“Got it.” Fieran pointed first at Rothilion, then at Aylia. “Lt. Rothilion, you’re with me. Aylia, wait for Merrik. We’ll switch once everyone is in the air.”
Perhaps slightly unconventional, but he wanted one of the best pilots to take off with Merrik. He didn’t want to risk any accidents. Not with Merrik.
“Understood.” Rothilion tugged on his flight jacket, smoothing it over his uniform.
From beside her aeroplane, Aylia grinned. “Will do.”
That taken care of, Fieran raced from Bay 5 into Bay 4, finding a more chaotic rush than in Bay 5, although not in a fearful way. Just in the more noisy, tromping way of humans.
Nearby, one of the flyboys jostled the workbench piled high with jars of sourdough starter. As the flyboy frantically tried to steady the tower, several of the jars toppled, then fell to the cement floor with the splintering of shattering glass. Shards of glass scattered amid the gooey spatter of the starter.
The nearby flyboys froze, staring first at the mess, then at Fieran.
Fieran heaved a sigh and jabbed a hand at the disaster of glass and fermenting dough. Time to finally take this in hand. “Leave it for now. But when we get back, all of this is going tohave to go. Give it to the cooks at the mess hall, throw it away, lob it at the enemy, I don’t care. But it needs to go. From now on, if anyone wants a donut, you’ll just have to wait until you get a pass to go into Defense City.”
It wasn’t like Tiny, the one who had started this whole debacle, would care. He’d already been visiting his girl in Defense City every chance he got, regardless of how many donuts the squadron fried up.
The squadron had had their fun with their foray into donut-making endeavors, and it had served its purpose to keep them somewhat sane during those weeks of near constant raids. But it was time to wrangle things back into good order.
The flyboys muttered their assent before they raced away to see to getting into their fly gear and into the sky.
Fieran came across Lije as he hurried through the hangar bay. “Pass the word. Flight A will be taking off first. I’d like all of you to take off afterwards and make a swing south before coming back north.”
“Got it.” Lije raced off, halting by each aeroplane to pass the word through the rest of the Flight.
Fieran ran for his own aeroplane in its station closest to Pip’s workbench by the wall.
She was up on a ladder, the engine compartment open, as she gave the engine a quick look over, even though she’d already given it a thorough inspection the day before after he’d landed.
“How’s everything looking?” Fieran reached for the bundle of his flight clothing he’d left on the floor next to the aeroplane.
“All set.” Despite her words, Pip continued inspecting the engine, her hands and eyes moving rapidly as she worked to finish before the ground crew arrived to wheel out his aeroplane. There was something almost obsessive in the way she scanned the parts of the engine.
“Hey.” Fieran paused in hiking up his flight boots and reached for Pip. As she was standing on a ladder and he was hunched with the fur-lined leather boots halfway up his thighs, he settled for briefly resting his hand on the side of her calf. “The engine is in perfect working order.”
“I know, I know. I just…” Pip didn’t withdraw.
Fieran hopped a bit as he pulled the boots the rest of the way up, hooking the straps to his belt. Then he gripped her waist and lifted her off the ladder.
Pip yelped and squealed as her feet left the ladder.
Fieran set her on her feet on the cement floor in front of him. “You’ve done all you can. I’m not going to crash.”
Pip wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his shirt. “It’s a lot harder to watch you fly into danger after…you know. I thought I was getting better at pushing the memories aside, but seeing Merrik again…”
Her words choked off, but he didn’t need her to finish. It was good to have Merrik back, but Merrik was still dealing with the consequences of that day in a way Fieran wasn’t.
Fieran ran a hand up and down her back while he buried his other hand in her hair, the thick waves curling around his fingers. “I’m going to be all right. Even if I crash again—even if I’m not all right this time—it’s my duty. I need to go up.”
Pip nodded against his hand, blinking as she did so.
Fieran pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I need to go.”
Pip gripped the front of his shirt, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him before he straightened. When she stepped back, releasing him, her shoulders had straightened, her face smoothing. “Just bring my aeroplane back in one piece. And I mean the whole aeroplane. Not just one tiny piece of it.”
Fieran just grinned at her as he bent, picking up his flight jacket. That was a promise he couldn’t make.
She climbed the ladder again to close the engine compartment. As she clambered down once again and pushed the ladder out of the way, the ground crew arrived to wheel the aeroplane to the airfield.
