15[20:15] It's not quite sunset by the time the pyre burns down, but the sun hangs low and orange in a cloudless sky. Garnet asks Seiri to take her back to the ship, leaving Dryas, Piu, and Zhangyu with their backs to the ashes, left to wander towards their hearthmate as they move east, the Imperial Mountain peeking over the top of Old Mionzi's skyline, even from half a world away. [20:16] 14One supposes that could have gone worse. Downright peaceful, for burning men alive. 15[20:16] They find Daizo and Caxi, the latter kneeling just outside a chalk-drawn binding circle in a bizarrely green walled garden, whose vibrant grass crunches like glass underfoot, Daizo in the depths of the ritual to bring forth an elemental. 15[20:17] But what kind of elemental? What shape does the desire for a servant take in his heart? What task would he see the spirit complete? What is its purpose? [20:22] 10Daizo's senses expand to fill the garden. All here is calcified, in stasis. Even still, there are—must be—underground streams, reservoirs, a path to the open sea. From these, he would draw forth a spirit of water, perhaps one to ease the Defiance's passage through the unnatural calm. [20:25] 10Air stands in opposition to Earth, but Water is complementary. In this way we'll escape Mionzi's trap. [20:26] 07Dryas uncorks her wineskin and drinks a last toast to old soldiers. "Good singing, Piu." [20:26] 4Piu: "Thanks!" [20:29] 10Come forth, you undines, marids, selkies! You mizutsunes, serpents of the water! Create a current and show us where all things must flow to. [20:31] 10Your kin calls. Who will answer? [20:32] "Either of you want a drink?" 07she asks her Hearthmates. [20:34] "Ssh… I think I—" 10It feels strangely like fishing. There's a tug on the line. Something to be called into shape.  [20:34] 4Piu: "Yep!" 4She'll take what would be not-entirely-precisely described as a 'healthy' swig. [20:35] 6Zhangyu just watches Daizo work instead of answering. Not much of a drinker, usually, and he asked for quiet, so. [20:36] 10Daizo focuses his mind and Essence and 10pulls— 15[20:36] Even the sorcerously ignorant among the hearth feel the essence heavy in the air like summer humidity. Daizo stands at the completion of the ritual, reaching his hand into the center of the circle to draw forth the energy that's so thick the air resists his hand. But his is a divine will, and the elements are his to command. The air grabs back. [20:37] 4Yeah! Get that...sorcery! [20:38] 10His anima flares and the summoning circle glows to an almost blinding intensity. [20:38] 07Weird! [20:39] 10Crystal flower petals and Old Realm characters swirl in haloes— "Now become!" 15[20:40] Daizo's hand is clenched in a ring of solid water that squeezes and splits into a pincer-like claw, refining again and again into a large and shimmering nine-fingered hand. The water runs down an unseen channel, submitting to and resisting gravity in turns to trace the arc of an arm, a shoulder... a torso that fills out its limbs, taller than a man and broader of shoulder, standing 15[20:40] eye to eye with its creator. [20:41] 10Focus, focus— 15[20:42] The wings explode from its back in a spray that throws rainbows through the anima-light, but all those many-colored droplets hang in the air in suspension as the bent light is crushed flat again under the relentless pressure of Mionzi's accumulated essence. The elemental begins to calcify, turning hard and silvery-white from extremity to core as spiritual sediment accumulates... [20:44] "Nngh—" 10Fight it! You will not be crushed here! I place you under my protection! 10Daizo's own wings spread wide to shield the newborn. 15[20:45] Caxi watches with unblinking focus, holding her breath. [20:48] 10Stalactites form on Daizo's wings like so many icicles in winter.  15[20:50] Daizo's effort feels as if it's all for naught as the elemental is trapped under the weight of the land's toxic energy, until Daizo is locked gripping the hand of a winged statue. But he pushes, and he holds fast, and the sorcerer's will triumphs over nature's imbalance. The elemental breaks free of its prison, throwing fragments of crystallized essence in all directions that sublimate 15[20:50] into motes of light as they leave the confines of the circle. [20:50] 4Yess! 15[20:52] The shell doesn't fall away, but it breaks cleanly at every point of articulation, leaving Daizo standing face to face with a hydraulic sentinel, living water pulsing beneath plates of purest crystal, and curling wings covered with a feathery mosaic of flaked stone that glitter red in the light of the setting sun. 15[20:53] Its pearl-white mask is featureless, but Daizo knows it hides no face behind it either. 15[20:53] Caxi cackles with delight. [20:54] 10It's magnificent.  [20:55] 6Incredible. [20:56] "Bravo, Daizo!" 07Dryas applauds. [20:56] 4Water elemental...hopefully it can help with the ship! [20:57] 10Daizo nods to his new servant, and speaks a few words in Old Realm. 15[20:58] The elemental tilts its head in acknowledgment, plainly waiting for instructions. Daizo's got a more immediate problem, however, which is Caxi leaping to throw her arms around his neck and pull him into a hungry kiss. 15[20:58] Diamond-Cutting-Current: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFoevwyOgxg - ♫♪♬♪♩ [20:59] 10Daizo: "Uwaa!" [21:00] 10Surprised, but not complaining. He's beet red afterwards, though.  15[21:00] The elemental appears unfazed. [21:00] 6Congratulations. [21:04] 07Sotto voce: "Bravo, Daizo..." [21:07] 10Still half-entangled in an embrace: 10Mmph.  15[21:07] [21:07] 4Piu: "What's his name? His? Its?" [21:07] 10Daizo: 15[21:08] [21:10] [21:11] 10Daizo: "They are Diamond-Cutting Current." [21:12] 6Zhangyu: "Strong name." [21:12] "Ooh. Promising." 15[21:12] Once all is said and done, the hearth returns to the ship with Daizo's companions. Commodore Ratel is waiting on the docks, and she's got questions. Namely: -What's the delay loading up the rations? -Do we favor a southerly or a northerly heading? -Where did the prisoners go? [21:13] 4The prisoners question seems best left to Garnet, with vouching from Dryas and Piu. We're headed for Danguro, so now it's time to make the pitch about loading down with treasure and enough rations to be safe. 15[21:15] Who's making the pitch? Dryas? [21:16] 4That seems the most proper. But Piu can intervene if necessary. [21:16] 07Dryas will explain the prisoner situation. "The prisoners expired, Commodore. In fact, they committed ritual suicide. It was a humanitarian gesture... I don't believe they were of further military value. As far as headings go, after discussion, we favor a northerly heading towards Danguro to offload some of the more valuable scrap from here. And..." [21:19] 10Hoo boy. Is Ratel just going to let that one pass? [21:19] "Once we agree on a heading we can agree on how to fill the hold. The trip to Danguro is dangerous but I am sure we can gather much more information and resources without arousing the kind of attention we might attract in Abalone or elsewhere." 07Dryas continues. 15[21:19] Ratel: "They're dead?" 15[21:20] Sailors turn to look. [21:21] 07Dryas keeps a straight face, mostly. "Burned alive, ma'am. Between their wounds and the Earth Essence poisoning..." [21:21] 4Piu sighs sadly. "One couldn't even talk. Other didn't make much sense. Sad, really." [21:21] 6Should've let Garnet handle that one. Zhangyu certainly isn't going to bail her out. 15[21:22] Ratel: "And you just, what, you just watched?" 15[21:22] "Without telling anyone?" [21:22] 4Piu: "We deferred to our...shipguest." [21:23] 10Daizo: "Where is Lady Garnet, anyway? And the girls? Are they still together?" 10Obviously Seiri is, but who knows what Sadako's getting up to. 15[21:23] Ratel: "I see." [21:24] "We are reporting it, now." 07Dryas replies evenly. 15[21:24] "Garnet and her handmaiden strode by maybe an hour ago. Garnet wouldn't answer a straight question. And she kept walking, so I couldn't get Gansa to hold still." 15[21:24] "I see she's taken quickly to giving orders." 15[21:25] "Loading up the hold with garbage to barter with thieves, was that her idea too?" [21:25] 4Piu: "Nope! That's us." 15[21:27] Ratel: "And you think our best strategy is to fill our hold with treasure and then sail right into the most dangerous port in the Direction. You have any idea the kind of eye that puts on us? On the mission? On Garnet?" [21:27] 07Dryas: "Flotsam from the entire West washes up in Danguro sooner or later. It's a good source of leads on Furia's activities. And the scrap will be valuable barter for it, yes." [21:28] 4Piu: "We do! We also know we need a win. The crew needs a break. We can't keep running them on rations. And we need to talk to someone who knows what's going on out here, rather than just running into footprints and ghosts." 15[21:29] Ratel: "So why not return to Abalone? Or even Brightwork? Both are safer, both will keep our profile lower, and a modest haul of loot run through official channels arouses no suspicion. Everyone plays treasure hunter out here." [21:30] 4Piu: "Because the pirates of Danguro don't have an immediate rooting interest in Furia and the Empress, and both the Guild and House Mnemon do. To regain the initiative, we need the time it takes for our headings to filter back to them to be counted in days or preferably weeks, not hours or minutes." [21:31] "They might not even be aware of who Furia is chasing." 15[21:32] Ratel: "I'm not sure shore leave on Danguro gets us back any initiative, and I reject out of hand that we're safer among Thresholder pirates and Skullstone outriders than we are from the Guild or nosy Mnemons." [21:33] 4Piu: "Oh, we're not SAFER. Haha! We're simply harder to keep in pocket." [21:34] "...But Brightwork might work, too." 15[21:39] Ratel: "I'm gonna level with you all. I cut senior staff a lot of slack, because each of you was chosen for your talent and your intiative and I firmly believe putting the best possible team in position to make the best possible decisions is how we navigate this mission. But you are starting to sail very close to the wind. And my power to help you is limited by how informed you keep 15[21:39] me." 15[21:39] "I need to know exactly how you're fucking around if I'm going to keep you from finding out." 15[21:39] "Is that clear?" [21:40] 10Daizo: "As daylight, ma'am. But isn't the situation in Brightwork also precarious?" [21:40] "Yes, Commodore." 07Dryas lies. [21:40] 4Piu: "Yes, ma'am!" [21:40] "We should bring more supplies if we go there, to even out the famine that it's reported to be suffering," 07Dryas explains. 15[21:40] Ratel: "Everywhere's precarious, Daizo. If it weren't, we'd have no reason to be out here at all." [21:41] 4Piu: "Agreed, if Brightwork is where we're heading." [21:43] 10Daizo: "Mrrrmmmm. I don't like the sound of it. One Realm ship sailing in and all they have is a few crates of field rations? We could incite a mob just by showing up." [21:44] 4Piu: "Surely we can control a mob." [21:44] "Whiz, bang, whoop! On fire. Scary." 15[21:44] Ratel: "It's got to be Brightwork or Abalone. Wu Jian is a Cynis snakepit, and Falen's on safari again." [21:45] "She is?" 07Dryas asks, surprised to have heard this from Ratel. [21:47] 07Dryas: "Abalone is a step backwards. We should press on to Brightwork with as full a hold as we can carry. A haul like this, I am confident, should pay serious dividends. And for the mission, as well," [21:48] 4Piu: "Rations it is, then. Let's break a famine I guess." 15[21:49] Ratel: "Make it so." She looks past Dryas and Piu to see Caxi hanging off of Daizo and the gleaming elemental behind them both. Her eyebrows go up, though it's not clear at which. "I beg your pardon?" [21:49] 4Haha! And that'll distract her for the next couple hours. [21:50] 6To be fair, it is incredibly distracting. Wait, do you mean the elemental, or...? [21:50] 10Daizo: "Oh, yes, I neglected to mention. This is Diamond-Cutting Current, who will be assisting our departure from Mionzi—" 15[21:51] Ratel: "Are we boarding her?" [21:53] 10Daizo: "Mrm. Let me see." [21:53] 4Well damn, Ratel, that's moving quick--oh. 15[21:54] Current: [21:55] 07Dryas has another proposal: "Once we rendezvous with the Leaf, we should arrange for the transportation back here to Mionzi of some kind of appropriate garrison we can rely upon. Specialists who can resolve the Earth Essence poisoning and, perhaps, some appropriately vetted mercenaries or something along those lines. We should keep an eye out for anyone sufficiently reliable with the right talent. [21:56] 10Daizo:  "No bunk necessary, Commodore." [21:57] 4Piu: "I agree!" 15[21:57] Ratel: "Is it safe to put people here long-term? What's the interval for poisoning?" 15[21:58] Current: [21:58] 10Daizo: "Um. I think you'll find resolving the Essence poisoning to be a little more difficult to deal with than that." [21:58] "Boo." 15[21:59] Caxi pipes up: "But it is achievable." 15[21:59] "It's just a matter of how we dispose of the accumulated energy." [21:59] 07Dryas follows right on her words "--And if we don't, someone else will." 15[21:59] Ratel: "Well, I leave it to our experts to devise an appropriate plan. I trust you'll be able to work closely together on a solution." 15[22:00] "I look forward to regular reports. Dismissed." [22:00] 6"Dispose of the accumulated energy" sounds kind of alarming to Zhangyu, but he's not a sorcerer. Maybe that's just how things go. [22:00] 10Dang it, Ratel. 15[22:01] Caxi didn't sound alarmed, and she's generally a pretty good barometer of whether something is unsafe or ethically dubious. [22:01] 07Another all-but-blank check. Excellent. [22:01] Wh14ew. [22:01] 4Wh14ew. [22:04] 10Daizo: "That's right. I was so tied up in the summoning that our other objective went on the back burner. If you've figured something out, then we can work on a plan en route." [22:12] 4After making sure everyone's aboard and everything's getting stowed away properly, Piu will probably figure out when Caedus is getting off-shift and either nap until then or grab a shift meal. Presumably she won't be needed further except spotting for sailors from time to time and other mundane duty! 15[22:13] Nope, it's a pretty easy couple of days, unless someone wants to make it difficult on themselves. 15[22:15] Daizo finds Seiri early the next day, alone in her room. Sadako is training with Zhangyu up on deck. What are Piu and Dryas up to? [22:16] 4Probably stretching and doing her dailies on deck, weather permitting. She also likes to be up here in case there's an emergency. [22:16] 10Well, Daizo's got someone he needs to come clean to once they're underway. By the way, what exactly 10does10 Current do to speed the ship along? 15[22:16] With a taste for real battle, Sadako's grown rapidly impatient with advanced forms and elementary cultivation principles Zhangyu's stuck to until now. "C'mon! Show me the real stuff!" [22:18] 4...She can also be in the hold if there's a for-real Mantis throwdown brewing, however. And in fact she'll have a standing demand that someone send an ensign scrambling breathlessly to the main deck to shout "ZHANGYU AND SADAKO ARE FIGHTING" if so. [22:18] 10Daizo will at minimum knock before entering and ask "Have you got a minute? I told you I owed you an explanation." 15[22:18] Current is hard to spot, because they swim so fast, but from time to time if you look overboard you'll see the elemental breach to the surface enough to gleam and glitter in the sun. It seems to be swimming in rapid, oscillating patterns, first in front of and then behind the ship. Rather than pull the vessel themselves as a bound tidemare might, Current seems to be drawing the ship 15[22:18] onward in a vortex of its own design. 15[22:19] The hold is sadly too full to train in right now, so the fighting is already happening on deck. [22:19] 4Even better. 15[22:19] Sailors pretend not to be watching if someone looks sternly in their direction, but there's still a little cheer at every takedown. [22:20] 07Dryas is kneeling on the fo'c'sle with a brush and a scroll, writing letters and chewing on some of the strange food from Mionzi. 15[22:20] Seiri looks up from her book, bleary-eyed. "Master Daizo! Oh, of course. I'm terribly sorry, I must look a mess. Let me tidy up." She's in bed uncharacteristically late; from her foggy expression Daizo's not sure how much she slept. [22:21] 6Hmm. After the stunt with the flying machine, she actually might be ready for some more advanced techniques. Zhangyu's the expert, here - what's his evaluation on her readiness for "the real stuff?" ...He won't train her like Grandmaster Mushi would have for asking that, either. 15[22:22] Is Dryas writing to anyone in particular? She knows there's a Cynis consulate in Brightwork, because the House oversees the satrap's (though not a Realm satrap's!) labor-brokerage. She could easily get a message to anyone back home. [22:23] 10Daizo: "It's fine, there's no need to stand on ceremony. I've been having you carry some heavy burdens recently." 15[22:24] Seiri: "Oh, the jar's not that heavy. I'm just bad at stairs, honest." [22:25] 07Dryas will be preparing letters for both Cerise and Umora, as well as some more purely social letters within and outside Cynis, to some of the merchant houses she has come to know, and finally some letters to dispatch back to the Garden in Abalone. 15[22:27] Zhangyu judges that Sadako has mastered everything he's taught her, but something's off about her form. Her stances are stable, but the technique is off. Oddly narrow at the legs, not making use of her unusual reach. It reminds him of the listless way people stand in those dirgey fog-choked clubs where they play sad music and nobody dances to it. [22:30] 10Daizo grabs a cushion and sits. "Oh, I don't just mean literally. You've seen Lady Garnet's face, after all. You must have some questions." [22:31] "To tell you the truth, I still have plenty of questions. But I'll share what I know." 15[22:31] Seiri hesitates. "I... I don't know where to begin." 15[22:31] "Is she... I can't even say it. But is she?" 15[22:34] Caxi comes up on deck to get some fresh air and see the workouts. She sidles up to Piu immediately. "I swear the air sweetened as soon as we were away from that dreadful place." [22:34] 10Daizo: "Yes… and no. Have you ever seen ai insect trapped in amber? Plant sap flows over the insect and hardens, preserving it just as it was the day it was trapped. I think that's who our Lady Garnet is—the Empress as she was, hundreds of years ago, before she entered the Imperial Manse." [22:34] "And that jar is the amber that she's trapped in." 15[22:37] Seiri: "What happened to everything after that?" [22:39] 10Daizo: "We don't know yet. It could be that she's a eprfect duplicate of the Empress, but she's lost her memory. It could be that she's the true Empress, and she's been bound to that jar by some trick of the Anathema, and her memories have been sealed away."10 He'll explain the circumstances of what the hearth encountered in the Maw. [22:41] "But what I think is that the true Empress left her for someone to find. You must have noticed that Lady Garnet has little respect for the Realm as it exists today." [22:41] 6Zhangyu: "Hm. Your form is excellent, but --" 6He then darts forward, feinting high then dropping low, taking Sadako down with a loose (though tight enough to be difficult to escape - nondamaging, but threatening) ankle lock. [22:41] 10Daizo: "Since none of her successors were worthy… she left herself. To do things over again." 15[22:42] Seiri: "Gosh." 15[22:42] "...what are we going to do?" 15[22:44] Dryas has a knock on her own cabin door. [22:44] 10Daizo: "Right now, she's completely reliant on us. Her world is twenty yalms around. As treasonous as it sounds… we could drop that jar over the side right now and there would be nothing she could do about it." 15[22:45] Seiri's eyes are as wide as saucers. [22:45] 10Daizo: "So for right now? We make sure that doesn't happen." [22:45] "Enter," 07she deems. [22:45] 4Whoa. [22:45] "Until we can find out if she's the true Empress or the inheritor of the true Empress' will." [22:45] 4Piu drops out of a handstand to watch the -- oh, here's the counter. 15[22:46] Seiri: "How do we do that?" 15[22:46] The door opens to admit Commodore Ratel. "Lady Dryas," she says crisply, looking around at the jade scrap. 15[22:48] Sadako hits the deck face-up, and immediately lurches up into a sitting position by bending forward at her knees and curling up over Zhangyu like a scorpion's tail. Her long black hair dangles, obscuring her face, while her pale and clammy hands send a shock through Zhangyu's skin like he just plunged into icewater. [22:48] 14There's the special kick. [22:49] 10Daizo: "We do what we originally came out here to do—find Furia's trail. Furia believed she was close on the Empress' trail before she, too, vanished." 10This is where he'll explain Ratel's original plan, and what they've managed to glean from Catela.  [22:49] "Commodore," 07she replies, putting a cork in the ink pot and setting her brush to the side before standing. 15[22:50] Seiri: "The navy is missing?? But, what about pirates? What about trade? Who's keeping it all going?" 15[22:52] Ratel closes the door behind her. "I respect you, so I'll be blunt. Are you in hock to the Guild? Is your kinship?" 15[22:52] Sadako's free, though it's a nonstandard break of the hold. Mushi would not approve. [22:53] 6...is there any way she can turn that down to "only moderately terrifying?" Because Zhangyu has seen some shit and that just got him. 15[22:53] Maybe. Why would you, though? [22:53] 4Piu, primly: "Out of form. Doesn't matter on the battlefield. Does matter here!" 15[22:54] Caxi: "That's right." [22:55] 6After a moment: "Yes. You've got excellent defenses, even relying on purely mantis, though you ought to have slightly more reach. Wider stance, though that might be a part of... the other thing." [22:56] 10Daizo's silent for a long moment. "No one is. The Houses are all out for themselves." [22:57] "That's why the smaller houses, Tepet, V'neef, are willing to send their kids out on a boondoggle like this. In a stand-up fight, we'd have no chance." 15[22:59] Seiri seems visibly weighed down by this, to the point she sits back down on her unmade bed. "So it is ending." 15[23:00] "Did you know all this when you asked me to befriend her?" [23:00] 6Zhangyu: "I'm not certain how to train in that kind of thing. It - didn't exactly come up when I was taught. Was it an automatic reflex?" 6He's standing again, having spent probably too long on his back. 15[23:01] "No, I had to practice. I stretch every morning. It grosses Seiri out." Sadako says this with a trace of pride. [23:03] 07After a moment, Dryas chooses her words carefully. "The others are not. Fools might believe I am - I am aware of my reputation, such as it is. Wiser fools would know better. Some in the Guild, who are not fools..." [23:04] 10Daizo: "…I did. But not because I wanted to make her more favorably disposed towards me. She's alone, eight hundred years from everything she knew, surrounded by people who bow and scrape and talk to her about things she knows nothing about and hates when she does know about them… And I know you're a good and kind person." [23:04] 07Dryas sighs. "...They may have believed it too, for a time. And now they question whether their trust was misplaced, if they ever truly placed it, that is." 15[23:05] Ratel: "So, short answer 'yes', with an 'if', long answer 'no', with a 'but'." 15[23:06] "What's your exposure?" [23:06] 6I don't blame her. "I'll split our classes into two kinds, then. Mantis-only and catch-as-catch-can. Learning mantis techniques is easier when I can demonstrate without immediately releasing the holds." [23:07] 10Daizo places his palms on the floor and lowers his head. "I'm sorry for abusing your trust like this, and I beg your forgiveness." [23:08] 6Again, even with her purely mantis defense, she was excellent! Definitely better than how Zhangyu learned that particular lock. 15[23:08] Seiri, uneasily, "Oh, please, Master Daizo, you don't owe me an apology." 15[23:09] Sadako: "Okay. What about Seiri?" [23:11] 4Piu quirks an eyebrow. 15[23:11] Seiri: "...I don't think I'm up to the task, though. What -- should I still call her Lady Garnet?" [23:11] 10Daizo eases back into his sitting position. "Ahaha. My conscience pains me a little too much now and then. Caxi kind of twisted my arm until I promised to stop apologizing to her." [23:12] 07Dryas: "Mine, first and foremost. I've been working on a plan to resolve it. I'm sure many of the sailors on board have their own debts." 15[23:13] Ratel: "There's Guild in Brightwork. And no Realm authority to hide behind. It's the periphery of a foreign empire. So I disagree that it's just your exposure." [23:13] 10Daizo: "Lady Garnet is fine for now. What would you like to do from here? I can have Current carry the jar when they're not helping to sail the ship." 15[23:14] Seiri: "The jar's the easy part. She's... very lonely." [23:15] 4...Ah. So that's what it is. [23:16] 4I suppose being worried about the Empress stealing your girlfriend has a long literary tradition, in obscene works. [23:16] 10Daizo nods slowly. "I think I understand. Let her off as easily as you can." [23:18] 6Neutrally: "That's up to her. Though I will speak to her about continuing her training - when your weapon is your body, you can never be disarmed." 6Except literally, but we don't talk about that. 15[23:19] Seiri, hastily: "Not that she's been disrespectful! Far from it. But... it's just." Her eyes widen again when Daizo speaks. "Oh, no! I can't do that. She would be terribly hurt. And she's very mistrustful of the others." [23:19] 10Ack. He didn't understand at all. [23:21] 07Dryas stares back at her. "Is this going in one of your reports?" 15[23:21] Ratel meets Dryas's gaze evenly. "Need it?" 15[23:22] Seiri: "Sister Dusk was also very lonely." [23:22] 10Ouch. [23:22] 07Dryas: "It's the Guild. I'm sure they can read nearly any of them they please. So I would appreciate your discretion." 15[23:24] Seiri: "She was far from her family, and she hated her job more than anything. She was very like Lady Garnet in those ways. Not in others, obviously. But, like Lady Garnet... she was fond of me in a way she wasn't of the other children, or even the other monks at the temple. And over time she became very familiar." 15[23:24] "She never got to have children, you see." [23:24] 4See, this is why you go for cool aunt, instead of parent. 15[23:26] Ratel: "Then I think it would benefit us both if you told me the contours of your obligation, so I didn't - in my ignorance - let something slip." 15[23:27] Seiri: "I'd like to be the kind of person Lady Garnet needs. But the truth is, I'm only one girl." 15[23:27] "I don't know what to do." [23:28] 07Dryas: "I have committed myself to make a delivery when we arrive in Brightmarket. I do not intend to honor that obligation. In fact, I intend to either sabotage the item I am delivering, or steal it back after having dropped it off. The item, to set your mind at ease, is not on board this vessel." 15[23:29] Sadako: "But like, in that mean way where it sounds like you have no choice even though you're too nice to put someone in a headlock over it?" 15[23:30] Ratel: "Which means it's about the vessel my daughter captains." 15[23:30] It doesn't sound like her mind's been set at ease. [23:31] 10Daizo: "………officially, the Empress had at least fifty-five children and several hundred consorts. It may well be that she had a loneliness that was far too great for even a nation to bear." [23:32] "That probably won't set your mind at ease. But know that no one expects you to carry it entirely by yourself." 15[23:32] Seiri: "Yes you do." 15[23:33] She's a little stunned at herself. "I'm sorry. That was wildly improper." Now it's Seiri's turn to touch palms to the floor. "I spoke out of turn. Of course you're right, Master Daizo." [23:33] 4Ahaha. [23:34] 07Dryas: "For now, yes. She should be waiting for us near Brightwork." [23:34] 6Zhangyu: "It's a good idea, and I will recommend it. You can speak to her about it as well, if you'd like - I'm willing to teach if she's willing to learn."" [23:35] 4Piu: "You could also talk to her about what this is actually about!" [23:35] "I guarantee you that's better than trying to yank her training permission behind her back." 15[23:35] Sadako: "Easy for you to say." [23:35] 10Daizo: "You spoke from the heart. Those words are never out of turn." [23:35] 4Piu: "Yep!" 15[23:35] Seiri: "That hasn't been my experience." 15[23:36] Ratel: "You're certain you have this under control?" 15[23:37] "I ask because Her Royal Highness reached out to me directly through her personal magician, asking after the welfare of her House's best and brightest." 15[23:37] "She expects a report from our next port of call." 15[23:38] "I would like very much to avoid crossing her path. It may still be possible. But it would be very, very easy to make it happen." [23:38] 6Zhangyu: "...I'll do what I can." [23:39] 10Daizo: "That's the ideal, anyway. I can't pretend I or anyone else lives by it all the time." [23:39] "Do you think I'm a phony?" [23:39] "A liar?" 15[23:39] Sadako: "Thank you, sifu." 15[23:39] She bows deeply. 15[23:39] See she can act normal, it's just... [23:40] 07Dryas is getting pale. "Of course," 07she rasps. "I will ensure that things remain under control. No risk will come to the mission, or your daughter, of course." 15[23:41] Seiri looks at Daizo with a face full of uncertainty. 15[23:43] The Commodore nods. "Good. I'm satisfied. As you were." 15[23:43] She leaves Dryas to her correspondence. [23:45] 07Dryas doesn't move for a long, long time. 15[23:46] Once they return to their exercises, Caxi tuts quietly to Piu. "A nefarious influence, that peasant girl." [23:49] 10Daizo pulls himself up to his full height, towering over Seiri in the cabin. "What's holding you back? Do you think that I'm going to strike you dead on the spot if you speak truth to me? That I fear the words of a temple foundling?" [23:49] "Come on, then, if you think you've got it all figured out! Let's fucking go!" [23:50] "Debate me, coward!" [23:52] 10It's likely that everyone on the ship can hear Daizo as his tirade increases in volume. [23:53] 4Aahahahhahahahaha~ 15[23:54] Seiri quails in Daizo's shadow, shoulders rising around her neck. But her mouth is set in a hard line and she's breathing hard. When she speaks, it's a desperate, furious "How the hell should I know??" 15[23:54] "Are you a liar, Master Daizo?" 15[23:54] "Is Lady Piu?" 15[23:54] "Is Lady Caxi?" 15[23:55] "I don't know. I don't know any of you. They say you measure a woman by the company she keeps, and all I see is strangers on top of strangers on top strangers. And you're the company I keep, now, too, so I hardly even know myself anymore." 15[23:56] "The Realm gave me everything. It gave me a home, when all I had was the rain and the wind. It gave me a family after the sea took mine. It taught me to read, the only thing that's kept me sane. And it taught me how to be afraid." 15[23:57] "Of power without oversight. Of appetite without restraint. Of need, bottomless, toothy, vengeful need." 15[23:58] "That's how it is. That's what the mountain looks like from underneath." 15[23:58] "One hand holds the laurel. One hand holds the chain." 15[23:59] "I don't know whether you're trustworthy, Master Daizo. I may never know. The minds of the Chosen are as far above mine as mine is above an eel's. But I know my limits." 15[00:00] "I know that I owe you my life, not just right now but whatever I'm able to make of the future. I know that we're all sailing out over deep dark water and every map is blank." 15[00:01] "I know that I thought I got out, of all of that, only to find that I'm buried right in the beating heart of it. So all I can do is sink deeper, and deeper, and pray there's a 'through'." 15[00:02] "But if your venture depends on me, your venture is doomed." 15[00:03] "I am your loyal servant, Master Daizo. I'll do what you ask, and I won't complain. For as long as you'll have me. For as long as fate permits. But all I can do, all that the world allows me to do, is to live righteously, die well, and pray that, however I go, I've earned a path in the next life, for the next me, that's a little easier." [00:04] 4Well, Daizo. You did ask. [00:04] 4Or order. 15[00:06] Seiri's out of breath. She finishes, weakly, "I'm not strong enough to be a daughter of the Empress." 15[00:06] "I don't know if anyone is." [00:09] 10Daizo feels like someone's lit a fire in his head and the smoke is making him dizzy. He lashes out in fury—and his fist punches right through the bulkhead into the adjoining cabin. 15[00:09] Garnet: "What the!!" 15[00:09] "What's going on in there?!" 15[00:11] Dryas can hear the impact too, though people on deck probably can't. [00:12] 07Dryas, deep in thought and moving beads back and forth on a small abacus, gives a start and a small shriek. [00:13] 10When he speaks next it's in a tight voice, nothing at all like his normal measured or booming-theatrical tone. "Every single one of us who grow up as the Empress' children. They take us and they break us and they make liars and killers out of us and I don't know what purpose it serves, but I'm damn sure it's not what anyone intended." 15[00:14] Seiri, quietly: "You think it's an accident?" 15[00:14] It doesn't sound like a rhetorical question. Does he? [00:15] 10Daizo: "No. Nothing in Creation is an accident." [00:17] "What happened to turn Lady Garnet into the Empress?" [00:17] "Who broke her?" 15[00:17] Seiri: "I don't know." [00:17] "That's what we need to find out." [00:20] 10Daizo: "I've got work to do. The rest of the voyage to Brightwork is yours. Do what you will." [00:21] 10He'll see himself out. 15[00:21] NEXT TIME: A nice day to start again 15[21:50] Tepet Daizo is blessed, perhaps, by the nature of incomplete information. The whole ship, from stem to stern, heard his bellowed challenge, while only those in the forecastle officers' cabins heard the cry of surrender made by the bulkhead. And of them, only the reluctant neighbor on the far side of that crossed boundary might have heard any of the conversation itself. The rumors that 15[21:50] swell like floodwater to fill those gaps are always outlandish, occasionally offensive, and not remotely true. 15[21:50] Anyway! How's he holding up? [21:55] 10Whatever. Let them talk. One of the ship's carpenters can patch the gap, and Garnet? Daizo has nothing to say to her right now. It's true what he told Seiri—there's work to be done, but he's making a damn poor job of it. He's shooed the cooks out of the kitchen and commandeered the galley and he's drinking some tea. But he made it with Mionzi water, so what originally was a delicate mango-scented green might as well be a cup [21:55] 10 of mud for how it tastes. 15[21:57] He's only got a bit of time to himself before Caxi - who he'll recall has also made a recent habit of shooing the cooks out of the galley to come in here - enters, visibly surprised to see him. "Oh! Hello." [22:00] 10Daizo looks up, ready to shout at the intruder—until he realizes how it is and the set of his shoulders relaxes, just a bit. "…hey." [22:00] 10*who 15[22:00] She hesitates just a bit before letting the door swing shut behind her. "Bad time?" [22:02] 10Daizo grimaces. "Tried to talk to Seiri about all the things I've been keeping back from her. Made a real botch of it." 15[22:03] Caxi: "Why, Sadako, you've cut your hair. And you've been working out." [22:07] 10Daizo nearly aspirates his tea right there and spends the next 15-20 seconds cough-laughing. When he speaks again it's a wheeze. "…you got me there. 15[22:07] Caxi places a hand on his arm. "Come sit in the galley. I'll put another kettle on." 15[22:08] *in the mess [22:09] 10Daizo, moving out to the mess proper: "Thanks. It really is serious business, though." 15[22:11] Caxi: "Lately it feels as if everything is important. Even when it's hard to say exactly why. Perhaps especially then. What's eating you?" [22:17] 10Daizo: "Mhrm. It is hard to articulate. But, I guess in the broadest sense… what exactly are we out here searching for? Is it Furia? Is it the real Empress? Or is it just a dream, and we're wasting our time? Can we really make a difference?" [22:19] 10Daizo: "Should we be trying to make a difference?" 15[22:21] Caxi sets out the tea, looking thoughtful. When she sits down: "It is rather disorienting, isn't it? To have journeyed so far, and gone through so much, not to understand why, or to what end, or whether if you had the wisdom of hindsight, you would even have elected to begin at all." 15[22:22] "We're in the middle of a great many things. It makes for murky thoughts." [22:24] "Not too murky I hope!" 4says Piu as she flounces in. [22:24] 14Once it became clear they weren't about to fuck on the table, it was polite to stop eavesdropping. [22:26] 10Daizo: "And… I've certainly benefited. But—"10 Daizo looks up. "They've been clearer." [22:27] "I suppose you probably heard all that commotion as well. They probably heard me making an ass out of myself as far as Brightwork." 15[22:27] "Good afternoon, Piu," says Caxi briskly. "Tea?" [22:28] "Sure!" [22:28] "Thanks!" [22:28] "And we heard the roar, yeah. Not the punch." 15[22:29] Caxi: "I apologize if this is an inappropriate question, but: did you win the debate?" [22:30] 4Piu: "In school they said you lose debates as soon as you resort to violence, which isn't something I've observed being true in real life." [22:31] 10Daizo: "Nobody won. It wasn't even really a debate." [22:32] "But I could tell she was holding back! I want her to speak her mind, I'm not going to whip her or beat her for it— except I wound up doing it with words." 15[22:33] Caxi silently pours out some tea. There's a bowl of sweet rolls sprinkled with caraway if people want to nibble something. [22:33] "Maybe I should start at the beginning, and you might be able to tell me where I went wrong." [22:33] "That sounds a bit dramatic!" [22:33] 14Girl needs to toughen up. [22:35] 10So Daizo's going to briefly recap the argument.  15[22:37] Caxi listens attentively. Does Daizo use his divinely endowed intellect to relay everything so precisely it's as if Caxi and Piu could read a log of the events? [22:38] 10Yeah, pretty much. There's enough time for commentary once the tale is told. 15[22:39] Caxi: "Oh my." 15[22:39] Picking apart a roll delicately with her fingertips: "So what does she think is in the other hand?" [22:42] 10Daizo: "So you're saying that what she thinks are the laurel and the chain are identical, and there's still another hand." [22:43] 4Piu gulps some frankly too-hot tea. Fire aspects. "Ah, the two tools of discipline: the carrot and the schtick." 15[22:43] Caxi: "I suppose what I'm saying is that *I* think that. I wouldn't presume to know what she's thinking. I don't really know her." 15[22:45] "To me, the question is... what do you think? It doesn't quite sound like you got a word in edgewise once she started talking." [22:45] 4Piu blinks. THAT doesn't sound like Seiri. [22:48] 10Daizo: "I didn't want to stop her once the words started flowing. And… I couldn't refute her. She doesn't know you, or me, or barely anyone on this ship except from perhaps Sadako." 15[22:51] Caxi: "I suppose the rebuttal would be: so what? Who knows anyone they work with, let alone work *for*? What does she expect?" [22:54] 10Daizo: "I don't know. I feel like I owe her more than that. Not least because of what happened to Dusk." 10Daizo sighs. "And I know Dusk was an objectively terrible person. The Order is almost certainly better off without her. I'm not blaming you for anything here, Piu, you had your orders." 15[22:54] Caxi blinks. [22:54] 10Uh-oh. [22:55] 4Piu smiles dazzlingly at Daizo. Thanks, pal. [22:55] "…I thought you knew already." [22:56] 4Piu: "Well. Clearly, she was going to find out. Better that I'm in the room for it." 15[22:57] Caxi: "If you like, I can pretend I didn't hear it. I keep worse secrets than that." 15[22:58] "But it seems altogether besides the point. It's not as if the girl knows." [22:59] 10Daizo, looking mortified: "I… suppose… that's true. Do you think she suspects, though?" [22:59] 4To Caxi: "House V'neef had problems with the slave trade in Abalone and nearby ports, because House V'neef generally doesn't participate in it -- due to exclusivity riders with Cynis and their contracted fleets -- but does have it work to their detriment. Especially when it comes to impressment. Even illegal impressment. A message needed to be sent! They noticed I would be in the [22:59] neighborhood." [23:00] "And, you know how loyal I am to my House." [23:00] 4Idly: "Seiri has known for weeks." 15[23:01] "I confess I do find it satisfying to hear that precious V'neef's hands are just as bloody as the rest of ours, even if she can't dip them into quite so big a pool." 15[23:01] That shuts Caxi up. [23:02] 4Piu: "The girl has mettle, I'll give her that!" [23:03] "She's no fool. She remembered how convenient it was I showed up when I did that rainy night." [23:03] "At the library." 15[23:08] Caxi stirs her tea contemplatively, watching Daizo's reaction. [23:11] 10Daizo's got a complicated expression. "Do you think the meekness, skittishness, is that how she deals with knowing too much?" [23:12] "I think that's how she deals with being nineteen or whatever and unblessed by the blood." [23:12] 4Piu sighs. "Things work different for a guy or a gal when they can't summon the elements." 15[23:13] Caxi: "I don't believe in knowing too much. She's like that because people hurt her. That's why everyone is the way they are." [23:13] 10Daizo: "That's what I told her too." 15[23:14] Caxi: "I don't know if I'd have said it. I certainly would have thought it." [23:15] 10Daizo: "And that's what sent me spinning out worrying about everything else. What if Garnet's right? If the Realm we've known all our lives is fundamentally wrong?" 15[23:16] Caxi shares a glance with Piu. [23:16] "More than anything else, that makes me want to take that jar and pitch it over the side into the deepest part of the sea." [23:17] 4Piu looks faintly shocked to hear that come out of Daizo's mouth, but it's not clear whether it's because of what he's saying or because he's the one saying it. [23:18] "At the very least I think if we're going to go that route we should do Garnet the mercy of killing her first." [23:18] "Not that we are going to go that route." [23:18] "If we use Garnet to shore up a system whose time has passed… isn't that like Mionzi keeping those two old soldiers alive beyond the limits of their endurance?" [23:18] 14Well well well. We're just full on to treason now. 15[23:19] Caxi: "That would be a great irony. She's adamant that we are responsible for *her* crimes, and so we execute her because of her complicity with *ours*." [23:19] 14Piu's having a positive influence on the hearth after all. [23:20] 14Her voice is harder now: "If this is a discussion to be had, it is not a discussion to be had in the damn galley. Even if it's been cleared." [23:20] "Mess. Whatever." [23:20] 10Daizo: "…right. Pardon the ramblings of a melancholic scholar having a bad day. [23:20] " 15[23:21] Caxi breezes past what's technically high treason: "Another tack I might have taken is to point out that, while the girl was quick to see the parallels between Garnet and the Empress, she ignored other parallels." 15[23:21] "Consider: how different is our dear Lady Garnet from the girl herself?" 15[23:23] "More than confined - trapped, and deeply so. Holding just enough home in her heart to feel its loss, before being dropped into a den of, at best, highly suspicious strangers. And for all her mettle, she sees the world through a slave's eyes." [23:24] 10Daizo: "So it's understandable that they might cleave together in that sense." 15[23:24] Caxi: "And quite understandable that they would find one another very stressful." [23:25] 4Piu: "Sadako's worried they're fuckin'. Or will fuck." [23:25] 4Lamentably:"She doesn't seem like the type to see this as an opportunity, either." [23:26] 10Daizo: "I don't think Sadako has to worry about that. I already put my foot in that one when I said to let Garnet off easy." [23:26] 4Piu: "Knowing young love, somehow that'll make it worse." 15[23:27] Caxi: "It does bear thinking about though." [23:27] 10Daizo: "It's the mother figure attachment that concerns me." [23:28] "Although sometimes that isn't so easy to separate either." 15[23:30] Caxi: "I think we're moving too swiftly past sex. If we ask ourselves, not why is the girl struggling - which is obvious - but how has she managed to keep together so well, then I think companionship is a big part of it." 15[23:30] "Speaking strictly as a physician, I think Lady Garnet direly needs to get laid. Surpassed in this regard only by your esteemed cousin." [23:32] 4Piu: "Made it clear I wouldn't take it personal if she had a go with Caedus, so it's neither preference for men or pickiness for men that are doing it. Pickiness about looks and dick, at least." [23:32] *nor 15[23:33] Caxi: "That's surprising." [23:33] "I know, right! I think what we need is a historian to go through all the Empress's lovers and figure out her type. Like, there have to have been entire corners of the matchmaking profession devoted to this, right?" [23:34] 10Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't— "i always figured Zhangyu kist channeled it all into beating things up. But maybe he just hasn't met the right guy yet." [23:34] "But I mean, like. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she wasn't THAT picky. She had a lot of consorts!" [23:34] *just 15[23:34] Caxi: "I think he has, and that's precisely the problem." 15[23:35] "He's mooning over that mouthy traitor when all he really needs is to find a couple of strapping young sailors and just get wrung out like a gym towel." [23:36] "Mmmm." 4Piu has a far away look for a second. "Well, he'll attend to it when he has the chance or inclination. HE'S not throwing temper tantrums yet." [23:37] "Mouthy traitor? You don't mean Son-of-Sabers? That loser?" 15[23:37] Caxi: "I do. Surely you've noticed?" 15[23:38] "That man came in and called Zhangyu a coward and a murderer and he blushed like a schoolboy seeing down a girl's shirt for the first time." [23:39] 10Daizo reflects on this briefly. "So it's one of those tsundere things." [23:39] 4Piu: "Speaking as the other senior instructor, it was kinda embarrassing for the dojo." 15[23:39] "I agree," says Caxi firmly. 15[23:40] "As for the Empress... it's far more complicated. It would take sustained research to even begin to untangle which of Her Imperial Majesty's consorts and liaisons were taken for passion or politics, nevermind the inevitable admixture. And Lady Garnet is different again entirely. Though, I hope, a bit simpler." 15[23:41] "The Scarlet Empress has bedded men and women, masters and slaves, princes to the manor born and barbarian warlords who won their hordes by force of arms." 15[23:41] "I doubt our Garnet has gotten so lucky. If you'll forgive the expression." [23:43] 10Daizo: "So, if you were hypothetically trying to profile Garnet's type, you would want to focus on her earliest known consorts." [23:43] "Before things got quite as complicated." [23:44] "And if nothing else, Brightwork is a city famous for its learning." [23:44] "Well, she turned down Samperson. And like, you've seen Samperson. So it ain't about lust, or looks, or confidence. Might be about beliefs." 15[23:44] Caxi: "Or even more bluntly, ask her herself. Surely she has some fond memories." 15[23:44] "At least I hope so." [23:44] 4Piu sighs. "This sounds like it's shaping up to be my job." 15[23:45] Caxi: "You want me to do it? She likes me." 15[23:45] "Want me to ask, I should say. Not sleep with her." [23:45] "I was about to say." 15[23:46] Caxi: "Perhaps she was averse to Samperson because she realized that, given how many children she's had and how widely they and their children have roamed the world... there's a strong mathematical case that any given man she meets is related to her." [23:47] 4Piu: "Worth a shot!" 15[23:47] "Maybe not, of course, but that'd be the first thing *I* thought about." [23:47] "Hahaha. Well in that case we've got our work cut out for us, because we don't have a lot of native islanders at hand." 15[23:48] Caxi: "Just the one. Don't tell Sadako I said that." [23:48] 10Daizo: "That stopped bothering the Empress after a while, but I assume Garnet isn't nearly that broad-minded." [23:48] 4Though Piu can think of one. He just, happens to be Anathema. 15[23:48] There are no official records of the Empress consorting with Anathema, of course. 15[23:48] Unofficially, people say all sorts of insane things. [23:49] 10This is, in at least one telling, the genesis of the All-Seeing Eye. [23:53] 10Daizo: "In any event, we should all strive to keep the potential webs of jealousy on this ship to a minimum. However, I am a complete idiot when it comes to that kind of thing." [00:00] 10The cloud of doubt and confusion hasn't dissipated, far from it. But it's no longer raining directly on Daizo. Sometimes that's enough.