Bounty-ful

Thea followed, keeping a close eye on their surroundings.
"so..." she said, quietly so that no one around would be able to hear, "why did you decide to purchase an airship and become a bounty hunter?"

"All right then," Ephraim nodded, "the two of us tonight. Separate vantage points, or the same one?"

Kestrel sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"It kind of... happened on its own. Well, first I wanted to leave town, get out into the world... You know. And the best way to do that--the only way if you really want freedom--is to have your own airship. So I bought one. And I knew the bills were going to start coming in soon, so I started looking at my options. Bounty hunting was the best one, since I can plan, I can fight okay, or at least better than I look like I can, and I'm getting criminals out of the sky. I guess that last bit's a little more important than the rest, in the big picture."

Kestrel walked in silence for a moment before clearing her throat.

"Well, what about you? What's in bounty hunting for a... fae descendant?"

***

Aurelia cocked her head to one side and frowned slightly, considering the question.

"Separate, I think, but within line of sight. More ground covered, but close enough to join forces if necessary."

Ephraim nodded curtly, "Good, we're on the same page, then."

"I do not fit in with and of my ancestral groups," Thea said, "no fae will want to spend time with one who has were blood, and the same goes the other way. I wished to have some adventures, and I decided that going somewhere with mostly humans was my best possibility."

"Oh, you're mixed?" Kestrel asked, "I didn't think of the were-blood. Can you actually change shape or is it just a glamour?"

***

"Indeed," Aurelia said, stacking up the papers, "Let's hope that helps us get along, as opposed to the alternative."

Ephraim smirked, "Well, one way or another, I'm going to enjoy our time together. Now, where should we be positioned? One on the inside; one on the out? If so, do we have any easy way to communicate? If not, how are we going to cover all entrances? Is it feasible to have one of us in the room?"

"I can actually change shape."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kestrel nodded, "Could come in handy."

***

"Oh, yes, we'll have a wonderful time of it, won't we?" Aurelia said. Though her tone was level, she somehow managed to convey the sarcasm anyways. "I think one person on the rooftops and the other on the ground should give us the best way of covering ground. I trust you have a head for heights?"

"No, I signed up to work on an airship because I can't stand heights." Ephraim replied flatly, pausing for a moment before continuing, "but that still leaves the door unwatched. For all that windows can be useful entrances, if an assassin knows what they're doing, sometimes it's best to just walk in, quietly do the job, and walk out."

Aurelia frowned.

"There's no ideal way of covering all of the possible entrances. The place is a rabbit's warren, if these maps are correct. Honestly, the best way of doing it would be to buy a signalling spell and park one of us right outside Counter's door and have the other on the lookout."

"Never buy what you can make" Ephraim said, "you any good at spellcrafting?"

Aurelia shrugged modestly.

"I've picked up a few things. But a good one will take time. Are you comfortable leaving all of this," she gestured to the papers scattered across the table, "in order to craft a good spell. Oh, and the other consideration is that you'll have to be the one that send it. I have no channeling ability whatsoever."

Ephraim nodded, "Makes sense that I'd be the one on lookout anyway; I've got the guns. Regardless, the information isn't going anywhere, and the best strategy we've got calls for it, so it seems as though it's the best course of action. If you've got something you prefer, I'm all ears."

Thea, arriving at the ship, tapped on the door. While waiting for someone to open it, she looked around at all the ships and smiled. She was finally free to have an adventure, and she could play with the crew as she did. Teasing was so much more fun with them than it had been with her family.

"Sounds fine to me," Aurelia said. She walked across the room, rummaged briefly through a drawer and pulled out a large, rolled sheet of paper, a ruler, a compass and a pencil. She spread the paper out over the table, placing the other tools to the side. She picked the pencil and touched it to the paper as she spoke.

"All right. Since it's a messenger spell, that means it's a two-point connected spell. You're here, I'm here, and the signal flows from you to me. We want a little variance in the pathway to create different messages, so I suggest we just leave it open enough for ten seconds of speech-thought. It makes it more difficult to draw out, but it has a lot more finesse to it than a simple rune spell and no one else will be able to sense it. Have you ever named yourself in a written spell before? If you have a spell name ready, the process is going to be a lot faster."

***

Kestrel threw open the door without bothering to knock. As she entered, she hung up her soaking coat and hat by the door before crossing the room to turn on the heater. After much clanking, and a sharp tap from Kestrel's toe, the heater came to life. That settled, she peered over at the table.

"Spell-writing? What's the occasion?"

Thea followed Kestrel through the door and also hug her wet things by the door. Sure that the map on the table was a map of the area they needed to guard, she didn't bother trying to look. Instead she found a seat and listened.

"Yeah, a few times" Ephraim replied, "do you have a spare pencil, or should I get my pen from my bags?"

"Use this!" Thea said handing over a pretty looking pen. "What are you working on?"

"We're working on a messenger spell," Aurelia explained for both Thea and Kestrel's benefit, "Written spells are more precise and won't show the same signs of a working that other types of spells would, which is critical here since most assassins have mage sight."

Kestrel nodded.

"Good idea. Can we rig one up between the two of you up there and the two of us down here, in case there's any trouble?"

Aurelia sighed and got out another piece of paper.

"So much for a nap before the night watch."

"Thanks." Ephraim said, taking the pen from Thea before turning to Kestrel, "The second spell shouldn't be a problem, though it will take some time; do you know anything about spell writing that might expedite our efforts?"

Kestrel fixed her gaze on the ceiling somewhere.

"No, not really... I can activate runic and written wind spells, but that's because you need that for flying. Living in a birding village and all, I never thought I'd need anything more, and I didn't have time to learn more than the basics in the last few weeks."

Aurelia shook her hair out and traced a line out along the ruler.

"Well, you have a decent spell name worked out. You know how to write that out." To Ephraim, she said, "You must be pretty confident to use pen."

"It's just for my name; I'm pretty confident with that." Ephraim said, "Having two people simultaneously trying to write a spell on the same piece of paper just spells disaster to me. That said, I can started on the second one while you draw that one up and save us some time."

"I would help, but alas my magic does not work the same way as yours...I would only be in the way." Thea said before curling up on a chair, "wake me if anything interesting happens."
With that said, Thea appeared to fall asleep, her clothing and general appearance now back to what she had when they originally met.

Aurelia worked steadily and precisely on her spell--it was patently obvious that she'd had a lot of practice. Her spellname was complex but precise, a teardrop with two extra points that were detailed with tiny writing much like the rest of the spell. After checking the spell over, Aurelia called Kestrel over with a wave of her hand. Kestrel, who had been dozing in a chair against the wall, woke with a start and yawned her way over to the table.

Kestrel's spellname had none of the precision of Aurelia's, consisting of curved lines and a wide, sketchy circle encircled by writing. Aurelia placed herself clearly between Ephraim and Kestel's spellname. Spellnames might be hard to replicate and they were always most effective when drawn by the person they belonged to anyways, but with the right materials...