Conlins Colrath huddled behind a bollard, very aware that he was sticking out the sides. A body flew past him and smashed into a crate before sliding free, stumbling forward as if eager to rejoin the fight, and instead falling off the dock entirely - the man screamed for a good two seconds before suddenly cutting off.

Conlins did the math. Two seconds of falling would take them about to the bottom of the hub structure, so that would have been force wards snagging the concussed fighter and reeling him in. How reliable were those? How many times a day could they catch someone? If Conlins was next, would he fall all the way to the bottom of Mile-High Station?

"You look worried," the old woman said. She was sitting on a crate, in plain view, knitting. "This is your first big brawl, yes?"

"Er. Yes. Should you be sitting there? Lots of things are getting thrown."

She cackled. "Not at me. You are clearly feeling too much stress. This is going the way these things always go, yes? It is an adventure! You should be excited. You, a boring researcher from Trallanar, have fled Brinkmar with stolen documents in order to go and find... something amazing, I'm sure... and now you are involved in a pitched battle at the legendary Mile-High station. Is this not what you wanted, dear?"

"No!" Conlins yelled, as he watched someone else go over the edge. "I - I was hoping we could... rent... the planar spike! I don't know!"

She cackled again. "Yes, yes, the one of a kind device would just be handed over for a researcher's salary."

"I offered my whole savings, and based on the prices to charter the ship..."

"This will be good for you, yes? You are too out of touch, you need adventure and excitement and - most of all - you need to remember how real people work."

An axe bounced off the bollard right by Conlins' head and he tried, futilely, to fold himself even smaller. The old woman's bodyguard, Kika, trotted over smiling and casually fending off a port guard with one of her swords - the other had remained wrapped up, and she'd shown no intention of using it. Her massive spherical hairdo quivered in the wind, and a few bandages that had come untucked whipped around like banners. "Mister Colrath, tell Tiller and Nach to just let me handle things, would you?"

She kicked the man she had been fighting off the docks, and two more immediately replaced him. She didn't seem bothered. "The thing is, they're both trying to fight and I really think we need Nach to use his Spatial magic to get the spike free and Tiller to watch his back. This fight out here isn't actually important." She pivoted, somehow making one of the port guards stab the other one, and then slammed their heads together. Over the edge they went. "And I respect that you don't want to join in yourself, that's your prerogative, but I do need you to give your boys some direction."

Granny was nodding approvingly, and Conlins felt simultaneously like he was being a child by hiding from the fight and like everyone else was being ridiculous by not following his lead. They could die! One of those people had a bolt-flinger that had punched a hole right through the Dockmaster's station - the hunk of metal had continued right out the other side and probably hit one of the airships. Still, if this was going to happen it was going to happen. Hesitantly, he turned and peeked over the bollard so he could yell to his hired goons.

"Nach! Get the spike so we can get out of here! Tiller, watch his back - that means hit anyone that tries to stop him!" He still wasn't sure just how smart Tiller was, and without the clarification he had been worried that Tiller would literally just watch.

Nach grabbed Tiller's arm and they twisted through space to the deck of Brute's Passage, the massive airship that housed a unique artifact called the Planar Spike - if Conlins understood correctly, it forced two planes into alignment and punched a hole between them, such that for a limited time in that spot both planes were the same place. Devices to make planar travel easier were common enough, and there were even quite a few that bound two planes together in some way, but the shocking force with which the planar spike did its work had been causing people to take notice.

One of Conlins' coworkers had done an investigation on it, and concluded it would be able to fly right into Brinkmar. It had concerned Conlins deeply when he read it since Brinkmar's planar security was supposed to be absolute, but since then he had watched as Granny opened a doorway to the prime plane from some random basement, which led him to wonder if Brinkmar had ever been as secure as he thought. His coworker, meanwhile, had ignored security concerns in favor of speculating on whether or not the Brute's Passage could puncture its way into the Queen of Candles' domain and what would happen if they did.

Conlins assumed that it would result in the absolute destruction of the ship, and the swift but painful death of everyone on board at the hands of the Queen of Candles herself.

Kika had made it back over to the main fight in time to pick up the slack from Nach and Tiller's departure, and was flitting around getting a few swings in on everyone without ever fully committing. As impressive as it was, the circle of guards was slowly closing on her. Finally they backed her onto a side dock and surrounded her, leaving no chance for escape - they were being cautious, or maybe they were each hoping someone else would make the first move, but even if a few of them got stabbed Kika wouldn't be able to do much before dying.

"Your - your bodyguard is in trouble," Conlins said, but Granny just smiled.

"Ah, but see where they are? No ships on that spoke, yes?"

Mile-High Depot was built like a wagon wheel, city at the hub and a complicated tangle of docks all sticking out like spokes. The city was perched on top of a massive metal spire that stood alone at the center of Besemurto, a brutal plane consisting of nothing but sand that shifted and churned like an angry sea; the edges of the small plane led back to the prime, and so the whole place acted as an easy shortcut from anywhere, to anywhere - easy if you could fly, that was. Since getting from where you entered to where you wanted to be nearly always required travel across the maelstrom of sand, Mile-High Depot was an important resting point people used to trade goods, do repairs, and make sure they were pointed at the right portal out.

Conlins tried to understand why it would matter that Kika was on a smaller side dock with no airships. It was one less way to escape, if anything. "I don't get it."

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"She's a sweet child, doesn't like to do unnecessary harm. She has been throwing people off the sides to be caught by the force web, yes? If there was an airship on that dock she would need to hold back, out of fear there were innocents on board."

Kika dropped her sword, but before the guards could charge in she grabbed the wrapped one off her back and leapt into the air... and kept going. The guards and Conlins alike just stared upwards as she drifted higher, and then she pointed the sword - still sheathed and wrapped - towards the ground. The impact was massive, shattering the dock in an instant and sending the severed end tumbling away. A few of the guards were hurled back far enough to land on solid ground, but the vast majority disappeared from view. Once again, Conlins found himself wondering just how good the magic that was catching people was.

Kika herself popped up a moment later, running towards the Brute's Passage to stop the few people that hadn't gone after her before. She'd already strapped the sword onto her back again, and snatched up a new one to use from the ground. If that wrapped blade had let her do so much damage, he was glad she didn't feel the need to actually draw it on anyone. A crowd was forming nearby, but everyone was keeping a respectful distance and just enjoying the show - one enterprising young lady was selling sausages to the onlookers. If there were more guards coming, Conlins doubted they'd be able to make it through the spectators anyway.

Nach appeared on the deck holding what looked like a gigantic arrowhead attached to a metal barrel, the stubby device awkward in his arms. Tiller was nowhere to be seen. Frantically Nach paced around looking in all directions. "Where are we going?" he yelled, "what's the fucking plan to get off this place?"

The plan had been to charter the Brute's Passage, or some other ship if they could just bring the spike with them. Now... he wasn't sure. He stood, the immediate danger mostly over or at least very much occupied, and ran over to climb what was left of the Dockmaster's station. He could see past the crowd - yes, there were more guards coming - and... there. A ship, elegant but small, was just untying lines and getting ready to take to the skies. It didn't matter where it was going; if it could get them to the edge and back to the prime plane, Granny could handle transport from there. He'd asked if she could take them directly from Mile High Depot, but she'd just said "Bad things happen to people who try to leave Besemurto from its center" and he'd decided he didn't want her to elaborte further.

He pulled out a portion of the money he'd been planning on using to charter the ship, and began popping them apart into individual coins. "Follow me!" he said, not really wanting to, and then flung the money across the crowd away from where he needed to go. The coins glinted in the air, and everyone could see the color - orange, worth two hundred sixteen pins each. It wasn't going to make anyone rich, but there were a lot of coins there - and some he had thrown still clipped together into a six-coin hexagon. The crowd surged and pushed, some smartly deciding it wasn't worth it and trying to get out of the way while others shoved and trampled.

Tiller finally burst through a door onto the deck of Brute's Passage, holding a squirming man in each hand. He threw them aside, off the edge of the airship, and then picked up Nach and hopped down onto the dock before running with Conlins and Granny. Kika hung at the back, mostly tripping and disarming people, and they all made their way towards the airship Conlins had picked out. They weren't going that fast, even with the crowd trying to get out of their way. Conlins could see their pursuers just thirty feet from them, stymied by the people scrambling for coins, and he gave them an apologetic wave.

After a moment there was finally room to properly run, and the wooden boards shook as Tiller's bulk slammed down over and over - he was still carrying Nach, who was carrying the device. Nach looked like he was going to be sick. "If this job gets me killed, my ghost is going to kick your ass."

They reached the other ship with guards right behind them - it had already pulled away, but was flying slowly alongside the dock still. Kika jumped onto a barge filled with scrap and ran along it until she could leap through the air and land on the passing airship. Nach tossed an empty bottle aside, thin film of liquid mana still visible on the glass, and teleported himself and Tiller to stand next to Kika and... Granny? When had she? Thinking back, Conlins hadn't even seen her running with them.

Abandoned, he realized he was going to have to do something crazy. He sprinted along the dock, watching as his target approached open sky. He felt his body jiggle uncomfortably; he'd worked at a desk his whole life, and while he tried to stay in shape he simply wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. The end of the dock was approaching, his whole field of vision nothing but sky and hazy sand so far in the distance, and he had to smother the part of his brain that was demanding he stop before the edge got too close. Turning at an angle, he grabbed a dangling line from a loading crane without stopping and swung as it rotated out, perfectly approaching the ship.

The crane shuddered to an abrupt stop as it caught on something, and Conlins' hands lost their tenuous grip on the rope. He fell, his whole life passing through the back of his mind - there was regret there, yes, but also a sense of peace. He had tried. He had done something amazing, for a moment there. The thought that he might be caught by the same magic as the people his team had hurled off the edge never occurred to him - he was certain, absolutely certain, that this was the end.

He landed on the deck of the airship.

"Good job getting close enough for me to snag you, boss!" Nach was grinning, and reaching a hand down. Conlins just stared at it for a moment, still recovering from his near-death experience, and then took the hand and allowed himself to be yanked up to his feet. He looked back at Mile-High Depot as they departed, and noticed that while some of the guards looked angry there were several watching that were smiling. One waved at him. Huh. His eyes scanned down the spire, hundreds of feet of vertical jagged metal, until he rested his gaze on the swirling undertow of living sand at its base. The wrecks of airships lifted briefly into view one second only to be swallowed again the next, and he thought for a long time about what would have happened if he had fallen that whole way.

Eventually, Nach came and took most of his remaining money to pay the captain of the airship so they wouldn't just turn right around or - worse - dump everyone over the edge. Not that that would have been likely to succeed given the combat prowess everyone had shown, but nobody felt like taking the chance twice in one day. Especially when there was no more force web to catch them. Conlins thanked everyone, even though he was actually still trying to figure out how the negotiation had turned into a fight, and they all huddled at the back of the deck to congratulate each other.

Even Tiller, who was normally silent, nudged Kika. "Tha' was good. You're good with... with the fighting."

"Thanks," she said, "it's kind of the family business."

"Speaking of," Grannie interjected, "have you heard from your father yet?"

Kika smiled sadly and rubbed one hand with the other idly. "No, not yet. They say it might be a while before he wakes up. By the time we get home from all this, hopefully. Do you think it will take long?"

Everyone turned to look at Conlins, who seemed surprised to have so many eyes on him. "Oh! Um. We need to ask someone for something, and then we should be able to go to the place where we can open the way to where we're actually going. And then... we'll see what we find."

Granny patted him on the shoulder. "Perfectly vague, dear. Very good. Just the right amount of mystery for an adventure, yes? But I suspect it would be better if you tell us something more specific about our next stop."

He looked at the others nervously, and then finally decided to just blurt it out. "We're going to see the patriarch of the dragons."

A stunned silence fell over the group, until Nach teleported away. From the far side of the ship he yelled back at Conlins. "I fucking quit, you psychopath! A dragon? The father of the dragons? What is wrong with you?"

Granny went back to her knitting. "I think it's a fine plan, dear. And if he eats us all, well, it's a dramatic way to go. Nobody wants to die in a boring way, yes?"

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