the king shake his head.
"We already know, what led our two kingdoms into this fight. We all know one of your kingdom's former members had lost the golden armor," Mentioned King Hans making Erik shake his head.
"It was told, that it was stolen by someone from your kingdom," Contered King Erik watching Hans shake his head. Peter did a facepalm, then the princess walked towards a guard of her kingdom to deliver a message leaving Peter back with the two kings. Alfida approached the prince, then whispered into his ear to ask what was going on.
"What's the fight actually all about?" Questioned Alfida earning a nod from the prince.
"You know someone in our kingdom about a century ago commented, that the golden armor of the Larsson family was stolen by someone from their kingdom. They on the other hand refuse that and stated, that we had lost it. We don't know the actual story. We know it was told by my great-great-great-grandfather. They must have been the same but different. None of us can know the true story behind this. No one wants to forget it as well. It's something…..at least for me and several villagers irrelevant. We don't even know, what was so special about the armor. It's as if this story is a lie, that is messing up both of our kingdoms,"
"A lie?" Asked Alfida watching both kings discuss their pasts with each other, then Alfida had an idea and tapped Peter on the shoulder, then held her index finger in front of her lips. "Don't say a word. I have an idea," Alfida told the prince, then approached the two kings and got between the two.
"Is this golden armor the one from the legend?" Asked Alfida pretending to be curious, making the two king exchange looks.
"I have never seen the armor, but it was described by my ancestors as a golden armor with an L on the front," Described King Erik making Alfida nod.
"That sounds like the one from a legend I had read once years ago," Alfida mentioned. "The legend says, once there was a legendary warrior named Leonid. He had once defeated the Fire Demon back in Spain. It was considered one of the most dangerous fights in his life. As a gesture of gratitude, the kingdom had given their blacksmith a part of their gold, so they would melt an armor with Leonid's initial letter on it and gifted him. The warrior gladly accepted this gift and left to return to his home place. Unlucky on his way, he got into trouble with the nature controlling magician, which led him into a trap, which ended up costing his life. His armor remained of him and was found years later by a king, which took it back into his kingdom and had used it for himself as protection. Mysteriously he gained the pest, which led him to pass away along with others he had infected it…" Alfida explained making Peter furrow his eyebrows at hearing the last part.
"The grandfather of my great-great-grandfather had that," Commented King Erik at hearing Alfida's story.
"Exactly. To continue…..it was stated, that the armor was cursed and years later there had been another pest infection going through the village, this fearing several villagers' life again. A few villagers pondered about how to solve this and one foreigner from another kingdom offered to get into the palace to take the armor…..This was the story from the book. The book was old and a few pages were missing. I remember the sketch on the book resembling the castle of the Larsson clan. I noticed it before, but I haven't thought about that the story and this with the armor could be connected," Commented Alfida, then the two kings looked at each other confused.
"I do remember hearing the pest being around the time the armor disappeared. According to my ancestors I mean," Stated King Erik. "So technically….we've been fighting about something, that didn't even belong to us or better was meant to be gone,"
"I heard about the pest coming here to Falkenberg and the possible dispatcher was someone from your kingdom. I assume, that was the one, that tried to get rid of that armor by bringing it here, but instead it led into trouble instead," Guessed Hans looking at Peter and Erik. Peter shrugged his shoulders and looked at Erik, which was surprised about the story.
"You still have that book?" Questioned King Erik watching Alfida shake her head.
"No it disappeared in my ship on the storm your crew saved us," Commented Alfida making the king nod. King Hans chuckled earning the attention of Peter's father, which looked at the blonde man.
"Wow, I think my son was right. This fight really was worthless," Commented Erik making Peter smile and look at Hans, which nodded.
"I agree. You know…...I think we can rake over this issue now. As it seems it's all a big misunderstanding," Commented King Hans making Peter nod and pass his hand behind his neck.
"About the wedding…...is it okay, if we…...drop this?" Questioned the prince, then Hans exchanged looks with Erik, which looked at Peter.
"You know Peter…..I think you were right before. If you're in love with someone else rather than the princess of King Hans, I'll let you go out of this bond…...if King Hans and Princess Tilde agree," Erik offered watching Hans nod and look at Tilde, which had returned from speaking with the guard.
"I'm good," Commented the blonde making the three smile, and the kings shook their hands, while their kids smiled at each other.
"I hope the girl you're into is worth your level," Spoke Tilde making Peter nod, then beside her he watched at the door appear a guard guiding Rollan from behind his back, while he had his arms tied up and he gave the Spaniard a thumb up.
Later the team was reunited on the ship, which was being prepared for take off. Kai, Rollan, and Alfida stood by the front of the ship wrapped up in a conversation led by the Spaniard.
"I know I should have said something. I wasn't expecting, that I would get called insane and get locked up in jail. The only other thing I had in mind was not to tell any of the kings, that Mille was the one, who helped me out. She admitted I was crazy for that too,"
"Half of the things you have done is crazy," Commented Kai. "But that's part of who you are, the more I get to know you,"
"I know him longer and you're right," Confessed Alfida placing her hand on Rollan's shoulder. "You're good enough for a pirate. Not as me or the others, but a decent one," Commented the raven-haired woman making Rollan smile.
"You've been really great in letting me join your group. You…...you won't feel bad if soon or later I take another road in order to be closer to Gerda and focus on our future?" Questioned the Spaniard watching Alfida shake her head.
"No. I'm good," Commented Alfida making Rollan smile, then Kai looked from behind Rollan's back at his girlfriend.
"One question. What sort of book was that, that you told the two kings about? I have never heard of it," Commented Kai watching Alfida place her finger on Kai's lips to shut him up.
"I made that story up. Don't tell this anyone," Spoke Alfida making Kai chuckle.
"That's my girlfriend," Commented Kai proud and leaned his forehead on hers, while Rollan moved back to let the two get closer.
Rollan smiled at seeing the two closer, then looked at the other ship, where King Erik stood waving at the trio and Rollan waved back at the king, then turned his head back to see Peter, that stood by the wheel with another sailor waving at their king as well, waiting for their turn to take off.