Radeon watched the array masters work. Ink stained fingers flicked through papers, and brushes scratched frantic lines.
Every stroke was another guess at how to keep alive the fools who would ride such a vessel.
The youthful administrator who had ordered the initial scouting stepped forward. He smelled merit in the air.
Lee had been the one to sign off on Sail Knife's permit to drive the Karvi.
Now the old man had brought his whole team back breathing, and in one piece.
"Honored masters, you'll want to inspect this hull," Lee said, eager for recognition.
Lee pointed toward the Karvi longship that Radeon had used.
"This man took this very boat out bare of wards. I was the clerk who gave him the initial scouting," Lee explained.
Radeon let the man talk. He did not correct a single exaggeration. Truth only got in the way of a useful story.
At first, the masters did not believe Lee. Suspicion narrowed their eyes as they circled the Karvi.
Once they probed its structure, doubt gave way to grudging wonder.
Even the array grandmaster frowned at the readings, surprised that such a frail craft had slipped from a half step nascent embryo predator.
Then he gave a slow nod. Speculation became decision, and the Karvi design passed at once.
Radeon watched every twitch of their faces. When he saw Lee's appetite for praise and affirmation, Radeon moved.
"How is it now, little Lee? Aren't you happy to see me?" Radeon said, baring his yellowed teeth in a smile.
Now, Lee found himself walking beside the rogue who had designed the thing, and survived the enemy's grip.
Radeon and Lee slipped toward the ship warehouse, past the corner.
Radeon looked around. This was close to where he had once stolen array materials. This time he walked in through the front like a guest.
Alarm talismans hung around the warehouse entrance. Red ink gleamed in their carved seals with a watchful glow.
They were so obvious that any honest thief would turn away. Which was why Radeon had never bothered with these wards before.
Inside, shelves climbed high and deep. Metal beams of strange shape lay in careful rows.
The pieces smelled of fresh forging and grand ambition. Their purpose was easy enough to read.
'Hundred-foot sword array? Built to punch through fortress wards. No one dumps this much metal and time just to crack a mountain shell for loose spirit stones. So what's the real play?'
Radeon forced his mind back from that edge. Curiosity was a luxury for people who had nothing to steal.
He kept his gaze moving so it never lingered on anything too long. Instead he watched Lee. Saw where the man's eyes paused.
Radeon watched Lee's every flinch when he drifted too close to something important.
Through Lee's reactions, Radeon mapped value. That was safer than any probe.
Radeon first laid his hand on a spirit alabaster. A fine material, fit to serve as an array core.
Lee opened his mouth to object. Then he remembered they were only spares, and let the choice pass with a sigh.
Radeon moved faster once he smelled that small concession. Hover stones to ease the weight. Wind stones to feed the propeller arrays.
At the back of the stockpile rested an aged spirit wood pillar. Its scent was rich and old. Grain so dense it caught the light like water.
He let his fingers hover near it for a long moment. Lee tensed. Reproach already burned in his eyes.
Radeon stepped away and picked a hundred-year spirit bamboo instead. Almost as good. Far easier to win.
'This should be enough to make a decent flyer,' Radeon thought, then stopped, thinking of something.
He still needed to pick up Fay downstream. It was possible, if his plan held, in his most optimistic estimation.
The worry sat in the back of his mind like a stone. Radeon might be cynical and greedy.
But he was no man with a taste for dangling benefits to people without following up on his words.
Near the exit, a scatter of bags lay piled. Array master packs. Tough leather. Reinforced seams.
Radeon drifted toward them and pretended to notice them only now.
Seeing Radeon choose from these rare crafts, Lee finally found his tongue.
"These bags are for array masters. What do you need them for?" Lee asked, in a tone that did not invite haggling.
Radeon answered with a shrug. He made sure the motion was loose and careless. Stones slipped free.
Wind stones and hover stones clattered on the floor, one by one. Every drop tugged at Lee's heart.
Others doing their own duties heard the commotion and turned to see what was passing between the two.
"Do. Do you not have a bag of your own, sky-sailor?" Lee asked, his confidence gone.
"Eighty years in the sky, I've mostly stuffed my gears down my underpants. Does that not count?" Radeon asked, chuckling as he scratched his head.
That image was crude enough to shut Lee up. With hands that shook for a different reason, Lee gestured for Radeon to pick one.
Bags made of beast scale gleamed with each turn. Radeon opened one and felt the quiet hum of stored qi under his fingers.
It was a mobile shield that could drink blows as well as carry rocks. Another was cut from pale, veined leather.
Less sturdy, yet light and compact. Its inner lining was etched with tiny script meant for talismans and brushes.
Both choices were tempting. If he were honest, he wanted both.
One for himself, and one for Fay once she learned a little spellcraft.
'Once it starts, the field will be carpeted with scale bags. Men like these never die empty-handed. No point paying for what I can pull off a corpse.'
As if he had only just now made up his mind he took the smaller quickdraw bag.
His current load was light aside from the bamboo. He could chop that down and lash it to the pack.
Lee stared at the choice, baffled. If Radeon were truly a sky-sailor, he should have grabbed the tough scaled pack for survival.
He did not say it out loud. Better to let the strange old sailor be on his way. Lee knew he still had to cozy up to the ones above.
By the time a gentleman could finish a hurried cup of tea, the shipwrights and array masters had assembled the new vessel.
Hardened men with scarred faces lined up nearby. Their presence pressed on the air, stronger than any gilded core cultivator Radeon had ever met.
The six-man team studied the sky-sailor skin draped over his shoulders. Sail Knife.
Their harsh faces cracked into something close to respect. Stories of Radeon's escape had moved faster than any order.
Commander Kiel stepped forward and gave the introductions.
"These six are outlier elders of the Skyflight Court, hard men the lot of them. The only pity is the heavens never quite let them step into the next realm."
"Old sailor, we'll fly in your wake. We'll run that odd-even pattern the mercenaries laid out," one of the outlier elders said, then extended his hand.
Radeon let the smile sit on Sail Knife's old skin as he took the man's hand and shook it.