Raindrop found it impossible to be alone. Sentinel hounded her like a lost puppy, but in an unobtrusive way. He really was quite good at seeming ‘in place’ no matter which room he was in. Every time she looked over her shoulder, she would find him standing somewhere nearby, nonchalantly inspecting something or other, preening his wings, or ordering his saddlepack.
Raindrop wanted to be alone with her thoughts, but that was proving to be impossible. Most of all, she wanted to be away from Sentinel. He was a sombre reminder that she was not welcome in Equestria any more. Even though the princesses acted sympathetic, they had sent her off on this ‘mission’ fully expecting her not to return. She felt that if Sentinel didn’t think she would be a threat to anyone she came into contact with, then he would have already just abandoned her..
A soft chime echoed throughout the air, and then a gong was struck, three times, reverberating around the facility. That was the ‘first call’ for boarding, indicating that anyone who was getting on the 3PM airship to Gryphus should get aboard at their earliest convenience. In ten minutes time, the ‘final boarding call’ would be struck, two chimes followed by two gongs, audible throughout the entire dock.
Raindrop retrieved her bags, and then set off for the boarding ramp, getting in line behind the other ponies waiting there.
Gryphus wasn’t exactly a ‘tourist destination’, but it was the most popular destination in the entire gryphon homelands for ponies wanting to see what the griffon culture was like.
“C’mon hun, slow down,” Sentinel said, his tone warm, smiling and shaking his head, heaving his bag into line behind her, giving a good-natured laugh, “People will think you’re trying to get away from me.”
Raindrop grit her teeth and growled internally, before smiling over her shoulder at him. “c’mon sweetcheeks, you know I was just saving you a spot in line.”
They were interrupted by the fact that they reached the head of the line. The two large griffon guards gave their bags only a cursory glance before allowing them up the ramp. Obviously, they didn’t consider a simple pony a threat to the security of the airship.
Raindrop and Sentinel clambered up the ramp and onto the deck of the airship itself.
The airship was a ‘suspended’ airship, a large bronze, elongated ‘balloon’ with a giant ‘basket’ hanging underneath, suspended by thick cables and ropes. A pair of large propellers sat on the back of the airship, ready to spin to life and power the ship across the sky.
Raindrop looked about uncertainly, staring down at her ticket. ‘Room 24’ was written on it, and there was a small metallic tag of some kind embedded in the paper; thin, like silk.
“This way,” Sentinel said with a long-suffering sigh, pointing towards a staircase leading to the lower decks.
Raindrop scowled inwardly and then followed him down the stairs. They went down two more flights of stairs and came out into a cramped hallway, lines with doorways and lit by dim magical lights. Steam pipes ran along the walls and bended over the top of doorways, misting faintly with either extreme heat or extreme cold, with a metal cage encasing them so that it was hard to accidentally touch the pipes themselves.
Sentinel gestured towards a doorway ahead with a large ‘24’ emblazoned on it.
Raindrop glowered at him at that. “Why thank you for pointing out the obvious, hun.”
Sentinel just smiled blithely at her.
Upon reaching the door, Raindrop stood in confusion for several long moments, before Sentinel sighed and took the ticket from her, holding it up against a gem inset into the door itself. There was a click, and the door slipped open in inch. Sentinel pushed it open and entered silently.
Raindrop scowled again, stepping into the room and kicking the door shut behind her with a hoof, staring around the room inside. It was all bronzed. Everything. From the tiny window, the desk with the gem-lamp, the walls, the floor, the gem-sconce hanging on a chain from the ceiling lighting the small room. And most importantly: the single large bed.
“No double bed?” Raindrop asked quietly.
Sentinel shrugged slightly, dumping his bag in a corner of the room. “It’s not like a newlywed couple would get separate beds.”
“Looks like you’re sleeping on the floor,” Raindrop stated immediately.
Sentinel gave a long-suffering sigh, stretching out slowly. “Damn gravity. I always want to sleep on the wall and it makes me sleep on the floor.”
Raindrop scowled at him, pulling herself onto the bed and splaying across it fully. “Well, it’s only for a night, right? I’m sure you’ll survive.”
Sentinel peered up at her, pulling his bag over and then dropping onto his stomach, resting his chin on the bag. “Try three days.”
Raindrop blanched at that, her ears splaying back. “But... it’s not even that far away!”
Sentinel shrugged again. “Airship travel is slow. That’s how it works. Requires less work and maintenance than a train and railway lines, can get anywhere, carries large cargo loads, but is slow.”
Raindrop gave a snort, huffing, pulling a pillow underneath her chin and resting her head on it, frowning. “I should have brought a book.”
“There’s a perfectly good window there,” Sentinel said, motioning towards the window with a shrug, flipping open his backpack and rummaging around in it.
Raindrop just huffed, hugging the pillow a little bit tighter.
Sentinel hummed, pulling out his old dagger and starting to work at it again, scraping it across a stone.
With a growl, Raindrop picked up her pillow, stuffed it over her head to block out the noise, and tried to sleep.
Thud-scritch.
Thud-scritch.
Raindrop jerked awake at the odd sound, head coming up off the pillow as she blinked blearily. She had been dozing. Judging by the quality of light coming from outside, it was very late dusk, with the fading golden rays of the sun beginning to dip below the horizon.
Cautiously, Raindrop pulled herself over to the door and then pulled it open slightly, peering out into the corridor.
Thud-scritch.
The strange noise came again, and Raindrop caught sight of a rather strange griffon. Decidedly feminine, the griffon was smaller than any that Raindrop had ever seen or heard of. She was maybe two-third Raindrop’s size, with a black and white colouration. Her beak was black, her fur and feathers were white, and there were mottled patterns of grey and black all across her feathers and sides. Her underbelly and chest appeared to be purest white, and her tail was different to a normal griffons. Instead of being thin and ending in a tuft, it seemed to be thick, fluffy, and ended with a fluffy flare of a sorts.
Even stranger were the accessories this weird griffon wore.
She had an eyepatch over her left eye, and some kind of mechanic system attached to her entire right side. Her right wing was slightly stretched at all times, with a spindly system of hooks and struts holding the joints in place, keeping it from moving. Flying was obviously not an option for her. Attached to this wing brace was a kind of ‘sheath’ that her entire right front paw was encased within. It was this that made the peculiar ‘thud-scritch’ sound as the griffon walked. Solid bronze, it looked heavy and unwieldy, but the small griffon seemed to handle the weight just fine. Its smooth surface was pitted and scarred from repeated scuffing and friction, and the three large claws on the front of it, most likely meant to aid in traction, looked dangerously sharp. The ‘elbow joint’ of the strange exoskeletal limb was glowing a ghostly blue, powered by some kind of magical gem embedded within it. A single release valve sprayed a small mist of steam away from the griffon’s body with every step, timed with the griffon releasing weight from the limb.
As she passed, the griffon locked her piercing amber eye with Raindrop’s own for a second, making the pegasus recoil slightly.
Sentinel pushed the door open and sent Raindrop tumbling back inside the room with a squeak, her limbs flailing.
“Hey, watch what you’re doing!” Raindrop scolded.
Sentinel blinked, frowning deeply. “I didn’t know you’d be spying at the door.”
“What was that?!” Raindrop asked, motioning towards the strange griffon she’d seen.
“The pygmy griffon?” Sentinel asked matter-of-factly.
“Yes, that, whatever it was!” Raindrop said, waving a hoof.
“She’s a pygmy griffon,” Sentinel responded, shrugging slightly and then laying himself back on his saddlepack, trying to get comfortable.
“She was wearing... like... things!” Raindrop protested.
“Aye, and?” Sentinel asked, raising a brow. “She was probably born lame or requires extra strength. The griffons are surprisingly good with steam-tech.”
“But... what was she? Looks like a snow leopard had sex with a hawk,” Raindrop said, bewildered.
“Pygmy griffons come from the far frozen north. They’re fluffier than normal desert-dwelling griffons, aren’t as big, tend to be a little smarter, and are generally mistreated and mistrusted by desert griffons,” Sentinel explained, yawning faintly as he pulled his backpack closer to get more comfortable.
Raindrop went quiet then, thinking for several moments. “How many pygmy griffons are around, anyway?”
“In Gryphus?” Sentinel asked, an ear perking lazily. “Only a few hundred. I’m actually surprised to see one at all.”
Pursing her lips, Raindrop laid her chin back on her pillow, frowning. “Well what’s she doing on the airship wearing that getup?”
Sentinel gave her a long, blank stare. “You could try asking her? You know I’ve been here on the ship as long as you have, why would I have any clue?”
Raindrop snorted once, turning away from the guard and closing her eyes. “Where do we even go for food?”
“Gryphus airdock terminal,” Sentinel said without missing a beat, producing a sandwich and taking a bite out of it.
Raindrop turned back to face him, her eyes narrowing. “You’re kidding.”
“Sure am,” Sentinel said with a shrug and a snicker, “There’s a restaurant on deck five. Bottom floor,” he pointed at the floor with a lazy hoof, “Expensive, but there’s no other way to get a meal.”
Raindrop snorted once, digging around in her own bag and producing a coin pouch. “Are you going to hound my steps the entire way?”
Sentinel looked up, raising a brow, before he shrugged. “I think I’ll keep you in suspense,” he said between bites of his sandwich.
Raindrop scowled, picking up the ticket and pushing the door open, kicking it closed after her, turning to stalk down the hallway. Immediately, she stumbled directly into the young griffon she had seen earlier, sending them both sprawling untidily in the hallway.
Raindrop rolled to her hooves, shaking her head slightly, blinking down at the diminutive griffon and then offering a hoof to help her up.
“Thanks!” the griffon squeaked, reaching out with her mechanical clawed forepaw.
Raindrop recoiled, taking a step away.
The griffon blinked once, and then gave a nervous giggle, her cheeks flushing faintly. “Oh right... this thing. It’s just prosthesis,” the griffon said, extending her forepaw to show Raindrop.
Raindrop cautiously took a step closer, squinting down at the strange contraption.
The young griffon wiggled it on her paw, showing how it rotated counter to the fur. “It’s like a sock! Only metal!”
“I... see. Why’re you wearing it?” Raindrop raised a brow down at the griffon, sidestepping around her slightly.
“I uh... broke my paw on the airship,” the griffon said, averting her eyes. “I’m kinda clumsy.”
“And now you’re wearing a giant brass sock?” Raindrop stated, staring.
The griffon nodded happily. “But it’s more an alloy of copper and tempered steel... It was the best I could get!”
Raindrop blinked slowly. “You... built that thing?”
The griffon chirped and nodded proudly.
Raindrop continued to stare, her eyes wide. “How?!”
“I used my noodle!” the griffon said, lifting her good paw to point at her temple. “Well... really, I used my paws a whole lot more than my brain. They’re better for heavy lifting, see?” the griffon waved a paw in example, “But my brain helped a whole heap!”
Tilting her head slightly to the side, Raindrop gave a single blink. “What’s your name, little griffon?”
“I’m Wisp!” she said, saluting with her good paw and grinning.
“Well I’m Raindrop, it’s very nice to meet you and your scary sock. Can you point me in the direction of the dining area?”
Wisp nodded happily, turning around and pointed with her metal-encased paw. A hiss of steam escaped the elbow joint as she lifted it. “Right over there, just go down the stairs to the bottom.”
Raindrop nodded once. “Thank you. I wish you luck with your erm... claw.”
Wisp grinned at that, starting back down the hallway again. “Luck is for people without skill and mechanical limbs!”
Raindrop watched the young griffon go, every second step accompanied by a soft hiss of steam and the thud of the mechanical limb on the deck.
Raindrop paused in the hallway, peering out of one of the small, circular windows lining the hallways. The ground was far below, moving by at a languid pace. Sparse trees were still visible, dotting the landscape, though they were gradually petering out. They were getting into Gryphus proper now, and it was visibly becoming more arid.
Looking up, Raindrop cast a glance around for Sentinel, half expecting him to be nearby; she wanted to ask him why the griffons named their country ‘Gryphus’, and their capital city ‘Gryphus’ as well. It was just confusing!
But Sentinel wasn’t following her now.
Raindrop pursed her lips at that, not quite sure how to feel. He had dogged her steps while they were back in Equestria, but now they were crossing into Gryphus, he didn’t even care about detaining her?
Raindrop snorted to herself and turned on her hooves, striding down the hallway to the staircase, climbing down the stairs to the dining area.
The entire second-to-last floor by the looks of it, had been converted into a dining hall. There was no centre divider, and the walls sloped heavily inwards at the base, denoting that they were quite close to the base of the airship. Large, thick beams stretched from ground to roof, presumably for structural support. One or two griffon waiters wandered about the sparsely populated tables, while a small group were visible through a doorway in what was presumably the kitchen.
Raindrop headed for one of the benches on the side of the room, where seats had been built rather cleverly over the sloped bottom halves of the wall, giving roomy seating in what would otherwise have been empty, unusable space. She seated herself on one of the seats, and picked up a menu, looking over it carefully.
A large male griffon made his way over to her after a few minutes, tapping a claw against the ground impatiently.
“Uhm... I’ll have a salad burger and ‘Gryphus fries’, please?” Raindrop asked hopefully, looking up at the griffon.
The griffon nodded once, and then swept away, writing her order on a menu that was tied around his neck.
Raindrop put her forehooves up on the edge of the table and stretched out languidly, idly brushing her mane back out of her face.
A steady thud-scritch announced that Wisp was coming down the stairs, and Raindrop automatically looked up.
Wisp came down the stairs, looked around for a moment, spotted Raindrop, and then made a bee-line for her. She was bouncing slightly, with a ‘spring’ in her step, something that Raindrop found to be quite at odd with the large, heavy contraption that she had over her wing and forepaw.
“You dropped this!” Wisp squeaked, sliding in besides Raindrop and offering Raindrop her ticket with her good paw.
Raindrop gasped faintly and took the ticket, slipping it into her coinpurse with pursed lips. “Geeze, thanks. I would have been locked out of the room if I lost that, and I feel like Sentinel wouldn’t let me back in until we got to Gryphus.”
“What are you two doing together if you don’t like eachother so much?” Wisp asked curiously.
Raindrop paled at that, her eyes widening and pupils dilating slightly in terror. It was her first conversation with someone else and she was already screwing up the cover story!
“Oh... aha...” Raindrop trailed off breathlessly, her ears splaying backwards, cheeks flushing faintly under the suddenly scrutinising gaze of the young griffon. “W-we’re quite close. But he’s a real prankster,” she said with an earnest nod.
“You’re a terrible liar,” Wisp said conversationally, reaching for the menu and looking at it. “I know what’s going on. I might be young, but I’m not stupid.”
Raindrop’s ears pinned back, and she gave a nervous laugh, before she leaned in and whispered urgently. “Y-you can’t tell anyone.”
Wisp smiled, closing the menu and rising to three hooves and a mechanical limb. Her good paw lifted, and she patted Raindrop gently on the shoulder, smiling reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I know what arranged marriages are like. I won’t say a word.”
Raindrop could only stare dumbly at the griffon as she headed for the kitchen, disappearing around the doorway with a flick of her fluffy tail.
Raindrop pushed her ticket up against the little scanner, and then pushed the door open, chewing on the last of her Gryphus fries. They were actually quite tasty; a thick wrapping of potato around a kind of seaweed and salad centre with dry spices.
“So, I have a brilliant new idea,” Raindrop stated, closing the door behind her, munching on a Gryphus Fry happily.
Sentinel looked up from his book, an ear raising. “Aye?”
“We’re in an arranged marriage,” Raindrop stated, smiling smugly.
“...Okay?” Sentinel asked blankly.
“This gives me an excuse to be a couple with you and loathe you at the same time. An elegant solution. I love it!” Raindrop said with a happy nod.
Sentinel rolled his eyes slightly at that, returning to his book.
Raindrop hummed faintly, pulling herself up onto the bed, and then bodily pushing Sentinel off it and onto the floor, splaying out across it.
Sentinel huffed, picking the book up off his face and glowering at her. “What the buck was that for?”
Raindrop peered over the edge of the bed at him, shrugging faintly. “I hate you and you’re sleeping on the floor, remember?”
Sentinel just glared.