***
We chat together for a while longer before Sophia grows tired again and falls asleep.
***
The Zero Gravitas is a fast Voidship, with its clean hull lines and expansive side sails. But that does not mean it's fast. The trains that keep passing us more than prove that point. We are following the same train line that we took to Morgoth when we went to pick up Sophia.
Bronson and Lillian have fallen into a flow when it comes to sailing the ship. I was honestly expecting a lot more drama. Yeah Bronson is still rude as fuck, but somehow it's just ignorable when he does it. It's not even like he means well; he doesn't at all. Kinda like having your grandpa over for Christmas dinner, yeah, he's gonna say some questionable shit. But he buys you the best presents and helps you fix your bike.
Life aboard a VoidShip is quiet, big hurry-up-and-wait vibes. As I didn't really know the first thing about how to help sail a VoidShip, I've spent my time unpacking and storing away everything that Daisy got us. Let me tell you, Daisy has done an amazing job with the supplies. Things like clothes, food, water, and weapons. Lots of weapons. Shiv even got her own crate full of materials she might need to craft with, Daisy playing favorites for real.
Shiv is helping me with the unpacking, and when I get to her box I can't help but stir some shit. "Ohh Shiv look at this, I think someone has definitely been thinking about you."
"Shut up," Shiv replies grumpily, but the tinge around her cheeks betrays her embarrassment.
"But it's so lovely! I guess your tongue has certainly made an impression." I'm not lying, this crate is basically a bento box of cool crafting crap, there is a small part of me that is a little jelly.
"It's not the tongue," Shiv quietly mutters.
"Hmmmm?" I say, because I'm bored, and the best thing to do when you are bored is give your friends shit.
"Look, you're a human, all this shit is completely weird to me, but it's not about the sex. Or at least I don't think so. Daisy changed, like a lot." Shiv begins to open up, which I wasn't expecting at all. "Like, who do you see Daisy as?"
"Ice Queen, has her shit on lock, seems to be playing five D chess in the background."
"Yeah, and that's fair, she is all those things. Also you have no idea about the five D chess thing, holy shit she has fingers in pies I didn't even know existed."
Shiv fidgets a little now. "But yeah, I don't know... After she helped me with the rut, I felt bad, you know. That's goblin shit, humans aren't built for it. So of course I helped her, just trying to make her comfortable. Something changed then, she started looking at me differently."
"How do you mean?"
"She's like, caring and shit, and she worries, she worries a lot! I don't think she had many people care for her before she came to the Academy; she had to stand on her own. Her family was… not good. So just me looking after her seemed to flip a switch."
"I'm having to send her a constant flow of brain texts, to keep her updated on this little trip. She says it's for strategy, but I think it's just her checking that I'm okay. Is this what all human relationships are like?"
"Yeah, kinda. I'm going out of my mind with worry about Sophia."
"Sorry! Maybe this conversation isn't great for you right now."
"No, nope! Please keep telling me about your Daisy problems, anything to stop me spiraling."
"Oh, okay? If you are sure?"
"Yes, very sure."
"Well, this isn't really what Goblins do. Like we all live in big tribes, but that's mostly so we can steal shit off each other. We party, eat, drink, build bombs, and then hopefully you blow yourself up in a way that makes the rest of the tribe laugh."
"So Goblins don't couple up?"
"No, not at all, and don't get me wrong, I don't hate the couple thing. But having someone think about me, worry about me, it's very strange. I'm used to just doing my own thing."
"But you don't hate it?"
"No, I… don't."
Shiv is absentmindedly playing with some of the tools and materials from her crate, and I'm pretty sure she's making a bomb in the same way someone might doodle the same drawing again and again.
"Goblins don't really love. The closest we get is that we like to entertain each other. I feel that for you and Lillian, I want to make you laugh and blow shit up with you both."
"Awwww, I wanna blow shit up with you too! Do you feel differently about Daisy?"
"I don't really know, I guess, maybe? I just want to keep making her comfortable."
"That sounds good."
"Is that enough?"
I smile at Shiv. "The fact that you're even asking the question suggests it probably is."
"Seeing you and Sophia so deeply in love makes me worried that I'm not providing Daisy with what a human needs."
Oooooh, yikes. "Shiv, I'm not really human, or at least a lot of me isn't. What Sophia and I have is a lot. It's not really a relationship to model yours after."
"When did you realize you loved her?"
"I was crushing pretty hard the day after I met her, and fully over the edge by day five. But that I think is more my Eldritch side. I think what Lillian and Vicent have going on is probably more normal. You are meant to test the waters, so that love can develop over time. That's normal for humans. Probably."
"Probably?"
"Hey it's not like I ever had a good role model for this shit. The best I have is Maria, and I'm pretty sure she locked Derek down as hard as I locked down Sophia. But it's normal to be questioning everything, especially at first. Anyway it's probably you, you know."
"Me? I don't follow."
"The reason Daisy changed is because of you. So… awkward subject, but do you know about the flirting thing that Daisy and I had for a bit?"
"It was hard to miss at the time. Even for a Goblin."
"And we are cool about that?"
"Yes, I don't even remotely care. Still a Goblin, kinda hard to be jealous about relationships when you don't have them. I am extremely jealous about those spellbombs you have, though."
"No stealing! Those are mine."
"Yeah, we'll see about that."
I give Shiv the squint, which she doesn't care about at all. This bitch is gonna steal my bombs!
"Anyway, the point I was making is that all I ever got was Ice Queen Daisy. Which don't get me wrong, is hot as fuck."
"Yeah it kinda is."
"But you get the other side, because to her, you are safe. She trusts you to be independent and other words of positive affirmations which I'm not going to say, because fuck dealing with your rut."
"Aren't you selling yourself a bit short?"
"Nah, I'm a co-dependent mess of a person. Hell, the thing I'm best at, rune, you are even better than me. Don't get me wrong, I'm awesome in other ways, this isn't a pity party. But I wasn't ever the type of person that Daisy would have shed the Ice Queen persona for. I didn't even know it was a persona."
"So I'm doing a human relationship okay then?"
"Yes. I want to say more, but the rut problem. Just keep doing what you are doing, okay?"
"Okay."
Her focus returns to her bento crate of bomb parts. "Want me to show you how a goblin makes bombs?"
"Fuck yes!"
***
I spent a few hours with Shiv on bomb craft, and then bummed a rune cutter off her, to make some more HESH slugs for the shotty. I imagine Barrier Tech will catch up and find a way to deal with this bullshit, but they are probably good for another couple of engagements before the word spreads.
I also spent some time practicing reloading the shotty from my domain. Plus, I did a little shooting with the thing. Daisy packed an excess of ammo, and I want to get the Bronson enchantment tuned so I can comfortably fire it without it wanting to shove my shoulder out of its socket.
Sophia and I keep texting throughout the day; nothing is really changing for her, which is good in a no news is good news kind of way. They did send a bowl of gruel through the feeding hatch of the door at one point. Sophia didn't rate the prison food highly.
It was late evening when we reached the Morgoth train rift. It was a massive affair, almost as big as the invasion rift created by the nuns. It has a large tower gate structure built around it. I can see huge mana crystals used to power the thing. The trains run through at the bottom, while Voidcraft and barges cross over at the top. There is a customs point, but a quick chat from Vincent gets us waved through. He's probably another prince, isn't he?
"Hey Vincent, are you a prince?" I ask.
He just nods his head apologetically. "In a way, yes."
Knew it!
I bunker down for the night in one of the small beds. I think this is the first time in my life I've been happy with my size.
I am trying to keep calm and goal-oriented, but really I'm a massive bundle of stress and worry. So many questions that I don't want to think about or answer. Chief among them,
What if I don't make it in time?
***
***