"This place looks a little sketchy," Iveya remarked, folding her arms. 

That was an understatement. The "place" was hardly visible at all beneath layers of vines, piles of trash, and boarded up windows. A misshapen piece of wood hung from the rotting door. Scratched into it was a barely legible message: La Fantasma Del Espacio. 

"Why does it say 'space ghost' in Spanish?" Megan raised an eyebrow. 

"That's what the inn's called," Eleanna shrugged. "Don't ask me why they named it that." 

"An inn?" I frowned. "I thought we were going to Lessaenes!" 

"Patience, dear boy," the rebel leader chuckled. Stepping up to the door, she knocked on it three times in rapid succession. Judging from the state of the wood, I was surprised that she didn't punch a hole in it.

The door slowly creaked open, revealing the face of an ancient-looking woman. A worn shawl obscured her features, and she was hunched over so far, she looked to have been only half her original height. 

"And if it isn't Eleanna Myers," she chuckled softly. "C'mon in. The soup's still warm." 

"You have no obligation to feed us, Kanyha," Eleanna said tersely. "I do not wish to be beholden to you." 

"If that's what ya want," the woman- Kanyha- croaked. That was when her eyes fell upon us, and she scowled. "I told ya, I don't want none of yer rebel business!" She raised a single, bony finger in the air, pointing it accusingly at us. 

"Don't worry. We won't get you in trouble with the law. We simply need to get to Glaisse, and can't do it through traditional means for obvious reasons."

"I don't fly folks anymore," Kanyha shook her head. "Nearly got myself sued by one o' those big ship companies. Guess they don't like Rhenans doing what they do for less money very much. Besides, I already told ya I don't help criminals." 

"The law may say that we are criminals," Eleanna crossed her arms. "But you and I both know who's in the right."

Kanyha stared at us for a long moment, before holding out her hand. Sighing, Eleanna dropped a handful of hundred-duvat coins into it. Despite myself, I began to stare at the tantalizing, round pieces of silver. 

I had never seen so much money in one place before in my entire life. 

Kanyha looked down at her shriveled palm, counting the coins to herself, before shaking her hand, looking up expectantly at Eleanna. 

"You've got to be kidding me," Eleanna fumed, retrieving more coins from her pocket and grudgingly handing them to the woman. 

"I might be able to see if one of my old ships still goes," Kanyha nodded. "Meanwhile, why don't ya go around back to the launchpad."

"Come," Eleanna ordered quietly. Megan, Iveya, Vince, Rory, and I followed her around the side of the inn and through a long, overgrown patch of grass. The faint echoes of laughter and music from inside the building began to grow audible. 

"Pardon me for asking, but how exactly does the owner of a ramshackle country inn come across a fleet of working spaceships?" I inquired. It astounded me that a single, frail old woman could effectively run both an inn and a space travel business. 

"My father'd been saving for 'em for half his life, and his father before him," Kanyha said proudly. "It was always their dream to start a space travel company. Sadly, they hadn't the money for that, so they had to start this here inn. They named it The Space Ghost, in honor of their desire to travel the galaxy. They both died before it happened, but the inn did eventually make enough money for a nice bunch o' ships." 

"Interesting," I nodded, as we finally arrived in the yard. 

The area that housed Kanyha's launchpad was larger than I had anticipated, taking up nearly as much space as the inn itself. The launchpad itself was built almost entirely out of stone, with a crude Aura-powered furnace in the middle of its base to provide a boost to the rockets it launched. 

The furnace was completely open. Once a fire was Aurally produced within it, it could easily spread to the sides of the shuttle that balanced precariously atop it. Overall, it didn't seem like a very safe setup. 

"This thing right here can seat up to two hundred," Kanyha grinned. "More than enough for the six of ya." 

"It's not just us," Eleanna stated. "There's a lot more people back in the woods. We rarely travel out in the open as a group for safety reasons."

"How many?" Kanyha asked. 

"Almost a thousand," Eleanna replied. 

Kanyha's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull, and she held out her hand once again. "That's gonna cost ya." 

"It is simply outrageous to charge money for the safety of the Empire," Eleanna pursed her lips. 

"Shouldn't bother you, Myers. Your pockets are notoriously deep," Kanyha grinned, not retracting her hand. 

"Please," Eleanna sighed. "My gold is under the base. I have nothing but what I managed to bring with me." 

Kanyha paused, her eyes drifting from Eleanna to me. 

"What is your name, boy?" she asked, her gaze softening. 

"Aron," I smiled politely. 

"There is something about you," Kanyha narrowed her eyes, carefully studying my face. "Eleanna, you don't have to pay a decce more than you already have." 

I gave Kanyha a confused look, before I spotted the two-moon pendant around her neck. The symbol of the Mystic clan. 

She was a Mystic. No wonder she operated on random hunches and urges. 

"You are going to do great things," she smiled, reaching up to touch my shoulder. 

"Uh...thanks?" I laughed awkwardly. 

"I see it in your eyes, Aron. Your fate is intertwined with that of the royal family, and that of the Empire. Go to Lessaenes, and do what ya gotta do. I'd be proud to assist you."

Puzzled, I turned to Eleanna. 

"If that's what's going to get us to Lessaenes, we'll take it," Eleanna muttered under her breath. "But don't expect any special treatment. Megan, go get the others. It's time to get moving."