Ros was trying to ignore the dull feeling of weakness in her right leg and the urge to subtly massage it bellow the table. Her dinner companions, her Dad and her brother, were engrossed in a passionate discussion. The topic? Engineering, of course. Whenever the three of them shared space the topic of discussion was almost always engineering. Admittedly Ros wasn't as passionate about it as her father and brother, but she loved it none the less and she also loved witnessing their love for their craft. It was how she felt about flying. It gave her a sense of purpose, satisfaction and freedom. She never felt as fulfilled as when she was on the bridge of her airship, cruising the air currents.

	Her Dad and Roy were discussing a particularly intricate part of the Little Starburst's design and Ros took the opportunity to sneak her right hand below the table and gently rub down her battered leg. The cold season was advancing in on Grusk and as her injured leg was more sensitive to climate changes, her limp was more pronounced and there was some slight pain and a fair amount of stiffness. Especially if she stayed immobile for prolonged periods of time.

	"... right, sis?" Ros caught the tail end of Roy's question. She subtly returned her hand above the table and blinked a couple of times to try and return her mind on track and into the conversation.

	"You're leg is beginning to bother you, isn't it?" Her Dad interrupted her before she had the time to say anything.

	"Dad." She lamented gently.

	"Don't you 'Dad' me, girlie! I can worry about you."

	"It's nothing to worry about." Ros assured him with a smile.

	"If it's bothering you, then there is something to worry about."

	"I'll be fine." Ros again tried to assuage her Dad's worries stretching across the table to place her hand over his.

	The old man grumbled, but said nothing more.

	Her brother, however, was not as accommodating. "It would be better if you stopped being so stubborn and started using the cane I cave you for your birthday."

	[i]Here we go again![/i] Ros thought scrunching up her nose. She hated using a cane. Unlike all those fashionable gents out there with their walking sticks, hers was an actual cane, designed to actually take the load off an injured limb. And although Roy had gone through the trouble of buying her a very fancy one, with intricate, beautiful engravings, she still disliked using it. She felt week doing so. As if she couldn't walk without it. Which she could, of course. And she would [i]never[/i] admit that her leg did give her less trouble during the winter when she used the cane. Well, not to Roy anyway.

	"What's the big deal?" Roy forged on, seeing his sister's grimace. "It's not like no one's using canes. All the men and some of the women out there are using them. You'd be a fish in the sea." Her brother argued.

	"Do you lean on your walking stick, Roy?" Ros deadpanned.

	"Well, no, but..." Roy blinked, caught off guard by the nonplussed question. "I mean..." He stammered.

	"Enough, you two." Stanton intervened. "We care about you, Ros." He turned to his daughter. "We just want you to be well." He turned his palm up and squeezed her hand.

	Ros's facial features softened. "I know, Dad." She turned to her brother. "Sorry, bro." She glimpsed at her leg. "You know how I am." She hesitated, not wanting to show any weakness in front of her Dad and brother. "Especially with this weather."

	"Yeah, I know." Roy looked chagrinned. "I'm sorry too. For pushing you." He paused. "But the cane is nice though." He grinned disarmingly.

	"Yes, it is that." Ros acquiesced, grinning in response.

	They finished their meal without further interruptions. After the dishes were cleaned and everything was set in order, with Ros helping only a little, as her brother always insisted that if she cooked for them the least he and his Dad could do was clean up afterwards, Roy walked her to a carriage and sent her off to her own house.

[hr]
	Ros was steering her airship expertly, surfing the air currents just like a fish swimmed in water. She could handle Little Starburst well enough on her own, but the ship was equipped to handle a shipmate or two, or five. Although Ros wasn't too sure if just for the company then any real need of help with it. Well, she could use an engineer to look after her baby while she captained it. But who could she trust with Little Starburst's innovative engine design? The clockwork technology was still relatively new and as far as she knew her country was pretty much the only one that had it at its disposal. She still had contacts in the military and knew that spies were being captured more often than not, trying to steal the secret of the magnetic engine technology. And so she was weary about who she allowed to care for Little Starburst.

	She looked outside of her ship's front windshield. The horizon stretching before her in its seaming eternity. Glorious, magnificent. She stared transfixed for what seemed like hours. She always felt like entering a whole new world when flying. She'd joined the military in search of adventure, who knew she would find them only after she'd resigned her commission. But still, it had given her the only thing she needed to pursue those adventures. Her piloting skills, since save for the military, only the rich had access to airships.

	Ros pulled her eyes from the view in front of her with difficulty and glanced at her instruments. According to her calculations she had a few more hours before she landed in Eagrose. She was ferrying an assortment of different clockwork parts by order of an Eagrose inventor, who was fed up with his country's backward thinking. He wanted his country to prosper and forget the romantic days of old when knights crossed swords in battle and archers tested their prowess with a bow and arrow. But more so he wanted to help people and so his research gravitated heavily towards prosthetics and artificial limbs. Each time Ros delivered materials for him, she found him getting better and better at the craft. He'd even visited with her father and brother once or twice. They trusted him with their knowledge, but to be fair, he never once asked of them to reveal any national engineering secrets. He was content discovering things out on his own. But he was also not afraid of asking for help when he hit a wall. Rodrik was his name and Ros was happy to count him as a close friend.

	Ros sat in her chair to rest her throbbing right leg. She grimaced massaging her thigh. The cane that Roy'd given her as a gift dutifully resting near the chair. Oh, she used it more often then she liked to let on. And especially not in front of her brother. She just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right. Plus it really was a rather nice walking stick and she felt quite dapper when she walked the streets with it. Even if she did lean a bit more on it then all the other people. Ros pulled out her watch from the front pocket of her vest and looked at it. She stood up. The Little Starburst was about to enter the airspace of Eagrose and she needed to be on the helm from here on out.

[hr]
	[i]About three hours later...[/i]

	"Yer a lifesaver, Ros!" Rodrik exclaimed after they'd unloaded the cargo and Ros was seated comfortably in an armchair in his workshop. "I'd almost run out of parts. Building prosthetics is an intricate business and the finer parts required for the construction I simply cannot find in Eagrose." His bushy eyebrows furrowed in an irritated grimace. He was a limbering bear of a man. With huge hands that belied the fine work they produced on a daily basis. His flaming red hair and even bushier beard were made even starker by his fair complexion. He was a boisterous, burly, joyous man that loved life and cared for his fellow man and woman. "How's the leg?" He asked, eyeing Ros under his eyebrows. "Is it bothering you with the turning of the weather?"

	Ros grinned. Surprisingly she could let go with him and show that little bit of vulnerability she denied herself in front of her Dad and brother. "You know me too well, friend."

	"Well, ye'll stay the night with me and Silvie. Rest up. Tomorrow we'll take ye out for a stroll and then we'll let ye go on yer marry way, how's that sound?"

	"You've got yourself a deal, friend." Ros nodded, grinning. "Now take me to your lovely wife." She winked at him and he mock glared at her.

	"Ye stay away from my Silvie, ye, rascal, ye!" He threatened playfully.

	Ros raised her hands defensively. "Can't help it." She stated innocence incarnate. "It's the cane." She kidded. "It makes me look dapper, draws the ladies in."

	"I'll give ye 'dapper'." He grabbed her by the neck and squeezed playfully, while leading her to the main house.