The gangplank to Shinespark's ship was already extended when Starlight arrived, tilted at a dangerous angle to accommodate for the river's unusually high flow. Several curious Riverfall mares stood a talkative vigil, but didn't try to board, and all moved aside respectfully at the sight of the approaching group as the bandaged Valey blew them a kiss for good measure.
Starlight felt the wooden deck creak welcomingly under her hooves, like the ship recognized her and wished her a pleasant stay. She had no errands to run here, so she stood aside as well, waiting as Willow climbed aboard next to White Chocolate and Valey brought up the rear. The boat rocked gently against the current, just as patient to sit in place as she was.
"Good morning!" a voice called out, and Dior quickly made his way up from the stairs belowdecks, smiling pleasantly. "Anything you need help with?"
Willow returned his smile. "We're just out for a walk," she replied, keeping an easy posture. "Nothing important, but we thought we'd see the ship. I, at least, haven't seen it properly and thought it might be nice to look at."
"My idea, by the way," Valey interjected, pointing at herself with a wingtip.
Dior nodded, looking as if he was still slightly starstruck by the sight of Riverfall. "That's no trouble at all. My sister is cleaning and my mother is talking with Arambai on the bridge, but you're welcome to look around."
"Arambai?" Starlight blinked. Right, they had left a sound stone with him...
"I can ask if he'd like to speak with you, too," Dior chuckled, heading for the bridge with such a spring in his step that Starlight grew even more certain the events at the skyport never really happened.
"Sure. Okay." She wandered after him, shrugging, noticing Willow following with interest too.
"So. Starlight," Arambai's gravelly voice said, transmitted through the pulsating chunk of crystal Matryona held in her wings. "I've heard you all made it back in one piece. How'd our ship shape up for you?"
Starlight and Willow both stood opposite the pegasus, staring into the stone. Valey lounged causally against a nearby wall, and White Chocolate stood awkwardly, unsure of whether she belonged. "I told you it worked wonderfully, love," Matryona murmured into the gem.
"Oh, let the filly speak. I'm curious to hear things from her, given her stake in all this. How's Maple doing? Still messed up by that sword? She was out of it for a long time while we were down."
"I know," Starlight grated, feeling her teeth rub together and trying to loosen her jaw. "She's... better. We're doing good. I think." Searching for the right thing to add, she continued, "How's Ironridge?"
"A mess," Arambai's voice replied. "Not as much of a mess as it could be, at least. We've got some reports of pillaging and looting in the Earth District, but no more heavy weapons and the districts have stopped squabbling among themselves. We've got a rationing system set up, at least, so we should be fine for food. That freak blizzard did a number on our crops, but most of the colder-weather ones from the Stone District are fine. We've also hooked the Blueleaf generator up to the old power grid. It's not got enough juice to do much, especially without leaving those lower levels in the dark, but we routed it to Skyfreeze and got all the lights and weather control systems back online there. Not sure if we want to use it as a government headquarters anymore. It's certainly possible, but Blueleaf's also looking like a prime candidate since that's where the power is. But Skyfreeze has the bureaucratic infrastructure already set up, and I want that to do as much work for us as possible."
"What about Karma Industries?" Starlight asked. "You could move there."
"Full of refugees. We've gotta find something to do with them before we can put that building to use. Besides, it's private property, and if we did get our hooves on it... Well, I'd be more interested in seeing if we can't restore it for its original purpose."
Starlight felt her eyes widen. "You're trying to rebuild a skyport already?"
"It's gotta happen one way or another," Arambai growled. "There are airships of all colors coming into Ironridge still on regularly-scheduled flights, then finding the docking and repowering equipment all gone. Fortunately, the weather's been extremely mild, but we're having to resort to parking them in the badlands and having teams of pegasi haul the crews back into Ironridge. And they can't get out. The world's counting on us to have one. And besides, if we try to rebuild without it, the world won't wait. They've probably figured out something's amiss already and are rerouting cargo ships through Varsidel, or something equally hair-brained."
"Huh." Starlight took a step back, not knowing what else to say.
"So what about the rest of you?" Arambai asked. "Who else is listening in I might know?"
"Yours truly," Valey announced with a grin, deliberately leaving her identity up to her voice.
"And Willow," Willow replied, standing next to Starlight. Behind her, White Chocolate was silent.
"Yours truly? Are you that bat everyone's been going on about?"
Valey winked at the sound stone. "Yup!" She made a face she knew Arambai couldn't see.
"The one that took down Herman," Arambai said. "I've heard your name whispered a time or two here and there. Sounds like you had a pretty bad reputation beforehoof. Also doesn't sound like much of what you did caught on. There's a bunch of mercenaries stuck here saying someone stole their ship, and they're talking up how tough you are, but down on the streets folks can't make up their minds whether you're a supervillain or a folk hero. I tried to throw a good word in here and there, but everyone wants to talk about what happened without knowing the details, and it sounds like you're an easy face to imagine at the center."
Valey blew a raspberry. "I kinda was, Gramps. Beating up Herman before you even showed up? Remember that?"
"Yeah. Anyway, I'd like to discuss matters of payment."
Suddenly, Valey froze, her eyes starting to sparkle. "Hold on. Payment? As in..."
"As in if it wasn't for you getting rid of that thug, things would've been bad. Bad bad, especially if he hurt Starlight or stopped her from doing whatever she did to clear away the windigoes. So this goes for you, too, Starlight. Ironridge isn't the most financially stable place right now, and there are actually rumblings that the currency will collapse since there's no trade to back it. But the city owes you quite a bit. So if you ever find yourself in need of something Ironridge can offer..."
"I don't want-!" Starlight started to say, but Valey frantically shushed her by covering her mouth with a hoof. "Mmmph!" Starlight spat the offending appendage away.
"Anyway. It's too early now to say for sure what that'll look like, but I've got an idea for starters. Since this gig in Ironridge is likely to be long-term for me, but there's not much of a point in keeping Ironridge and Riverfall separate any more, I want to bring Matryona back here so I can see her properly again. That'll mean making a return flight to Ironridge once the ship is patched up. At the very least, it'll need someone to fly it back to Riverfall. If you or any of your friends are feeling up to it, you'd be welcome to make a return visit."
Starlight nearly exploded with indignation. "We barely got out of Ironridge with our lives and your idea of a reward is to invite us back!? What is wrong with you?"
"Woah, woah, woah!" Starlight could imagine the yellow stallion waving his hooves to calm her down. "First off, the city's a lot more stable now that there's no more yaks running around, I'm in charge and it's burnt itself out already. Maybe Amber or Willow would like to see it too, since I know the lot of you were hoping to go as a group. At the very safest, you could stick to Skyfreeze and be fine. But what I actually wanted to offer was the Yakyakistan Ambassador's old room in Skyfreeze. Remember how we were talking about the security on the door? I've got that ready to override, but haven't assigned it to a new pony yet. Short version is, if any one of you who'd like to claim that comes back here to do the imprint and look inside, the room and everything in it is yours."
"Everything in it?" Willow looked worried. "Arambai, from what I've heard, the Ambassador was a monster. What would we do with his things?"
"They weren't his any more," Arambai growled. "That fleabag already gave the room over to the leader of that mercenary group as payment for their services. A griffon named Kero, if my intel is correct. Problem is, I haven't seen a feather of him since I got here, and apparently his own mercenaries don't know where he is either. I have no clue what he would've been using that room for, but at the very least what you'd get is one of the nicest, most exclusive properties in Ironridge. You ever want a safe place to stay, that would be it. If there's anything dangerous in there, I could get a team to clean it out for you, but for all you know, there could be a proper dragon's hoard of treasure in there, too. Anyway, that's my idea. If you don't want it, I'll figure out someone else it can go to, but I figured since you did the fighting, you ought to get first claim to the losers' things."
Starlight pouted, knowing for absolute certain that a mystery room filled with things left behind by manipulative plotters meant bad news for living a peaceful, adventure-free life, but she didn't speak up to turn it down. Maybe Valey would want it, or something.
"Do you mind if we think about that?" Willow asked plaintively. "Recently me and my friends have... made a lot of hasty decisions we wish we had thought more about. If you're inviting us back to Ironridge, I very much appreciate it, but we need to talk it over, sleep on it, talk again and wait at least a week before I feel comfortable allowing that."
"Way I see it, you don't have much of a choice, since the airship doesn't sound like it'll be ready before then anyway," Arambai replied. "I'll keep the room around as long as you need, or until you decide you don't want it. Take your time, and tell Maple I hope she's recovering. That griffon's sword looked nasty when I got a look at it."
"Don't worry," Willow assured. "Yesterday she was walking on her own, and this morning she said she felt even better." She paused, looking troubled. "When you said you took a look at it, did you...?"
"Find out how it worked? A way to undo the effects without letting them wear off? A way to make more?" Arambai gave a dry laugh. "Nahhh. I was just admiring the design. Don't see many smiths making black swords these days. It's got a bad rap as a color, but I think it looks kind of cool. If you decide to come back and bring it with you, though, I could always stick it in a lab and-" He cut himself off with the sound of a hoof thumping against a forehead. "Right. No more Sosa means all our arcane research equipment is gone. If you really want to know how it works, I suppose you could take it down to my lab in Riverfall and have Shinespark check it with the material there. Might want to do that anyway! From what I've heard, it sounds like she needs a little fresh air."
Willow smiled ruefully. "I was going to ask if you used it on anyone. But we could go there next, if you need anyone to check in on your house."
"Oh. No, I didn't, and yeah, that would be appreciated. If Hemlock is up on my roof again, you have my permission to throw him in the river. Anyway, I'm out of time for now. Got some meetings to attend to. Matryona, call me back this evening! I want to know more about that thing you were telling me..."
Starlight stared at the stone as it flickered and went dull. "Does that mean it's time to leave?"
Willow looked to the open deck door. "We're in no hurry," she replied.
"And it'll probably take some doing to convince my sister to accompany us like he said," Dior added, touching his orange bangs with a hoof. "Still, you said you wanted a look around. As long as you don't mind me accompanying you in Riverfall after, shall we tour?"