The Heavenly Host

The interior of the cloud was composed of hallways and rooms that had been “carved” out of the cloud, or so it appeared. The halls and rooms were all lined with carpets and rugs to give people a more secure feeling and to add to perspective. Left with a solid white ceiling, floors and walls, it would be extremely difficult to tell where one was going or where the walls actually were.

To ease navigation around the ship, there were tapestries hanging from the walls here and there, particularly at corners and intersections. Her room was not huge, but was still good sized compared to an actual sailing ship’s cabin. She had a normal-sized single bed, a nightstand, a dresser and a small writing desk and chair. There was no door, only a solid blue, heavy curtain. All the doors were solid curtains; their color indicated whether they were common areas, private cabins, or for specific functions such as water closets or control rooms.

Trevin had assured them that the ship was not as insubstantial as it appeared. While it was made out of solid cloud, it had a mithral and adamantite framework that outlined and supported all the rooms and corridors. The cloud walls, floors and ceilings were all maintained by runes fashioned into the mithral and adamantite frame. The Nimbus was a seventh-generation cloudship and as such, was highly tested and reliable, Gnorbert assured them.

That was all quite nice, intellectually, but Jenn’s insides were still finding the cloudship to be rather discomforting. It had been clear that Gastropé had shared her misgivings, and she suspected that Elrose and Maelen might as well. None had seemed tremendously enthusiastic. Elrose, however, had spent a considerable amount of time probing Trevin over the wizardly details of the enchantments that kept the ship together.

“Knock, knock,” Gastropé said from the hallway outside.

“Come in,” Jenn told him. Gastropé split the curtain and came in, looking around. He was frowning at her bed for some reason. “What’s the matter?” Jenn asked.

“You’ve got a normal single-person bed in your cabin, as does Maelen, I noticed,” Gastropé told her.

“So?” Jenn was not following him.

“Trevin made a big deal about showing me my room and how comfortable it was, and what a nice roomy feather bed for two I had,” Gastropé said worriedly.

Jenn laughed, and he turned his head to give her an annoyed glare. “See what you get for wearing those short silk pants and that skimpy vest? She’s obviously interested in what you are showing off,” she teased him.

“What? This is standard fine fashion in Turelane. Everybody dresses like this!” Gastropé protested. “At least everyone who can afford to,” he admitted a bit more softly, privately realizing that maybe he did try to dress a bit more stylishly than some.

“Uh huh.” Jenn just shook her head. “You reap what you sow. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I don’t have any other style of clothing; everything I own is similar to this!”

“See, regular wizards don’t have this problem; it’s hard to look too attractive in a bulky wool robe,” Jenn told him.

“Yes, and have you ever had to stand near one of them in the summer? It is not pleasant, thank you. This is summer and I want to be comfortable, not smell like a barn, and I want my arms free for casting spells,” Gastropé protested.

Jenn shrugged and started heading for the hallway. “As Master Hortwell always says, all choices carry risks!” She pulled the curtain aside. “Let’s head to the — what did they call it? The bridge?”

“Argh.” Gastropé was feeling frustrated by the situation. “Yes, that was what they called it. I have no idea why, though. It doesn’t make any sense.”

The two headed down the hallway for about 200 feet before they located the spiral staircase on their right that led to the other decks of the cloudship. Gastropé gestured for Jenn to go first; she nodded and started carefully up the winding cloud stairs.

“I think it helps if you don’t look at where you are stepping,” Gastropé advised.

“Probably,” Jenn admitted, “but looking up into the all-white spiral makes me dizzy.”

“I’m thinking going by touch would be best; treat it like it was a normal spiral staircase.”

“And then how do we know when to exit?” Jenn asked.

“Experience?” Gastropé shrugged. “I’m guessing we are going to be on this thing for some time.”

They climbed past three other floors before exiting on the top floor of the staircase. This hall was named the conning hall, and it began from the bridge at the front and ran along the top spine of the cloudship. Periodically there were ladders leading to hatches that let onto the top deck.

Jenn found it interesting that the entire ship was sealed from the outside. According to Trevin, the ship could get extremely high, higher than even aetós could breathe. In fact, it had to, to leave the Grove above its giant mountains. The cloudship, therefore, was what Trevin referred to as “pressurized.” Elrose had found this quite interesting and the wizard had made Gnorbert promise to show him how it was done.