Flying lower, a valley came into view, along with some emerald-like drumlins. Benjamin continued to fly the airship under the Cumulonimbus cloud, and when we'd passed it, he pulled the levers, the airship tilted upwards and zoomed back to normal height. The fans on the airship chugged determinedly, and I heard the whistling sound of the blades chopping up the air. Benjamin steered the ship again, and we got out into open air once more.

I peered over the basket, and watched the valley go past thousands of metres underneath us. It was all new to me, this countryside, and it enchanted me. The rolling hills passed quickly, revealing a flat plateau, with a ginormous sparkling silver lake. A little farm was near it, and a mill on the other side, with a water wheel.

I noted with interest that on the farm, there was a gathering of people beside a field. There were two enormous, black and red, brass-metalled machines at either end of a grassy field. They had long, tall chimneys. These machines looked like miniature steam trains, but they had no carriages and only two sets of wheels - the front ones were tiny, the back ones massive.

There was a sort of wheel beside it's engine too, and a large, oiled black belt rotated on it, passing it to a turning sideways wheel also on the engine. This wheel passed the belt across the length of the field, to another machine identical in setup. Both machines were running, belching out a fog of steam. I kept watching, and one machine suddenly gave out a very loud whistling shriek. The other machine did so too, twice. Then one man by the field climbed on the machine, pulled a leaver, and I saw a plough move across the field, traveling on the black belt powered by these machines.

I looked at Benjamin, and saw he had been watching these machines too.
"Traction Engines." He breathed, impressed. "Isn't this new age marvellous? Now we get ploughing done in half the time than with horses!"

I smiled too.
"Traction engines remind me of my old train." I responded thoughtfully.

"I'm hardly surprised." Was Benjamin's answer. "They're everywhere though, so you'll see them quite often. Technology's moved on now, onto other things steam can power, like mechanical horses and airships."

Benjamin continued to fly the airship for the rest of the day, but eventually, the sun began to set.
When the sky was a Prussian blue colour quickly going darker, Benjamin gathered the lamps he kept in a box near the back of the basket.

Not trusting me with a match, though I knew how to light one, he lit the paraffin lamps and hung them up on hooks. We continued to fly the airship, the lamps turning us sepia tones with their soft glow. Eventually, after flying through a rain cloud, leaving us completely soaked, Benjamin accepted defeat.

"It's no good, we'll have to land and book a hotel, Mila." He announced, his fringe going flat in the rain.

"It can't be that bad though, can it?" I asked him.

Benjamin sighed.
"Find out yourself." He answered.

Benjamin pulled on the ropes and wiped his goggles with his sleeve to remove the beads of water from them. I felt the airship sink, and looking over the edge of the basket, saw the clouds leave our view. The airship finished it's descent, very, very slowly, gliding downwards. Then, finally, the airship touched the ground. Benjamin told me to stay in the airship, and unlocking the basket door, he threw a rope overboard. He jumped off the ship and shimmied down the rope like a monkey, landing neatly on the ground.

Benjamin then used the rope to pull the airship onto the ground so it didn't move, and tethered it to a bollard securely. He leapt back into the airship and turned off its engine, before he and I got out and he locked the basket door. Oddly, the airship still tried to float with the engine off.

Benjamin saw me looking and explained:
"It's not the fans that make it go up, it's the gas, the steam, that makes it float. The fans only steer. So the ship will float for a while yet before sinking again, as the air inside is lost naturally."

I then noticed the bollard he'd tied the airship to was just outside a path of cobbles leading to an inn. The Clockmaker's arms read the name of the inn.

"You timed that well! Landing accurately and conveniently outside a hotel!" I laughed.

Benjamin shrugged,
"Well, I am a trained Aeronaut." But from the glint in his eye I knew he was very pleased at my compliment.
He moved on: "You told me you had money, so pay for your own room. Meet me outside this hotel at the airship tomorrow and I'll continue to fly you to Welhae. And if you need to know, at the moment you're in Qalale, still a good distance to Welhae."

"Right." I nodded, making my way along the cobbles to the inn.

Inside we were bathed in a copper light. On all the walls, there were gears and cogs turning, brass and iron gleaming metallically. Pipes ran along the ceiling, humming as gas and water flowed through them. At the polished wood and bronze reception desk, there was a short, tubby man, wearing a white shirt, chestnut trousers and a leather apron filled with old clock parts. He scratched his balding head and stroked his white whiskers, tapping two clock parts together behind the desk and then frowning as he held up the combination.

He didn't appear to notice Benjamin or I, so I pinged the brass bell on the desk.
The old man swept aside a collection of silver and gold clock hands and faces printed with Roman numerals.
I pinged the bell again. Loudly.

"Oh!" He said, surprised.

He adjusted his tiny brass-edged glasses. They had an extra two lenses that could be swiveled over the original lens to zoom in on an object and from this, I guessed he was the clockmaker of the Clockmaker's arms.

Benjamin and I booked our hotel rooms separately and we walked up the staircase. The walls were covered in clocks, not all of them running, but hissing, ticking and turning.
Benjamin and I had our rooms side by side, a coincidence. Once in my room, I drew the curtains, blotting out the gas-lamp-light outside, before flopping onto the steel spring mattress that was on the black iron frame bed. Getting myself comfortable under the sheets, I fell asleep peacefully.

*****

I know this chapter was not that interesting, but sometimes, there has to be a pause between action, so you can appreciate it. ;)

Anyway, I'm writing this author note because I wanted to round off this chapter by sharing this picture: when out and about today, I saw this awesome Traction Engine!

Bye for now,

Laura Animalgirl