"A population center, preferably. I'm actually looking for someone."

She thinks.

"Is there anything weird going on right now? Something out of the normal happening in your world?"

"I don't know what counts as 'weird' to you, here. Nothing really springs out. A population center I can certainly do, I need somewhere to sell all the food in my hold anyway."

"Anything that wouldn't be normal to you, I guess, the person I'm looking for tends to find herself in strange situations, for whatever strange means in the context of the average experience."

She pauses thoughtfully for a second, then adds.

"Anyway, I have about a month to travel before I have to go back. I'm sort of on vacation."

"Back to your mysterious other world. I wonder if we could set up some kind of trade. It'd probably help someone. Well, if anything counts as a strange situation around here, it's treasure hunters heading north. There's more untouched ruins from before the Stargate closed up there."

"I'm not sure if trade would be possible. Right now, I'm the only one who can easily go in and out of my world, and while I can get home. I'd have to find the person I'm looking for to come back here. She's... something like an anchor for my traveling. I know one exists here, but I won't know anything else until I get closer."

She goes silent for a second.

"Treasure hunters? That wouldn't be a terrible place to start, that's the sort of thing she'd be... connected to."

"Action and adventure, eh? I went with a treasure hunting crew once. It was not as glamorous as it sounds. But that means for this region... Hmm, we probably want to aim for the city of Halth. It's popular as a lost tech market."

"Sounds as good as a place to start as any. I tend to just wander until I bump into the people I'm looking for. It's more successful than it sounds."

"That's a surprisingly good fit for Cloudbank. You can keep track of where all the different cities are, but most people don't bother with the details and just wander from place to place when they have ships."

"Oh, the landmasses float around? Which makes sense, now that I think about it. Given how everything around here floats and isn't grounded to anything. Amazing, seems like an explorer's paradise."

"You're not wrong! And yes, everything floats. There is a surface below, it's just too hot to survive on."

"Huh, that's something. Is all the hot air generated from the surface have something to do with how everything floats?"

"Not particularly. Well, perhaps some, there are some pretty consistent updrafts near the equator. But mostly it's floatstone. The stuff is incredibly light and filled with hydrogen, and most creatures have wings, gas bags, or both."

She nods politely.

"It must get lonely up here, with just you, Walta and the open air for days on end. You two seem a little tense, I hope everything is OK."

Nick shrugs. "It's a working relationship. We're not family. I expect her to decide she's learned all I can teach her soon enough, and move on."

"Are you sure about that? I haven't heard her talk about leaving once, even when she was talking about how hard you work her. I don't think she wants to leave, she thinks you saved her from her old life. I think there's more to her motivation here than just wanting to learn from you."

He sighs. "Yes, well. There might be something to that. But I am a loner at heart, you see."

"Loner? You're still human, just like she is, social animals all around. Wait, this is all starting to make sense... Working her to the bone, being all prickly, you keep acting like you expect her to leave.You're trying to do that thing loners do! You're keeping her at arms distance intentionally! Are you trying to make her want to leave?" She asks incredulously. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about. And if I did have any idea what you were talking about, you would not have full context on the situation anyway."

"Context? For something you refuse to acknowledge? If context would make us all walk away happy, you'd just tell me. So sorry, that's not good enough."

"Look, you don't just get to show up and demand that I explain myself. This is my ship, I'm paying her a fair damn wage and she can leave if she wants to. If you aren't ready to accept that and you really want to know why, ask her."

"Weren't you listening? She doesn't want to leave, as far as I can tell. You're the one who wants her to leave, but you're putting all of the pressure on her. Dick move." 

The captain turns around and walks away. Back to the bridge.

Sandra is rather peeved. She lost control again, damn it.

She takes a few moments to focus on her breathing.

Walta's busy, thanks to Captain Catcus over there. So she might as well check on dinner, it should be just about finished.

Dinner does not have any interpersonal problems to annoy her. It simmers in accordance with the laws of physics. This step is about done.

She can leave it simmering for a while before it becomes a problem, so she'll find Walta and let her know that dinner is ready.