Vikalos seemed glum.
He, Tah and Arkay had visited a few places now, and, at every single one, not only did Vikalos not see anything he wanted to buy, but everyone kept on wanting to talk to him. To the point that Vikalos was starting to wonder if he should put on his ancient Fireborne Armour, the gear that Vikalos wore as a Decayling and for his early years as a Decay Lord. It wouldn’t stop people recognizing him, but it was pretty scary-looking and would hopefully at least make fewer people approach him.
Arkay and Tah on the other hand had remained in high spirits for the whole trip, even if Arkay hadn’t seen anything he wanted. The first place was for new ships and had given Arkay an idea of what he wanted, but all the other places they had visited, they mostly just had second-hand versions of the fancy, sporty ships from the first place. Sure, Arkay didn’t need to buy a ship immediately, but he had quickly come to realise that most people wanted something cosy, the same sort of thing Arkay was lookiing for. Because the first two second-hand shops had nothing, and the third, they only had one ship matching Arkay’s criteria but it needed way, way too much work.
The fourth shop wasn’t really a place selling ships at all, but it had both new and second-hand components for DIY Sect Vessel Base Ships. These ships were designed to be used as flag ships for Decay Lord sects and larger organisations. The Thantir weren’t a particularly large group currently (despite the fact that they did have a reasonable number of members now) and their original flagship, the Thantir One, was a DIY ship. One that had been stripped of all its components while being held at Deathven Sector Alpha. Vikalos had wanted to look at prices, but everything was either too expensive or not compatible with the Thantir One, what with it being an older ship.
Since the shop for DIY vessels hadn’t satisfied Vikalos, he then requested that Tah take them to some other shops and garages. At the very least, Vikalos hoped to find a useful second- or third-hand DIY component, for example, an Omnishell Packager, or maybe a Foldable Armoury, two of the more important and fancier sections that had been stripped from the Thantir One. But Vikalos had found nothing of use.
This last place, the Creaky Bend’s Second Hands, was more of a mix of everything. It didn’t have any brand new stuff, but it had both second-hand components and second-hand ships. The ships weren’t of the greatest quality, a lot of them were very old. But there was a lot of variation, a lot of cool things, in this new shop.
Currently, Tah and Arkay were more doing their own thing, looking at the less beaten up ships that didn’t need too mcuh work. Arkay had no problem with refurbishing a ship, and the Creaky Bend did have a good supply of interesting bits and pieces. Even if Arkay didn’t buy anything, he’d seen things he liked, and Arkay was now pretty sure what he wanted.
Vikalos though had wandered off again. And Arkay and Tah were starting to get concerned. They’d been worried from the very start, but now Vikalos seemed genuinely upset. Not just because he hadn’t found what he was looking for, but because people kept on bothering him. Normally, Vikalos was incredibly patient, but his patience was now wearing thin. Arkay and Tah were surprised that Vikalos hadn’t punched someone yet.
After a while, Arkay and Tah both decided to take a break and see where Vikalos had gone. It turned out, Vikalos had moved, and was at the far end of the second-hand ship section. As they got closer though, they noticed that Vikalos was looking at one ship in particular.
This second-hand ship looked rather batered. Tah noticed that it was an old Justar ship, and looked nearly as boxy as Shield Six. The ship was black with a long red strip going down each side. It wasn’t particularly large but it definitely wasn’t small either, and Tah estimated that it could probably comfortably fit 5-7 Vikalos-sized entities.
“You alright, Vikalos?” Arkay asked as he and Tah approached.
“I am fine, deary. Just lost in thought and nostalgia.”
Tah and Arkay inspected the ship some more. Along one side was the name of the ship, Shimmer’s Plight. Arkay thought for a moment, then turned to Vikalos.
“Was this your ship or something?”
Vikalos glanced down at Arkay, then sighed. “Yes. It was my ship, back from when I was a Justarian Lord, and I made sure to keep it so that Itaviir, Galyn and I had some sort of flagship for our new sect after we split off from the Phantai and Justar. We ended up anonymously selling it so we could purchase the Thantir One, but I always… missed this ship.”
“Were you… looking for this ship the entire time we’ve been on this trip?” Tah exclaimed.
“Yes, basically. I was hoping to buy it back, but I just don’t have the funds to do so. Ships are pretty darn expensive. Even old ships like this one. And Shimmer’s Plight clearly needs a lot of work to get it back to how it used to be…”
Vikalos sighed some more, then fell silent, wandering around somewhat aimlessly. However, both Arkay and Tah seemed to have the same idea at the same time. While Tah did some quick maths, Arkay checked his Deathven-based bank account, then did some maths of his own. After only a few minutes, Tah and Arkay came to the same conclusion.
“Hey, Vikalos?” Arkay shouted, to grab the ancient Decay Lord’s attention.
“Yes?” Vikalos grunted as he made his way back.
“I’ve chosen what ship I want to buy.”
Vikalos blinked, glancing between Arkay and Shimmer’s Plight, suddenly working out what was going on.
“You want to buy Shimmer’s Plight?”
“Yep. It’s in the same price range as all the other ships we looked at. I think buying this ship is a better deal overall. I’ll buy the ship, Tah and his siblings will pay for repairs, and you get your ship back.”
“But… you wanted to buy a ship for yourself…” Vikalos almost stuttered. “That was the whole point of this trip for you!”
Arkay grinned. “It was a trip for all of us. I’m happy to buy Shimmer’s Plight for you, but on one condition.”
“What condition?”
“I want the Thantir Three. I’ve spent most of this trip thinking about what I want, and I just realised I already had what I wanted, in the form of the Thantir Three. So, I buy Shimmer’s Plight for you, and you put the title deeds of the Thantir Three in my name. That way wew both get what we want.”
Vikalos blinked some more. “Really? You’d do that for silly old me?”
Arkay nodded. Tah nodded too.
“Vikalos, you looked after me while I was in Deathven. I remember pretty much none of that, but I’ve wanted to repay you for ages, for trying to help me and my stupid messes. Me getting you this ship feels like a fitting repayment for what you did for me.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
Vikals started smiling, the same way Arkay was. “Well… alright! I agree with your proposal, Arkay. Thank you.”
“Wonderful!” Arkay beamed as he bounced off. “Now that’s all agreed, let’s go find a salesperson and get you your ship back! Shouldn’t take too long…”