Chapter Three

Lyla screeched as she walked through the doorway to the kitchen. “What happened to the maid?” she asked, staring at Pillar with awe.

“Screeching in the pantry just as you are.” He laughed, looking back down at the bowl in hand. “Please, sit down. Breakfast will be ready in a bit.” Lyla just shook her head and smiled.

“You look mighty handsome today-” She commented, her eyes scanning over Pillar, her eyes zeroing in on his new coat.

“Er- thank you.”

“I feel like I’ve seen this outfit before though? At the Funeral?”

“Ah, no. You might recognize the hat, I wore it while in the air ship business and the coat is my fathers. Fits like a glove surprisingly-” He had to speak louder over the sound of batter being poured into a heated pan.

“It fits you well, Pillar.” She said softly, giving him one of her gentle smiles. “What’s the-” But she was cut short by the entrance of her husband.

“What’s all the screeching about?” Finnegan yawned.

“Oh my hero, I scream and all you do is sleep in?” She laughed and shook her head.

“Ahhh, Pillar’s got it.” He laughed and gave his wife a kiss on the head before sitting next to her. “What are you makin’ anyway Casp?”

“Pancakes. Thought the kiddo might like ‘em.”

“Pillar-”

“Finnegan, leave him alone. He’s just trying to do something nice for the boy.” Pillar laughed as he slid two plates of food towards the couple. Lyla took a bite and was immediately in love. “Oh, Pillar, these are amazing! Where’d you learn to cook anyhow?”

Pillar shrugged, “You always had to be able to cook up something on the boat, and when I moved in with my mother for a time, she used to teach me. I guess I just perfected my skills once I was on my own airboat.” He had fond memories of cooking with his mother after the… accident- It helped calm him down and took his mind off water for a time. 

Lyla gave him a small smile, “Well I think she taught you very well.” Pillar grinned at her, that grin widening as Cassian walked in. Pillar served him a plate of pancakes shaped like a red finback. Cassian was still somewhat in a sour mood from the previous evening. “Say goodmorning to Uncle Pillar.” Lyla chidded from behind her cup of coffee. Cassian mumbled a hello and turned to walk away.

“Hey, Cassian?” Pillar asked softly, hoping the boy would turn around. He did, giving his uncle a quizzical look. “I said I promised to make up for my mistake yesterday, yea?” the small boy gave a small nod while Finnegan gave him a warning glance. “Well I wanted to show you a little magic trick,” He was enjoying Finnegan’s annoyed look “but you have to close your eyes, ok?” The boy nodded vigorously and immediately closed his eyes. “Alright, spin around three times!” The boy did so, his eyes still shut tight. “Now, open your hands.” The boy did so, giggling now at his uncle’s game. “And when I count to three you're gonna open your eyes, ok?”  The boy once again nodded. “Ok. One…” Polar reached underneath the counter to retrieve something. “Two…” Lyla couldn’t help but gasp as he showed them the object he had recovered from beneath the counter. “And…Three!” He placed the toy boat in the boys hands as he opened his eyes. Cassian gasped, then ran to Pillar and hugged his legs.

“Oh, thank you Uncle Pillar! My Boat!” He ran around the kitchen making different sounds, moving his boat as if it were in the open sea. Pillar laughed and ruffled the kids hair as he ran past. 

“You’re welcome kiddo. Now go sit and eat before your pancakes get cold.” Cassian did as he was told, almost knocking over his glass of juice as he put the boat on the table.

“Er- Caspian- I MEAN, Cassian. Don’t put your toys on the table!” Finnegan tried to look stern but couldn’t help as a smile spread across his face.

“Oh, Finnegan, leave the boy alone! He’s happy. Thank you for giving my son his favorite toy back.”

“Caspian- How did you-”

“THANK YOU, Pillar, for getting my son’s toy back.” She glared at her husband.

“Thanks Casp-”

“No problem.” Pillar said, putting some pancakes on his own plate. He winked at his best friend as he lathered on honey, something that Finnegan never understood. 

They ate in comfortable silence until discussion started again. Lyla proposed the idea of going out on a day cruise on the family’s airship. Finnegan agreed to this plan, grabbing hold of his wife’s hand. “We can relax today, since we have our own personal airship captain with us anyways.”

“FINNEGAN! You can’t use your friend for labor!”

“But, Lyla-” He looked at his friend for help. Which Pillar couldn’t give.

“Sorry Finney. I have some stuff to do today. I’ll gladly be your captain another day though.”

“Oh,” Lyla said, “I thought you were going. If you're not, we will postpone the cruise for another day!”

“But, Lyla-”

“Pillar is family, Finnegan. And it’s a family cruise.” Pillar tried not to let his face give away how much that statement meant to him. “We can do something else. How about… the zoo?” Cassian agreed to this as he shoved more pancakes into his mouth. “Don’t chew with your mouth full. You get that from your father.” Pillar tried not to giggle. “Actually, let's get you dressed Cassian, we have a busy day ahead of us.” Lyla led Cassian away; in one hand he held his mother’s hand, in the other he held the boat. Pillar smiled after them.

“Caspian- How did you get the-”

“Later. I’ll tell you when I get back.”

“So you're really not going with us?” Pillar’s friend's face was set in a frown, eyebrows drawn together.

“Sorry, I can’t today. I actually do have a few affairs to take care of.”

“What affairs?” Finnegan stuffed another piece of pancake in his mouth.

“Don’t chew with your mouth full.” Finnegan playfully rolled his eyes. “I actually have a few interviews today-” He nodded at a vanilla folder that sat on the table, “There’s a few slots in different shipping companies and I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Finnegan smiled happily at his friend. “That’s great Casp! Airship or-”

“Airship obviously-” Pillar momentarily got a faraway look in his eyes, “I’ll only do normal shipping if I absolutely have to.”

ꕀ𓊝ꕀ𓊝ꕀ𓊝ꕀ𓊝ꕀ𓊝ꕀ𓊝ꕀ

Pillar took a deep breath before entering the building. It was very different from all the other buildings in the floating city; it looked like a gray box with only a few doors and no windows. Absolutely no character to it.

The door was silent as it swung inward, the massive warehouse seemed more like a dark void. However as Pillar stepped through the door, the lights automatically turned on, momentarily blinding him in white light. He poked around until he found the small office that the desk lady in the other building had directed him to. The office was plain like the rest of the warehouse, except that there were a few pictures of airships hanging here and there. Pillar sat in the cold, hard, leather and metal seat and waited for his interviewer. He rifled through the papers in his folder, making sure that everything was neat and in order; presentation was key. 

It was slightly unnerving, being in an office whose walls were made of glass. It felt more like a tank, and Pillar jokingly prayed that it wouldn’t suddenly start filling with water. 

The click of the latch is what alerted him of his interviewer's presence. He stood up quickly, Too quickly, he cringed on the inside, but was all smiles on the outside. 

His interviewer was a big man named Declan Keller. Declan smiled down at Pillar as he enthusiastically shook hands with the much smaller man- he had to be at least 6’5”- “Mr Pillar, it is great to meet you. I was told you were interested in what our airship jobs had to offer?”

Pillar sat back down in his seat as Declan sat down behind his desk. “Ah, yes. I have worked for an air shipping business before, so I’d feel more comfortable on an airship- '' As he talked he read the logo on Declan’s shirt; Clouds Conveyance, one of the biggest air shipping companies in the world. 

“I see. Is there any reason why you strayed away from the other air shipping business?” He talked as he opened Pillar’s file, doing a quick scan over some of the pages.

“I sadly lost my sponsorship.” Pillar stated, trying to keep his leg from nervously bouncing up and down. “Without the funds I was unable to keep my ship-”

Declan blinked for a moment, “So it was YOUR shipping business that you strayed away from?”

“That is correct-” Pillar Cringed, it sounded more like an accusation than a question.

“And who was your sponsor?” Declan smiled as he jotted down some quick notes, “I want to make sure they don’t sponsor us.” He winked at Pillar.

“It was my father-” Pillar said sharply. Declan stopped writing and looked up. “His death ended the flow of money going into the business that I had started.”

“I'm so sorry-”

“It’s fine.” Pillar’s words had begun to soften back to their usual tones.

“May I ask,” Declan said cautiously, “who was your father?”

“My father was Captain Pillar, he captained a league of fishing boats just off the coast of here-”

“CAPTAIN PILLAR? So that makes you his-”

“Son. Yes, I’m Caspian Pillar-”

“The Boy that Drowned.” Pillar flinched at the words like they had physically hit him. He hated that his trauma had been turned into some sort of crude fairytale- some of it true but most of it made up. He had thought the tale had died years ago, but evidently not- 

“You probably grew up with the stories of me huh?” Pillar tried to joke. However Declan’s response wasn’t the one he was looking for.

“Oh, absolutely! My mother told me the story anytime I mentioned wanting to be a sailor as a young boy, I guess it sort of influenced me to be an air shipper. She always said that those who drowned were-” he suddenly stopped, slightly fearful eyes scanning Pillar’s body.

“Bad luck?” Declan wouldn’t respond. Pillar sighed and stood up, quickly collecting his satchel and stuffing his folder inside. “Have a good day sir-” he mumbled over his shoulder, the heels of his boots clacking against the cold, concrete floor. 

He was greeted with warm sunlight as he walked out of the warehouse, taking a second to appreciate the sun's warm rays before walking again. “Bad luck-” he chanted under his breath, shaking his head sorrowfully. That’s why he had his own air shipping business in the first place. No one wanted to hire a drowned sailor, it was rumored that they brought bad luck to the crew and ship they worked with. “Why do they even believe those stupid tales anyways?” He had asked his father long ago, “That was a story from hundreds of years ago, when people believed that drowned sailors were more like angry spirits rather than actual people who survived death-”

“Son,” his father had said, putting down a crate he had been moving, “sometimes those stories are meant to protect people-” He smiled sadly at his boy, “You’re not supposed to live after you die.” Pillar had said something about how it was hundreds of years later now, that the times were different and coming back from the dead was more likely now then way back then. 

His father had hated seeing him so unhappy; that his trauma had been turned against him to stop him from doing the one thing he wanted to. He wanted to still step foot on a boat, even if it was one that sailed in the air rather than the sea, and that was a miracle in itself. So he sponsored his son’s shipping business, and Pillar sailed alone. He was skilled enough to not need a crew, and all the extra space meant he could fit in more cargo. He had tried to become a passenger boat for a while; small crewed ships usually turned to that line of business, but no one ever trusted a captain who had once drowned. 

When the sea Captain Pillar died, the air Captain Pillar did as well.

Pillar attended three more interviews that day. The next two ended about the same as they had with Declan, the second had even refused to see him at first; Pillar speculated that Clouds Conveyance had made a few calls warning the other businesses of the walking bad luck looking for a job. The fourth interview of the day went slightly smoother. They were the newest shippers in the business and probably were just desperate for captains in order to keep their business afloat. They told him to wait for a letter of acceptance if he was chosen, but as Pillar walked back towards Finnegan’s house,  he realized that even if he got the job, they’d drop him as soon as they could find a replacement.

He took a deep breath before he opened the front door. He knew if he walked in angry, Finnegan would ask questions and riot when he got the answers. The door opened silently and he walked in, trying to walk to his room as fast as possible to go hide. However he was caught before he made it out of the kitchen. “Pillar?”

He stopped abruptly, plastering a smile on his face and turning. “Finnegan! Did you have a good outing?”

“Yea…” his friend eyed him suspiciously, he usually wasn’t the one to initiate conversation. He put a piece of fruit in his mouth before speaking, of course, with his mouth full. “Do you want to go out for drinks?” 

Pillar blinked. He just wanted to escape to his room and relax before dinner. “Well-“

Finnegan could smell his friend’s uneasiness from a mile away. “I meant… drinks…on the dock. We don’t have to go anywhere.”

Pillar looked down, shifting his shoulders with the uncomfortable weight of the satchel. “Ok-“

“Great!” Finnegan smiled. Grabbing two bottles of beer, a bottle of some liquid that Pillar couldn’t name, and two glasses. “Let’s go.” He led the way with Pillar mopping behind. He wouldn’t get the chance to relax in peace at all. Finnegan held the door open for him as he walked out the back door, both friends eyeing each other suspiciously.

They sat on the dock like they had the day of the funeral; the sun was slowly sinking into the water and a nice breeze cooled their faces. Pillar decided that maybe this was better than sulking in his room, especially when Finnegan was his company. “Sooo, how was the interviews?” Finnegan asked while opening a beer for each. Pillar paused as he put the satchel between his feet. He was quiet as he thought of what to say. “Pillar…don’t come up with some stupid lie-“

Pillar sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Can we talk about something else?” He said as he accepted the drink from his friend.

“Ok. Where is that boat from?”

Pillar shook his head and laughed, a genuine smile spreading across his face. “You haven’t forgotten to pursue that question, have you?”

“Nope!” He smiled back at his friend, happy to see the dark cloud detaching itself from his friend. “I’m genuinely curious where you got it from. Don’t tell me you went back to the beach to get it!” 

Pillar's eyebrows furrowed as he thought, taking a small sip of his drink. “I guess that’s what I actually should’ve done, huh? No, don’t give me that look- I found it.” He straightened up, hoping his friend would take him seriously.

“Found it?” Finnegan said, his blonde brows furrowing as well. “Where in the gods' names did you find it?” 

Pillar blinked at his friend, Finnegan never really knew why he did that. “Here.”

“Here?” Finnegan blinked back. Maybe blinking was an appropriate response sometimes-

“Yes. Here. On the dock.” He explained it as though he was explaining it to Cassian. 

Finnegan scratched his head, looking out to sea. “I didn’t know the tide came up that high. Maybe it’s time for a new dock…WAIT A MINUTE. The tide goes down, not up. There’s no way it could’ve gotten here on its own!” The men looked at each other, Pillar was sitting down still, but Finnegan had gotten up and began to pace.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to say-“

“So you think it was placed here?”

“Yes.” Finnegan stopped pacing and they stared at one another. “Maybe someone from the beach found it and returned it…maybe they know that Cassian lives here. I’m not sure. I called out but no one answered me.”

“Hmm,” Finnegan sat down again. “You sure it’s the same boat?”

“You should be the one that should be answering that, not me.” They blinked at each other. Then Finnegan laughed.

“Why do you do that blinking thing so much?”

Pillar blinked again “Huh?”

“Never mind… Yes, I looked at the thing. It’s definitely his.”

Pillar shrugged “Then there’s your answer. No, I don’t know HOW it got here; how it…floated up here, or how it made it ON to the dock.”

“Oh yea, maybe Viento blew it over with the help of Mer huh?” 

“Be serious.” But Pillar rolled his eyes and smiled as well.

“Well… thanks to you and… whatever brought the boat back-” Finnegan quietly sipped his beer, “my son is very happy.”

Pillar grinned, his eyes softening. “I’d do anything for that boy… well anything but go in the water I guess-” his eyes started to darken as the cloud started to come back.

“Stop that.” Pillar looked at his friend, hope and fear in his chocolate eyes. “You did all you could and that’s enough.” Finnegan smiled at his friend, who smiled back. “And if you aren’t ‘enough’ for those stupid shipping companies, well that’s their issue, not yours.”

Pillar’s grin quickly turned into a scowl. “How do you-”

“Pillar your emotions are on full display at all times-” that was true- “And because I’ve known you since we were both like…three.” That was also true. All Pillar could do was shake his head and look down at his drink. “Pillar, don’t even try to deny what I’m going to say. I know what those companies are like; so old fashioned about the ‘bad luck’ yet you ran a successful shipping business for years. But tell me… no don’t give me that look. What exactly did they say?”

“Do you promise not to go storming into the facilities to beat people up if I tell you?”

Finnegan shrugged, “Depends…”

Pillar rolled his eyes. “I swear you're as bad as Viento when you're in a bad mood.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Pillar blinked at his friend and got a smile in return. He sighed, “At Clouds Convoyence the guy, no I’m not telling you his name, he said he grew up with the stories of my, er- death. Said that’s what kept him sensible-” Pillar started talking quickly, Finnegan was eerily silent and turning an odd shade of red. “The second place- Viento’s Voyage, they said they didn’t want a person that could sink a ship faster that I sunk myself, as a captain-'' Finnegan started to turn purple- “And the third place- I forget the name-” Pillar didn’t forget the name, he just wanted to spare them Finnegans wrath- “They flat-out refused to see me.” At this point Pillar was unsure if his best friend was even breathing. “Uh- Finnegan?” Finnegans eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

“WHAT!!!” Pillar cringed, “HOW COULD SOMEONE AS-” Pillar sat silently as he watched his friend rage. He watched, and listened, as Finnegan started cursing, then watched as he got up and angrily marched up and down the dock, still cursing. He watched as Finnegan kicked things, threw things, and screamed in declaration that “VIENTO’S VOYAGE IS THE STUPIDEST COMPANY NAME I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF LIFE!!!” Pillar had to agree with that one. At some point Finnegan had finally calmed down. At least Pillar hoped he did; he wouldn’t be surprised if in a few days he heard that Declan got punched in the face by Finnegan. “Well-” He sounded much more calm, smoothing out his shirt, “I think you could use a little vacation after that-”

“Finnegan-”

“Don’t ‘Finnegan’ me! You want to captain a ship, you’ll captain a ship! Tomorrow we set sail for the sky, you, me, and my wonderful wife and child!”

Pillar looked at him skeptically. “This just sounds like you trying to get out of flying your own boat yourself.”

“You sound just like Lyla. Please don’t tell her I said that- she’ll KILL me.” 

Pillar laughed hard, so hard that he spilled the remainder of his drink. “Ok, Finney. I’ll sail your boat for you. But if I ‘sink a ship faster than I sunk myself’ it is entirely your fault.” Finnegan started to turn red again with the mention of the rude comment. Pillar laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Man, it's cool out here. We should get inside to get ready for dinner”. He ushered his friend into the house before he started raging again.

He playfully pushed his friend up the dock, trying to get him moving faster. Finnegan was mumbling “sink a ship faster than I sunk myself”, a warning that he was about to do something that even the gods of the wind and sea couldn’t stop. However as he turned to close the back door, a glimmer of golden light caught Pillar’s eye. “Must be the setting sun-” he mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing-” But the sun wasn't even visible, it had been covered by the mist on the sea.

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