Design Philosophy

As soon as we stopped, I jumped as quickly as I could, then running a couple feet away from the edge, just to make sure I wasn't going to have any chance of falling from such a height.

Taki and Rem were still flabergasted at the fact that I was afraid of heights, and just stared at me, like I was doing something stupid.

"Stop staring at me! I have my own issues, even if they seem mundane here!"

Both of them rolled their eyes in unison, and then, they, along with Xetalona, came into the room, off the platform. Xetalona did secure it so that it wouldn't fly around with wind.

Finally, after calming down, I realized something: I wasn't holding my scythe.

'Where did I put it!? I swear I had it before!'

Using observation, I found it with it's blade buried into the sand. I immediately detached my arm and grabbed the scythe, then bringing it all the way up to where we were, and attaching my arm again, this time, with a weapon on my shoulder.

"That's.. really cool!"

Turning to Xetalona, I rolled my own eyes, and then instead of saying something about it, just asked "Where's this air ship of yours?"

"It's behind you, silly!"

"Hmm?" I turned around to find a weirdly oversized room, which was closer to a warehouse. The inside didn't match the outside at all, either that or my perspective was skewed enough that the ship hull was bigger when I looked at it. I then used observation, and found that the whole building was partially built into the ground, and the hull roof was only a part of the ceiling and roof. The rooms that I thought I saw were additions so that the entirety of the roof were to stay up, not extra rooms.

Within the confines of the room, one side of the warehouse sized space was dedicated to designing and modeling the ship she had spoken about. On the other side, it looked like a workshop to actually build the ship to size. At the back, it seemed to be a lounge for some reason, but the most obvious thing in the room was in the middle.

A ship with no masts. Just the hull, a deck, a wheel, and several unfinished things.

"Well, you guys arrived at the perfect time! This should be done in a couple weeks, so if you want to leave, it's not gonna be long!" I could tell Xetalona was smiling, and I just looked at the ship in front of us.

'A couple weeks? I mean, I can wait that long, but.. perhaps I can put some of these things on my OWN ship and leave on our own. A ship with a vault and the ability to fly? I mean.. who would pass up on that? Especially if it's me, on MY ship! The... I never named my ship!' I freaked out slightly, externally, trying to decide on a name.

'My ship, one that could fly, and has a vault? And is full of money? Treasure... The Treasurer? No, that sounds like a job title. Treasure.. treasure.. money.. what do I do with money? Spend it.. something expensive.. jewelry? Have, well had, plenty of it. Cars? No, the ones I know don't exist. Wealth? Status? Ooh, royalty. The Royal...! Jack of all trades? Jack.. Ace.. King, Queen, Jack... The Royal Deck of cards? No, just The Royal Deck!'

"I need to make The Royal Deck!"

I looked up slightly, and found no one in front of me, or there to hear the name I came up with. I was standing where I had been, and I turned to find the three of them had moved to the lounge area, and Taki asked "The Royal Deck? You need to make what?"

"Taki! No, uh, sorry. Lona!" I started to walk towards the side of the room with designs and models, and continued my train of thought "Can I take a look at these? They might be pretty helpful."

"Yes! You can do so! But do it quick! Sensen is very adamant on any outsiders being brought to him! He's the one who'll decide on who goes on this ship, I call it the 'Ark Valus'! The masterpiece! The one that will liberate us from this prison!"

I looked at her, and then slowly turned my eyes to look away from her, and then spoke ".... I'll be quick then."

Standing in front of all of the things in front of me, I found plenty of designs, sketches, and drafts of ships, all marked with the name Xeta in the bottom right corner on all of them. On some of the designs, it looked like a ship using parachutes to catch the wind and fly into the air using that same wind, while another used massive sails, way bigger than even the ship. A single sail that looked like it could cover the ship it was designed for. That one had a light 'X' over it, just light enough to still be able to see the entire design, but still very visible. Some of the designs were on paper that looked extremely old, and many of the designs looked fundamentally different, with several different design styles among them. I couldn't describe them, but it was just how they were drawn and the paper they were on that gave me a feeling that a lot of people had done this.

"Lona, why are there so many different papers, and why are some of them looking like they are hundreds of years old?"

Her normal smile turned slightly sour, and yet, she was still smiling nonetheless.

"That? My family, the Xeta family, has been trying and testing plenty of ways to get off the island. Some through building ships, others through how to sail a ship. My father taught me a couple things before, as he was one who wanted to use a technique rather than a ship itself. Thanks to that though, he got injured, and entrusted me with continuing to find a way off this island. So, I have the Ark Valus."

"Did you.. just create it? Yourself?"

"Yes! I made the plans for the ship!"

"Just the plans?"

"Yep! I was taught by my father how to listen to the weather, which is why I can tell any drastic change with just the slight change in tone of the wind! And before you ask, I very much do not build everything myself, normally, there are other people here to help build the bigger things, and they help me make the smaller parts too! Sensen has them help me so I don't get hurt before we are even able to leave the island!"

She was smiling while saying all of that, and I just took it as 'I design stuff, other people build the labor intensive stuff while I work on the more detailed processes!'

"Ah, a designer, someone I can respect a lot. Especially one who can just design stuff like this."

I continued to look, and somehow, Xetalona ended up next to me.

"You like my designs?"

"Yes. And i think it would be great to have some input from you on something I'm cooking up right now."

I turned to find a surfboard with a parachute sail connected to a mast that it had sticking through it.

"That's a prototype! I had it made to see if the idea would even work! I had to scour years and years worth of stuff to find a sweet spot in ship making and designing! Even my father was surprised that I've got a soon to be working version of a flying ship!" She smirked, very proud of her work.

"Well, I'm slightly surprised too! I guess there isn't technology on this island really, if there was, I would think that some form of propulsion would be in these designs. Like an engine. But, if it truly works, then you've designed something I couldn't have thought of as THE answer!"

This caused her to pose, on one knee, with her hand holding the brim of an imaginary hat. She also had a wide grin on her face.

"REALLY? I designed something that someone from the outside wouldn't have done, and should work? That's So GOOD!"

"Buuuut... I would have personally done something different than just.. one sail."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've designed it with one sail to both catch the wind and turn. How did you plan on turning? Better yet, how are you gonna sail while in the sky?"

I turned to find her questioning exactly what I had just asked her quietly to herself. She had shrunk a little while talking to herself, like she had never gotten criticism before, and didn't realize that questions should have come up before.

".. W-well, I WAS going to use the.. one sail.. and just turn by pulling one or two corners closer. I tested it before.."

I walked over to the surfboard and spoke "Did you test this in the actual sky? Or did you test it on water? Because there are differences either way."

"U-uhm.. it was really hard to, and the water would barely calm down enough to test it, but I did it on water."

I rubbed my eyes, and I was getting slightly frustrated.

"Did no one actually come and say 'maybe this won't work?', or did no one say anything?"

"Well.. Lor Sensen just wanted to have a ship built so he could leave the island, and when my father was able to, he was doing this. But since my father's retired, I've become the one to do it. All the workers too, I asked some of them before, and they told me 'Lord Sensen only told us to build what you design, since you can't build it yourself.'"