It has been two days since the airship departed Himar, and already the air seems warmer. The ship itself seems much quieter now without thirty apprentice mages running around. Only seven remain, and Mage Latania watches over them… supposedly. The ship itself has taken on some new crewmembers, including a few Vartans who handle the heavy boxes of ore very well.

Rory looks both ways before tip-toe-clopping across the corridor, then slipping up against another wall, sneaking about. Stealth is not a skill of his, what with the sound of his hooves against the wood, his overtures more exaggeration of how to "act sneaky" than actually being so.

The black unicorn, a flimsy cantrip of Obfuscation roughly obscuring his form for the time being (but doing nothing against anyone who would have any reason to really care about him anyway), scoots toward the mess hall, on a quest for treasure!

A Vartan shiphand with smoky gray feathers walks past Rory, his tail glitters with all sorts of interesting bits of 'treasure'… too bad it looks well secured in the strands of horsehair.

Rory notices the glittering treasure, but that's not quite what he's looking for. He continues onward, slipping into the mess hall, which he hopes won't be very active at this time between meals.

The mess hall is fairly empty, with only a couple of chefs talking amongst themselves as they clean up. The floor looks like it hasn't been swept up yet, and is littered with bits of food and other items.

Rory sneaks this way and that, mostly looking at the floor. Nut shells? Scraps of paper in just the right shape? Nothing that would get smelly, though…

Some dried beans catch the Aeonian's eye, as well as bits of chitin from what was probably a fork or a spoon at one time. A little farther some bug shells can be seen under a table.

Rory's ears perk up, and he grins widely. Treasure! He looks both ways carefully to watch for hostile natives or booby traps in the ancient Mess Hall of Doom, then furtively sneaks forward to pick up the bits of shell, chitin and beans.

No booby traps so far, although a few wads of half eaten food on the floor serve as fearsome obstacles indeed, and who knows what evil lurks on the underside of the tables?

Rory gasps, seeing the dreaded Caustic Sticky Wad of Chewing Goo dangling from underneath one of the tables! He carefully steers clear of its deadly tentacle-like extensions, shuffling past some bottomless cracks in the wooden floor.

As the unicorn reaches his treasure, something falls and lands on his horn. Rory feels something slide down the surface of it and rest on the cloth of his hood right at the base of his horn.

Rory gulps! He's been … slimed! He has only seconds to live unless he cleans the poisonous substance away and takes the antidote! He scrabbles to scrape it free.

Rory licks at his fingers, then wipes them off on his robes, and pops down a magic jellybean to save him from the otherwise inevitable agonizing death. He thoughtfully chews on the jellybean while he ponders his means of "attack" on the treasure…

Ten feet away, lies the ancient Babel Bug burial ground of myth and legend. Bits of glittering chitin litter the floor below. (Actually, it's just the table where the Eeee like to eat… )

Rory quietly mouths an "Ooooooo!" at all the glittering chitin bits. Precious jewels that would be suitable to make ornamentation for royalty… He dares to reach for the wealth of treasure, but stops himself, first digging into his robes and pulling out a small pouch.

"Eat like pigs, those Vartans do." Comes a voice from the kitchen. "We should be paying them in Rughrat ribs instead of shekels by the way that they eat… "

Rory's ears flick at the sound, but he doesn't let the chants of the agitated natives distract him from his mission. He shakes the pouch in his hand, feeling the weight of the sand (or, really, crumbs he picked up on the way) and looks to gauge that of the precious jewels by comparison. He holds his hands to each side of the pile of jewels, then pauses to pour a few of the crumbs onto the planks, and shakes the pouch again to feel its new weight.

A beetle that escaped consumption at breakfast watches passively from a bench. Its antennae twitch back and forth.

Rory gathers his courage, keeping clear of the ravenous wild beast. He shifts his weight again … then in a lightning flash (well, not exactly LIGHTNING) grabs up a handful of the jewels with one hand and leaves the flimsy pouch of sand in its place.

The beetle quickly skitters away, leaving Rory with his prize. A handful of iridescent bug shells in a myriad of colors.

Rory stuffs the precious treasure in a pouch in his robes, and turns around to begin the careful trek back out of the Mess Hall of Doom.

The little unicorn pops out from under the table, makes a quick survey for hostile natives, then sneaks off toward the door – to safety and freedom!

The unicorn almost bumps into a passing crewmember as he exits, but escapes the treacherous place unscathed.

Rory lets out a sigh of relief, and clip-clops back toward the safety of his Secret Hideout – also known as his room. (It's a lot more secret now that he only shares it with a shadow.)

A familiar face walks past Rory. A white Cervani dressed in a gaudy blue dress. She glances at the Aeonian as he enters his room and then continues on her way. Inside, it's quiet as ever, with Mister Porky keeping watch on Silhouette's bed.

Rory gulps, then slips in, closing the door. He walks over to Porky, whispering, "Have you seen Silhouette anywhere around? Remember … this is a SURPRISE! Don't tell her a THING!"

The stuffed pig doesn't respond. Obviously he hasn't seen Silhouette, or he'd have the manners to say he had.

Rory nods, satisfied, and goes under his bed, pulling out some pieces of string, some glue, and other materials he has procured or hoarded for uses such as this.

Rory pulls out a book on ancient artifacts, a well-worn one, and flips to a page with a sketch of a necklace that once adorned a jungle princess, a wonderwork of beads and stones, worked with pieces of precious metal. He begins to lay out the sections of string on the floor before him in a similar fashion, tying parts together … then carefully selecting and gluing bits of chitin and shell to cut pieces of parchment and, in turn, to the strings.

The ship jumps a bit, causing Skiree's stuffed toy to 'squeak' softly. The grayish tone of the sky outside suggest that storms might be approaching.

Rory frowns a bit, but consoles himself, "Don't worry. Magic is stronger in storms. It's more … special." He continues working on the necklace. To his eyes, it is becoming a treasure fit for kings, even though to the ordinary observer, it's merely a messy bit of child's craft, albeit a colorful one.

Rory finishes the necklace, and rolls back onto his hooves, carefully putting away his materials and setting the necklace up to dry, resting on some scrap paper to both catch extra glue and keep it together until it solidifies. He then digs for some of his ritual candles and his special chalks.

Abovedecks, the sound of pounding footsteps can be heard as the crew prepares to secure the items on the deck.

Rory frowns, pausing for a moment. "No. This is too important. This is for my best friend." He resumes working, rolling out a leather tarp, running cords through eyelets in the corners and securing them to the posts of the bed and other furniture in the room, stretching out his workspace that he chalks out a magic circle on.

Mister Porky watches on quietly.

Next, Rory sets out twelve black, stubby candles, set in wide, dish-like bases with rough undersides. Even so, as Rory feels the ship shake … he dabs a bit of tacky-glue on the underside of each candle base as he puts it in place on the leather tarp, to encourage them not to drift much. It takes him longer to snap a spark to light one of the candles with his tinderbox set. The candle does not produce a bright flame – just a brief spark and glow that dies out, letting a thin plume of smoke rise from it … one which doesn't stop. He repeats the process for the other candles until all twelve are "lit".

Rory gets up, takes a look at his magic circle, then goes to his necklace, testing the glue. Once certain it has dried enough, he dangles it from some more strings in front of the porthole. "I may not have continuous sunlight … so I'll just have to use lightning flashes," he sighs.

The little unicorn looks to the wall opposite, looking for the shadow to be cast by the "necklace" across the room.

Thankfully, the clouds have not grown so dark as to block out the sunlight just yet – although that may change abruptly, depending on the nature of the storm and the direction of the airship.

Rory nods, and sits back down, determined to start this quickly, so that he at least has some shadow to work with. He looks up at the shadow cast on the wall, smiling and imagining it to be a treasure of incomparable craftmanship and value. Then … he closes his eyes, seated in the center of his circle, and begins chanting a long and very special ritual, no mere cantrip.

The ritual would test the patience of any child, but Rory nonetheless keeps focused as minutes … and then an hour … and then more passes.

And more time passes. There are no special effects, save for whatever can be attributed to the storm. No swirling mists, not even the room going strangely dark or any sparkling lights – just the unicorn's chants, and the quickly dissipating plumes of aromatic smoke. At last, the Aeonian finishes his incantations, opens his eyes, and stops, looking at the wall.

Rory smiles, then reaches over to the candles surrounding him, taking a damp rag and snuffing out each one in turn. He carefully wraps up the candles in their fire-resistant containers, puts away the "dish" bases, unties the cords, and rolls up the tarp – planning on cleaning it up later.

It is now late afternoon, and the grayish clouds outside have gotten darker. Skiree's toy has behaved remarkably well through this whole thing, not even squeaking once.

At last, Rory walks over to the porthole, and takes down the paper-and-shell-and-chitin-and-string-and-glue necklace. He turns toward a lantern and lights it, filling the room with its soft illumination.

The unicorn turns toward the wall … looking at the shadow once projected through the porthole, of the necklace, still hanging there on the wall. His smile returns.

Rory looks both ways out of habit, then clip-clops up to the shadow on the wall, and reaches up, taking the phantom down, the dark beads and jewels swaying slightly and soundlessly. He tests the clasp. Of course, it works perfectly. Magic can be funny that way.

The next step is to pull out a small box and some "wrapping paper" – black, of course. With a bit of struggling, he puts the necklace in, and wraps up the present, complete with a bow. It's not … professional wrapping, but it's the thought that counts.

Just in time too! A loud rumble can be heard from outside.

Rory frowns, hiding the gift under the bed. He closes his eyes, chanting a cantrip in sing-song. He finishes with, "Silhouette … can you come out and play?"

A shadowy form pops out from a corner in the room. "Of course!" Silhouette signs, grinning.

Rory jumps! "Oh! Hello, Silhouette." He recovers with a smile. "How is your day going?"

"I've been resting for most of it. The ship isn't as interesting a place to explore as I'd hoped, at least, not since I've been exploring the same ship for three weeks now." She shrugs, then folds her hands behind her back.

Rory nods. "I know exactly what you mean." He frowns, then says, "Well … I called you here because I remembered something very important about today." He breaks into a wide grin.

The shadow tilts her head curiously to one side, her shadowy hair gently falling over one shoulder.

Rory says, "Well … Cover your eyes. I've got a surprise."

Silhouette makes a 'you're being silly' motion with her hand, and then covers her eyes. A patient expression adorns her face.

Rory smiles, stifling a giggle as he half-hops on his hooves. He ducks down, tail swishing, as he reaches under the bed and pulls out the fragile package. He turns around. "Okay! You can look now."

Slowly uncovering her eyes, Silhouette stares at the bundle for a few moments before signing, "For me?"

Rory just smiles and nods several times … then says, "Want me to open it for you?"

The shadow seems speechless. She hugs her arms around her shoulders and nods her head vigorously.

Rory grins, and drops to one knee, unwrapping the gift … going just a LITTLE too slow, to keep up the suspense. At last, though, he opens the lid of the box, revealing darkness inside. But not just ANY sort of darkness. This darkness is shaped like a necklace.

Silhouette puts her hands over her mouth in an 'oh!' gesture. She just stands there, much too surprised to react.

Rory lifts up the box. "Take it. It's for you. Happy Birthday, Silhouette." He smiles genuinely.

The shadow Aeonian reaches down and gently takes the necklace. She fumbles with it for a few moments before finally securing the clasp. "Thank you… it's beautiful. How did you know that today was my birthday?"

Rory blinks and says, "I … I don't know. Didn't you tell me?"

"Not really. I don't know when your birthday is, after all." She rubs the necklace gently with one finger, then bends down and hugs her friend tightly. "Thank you."

Rory says, "Well … I don't know when my birthday is, either." He lets this thought trail off, gently returning the hug, without any pressure – the only way to hug a shadow, really. "You're very welcome. Thanks for being my best friend."

"I'll always be your best friend," Silhouette signs, grinning.

Rory smiles. "And I'll always be sure to be the same for you." He sets the box aside, then looks back to Silhouette. "What do you think? Need a mirror?"

The shadow shakes her head. She just looks down and touches the necklace a bit more. "It's beautiful. It's the most beautiful necklace in the world." She beams happily.

Rory grins, his eyes twinkling. He just hops on his hooves. He can't think of anything to add.

Rory just walks over to the porthole, looking outside. "I guess we're going to be stuck on this ship a lot longer, Silhouette … but it won't be so bad. See? I can do REAL magic. I'm getting better. And … some day … some day I'll be good enough." He smiles wistfully as he watches the world slip by outside, dreaming of what adventures might await the two of them … and wondering what sorts of adventures his other friend, Skiree, is having right now. "You just wait and see."