"That may be more true for the rest of us than me. I could continue as I have been easily enough. But I agree - the benefits of life in a rich and stable nation don't really outweigh the pressure for your kinds anymore. And I would hate to be alone."

"Easy enough for you to say. My little girl just can't run free, as she's meant to. The coal smoke, the fences and farmland everywhere..."

"No, no, I agree. It's time to leave for you. And probably for me as well, if not so directly."

"Wherever we end up, we'll need to understand what the state of technology is. Knowing what we'd be hunted with could save us."

"That I may have an answer to. I don't suppose any of you met my sister?"

"I did, briefly. We moved in similar circles in Amsterdam for a time."

"A couple of years ago, she left for her Australia with her own son and a number of other kin. Said she was going to try and set up a colony for our kind down in the outback. It's still a wild country. If we establish a foothold there, we might be able to hold our own in the decades to come."

"Like the New World? I heard from a pack that set up out there. They had hundreds of miles to themselves for fifteen years, in this area called Michigan."

"Australia was found a touch more recently. The Empire started sending convicts there after America stopped taking them."

"Well, if we're going to go there, let's not count on using a convict ship," she jokes. "Besides the fact that they tend to get snapped up by kraken once in a while, there's too little control that way. Think your families can pass a Customs inspection?"

"Highly doubtful. None of us except you and Winona have decent amounts of money - joining family overseas is a good excuse, but they can see vampirism if they look close enough, and Rilah and I don't have a convenient excuse to board a ship for some colony."

"I'm afraid our route will have to be a little less...direct."

Janet's gaze sharpens a bit. "Those 'friends' you made in dark alleys?"

"Have any of you ever taken a land-ship?"

"The workshop uses walkers for things sometimes. Never been in a proper landship, though."

"The name is something of a misnomer. They can also cross certain distances underwater."

"Are you angling for putting our children on the same ship as some smugglers?"

"Yes. It's distasteful, I know, but at the very least, our children can defend themselves if need be. And they have us."

"I fail to see the problem if they're experienced smugglers. The other options all seem riskier."

"We should probably actually list out all the options we have for going, how likely a disaster is, weigh it against how bad it is here... But, it's time to go. The winds are bad now. And a smuggler might be the only option."

"I have a route planned out."

She removes a map from her bag. Seems they'll be heading to Australia by way of Scandinavia, Russia, China, and Indonesia. 

"Avoiding the highest concentrations of warfare and technology. Hmm... I'm a little worried about the politics I've been hearing from Russia."

"That is a concern, yes. There are still some kin-enclaves in the mountains that we can lay over in."

"I know I'm being a little harsh... But this whole plan is terribly risky. We can't just rely on our gifts to get us out of trouble. It's a shame we can't just live and let live."

"I'm sure we all do. And maybe, if this works, we can."

"...I'll go along with this if you can convince them to let me tour their ship. If it's not a wreck waiting to happen, I'm in."

"Common sense! I like that in a young man."

Rilah sighs. "Well, I can't say I don't miss how things used to be. And we can't do nothing."

"It's decided, apparently. What arrangements do we need to make?"

"Me and mine will need blood for the journey, but I think we can manage with rats. I took the liberty of preparing us sets of documentation in case we encounter the powers that be."

"We'll be on foot for some of the trip? I could probably make a small walker to carry our things, once we're done with the crab-ship. Could be a useful escape tool too."

"That would be helpful, yes." 

Meanwhile, in the paddock next to the inn, Winona's children are making a friend, at least hopefully.

"So...you're a werewolf?" he says, too low for humans to hear.

"Yeah. And you're vampires?"

"Yep. Hardly seems like it sometimes, though."

"I knooow. 'Don't change here, Sam. They might see you, Sam.' My mom's nice but we never get to be wolfy together..."

"And pretending to be clumsy."

"I had to pretend to be sick one time because the other girls in class were getting suspicious I never did."

"Once I managed to scrape my knee. I had to run off before anyone saw how not hurt I was."

"What do you think our moms are talking about? And who was that other guy?"

"Mum said it was about a 'change of pace for us'. And he smelt birdy."

"Yeah he smelt birdy, but I don't know who he is."

"We must interrogate him!"

"He doesn't look quite adult. Think he's, like, thirty? I wonder what his job is?"

"I heard him talking to the inn-keeper about fixing his boiler. Maybe he's an engineer or something?"

"That makes sense. Engineers get paid lots these days."

"Hey, if we can get out of sight of the humans, we show you ours, you show us yours?"

"Could be fun. But mom wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I go off on my own."

"Ah, but you're not going off on your own. You're going off with us two." 

"Hm..." She's carefully considering...

She never gets to do anything.

"If you can find a good spot, maybe."

"Maybe in those trees over there?"

"Let's try it. Sneaky-like."

They walk over to the edge of the forest. Nothing suspicious here.

Definitely not. They're just looking for a bunny because Zeke has never seen one, Mr. Random Stranger, they definitely won't go far from the road.

She's had practice with this sort of aimless lie, apparently.

Once they're safely amongst the trees, the twins strip, neatly fold their clothes, and turn into cats.

"Meow."

Sam instead floofs straight out of her clothes. "Arf!"

Tabby-cat approaches the wolf cub and sniffs, then realises Sam is a fair bit bigger than her like this and shrinks back.

She lolls her tongue out and crouches forward in the classic puppy 'play' stance.

Kitten attack!

Wolf pup playful growls, pawing at the kittens in defense.

This continues for sometime, until....

"Ahem."

"Samantha Wilburn Redstone, go get dressed."

"Oh, hi Ma, Miss Redstone."

"But we were having fun!"

...Wolf grabs its clothes in its mouth and slinks off.

The twins dress sulkily. 

"I know you must feel a little constricted, but we have some good news."

"...What news?"

"We're going somewhere you'll have all the space to run around you could possibly want."

Uh huh. "Which means we gotta be quiet and proper for a while getting there doesn't it, mom?"

"Yes, dear. But once we're in a better place I'll let you run around for a whole day if that's what you want."

"And there'll be other children, as well." She looks at her own offspring. "You can meet your aunt and cousin."

"And where is this place?"

"Australia, dear. Little place on the other side of the world."

"Sounds pretty far."

"Yes. The journey will be a few months."

"It will be a bit tricky, but then it'll be over."

The wolf-child does not seem much pleased by this stranger's reassurance. Her mom hugs her, and this is a bit more effective.

"And you three can have plenty of time to get to know each other."

"That might be nice."

"I thought the army would stop us if we tried to leave?"

"We are going to....avoid their attention."

Nod, nod. She is used to this concept.

"When do we leave?"

"A week or two. We need to do a few things to make sure everything will go well. And pack, of course. If there's anything you'll miss from here, pack it now."

"Ummmm.....do you find wolf plushies offensive?"

Samantha now has the noble duty to laugh at Zeke's choice of stuffed toy!

"Not at all."

"Mr Wolfers shall join us in the New World!"

"I shall bring my sewing kit in case Mr. Wolfers gets hurt."

This earns her vampire hugs.

Twice over!

She chuckles.

Kid vampire strength is doing absolutely nothing to her, whatever kind she is. Her skin is warm, but firm like stone.

"I don't have that many toys. Maybe a couple of books."

"We have a copy of the Children's Gospel of Lilith!"

"Still glad I fished that from the pyre."

Sam looks jealous. But, "I have a some camping gear. That'll be actually useful."

"I've never really been camping. Maybe when we get to Australia you could take me? I could show you my book on the way."

"I bet we'll be camping a lot on the way if we're going to the other side of the world."

"Then it's a deal!"

"I'm going to need to learn Australian."

Her mother laughs. "I'm fairly sure the colonists speak English, honey. Not sure about any natives there might be."

While they discuss possible linguistic difficulties, Tabby talks to Janet. 

"So, what are you? You don't smell wolfy or birdy."

"I am an elephant."

"Oh! I've seen pictures of those! Didn't think they had them in England."

"Not naturally, no. But I followed a friend and then sort of never left."

"I don't think I've heard about elephant-kin before."

"We're really quite rare. And," she leans down to whisper, vampire-quiet, "It's hard for us to have babies."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"I'm used to it. But that's why there's not many elephant-kin."

"I wonder if there's any in Australia."

Nope. "I suppose we'll find out."

"Ahem. Everyone, I think we should move on before we manage to attract attention for standing in the woods."

"Indeed. Come along children."

The party moves on and disperses.

Terry is very insistent on visiting the ship they're going to use, seeing if it's seaworthy. An extra bribe to the smugglers is enough to secure this permission, but he asks Winona to follow along. "You know these... People... Better than me."

"Yes. I doubt you'd have much experience with....extra legal merchentry."

"Enough experience with mechanical things, though."

"You mind looking after my twins?" she asks Rilah.

"Of course not. We'll need to help each other along the way after all. I'll try not to spoil them rotten in four hours."

She turns to the twins. "Now you be good for Miss Redstone. And remember, think human."

"So clumsy and slow?"

"Don't be rude, dear."

"And so bad-smelling, sometimes. Do you think you two would want to learn a wolf game?"

"Sure!"

The wolf game involves scent tracking a small rock that Rilah hides and trying to carry a ball across the forest in changed form, fighting each other for it if necessary. Rilah rules that the vampires can team up, having smaller changed forms.

"This'll be fun! I don't get to play it much at all."

The kittens are already emerging from piles of clothing.

Sam is much better at finding the target, but the two cats might be able to gang up on her somehow.

Namely by jumping down at her from the trees.

Sam dodges and is slowed down from her hunt. Two against one is a staggering force to resist, but she will prevail! Through the power of will (and being faster in straight lines)!

Is turning back and forth very fast cheating?

Nope, but Sam apparently thinks it's a bad strategy, she refrains from copying their idea.

The Zeke kitten tries to cover her eyes with his paws!

She's big enough and good enough at smelling that he probably can't stay there long enough to stop her.

He's thrown off and reverts to vampire form, giggling.

But the two-against-one advantage is, ultimately, insurmountable and the twins win. "That was fun!"

"I haven't felt so....Lilithian in years."

"I know what you mean!"

"Your mum's fun."

"I know, she's probably one of the best mums, even when she's strict."

"Wolves are fun in general."

"Aww, thanks! If we can actually get there, Australia will be fun."

"High adventure awaits!"

Meanwhile, Teddy is adventurously peering into the insides of a pressure pump and clucking disapprovingly at the gunk. "Do you realize you need to clean these?" He asks the tour guide.

"Custom inspectors are not judgemental folk," he says surlily. 

"I'm trusting this ship and my associates are paying you well. Plus I'm doing you a favor. This pump will last for ten years instead of four once you start to clean it properly. And the contamination is destroying your O-ring seals - I can get new ones if I know how many you need. I'm guessing you lose performance on the hydraulics this feeds after a couple hours?"

"....On occasion," he admits reluctantly.

"Thought so. I worked for Harland and Wolfe, you know. The ones who won the Regal class cruiser contract for the Navy. Not quite as young as I look. This is a solid ship overall, she just needs to be cared for properly."

He nods. "If you're as good as you say, we might be willing to let your friend keep some of her money at the end of this."

"I haven't got anything left to do out there. After this I think I'd like to meet your engineers, or whoever does most of the mechanical work anyway, and start planning."

"Fair enough."

He leads him to a deeply stressed out looking old man, trying to get a boiler to cooperate. 

"Hey, Fred. Kid says he's an engineer."

The old fella grunts. 

"He'll be helping out round here, ya get me?"

Another grunt, and a scowl.

...Fun.

"What's the problem?"

"Pilot light keeps goin' out."

"This is a... Grishom and Clems boiler? I've got a hunch. Let me have a look?"

He moves aside....after a while.

"Ah... It's these stupid thin snaky feed lines again. They pinch way too easily. Do you have any quarter-inch copper pipe?"

He hands him some without a word. Afterwards, though:

"You Lilithian, I take it?"

"-I'm not quite sure I should confirm or deny that. Close the fuel feed for this boiler? I have to take out this line and replace it with a wider one."

He does so. 

"I've smuggled worse."

"Some of us don't even eat people occasionally," he mutters. And gets to fixing.

"I had a fling with a werewolf once. Bitch did not take it kindly when I decided to move on. Still got the scratches."

"Uhh. Not sure what to say to that." How fascinating. Not. CLANG. CLANG. "Do you have a metal shop onboard?"

"Two decks up, take a left, keep going till you pass the Mysterious Mold."

"Good to know. Don't need it - unf - yet. Do you use electric batteries or pressurized air for submerged power?"

He doesn't really need a blowtorch to weld copper, thanks to what little magic he's mastered. Welding sounds come from where he's wedged into the boiler.

"The latter."

"Good. Old batteries are treacherous bastards."

He laughs hoarsely. "They'd be in good company, then."

"No, really. They'll give up their voltage potential on you or explode or randomly start leaking acid at the worst possible time just to spite you. Or perhaps I'm biased."

He rolls his eyes. "I know that."

"There's some interesting stuff coming out of Thames Yard, they're using exotic metals to get more power out of less weight, but they're still the devil to build safely."

With a final clang, he hauls himself out of the boiler. "Okay, valve back on and let's see if it stays lit with this newly fitted custom feed line."

He turns the valve.

Teddy uses a flint to spit sparks at the pilot light. It flickers as wildly as before for about ten seconds, then stabilizes. "There we go. More pipe volume makes it take longer to start up, but it least it stays on now. Everything look good there to you?"

He gives him a thumbs up, smiling. "Not too bad, spawn of Satan. Name's Horace, by and by."

"I'm Teddy, and I've never met Satan or any of his friends."

...He holds out his left hand nervously for a handshake.

He shakes it vigorously. "Good meeting ya, Terry. Maybe we won't drown crossing the channel."

"Not if I have anything to do with it we won't. I think I want a look at this 'mystery mold. Oh, and it's Teddy."

"Eh, why not."

Mold is too modest a word. It appears to be moving.

"Uh..."

"D'you happen to have a large quantity of bleach? Or maybe, I don't know, refined phosphorous?"

"Careful, we just might make it angry."

"This is not something I want to share oxygen with. I don't recognize it, but I've seen similar. On ships coming back from pest extermination missions."

"Oh, I thought it might have been a relative of your lot or something."

"Probably not. There's at least three different - breeds - running around out there. Lilithian, Frankensteinian, and... I don't know, Cryptozoological? I think this thing is in category three."

"Good, good. Was worried it might be someone's kid."

"No. No... You know, if it's been here a while, it's probably not doing any immediate harm and I suspect there will be things about this ship that worry me more. I'll deal with it later."

The idea sounds almost physically painful to him, but off he goes.

Meanwhile, the children are playing violently in the woods... if very quietly.

A birdwatcher has noticed the commotion.

He's watching them play through binoculars from some distance away, stuck between fascinated and terrified at their obvious Lilithian nature.

Zeke has noticed. "Um, guys, can you smell human? Really kind of scared human?"

"...Uh oh. Act normal." She pushes Zeke into a puddle.

This might be difficult, since the twins haven't bothered getting dressed because of all the shapeshifting. 

Hopefully this guy will think they're part of some strange nudist cult instead of being shapeshifters.

...Nope, doesn't seem to be happening. He's still there.

Zeke picks himself up. "I'm gonna go tell him how normal we are."

"What is your species, Lilithian child?" The guy immediately asks.

"Lilithian? What's that?"

"'Lilithian' is the taxonomic class of humanoid shapeshifting sapients, like you. Such a terrible shame, what a lie, those warmongers in Parliament don't like your lot!"

"...Uh, shapeshifting? What are you talking about?"

"I am not a fool, youngling. Your body is obviously superhuman, with the strength of those leaps and the damage to the foliage... You do not bear the telltale signs of being a biological experiment. Tragic, ugly things. Thus, you are Lilithian."

His enthusiasm and wonder has well taken over his fear by now.

"Um, yeah, okay, you got me." He twirls a bit. "Come on guys, he's friendly!"

Far too suddenly to be anything other than unsettling, Janet is there, her hand resting heavily on the biologist's shoulder. He jumps, but tries to pretend nothing is wrong. "Sir. You understand that privacy is of significant importance to people like us." Her grip tightens marginally. "I know that you meant no harm, so all will be well after you leave now and return home and speak to nobody of what you found here. Yes?"

"I, er- Yes. Yes, of course, sorry to be a bother."

"It's quite alright. I'll be happy to escort you back to the trailhead." Her tone says 'this is not optional'. "Zeke, have the others dress and wait for me where we had breakfast two days ago." This is also not optional.

"I'll do that," he looks at the biologist. "It was nice meeting you."

He runs back to the others. "Janet says we need to put pants on and meet her at the breakfast spot."

"She's kind of scary, isn't she?" Asks Sam on the way.

"Yeah. She was real not-mean to that guy."  He sighs, "It was nice being properly us for a bit."

"And we can look forward to moooore..."

"I wonder what kangaroos taste like."

"Is that a critter from Australia?"

Conversation continues as they head to the designated spot.

"Why'd you have to be so hard on that guy, Janet? He just wanted to bask in the awesome."

"I'm sorry, but it's really better safe than sorry. I've talked to naturalists before - it always backfires sooner or later. And we don't want it to backfire sooner. This is just the world we live in, sadly."

"Why do the humans get to be in charge? They're so...not."

"There are rather a lot of them, mostly."

"That's always confused me."

"Our kinds did not care to upset the status quo, and suddenly, there are so very many, and they are all intelligent and working together. But the real culprit is the specialization that having so many allows. There is a human for everything."

"I will learn to do everything!"

"That will take a while, dear Tabitha. I gave up on it two centuries ago. Because there is always more to learn."

"Then Zeke will handle the other half of everything! Sam can help!"

"We are stronger when there are many people who all know different things. But we can certainly try it. Which of you will learn calculus? Zeke, you, or Sam?"

"Maths is easy!"

This amuses her enough to give an impromptu calculus lesson in the dirt.

Calculus is harder than your average maths.

Tabby's game.

Zeke calls maths "human magic."

"...So based on that, what is the limit as X approaches infinity for this one?"

"Um, infinity?"

"Yep! We can use limits like this to see what happens if we keep doing something forever. So if you keep adding more and more things, X squared, and taking away the same amount each time, X, the pile just keeps getting bigger forever if you keep doing it."

"Weird."

"Math frequently is. But let's go back to your mother for now - I can teach you more on the trip. Maybe Teddy can teach you too."

"Cool!"

"Perhaps I'll teach them when we are underway. I'm trying to get the smugglers' ship into better shape. Uphill hike, that is."

"Could we help?"