2019-03-20: A Dragonmaster Cannot Live on Fish Alone

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search 
=============================<* Great Spiran Sea *>=============================

The Spiran archipelago is, unsurprisingly, composed of a series of islands. One is large, some are fairly big, the rest are quite small. Travel between the islands is accomplished by a series of small, local ferry runs between Spira's major seaports. Each of these ferries is pretty much like the rest - a large two-masted brig equipped with a pair of paddle wheels that allow the vessel to run on chocobo power whenever the wind is low.

Because all of the ferries are basically the same, this is the one you're on. Whatever one that is. Wherever it's going. You're on it.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGoSAJeVwg8
<Pose Tracker> Ghaleon has posed.

Months ago, Sin destroyed the city of Azado. No one on the continents of Glenwood and Meribius -- not a one of Althena's faithful -- knew what Sin was. It was a mystery, and the answer given by the Goddess Althena was warfare. The armies of Althena's faithful would said to the fabled land of Spira, find the beast, slay it, and bring Althena's justice to Spira.

Now, those armies are on boats.

A vast fleet has been crossing the ocean for going on three weeks now. The winds have not been an issue; the mages of Neo-Vane have kept their sails full on the way, and an unnatural speed graces each ship. The galleon in the lead, the Silver Wind, is the one that houses much of the command.

Near the prow of the ship, a living legend -- a myth that reminded everyone he was a man -- stands on the deck. Ghaleon, the Dragonmaster, stands in his black armor, with his white cape billowing out behind him. White hair, with elven ears and a beautiful face marred only by a purple, scale-like scar, Ghaleon stands with narrowed eyes.

Then, to no one and everyone, he -- with all the gravity of his station and experience rich in his voice -- says: "I am utterly sick of fish. Have we nothing else in our stores to eat?"

The Dragonmaster, chosen of the Goddess, is whining about food. Welcome to your life, now.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

A rising star of Hyland, the Duchess Kaguya Alathfar has naturally lent her strength and leadership to Hyland's forces, as well as her technical expertise. Where she comes from is less important than where they are going! Naturally, they are going... on a boat.

Frankly, the 'young beastwoman' seriously considered throwing out her new position entirely if it meant not getting on a ship again. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Oh, starships can travel through the heavens and give no one any trouble, but primitive hunks of wood can't sail across the seas without blah blah blah...

At least her occasional miserable, cryptic mutterings are generally impossible to understand. But today, at least, is somewhat better than others. In a sense. So, here on the Silver Wind...

All right, the truth is that to look at her, Kaguya, Duchess or no, is not exactly a towering figure. She doesn't even reach five feet in shoes. Her blonde hair remains short, her ears faintly pointed, her eyes a strange, too-pale green, and she has... sharp teeth. Like fangs.

But she also has a very fine tunic inscribed with some important Hyland symbology or another, long pants, sturdy boots...

And a very deadpan expression. She looks sick. This is fair; she looks worse than usual. This is also fair. So the Dragonmaster speaks up...

From her position staring out to the horizon, the commander of the Oasis and others answers, "I mean, if people were more interested in trying my vegetarian options then maybe you wouldn't be so bored." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
Most of the Hounds of Hell, a free company in residence at the mageocracy of Neo-Vane and staunch allies of the Guard, are on another ship. There are enough Hounds and they have enough idiosyncratic military crap and poor enough control over their spending to have their OWN ship, which Margaret will absolutely not leverage in some form later.

That ship is named The Immortal Raven Beauty of Divine Mist, or "Raven Mist" for short. There is one prominent sail that is dyed black and emblazoned with the mastiff-head outline that the Hounds use as a banner. (The others are normal. They ran out of money.)

MARGARET and one of her top lieutenants made the rate to be on the command ship.

That top lieutenant is GRIZ, the Cool Monk. (He uses ice magic and is not allowed to name anything else now.) GRIZ is not present.

Margaret is. She has to pull an entire ice lolly, frozen from lime-infused water with a sprinkling of salt, from her mouth in order to answer the call of the Dragonmaster. (She had been a few yards down the decking and watching the sea go by.) Having done this, she considers what to say for once in her life.

I could offer him this one, Margaret thinks, but that's kind of fast even for me, and besides which he probably wouldn't be in the mood. Her lips purse.

"I could call for a dried sausage, my lord," Margaret answers, her voice doing its best to casual and gay. "At worst we'll have someone tie it to an arrow and shoot it over."

"Ah, Si," Margaret begins before stopping, grimacing to herself, and saying, "Your grace."

This is where there would, in some situations, two parallel drawings of another of Margaret's lieutenants - Silf, a rogueish elf - and Kaguya, listing vital statistics, trivia facts, and the salient facts of 'identical height' and 'similarly filed teeth'. (Margaret assumes they're filed.) 

<Pose Tracker> Black Wizard Borgan has posed.

The great Black Wizard Borgan, one of the Four Heroes of Althena, is also on a boat.

In the absence of Leo (who is on Filgaia), Mauri (who is probably somewhere around Pentagulia; Borgan didn't check) and Lunn (who is definitely around Meribia), this makes him - at least on paper - the second highest-ranking person on this fleet after Ghaleon.

This means he has his *own* boat, Neo-Vane's flagship. The Hyperion (always go for classics) is slightly larger than the Raven Mist and more ornate, with decorative flares that make it look like it is coasting over the water rather than far more practically in it, though it has not shown any particular tendency to actually take off and fly around.

Unlike Borgan, who travelled from the Hyperion via his own floating platform about five minutes ago, quite sedately coasting over the water like he didn't have a care in the world. He didn't bring any staff members with him because they don't rate floating platforms. Not even Margaret, unless she brought her own.

"I assure you that the Hyperion is still provisioned, if not quite in the same manner as when we left port," Borgan rumbles. "I will have some sent over forthwith."

Borgan's floating platform is declining to tilt with the boat, though it *is* moving up and down to maintain a constant height above the deck. This makes talking to him slightly unusual, though the swells of the sea are not enough to make it *really* weird. 

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan does not know very much about what his employer is scheming, but when he heard it involved sending him to a legendary continent and playing bodyguard for the legendary Dragonmaster during the journey, he assumed that Lubov was making a joke at his expense.

Apparently... not.

The young mercenary stands nearby with a sour expression; he ran out of what passed for charm around hour three of this multi-week journey trapped in close quarters with other people, and has been internally screaming ever since.

He has the hood of his cloak drawn up, the closest thing to personal space that the circumstances will allow, but the wind keeps conspiring to yank it back down again.

He tunes in from fervently wishing to be elsewhere to find the commanders bantering about fish and sausages.

"Do you want me to kill you another seagull, Lord Ghaleon?" he asks. His tone is flat, but he's still ready with a throwing knife if the hero of legend happens to have a taste for gull. He's done stupider things for pay. Also, the sea is boring. 

<Pose Tracker> Ghaleon has posed.

"A vegetarian diet... hm, hm, hm. Perhaps I should inflict that upon them," Ghaleon chuckles. Though, in truth, he doesn't care; his dietary concerns have been largely overridden by the truth of his existence. He doesn't share that with others.

Instead, his pale eyes look between Borgan and Margaret for a moment. "Yes," he says. "I think I will partake of dried sausage. And... whatever you have on your ship, Borgan. Can you send it over on an arrow? Ah, could and Margaret both have that done? Like a race. That sounds like it would be amusing to watch."

Speaking of amusing to watch.

Ghaleon turns his head back to the young man appointed as his bodyguard; some machination of some noble, somewhere, he is sure. In the last few weeks, he has mostly come to know Ivan as sour and thus, unfortunately, fun to toy with.

He lifts one perfect, elegant finger to one perfect, elegant chin, and taps it. "I think I can handle the seagulls today, but... ah!" Ghaleon turns, eyes alight with mischief, and points towards the deck, where a fish that fell from a barrel is flopping. "It is coming right for me! Come, Ivan! Strike it down!"

<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.


 Amelia Rose, Priestess of Althena and general no-nonsense healer, is not on her own boat. She's instead taken up residence on the Dragonmaster's ship, partly out of a desire to be near a living legend and partially because she can't exactly help navigate. Instead she's spent her time pushing her fellow healers into obscenely good shape.

 Thankfully this is mostly amounting to helping deal with the seasick, scrapes, broken arms, splinters, and other sea accidents. Also preventing scurvy. Amelia will have no scurvy on a ship she's on, by Althena, if she has to shove oranges down Ghaleon's throat.

 Silver, resident Good Boy, leads the healer up to the deck as her most recent patient recovers.

 Her cane thumps, Silver tilts his head, and she coughs.

 "...Lord Ghaleon, according to Filgaian records, fish are excellent for the eyes and joins."

 Letting go of Silver's lead, the dog is inching closer and closer to that flopping fish that the Dragonmaster deigns Ivan to kill. Wag wag wag tail! 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Hm?" Kaguya starts to answer Margaret, and then, tuuurns towards her with a little grin. it is brief. ...She doesn't maintain that much humor immediately. No, not with Borgan here before--

If Kaguya had realized that people were doing floating platforms then maybe she could've built one when she actually had parts and she's definitely not still grumpy about that.

"Hey Marge," Kaguya greets Margaret good-naturedly(??) in passing, peeering up to Borgan for the moment. ...She decides against this quickly, the movement is making her kind of queasy. Ivan is easier to look at. he's interesting. He's offering to kill a bird with a knife. He's trying to keep his hood up. And most importantly...

The sea is terrible.

Kaguya laughs a little despite herself at Ghaleon's response though. "Rude," she tells him. "But hey it's totally healthy if you do it right. " She pauses. ...Arrows. With food. As a race.

She can't stay that mad with Ghaleon around.

"I bet he gets it on the first try," Kaguya comments in Margaret's direction about Ivan and the fish. She doesn't propose an actual bet though, because something something gambling immoral or something.

She thinks about waving to Amelia and Silver, and then thinks better of it. "I think Silver might want it more than you do," she says instead to Ghaleon. 

<Pose Tracker> Black Wizard Borgan has posed.

Borgan's platform does not appear to be technological, or if it is it's very well-disguised. The base is a black dome with a decorative point at the bottom and a green gem set forward, adorned with dragon heads facing forward, forward-left, and forward-right. If he noticed Kaguya looking at it, he didn't say anything.

At the request from Ghaleon, Borgan's eyes narrow. Just for a moment. He knows when he's being disrespected. But you can't say that to Ghaleon, or at least, not twice.

"Ah, Dragonmaster," he says, with a slight tone in his voice that *might* be sardonic if you want to look at it that way, "good food cannot be rushed. I will trust to Margaret to handle this with some urgency, but I will put my cook at your disposal immediately." Not even Ghaleon, it seems, can convince Borgan to offer sub-par food.

Also, of course he has a cook. Don't be silly. (He actually has two in case something happens to the first one.) 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
Margaret has no floating platform.

She looks at Borgan -

- and inside of her heart she seethes and imagines a rendering plant and turning the platform inside out to become a Super Weight Platform, chaining him to it and throwing it into the sea; throwing him over the side of Neo Vane directly over a hole bored through Lunar to allow for easy access between both sides of the star by the Goddess Althena (note: this tunnel exists only in Margaret's interior dei-fic), of seizing control and becoming the black dragon heroine who will bring Neo-Vane into a glorious future where revelling and shouting and having a good time is the ONLY LAW -

- and externally she blinks slowly and says, "Good afternoon, magus," to him, along with the same thin, watery smile he usually gets.

And then she looks back at the pale-eyed Dragonmaster.

"Ye-es," she tells him, and to Ghaleon she gives a significantly thicker and denser smile. "I think that we can -" And she raises one hand, twirling her fingers around, "do that quite quickly."

Griz comes busting out of the deck, still wearing his chart examining jacket. (It's leather.) (All his clothing is leather.) "Ma'am!"

"Sausage delivery," she tells him, "handle it. Get me something too."

"Yes MA'AM," Griz says, before turning around and acknowledging everyone. Griz is a big broad-chested muscular guy with a grease-intensive hairstyle. He greets everyone thusly.

* Ivan gets a wink and a thumbs up.
* Ghaleon gets a genuflection so vigorous and fast it is literally a push-up.
* Amelia gets a wink and finger-guns, which he absolutely learned on Filgaia
* Silver gets a "who's a good boy"
* Margaret gets a chest-thumping salute
* Duchess Kaguya gets another genuflection-push-up
* Borgan gets a ritualistic gesture known only to the wise.

Griz then runs to the other side of the ship to put up the signal. Apparently they have a 'saus me up' hand gesture. The camera does not focus on it.

"You seem comfortable," Margaret says to Borgan. 

<Pose Tracker> Black Wizard Borgan has posed.

Black Wizard Borgan gives Margaret her due in response: that is, a slight nod. "Good afternoon, sorceress," he says, as pleasant as he ever sounds. "It is a pleasant day; why would I not be comfortable?"

Secretly, Borgan is currently running a low-grade cooling effect so that he doesn't swelter in his double-layered black robes. He is comfortable anywhere he wants to be. 

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan indulges in his own brief fantasy, somewhat smaller in scope than Margaret's, of incinerating the fish in a rain of fire which also sinks the ship and drowns everyone. Is the ocean looking at you threateningly, Ghaleon? You forgot to worry about that, didn't you!

But that kind of stunt always backfires. There's a floating platform in play, for one thing. And legendary dragonmasters can probably fly or whatever. Also, he'd probably drown before anyone else did; he's always been kind of a bad swimmer.

So he'll have to go on putting up with BEING MOCKED BY A CHILDHOOD HERO, THIS IS GREAT THIS IS FINE.

"OF COURSE I'LL GET IT IN THE FIRST TRY," he snaps. It's bad enough being put up in a public battle against a flopping fish, but THE IDEA THAT HE WOULD LOSE TO THAT FISH, SO HELP HIM, HE WILL THROW YOU ALL OVERBOARD AND

Somewhere in this angry reverie he takes out his fury on the poor fish, the only acceptable target at the moment. A small knife flicks across the space, and the fish flops no more.

Ivan stomps across the deck to retrieve the knife, face burning. Somewhere along the way he was winked at by some exuberant person; he fails to appreciate it. 

<Pose Tracker> Ghaleon has posed.

"Thank you, Amelia," Ghaleon sighs. "I trust my joints and eyes will appreciate their scales, slime, and underwhelming taste all the more for that knowledge."

Even the Dragonmaster can get petulant after three weeks on a boat.

He gives the briefest smile at Kaguya -- a little cold, but all of Ghaleon's smiles have a way of seeming cold -- and then he looks back to the fish. Are they taking bets on how well Ivan will do? Yes, he thinks, yes they are. Good. All according to plan. But, he is brought from his consideration of the great sport of ordering your subordinates to murder fish to...

"Ah, Borgan. Then I leave it to you prodigious expertise. Don't rush on my account, not at all." The Dragonmaster laughs. Then, he watches Griz run. He looks pleased.

Then he looks back to the fish.

"Hmm, confident~" Ghaleon opines about Ivan with the second dry chuckle in about as many seconds. And then his expression falls, slightly, as he realizes that he just goaded a subordinate into killing a fish that a blind woman's dog wanted.

Then he smiles, because he remembers that he is Ghaleon, and he is an asshole and dogs know what they did. "Bravo, bravo!" he says. "Your dedication and aim never fail to impress. Hm, hm, hm. You certainly learned to throw the knife quite skillfully, didn't you?"

<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.


 One of Amelia's ears twitches every time she hears Borgan speak. This is one of the Four Heroes. She won't insult the man, floaty and large though he may be. Nor will she make horrible diagnoses about his physical health out loud.

 She does stroke her Holy Symbol, for reasons definitely unrelated to Borgan and the need for faith and Althena's patience.

 So she stays quiet on that front, instead having her priestess' cloak flutter as Griz runs by. An ear-tilt. Silver, briefly distracted from Fish, gives a Large Doggie Lick to the enthusiastic muscle-grease servant! Amelia can tell the man by hair-gel smell at this point.

 "Althena is giving, in Her Wisdom. I hope his excess of energy doesn't make him trip over the bow." Her words are soft, and with a little pity.

 Kaguya isn't missed by Silver either. That bark is a Hello bark. Versus the 'Bye' bark and the 'Amelia murder the guy on your right' bark.

 Ivan, meanwhile, kills a fish. The one that Silver was so 'sneakily' inching towards. Almost as soon as the guardsman is down to retrieve his knife?

 The silver-furred husky is riiiight up to him, tap-tap-tappy his toes, then just kind of flops on the deck. The dog gives the biggest faux-sad look that only a big glutton dog can produce.

 Whiiiiine!

 Amelia does nothing to stop this, as she turns her attentions to one of the proper sailors nursing a head bump. Cue one sparkly healing burst, and the elf unhelpfully browbeating the man for it.

 Silver definitely knows what he did. That's why he's guilt-tripping Ivan.

 "I'll be certain to request some pepper and allspice to add to the natural fish oil, Lord Ghaleon when we reach the next port. For medical reasons." Offers Amelia finally with a bow, voice completely deadpan as she does so. 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"What?" Kaguya asks Ivan, and it is very much the what of someone who doesn't see the problem here. "It's hard! It's moving, and the ship is moving, and there's wind, and there's Silver in the way, it's totally a vote of confidence!"

Some humans just can't take a compliment. It's terrible.

But then she pauses. She thinks, looking between sorceress and magus. She considers then, after her earlier pleased look at Griz's frankly impressive display of subordinate athleticism.

"...Do you seriously have a code worked out for emergency sausage?" Pause. "...Cool. I bet Atida would think of something like that..."

She can appreciate Silver. Oh, at first, dogs made her nervous, but, she's gotten kinda used to it. Instead...

"Isn't health food pretty much just the worst thing, though? Uuuuugh. I can't wait until we get to port and I can get something, like, fried. I don't even care what at this point. Fried lettuce, I'll take it." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"Yes, well... the sea can take its toll, though, of course, I've long since grown accustomed to it," Margaret says. "But for many of our allies this is the first time they've taken anything out on the sea proper. It's much calmer on those big ferries that ply the routes between Pendrago and -"

Margaret pauses at the thrown knife. She slides her ice lolly into her mouth again and gives it a long thoughtful suck as she looks at Ivan. He probably misses this. After this she crunches off part of it and chews it thoughtfully, not completing her sentence.

"Oh, yes; I would kill for something fried these evenings. Don't you agree?" this to Borgan.

Griz gives Silver a rub and tells the pooch, "Check this outtttt," before gesticulating at the Raven Mist again. Then he backs off the railing.

That's because...

Fowling arrows, sparkling with ice crystals on the feltching, start landing. They've had objects tied to them. A black case wrapped in padded felt lands near Margaret, who leans over to pick it off the deck before it can pitch off. The others have the promised dried sausages wrapped in loose paper. (one doesn't. that may be a present for dogs. of course the hounds support silver) 

<Pose Tracker> Black Wizard Borgan has posed.

Borgan likes fish, but there are limits. He does not bring up the possibility of eating one (and he's certainly not going to suggest eating one that has been on the deck).

Even though it's probably no dirtier than the ones in the barrel, honestly. It's not like it's been descaled or cooked yet.

"Hmm hmm hmm. I suppose that is true," he acknowledges Margaret. He hasn't been to sea very often himself, but he has several different ways to cheat and is not adverse to using any or all of them. The platform is either one of them. "And I don't know about *kill*, but I don't think anyone would object." Pause. "Except the seasick."

Borgan suddenly slides the base of his staff off the platform and pushes, applying sideways force. This causes his platform to suddenly shift about three feet horizontally before he lifts the staff up, gliding another foot or two before his platform comes to a stop.

One of the arrows passes through where his torso was a few moments ago. It's just a blunt fowling arrow, so it bounces off the deck rather than sticking, but... "Some additional accuracy training may be required," he says, looking toward the distant Raven Mist. "In fact, I insist." 

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan doesn't know what the purpose of the dragonmaster's praise is, so he chooses to treat it as a threat.

"Thank you, Lord Ghaleon." The response is, if not wholly sarcastic, still firmly in the 'surly teenager' tonal range.

But a sad dog is requesting his attention and his fish, and he welcomes the opportunity not to look at anyone humanoid for a few moments.

"...Do you... uh, want it?" Ivan unspears the fish and offers it to Silver, somehow socially awkard even with a dog, if somewhat softer in attitude.

He looks back at Kaguya, who is making an exasperated attempt to explain that her compliment was in fact complimentary. His eyes narrow in doubt. This situation is a lot easier to deal with if everyone is uniformly making fun of him. He isn't sure what to do with the alternative. He runs out of time trying to think of a response and ends up looking in silence for too many beats before turning back to the dog.

He eventually thinks of one, and replies, dogwards. "I mean, I could hit a smaller target. Or a moving target. Or whatever." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
"Oh, yes, certainly," Margaret concurs to Borgan, moving over to collect that arrow and quietly drop it over the railing. "Oops," she says afterwards, before moving on as if nothing had happened. "It's hardly the usual conditions, of course. I worry sometimes about our missielers back home. Of course, our archers are the mere tithe of our strength!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ghaleon has posed.

Ghaleon regards Silver with a sigh, and then he turns his head to look at Amelia. He watches her for a moment -- and then clears his throat once. "Very good, Amelia. I approve." Not just of the decision, but also the deadpan. He likes it when his subordinates have some chutzpah and give him guff.

Fowling arrows come raining down onto the deck. Ghaleon's mouth actually hangs open in disbelief as a sausage is, somehow, delivered to him. He takes the promised sausage, and has a bite of it.

And then, because Working Designs is in his soul, declares: "Ten points to Gryffin--Margaret!"

His eyes do drift, though, to Borgan. He starts to frown; he starts to say something. However, a cry cuts him off -- though Borgan may see it first, as he floats up into the air: a tip of green, growing larger, on the horizon.

From the crow's nest, a young woman bellows: "LAND HO!"

<Pose Tracker> Amelia Rose has posed.


 Kaguya gets a vague shrug, though she does give a sympathetic nod. "Overindulgence is a sin in Althena's eyes. By taking this harsh voyage and fasting on these meager foods, we're becoming closer to the Goddess." Comes Amelia piously.

 "....I will, however, say that I would very much appreciate a spiced black tea right now that isn't fifty percent sea salt." Her two elf ears lower for just a moment in annoyance with so much water. Ivan at least has a friend in Silver as he's offering over the fish! Those jaws are already opening, trying to snap for the fish! Since his mouth is a bit occupied? Yeah, he's trying to press a cold doggie nose to Ivan's cheek after a little hup hup. The man gets so many wags of the tail and muffled happy barks! At least before it's Fish Chomping Time. Ignore the sound of a wood chipper going off and scales flying everywhere.

 And then, Griz backs off and suddenly it's Raining Sausages. On arrows! The dog is up in a flash, does a little spin as he drops what's left of the fish carcass, and barks three times in happiness. Silver's already racing off towards the cabin, a duo of Sausarrows purloined away from the grand salty gifts!

 Amelia sighs. "He'll become a tub again if you spoil him, Griz!" Grumps the priestess. She remembers what happened when Silver was introduced to hamburgers!

 There's a voice on high, and Amelia can't help but smile. They're not the Goddess' voice, but they are darn close.

 "Ask of the Goddess, and ye shall receive." She isn't smiling, but at least she's distinctly less grump-filled in the voice. 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Uggh, yeah, sea travel is kind of the worst," Kaguya agrees(?) with Margaret, though she does pause, turn over to Amelia--and sigh, the sort of truly epic exhalation that can only come of a girl still close to her teenage years. "Maybe I don't feel like building character," she complains, but she doesn't actually argue the point beyond that--instead she sees more satisfied about at least Amelia wanting something.

She doesn't even move about the arrows. Does she even notice them? It's kind of hard to tell. "Oh yeah, accuracy," she starts to say, and then hmmms at Ivan, more thoughtfully. "You know, that'd be kind of cool to see. I wonder how small a target you can--"

LAAAAAND HO!

And suddenly Kaguya's opinion on Harry Potter(?) is irrelevant because the short warrior turns to look over the deck. "Seriously?" She starts to ask, and then grins Amelia's way. "Hey you're not gonna see me arguing divine providence." She pauses, and squints. "...Huh. You know, those leaf formations--I wonder..."

Yeah she's nerding out. 

<Pose Tracker> Black Wizard Borgan has posed.

"I will not have soldiers under the flag of Neo-Vane doing anything but their best," Borgan says, sounding more irritated than before, before rapping his staff against his platform. "I will insist on more training for them. As soon as we reach a place where they can actually set up targets at an appropriate distance. I trust that you will take care of this."

It does mean he misses the land, until the call sounds out. He turns, the entire platform rotating in place as he squints toward the distant belt of green. His eyes aren't sharp enough to make out leaves at this distance.

"Finally!"

Borgan lets go of his staff for a moment (it remains vertical all on its own) to rub his hands together before gripping it again. "Behold. Spira!" He can't wait to get a look around. It shows. 

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

"It's really cool to see," Ivan affirms, with an intensity that can't decide whether to be defensiveness or enthusiasm.

But did the lookout just announce the approach to Spira?!

"What? It's real?"

He was starting to believe this journey was some sort of unending cosmic punishment for his crimes against his fellow man. He approaches the rail and peers out over the horizon. What does Spira look like? Is it blue? Does it glow? 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

 
As a shark quietly explodes in the water beneath them, Margaret tells Borgan, "I can absolutely assure you I will. We'll even do it from longboats at other longboats. It will be marvelous." Most of this will not happen. Then!

        LAND HO!

Margaret's head snaps hard enough to make her hair bounce.

"Ahaaaah! Well, well, well," she says as she clasps that enigmatic black case to her bosom, walking forwards, approximately towards Ivan, "I was wondering the same~. But look at that! A new world."

"Of course," she continues, "In a way, we reach a new world every time the Goddess grants us another day." She may be looking slyly to the side as she says this, but she's not facing anybody at present.

Griz's last word is -- "Again?" (He advises Silver, "Brother, let me tell you, people love a fat cat, but we're both a little too old to be cute tubs.") 

<Pose Tracker> Ghaleon has posed.

The answer, Ivan and Kaguya find, is that Spira looks not all that dissimilar to the rest of Lunar at first blush. The plants, as Kaguya observes, are different; however, the island they approach is blue. There is a town on it, composed of wooden buildings -- but a shredded set of piers and damaged buildings are much too similar for comfort to the shattered husk of Azado.

Ghaleon's eyes narrow at that.

He does not know the name of Kilika, but he knows the devastation he sees. The Dragonmaster's once-cheerful, dismissive mien becomes something serious. There is a hardness in those eyes, as he steps forward. "This town was..."

And then, there is a flash.

A hundred thousand magical runes -- Symbols, though most of those here may not know them -- appear in the air. They flash, and then the Dragonship Destiny appears over the harbor. Worryingly, it is at a forty-five degree angle. There is a loud, panicked cry from within the ship and without -- and from the crew.

It lands in the harbor of the unknown town with a titanic splash.

Ghaleon is silent for several seconds, before he says: "Borgan, make this ship go faster."

    TO BE CONTINUED

Retrieved from "https://dreamchasers.space/index.php?title=2019-03-20:_A_Dragonmaster_Cannot_Live_on_Fish_Alone&oldid=8492"