Forging Ties (Ties, Book 3) | ✓

Chapter 28

Hamish heard Aris fussing and gave Duran a friendly pat on the ass before going to check on her. He lifted her out of her bassinet and she immediately settled down. Sometimes she just wanted to be held. Hamish bundled her up in her blanket and carried her back to the front of the ship. The Spire was clearly within view now.

Slone strolled over to join them. He looked down at Aris and gave her a smile. "She's prob'ly only half the size of a human baby by weight, but compared to a werewolf baby, she's tiny. Cutest little thing I've ever seen."

"I'll have to ask Skye if she's going to grow into a normal sized person or if she'll just always be small," Hamish said. "He doesn't seem like he's in the mood for talking, though, and he was never that keen on it to begin with."

Slone looked up towards the crowsnest where Skye was still hiding. "Ah, yeah. Seems like he's having a rough time of it. I want to help him if I can, but we'll see."

"Well, hopefully you can, because I don't know what to do for him," Hamish said. "He's not much of a words guy and it doesn't seem like he wants physical contact right now."

"Grief's a tricky thing," Slone said. "Must be even harder when nobody else around you knew the person. When you're just alone in it."

"I guess that's why you'd be the one to help with that. His friend was a wolf, right?"

"Yeah, he was. Like I said, we'll see. I'll do what I can."

As they sailed towards the small dock near The Spire, Hamish carried Aris around the ship and talked to her quietly as he pointed things out even though he was pretty sure babies couldn't see for shit and he was certain she didn't understand a word he was saying. She seemed happy enough, though. She was still in that potato baby stage where they mostly just sat there and blinked around at the world uncomprehendingly whenever they weren't asleep.

Watching Sera, Everett, and the robot work together to bring the ship into the dock was interesting. Everett was small, but he dashed about and climbed with ease when he needed to. Sera was just as fast, though her methods were different. She used her wings to get between places as quickly as possible. The robot was slow and clomping when it moved, but it could perform any task with perfect precision.

As they finished docking, Slone stood under the crowsnest and called up to Skye. "You comin' with us?"

Skye looked down and shook his head.

"I'll stay with him," Perry said. "I would like to talk to someone about long term positions here, if possible, but I'm happy to hang back until something can be arranged."

"You don't gotta hide yourself away, you know," Slone said. "But all right. I got a few things I need to take care of, but I'll sort that out for you. I know people who know people."

"Thank you," Perry said. "I appreciate it."

"We're going to go into town and explore trade opportunities," Sera said as she kicked the boarding ramp to make sure it was secure before allowing Mirriam to wheel across it. "We'd also like to talk to some people in charge at some point, but that can wait."

"Right," Slone said. "I can help you with that, too, but you might have to remind me later. Got a lot of things up in my head right now and not a lot of room to spare."

"I will do that," Sera said.

Some of the orc guards had come down to the dock to investigate the unexpected ship, but once they saw familiar faces, they seemed to stop caring. They spent a while standing around on the dock pointing at the robot as it started doing chores around the ship and murmuring to one another and they wandered off back the way they'd come.