Two thousand three-hundred sixteen steps later and they had at last arrived at the location of the airship. To her relief, they didn't encounter any guards as she originally feared, and all members of the group—which had grown by one since then—had arrived in one piece. The painfully silent trip there allowed her to gather her thoughts and collect herself, but even then she found she was still a little frazzled. She couldn't help but wish her sister was beside her to put her at ease, but then thinking about her sister never ended well, and so it only added to her distress. It also didn't help to conjure up memories that usually calmed her down, because then she would be reminded of Krukow's current state. Long story short, just about everything she thought to do exhausted her mentally and emotionally, and it was only when she started focusing on counting their steps that she felt the least bit composed. She stopped at two thousand three-hundred sixteen steps, when they were within ten feet of the massive airship.

After he introduced himself, the mysterious man was no longer that, but a Varren Yinyues instead. Knowing his name hadn't helped ease her apprehension toward him, though. It only added a twinge of guilt, because she knew full well that the eighteen-year-old had acted only to protect them. She couldn't imagine what would have happened without him there, but she knew they could very well be worse off. The least she could be is grateful, and here she was, afraid to even look him in the eyes. Emery shook her head in disappointment and forced herself to muster even a little bit of courage. Showing her gratitude... that much she should be able to do. So after Varren had welcomed them to the Free Winds, Emery hid behind Aubrey and Isaac and called out a quick thanks to their savior.

Isaac would enter his Mr. Fixit mode as soon as Varren mentioned something about the engine, and although she didn't want him to leave Aubrey and her (and Jarvan, she noted belatedly) alone, she couldn't bring herself to stop him. Of course she couldn't, not when she could see the excitement gleaming in his eyes. This was the reason she wanted to show him the airship in the first place. At the very least, one of them could find a silver lining in all this chaos. Emery nodded as Isaac instructed them to stick together, taking it to heart. She yanked Aubrey's arm and clung onto it as she warily scanned the so called Free Winds, taking note of its crew. There were armed guards aboard, and a couple of passengers she thought looked familiar, although she only gave them a passing glance. The woman who had yelled at Varren from the deck was intimidating, and it didn't take a lot to figure out she was the captain of the ship. It seemed Varren had no qualms letting them aboard, but the choice was ultimately left to captain, wasn't it?

Emery turned to Aubrey. "What do we do now? Do you think they'll just let us board for free?"