Frankie landed Stonewing down at the last set of hills she could see neighboring the Glacial Expanse. The Expanse was only a few kilometers away, which was convenient, but the chill was rapidly permeating the airship. Even in the cockpit, it had grown unreasonably cold. “Gonna have an abyss of a time warming her back up again when we’re done,” she muttered, rubbing her arms to try to stay warm.

  “Dan’ll be applying some temporary Ice Resistance enchantments while we’re gone,” Peter reminded her from his seat next to her. He reached out and took her hand, and she squeezed it gently. “Stonewing will be fine. Relax.”

  “I know, I know,” Frankie grumbled. “I just don’t like leaving her all by her lonesome in the middle of nowhere. Come on, let’s put on our new winter clothes and let everyone know it’s time to get out.”

  “You get Maeryn, and I’ll get the others,” her boyfriend agreed, leaving before she could argue. Not that she would’ve. Maeryn had been a wreck after awakening Frankie’s fire, though she’d put on a good show of being fine. As if she could fool her childhood best friend.

  And then, an hour after Maeryn had retreated to her room to break down in private, Terrance and Ernesto had stumbled out of her room. They’d positively reeked of wine, wobbling like they’d forgotten how knees worked. Yeah, that had raised a few eyebrows. Veronica had outright rolled her eyes and walked away, though Ooble had been positively disgusted, sniffing disdainfully.

  “Alcohol,” he’d hissed. “I might’ve known Ernesto the Fermenter would take the opportunity.”

  “Actually, I was the one who made the suggestion,” Terrance corrected, his eyes taking a second or two longer than usual to focus on Ooble’s face. “Getting good and drunk is a time-honored tradition for dealing with hard emotions among humans. And I bet it is with the dragonkin, too.”

  Not having a good argument for that, Ooble merely huffed and walked away. Frankie had found it hilarious at the time. Though now that she was faced with the prospect of dealing with hungover-Maeryn, she was starting to regret that. “It’s been a few hours,” the pilot told herself sternly, trying not to wonder how her friend would react to her appearance. Would Maeryn still be hurt by the fact that Frankie was fire-aligned? “Most of it will have worked its way out of her system by now. Probably.”

  Frankie hesitated, then made a detour to the kitchen to get a tall glass of water. Just in case.

  With no further excuses to delay, she opened Maeryn’s door… only to find her fast asleep in her bed. All of the tension left Frankie’s body as she rolled her eyes. Setting the water down on the bedside table, Frankie shook her friend’s shoulder. “Hey. Rin. Wake up.”

  “Ungh?” Maeryn groaned, slowly coming to wakefulness. “Frankie?”

  “We’ve landed. It’s time to get up.”

  The hunter stretched, then winced at the light. “Oh. Definitely had too much to drink.”

  Frankie shoved the water into her hands. “Drink. It’ll help.”

  Maeryn did as she was told, practically gulping it down. “Thanks,” she said sincerely.

  “Anytime, Rin. Light bothering you still?”

  “A little.”

  Frankie walked around the bed and snagged Maeryn’s tricorn hat off the wall, plopping it on her head. “Here. A bit of shade.”

  Maeryn blinked owlishly. “Huh. That actually helps a bit.”

  Frankie’s lips twitched as she wondered how long it would take Maeryn to realize that she was wearing her Pirate Captain hat. Maybe she could convince her to keep wearing it? “You should bring it with you,” she told her, trying to hide her mischievous grin. “It’ll help keep your head warm while we’re outside. And keep the light out of your eyes.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Maeryn acquiesced absently, getting to her feet and trying to smooth out her rumpled clothes. “Oh. Wow, it’s cold.”

  Frankie watched her best friend’s eyes rapidly gain proper awareness, and decided to make her exit. “Yep. I’m gonna go change, you should do the same.”

  “Right,” Maeryn agreed, her voice becoming firmer by the second. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  The engineer quickly made her way out, and had just gotten out the door when Maeryn’s sudden shout of “Depths and damnation, Frankie!” reached her ears. She cackled madly as she darted into her room, escaping her captain’s wrath.

  Frankie quickly threw on her new clothes, courtesy of Dan, and smiled at how they rapidly started to warm up. She was almost skipping as she made her way to the back of the airship and began taking the SPATTs outside. She’d only just gotten the first two when Peter joined her, and it only took another couple of minutes before all four were lined up neatly outside just beyond the cluster of hills Frankie had landed them in.

  “How were Terrance and Ernesto?” she asked him idly as they hooked trailers to the SPATTs, loaded with the supplies they’d need for a long trip.

  “They were fine,” Peter said with a shrug. “No signs of hangover.”

  “Lucky them.”

  Dan came out just then, also wearing his brand new fluffy-looking coat, winter leggings and boots. He looked around and nodded decisively. “Excellent. Tall hills, plenty of earth to work with. Perfect.”

  “Whatcha gonna do?” Frankie asked him.

  Dan shrugged. “Gonna make a dome of stone and earth over Stonewing. Make it look like another hill.”

  “How’re we gonna find Stonewing again when we’re done, then?” Frankie asked worriedly.

  “A simple compass enchantment,” the alchemist replied easily. “As long as I leave the marker inside Stonewing, the compass will point in the correct direction. It lasts for almost half a year before expiring, so I’m not concerned at all.”

  “That’s convenient,” Frankie muttered.

  “All the flying cities have permanent compass enchantments to be able to locate each other,” Peter told her with a smile. “Can you imagine how hard it’d be to find each city otherwise?”

  “Fair point,” she conceded with a thoughtful frown. “Though why not put them in every airship, too? Surely airships get lost or have to avoid crazy weather at times, so being able to find the nearest flying city would save a lot of lives.”

  “Too expensive,” Dan immediately answered, and Peter nodded with him. “Permanent enchantments cost a lot to make, and airships are already prohibitively expensive as they are. Setting them up to be able to find every other flying city would take them out of literally everyone’s price range. Much more cost effective just to have a centralized map that they reference in the airfields.”

  “That’s not to say that some captains don’t make that investment themselves, if they’re successful enough,” Peter continued. “But it’s more a mark of wealth and success than anything else. If they can afford to do that, it means they’re investing in that airship’s future. You see it sometimes in nobility, when an airship gets passed down from father to son, to continue a business enterprise.”

  Frankie eyed her airship speculatively. She’d poured so much time and energy into Stonewing. Knew her inside and out. It was her baby, her pride and joy. The idea of Stonewing living on after she had to retire… She smiled tenderly. “Maybe someday,” she murmured, patting the metal frame fondly.

  Peter patted her shoulder. “Maybe someday,” he affirmed, just as quiet. Dan looked away, doing his best to respect their tender moment, and soon a comfortable silence stretched between them.

  Eventually, Veronica came out, followed by Terrance and Ernesto, and they all nodded at each other in quiet greetings. Then Ooble, who somehow managed not to melt into a puddle of warmth in his many-layered clothes. Though Frankie suspected that was because he’d kept his hood down, allowing the chilly wind to counteract the comfort enough for him to stay alert.

  Finally, Maeryn emerged, and Frankie’s eyes lit up as she saw that her friend was actually wearing her Pirate Captain hat with her heavy coat and leggings. It surprisingly completed the outfit nicely, even with the coat hood down. “Not a word,” the hunter warned before anyone could say anything. “The hat’s warm, it blocks the sun, and fits under the hood. That’s all.”

  Terrance mimed locking his lips closed and throwing away the key, and she shot him a halfhearted glare.

  “I do not understand,” Ooble stated, tilting his head in confusion. “It is a nice hat. And it was a gift. Why are you justifying yourself?”

  “Come on over, and I’ll explain it to you,” Terrance offered, taking the dragonkin aside and explaining the whole joke in hushed tones.

  Frankie, on the other hand, felt like she was going to burst, she was vibrating with mirth. If Maeryn was taking the hat with her now, there was no place for her to store it for the trip, unless she wanted to pack it away with her spare clothes. Which just wasn’t practical, since the hat was a bit bulky. So she was committing to days of wearing it. No, weeks!

  Progress! The steam engineer rubbed her hands together eagerly. Maybe, if Maeryn got comfortable, she’d start actually wearing the hat casually while acting as their Captain. Frankie hoped so! For lots of reasons!

  “Alright, so how are we doing this?” Maeryn asked Dan. “You wanted my help with the earth magic, right?”

  “Right,” the alchemist confirmed. “Tandem magic is much more powerful, but it’s harder to set up. You have to make sure you’re completely in sync. Breathing together, moving together, everything.”

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  She nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I think I know what you mean. The dragonkin had tandem magic setup to keep these giant orbs of fire going in Skonelk. For light and warmth purposes.”

  “Oh good, you’re familiar with the concept,” Dan said, sounding relieved. “Did you participate?”

  “No, but it felt like I could have, if I’d wanted to.” Maeryn sounded a bit sad, which made sense to Frankie. Remembering fire magic had to be hard on her. “The fire… it called to me. It was like it was trying to draw me into their rhythm.”

  Dan nodded somberly. “Then this shouldn’t be too hard for you. Switch to earth magic, and we’ll find a beat that works for both of us. Then all you have to do is follow my lead.”

  “Okay.” Maeryn closed her eyes, and Frankie watched her curiously. She didn’t get many opportunities to watch her friend change affinities. The whole process mystified her, to be honest.

  Maeryn had explained it once, during her house arrest months ago. How changing affinities required her to alter the way she looked at the world. How going from fire to ice meant suppressing her emotions behind icy logic. How shifting to necromancy involved embracing ruthless survival at all costs.

  The whole concept of consciously altering one’s personality was just alien to Frankie. Sure, putting emotions to the side for a bit to think about a problem? That made sense. But being able to just flip some mental switch and change the way you thought? It sounded scary. How was anyone supposed to know who they truly were, if they could change it so easily?

  So Frankie watched as Maeryn’s stance changed, just the tiniest bit, looking more steady and firm. How she straightened her back ever so slightly. How she breathed a little bit deeper. How her face grew… not less expressive, really, but a smidgeon more stoic.

  Then Maeryn opened her eyes—normally a hazel that bordered on red when the light hit them right—and they glowed an earthy greenish-brown for a few seconds. “Done,” she declared, sounding almost like her old self. And yet not, at the same time. Before, that single word would have been said with authority, or with cheerfulness, or… some other emotion that would have been conveyed perfectly.

  But now? It just sounded dull. Confident, but dull.

  Frankie had to repress a shudder. She hated this whole paradigm-shifting business, especially if it meant her friend Maeryn wasn’t her anymore. But she wouldn’t say anything; not when her friend counted it as one of her strengths. Not when Maeryn tried so hard to be useful.

  Maybe it’d be better when she had her fire back. Then Maeryn could shine beneath whatever veneer she put on. Frankie intensely hoped so.

  Dan, however, looked completely unperturbed, nodding easily. Maybe it was some stupid alchemist-related magic perception thing. Or maybe he’d just learned to accept that people could change who they were based on what they needed to do, since that was a thing with alchemy. Whatever it was, Frankie kind of resented him for his ability to just dismiss how weird this whole situation was.

  Which, again, she’d never say. It wasn’t her place to criticize. Dan had chosen alchemy of his own accord. And Maeryn had purposely sought out the other elements to become stronger.

  But Frankie caught Terrance’s eye, and he gave her the tiniest of nods. In that instant, she knew that the rogue understood exactly how she felt. Probably from witnessing Maeryn switch to wind affinity or something.

  Dan started tapping his foot in a slow rhythm that reminded Frankie vaguely of a heartbeat. “Okay, Maeryn. Match the rhythm, and with each beat push a bit of mana into the earth. Keep the image of a dome in your head, and I’ll do the same.”

  “Got it.”

  The two quickly fell into sync, and Frankie soon felt the air become… strangely light and empty, in a way that was hard to express. The ground between Dan and Maeryn began to glow, and so did their eyes, pulsing to the same beat.

  Dan didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t seem to need to, as Maeryn somehow matched his movements exactly. They raised their arms together, and the earth trembled before a solid strip of hardened stone emerged from between them, growing higher before curving forwards and burying itself on Stonewing’s other side. Then another, and another, until the airship was completely enclosed.

  The air continued to drain of whatever it was Frankie was sensing, feeling more and more dry, somehow. But they weren’t done. Some of the dirt and weeds from the nearby hills crawled up the stone bridges, and within minutes, it looked like any other hill.

  Finally, Dan collapsed to his knees, panting, and Maeryn did too. The glow of magic rapidly faded as they struggled to catch their breath. “That was rough,” the alchemist wheezed. “Would’ve been easier with one or two others.”

  “Practically drained the area of mana, too,” Maeryn noted weakly.

  Oh. Was that what Frankie was feeling? The ambient mana being drained away? Ugh. What a terrible sensation. And they’d been dealing with that this whole time? She had a new respect for the real casters of their group.

  “It’ll be back,” Ernesto reassured them. “As soon as I clear some of the Mist in the area, no problem.”

  He received a round of nods, and Frankie wondered having mana suddenly energize her would feel like. The last time she’d been hit by it, she hadn’t been awakened to magic, and it had sent her into a mana-drunk stupor for half a day. She shrugged; she’d found out soon enough.

  “Alright, let’s figure out who’s riding with who,” Terrance suggested. “We’ve got eight people, and four SPATTs. Suggestions?”

  “Peter’s with me,” Frankie asserted quickly.

  The rogue waved her off. “Yeah, yeah, we know better than to separate you from your boyfriend. I meant the rest of us.”

  “I think it’d be best if Maeryn and I went separately,” Ernesto suggested. “We’re the only two holy mages here, and you’ll need us to clear out the Mist. We can do that more effectively if we stay separate.”

  “That’s fair,” Maeryn agreed, and Frankie looked at her. Her posture had changed, as had her expression and tone. She’d changed affinities again, though this one was much closer to the Maeryn Frankie knew.

  “Then how about Maeryn and Veronica,” Dan suggested, “Ernesto with me, and Ooble with Terrance?”

  “That works for me,” Veronica agreed, a tiny smile on her face. “I’ve got the maps to get us where we need to be, and being with Maeryn means I can call it out for you all to follow.”

  Frankie watched her best friend exchange a smile and a nod with the cartographer, suppressing the tiny pang of jealousy. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable with Maeryn’s friendship with the prickly, no-longer-unsmiley Veronica—it had started when the engineer’s own relationship with Maeryn had been falling apart—but she wasn’t about to try to deprive her friend of support.

  Terrance clapped his gloved hands together. “Sounds like a plan. Ooble, do you want to drive, or stay behind me?”

  “I will sit behind you,” the dragonkin stated firmly. “Your wind magic will be quite useful in keeping the biting winds off of us.”

  “Oh! I hadn’t even thought of that. Great idea,” the rogue enthused.

  “I can do the same while you clear the Mist?” Dan offered to Ernesto, who nodded agreeably.

  Veronica glanced at Maeryn hopefully, and she shrugged. “I can stay wind-attuned whenever I’m not clearing the Mist, sure.”

  Wait. Frankie frowned as she connected the dots. She and Peter would be the only ones without someone capable of blunting the wind. She opened her mouth to complain, but closed it a moment later in resignation. At least Maeryn had taught them the Warm Self spell.

  Peter gripped her gloved hand a little tighter, no doubt sensing her discomfort. “Hey. Remember, you’re fire-aligned now. It’ll be easy for you to stay warm. And I’ll just hold onto you.”

  Frankie brightened slightly. He was right, as usual. “Yeah, okay.”

  The eight of them climbed aboard the SPATTs, and Frankie watched with bored exasperation as the drivers took the better part of half an hour to get used to the controls. It wasn’t that complicated. The pedals were designed to rotate. Pressing forward by pushing down with your toes and the front of your foot equated to acceleration, and braking was just a matter of digging in with your heels. And the steering was perfectly intuitive.

  Eventually, though, they’d all got the hang of it, and then they set off. Maeryn was in the lead, which seemed perfectly natural. Dan’s SPATT was on her left and behind, and Terrance likewise on her right. Frankie and Peter hung back, taking advantage of the others breaking the wind ahead of them.

  And thus began an incredibly boring journey. The first few minutes were vaguely exciting as they moved from mostly-dead hilly plains to tundra, and some ice mephits tried to attack them, emerging from their camouflage. But Ernesto just turned around in his seat and sent a Decay Pulse at them. The resulting ice explosions were deafening, but the remaining mephits apparently decided they were more trouble than they were worth.

  And for a long while after that, they were completely left alone. A few wolf-like creatures raised their heads in curiosity as they passed by, but with the SPATTs moving at a solid twenty-to-twenty-five kilometers per hour, the chilly canines didn’t bother to chase them.

  Maeryn and Ernesto cleared the Mist as they went, but Frankie just zoned out like she did while flying. They were moving in basically a straight line anyway, so it was easy.

  They transitioned from tundra to actual ice and snow after about an hour of travel. Another band of ice mephits popped up, but they were essentially helpless. Between Terrance and Dan blocking and redirecting their attacks using wind magic, and Ernesto basically popping them like balloons using Decay Pulse, the creatures of cold were no threat at all.

  After another hour and a half, the sun started to set, and the wind began to pick up, carrying some of the nearby snow. It would have stung her eyes, but Dan had made sure everyone was equipped with goggles before they left. And with her winter clothing, Frankie was doing just fine, warmth-wise.

  Even so, Maeryn called for a halt, holding up one arm and decelerating smoothly. “We don’t know what’s out here when it’s dark,” she stated cautiously, glancing around. “And nighttime is bound to get really cold. I think it’s best if we set up camp.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Terrance agreed. “Dan, Veronica, Peter, let’s get those tents set up. Ernesto and Ooble, you two figure out what we’re eating tonight. Maeryn, do you wanna show Frankie how to start a fire?”

  Frankie gaped at the rogue, completely astonished at his audacity. How dare he try to force Maeryn to confront her trauma like that?

  But to her utter shock, Maeryn just shrugged and nodded, seeming to be completely fine with it. “Yeah, alright.”

  Frankie stared at her, feeling like the earth had suddenly shifted out from underneath her. What? Just… what? How? Maeryn had been devastated earlier in the day just from discovering that Frankie was fire-aligned. And now she was a-okay with just teaching her fire magic?

  “What in the blighted abyss happened in your room?” Frankie hissed to her friend under her breath as they walked a short distance away. “You were definitely not okay six hours ago, and now you’re fine? I don’t buy it.”

  Maeryn smiled at her, though it was a little sad. “Terrance and Ernesto helped me think about things a little differently. My fire’s not gone. Just in recovery. And who knows? Maybe exposure to your fire magic will help rekindle mine.” She heaved a sigh. “Just… trying to be hopeful about it, is all. I don’t want you all tip-toeing around my issues.”

  If anything, that left Frankie even more off-kilter. It used to be that Maeryn would lean on her for that kind of support. She bit her lip, trying to figure out how to ask what she wanted to know. That was hard, considering she didn’t even know what that was to begin with. “Are we okay?” she finally asked, hoping that the three simple words communicated the giant tangle of her feelings. The crystal braid of their friendship had only healed a little while ago, and Frankie wasn’t ready for it to undergo another stress test.

  Maeryn’s face softened, and she pulled the engineer into a hug. Frankie squeezed back tightly, grateful for the simple, easy confirmation. “We’re okay,” the hunter promised. “We’re still best friends. I was a bit upset that you have fire magic when I felt like mine was gone for good. But it’s not. I’ll get it back, someday.” She spoke the last sentence like she was still trying to convince herself of it by force.

  Frankie nodded firmly. “You will,” she said simply, like it was an unassailable truth. Because it was. Maeryn could do anything she set her mind to. It was one of the many reasons why Frankie respected the abyss out of her. So if Maeryn wanted her fire back, she’d get there eventually. It was just a matter of time.

  The hunter’s face bloomed into a touched smile, clearly hearing the certainty in Frankie’s voice, and their hug became uncomfortably tight for a few seconds before Maeryn released her. “Alright then,” she said, clearing her throat. “You ready to learn how to set things on fire just by touching it?”

  Frankie’s eyes widened. “You have that spell and you don’t use it all the time?” she whispered disbelievingly.

  Maeryn’s laugh echoed through the soon-to-be campsite.