I awakened to the first bits of sunlight creeping through my curtains. Earlier than the others probably. I dressed in my one and only set of clothes, which was starting to look pretty beat up, after multiple battles yesterday. I heard snoring coming from Valietta’s room as I walked past. In the Navigation Room I found Sleipnir steering. The chrome-colored dragon man gave me a curt nod. He was slender and lithe. He yawned and a puff of smoke came from his mouth.

  “Morning, Daniel. I don’t ssupposse you know how to drive thiss thing? Ha ha, jusst kidding. Sseen Lorluxx about, though? I’ve been driving jusst about all night…Wesstern Current’ss coming up. Ssee it there?”

  He pointed. Ahead there was a wide, pale milky band, opalescent in the dawn, with clouds rushing and cascading into waterfalls and towers and storm rivers.

  Brufo came in. “Morning, gentemen. Daniel, care to join me for fishing? Believe you and I have the only fishing rods left on the airship. Of course, I’m no expert like you.”

  Hours passed. We didn’t have any luck. My stomach had already been growling. Brufo fared little better.

  “Don’t fret,” he advised as we sat together on deck, wind rushing past our faces. “Save your strength. The Western Current is said to be a veritable skyjungle of fauna. Most of it is hostile, probably, but there will be chances for us to hunt in the days to follow. We need to be ready.”

  “Days!?” I said.

  “I intend to keep fishing, but do you see any fish out here? Barely any clouds, and we sure aren’t aiming for them. But look at the Western Current and tell me that won’t hold clouds enough for a whole lifetime.”

  I looked at the cloud canyons churning ahead like the brim of the Milky Way.

  “Definitely.”

  I showered after lunch where we sat around drinking water and bantering. Everybody was up by then, at least. After I’d showered I put on my same grimy clothes, felt marginally cleaner, and went to go to the library. I intended to look for a book on Perks or so forth. But I stopped at Tamiro’s room. There was a book laid upon his bed closed.

  It said, Descriptions of the Metaphysics of Perks: A Beginner’s Primer. I recalled he needed to select a perk recently. He had earmarked one of the pages. That page started the section on ‘Perks for the Enterprising Fisher’. There were several pages’ worth. There was even one specific to the Black Chef class that Brufo had called [Bane of Ocean]. I wondered if he had it. But nothing for a Driften Waker.

  The one that caught my eye was [First Catch]. It allowed the user to have a very high chance of success for their first fishing attempt each day. That one tempted me, due to our current situation. But, probably shortsighted. I took the book. I’d keep looking. Tamiro wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

  “Snooping on dear Tamiro?” Val said, startling me so hard I dropped the book on my foot.

  I hopped around in pain. She chuckled.

  “I’m looking at this book of Perks he had…do you have any recommendations that I can ‘hold onto in my mind’ or whatever when I press the button?”

  “Well Neatness is the one that paid off the most for me.”

  I was not about to pick a perk that encouraged me to clean fastidiously. I cleaned more out of a dutiful sense of not wanting to have a messy environment than anything else. I told her I’d keep it in mind. I put the book in my room and went above deck with Val to fish some more. My stomach growled. We found Brufo there, still at it, with nary to show for it.

  Brufo gratefully gave up the fishing rod, and went belowdecks grumbling, “No fish to catch. No fish in the air at all…”

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  “I had some weird dreams last night,” Val said when we had cast out our rods and settled onto the bench by the stairwell.

  “Me too. Oddly enough they involved a certain blond-haired, uh, what did he call himself? Svark? You too?”

  I even vaguely recalled Tamiro mentioning Valietta in my dream.

  “As a matter of fact yes, Tamiro was there. What’s going on with him? Do you think he’s okay?”

  I nodded. I told her what Tamiro and I and discussed in the dream.

  “And did you? Visit my dream like he offered?”

  “Of course not! I would never--”

  “Your loss.”

  Around dinnertime (an empty meal again of water or spirits) the captain announced over the intercom we were approaching the Western Current. Everyone went upstairs to see it.

  “Hope we fare better than the last stage of the journey,” Brufo said somberly. “It’s different, without Tamiro.”

  “He’ll be back,” said Val. “He promised.”

  To the wrong place, I thought. Hopefully I had really talked to Tamiro in the dream, and been able to tell him we were headed to Aeven by way of the Western Current.

  As we approached, the clouds grew larger and larger until they loomed all around the ship, with huge cliffs of thunderheads on both sides. The wind took over here, we were sucked into its flow like a river.

  “The Western Current runs strong,” Brufo said.

  “Have you ever been on it before?” I asked.

  “I braved the Eastern Current once, at my master’s request.”

  “And?”

  “And I have no regrets at not having done it since. I think us three--” Brufo indicated me, him and Val ”--should prepare for an all-nighter. Or as much as you can push. I’m hungry, friends. My hands ache for the kitchen!”

  “I’m up for it,” I said.

  “I’m still pretty beat up, boys. I think I’ll leave the fun tonight to you two. I look forward to a hot breakfast in the morning!”

  Another reason to fish is the kitten had grown restless. To be honest, I was not sure what it ate, and no one else knew for sure other than to guess ‘normal cat food’. Which meant meat I think. Which we had none of.

  Another point to consider is that the cat seemed to be green and made from a mossy plant material. It spent 100% of its time during the day curled in a puddle of sunlight, moving leisurely as the sun tracked around the room. Perhaps it had some way to derive nutrients from sunlight itself. I climbed up the ladder and poked my head into the helm and asked Captain Lorlux if he had observed anything about the cat. It had been here for a long time in the Navigation Room, after all. Was he feeding it? Was he letting it use a litter box?

  “We only need to keep it until we arrive at Aetherhaven. We don’t need to turn it into a science experiment.”

  I nodded and climbed back down, defeated. I found that it had knocked over a cup of water from dinner and was licking it with its green tongue. I petted the kitten. White flowers bloomed where my hand touched.

  “You like water I guess? What else do you need?”

  The kitten stood in front of me and mewled.

  Before bed, I made sure to go to the kitchen and fix a bowl of water for the kitten. I put it in my room. I put down a towel as well for the kitten. Then I grabbed the kitten from the Navigation Room. I am not even sure Lorlux noticed. I placed it in my room, waited until it settled them went topdeck to meet Brufo.

  He nodded to the Fishing Rod. “Took you long enough.”

  “I’m taking the kitten under my wing,” I said, casting the rod out. “It’s living in my room now.”

  Brufo looked at me, scratching his beard. “Listen Daniel. We’re just gonna sell it at the next town. Whatever it does, it probably belongs in someone else’s hands. The odds that we just keep it are next to none.”

  “I get it. I get it. I’m just taking care of it until then.”

  As the night wore on, we caught nothing, scenic vistas rushing past yes, dips and turns like an endless roller coaster, totally, but no fish were to be had. In fact, the Western Crossing was desolate of fauna. My stomach growled again and I thought of First Catch, and eating what sounded like one fish a day was a great ability in this crazy skyland.

  “Brufo,” I finally asked. “I got Level 5. I need to pick a perk. Have you heard of [First Catch]? Is it any good?”

  “You can catch something once a day, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Pretty good, I think. Definitely depends what you value, yeah? Consistent, low-risk food. What’s the catch? Nothing really. Just opportunity cost of other Perks you could be taking. Want my advice? You’ll get plenty of perks over time. Pick whatever you want, Daniel.”

  I nodded. He looked hungry too. I opened my stats and pressed the open Perk button, hungry.

  The message that popped up surprised me.

  [PERK ACQUIRED: Night Hunter (Daniel)]