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The ladies' reactions range from the state of a mild panic to indifference.
"These are clearly gunshots," you say.
This is followed by a series of outraged exclamations: "On an airship?" "How dreadful." "Preposterous!"
But you are certain you have it right.
Some time before you all embarked the airship on Alejandro's whim, he and his friends organized a hunt. At that time you were nothing but a guest, a foreign noblewoman invited to a group as a courtesy. While the other ladies were content to go for some excursion or another, you somewhat audaciously asked to join the hunt.
Pretty much every noble in Sternbergen is forced to become a competent equestrian, because otherwise they'd have a hard time getting anywhere. Twists and turns on the mountain passes and the disrepair of the roads means carriages have to go slowly, and a horse is much more convenient.
During the hunt, you weren't given a rifle - and did not think of asking for one for fear of causing apoplexy in the more sensitive gentlemen - but your handling on the horse seemed to make an impression on the gentlemen. Maybe some of them were more amused than impressed, like observing some exotic animal at the menagerie, but that's when you caught Alejandro's eye. The only important thing is to be interesting.
Your ears were liable to fall off from the sound of repeated shots until the poor critter was finally killed - you remember the sound very well. The shots that now came from the outside were identical.
"Ladies, please. I volunteer to go and investigate what is happening. Would any of you like to keep me company?"
"Well I'm not going anywhere near." "I'm going back to the cabins!" "Imagine if there has been a ... murder." "Are we being being attacked by pirates!"
Pirates, flying over Hadrian's sea? Quite unlikely. But not unheard of.
"I'll go". The young wife of one of the merchants from the Caliphate steps forward. Her name was Aaliyah and she always has an enigmatic smile on. Her eyes are always done so expertly, you simply must instruct Mitzi to work out her lower decks magic to interrogate Aaliya's handmaidens about the make up she is using. She usually keeps quiet in conversations. In fact, this is probably the first time you hear her speaking Francian (which is used as the de facto common tongue between Continental nobility).
It doesn't seem likely you will be able to recruit further allies. So you and Aaliyah steel yourself and carefully walk to the starboard exit and open the door to the outside.Though winds lash at your face, through the usual bustle and clanging of the airship, the environment sounds quite serene. You immediately notice something is off - there are no screams, there is no commotion. One crewman walks along the railing without a care in the world.
