Chapter Text
Chapter 1
New Recruits
As the sun rose high above the bustling city of Oxforj, the first several layers of morning fog began to clear. Tall copper cranes, now free from the clouds, hauled cargo on and off giant steam ships parked in the city’s port. In the midst of the old coal carriers and grime covered tankers, a newer ship bobbed in the water, one with a polished white hull and twinkling electric lights. On its side, a large ornate H had been painted against a red compass. Sailors and dock workers glanced at it as they passed by, wondering who owned it. It certainly wasn’t a cruise ship, those hadn’t been allowed in the water for a year now. It was too ornate to be a battleship, but too small to be a regular Cargo ship. Perhaps a visiting diplomat was here for the peace treaties they’d heard about in the news?
A bulletin board on the edge of the port walkway fluttered with papers; Notices on ship schedules, warnings about storms that came and went two months ago, and soggy reminders of substances illegal to ship. Tacked above the old papers hung a pristine white scroll, stamped with the same golden H and red compass as the pristine white ship.
It read:
Job Alert
Are you tired of living in a busy city?
Are you talented in the fields of building, engineering, or farming? Are you looking for a life of adventure that will allow you to hone your fine crafting skills? Then look no further!
The HERMITS are actively seeking new members for our next trip to Fernill Island.
For more information, Please visit office 43 in the East Port station house.
-X
A few people stopped to look at the job notice, most rolling their eyes and walking away, but a well dressed elf stayed to read it intently. With a smile of excitement he hopped back into his Ox cart full of tropical plants, and quickly steered his steed towards office 43.
It wasn’t much of an office, more like a storage garage that had been furnished with a desk and two chairs. The elf cautiously stepped inside and knocked on the wooden table.
“Hello?” He called out, getting only an echo in return. He was about to leave, disheartened, when a voice at the door made him jump.
“Hello! Sorry chap, didn’t mean to keep you waiting. How can I help you?”
The elf turned and stared in awe as he saw perhaps one of the tallest men he’d ever seen. At least he assumed it was a man, their face and body were concealed entirely by a knight’s helmet and a polished, quartz white suit of armor.
The elf bowed politely. “Good day, sir. I’m looking for information about an organization called the Hermits? Is this the right spot?”
“Indeed it is.” The huge suit of armor spoke through a pair of speakers on its neck and bowed its head as it walked through the door. “I am Xisuma, the Hermit’s Captain and lead farmer. Are you interested in joining us?” He spoke with more than a hint of eagerness creeping through his posh Calilian accent.
The elf stepped back a little. “Well, no not me. I’m actually asking for my brother. From what I read on your flyer, this all seems like something he’d be interested in.”
“I see! Is he a builder?”
“Well…he can’t exactly build, but he is a talented designer. We’re actually in the gardening business. He and I run a greenhouse in the East District, and we do landscaping on the side.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant,” Xisuma nodded. Though the helmet covered his face, it still somehow looked like he was smiling. “It’ll be nice to have another landscaper on board, we have too many engineers who know how to tear up the land and not enough people who know how to put the land back together.”
“Well, that’s exactly what he does!” The elf smiled. “You oughta see the work we did at the Holland Hill mansion last year. We got to be part of the team that renovated it and he just blew everyone away with the gardens he came up with. And…get this… we didn’t even get to do half of what we wanted, and the owners were still impressed!” His green eyes sparkled as he spoke of his brother's work.
Xisuma leaned back and listened patiently. “Is the landscaping all physical or do you come from a Druidic family?” He asked, pointing to the elf’s pointy, green tinted ears. “We accept magic and non-magic users, so there’s no difference either way. I’m just curious.”
The elf looked down bashfully. “Well, I can make a few plants grow here and there, but mostly I take care of the business end of things. He’s the one who got all the magic in the family. He can grow flowers and fruit vines, even entire trees if he’s feeling strong enough! He’s actually learning to grow tropical plants now, that’s what I was picking up on the dock when I saw your sign.”
Xisuma clapped his metal hands excitedly. “Oh, that sounds wonderful! It sounds like he’d be an excellent fit for us. Now, our work does require quite a bit of…ah…rough living.” He looked at the elf’s neat brown suit and slick hair. “We travel to the island by ship, which lasts about a month, then our first few weeks are spent camping and living off the land before we can get our houses and farms properly set up. Is that something your brother would be willing and able to do?”
The elf’s face dropped quickly to an expression of uncertainty. “Willing, yes. But I’m not sure about able. That’s why I came to talk with you first before telling him about this… He’s…well he’s disabled you see. He’s been battling a disease since we were kids that makes his muscles really weak…and he lost the ability to walk a few years ago. But like I said, his magic is still really strong! It’s the strongest in the whole family! He just needs time to rest afterwards, and for people to remind him to take his medicine.”
He spoke like he’d rehearsed saying this to people multiple times, and with familiar uncertainty towards how the other person would react.
“I see,” Xisuma folded his hands together and began to pace the small room, keeping his head bent over. “I’m terribly sorry for that. Is there nothing that can be done?”
The elf shook his head. “I’m afraid not. He’s got a healing ability that helps keep him from getting hurt too badly, but his body is just really weak. Do you think you could still take him though? Like I said, his magic is really strong, and the doctors have been saying for years that fresh air and sunlight would do him good.”
Xisuma kept pacing, thinking. “There’s no denying a condition of that severity could make it difficult for him to navigate a dangerous landscape…but if he’s got the talent you say he does, he might actually feel more at home in the wilderness than here in the city.”
The elf laughed. “Yeah he hates it here. Just getting on a bus is a nightmare.”
“Well, there’ll be no buses where we’re going! And plenty of sunlight, which I’m sure will help…Hmm…Yes, having another Druid on the team will certainly be a big help to all of us...” His helmet creaked as he looked in the distance, like he was already planning what jobs to give the new recruit. “And of course we've got a team of some of the best engineers in the world. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to make any gadgets he’d need to make his work easier.”
The elf breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you think you can take him then?”
Xisuma folded his armored arms behind his back and looked down. “I’d like to meet him first of course, but should we accept I’m certain we could provide any accommodations he may need.”
The elf smiled widely. “You don’t realize how much those words mean to us. I really think he’ll be a great fit for your organization. Thank you, Captain Xisuma!”
Xisuma held out his huge metal hand. “Ah, just Xisuma is fine. And you are?”
“Ryall. And my brother's name is Ryn, but everybody just calls him Scar.”
“An interesting name, I love it. And where’s your greenhouse? I’d love to stop for a visit if time allows. This office could use some greenery.”
“It’s 309 Tally street, across from the Real Estate agency. He’s there now. I have some more things to grab in the area, but I’ll be back this evening.”
“Wonderful! Thank you, Ryall. I hope we can make your brother’s acquaintance soon.”
As Ryall hopped back into his Ox cart, Xisuma stepped out of the storage unit and made his way back to the dock, ignoring the many strange looks people gave his suit of armor. Upon arriving, he stopped and stared for a moment at the beautiful, white steamship bobbing in the water.
His ship, The S.S. Hermit. If he had a mouth, he would have been smiling proudly under his helmet. On the dock in front of him, his crewmates were busy wheeling loads of cargo into the hull. Xisuma stopped a burly, bearded dwarf in the middle of pushing a cart of redstone barrels and handed him a note.
“Impulse, if you see Doc, tell him I’ve got an errand for him to run in town today. And tell him to bring his hat.”
***
The East side buildings crowded together like impatient shoppers in a department store elevator. Hardly any light could reach the sidewalks, so not even weeds could grow in the cracks. Crammed between two opposingly bland insurance bankers, a small building decorated with carved wood and strings of lanterns tried to hold its ground against the steel behemoths around it.
Doc stepped out of the carriage, ducking his head so his long, curled horns wouldn’t scrape the top. Ignoring the coachman gesturing for a tip, he growled in annoyance as his mechanical hand fought a losing battle against a tie that didn’t want to be tied. With a huff he gave up and tossed it on the carriage seat. He hated going out in civilian clothes. He just wasn’t built for them. Few Ramikans were.
Still tugging at his collar, his hooves clip-clopped heavily up the path to the greenhouse. Despite his grumpiness, he couldn’t help but admire the architecture. A whistle escaped his lips as he came to the ornate oak door. It looked like a fine craftsman lived here after all. Although Doc had to duck once again to enter the door, one of his horns still hit the bell, making a commotion.
“Be with you in a moment!” A high strung, panicked voice called from the back.
“Take your time,” Doc called back. “I am in no hurry.” He walked slowly around the front room, taking in the sight of the garden around him. Somehow, in the middle of a city overrun by steel and steam, this family of elves had managed to make a miniature paradise. Small, bright green house plants lined the shelves, each more beautiful than the next. Red, orange and yellow flowers sprouted from bushes kept safe in clay pots while Glowing Trumpet vines wrapped around the rafters. Purple petals swirled through the air and to the ground, dancing around Doc’s hooves as he stepped across the wooden floor. Careful not to knock into any of the fragile displays, he breathed in the misty air. He hadn’t smelled air this fresh since the Hermit's last island adventure!
He squeezed between two small potted trees into the main shop area, which had a more open floor but with larger plants on display. A middle aged dwarven woman dressed in purple furs impatiently rang the bell on the counter, clearly already unhappy with how her day was going. Doc felt the fur on the back of his neck stand up, but remembered he was here to observe the potential recruit, not interfere. So he busied himself with looking at a shelf full of gardening tools that barely hid him from the view of the counter. With a blink he activated the spell inside his mechanical eye, allowing him to clearly see through the wall behind the counter into the employee’s area. There, he could make out the silhouette of a scrawny young elf in a wheelchair, leaning over and frantically trying to sweep a broken pot into a dustpan. The woman out front rang the bell again, and the elf looked around for somewhere to dump the pot shards, but in his panic he accidentally wheeled over the plant that had been in the pot. He let out a small yipe and tried to reach down to grab it, but a belt across the wheelchair kept him in place, and the plant’s stem was just out of reach. The bell rang again and the elf reached down as far as he could, and slowly swirled his fingers around the top of the injured plant. As he did so, the plant began to grow and reach upwards to his hand. As soon as it was the right height, he grabbed it and pulled it up off the ground and to his chest, where he gently stuffed the clump of roots into his shirt pocket and let the rest of the plant drape over his shoulder. Finally with an exasperated push he wheeled himself out to the counter.
Doc blinked, shutting his eye off. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be anyone else but Scar, the young man Xisuma had told him about. His first impression; a clumsy fool. And he was unimpressed by the magic displayed. Anybody with a scrap of paper and some ground leaves could have cast that spell. Doc sighed. He would have to keep watching to get a better read.
The dwarven woman tapped her feet and huffed impatiently as Scar finally made it to the counter.
“What can I—what can I help you with?” Scar asked, out of breath.
The woman looked him up and down with a face of disapproval before mumbling, “Oh, that explains it. Is there anybody else here I could talk to?”
“No ma’am, it’s just me here while my brother is out. But I can h—“ he gasped for breath again—“I can help you while he’s out.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “I doubt that, but I have other places to get to.” From her purse she pulled out a folded picture of a yellow and orange flower.
“My neighbor has some of these growing outside her house, I believe she said they were Golden Joys. Do you have any?”
Scar looked at the black and white picture then raised his thin eyebrows. “Aaah I see, those are Sunspeckles. They—they look a lot like Golden Joys, but they come up in the spring instead of Fall.”
“You’re not answering my question. Do you have Golden Joys? I don’t care about Sunspeckles.”
Scar looked at her and cocked his head like a confused dog. “But, you want what’s in the picture, right? Those are Sunspeckles, and if you plant them—plant them now they’ll bloom in a few weeks. If you— get— Golden Joys you’ll have to wait till Fall to do anything with’em.”
“That’s not true, I just told you my neighbor has them growing outside her house right now.”
“But Golden Joys don’t grow until fall, if you get them now you’ll have to wait.”
The woman sighed as if she were talking to an annoying child. “Okay, clearly you’re not…mentally equipped to handle this. Would you just get me a pack of Golden Joy seeds and stop arguing with me!?”
She raised her voice to the point where Scar scooted himself backwards. “Okay, okay, no need to get upset. I’ll—I’ll go get you the seeds.” He wheeled out from behind the counter to a shelf of flower seed packets and started sifting through them.
Doc took this chance to walk out from behind the shelf and get closer to the counter. Though he kept his head down and continued looking busy, the woman considered him close enough to voice her complaints out loud too.
“They ought to just put that boy out of his misery. It’s like keeping a horse with a broken leg. It’s just cruel, what’s the point?”
Doc considered himself a gentleman when it came to the rules of women and combat, but he felt his metal hand curl into a fist as she spoke.
“I mean, I’m a mother, and I wouldn’t want to see my kid suffer like that, and I get that people—ooh they want to give these poor folks a chance—but when it affects the business you’ve got to consider the customers first. Don’t you think?”
She had been side-eyeing Doc this whole time, not getting a clear look at him through the plants, but he emerged now, stepping slowly towards her holding the sharpest looking gardening trowel he could find.
“I think…you are holding up de line,” he growled.
Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in fear as she looked up at the green, goat-faced giant. One half of his face was hidden behind a metal mask with a gleaming red eye, while the other half curled into a mean, hideous sneer. He slowly took another step towards her, and that was all it took. In a moment she had grabbed her purse off the counter and taken off for the door, screaming something about calling the police. The bell jingled in the distance as Scar returned to the counter.
“Huh? Where’d she go?”
“She had somewhere else to be.” Doc huffed. He could still feel his blood boiling, how dare she say such things?
“Aw man, I even put Sunspeckle seeds in a Golden Joy pouch so she could still get the flowers she wanted.” Scar put the little bag on the countertop and leaned back in his chair so he could look up at Doc.
“What can I—what can I do for you, sir?”
Now Doc understood where this scrawny elf got his nickname from. A huge pale scar ran across the bridge of his pointed nose, and another equally painful looking scar ran across his throat. The signs of violence, or surgeries? Doc wondered.
“Aah, I am looking for a little houseplant to go in my cubicle at vork.” Doc tried to sound as pleasant as possible, but just ended up speaking in a different key of pissed off. Scar didn’t seem to mind.
“Just a little something to brighten up the space, huh? Alright, follow me! Over here we’ve got a wide variety…”
He spoke like a tour guide as he wheeled to different plants in the shop, showing off ones that were better for shaded areas, ones that did well in partial light. Plants with flowers and plants with striped leaves. Doc wasn’t so much interested in the plants themselves as he was in taking note that this new recruit was extremely knowledgeable on different types of flora from around the world. Although Scar kept running out of air in the middle of his sentences, he didn’t let it slow him down as he kept talking animatedly.
“Do any of these strike your fancy? We do have a special on perennials this month.” He leaned back and gestured to the wall of green. Doc chose a plant at random.
“You know,” Scar continued, “the only thing that can brighten up a space better than a plant?”
“Vat’s dat?”
“Two plants, and wouldn’t you know it? We have a buy-one-get-one half off sale happening this week.”
Doc sighed and grabbed another plant.
“You know, if you really want to make your cubicle the envy of the office you could add a third for only-“
Doc had to cut him off. “I think dis vill be all I have space for,” he said with slight amusement. This kid was a born salesman as well. If they accepted him he’d be a danger to have in their next shopping district. “However, I did have a question. You are also in de landscaping business, yes?”
“Sure thing! Although I do most of the design work, my brother takes care of the actual—the actual business.”
“I see, I see. Vell, I vas just vondering, what magic do you think you could do with de land in front of a factory?”
“In front of a factory? Hmm…” Scar hunched over in his chair and held his hand to his chin. Doc waited patiently for his answer. This question was an important one, because if they accepted him that was precisely the job he would be doing.
“Well I guess that would depend on what kind of factory it is.”
Doc was taken aback by the answer.
“How so?”
“Well—“ Scar wheeled back to the counter, where he pulled out a notebook and some colored pencils. “Let’s say it’s a steel factory, instead of tall trees that could get damaged by smoke you’d want low shrubbery and short grass, but stuff that’s still—still strong enough to help clean the air. You could even hire some artists to place steel sculptures along— the— the walkways. And I’m thinking bold, strong lines for the exterior, perhaps a bright color for the highlights, like orange or yellow, something fiery against—against a dark gray.” He loosely sketched out the ideas as they came to him, and Doc felt himself grinning as the young man created an entire world in front of him with no effort at all.
“Now if you’re scaping the land in front of a Candy factory, you’d want an— entirely— different approach. I’m talking bright flowers everywhere, maybe even arranging the gardens in the shapes of those swirly candies, I loved those when I was little—fruit trees, because where there’s sugar there’s bees and you want to give them something to do. Maybe even some draping vines that look like frosting!“
Scar spoke and drew with such excitement, Doc felt that if he didn’t stop him now he might pass out.
“Vonderfull ideas, all of these. Now, if you were to execute these, ah, how long would it take? If it vas just you.”
Scars eyes, already wide, somehow widened further. “If it was just me? Uuuuh, for a job this big, probably quite a few months— considering nothing, uh, happens.” He tapped his hand against his chest.
“Uh huh, and with a team?”
“Oh, with a good team this could be done in a way shorter time! Get some more druids like me and you’ll get it done in a week!” He paused to cough before handing the drawings to Doc.
“Here, I’ll throw those in with the plants. If you got a landscaping job, now’s the best time to book it before spring gets busy.”
Doc looked at the colorful drawings before handing them back. “Ah, could you sign these? It is important that you do.”
“Uuuuh, sure?” Scar picked up a colored pencil and stared at the page for a moment, as if trying to remember something important. Finally he made a scribble that, perhaps when viewed in a certain light, could have resembled a signature. He handed the drawings back to Doc.
“Alright, and now your total is…um…” Scar squinted at the plants and their price tags before slowly typing the numbers into the cash register.
“Sorry, I don’t usually handle the money. There’s your total.” He pointed to the final number on the faded register screen. $16.18. Doc handed him a $20, and Scar reached into the register and scooped out a fistful of coins and dumped them in Doc’s hand without counting.
“Oh! One moment.” He wheeled around the counter and reached for one of the plants in Doc’s hand. Doc held it down to him and watched as Scar pressed his fingers to a wilted leaf that had turned brown. A slight green glow emanated from Scar’s fingers, and the plant perked up, returning to a beautiful shade of emerald green. “Didn’t want to send you home with a sick one.”
Doc managed a smile that didn’t look like a sneer. “Of course. Thank you for your generosity. Ve’ll be in contact shortly.” And he left before Scar could say another word.
Outside in the carriage he wrote in a notebook his final verdict on the new recruit.
Clumsy. Extremely knowledgeable about plants and architecture, creative, polite to a fault…
Doc counted the coins in his pocket. Eight cents in loose change for a $20.
…and a swindler.
***
Back at the dock, workers rushed around the S.S. Hermit, getting materials onboard and polishing the railings. Doc arrived and saw Xisuma waiting, his armor shining as white as the ship in the afternoon sun. Xisuma strode towards Doc as he stepped out of the carriage, and before he had a chance to say anything, Xisuma had grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking with excitement.
“We need him.” he said in place of a greeting.
Doc swatted his hands away. “De young elf? He is creative, that’s true, but-“
Xisuma handed him a magazine clipping showing a large mansion with a large, plain lawn.
“Vat’s this?”
Xisuma waved his hands in excitement. “This is a picture from Best Gardens Magazine of the Holland Hill mansion last year. This is before Scar and his brother went to work…” he gestured to the drab, muddy landscape surrounding the house. He flipped the page around. “…and this is after.”
Doc raised an eyebrow at the stark contrast. The land had been transformed into a lush garden full of fruit trees, sculpture shrubbery, Hedge mazes, and flower draped pergolas set over stone pathways.
Xisuma folded the picture and stuck it in the crevice of his forearm, reiterating, “We need him.”
Doc nodded his head. “I agree, to have a gardener of his talents would improve the quality of our lands but I have some concerns...” He had to speak quickly before Xisuma let his excitement overtake him again.
Xisuma looked down sadly. “You think he’s not fit for the group? Don’t tell me he’s a loyalist, that would be heartbreaking.”
“No, not that, he had no problem vit me, and I’m sure de others would get along with him well, but his health…”
“You think he’d have trouble maneuvering in the wilderness?”
“Not that, he seems very adept at using the chair, and ve could adjust it for the terrain, but if something should happen I’m vorried he vill not have the strength to defend himself. Xisuma, de kid could barely breathe, and these are untamed places we’re going to, it’s dangerous for even de strongest fighters!”
If Xisuma had a face his expression would have changed from excitement to one of sadness. He sighed and leaned into Doc. “I think that’s why his brother wants us to take him.”
Doc looked shocked. “Vat, to get rid of him?”
Xisuma shook his helmet. “No, to keep him safe. I think he knows that whatever untamed land we build in, no matter how full of zombies it is…it will be less dangerous than what’s going to happen here in the coming months.”
Doc cast his eye to the calm, steam powered city behind them, alive with the usual sounds of people coming home from work at this time.
“You believe there vill actually be an invasion?”
“You know your country better than me, I could be wrong-“
“Amerstadt is not my country anymore.”
“-right, but it doesn’t sound like the peace treaties are going anywhere. And with the government of Calilia grabbing land like they are-“
“Oxforj is de most defendable city against them…and if de Amerstadts do come here, den dey’ll put everyone in the city to vork…and if you cannot vork…” Doc looked down at his mechanical hand and shook his head with a disapproving look on his face.
Xisuma looked towards the ship. Many of the Hermits had gone on break and were leaning on the deck railings chatting over sandwiches.
“Do you think we could afford to leave earlier?” Xisuma asked, a note of fear wavering through the speakers in his armor.
“If Amerstadt is going to invade Oxforj, it’ll be sooner rather than later,” Doc growled. “And if we’re still here ven that happens, they won’t let a ship full of valuable supplies like this leave port. They’ll take it all for de ‘war effort.’”
Xisuma nodded. “Alright, If you think it’s a good decision, I’ll see if I can arrange for the lumber and coal to come in the next few days.”
“De coal especially, we should get our share before it gets rationed out to dere steamships.”
“Right.” Xisuma pulled out a clipboard from his chest plate. “So we’ll be taking Scar, then?”
Doc made a face of uncertainty. “It’s a long journey. I am vorried about him getting sicker, but if you think his chances are better with us…den yes. Ve vill accept him.” He handed Xisuma the drawing that had Scar’s signature on it.
“Marvelous!” Cried Xisuma and he attached it to his clipboard. “I’ll draft a letter for him and his family, and that just leaves our final two recruits to be contacted with their letters.”
“Two? I know of de robotics student, who else?”
“Oh, a human came by while you were out. A security guard from the royal palace looking to offer his services. I think he’s trying to get out before the invasion as well.”
Doc raised his eyebrow. “Security is alvays good.”
“And that leaves us with a final total of…” Xisuma wrote another note on his board. “…eighteen Hermits altogether! Unless someone else decides to join before we leave…”
Doc was about to say something when a fierce voice shouted behind them, “Oi! This the ship for the Hermits?”
Xisuma turned, expecting to see a soldier, but instead was greeted by another tall elf with a frumpy coat, a frumpy hat, and a patchy beard.
“I have vork to do.” Doc nodded at Xisuma and swiftly headed towards the ship. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody else today.
Xisuma nodded at the elf. “Why, yes it is, my good…sir. I’m Captain Xisuma, what can I do for you?”
“I would like to join. Are positions still open?”
Their voice sounded as patchy as their beard. Xisuma felt a slight tingle in the suit's chest. There was a magic spell afoot, he could feel it, but he continued speaking cheerfully.
“Yes, we’re still taking people! What is your practice?”
“My practice?”
“Are you a builder, a farmer, an engineer…a security guard, perhaps?”
“Oh…uh…I can do this,” the elf raised their slender hand. A puddle on the ground lifted into the air, splitting into individual water droplets before solidifying into ice shards that hovered around their hand.
“Wonderful!” Xisuma clapped. “We can put you on waterway duty.” He made a note on his clipboard.
“How soon do you leave?” The elf asked, letting the ice shards wander around their head.
“We’ll try to leave before the month is out. But before we let you on board, I’ll need to know some things first.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, just your age, your birthdate, your name, things like that.”
The elf hesitated. Xisuma recognized the look as they pursed their lips and shifted their gaze away. Aha, it was exactly as he thought. He leaned down and whispered through the speakers.
“You don’t have to give your real name if you don’t want to, Madam, you can give a false one.”
The ice shards fell to the ground and shattered. She looked up in shock, and Xisuma chuckled softly.
“I’ve seen my fair share of disguises. You don’t have to pretend. I know most places in Oxforj don’t hire women, but we do.”
The elf bowed her head, ashamed that her manly disguise had failed. But her expression quickly turned to one of pleasant surprise. She took off her hat and let a mass of golden hair fall to her shoulders.
“You mean it? You hire women?”
“Of course we do, we’re not the military. I mean, we’ve only got one lady on board right now, but I’m sure she’d love to have company.”
Beneath the false beard, her face brightened into a smile as beautiful as a siren’s. Xisuma handed her the clipboard.
“But I can’t hire you until you give me a name at least. It can be a false one if you’d like to stay hidden.”
She picked up the feather quill and stared at the page for a moment, before writing the name False on the line. Xisuma smiled beneath the helmet.
“Welcome aboard Miss False. Keep an eye on the bulletin board for our departure time, it should be posted in a few days.”
“Thank you, sir!” She straightened her shoulders, standing taller than any soldier, and bowed. As she turned and shoved her hair back up underneath her hat, Xisuma breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
“Nineteen. We will have nineteen members on board the Hermit this trip.” He looked at his ship, which somehow looked smaller than it had before. He wriggled around uncomfortably inside his helmet.
“…Gosh, I hope we’ll have enough room.”