Scrutinising the massive battleship that the Night Elves had seen fit to commandeer, Liaena looked up to give Rithrynn a sweet smile. “It’s what I’m going to go and fix”

“…Right”

Peering after the human as Liaena disappeared below deck after Vashi with a distinctly purposeful touch to her stride, Rithrynn turned back to the deck to see Kathlin and Liam with a coil of rope, the former fashioning a safety line to tether themselves both to the mast. 

*

Heading down into the belly of the ship close on Vashi’s heels, Liaena emerged into a large room with a huge furnace set into one wall. Mounds of coal sat to one side in huge crates, and pipes lined all the walls and ceiling of the cavernous room. The Night Elf stood in front of the open door to the furnace, bending down to peer experimentally into the interior. “Sooooo…fire. Fire is good?”

“[b]Steam[/b]. Steam is good” Liaena corrected the elf as she peered up at the large boiler set above the furnace. “Give me a boost, would you?”

Peering down at the little human quizzically, Vashi eventually shrugged her shoulders as she bent down to pick up Liaena effortlessly, lifting her up to one of the valves leading into the boiler. Unbolting it, Liaena leaned in with one arm until her fingers touched the cold dampness of the interior. “Well, it’s full, at least”

“Why would you build a ship, and then put water in it? You humans make no sense…” Vashi muttered, still holding Liaena as she carefully produced a vial out of Rithrynn’s bag, studied the writing on it and then uncorked it to pour it into the tank. And then another. And another. “Waddya doing?”

“Lowering the boiling point” Liaena said conversationally as she slammed the valve shut and bolted it, then slid down the Night Elf to point into the forge. “Now, how about a fireball? Right there please?”

“…..”

Studying the little girl for a moment, the indignity of being ordered around by a human was eclipsed by the promise of fire and boom as a smile lit up the elfs face like a schoolgirl and she stabbed a finger into the centre of the forge before snapping her fingers. Fire blossomed from her fingers and filled the inside of the metal cavity as Liaena slammed the door on it, filling the forge with the heat of a raging fire in a moment. 90% of whatever diluted chemical concoction that now filled the tank above vaporised in a moment, followed by the additional 10% a moment later as the tank, as well as the pipes that filled the room started to groan and buckle under the pressure. 

“What’s going on? How come we’re not moving?”

 Vashi muttered, the elf looking more like a lost puppy as she stared around the engine room of the ship that was indeed, going nowhere. Liaena wandered over to a control panel containing a lever that contained an array of settings including ‘full reverse, neutral, full ahead’ and multiple different options in between. It was currently set to ‘neutral’ as she gripped the handle firmly to shove it right into the ‘full ahead” option. “Cuz I haven’t given permission yet”

“Wut?”

*CLANK*

[b]-VWOOOOSH-[/b]