"Good morning!"

She gets 'good morning's back. One guy says she looks strong and asks if she wants to spar... After some nudging from his friends, that is.

"Gosh. I might be game, what rules do you use?"

No weapons. The rules are something like sumo wrestling, without the 'almost naked' requirement. In fact, they're both to wear elaborate harnesses. Whoever is forced to the ground or forced out of a square arena first loses.

That sounds safe enough that she can have a little fun. "Sure, why not."

They attract a small crowd of spectators, probably almost everyone not on duty or asleep.

Her opponent, Gary, tries to use strength to win quickly, not realizing that Tarinda is boosted.

She is slippery and quick; she doesn't care to outright beat him in a shoving match unless he corners her.

Gary is not as quick! Instead, he attempts to use the motion of the ship to his advantage. But he probably isn't good enough to actually corner her.

After just a little showing off - she has plenty of ability to anticipate which way the ship will go - she goes for the ankles to try to trip him.

(He's supposed to be the one more familiar with the ship, dammit.)

He dodges and tries to use strength and reach against her again, but gets nowhere. Their crowd is making appreciative noises.

She makes a roll that should take her out of bounds and kips up at the last moment and swipes at his knees.

And down he goes.

And he's out! "That was fun."

"Yeah. I wasn't sure whether this would be very easy, or very very hard... Good match." He shakes her hand.

The crowd disperses, after a few people exchange little copper and starglass coins, settling up bets.

Time passes. Nothing particularly exciting happens - lunch, drizzling rain, a sighting of another jelly-thing like the one she met earlier, dinner. Rem will cheerfully accept more cooking help if she wants, though.

Not like she has anything else to do! She will cook up a storm.

Small communities, mostly on single islands with farms, have been getting more common as they descend. It's also gotten a lot darker, mostly thanks to the accumulating layers of clouds. In the twilight, they see a town that looks worth going to. Two dozen large islands (perhaps a third of a mile across) tied together with rope and wood bridges in a long, snaky line. Buildings built on top of, carved into, and hanging below the islands. Docking at the sky-piers on the one end of the snake is a production involving flags and signal lights and shouting crew, but then they're tied down.

The local government would like to deal with them in the morning, not tonight. And in the morning, after some arguing, they can all leave the ship. Rem badgers Captain Flint until he agrees to pay Tarinda for the cooking. Not as much as she gets, but it's something, right? Flint gives her three copper coins and says that he'll be here for two days, probably, if she finds the locals objectionable and wants to arrange a departure.

"Thanks! I'll check the place out and see if I like it."

He nods sharply and starts to turn away, but pauses. "Ah, one last thing - you may sleep one more night in the same cabin as before, if you cannot find lodgings today."

This man at the end of the pier carrying a large club would be ever so pleased if you listened to him describe the local laws before going any further. The ones they want to make sure transient sailors know are pretty simple: No theft, murder, assault (except in self defense), rape, destruction of property, open fire or sparks, vandalism, or buying the services of prostitutes.

Good to know!

Then she can pass.

The dock area contains lots of piers for airships, two proper enclosed docks on one end, cranes and similar equipment, piles of crates sitting here and there, and various people hauling crates, talking to each other, or standing around.

A bunch of bars, two restaurants, a theater, an auction house, and two 'Houses of Merchants' are all crowded up against each other, competing for dock-facing space.

She's going to explore the entire town.

There are wide and surprisingly neat streets designed for foot traffic or light carts. Aside from the narrower side roads, there are five main roads per island - one winding over the top, one hanging underneath, one straight through the middle, and two curving around the sides. There are a few elevators, mostly people use stairs and ramps to go up or down. There are apartment buildings, workshops, smithies, tailors, paper-makers, bookstores, parks, glass-makers, floatstone carvers, recycling shops, livestock pens, chemists, carpenters, rope-makers, laundromats, breweries, and dozens of other little industries.

Each island has five solidly built wood-and-rope bridges connecting it to the next, matching the five main roads. It looks like they're designed to flex a few degrees without disrupting the walking path. The bridges are well-maintained, no sign of rotting wood or frayed rope, unlike some of the buildings.

The first half a dozen islands are apparently middle class, the middle ones are more ramshackle and poorer and built very densely, and the final three islands are filled with large, clean, fancy-looking buildings, with elaborate gardens that aren't even growing veggies like the gardens in the rest of the city.

Gosh.

Is there any sign that there is a way to work metal anywhere on this island?

There are smithies here and there, advertising metal tools and jewelry repair and cash-for-scrap deals. Mostly not in the poorer areas.

Okay. She asks around trying to find out how many people live here and how often they meet other towns.