Roy was startled awake by the strangest sound he could imagine. It was an off-key, slightly grating sound, that sounded vaguely like metal scraping sharply against another piece of metal. The thud as he fell off of the bed in his half-awake daze prompted the opening of the door leading to the hall. Gus stood in the doorway, his quizzical look taking in the scene of his guest with only his legs on the bed and holding his head in pain.

"Do you always fall out of bed to wake yourself up?" He smiled slightly, since he knew the answer was no.

Hands flying around, Gus tried to keep up with the signs, but failed miserably. It didn't help that they were also upside down, at least from his perspective. After seeing the look on his host's face, Roy seemed to realize this. He flushed before disentangling himself from his blanket and sitting up. The much slower movements of his hands finally got his question across.

A smile split Gus's face. "That sound would be a rooster's crow." Roy raised his hands, but Gus cut in before he made any cohesive movement. "A rooster," raising his hand he tapped his thumb to his forehead with two fingers extended, "is a male chicken. A chicken is a flightless bird that is commonly raised both for its meat and the eggs it lays."

The crow sounded again, and Roy jumped slightly in surprise before settling again. A glint off of a flower vase on the bedside table announced the sunlight now pouring into the room. Firm knocking on the front door seemed almost summoned by the pale rays of light, and Gus left the room, closing the door behind him.

Not sure if he should follow or not, Roy stood and let his gaze drift from the door to the tool kit he had left spread out on a dresser to dry. He tested the pouches and, seeing that they were fully dry, repacked his tools and fastened them around his waist. The familiar weight calmed him significantly, a small piece of home in a strange place.

Gus shattered the small moment of peace with a knock on the door. Roy, sure that the older man expected some type of response, opened the door. This seemed to startle him, and Roy smiled as he realized the response expected was a verbal one. In a world filled with sound, he couldn't blame the man.

"Ah, Roy, our visitors are here for you. It's Waylon and Kaela. It seems Waylon wanted to talk with you."

The boy simply nodded and made his way to the front room, Gus not even two steps behind him. When they entered the room, Roy raised a hand in greeting and Waylon nodded back. Kaela, a step behind her father, smiled in greeting.

Knowing that Roy was unable to speak, Waylon began the conversation. "I came today to hear your story for myself. Kaela told me, but I prefer to get the story first-hand regardless."

Nodding, Roy held a hand out in gesture toward the small sitting area they had sat in the night previously. Waylon made his way over, and Gus bustled off in the direction of the kitchen. They made themselves comfortable. Seeming interested in what he was to hear, Kaela's father leaned forward in anticipation, placing his elbows on his knees.

Perhaps a bit surprised at this, Roy scratched the back of his neck before shrugging a little. He placed his hand to his throat before gesturing vaguely in the direction Gus had disappeared. Kaela was the first to realize.

"Ah, Waylon, he can't actually speak. Remember what I told you last night? Gus knows what he says with his hands."

A clatter sounded from the kitchen, but it didn't seem like the older man was on his way out. Leaning back, a hand came up to rub idly at the scruff Waylon had on his chin. "I see, that does make it a bit harder." A sigh escaped his lips. "Well, for now I can ask you a few things."

Roy nodded, making a vague gesture that implied for him to continue.

"Kaela said you fell from the sky, is this true?" A nod from Roy confirmed this. Unthinkingly, Waylon asked the follow-up question to this. "How?"

There was an awkward silence. Before either of the verbal persons in the room could say something, Roy snapped his fingers and rummaged in one of the pouches hanging from his side. From it, he pulled a sheet of metal scarcely a centimeter thick and with about twice the surface area of his hand. A swift search through another pouch produced a round metal tube, which Roy quickly twisted the top of. A grey tip was seen peeking out from the other end now.

He bent his head slightly as he scribbled on the piece of metal before offering it to Waylon. The older man took it only to see a fairly detailed diagram of a kite. Various words labeled the components, and he couldn't help but be impressed with how quickly the young boy had drawn up such a detailed picture.

"So I am to believe that you were attached to a giant kite, and glided safely here from a distance above the clouds?" Roy nodded, and at that moment Gus returned to the room. He took back the metal slate, scraping off the writing with a sharpened edge on the writing tool. Pulling out a small container, he placed the flakes into it before putting everything back into his pouches.

Gus placed some bread and tea before them before taking a seat on the sofa that Kaela now shared with him. Letting his gaze drift over to Roy, Gus gathered the words the boy wanted to say, and turned to Waylon.

"I am sure that my tales of flying through the sky are just as unbelievable to you as the current world is to me. Just today I found out an animal called a rooster produces a sound I never would have imagined being made by a living creature." Gus calmly took a sip of tea. "So he says."

Waylon seemed to regard the boy as Roy took a roll, pressed on it gently, and took a bite. There was a brief moment of surprise before a light of joy took its place. In that moment, he was prepared to believe what the boy was saying, but something held him back.

"If these ships are flying above us, as you say, how did you not know of the existence of the earth below you, or us of these... boats in the sky?"

Roy held the roll in his mouth as his hands made their deliberate movements. He was sure that holding the roll this way was likely breaking some rule of etiquette, but couldn't bring himself to care in that moment. Since he came down here, he too found himself wondering this more than once.

"I am unsure, but every time I would gaze off of the ship, the only things I would see are clouds and more sky. Looking up at that same sky now, and seeing it not covered completely by clouds, makes it seem odd. With such a vast expanse, it seems that we would not always be traveling through them." Gus stopped, but Roy's hands moved in a flurry a moment longer before waving a hand. "It seems he was saying something about rust, but waved the thought aside."

Roy cracked a smile at the literal way Gus had translated the last bit as he pulled the roll from his mouth. Kaela, and even Waylon, couldn't help small smiles as well.

Waylon turned to Gus now. "Kaela told me you have information about this?"

"Only a mention of airships, and a diagram of what one might look like. Until yesterday, I too thought this was the stuff of legend and fairy tale." Gus shrugged in an unhelpful way. "I simply don't have any detailed records after the time that book was published, nor before for that matter, that mention anything else."

Movement brought Waylon's eyes and attention back to Roy, but the boy was instead facing Gus. The older man seemed to consider what was said instead of translating it. Kaela sighed slightly, and her father guessed this was something that happened often the previous evening.

"I don't know of anywhere close by that would hold records such as these. The best place to research this would be in the Capital Library, but that is closed to the public. One can only enter if they are nobility, a high ranking officer of the military, or have permission directly from the royal family." A sip of tea interrupted Gus's explanation. "They say that every book that has ever been written is stored within its walls though, it is a massive collection of knowledge."

Waylon was the one to dash the hope that he saw growing in Roy's eyes. "The trip to the capital is a journey of several weeks, however. Without the proper funds, supplies, and skills one would die before they even got a quarter of the way. The village might be able to provide the funds and supplies, but to do that for a stranger with no payment," he simply shook his head, "that is something I expect would be difficult to get agreement upon."

At these words, there was an almost imperceptible slump in Roy's shoulders. He stared at his hands, not daring to meet the eyes of those around him. The faint hope he had of somehow returning to his ship crumbled before his eyes, but it wasn't like he could blame anyone in the village. If a stranger had landed on his ship asking for them to give up their resources for nothing in return, his captain would likely have kicked them over the edge. He had the sense that this town, much like his ship, was a close-knit family.

The silence grew. Waylon could tell that Roy saw the sense in what he said. Even if he wanted to help, it was the village that would suffer. Gus, even though he had grown to like the young man, also had to agree with Waylon's words.

Unexpectedly, Kaela stood from where she had been quietly sitting. "What if he helps the village in some way?" All eyes fell on her, and she colored slightly, but didn't retract her words. "You said the village could help him, but without payment you would never ask that. So all he has to do is pay the village in a way equal to the supplies that we give him."

"Providing a service instead of money," Gus nodded, "that seems a fair trade to me."

It wasn't like Waylon wanted to be unhelpful to the stranger, so this new offer had him nodding. "If Roy can fix something in the village to the point that they would help him willingly in return, then I have no right to refuse this."

Determination flooded back into the boy's eyes, and he quickly made his signs. "That is a good question. What problems are there in the village for him to fix, or even services he could perform?"

This seemed to have them all stumped. Waylon was the first to break the silence. "I have not heard of any pressing matters from the village, however there may be small tasks you could perform to help various people."

Roy stood, and looked like he was ready to head out the door in that moment, but Gus placed a hand on his arm, halting him. "I don't think blindly running around the village would be of much help. There is no one else in the village that can understand you, and I'm not exactly fit to go running off through the village with you."

A flurry of movement met this argument. Roy moved his hands with such speed that Kaela had to admit that she was surprised Gus was able to keep up.

"Unfortunately, not everyone in the village can read." A deep frown creased Roy's brow at this, his displeasure more than obvious. He moved past the information however, and crossed his arms. Roy's eyes met Kaela's.

"Wah!" Roy placed his hands on Kaela's shoulders in a decisive manner. She looked up at him, he had moved to her side before she could process what was happening.

Gus studied the movement of Roy's one hand. It took a great deal longer than his usual signing, but eventually the older man nodded. "Kaela, Roy would like you to accompany him around the village and translate for him."

"Are you joking? I can't understand what Roy is..." She hesitated on the word, unsure what she should use. "...what he is... signaling?"

"That's where we help you learn the very basics. In sign language one can also spell. We can teach you the basics, give you a cheat sheet, and you can interpret for him."

"Well then, it seems things are settled here." Waylon stood from where he was observing, not giving Kaela a chance at rebuttal. "Let's make this your punishment rather than taking away your allowance. I'll even let you skip morning practice."

"What? I've never skipped a practice though!" Rather than not wanting to help Roy, she didn't want to give up the only time she got to swing her sword at people.

"You will be fine for one day. However, you do still need to apologize to Audry at some point today." He turned to Gus. "Thank you for your hospitality, I'll be taking my leave."

Kaela stood, practically shell-shocked, at the sudden sequence of events. This was not how she imagined her day going. Gus followed her father toward the door, and Roy was quickly devouring another roll with a thoughtful look on his face.

Waylon paused in the doorway as he seemed to remember something, and looked back toward Roy. Noticing this, the boy broke from his contemplation to return the gaze.

"I don't believe you ever mentioned which of the Gods it is you have attributes from." Gus turned interestedly toward Roy as well, and even Kaela returned from her shocked state.

Roy held the roll in his mouth as he made a few signs, then looked off as if trying to recall something. Gus seemed a bit surprised at what he had signed, but waited a moment to tell the others. A light of Roy recalling something shone in his eyes, and he raised one of his hands, making several signs as he took a bite out of his roll.

"Trahaearn, or at least he thinks so if he recalled correctly."

Matching looks of confusion appeared on the faces of both Kaela and Waylon. If Roy had any doubts the two were related, the identical expressions they wore would have put those doubts to rest. He continued eating the roll, wondering if they were going to reply at any point in the near future.

Kaela was the first speaker, simply muttering: "If you recall correctly?"

Waylon seemed a bit more thoughtful as the the name Trahaearn escaped his lips a few times as he himself tried to recall.

Gus was the only one to say something audible to everyone in the room. "I believe Trahaearn is one of the lost Gods. A lesser one that seemed to enhance skill working with specific metals. That is all I can recall, I would need to do more study to know any stories."

Roy shrugged, losing interest in the conversation. Shaking himself from the contemplation, Waylon excused himself once more and left the home. Releasing a slight shrug of his own after closing the door, Gus went to a shelf and pulled off a very old book. Though well looked after, by this point it was obvious that the binding had rotted and loosened over the ages, and the book would need to be rebound soon lest pages be lost.

A thud sounded, and Kaela looked at the musty book placed on the table before her. "Though there is more than just the basics in here, we will really only need the first few pages."

Gus carefully leafed through a few pages and opened it to a page with several hands drawn in different positions. Kaela leaned forward to see each hand shape also had a character in the alphabet written below it.

A movement from the side drew both Kaela's and Gus's attention. Seeing Gus make eye contact with him, Roy formed his signs. "Ah, yes that would be helpful. Let me grab you some paper and a pen."

Kaela looked at Roy as Gus bustled off. The male smiled and raised a hand in a specific form. Kaela stared for a moment before realizing that was likely one of the signals written down on the page before her.

Looking from the sign to the book and double checking, Roy went through a few signs before finishing the brief sentence.

It is nice to meet you.

Realizing she understood what he wanted to say, Kaela couldn't help it when wide smile adorned her own face. "It's nice to meet you too, Roy!"

Gus is nice, but it will be fun to talk with you now.

Kaela didn't know how to respond to that, since it sounded so lonely somehow. Whether luckily or not, she had no need to as Gus returned in that moment with the promised items. Roy accepted the items and grabbed a book to use as a table of sorts, ending the brief conversation.

"Well then, I will go over the basic signs with you a few times. Roy will work on the cheat-sheet for us while you practice doing this by sight." Gus then proceeded to go through the signs in order a few times, letting Kaela reference the book as he went.

With Roy focused on drawing several pictures of hands, and Kaela learning a new way to communicate, the time passed quickly. Soon, the sun was high in the sky, just passing its peak. The three sat around the small dining table eating sandwiches of cold ham and the leftover bread from the morning. They had decided on the break after Kaela, who had been studying for hours at that point, finally flopped over on the couch and declared she had exhausted her ability to memorize for the day.

It is impressive how much progress you made. Roy still made the signs exceptionally slowly, slower even than he had made for Gus, but Kaela didn't need to reference the cheat sheet as much as she would have.

She made a noncommittal sound at the praise, but was secretly pleased nonetheless. Speaking of the cheat sheet, she glanced down at it now and couldn't help being impressed. "I still wonder at how easily you were able to draw such a detailed thing as hands."

Roy considered this. I needed to learn. He seemed to opt for a vastly oversimplified version of what he wanted to say, but Kaela couldn't blame him. Anything beyond a brief sentence or two was hard for her to keep track of, and took quite a while to get across anyway.

"What do you mean by that?" Despite knowing she couldn't keep up she gestured to Gus. "You can sign to Gus, since it's easier. I'm just a bit curious."

It took a few moments, but not nearly as long as it would have otherwise, before Gus opened his mouth to translate. "When he was on his ship he was the only mechanic. Since there were no apprentices, he needed to create diagrams and booklets describing repair procedures in case there was no apprentice in his lifetime. Many of the details were small and he needed to be as accurate as possible, especially since after a few repairs the propellers each had differences from the others. Copying how a hand looked from another's drawings isn't especially hard."

Kaela shook her head, equal parts in disbelief and in awe. "You know there are some people that would kill to have that skill."

I worked hard to get it. Noting that they had all finished their small lunch, Roy changed the subject. I would like to see the town today, if you do not mind.

"Of course!" Kaela practically leapt from her seat. Hours of study had her restless, and wandering the village is exactly what she wanted to do. "Let's get going then!" She dragged Roy from his seat before the boy could get his bearings and he waved briefly to Gus as he was dragged by his wrist out the door.

The old man had a faint smile on his face as he watched the pair leave.