[Milo L'Evienne]

”Revolutionize things…you’ve got that right,” Milo agreed while accompanying Alexis nearer the ship, his hat swept off in the darker confines of the interior. ”It’s remarkable, can you imagine the possibilities Alexis, all the uses? This is just one, but if there were more... I had in mind commissioning twenty of them straight away when Z’kron up and wandered off again. It can still be done of course given the exceptional talents of the ship’s architect, but the process has nontheless been slowed considerably at the moment. Z’kron grew the ship for the most part, but there’s minute granules of rock embedded within the wood. It makes it ten times more durable that wood, I’m told. The scorched earth is a byproduct of the heat needed to get her airborne, but there’s no ill affects had by those on board. This one can accommodate roughly thirty-five men in her hull if not used as a personal craft, or a large store of supplies as well for transport to any given locale. Smaller ones, or larger ones can be created just as easily by way of the same process as I understand it. It’s merely a matter of the design fluctuating a bit in terms of size so long as the basic aerodynamics remain the same.”

”But up there, in one of these, there’s nothing like experiencing it first hand.” And given Alexis’ quick agreement, he grinned and indicated the embedded rungs that led up to the deck of the ship. Sir James at his insistence went first, followed by Gwygwin and Barrett, the Alexis was waved ahead followed by Milo and the rest of this impromptu crew. And when reaching the deck, Sir James offered Alexis a hand to pull him up and over the rail. Milo came shortly after, looking for all the world like a kid with a brand new toy.

Once there on the polished deck he led the way to the stern and up a stairwell there. From this vantage it looked much similar to the deck of an ordinary sea going vessel, wooden rails, familiar shape absent the sails and added wings instead, but with solid wood floors, not the planks that one might have otherwise expected. But there at the stern was a pair of two black circular orbs chained to the ship itself, with runic inscriptions curled over their perfectly smooth surface. ”Touch activated enchantments as it was explained to me,” he remarked to Alexis, while the rest of the entourage hovered nearby. ”Glyphs, I believe was the term. The left orb controls vertical lift, it activates the element of the design that heats the bottom of the ship…the cause of that scorched earth. You’d certainly not like to be standing underneath her when she begins to rise. The right orb contains the same spell, but controls thrust and momentum. Heat propelled,” he concluded, though he could hardly do more to explain it all than how it had been explained to him. His own knowledge of all things magical wasn’t fit to occupy the entirety of a shot glass. But he did indeed know how to fly it.

”The right orb also controls direction, a hand to the right would create an arc in that direction, a hand to the left, similar. And as far as I know, there’s no limit to how long you can remain airborne, at least four of five candlemarks based on how long it’s been flown previously.” There was more of course, details and facets that had both fascinated and amazed him, but those could wait till they’d taken to the skies. So positioning himself in front of the orbs with a hand hovered over the left one in order to see them through the portal in the ceiling, he warned both Alexis and their companions. ”You might want to step away from the rails just in case, it gets awfully hot down there at the start.”