The only reason Joseph did not panic was because Navi did not panic. Normally his master would have been the one he would look to, but ever since they had taken up the job of outfitting the True North, he started to have a lot of questions that Jethro could not answer. One of those questions was: how to tell a possessed doll automaton to let go or she’ll break your ribs?

“AAAAAHHHHH!” He flailed at the doll, gasping for air. “Let go! Let go! Let go! It hurts!”

“Oh!” she dropped him just as quickly as she had swept him up. “I’m so sorry! I’m just so pleased to finally greet you! You talked to me quite a bit, you know? You were the only one who suspected I was there. I will forever be grateful!”

He clutched his ribs, wheezing. “You’re…welcome. Never…do that…again!” He gingerly felt his sides. Yup! That was going to bruise in the morning. He looked to Navi. “What do we do now?” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Estelle poke at the various boxes in the room.

“Well, we get her out of here,” Navi frowned a little behind the doll’s back. “Although it seems that she may have a control issue. Can you help me get her to the main hall?” She pinged the bridge. “We’ll move the stowaway to the main hall, Captain. If there is a good deserted place to land, please do so. This might take a minute.”

“Copy that,” Jaehyun replied. There was a slight shifting of the ship as he banked for a landing.

“I’ll take her up the stairs,” Navi turned back to Joseph. “Do you think you and Jethro could check the remainder of the Fibula shipment and make sure we don’t have any other…surprises?”

“You can count on me!” Joseph said, saluting with a grin.

Jethro kept eyeing the doll with a look hovering between helpless fascination and terror.

“I knew I could,” Navi patted Joseph on the arm, then turned to usher the doll out of the storage area. Joseph watched them go.

“Let’s get it over with then,” Jethro’s gruff voice broke into his thoughts. He grabbed the nearest box and started emptying it of labeled vials.

Joe hurried to dig through the nearest box, glad to hide his burning face before his master noticed. “Master, why are you so against magic? Did something happen? Did you get hurt?”

Jethro picked up another box and dug through it. “Just don’t like it is all.”

“But why? There has to be a good reason!” Joe stopped to watch his master.

“It ain’t natural is all! There is an order in the world and magic don’t follow it.”

Joe thought about that for a moment. “But, if magic is in the world, doesn’t that mean it is part of the order too?”

“Yer askin’ too many questions, boy! Let’s just finish this mess and get back to our lives which hopefully will not include a demented doll.” His tone brooked no argument, so Joe went back to searching through the boxes. He also took it upon himself to repack it. There was no sense in leaving a mess behind for later.

____________________________

The True North stopped its journey so the crew could assess this newest discovery. Ever since she had been wound up, Estelle talked nonstop. Navi cold not shake the feeling of uneasiness regarding the automated doll. Who knows how long she had been stored away like that and why? That and that the doll possessed a prodigious amount of strength. Within the first ten minutes of being wound up, Estelle had broken a door, crushed two doorknobs, twisted the rungs of two ladders and bruised Joseph’s ribs from hugging way too tight. (Jethro was upset at the sudden repairs. Joe was upset about his ribs.) Navi forbade her from touching anything or anyone to avoid the doll causing damage. Now the ship had landed in a hilly region, far away from civilization or anything easily damaged.

“Why did you insist we stop here?” Jaehyun asked Navi quietly while Estelle kept talking to Jethro, Casey and Joseph. Lamond sat a little farther away watching the proceedings. Faffy sat on a shelf near him. (Only Navi and Lamond knew the bunny was there.)

Navi sat on a railing, watching the doll talking animatedly, then turned to Jaehyun. She was very serious. “Because we are dealing with magic. The first thing you do is let it know it is free to leave. So, we wait and see what she decides, so that we can decide what to do next.”

“What if we don’t want her to stay?” he muttered.

“You still cannot force it to do what you want—even if you want it to go,’ Lamond joined their little group. “If you try to use force on it, it always backfires. It is better to give it a choice.”

“Right,” Navi nodded. “Besides, it is safer to be away from civilization and not in the air for this kind of thing.”

Jaehyun frowned. He had come across many things as both a noble and former military, but this was the first instance of real magic. “Do you speak from personal experience or—?”

“I speak on what I know. You Empire forbade us from spreading what we know. That was the point of conquering us, correct?”

The shortness of her answer let him know he had touched a sore point. He let the subject drop but made a mental note to ask for clarification later. Instead, he turned to the group by the door. “Estelle, what do you know about Dr. Sneed—the mousy man whose voice you heard?”

“Not much, I’m afraid. Sometimes, he would come speak to me. Otherwise, I was left alone. He never took me out.” Estelle shrugged. “But I do not care for him.”

“What would he speak to you about?”

“He would usually apologize and let me know he had not made any headway.” Estelle shrugged.

Jaehyun started to pace, thinking out loud. “He knew you were there, so that means he must have an idea as to your purpose and origin, right? Maybe we should we head back to Valor Town for answers.”

“Absolutely not!” Navi and Estelle exclaimed together.

“That man wanted me destroyed!” Estelle protested. “He knew I was in there and left me to rot!”

“He did insist that everything was on the level. He obviously wanted to hide something—or someone.” Navi folded her arms. “Which could mean that someone else would be looking for you. That is the way with magic unfortunately.”

Estelle went quiet. “Would it be better…if you were to try and destroy me then? I don’t want to cause anyone any trouble.”

Jaehyun watched the doll. “Do you really want to be destroyed?” he asked carefully.

“No!...but I don’t want anyone to be hurt on my behalf either.” Estelle wrung her hands. On anyone else, the gesture might be theatrical, but her designers had made it so that every movement was exceptionally graceful.

“Destroying your…” Navi gestured to the doll’s form. “—vessel would not guarantee that the magic would release you. It might take a big more work which—I’m sorry—means you have to make a choice. What do you want to do?”

Estelle froze in uncertainty, looking from person to person. “I…”

Navi hopped down from the rail to put a hand on the doll’s arm. “What I mean is, you are free to go if you feel that is best. We won’t stop you.” She gestured towards the open door and wilderness beyond. “Or, you are welcome to stay. Some of us have experience with magic, so you wouldn’t be too unusual on our crew. Or, do you have somewhere you want us to take you? Do you remember anyone from before your time in the box?”

Estelle tipped her head thoughtfully. “Not that I can think of. I’ve wracked my brain repeatedly and there are no answers. But, I’d like to stay with you—although I keep breaking things…”

The mechanic smiled. “That’s an easy problem to fix. If I can set the pressure for hydraulic-powered doors, I can help you.”

“Do you think…Is there…any chance I can get my body back?” Estelle asked hesitantly. “Is that something you could help also me with? I mean, I have no right to ask, it’s just that I don’t know anyone else and—!”

“One thing at a time,” Navi gave the others a look, halting any protests. “Let’s get you to the kitchen for some regulation practice first. Besides, we have a delivery to get back to.”

____________________________

“So, are we going to keep her?” Jethro asked during their lunch break, digging into his stew. “She’s a little…unsettling.”

“You mean the fact that she seems to be the victim of dark magic, perhaps?” Lamond raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly!”

“She can’t help it, Jethro,” Navi spoke up as she poked at the food in her bowl. “It’s not fair to blame her or assume that she was deserving of that fate for some reason.”

“How are you so calm about this?” Jethro burst out, slamming his mug. “This ain’t normal!”

Navi passed a look to Lamond who shrugged. “Well, it actually is pretty normal,” he said slowly. “Our people, and others like the Kituans, make it a part of our life to be aware of the spiritual and unnatural world. Because we are so aware of it, it surprises us less. It seems the Empire…just doesn’t think that way.” He shrugged again. “You may be bigger, with more firepower, but you’re very weak in the ways that count.”

“What are the ways that count?” Joe spoke up curiously, sending Lamond into a passionate talk about the spiritual world. It was one of his favorite pastimes besides knives and cooking.

Navi turned back to Jethro. “Well, that’s the short of it. Besides, we don’t sense anything malicious about her. It’d be readily apparent if she were meaning us ill.”

“Not like that bunny,” the big man muttered.

“He’s right behind you,” Lamond coughed, stopping his lecture.

Jethro whirled to look behind him, but no one was there. When he turned back, Faffy was seated by his tin cup. “Gaah! Don’t do that, Lamond!”

“I didn’t.” The Drathinian man sipped his water. “But you shouldn’t talk about him if you don’t want him here.”

Casey climbed up on a stool and scooped up her bunny. “Don’t worry.” She patted Jethro’s arm. “Faffy already said he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He just likes to listen.”

“Does he now, lass?” Jethro smiled gently, patting Casey on the head. “Well, would you mind telling him not to scare me like that?”

Navi hid a smile behind her cup of tea. Jethro had taken a shine to the little girl. Whenever she was around, he turned into an adoring grandfather. When she was not following Navi, she could usually be found on the big man’s shoulder. Faffy had nothing to worry about. On the other hand, Jethro did not believe Casey when she said that Faffy talked to her. Maybe it was for the best that he did not know.

“He also says that he doesn’t feel that Estelle is bad,” she said very seriously. “And I don’t think she is bad either. She’s very nice and lonely.”

“She sure is,” Jethro patted her head. “I think she’s a sweet kid too. It’s just that we don’t know much about her case. Heck, she doesn’t know much about herself, so how can we expect to help her!”

“Knowledge,” Navi muttered, then an idea popped into her head. “That’s it! We need to find others versed in magic! Thank you, Jethro!” She slapped him on the back and ran from the room.”

Jethro watched her go with a horrified expression. “Don’t thank me! I don’t want to get involved with magic!”

“It’s far too late for that!” she called back and vanished into the belly of the ship.