Learning About The Albatross

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 7, Post Number 166

-The outskirts of Motor City, 8:10 A.M.-

Wearing her blue t-shirt and khaki cargo pants with boots, Leona sat in the cockpit at the controls of the Albatross as it completed the automated landing procedure. Back at Silver Wolf Guild Hall Leona had turned on the Albatross before doing anything else, then read the instructions on how to activate the autopilot. She had also read the three-ring binder that had been left in the pilot's seat and had learned how to use the navigational computer to put in the coordinates that had come with the letter she had received from the person who had given her the Albatross. Once she had put in the coordinates and confirmed them the Albatross went through the takeoff procedure on its own thanks to the A.I. named Coleridge.

After lifting straight into the air the Albatross began to fly in the direction of Motor City. Coleridge had flown Leona to the coordinates, which belonged to a landing pad on a large patch of grass behind a two-story house with a garage attached to the right side. The flight had taken a little over two hours and that was because she had had to read the manual to learn to use the navigational computer.

When the Albatross landed Leona felt a slight jolt as she sat in the pilot's seat, but the impact was not as great as she had been expecting. She was glad for that because the flight from Silver Wolf Guild Hall to the outskirts of Motor City had been harrowing enough for her. Watching the Albatross fly itself while sitting in the cockpit had made Leona very nervous, but if she was going to fly it herself one day she needed to learn to cope with looking at the sky through a window.

Leona unbuckled the safety belt and stood up, then smoothed out her shirt. Once that was done she walked out of the cockpit area and headed towards the cargo bay, where she would exit the Abatross and head towards the mansion to see if she could find someone to talk to.

-Outside the Albatross, two minutes later-

Leona strode down the cargo ramp and came to a stop just past it when she saw a young blonde woman striding towards her. The Wizard Saint was not sure what to expect. She had brought a sizable sum of Jewels and stashed it inside the footlocker in the Pilot's Quarters in case the creator of the Albatross demanded payment for their creation. Leona had brought three million Jewels with her just to be sure she had enough to pay off the debt.

As the young blonde got closer Leona took a look at her and saw that she was Leona's height. She had hair as short as Leona's and wore a black tank top and khaki cargo shorts plus brown gloves on her hands and well-worn brown boots with oil stains on the toes. The young woman approached Leona with a wide smile and when she got within speaking distance waved with her left hand.

"Hi Leona!" The young woman greeted her. Leona returned the greeting, waving with her right hand.

"Hi there." Leona calmly greeted the other blonde.

"I'm Lara Douglas and I'm the creator of the C-128 Albatross!" The other blonde introduced herself and stated that it was she who had created the aircraft Leona was using.

"I got it the other day, Lara. It's quite an impressive aircraft and has a lot of useful features. For example, I used the autopilot feature to get here since I have no idea how to fly it manually. Not yet, anyway." Leona informed Lara that she was liking the Albatross so far. Lara smiled for a moment before her expression turned serious.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you, Leona." Lara informed Leona in a serious tone of voice. Leona silently braced herself for whatever was coming next.

"It's about the matter I told you about in the letter. I'm looking for payment for the Albatross." Lara continued in the same serious tone she had started the conversation with. The Wizard Saint folded her arms across her chest.

"Go on." Leona bade the young woman. Leona was not liking the sound of this conversation. She did not know whether Lara wanted payment in Jewels or payment in some other form like a special task done on her behalf. Leona was about to find out what she would have to do to pay off the debt.

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"I'm gonna need 1.7 million Jewels. That's for parts, labor, the installation of the furnishings, everything." Lara laid out the figure for Leona and reached into her left cargo pocket, producing a folded-up paper that she handed to Leona. The Wizard Saint opened it up and read over it. The paper had everything printed out with an exact figure of how much it cost, something which was a pleasant surprise to Leona.

"If you don't have the money right now I'll keep the Albatross here while you go get it." Lara stated that she would keep the Albatross as collateral, presumably to keep the Wizard Saint from promising to go get the money, then flying off and never returning. Leona raised her right hand in a "stop" gesture.

"That won't be necessary. I've got it on the Albatross." Leona made a statement of her own. Leona had figured that she was going to have to pay quite a bit for the Albatross. She was glad that she had thought ahead for once and brought plenty of Jewels with her because she had needed them after all.

"I'm going with you." Lara declared. Leona detected more than a hint of distrust on her voice and that reinforced her belief that the other blonde was wary of not being paid for her work. The Wizard Saint supposed that it was just business.

"All right." Leona replied. Her consent was mostly a formality... Lara was probably going to follow her on board anyway even if Leona had requested that she stay outside. Again Leona supposed that this was just business.

"Follow me." Leona stated. She turned around and headed for the cargo ramp. Lara followed at her right side and the two blondes walked up the ramp and into the Albatross.

-Inside the Pilot's Quarters, three minutes later-

Leona entered the Pilot's Quarters just ahead of Lara and went straight to the footlocker in which she had put her money. She opened the footlocker and reached down, pulling out a large bag of Jewels. She then closed the footlocker and turned to Lara.

"Let's go count them in my office." Lara said in a manner that made it clear that it was not a suggestion.

"All right." Leona replied to the order.

-Inside Lara's office, seven minutes later-

After the pair moved from the Albatross to an office inside Lara's home the blonde was seated at a wooden desk with a computer monitor on the left side and a keyboard which had been shoved aside to make room for the bag of money. The "office" they were in was a room which was about as large as the Pilot's Quarters they had just left behind. On the otherwise bare wall behind Lara were a few framed technical certifications and a high school diploma, which told Leona that the other blonde had quite a bit of education in the fields necessary to create the Albatross. On the right wall was a framed picture of Lara and a man and woman, something which drew the Wizard Saint's attention.

Were they Lara's family?

Leona had no clue and she was not about to ask. Instead she watched as Lara began to count out the money by hand. This was going to take awhile.

-Lara's office, twenty minutes later-

Lara had finally finished counting the Jewels by hand and looked at Leona, who was starting to become a little restless. When the other blonde looked at her the Wizard Saint focused again and paid attention.

"That's all of the money you owe me. You've paid in full and the Albatross is now yours!" Lara said in a cheerful voice. That news was pleasing to Leona. Now she could plan for her return trip to The Forgotten Deserts and search for the elemental stone at her own pace without fear of the Albatross disappearing on her.

"Is there anything else I need to do?" Leona asked Lara in case there was more business to be done. The latter shook her head.

"Not at all. I just wanted the money for parts and labor. Building the Albatross wasn't cheap and procuring all the parts cost quite a lot." Lara told her before smiling again.

"Now that the business side of things is officially finished, would you like to learn more about the C-128 Albatross?" The young woman asked Leona. The Wizard Saint figured that she might be able to learn more about her new aircraft from its creator than she could learn from just reading the manual, so she was going to take the chance that had been offered to her.

"Certainly." Leona replied. Lara got up from her desk and walked around it, then headed for the door.

"Let's go back to the Albatross. It'll be easier for me to tell you about it if we're actually outside with it!" Lara suggested. Together the two blondes left the office and started retracing their steps to the landing pad.

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-Outside the Albatross, five minutes later-

After leaving the office the two blondes were now standing outside the Albatross and facing it. Lara was looking upon her creation with pride and Leona was looking upon it with amazement. One person had conceived of, designed, and built the aircraft she was standing in front of. Dr. Reid had built the Atlas by herself, so Leona should have been able to fathom the idea of one particularly talented individual building a wonder of technology. Despite that she was still surprised that the Albatross was one person's work.

"All right, here we go!" Lara said, drawing Leona's attention back to her.

"The C-128 Albatross is meant to carry a lot of cargo over long distances. As you've already seen, it can carry a lot of stuff in its cargo bay. I couldn't figure out how to attach a crane or other way to haul objects outside, so you're just gonna have to put everything you want to carry in the cargo bay. Sorry about that." Lara explained the purpose of the aircraft and apologized for being unable to add an external means of carrying cargo. Leona was not upset by that at all.

"It's no problem, Lara. It's not like I plan to haul very large items around. I just need something to carry me and my belongings from place to place. Maybe some passengers every once in awhile." Leona stated that she was satisfied with the aircraft's carrying capacity as it was because she intended to use the Albatross as a personal transport, not as a heavy lifter. The other blonde gave a small smile.

"I like the living quarters and the galley. They're good additions that will be a big help on long trips. I don't know how you managed to add those features." Leona complimented the designer on those additions. Lara smiled again and pointed towards the aircraft with the index finger of her left hand.

"I had to sacrifice some cargo carrying space to add those places. Not everywhere you go has a convenient hotel, so being able to live on board the Albatross should more than make up for the loss." The other blonde explained exactly how she had added the living quarters and the galley. Leona had not directly asked for that information, but it was good to know. Without waiting for the Wizard Saint to speak Lara continued talking.

"The Albatross is powered by a special Lacrima that provides fuel to the engines and the electrical systems. It'll last you a very long time... I had to pay big money for the Lacrima, but I think you'll find that it was money well spent. You won't have to buy a replacement any time soon, that's for sure." Lara discussed the Albatross' power source. Leona was interested to hear that bit of information. She had not delved into the inner working of her new transport that deeply, but knowing that the power source would last a long time was good because she would not have to worry too much about it being stranded somewhere due to inability to produce power. It was not like she could call for a tow truck for the Albatross.

"Speaking of the engines, those are another reason the bill's so high. But again you'll find it worth the money. I think you already have... remember when you engaged the autopilot and the Albatross took off straight into the air?" Lara told Leona a bit about the engines before asking a question. Leona remembered the start of her trip to Lara's place, so she nodded.

"Yeah, I remember it taking off straight into the air." Leona replied.

"That's because I gave the Albatross VTOL capability." Lara told the Wizard Saint how the Albatross had managed to accomplish the feat. Leona blinked.

"What does VTOL mean?" Leona asked Lara.

"It's short for Vertical Takeoff and Landing. It means that you don't need a runway to take off and land the Albatross. All you have to do is find a big enough clearing in which to land, slow down, and begin the landing process." Lara informed Leona what the unfamiliar word meant. Leona was getting the sort of education that books could not impart to her without multiple readings. She would have to learn the Albatross' functions herself, but talking to the person who created it was a good start.

"The internal components of the engines are made to be resistant to saltwater corrosion and damage from taking in fine particles like sand. However, resistant doesn't mean they're immune to them. You're gonna have to do maintenance on the engines if you want to keep them in good shape." Lara added another fact about the engines and stated that despite their components maintenance was still needed after exposure to environments that were rough on mechanical parts. Again Leona appreciated the information.

"Well, that concludes the outside tour. Do you want to learn about the interior of the Albatross?" Lara asked Leona.

"Yes, please." Leona answered. With that the two blondes walked up the cargo ramp and into the Albatross.

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-Inside the Albatross, the cargo bay-

Lara and Leona now stood in the cargo bay of the Albatross as Lara described it to her.

"As you can see, the cargo bay's the main feature of the Albatross. It's got plenty of space for vehicles, crates, and people if you're really in a bind and the Passenger Quarters are full. Just make sure that any cargo's secured before you take off because you don't want heavy things flying around in the same area as your passengers. If that happens things could get... messy." Lara informed Leona that the cargo bay could carry people if the need arose but advised her to make sure any and all cargo was secured or messy accidents could happen. Leona did not need to be told twice. Her mind easily filled in the blanks... people could get crushed against the walls or suffer other injuries when heavy flying objects made contact with a human body.

"I'll be sure to do that." Leona replied. Lara then pointed towards the metal door that led to the other parts of the Albatross with her left index finger.

"Let's go to the other parts of the aircraft. I'm sure that you'll want to hear about those." Lara suggested.

"Sure thing, Lara." Leona answered. The two blondes began walking towards the door with Lara in the lead.

-In the hallway-

"And now we're in the hallway that leads to the other parts of the Albatross such as the Pilot's Quarters, both Passenger's Quarters, the Galley, and of course the cockpit!" Lara informed Leona. The Wizard Saint already knew about them, but she let the aircraft's designer continue the tour. Lara walked towards the Galley and the pair entered it.

-In the Galley-

"And here's the Galley, also known as the kitchen. This addition took up a large chunk of cargo space, as you can tell. I'd say the functionality of the galley more than makes up for the loss. As long as you have plenty of food you won't have to worry about what's for dinner on a long trip." Lara opined. She looked around the area and saw Leona's additions.

"I see you've already begun furnishing it." Lara commented.

"Yeah. I've added a microwave, a coffeemaker, and all sorts of things like dish detergent, food, plates, drinking glasses, utensils, and other essentials." Leona replied and named everything she had added to date. Lara smiled.

"You'll want to secure all of that so that it stays in one place while you're flying. I can help you with that once the tour's over." The other blonde offered both advice and help making it happen.

"I'll take any help I can get." Leona accepted the offer. She did not have the know-how to secure everything herself, so she was going to take help from the designer. She would take it even if that help cost a little extra because she did not want to go on a flight only to find a smashed microwave or coffeemaker on the other side of the kitchen. Leona was surprised that nothing had been thrown around on the flight from Silver Wolf Guild Hall to Lara's home, but she supposed that was due to flying at fairly low speed.

"All right then! Let's check out the Passenger's Quarters!" Lara said to Leona. The two exited the Galley and went back outside to the hallway, where they entered the first Passenger's Quarters.

-Inside Passenger's Quarters 1-

"I made the two Passenger's Quarters in case you either needed extra storage space for your personal belongings or had friends travel with you. I didn't add everything that I added to the Pilot's Quarters like the footlocker at the foot of the bed or the wardrobe, but you can add those later if you want." Lara told Leona about the space meant for passengers. The other blonde pointed towards the small bathroom with her left index finger.

"I made sure to add the bathroom with shower, though. Having only one bathroom in the Pilot's Quarters would make hosting passengers in comfort a bit of a challenge." Lara informed Leona that while the footlockers and wardrobe were optional the bathroom was not. Leona was thankful for the bathrooms because that was one less thing she needed to worry about on a long trip. Lara did not wait for a response and resumed talking moments later.

"The other Passenger's Quarters is laid out the same way, so I won't make you listen to another rundown. Instead we'll go over the Pilot's Quarters." Lara told Leona. Again the Wizard Saint knew that from personal experience, so she kept quiet. She was more interested in hearing about her personal quarters and the reason it was laid out the way it was.

"I'm interested." Leona agreed to that idea. The two blondes then exited the first Passenger's Quarters and went back out into the hallway to go to the Pilot's Quarters for the next part of the tour.

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-Inside the Pilot's Quarters-

"And here we are, the Pilot's Quarters. I made this one a little larger than the other quarters because... because, well, you're the pilot." Lara explained to Leona how the Pilot's Quarters were somewhat bigger than the two Passengers Quarters. Leona did not comment on that. She would have liked the other quarters to be a bit larger, but she supposed that Lara could not make it happen without sacrificing even more cargo carrying capacity.

"I made sure to put a couple extra pieces in here for you because you might need a place to store your weapons and changes of clothing. I put a footlocker for your weapons and a wardrobe for your clothes. I also put in a bed for you because sleeping in the cockpit would be really uncomfortable." Lara added the reason behind the installation of the aforementioned pieces of furniture when the other quarters did not get them. Again Leona kept silent. She could probably put wardrobes in later, which she would do later when she had finished her business with the Albatross' creator.

"I made absolutely sure to give you your own bathroom because sharing a bathroom with other people can be a major pain. It's got a toilet, shower, and sink for all your needs. Just like the other bathrooms it's got its own dedicated water Lacrima, so you don't have to worry about rationing water for showers unless you leave the sink on for a few consecutive years or otherwise waste it." The other blonde pointed out that Leona had her own bathroom so that she did not need to share one with her passengers. The Wizard Saint was grateful for that and made certain to express that gratitude.

"Thanks, Lara. I really appreciate that." Leona told the aircraft's creator. The Wizard Saint recalled her recent trip to The Forgotten Deserts to help Eleanor Crouch with an archaeological expedition and recalled how awful she felt after four or five days without a shower. When she finally got back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall a shower was something she wanted more than coffee and if Leona wanted something worse than she wanted coffee that meant that the situation was pretty bad.

"Since the Albatross is meant to be a home away from home for its pilot I figured I'd go the extra mile and put a small bathroom in the Pilot's Quarters. I put in a small Galley, so it made sense to put in a small bedroom and bathroom too." Lara told Leona that if she was going to put in a small kitchen she might as well go all the way and put in a small bathroom to round out the amenities. The young woman demonstrated considerable foresight in designing the Albatross, something that Leona appreciated. The Albatross was going to be a very good mobile base and Leona could not wait to use it on her return trip to The Forgotten Deserts.

Lara clapped her hands together.

"Now that we've finished the tour of the Pilot's Quarters, let's go to the cockpit! You'll definitely want to know about that place!" Lara suggested.

"Of course. If I'm gonna be flying the Albatross I need to know what everything does." Leona agreed to the idea. She already knew how to activate the A.I. autopilot and use the navigational computer, but she had no idea how to manually fly the Albatross or use any of its other functions. Lara clapped her hands together again.

"All right! Let's go!" Lara said. The two blondes left the Pilot's Quarters to go to the cockpit, which was only a stone's throw away from the Pilot's Quarters.

-Inside the cockpit-

"And here we are, the area that's the most important part of the Albatross! Without it my creation would be just a hunk of fancy metal!" Lara introduced Leona to the cockpit. The Wizard Saint had already been inside of it and knew a few basic controls from reading the manual, but she was going to listen to the other blonde anyway and benefit from her perspective.

"Here's the instrument panel. It tells you everything you need to know... speed, altitude, engine status, the works. You'll want to pay close attention to this when you fly, especially when you fly in rough weather." Lara pointed out the instrument panel. Leona paid attention to what she was being told as the other blonde listed other vital aspects of the panel such as a confirmation that the engines were out of VTOL mode so that the aircraft would fly in a straight line instead of straight up, a confirmation that the landing gear was up after takeoff and a separate confirmation that the landing gear was down before landing. Leona paid close attention to everything she was being told and everything that was being pointed out to her... her life could depend on it one day. However, she would need actual flight experience to really learn how everything worked.

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-Outside the Albatross, twenty-one minutes later-

After being given an extensive rundown of the Albatross' instrument panel the pair had exited the Albatross and were now standing outside of it to talk about any questions or concerns Leona had about the aircraft. She had done her best to pay attention to Lara's lecture, but without hands-on experience all of the lecturing in the world would not stick with the Wizard Saint. Leona would have to find a way to get some actual flying experience before she would be able to remember everything she needed to.

"I've got a question, Lara. Is there any way for me to gain flying experience without risking the Albatross?" Leona asked the other blonde. Lara hesitated for a moment.

"Yes and no. I've been working on a training simulator for the Albatross so that you could train in a safe environment, but it's not ready. It won't be ready for a month or two more because it's still got some bugs that need ironing out." Lara told Leona that there was a way, but that way was a work in progress. Leona was mildly disappointed by being told that but there was nothing she could do about it. She lacked the technical know-how to help Lara with making the simulator operational and learning on the fly was not a good idea, so all she could do was wait.

"All right. That answers that." Leona finished that particular line of questioning.

"I wish I could give you a better answer. If you really want to learn to fly manually you'll just have to risk the Albatross. If you want to do that I'd say practice over land like The Forgotten Deserts. That way if you're forced to make a landing there's a chance that the Albatross could survive it. It'll likely be beaten and battered and will need a LOT of repair, but it sure beats a landing on water." Lara gave Leona a solution that was a risky one. The Wizard Saint looked at Lara for a moment and measured the pros and cons of the suggestion.

"If you make an ocean landing the Albatross is a goner. I don't have anything that can retrieve a sunken aircraft and even if we pulled it up out of the water the electronics on board will be completely worthless because of all the salt water damage. If you're trapped on board and can't get out before it sinks you'll be a goner too." Lara laid out why an ocean landing was a very bad idea. Leona thought about that for a moment and now knew why it had been suggested to remain over land while on a training flight. If she went down over land there was a decent chance of surviving, but her chances of survival were a lot lower if she went down over water.

"I'll be sure to stay over land unless I have no other choice." Leona answered. Ideally she would wait until the training simulator had been completed so that she could train to fly the Albatross without risking the actual aircraft or her life, but Leona knew that she was not patient enough to wait a month or two for the simulator to be finished. Try as she might to wait she was eventually going to want to try out her new transport and see what it could do. Therefore it was best to find ways to mitigate the risk now before she decided to take a test flight.

"The Forgotten Deserts is your best bet. Even though there's a lot of sand and the engines are gonna eat quite a bit of it flying around the place you'll have a good chance of saving the aircraft if you go down due to an accident. I can get out there and retrieve it, but if it goes into the water I can't help you." Lara repeated her suggestion and stated that sand was the lesser of two evils. Leona would be certain to keep that in mind.

"Thanks, Lara." Leona thanked Lara for the advice the latter had given so far. The other blonde smiled at her.

"Sure thing, Leona. Now let's get that Galley where your appliances and other stuff won't be thrown around during flight. It's gonna cost you a few thousand Jewels, but it's better than having to shell out money to replace trashed appliances and kitchenware every time you fly the Albatross." Lara told Leona. At this point money was of little concern to Leona. She had saved up a lot of it during her career and this was a good time to spend it. It was better to spend a little extra now to nip the problem in the bud instead of saving money now only to spend what she had saved and possibly more replacing trashed appliances, dishes, drinking glasses, and other kitchen items after every flight.

"That's fine by me, Lara. We'll get started whenever you're ready." Leona accepted the offer and the bill that would come with Lara's help.

"Great! Let me get the tools from the garage and we'll get started!" Lara said. The two blondes turned around and started walking towards Lara's garage to get what was needed to make the Galley improvement project happen.

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-Outside the Albatross, one hour and twenty-seven minutes later-

It had taken nearly an hour-and-a-half for the Galley improvement to be completed, but now it was finished. Leona's appliances, dishes, and other items would be safe during a flight thanks to the installation of special shock-resistant trays for the dishes, glasses, and utensils to be put in plus special brackets to secure the microwave and coffeemaker. The jars of coffee and cans of soup in the pantry were made safe by being placed in special shock-resistant trays as well. Now that the means of preparing food and coffee were safe Leona had paid Lara about seven thousand Jewels for her work, a sum that was reasonable considering how much of the Galley had had to be worked on.

"Nice doing business with you, Leona!" Lara thanked Leona for the extra Jewels on top of the purchase price of the Albatross. Leona had no problem with spending the money now to ensure the safety of her food supply and the appliances needed to prepare said food. Although a small part of her felt like Lara had deliberately omitted such features in order to be able to make some more money off of the Wizard Saint Leona kept her mouth shut and accepted that as the price of being unable to make said improvements herself. Besides, sometimes it was best to let the professionals do the work and there was no one better qualified to work on the Albatross than its creator.

"Thanks for building the Albatross the way you did, Lara. I appreciate all the features you put into it and I appreciate all the amenities you added. I really appreciate the autopilot." Leona thanked Lara for creating the Albatross with all of its features and comforts. Without Lara they would not have ever met because there would be no Albatross. Without Lara Leona was going to have to make the return trip to The Forgotten Deserts on the back of Winged Lion and she would not have been able to carry all the supplies she needed to live out there while searching for the elemental stone.

"I'm glad to see that someone likes my work. But it's not complete just yet." Lara told Leona. The Wizard Saint blinked. What did that mean?

"That means that I have some ideas for upgrades to the Albatross. It's a recent design, so there's some room to make it work better. One of my current projects is updating the Coleridge A.I. so that it accepts voice commands to do things like activate the autopilot, set destinations on the navigational computer, and other functions. It'll take awhile to complete that project, but there's a good chance it'll be finished before the Albatross training simulator." Lara explained what she had meant to a relieved Leona, who was worried that there might be some unresolved technical difficulty with the engines or the electronics that might choose to be difficult during the test flight.

"Oh, OK. I like the sound of that... no pun intended. I've read some of the manual and I know how to activate the autopilot and use the navigational computer, but it'd help if I could just tell Coleridge where I want to go using my voice." Leona expressed approval for the upgrade idea. Lara smiled at her customer.

"I've got other upgrade ideas in the works, but you'll have to be patient with me. They take time to come up with and even more time to make a reality. What I told you just now was a preview." Lara said to Leona. Leona was not the most patient mage alive, but she would have to be patient if she wanted to benefit from Lara's technical abilities and the upgrades she could give the Albatross.

"Don't worry, Lara. I won't be coming here at the crack of dawn demanding that you upgrade the Albatross." Leona informed the creator that she need not worry about visits at odd hours. Leona was quite satisfied with the autopilot and she would use it to go to The Forgotten Deserts to search for the elemental stone. Once she had either acquired that one or learned that the stone was no longer there she would set off in search of the others. That project should buy Lara plenty of time to do what she needed to do to get the simulator up and running and make some headway on the A.I. upgrade.

"I'm usually up at early hours doing something, but I appreciate you not showing up at random. Even I need to sleep at some point!" Lara replied in a joking manner. Leona gave a small smile of her own. Lara clapped her hands together.

"Well, I know you're raring to try the Albatross, so I won't hold you up any longer. Before you go take a test flight, remember this." Lara began to bid Leona farewell but then bade her to remember something, pausing before she said it.

"What do I need to remember?" Leona asked the other blonde. Lara's facial expression turned serious.

"If you get in trouble at any point during the test flight, don't hesitate to engage the hover mode. It'll level you out and keep you from crashing into the ground by making you fly in place. Just don't wait until the last moment to use it because it takes a few seconds to activate." Lara counseled Leona.

"I'm serious. I know you're the Wizard Saint of Courage, but don't let your pride get you killed. Flying an aircraft takes a lot of practice and you can't practice if you're lying dead in a crashed aircraft because you didn't want to use the hover mode." Lara sternly warned Leona to take her advice seriously.

"Don't worry, Lara. I'm using the autopilot to fly back home. And when I fly the Abatross for real I'll keep the hover mode in mind." Leona promised to remember Lara's advice and use it if necessary.

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-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, three hours and thirty-three minutes later-

Leona had kept her word to Lara and had used the autopilot to fly her home to Silver Wolf Guild Hall. The Albatross had landed exactly where she had first found it and it had landed without any trouble whatsoever. Once it had landed Leona turned off the engines and disembarked from the Albatross in order to go get some sleep before she went about preparing the Albatross for her first manual flight. Before Leona had left Lara's home the latter had given Leona a list of detailed instructions on how to clean and maintain the Albatross' engines and a recommended list of tools needed for maintenance plus names of specialty shops to find them at.

Now Leona was in her room and was getting ready to sleep for awhile. She had changed out of her travel clothes into her blue tank top and blue, white, and gold skirt because she did not care if those got wrinkled. She had other clothing options to choose from now. Speaking of clothing, before she set out for The Forgotten Deserts to resume her personal project she would pay a visit to Capital Crocus Mall to get more so that she could keep one set at Silver Wolf Guild Hall and another set in the wardrobe on board the Albatross.

But for now Leona would sleep. She had gotten up early this morning to pay a visit to Lara Douglas and she was too tired to do anything else for the time being. Paperwork and other responsibilities were going to take a backseat until the Wizard Saint was awake and able to focus. Leona sat down on her bed, swung her feet over to the other end of the bed, and rolled over onto her left side to face her room door. After a few minutes of staring at the door Leona closed her eyes and went to sleep.

-Six hours later-

Six hours later Leona woke up feeling a lot better than she had felt earlier. She sat up on the edge of her bed and straightened out her shirt before standing up. Now that she was on her feet she was going to go get some coffee before she went to her office to take care of any paperwork that might be waiting on her before she resumed planning for her test flight over The Forgotten Deserts.

-Four hours and forty-nine minutes later, Leona's Room-

Leona returned from a busy day at the office that involved reviewing and taking care of a lot of paperwork. There were two giant stacks of it waiting for her and she had handled them in a little over two hours for each stack, which was an improvement over her previous time of three hours per stack. She could probably work even faster if she did not care about accuracy, but since she cared about accuracy and wanted to make an honest effort at doing her job despite not being a particularly talented administrator Leona had taken extra time to make sure that everything was right.

Now that her administrative work was finished for the day she began to review what she would need for her maintenance kit for the Albatross. It was recommended that she keep one set of tools at home and another on board the Albatross in case she needed to make repairs out in the field. That would be fairly expensive, but it was a necessary expense to keep the Albatross up and running. Leona would not be able to take it to Lara every time she needed to do maintenance or repair something, so it was best for her to learn to do it herself.

Next she would need a ladder to reach the engines to be able to work on them. It was recommended that she get a rolling ladder with a platform so that she would have somewhere safe to stand while she was working, but if she could not get one that rolled a ladder with a platform would suffice. Leona would keep that in mind while looking for one.

Finally it was recommended that she get a jumpsuit to wear while doing maintenance work. Lara had suggested that because oil might get on clothing and oil was very difficult to wash out. Since Leona did not want to make a trip to Capital Crocus Mall to replace clothing every time she got oil on something she would go ahead and buy a jumpsuit that she would not mind getting dirty. Finding one in her size might be a bit of a problem because of her large chest, but Lara had provided the names of a few shops that might have one in Leona's size.

She would spend tomorrow getting as many of those objects as she could so that they would be on hand before her test flight. The top priority was the tools. The second priority was the ladder and the last one was the jumpsuit. According to the list the best place to find all the necessary items was Motor City. Leona was going to go there first thing tomorrow, but for now she needed to sleep.

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-The next day, Silver Wolf Guild Hall, 7:38 P.M.-

Wearing the same blue t-shirt and khaki cargo pants with boots she had worn yesterday, Leona had returned from her trip to Motor City with everything she had needed. She had gotten up at 8:00 A.M. to get an early start and she had taken the Albatross because there was no way her summons could carry everything if she had traveled using Winged Lion. She arrived at the city outskirts by 11:21 A.M and was in the city itself by 11:53 A.M. There was a slight delay brought about by having to pick a good landing site that was safe to land the Albatross in, but she had managed to find one a fair distance away from the city outskirts. That delay was acceptable because the site was an open field free of trees and free of people, so she could walk towards Motor City knowing that her investment was safe.

Once in the city Leona had procured the tools at a specialty shop named Quick Fix Supplies and had bought two sets of aircraft maintenance tools plus two handheld metal toolboxes to carry them in. She had found a rolling ladder with platform at a hardware store and had bought one of those for future use plus a platform ladder without wheels for use in the field. Finally she had bought two navy blue jumpsuits in her size... she was going to leave one at Silver Wolf Guild Hall and carry the other in her wardrobe on board the Albatross to use in the field.

The biggest difficulty had been getting to all the shops. They were spread out across Motor City and the pedestrian and vehicular traffic had been dense, causing Leona to spend a few hours in the city since she had to travel on foot. There was also the issue of transporting her purchases back to the Albatross, but the Harpy Sisters and Shy Champion Rafale had helped her carry it all through the city and back to the aircraft, which was intact and parked exactly where she had left it. They had also helped her load it all in the cargo bay; they had put the tools and the ladders in it while she transported the jumpsuits to the Pilot's Quarters.

Once all the loading was done she dispelled her summons and went to the cockpit, then engaged the navigational computer and autopilot to begin the flight home. A few hours later she was back in her room in Silver Wolf Guild Hall and had changed back into her blue tank top and blue, white, and gold skirt. She was not going to dare do the test flight tonight because it was starting to get dark and she did not need Lara to tell her that night flying was more dangerous than day flying, especially for a new pilot like Leona. She would wait until daylight before attempting to fly.

Leona could not sleep just yet, though. She had to go to her office and check for any paperwork sitting on her desk. She hoped there was not a whole lot of it to be done, but if there was she would do it anyway. Leona left her room to go to her office and take care of any administrative work that awaited her.

-The next day, 12:42 P.M.-

Last night there had been a lot of paperwork for Leona to deal with. There had been three big stacks of papers and they had taken Leona two hours apiece to deal with for a total of a little over six hours spent in the office. Once her administrative work was finished she had went straight back to her room and had spent a few minutes packing clothing for the test flight tomorrow. She was intending to test the Albatross' ability to fly and head home afterwards, but if she did not manage to complete the flight and return to Silver Wolf Guild Hall before nightfall she was going to land and spend the night on board the Albatross.

Leona was off to a later start than she had intended to get, but that was OK. She still had plenty of daylight and had nothing else to do. Since she had handled paperwork last night and had made other preparations such as buying tool sets for repairs, securing everything in the Galley, and doing laundry so that she had her khaki cargo pants clean and ready to wear she had plenty of time to make the flight from Silver Wolf Guild Hall to The Forgotten Deserts. All she had to do was get into the Albatross and take off.

But before she climbed into the Albatross and took to the air she needed to change her clothes. She changed into her green t-shirt and khaki cargo pants with boots and then grabbed a couple of extra shirts and her green, white, and gold skirt in case she needed a few changes of clothes during the trip. Once she had selected the extra clothing she took it and put it in the wardrobe in the Pilot's Quarters, then came back and grabbed her Scout Laser Pistol, Silver Longsword, Argent Gloves, and Desert Survival Armor to complete her preparations.

Once all of that was complete Leona left her room and shut the door behind her. Now she was going to take the test flight to The Forgotten Deserts. She was going to take a chance and see if she could handle manually flying the Albatross.

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-On board the Albatross, 12:52 P.M.-

With her extra clothing and her weapons and armor safely placed in the Pilot's Quarters Leona was sitting in the cockpit and about to take off. She went through the procedure to turn on the Albatross' engines, then turned on the navigational computer. Once the computer was on she selected the western edge of The Forgotten Deserts as her destination. She confirmed the choice and felt the Albatross begin to take off vertically as Coleridge did all the work.

Leona felt an uneasy sensation in her stomach as she looked out the window and saw herself lifting off from the ground. Right now her life was in the hands of an A.I. that may or may not work as it should. The Wizard Saint was sure that Lara had been thorough when programming the Coleridge A.I. and there would not be any problems. Leona had already flown a couple of time courtesy of Coleridge, so she should have felt reasonably secure in its hands.

However, her fear of heights was beginning to assert itself the higher she got into the air. Before getting the Albatross she had always flown on the back of Winged Lion and that summon had the ability to suppress her fear of heights. Without that help the Wizard Saint was starting to have second thoughts about what she was doing, but it was almost too late to back out. The Albatross was hovering and about to move forward towards her destination.

Leona took a deep breath as she let the flight go through. The aircraft went off of hover mode and began to move forward. Leona took another deep breath and another as she saw the scenery move while the Albatross began flying towards The Forgotten Deserts. This was going to be a rough trip.

-Over the western edge of The Forgotten Deserts, three hours and twelve minutes later-

The Albatross had made the trip safely thanks to the expert flying ability of Coleridge, but Leona was still on edge. She had made herself sit in the pilot's seat the entire time to try and get used to flying without an artificial aid to suppress her fear of heights, but it had not been entirely successful. Her pulse was up, her shirt was more than a little sweaty, and she was apprehensive about taking the controls herself. She reached for the instrument panel and activated hover mode to buy herself some time to calm down and think.

The confirmation light came on and the Albatross soon stopped moving forward, instead hovering in place over the edge of the desert. Leona unbuckled herself from the pilot seat and exited the cockpit to go to the Galley and get a cup of coffee.

-Inside the Galley, four minutes later-

Leona was standing at the counter after having brewed a cup of coffee. Lara's improvements had worked wonderfully and the microwave and coffeemaker were exactly where they were supposed to be. So was the jar of coffee Leona had grabbed out of the pantry. She reached into the cabinet over the counter to look for a coffee mug and realized that she had not bought coffee mugs, only normal drinking glasses.

Oh well.

The blonde grabbed a normal drinking glass and poured some coffee into it, then took a sip. The coffee was fairly good... it was fairly strong and had a slightly bitter taste that was not too bitter. The next time Leona went to Motor City she was going to try and get some Motor City Nitro for the pantry. The next time Leona went shopping she also needed to get coffee mugs.

Once she had had a sip or two of coffee Leona turned towards the door to the Galley and stood facing it as she thought about whether she should try to manually fly the Albatross now or wait for Lara to complete the training simulator that she was working on.

She had went to the effort to prepare for the trip by buying all the tools, bringing the clothing on board, buying food and appliances with which to prepare said food, and everything else. Leona wanted to get some return on the investment, even if that return was the knowledge that she was not ready to fly without Coleridge doing it for her. Leona also recalled Lara's advice about not letting her pride get her killed.

On the other hand, she had plenty of money saved over the years, so even if she did not do anything today she was not "wasting" the money. Fuel costs were not an issue because of the Lacrima powering the aircraft. The Albatross was bought and paid for. Food and drink were not that expensive.

Leona could turn back now and just wait a few months to train on a simulator. If she was really worried about the money spent on today's trip she could just take a job or two and earn it all back. That was always an option and that would probably be the smart thing to do if she was doubtful of her ability to learn how to fly the Albatross herself.

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-In the cockpit, seven minutes later-

Leona had finished her drinking glass of coffee, washed the glass out, dried it, and put it away in the cabinet from whence it came. She had decided to attempt to fly the Albatross after all. Time after time Leona had given up on personal projects because she encountered a little difficulty, got frustrated, and put it on the backburner intending to pick up where she left off at a later date only to never get around to picking up where she left off. Not today.

Today she was actually going to finish something.

Leona's left hand shook as she reached for the button to deactivate hover mode. When she located it her left index finger stopped just above it. Leona looked at her hand, then at the button. She steadied her left hand before finally pressing the hover button, deactivating the mode and feeling the aircraft resume forward motion at a slow rate.

Next Leona located the autopilot button and pressed it, deactivating the autopilot. Now the Albatross was hers to control. Leona took a quiet breath and prepared herself to start the test flight. When she felt that she was ready enough she reached for the throttle and slowly moved it forward until the Albatross began to pick up speed.

Once it was moving Leona left the throttle where it was and put both hands on the control yoke and held it in the center. She was doing all right so far, but that was because she was moving at half throttle. That was sufficient for now... Leona had never flown an aircraft before and she did not need to start out flying at full speed.

Leona held the yoke steady as the Albatross flew over the desert. She glanced at the instrument panel and everything was OK. The engines were functional and the landing gear was up. She decided to increase the throttle a little to get used to the sensation of speed, so Leona reached out with her left hand and pushed the throttle up a little until she felt the speed increase.

Leona quickly put both hands back on the yoke and recalled what she read in the manual. If she wanted to go up she pulled down on it. If she wanted to go down she pushed it up. Leona looked down and pushed the yoke down to gain altitude. However, she pushed it a bit too hard because all of a sudden she was flying at a thirty-five degree angle and flying upwards at a reasonably fast rate.

Seeing the sky like that made Leona feel a bit uneasy, but she held off on decreasing altitude until she went as high as she could stand to go. Once she reached the point she had to go back down before she began to panic she pushed the yoke up, but in her haste she pushed it too hard and the Albatross pitched downward at a forty-five degree angle. Leona got a very good view of the sand and that was when she really began to sweat.

Leona's heart started to race as she tried to pull up to avoid crashing into the ground. She tried to pull up gently, but in her state of near-panic she yanked down on the yoke too hard and the Albatross darted up at another sharp angle, eliciting a yelp of fear from the frightened Wizard Saint. This was NOT how she imagined the test flight going.

The blonde was starting to panic. She was gaining altitude at a fast rate and she was afraid that if she tried to descend now she would overcorrect and only send herself rocketing towards the ground. She had to remain calm and think of a way out of this. She thought on her feet and realized that if she decreased the speed she could control it better, so she mustered up the courage to reach for the throttle control with her left hand while holding onto the yoke with her right hand.

Leona's fingers wrapped around the throttle control and it took everything in her power not to yank it back. She was barely able to think straight, but if she lost too much speed she would drop like a rock and possibly hit the ground before she could recover. Instead Leona eased it back and was pushed back into her seat as the Albatross began to lose speed, which took some of the edge off of the aircraft's upward climb. Now the Wizard Saint had a little room to think.

She needed to decrease in altitude, but she needed to do it gently. Leona took a quiet breath to steady her hands and then gently pulled up on the yoke. The Albatross' nose went down and she felt a gnawing sensation in her stomach as she approached the ground. Leona then pushed down to try and level out, but she pushed too hard and once again began to climb.

The controls were a lot more sensitive than she thought they were.

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Leona did her best to remain calm as the Albatross went upward and past a point that she could tolerate. It had passed that point and was continuing to climb into the sky, causing the Wizard Saint to pull up on the yoke. She pulled up too hard again because the Albatross' nose darted down and the craft began to descend at a rate that was too fast for comfort.

Leona began breathing rapidly as she began to gently push down on the controls so that she did not force the Albatross into some wild maneuver with a sudden overcorrection. The aircraft was still heading towards the ground at an uncomfortably fast speed, causing Leona to begin sweating. Her forehead was a little damp as she continued to push down in the hopes of avoiding a collision with the ground, but the aircraft's direction was not changing. Its nose was still pointed towards the ground and it was continuing to gain speed despite Leona keeping her hand off the throttle.

This was not good.

Leona's stomach began to turn as the Albatross continued its descent. She pushed down harder on the yoke and was starting to pull out of the accidental dive, but she was not pulling out fast enough for her liking. The Wizard Saint clenched her teeth as she continued to push down and hope for the best.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! PULL UP!" Leona shouted at the Albatross. She knew that it was not going to respond no matter how much she yelled at it, but she was trying to keep herself calm enough to think. Her steady application of pressure on the yoke was starting to bear fruit because the angle of descent was not quite as sharp as it was, but if she did not level out she was eventually going to crash. Taking a deep breath, Leona held it as she gradually applied downward pressure while doing her best to keep the pressure gently so that she did not rocket upwards and cause herself to freak out.

"PULL UP ALREADY!" Leona shouted again as she applied a little more pressure to the yoke. The angle of descent began to level out some, but the Albatross was still not flying level. Leona took another deep breath and held it as she continued to gently push down on the control yoke. She held it steady and after what seemed like an eternity the Albatross was flying level.

Deciding to quit now while she was ahead, Leona quickly reached out and pushed the hover button with her left index finger. The change in momentum shoved Leona back into her seat as the aircraft quickly lost speed and forward momentum. When the Albatross settled down and hovered in place Leona took a few shallow breaths and turned her attention to the navigational computer. She selected Silver Wolf Guild Hall as her destination and tapped the confirmation button. Within seconds the Albatross began to move again, this time under Coleridge's control.

As the Albatross began to bank to the right and change direction in order to point itself towards Silver Wolf Guild Hall Leona unbuckled the safety belt and went to her quarters to change out of her sweaty shirt and to calm down a little.

-The Pilot's Quarters, thirteen minutes later-

Leona had changed out of her sweaty green t-shirt and into her green tank top and was now sitting on the edge of her bed. Her stomach was churning, but she was not quite to the point of throwing up. She was glad to be away from the cockpit because she did not know how the instrument panel would react to being vomited on if she did throw up.

The Wizard Saint wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the t-shirt she had been wearing moments ago and set it off to the left after its purpose had been served. Now that she was not having to look at the horizon or the ground she was slowly beginning to feel better. Even though she felt awful due to a combination of her fear of heights and stress brought on by the sharp ascents and descents during the flight Leona felt a little proud of herself because she had actually seen a challenge through.

Leona knew that her first manual flight was likely going to be a bad one, but she had tried anyway both to see how the Albatross performed and see how she performed while in control of the aircraft. Today Leona had learned that she needed some serious training on the simulator Lara was working on before she tried again. For the next few months she was going to do the smart thing and let Coleridge do all the flying.

Leona took a few breaths to settle her stomach and when her stomach was settled reclined on her bed. Leona laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling as Coleridge flew her home. She was going to give it a day or two before she set out for The Forgotten Deserts because she needed to get coffee mugs and get some duplicate clothes for the wardrobe.

She would deal with preparations for her trip later. Right now she just wanted to relax after the stressful test flight. Forcing herself to sit up, Leona sat on the edge of the bed and took off her socks and boots before reclining on the bed again. She alternated between looking at the ceiling and closing her eyes for many seconds at a time; by doing so she began to feel the accumulated stress from earlier begin to gradually melt away. It would be a long automated flight back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall, but by the time Leona got there she would be feeling a lot better than she did at the moment.

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