Something I wrote a while back and never posted, I can't remember why, I really like it :D

Hope you do too I guess.

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca sits sullenly in her seat and taps her heels together impatiently. They really should persist, wasting time on these idiotic hunts of Vaan's is pointless enough without the Strahl's engine kicking out every time they land. Only Balthier would pilot an airship that has to constantly be in the air, never landing or lingering too long in one place for fear of breaking down, like a mechanical version of himself.

She is scowling more despondently than ever when Fran attempts to break the bad blood borne against her partner, whose presence is currently lacking in his gallant attempts to get the ship's engine functioning again.

"He is doing all he can, Princess," she announces calmly and Ashe looks up scathingly at the leggy Viera – Balthier's partner in crime and therefore expected to defend him, "…you should not doubt his prowess with a toolset, we will be sky bound soon enough." She adds confidently and Ashe narrows her eyes with quiet disdain.

"I shall believe that when I see it." She replies under her breath and crosses her legs; which vexes Fran ever so slightly. Ashe was far too quick to judge her partner and rather deserves to be taken down a notch or two in some of her high-held opinions.

It ought be acknowledged that the princess's current situation actually makes her no more superior than Balthier or herself…probably lesser in fact as most people still consider her dead.

"Then go," she retorts offhandedly and invites a stern look from Basch for her brisk tone, "he is only in the engine room, go down the hatch at the end of that corridor and you can observe how hard he is working." Ashe tightens her lips as she deliberates on whether or not to act upon the offer, and goad the pirate into fixing this infernal contraption faster.

"I still don't get why he wouldn't let me come and help…" Vaan adds dejectedly, and Penelo is quick with an answer.

"Because you 'helping' would just make things worse," she teases, "I bet the last thing Balthier needs is you getting in the way all the time." The boy scowls and raises the count of unhappy faces in the Strahl's cabin to two…when a third suddenly echoes up from the belly of the airship.

"Dam-the-bastard-piece-of-junk-to-bloody-buggering-hell!" An irate voice calls out in Balthier's unmistakable tone, while an awkward silence falls among the party at hearing him swear so coarsely and obliviously to whose ears it reaches.

"Maybe you should go and check on him," Ashe hints in a commanding tone, but Fran simply brushes her off.

"He knows what he is doing." She ascertains as the torrent of curses suddenly stops with a frustrated crash, and the ship falls eerily silent of Arcadian obscenities.

However Ashe is even less convinced by this and stands up from her seat to stomp down the corridor in investigation. 'No noise' was synonymous with 'no work' to her. Metal shoes clashing on the walkway, she makes up her mind to find out what this 'big problem' is, and then cast enough scorn on it (and him) to get this infernal ship off the ground and back to civilization.

"Perhaps he just needs more encouragement." she mutters sinisterly as Fran resigns to a shrug, allowing Ashe to clamber down the open hatch into the engine room of the Strahl to confront the cocky mechanic.

She lands clumsily at the foot of the ladder and looks about, but cannot see the pirate anywhere in sight and has to begin wandering around the dark in search of him.

"Son of a bitch Bangaa ripped me off…" she hears him cursing quietly under his breath as she gets nearer, and attempts to make him out in the poor light. He's stopped yelling at least, which is good for her hearing if nothing else.

"Balthier?" she calls out inquisitively, noticing with curiosity wisps of stormy gray smoke curling their way through the silent machinery.

"Who's that? Princess?" He replies brightly as the fumes envelop her further and she's hit with a slightly acrid smell. Then stepping around an immobile cylinder she comes across Balthier's lean form leant back against a vent in the wall, blowing smoke into it as he brings a hand-rolled cigarette away from his lips.

"You're smoking down here!" she hisses venomously: she just knew he wasn't working. He chuckles deprecatingly at her and flicks the end of the roll-up with his thumb, the ash falling to the floor as she glares nothing less than daggers at him.

"In case you didn't notice," he begins, but pauses to bring the cigarette casually back up to his lips, the end smoldering as he inhales and releases a fresh plume of curling smoke, "I am in a small spot of bother right now." He continues while gesturing towards an assortment of engine parts scattered across the floor, then heavily releases the breath and thickens the dizzying haze clouding the room.

"That explains very little." She remarks pretentiously while making a show of fanning away the smoke, it used to give her a nasty headache when men smoked their fat cigars in her resistance hideouts, and as a result she's developed a strong distaste for the whole pastime.

"Well, princess," he retorts firmly while raising his other hand to pick a shred of tobacco off the tip of his tongue, which she attempts not to watch him doing but somewhat fails at (and he notices her staring with concealed amusement), "I felt that nothing more could be achieved with this wretched thing until I'd calmed down…and what better way?" he suggests as he holds up the cigarette in question and puts it to his lips again. She coughs pointedly as a 'suggestion' but he offers no reaction whatsoever.

This is his airship and engine room, so he may do exactly what he likes in them.

"Then what, pray tell, is this dire problem, Balthier?" she demands irately, and he blows a perfectly formed smoke ring her way in reply, the blue-gray ringlet widening as it floats off and he makes another inside it with refined technique.

She briefly wonders how she managed to miss this habit for so long, because surely she would've smelt it a mile off if he was a smoker?

Balthier scoffs as he takes another gratifying drag on his cigarette, much to Ashe's dismay; considering he's making a point of sending all the exhaled fumes in her direction, having picked up on her disapproval of his habit and taken the decision to thoroughly wallow in it.

"It consists of a long stream of words you couldn't even begin to understand," he replies arrogantly as she wrinkles her nose, which is almost adorable (even if it is worn with a disheartening scowl), "suffice to say airship and broken cover the topic fairly well."

"Well when can we expect to be moving on again?" she insists curtly, "perhaps if you…"

"We can move on again, Ashe," he states dominantly, and she is forced to submit to his overbearing tone, "When I have finished my cigarette and not a moment before."

She frowns and he scratches the back of his head thoughtfully; staring at the components on the floor and keeping the 'relaxant' in the corner of his mouth, then crouching down to peer at the parts more intensely. She becomes increasingly impatient when he remains like this for too long without making an effort to do anything that looks even remotely like repair.

"Just get on with it!" she snaps and he whips up his face to throw an accusing look her way.

"Ever so pushy aren't you Princess?" he retorts sharply, catching her off guard. No one has been so bold as to say something rude like that to her before… and it briefly stuns her – as she's also unaccustomed to not getting her way.

"You…you do not speak to me like that!" she orders hollowly, unfortunately knowing that her words are completely meaningless against him as he raises an eyebrow at her and gathers up the engine pieces.

"To the contrary." He remarks smugly, taking a final drag from the stub and then trapping it between his teeth as he begins to slot the many removed parts back into place on the engine's starter motor, "I will speak to you however I please…speech was still free in the skies last time I checked." He continues as he draws out a long cylindrical chamber with two electrodes pointing towards each other from either end, and then drawing that whimsical microphone she'd been 'introduced' to in Bujerbia from his belt he clicks the thing on and holds it up to his mouth.

"Fran, power to the glossar rings." He orders through half of his mouth, and all around them things suddenly crunch into life. However, they are noticeably struggling until he sucks in the last burning end of the cigarette and touches it against one of the electrodes, at which a bright spark leaps between them and then the engines rattle sporadically into motion.

The Strahl lurches unsteadily off the ground (under the expert pilotry of none other than Vaan) and Ashe very nearly loses her footing, only remaining upright by grabbing for the nearest suitable point of anchorage…which unfortunately happens to be a rather smug pirate.

Falling forwards she catches one of the ties on the back of his vest and causes it to fly undone, and he whirls around to firmly take hold of her arm and prop her back onto her feet with a self-endeared grin.

"Not everyone has good sky legs," he comments ostentatiously and she just glowers at him, "but perhaps you could try to keep your hands off me, Princess? I know it isn't easy…" at this she suddenly recoils, as if he could burn like the cigarette butt he now drops on the floor and crushes under his heel.

"I fell, that is all." She spits and storms back towards the hatch, but suddenly halts upon hearing him following her and pictures the view he would have of (or up) her skirt if she were to ascend before him.

"You first." She suddenly insists and he flashes her a crooked grin.

"You make very poor assumptions about me," he teases; in a much better mood since they got off the ground and now hovering a hundred feet up or so to await his 'command' in the cabin.

"I am a man of some morals, you know?" he informs her dryly and slings himself up the first step of the ladder, then looking back for a moment tries yet again to get behind those eyes of hers.

As usual he fails at it.

She really is totally impenetrable.

"No…I don't know." Ashe retorts coldly, and he shrugs as if he couldn't care less then climbs up and over her, disappearing through the hatch while she mumbles quietly to herself, "…but then again, there are many things I don't know anymore."

Yes I made Balthier a smoker :P god, he's such a rebel, right?

Reviews would be adored and I'll continue re-hashing the rest of it :D