Headed by a Snake

Coraline looked up in thought, "If... we had a Formation Mage... they might be able to craft a ritual to find the blades. Maybe we could even use Beatrice as a power source!"

"Alright!" Lone nodded confidently, "Let's get one, then?"

"Yeah... like that'll ever happen..." Coraline let out a deeply sarcastic sigh, rolling her eyes to accentuate Mister Lone's stupidity.

"Wait, what? Why not?" Lone looked thoroughly confused.

She shook her head, laughing derisively... "Formation Mages are absurdly rare! Even rarer than a Calculator... Maybe we can get a formation expert... but they'll be a different Class, for sure-- and a hundred-thousand times LESS effective.

"And thus," Coraline gestured her hand in a circle, "even if we DID find that... they could take suns or even WEEKS to craft a unique ritual, Mister Lone."

"I don't get--"

"We have barely HALF A SUN before the Golden Eagle lands!" She shouted.

Lone raised an eyebrow, "Well... that won't be a problem? I have a way to handle the formations."

Hah.

Wait, what?

Excitement surged in Coraline's heart... but that was WRONG! Lone was WRONG! He was also STUPID! She immediately mushed those feelings down!

What could he possibly know about formations? He wasn't even a Circle Mage!

She spoke haltingly to convey her annoyance, "I'm - very - doubtful - that that is true."

B l e i g h .

The boy smiled... a gentle smile that, despite her best efforts, put Coraline's heart at ease, "You said you trusted me, right?"

She'd nearly forgotten. Lone was the only person on the ship with that privilege...

Which meant... there was A WAY!!

If Lone wasn't lying, finding the Blades of the Forgotten King was no longer an impossible task! She'd be able to fulfill her obligation to Master Highblade and not feel so useless about herself!

Coraline was so happy, she could almost kiss the boy! She grabbed onto Lone's shoulders and gazed dreamily into his deep, brown eyes.

Oh. OH, NO! What was she doing?!

*PAP!*

She slapped the side of the boy's face, knocking him to the side. His durable skull thumped on the sharp corner of one of the stairs.

"W...whyyyYYy..." The boy groaned in pain, clutching the side of his head.

Coraline bit her upper lip, her mind racing to think of an excuse... "It was... a happy slap."

...Stars and stones. That was the dumbest thing she'd ever said in her life.

"Yeah?" Lone righted himself, sitting with his legs splayed out, "Can... I hit you back, then?"

"Yes! Of course!" Coraline nodded.

That was... fair. She believed in fairness. She sat up and obediently closed her eyes, "Go on, then! You only get one!"

She was a bit nervous. It made her feel very... vulnerable.

It was... a test of faith, she supposed-- of that trust she put in her companion. Even if he hit her, she couldn't be upset about it... She hit him plenty of times before.

It made her think back to the time she fell asleep on Lone's shoulder. What she was doing now was basically giving him permission to do... whatever he did back then.

Maybe... maybe he'd even try to kiss her?

Should she let him?

...He deserved that much.

--But she'd definitely slap him again if he did! 'Miss Coraline' was not an easy woman!

"Yeah, I'm not gonna do that," Lone sighed.

Coraline opened her eyes, grinning victoriously. Of course, he wouldn't! He was a coward, after all!

"Well, you could have! It's not just because I'm a girl, right? Don't look down on me!"

"I uh... just don't feel like it?" Lone shrugged.

Grinning, Coraline grabbed the gullible coward's hands and pulled, "Come on! Let's go check out the ship's formations!"

"Sounds good," Lone nodded, getting to his feet, "We just have to go ask Tycon about it."

"W...wait..." Coraline hesitated... all the excitement bubbled up draining immediately to critical levels... "W...what do you mean?"

"Tycon. My boss." Lone pursed his lips, "He's the one who can read formations."

Coraline caught herself on the wall before she could collapse and fall into the depths of despair... "I should have known..."

Lone crossed his arms, "Don't we need him, anyroad? Since we don't have the Captain to land the ship?"

She gasped, "Wait-- what?"

"What?"

EmPty NiGhTtT~~~ Coraline had forgotten that the Captain said HE was the only one who could negotiate with the ship's Elemental Spirit... In order to survive... she'd need to ask Sir Tychon for help...

He... he hated her, though. And she didn't like him, either! It was the LAW of equivalent eXcHaAaNgE~!

"I'm fine with letting the ship crash..." Coraline rested her forehead against the wood paneling, "We'll all die in a fiery blaze together..."

"Come on," Lone took her hand... "I'm not letting you give up. We literally just had this talk."

Coraline gulped... She'd grabbed his hands to pull him up, earlier, but in that moment... his hand felt... different, somehow... "O... okay. Fine."

She didn't hate that feeling.

...

Tycondrius smiled in satisfaction as he reclined in the desk chair of his room. He lifted up an iron talisman in his hand, examining its mediocre craftsmanship.

It was a mere, inexpensive bauble-- the likes of which he could find sold at any market, unique but similar. However, it symbolized the culmination of several bells of critical thinking and puzzle-solving skills.

It was his prize, released upon solving the Captain's puzzle box.

The process was more difficult than it could have been.

He could have threatened Nikandros with physical violence to get the answer he wanted.

He could have used his System to analyze the various mechanisms, likely granting him a greater understanding of its functions. (He did so after he gleaned the solution, and not before.)

Puzzles were made to be solved.

Every clue hidden in its form, every observable shift... everything was designed by its creator to reward its solver for a satisfying final victory.

An investigator takes all the clues they'd painstakingly gathered... and uses it to paint a picture.

...Tycon was somewhat surprised that Lone hadn't asked him to assist him and his Elven friend with their murder mystery. To him, the culprits were quite obvious.

That was their 'puzzle box', as it were.

If the answers were granted to them without any effort expended...

...Well, that wasn't useful to think about.

If they were at an impasse, perhaps he'd advise them to review what knowledges they had.