Kolur was eyeing the cave opening when Jia rejoined him

"Kids ok?" He asked, not taking his eyes away from the opening.

"They are now," Jia said grimly. "Balasi had a severely broken arm and if I had been any slower Eleniel could have died. I needed to overpower my healing spells on both of them."

"Doesn't that use up your more powerful spells?" he asked, uneasily, "might be another one of those things inside."

"I had to sacrifice both my fourth level spells," Jia said, considering, "and two of my third level, leaving one, as well as one of my second levels, leaving two, as well as a first level, leaving three. As well as half my wellspring."

"That's not good," Kolur replied, worried. "We run into another one of these things we're going to lose. Any idea what it was?"

"No," Jia said, shaking her head. "I doubt anyone has encountered one of these beasts before. We are deep in the Wilds here. Councilor Dulan warned me this was an unexplored area."

"Looks like some sort of dragon," Kolur noted, cautiously approaching the corpse. "I didn't think there were any dragons in Saruspace."

"Perhaps it is a drake?" Jia suggested. "It did not seem very intelligent, merely trying to drive us away like other carnivores would."

"So it's a meat eater?" Kolur asked, eyeing the claws on its feet.

"When it attacked Dove I saw its teeth." Jia replied dryly. "The real question is if it lived with a mate or not."

"Yeah, or maybe it's a female with young. That might explain the aggression." Kolur offered.

"That would sadden me," Jia said, shaking her head. "To think we killed a mother protecting her young… It is not something I would want to be responsible for, my husband."

She examined the beast, noting the subdued gray color and fairly slender build.

"Not knowing anything about this species," she said thoughtfully, "I cannot guess if males would be more brightly colored or not. Drakes and dragons are not, but birds and many mammals are. One thing we need to be wary of is that males tend to be larger—in reptiles they can be up to twice as large."

"Drakes and dragons aren't cold-blooded," Kolur reminded her. "Don't know enough about dragons to say if males are bigger, though."

He eyed the cavern.

"If Dove could fly I'd pull out of here right the hell now. Your magic is way too drained to risk investigating and this corpse is going to start drawing scavengers soon. Maybe even something too big to fight."

"I can dispose of the corpse," Jia said, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"How?" her husband asked skeptically. "I don't remember you knowing disintegrate."

"I do not. But repeated sacred flames can reduce the corpse to ashes. Because it's a cantrip it will not drain my magic any further."

"How long?" Kolur asked, glancing around uneasily; hand on the hilt of his cutlass.

"Perhaps ten minutes," she said, eyeing the corpse.

"Do it," he said grimly.

She nodded, and then paused, a feeling stealing over her. She had felt this feeling before.

"Husband, wait," she said, holding up a hand. "There is more to this than a simple beast attack. I feel Fu Xing's hand leading me. I must follow."

"Follow where?" he asked uneasily.

"Wherever I am led," she said simply. "It is my penance for His grace. It will be fine."

"What about that?" Kolur gestured at the bloody corpse.

"I am free to destroy it, but…" she closed her eyes, "there will be a price. Please guard me while I am in meditation. Do not try to rouse me until I am done."

"Is this like the time you built that little shrine in the woods?" he asked.

"Yes, but not—exactly?" she frowned. "He is grinning—I think. Please, I must begin."

"I'll keep watch," he promised.

She nodded and gestured him back toward the wreck of their home. She retreated with him, then sank to her knees and kowtowed toward the corpse. She closed her eyes and raised her arms, chanting softly in Shou.

Instantly, glowing crystal runes appeared above the corpse, bursting and falling in a soft radiance that made flames appear from the body. As far as Kolur could tell his wife kept repeating the same words over and over, although he had no idea what they meant. But with each repetition another fall of radiance engulfed the beast's form and more flames sprang up.

After several minutes the creature became little more than blackened bones and ash. Another few minutes saw the bones collapse, a fierce gust of wind blowing the ashes away.

The words changed and her voice deepened from her normal alto to a deep male tenor. She rose to her feet and circled the now pristine ground where the creature had lain. A glowing path followed her, each time she completed the circle the light grew brighter and her voice grew louder, slowly gaining an echo.

After the seventh circle the light was so bright it made Kolur squint, his eyes watering.

Without warning the circle exploded upward in an incandescent glare. Overhead a massive lightning bolt from the clear blue sky struck the mound accompanied by a deafening crash of thunder.

The mound began to glow with a deep ruby hue. Three miniature versions of the creature they had fought burst out of the cavern and raced away with panicked squeals, vanishing into the distance.

The mound rapidly changed color to yellow then a brilliant white. Following a hunch Kolur ducked away and covered his head as the male voice shouted in triumph.

The entire world turned white for one heart-stopping moment then silence fell and the world returned to normal. Kolur rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the patches of darkness fogging his vision. Once he succeeded he spotted his wife lying on the ground, propped on one elbow, head drooping in exhaustion.

"Jia!" he shouted, rushing to her.

She looked up and spoke a short phrase in Shou before weakly collapsing against him, panting.

"Mén yǐjīng dǎkāile."

"Are you ok?" he asked. "What did you do?"

"Fu Xing's will," she whispered. "That was not my magic, husband. It was His. After I burned the beast I was but a channel for Him."

"What was that last thing you said in Shou?" he asked, looking around as a chill raced up his spine.

"I said the door has been opened", she replied quietly, settling in his arms more comfortably.

"What does that mean?" he asked urgently.

"I do not know," she said. "But whatever else He did He blessed this place, my husband, and absolved me of my sin. He is very pleased with me. But—"

"But?" he asked anxiously.

"The last thing he said to me was I will see you soon, granddaughter."

ooOoo

After Jia had rested enough, the pair retreated to the crippled Morning Dove, entering through the hole left by the torn-off wing. Climbing the stairs to the deck they found their children huddled against the rail next to the missing wing.

"Mama!" Eleniel dropped the dagger and rushed into her mother's arms. Balasi looked like he wanted to do the same, but young pride wouldn't let him act on his desires.

"We saw the fireworks," he said instead. "What happened?"

"Your mother—got rid of the creature's body," Kolur said, avoiding the word burned. "Then apparently Fu Xing stepped in and did something." He shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure what. Can't say I was pleased he took over Jia that way though."

"Peace, my husband," his wife said soothingly as she stroked her trembling daughter's back. "It was needful. Besides, we have his benediction now. The favor of a god is no small thing. We need not worry about being attacked while we repair Dove at the very least."

"You can fix her?" Eleniel asked, looking up hopefully from her mother's embrace.

Kolur grimaced. "I can maybe jury-rig something to get us edge of the Settlements," he said cautiously. "But I'm afraid she'll need a shipyard to actually repair her. We don't have that kind of money."

"What of our share of the luxite mine?" Jia reminded him. He shook his head.

"That will let us live comfortably, but it's nowhere near enough to repair Dove," he said glumly. "I'd guess the repairs alone would cost more than buying another ship, even if we salvage Dove's helm. Not to mention the cost of refitting her once she's repaired. At least we have enough savings to tide us over while we look for a new ship."

Eleniel began to cry, touching the deck.

"Oh, no! Pabbi, please! You can fix her! You have to!"

"Princess, I'm sorry, I can't," he said gently. "She's suffered too much damage. We'll be lucky if we can patch her up enough to make it back. But it will be her last flight."

Eleniel slumped miserably, beginning to wail. Jia gathered her up and moved below decks.

"Balasi, I want you to transfer your stuff out of the wing into the main cargo hold," Kolur told his son.

"Why?" Balasi asked, confused.

"We lost the starboard wing," he explained. "We're going to have to remove the port wing or she'll knock down the instant we take off."

"Mom has a mending cantrip doesn't she?" Balasi protested. "Why can't we use it to put the port wing back on? She fixed the mainsheet with it, remember?"

"Mending only fixes small things," Kolur said, then paused, looking thoughtful. "Hmm. You know what? Let me talk to your mother. Doesn't solve the problem getting the port wing out of the trees but you might have solved our problem, Bally!"

ooOoo

Later, after Jia had put Eleniel to bed in their cabin, she and her husband started surveying the damage.

"That hole on the side won't be hard to fix," Kolur noted. "We've got enough spare planks to seal it up. It's the starboard wing that's going to be a problem. If we can get it out of the trees you can probably flood it with mending spells like you did with sacred flame before."

"That…would work for the smaller supports. But the three main crossbeams are too thick. I would not be able to reach inside, my husband. The first time it bore the ship's weight it would fail."

"Damn," he said, deflating. "I thought that would work. You sure there's nothing you can do? What about overpowering it?"

"Not for the crossbeams," Jia shook her head. "Cantrips can't be overpowered like spells. Cantrips are zero level spells my husband. Overpowering involves multiplying the spell's level. Zero times anything is still zero. That's why cantrips don't drain one's magic."

Kolur's shoulders slumped as he sighed.

"So we are going to have to cut the other wing off. Damn. We'll have to use the existing cross beams to rig counterweights to help balance the ship. It'll fly like a wallowing pig and we won't be able to reach anything like full speed but it'll get us back to the edge of the Settlements. Maybe. That just leaves getting her out of the trees so we can work on her."

"Can you lift her?" Jia asked. "I need to conserve what magic I have left in case of emergencies. Eleniel can't do it because she still needs rest after her jammer shock."

"I can lift her," Kolur nodded. "That isn't the issue. She's going to knock down with only one wing. Don't know if we can rig the sails to keep her upright. That missing wing weighs over a thousand pounds and part of the weight is far from the centerline. It's like having a fat kid on one end of a seesaw and nobody on the other."

Jia winced; imagining Dove trying to fly on her side, then paused.

"The helm isolates a ship from outside influences," she said slowly. "Passengers don't feel maneuvers while the helm is up. Why can't we fly her knocked down?"

Kolur opened his mouth to explain, and then blinked. He tilted his head, trying to find a reason. Everything in his experience insisted the idea was stupid, but the more he thought about it the more objections melted away.

"Landing is going to be a tin-plated bitch," he finally said. "With the wing acting like a keel I don't know if the helm would have enough oomph to budge her anywhere near upright. Nobody's ever been crazy enough to try. It would probably snap the wing right off."

"Would we have to land more than once?" Jia asked, raising her eyebrows. "After all the only reason we landed was to let Jia pee. Think you can make it back in a single go?"

Kolur started to shake his head but paused. Then he started to grin.

"Well, men have certain advantages there that women don't," he said, winking. "If you get what I mean."

He waggled his eyebrows. "With a cup, and you helping it wouldn't be insurmountable, right?"

"Kolur Tandrison!" Jia exclaimed. "That's disgusting!"

"Needs, must, Jia," he said, sobering. "It will get us home. Well, to the edge of the Settlements at least. Better than being stranded out here. Besides, flying back on one wing? We'll be legends."

ooOoo

Not wanting to spend any more time than they had to in the Wild they started work immediately. Kolur had Balasi move everything out of the wing he could to help reduce the weight imbalance. Since the wings were structurally the weakest part of the ship they only used the wings as storage for lighter items anyway, so unfortunately that resulted in only a couple of hundred pounds, aside from Balasi's own eighty or so pounds.

Still, it was better than nothing. Meanwhile Jia started casting mends on the hole left by the creature's breath weapon. Unfortunately, she couldn't find all the pieces of hull as they had been lost in the crash or burned in the attack. She still managed to reduce the hole from six feet across to four, making the rest of the repair more manageable.

Kolur spent most of his time on the wing opening, which was four feet tall and nearly fifty long. To help stretch the supply of planks on board he started felling trees and with Balasi's help sawing them into rough planks.

"This is why we always carry lots of tools, Bally," he explained as they fitted rough vertical spars across the opening. "You never know when you'll need to do repairs away from the Settlements. Hate to use uncured wood though; it's going to warp as it dries out."

He laid down the very expensive magical drill he'd obtained years ago. It had a very simple enchantment that forced the shaft to spin when a person gripped the handle. This drove a carefully shaped piece of curved steel into wood. It reduced the time to bore a hole from the minutes a manual augur required to seconds, vastly speeding up their repairs. Along with premade wooden pegs hammered into the holes and glue the join became rock solid.

Fortunately Kolur had years of experience jury-rigging repairs and had the foresight to stock plenty of both pegs and glue.

It still took both of them two days to cut timber, plug the wing opening and another half day to patch the hull breach.

They spent the remainder of that day shifting as much weight as they could from the starboard side of the ship to the port. While it wouldn't do much Kolur admitted to his wife, every little bit helped.

While the men worked on repairs Jia cast a fourth level wing gifting spell to fly up and retrieve Eleniel's possessions from her quarters in the torn off wing, completing her task in under an hour. She then helped her daughter construct makeshift quarters in the port side of the aft hold for some privacy. Because her bed was actually a hammock it simplified matters

On the morning of the fourth day they were as ready to leave as they could be.

ooOoo

Kolur settled on the helm and crossed his fingers before putting his arms and legs in the helm's troughs. He relaxed a bit as the helm softened reassuring him it hadn't been damaged in the crash. Warmth engulfed him and quickly spread through the damaged vessel. He winced at the phantom ache in his left shoulder and sighed as his arm grew numb.

"Never flew a damaged jammer before," he said to his wife. "Feels like my arm got chopped off."

"It is only in your head, my husband. Try to ignore it. Your arm will not be harmed, trust me." Jia replied.

"You ever fly a damaged jammer?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in query.

"It was part of standard training in the Shou Navy," she said calmly. "Ships were often damaged in combat so the fleet practiced on ships that were deliberately left unrepaired. My particular experience was in a tradesman that was missing its tail and one fin. Like you, my arm was numb but also my legs. It flew in a corkscrew motion that was very unpleasant. So much so I nearly threw up. The session lasted ten hours. Hopefully Dove will be better behaved."

"Yeah," Kolur said, feeling himself infuse the ship. "Ok, helm's up. Warn the kids, this might get rough."

Jia rang the deck bell twice, paused, and then twice more. On deck he saw Balasi brace himself against the newly repaired port ballistae while Eleniel did the same beside the anchor capstan. Jia grabbed hold of the back of the helm.

"Ready," she said.

"Here we go," Kolur said, nudging just the slightest bit upward, and feeling resistance as the branches tangled around the undercarriage held him down. He tugged upward harder and felt the resistance give way unexpectedly. Dove lifted but he felt himself twisting as the starboard wing dipped. He didn't try to force the ship upright, letting himself drift sideways, the wing sagging. Directing his attention to the upper deck he saw the children slowly relaxing as the gravity plane kept the deck underfoot, even as the ship's roll increased until the wing pointed toward the ground.

"Gravity plane's holding," he reported to his wife. "We're above the trees now, let's see how she flies."

Gently he started drifting forward, slowly increasing speed until they were moving about as fast as a galloping horse. Kolur frowned as he noticed a subtle pitching motion, the nose moving slowly left then right. If the ship had been level the nose would be pitching up and down.

The pitching got worse the faster he moved, with an added yawing motion that caused the downward pointing wing to swing back and forth, a rolling motion if the ship were upright.

"Like a wallowing pig," he reported. "I'm only at half my max and she's pitching and yawing. The faster I go the worse it gets."

"Can we do anything?" Jia asked in a worried voice.

"Maybe. Go help Balasi and Eleniel raise the jib to the third reefing point. No further for now." Jia ran out and joined her children on deck. She helped them raise the jib part way and tied the reefing lines to hold it steady. With the jib in its normal wing-out position Dove steadied down, now quivering instead of bouncing. The yaw also decreased to almost nothing. Jia rejoined him.

"That seemed to work," he said. "Have them raise the jib to the first reef. I want to see if we're stable at speed.

When the jib was fully raised Dove resumed pitching and yawing. Kolur pushed the speed up slowly to his limit, feeling her steady, only slightly worse than she'd been at third reef.

"Any better?" Jia asked.

"Tolerable," Kolur acknowledged. "I'm afraid I won't be able to keep a course though. I need you on deck to keep us on heading. The compass is useless with all this jiggling."

"I hear you," she nodded. "Damaged ships are nearly impossible to hold on course, especially for hours on end. Where are we bound?"

"Closest large city to the edge of the settlements. Ansbury, maybe."

Jia pulled open a drawer and withdrew a rolled up map, studying it. She pulled out several tools and made careful measurements.

"A good guess, my husband," she finally said. "Ansbury is only ten miles from the edge. Bear red 74 degrees. I'll spot landmarks along our course you can use."

Kolur had to slow Dove to a hover before the compass steadied. He set the course as Jia returned to the deck. When she rang the bell he brought the pitching and yawing ship back to speed, trying to keep the nose pointed at a temporary landmark.

It wasn't easy.

ooOoo

Almost 10 hours later they reached the edge of the Settlements, letting the stressed Kolur relax a bit. From an altitude of around ten thousand feet he could see the city of Ansbury in the distance, finally letting Jia rest.

As he approached the city an angel ship heading toward them but about 30 degrees off their course changed direction to intercept. It was moving far slower than the damaged Dove, so Kolur slowed to help them match speed and edge close enough to use semaphore flags. The other helmsman, finally seeing how they were flying tilted their ship on its side and edged closer to the Dove, careful to stay out of her gravity plane.

Then a sailor started waving the semaphore flags.

"In distress? What ship?" the message said. Jia used her own flags to signal back.

"SOS. Morning Dove. Could crash. Children on board. Again, children on board. Helmsman 2 hours left."

By now more of the other ship's crew had crowded the rail. Another sailor ran below, presumably to get instructions from their helmsman.

After a couple of minutes the sailor returned and spoke to the flagman.

"Come along side? Slip wing under yours? Lift for landing?"

"Crazy risk," Jia signaled.

"Our helmsman skilled. Yours?"

Jia hesitated. Kolur was good, but she'd never heard of anyone trying something like this before. Of course she'd never heard of anyone flying on one wing before, either.

"Wait," she signaled. She raced to the helm.

"My husband, what do you think?" she asked.

"That's an insane idea," he said slowly. "The real danger is when their gravity plane touches ours. As long as it's perfectly flat there won't be a problem. I saw it done once with hammerships, but angel ships are a hell of a lot wider. Damaged like we are if we don't meet perfectly, we could break the wing."

"Jammer shock, then a crash," she grimaced.

"Yeah," he agreed glumly. "Which ship is it? Who's on the helm?"

"I will ask."

She returned and signaled.

"Which ship?"

"Sunbird, Nezu Flukeboots on helm."

Jia breathed a sigh of relief. Nezu was a legend in the angel ship community. She sent a quick prayer of thanks to Fu Xing, wondering how much longer his benediction would protect them.

Of course, she thought to herself, then again nobody but a gnome would think of something this crazy.

"Husband, it's Nezu Flukeboots," she spoke aloud. Dove slowly bobbed, then slowed to a stop, with Sunbird matching her after a moment.

"Agreed," she signaled.

Sunbird carefully edged a few inches below Dove's wing floats. Jia felt the subtle shift as their gravity planes synchronized, and then she saw the horizon start to tilt as the two jammers began level out.

"Lower sails" the sailor on the Sunbird signaled.

"Balasi, Eleniel! Lower the jib!" Jia called. Her children scrambled to obey as the Sunbird's crew lowered theirs.

"Ahead dead slow," the sailor signaled.

"Kolur, ahead dead slow!" she called.

Both ships began to drift forward. The cautious dance between the two ships lasted another hour as Sunbird supported the wounded Dove to the land port. Slowly the horizon began to tilt away from vertical as Sunbird forced Dove horizontal. The crews of both ships were on tenterhooks the entire time.

By now the port was swarming with sailors ready to help, but unable to do anything until the helms came down. The Sunbird brought herself down to within inches of the ground. Abruptly she slid sideways, making Kolur groan as he tried to keep the wing level. Fortunately it only took a few seconds for Sunbird to clear Dove's wing and Kolur was able to slow the knockdown, which made the wing floats thud solidly against the ground as the stricken ship settled. Gasping for breath he let the helm power down, nearly falling out of the seat in exhaustion.

ooOoo

A week later the Dove's crew was eating lunch at the Golden Nest, a tavern close to the land port. They were sharing a table with Nezu Flukeboots, the gnome woman who helmed the Sunbird, as well as its captain a human named Henrik Berg. The Sunbird had just returned from her trading route and the pair had happened on the Dove's crew.

"Had any luck finding another ship?" Henrik asked, dipping his spoon in his stew.

"Nothing we can afford," Kolur said ruefully. "Even selling Dove for scrap and salvaging the helm and gear didn't give us enough for any bare hull I'd risk my family flying without a full refit—which we can't afford either. Does Sunbird need four more hands?"

"Sorry," Henrik shook his head in genuine regret. "Which is a real pity. Whoever gets you four will put the rest of us out of business if you fly a standard angel. I still can't believe you were able to run a sea angel of all things with two adults and two children! Not to mention that little stunt you pulled last week. The story had already reached every port we hit. Another week and it'll have spread across all the Settlements."

"They're already calling you Kolur the Wing," Nezu snickered. "Didn't even mention me. Guess I'll have to live in your shadow now."

"You saved our tails, Nezu," Kolur said seriously. "My family might have died if you hadn't been there."

"And you, Henrik," Jia spoke up. "Allowing Nezu to risk your ship and crew on such an insane stunt! We owe you a debt we can never repay."

Henrik waved his hand.

"Don't let Nezu fool you," he said, laughing. "Her own reputation's grown diamond studs over that rescue. Sunbird's reputation wasn't hurt either. I've already gotten a job offer from Ordsa of all places! For government special contracts! No, any debt you owe us has been more than repaid. Just don't try to downplay your legend, Kolur. Let us ride your coattails for a while."

"Done," Kolur said with a grin, reaching over for a fist bump.

"Well, great meeting you four," Nezu said, finishing her fish. "But we're probably finished loading by now. Gotta fly in an hour. Hope you find another hull, Kolur."

"May your words fly to Fu Xing's ears," Jia said fervently. "I already miss flying."

With that, the two took their leave, letting the family finish their lunch in peace. Before they could, however a richly dressed half-elf rose from his table and approached them.

"Excuse me," he said, "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Are you the crew of the Morning Dove?"

"Kolur Tandrison", Kolur replied. "What can I do for you?"

"First, Captain, I'd like to express my condolences for the loss of your ship. I've heard the story of how you brought her home in spite of her critical damage, a truly heroic feat."

"Thank you, Mister—"

"My name is Lioren Ilrion," the half-elf replied smoothly. "Am I to understand you are seeking employment as crew on a spelljammer?"