15[20:14] At last! 15[20:17] After weeks of searching, scheming, and deepening entanglements, Danaa'd's Defiance has made contact with the lost admiral and the missing fleet. It's all severely damaged — dozens of batthered and shattered vessels and hundreds of wary and weary crew are visible even at a glance on the now-clear seas beneath the waxing moon at the undulating lip of the Gyre, to say nothing of the 15[20:17] threadbare mania shrouding Furia and her officers — but this is it. This is what they came for. [20:18] 10Now what the hell do we do with it? 15[20:22] Furia's still got Ratel by the shoulders, and the two sisters stare at each other across the length of her arms before furia draws Ratel into a fierce, sudden embrace. [20:22] 4This place has a bad vibe. [20:23] 4And it all starts with that lady. 15[20:23] Furia: "It makes me so happy to see you on open sea again." 15[20:24] Ratel: "I'm so glad to see you. I knew you were still out here." 15[20:25] For the first time Furia's heavy gaze lifts from Ratel and falls in turn upon each of her senior staff, beginning and ending with the Four Fangs behind her. 15[20:25] How are they dressed? [20:26] 4Piu's in combat garb, which for her is still saucy but mostly practical, with foot, hand, and chest wraps. [20:30] 10Daizo's in his armor, but not visibly holding any weapon. So his wings are wedged in there—he's got a somewhat pained look on his face, which might be mistaken for some kind of grim resolve in the right light.  [20:31] 6Zhangyu's wearing a gi that he hasn't worn in a long time but packed with him anyway just in case. Still fits. 15[20:34] Furia release the embrace and dusts the Commodore's shoulders off, taking half a step back and relaxing her arms. Her left hand rests on the hilt of her sword again. "Did the Board send you? This doesn't look like a naval detachment." [20:34] 07Dryas is wearing her strange nautical casual - her hair coiled beneath a white cap with a black brim and eggshell Southern linen. 15[20:37] Ratel: "Not just the Board. Bruna had me pass the hat around and every House that could spare it sent resources and people — good people. Cathak, Cynis, Tepet, V'neef... the Realm needs you." 15[20:40] Furia's expression is grave. "You are more right than you know, sister." 15[20:41] "What were you told?" 15[20:42] Ratel: "Only that you'd gone missing, and so had the fleet... there were rumors about what you had found, what you'd gone looking for... but almost everything we know we've pieced together ourselves." [20:43] 10Garnet's not up on deck, is she?  15[20:43] Not unless one of you wanted her to be. [20:44] 10Probably a good idea not to have her up here right now.  15[20:45] Dryas sizes Furia up. She's clearly running on fumes — the sub-manic intensity of her bearing is typical of exhaustion. The huntress is sure her quarry's grip is slipping. If push comes to shove, swift and decisive action should easily overwhelm her. [20:46] 07Excellent. 15[20:49] Furia meets Dryas's gaze over Ratel's shoulder before looking back to her older sister. "And what have you learned?" 15[20:49] She's projecting her voice here; this is a question for the group at large. [20:50] 4Piu: "Well, to start, that things are falling apart out here with a quickness." [20:51] 07Dryas agrees with her hearth-sister: "Weakness invites injustice." 15[20:54] Furia: "Yes. You've seen it too. Losing satrapies year after year, having to resort to direct rule to keep trade lines open. Encroachment from Skullstone, the degradation of the Merchant Fleet... like the corner of the map is curling up, no longer pinned down." 15[20:55] Her eyes narrow slightly. "But do you know why?" [20:57] 10Daizo: "Discord within breeds discord without. It's every woman for herself out here." [20:57] 4Piu: "...is it that the Realm is like, three bad nights on the Blessed Isle away from open civil war, ma'am?" 15[20:58] Furia takes Piu and Daizo in for a long, silent moment, before she sighs. "A what and a how, but not a why. What did they tell you about the mission I'm on?" [21:02] "That you were on the trail of Her Majesty, to bring her back to the throne. Even if she can't set everything aright in a single day, her return is a prerequisite to any sort of healing." [21:03] 07Dryas: "Or a pointed discussion about succession." 07She uses a word that would have been taboo five years ago. [21:04] 4Piu: "There was...a sense...that you'd gone quite mad." 15[21:20] Furia looks at each of the senior staff in turn, from the Fangs to the Cathaks to Caxi to Chief Samperson hanging back behind Piu. "I should have expected as much. I did expect as much. But the sight of you here... I dared to hope. But it's for nothing, then. There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Houses are too riven with schemers, skimmers, 15[21:20] and puppet masters." 15[21:23] Furia: "Do you know from the moment you are born, your lives are plotted, planned, controlled — anticipated in every detail — by adversaries that hide among us like assassins in the dark? Pulling every string, guiding every hand, whispering poison in the ears of our mothers, all at the very edge of memory, like the details of a dream." 15[21:23] "You've felt it, haven't you? Their presence. You must have. Their crooked fingers touch every pulsing vein in the Realm." [21:25] 4Piu: "You don't mean...the ones from Heaven?" 15[21:25] Immediately, intensely: "Yes! You, there, what's your name?" [21:26] "V'Neef Piu, of the Four Fangs, ma'am." [21:27] 10Daizo: "I've seen the man with the mark of Saturn on his brow." [21:27] 4Piu: "One of their lot was even sent with us, but we ferreted him out and turned the screws on him. He told us some things, in exchange for his life." [21:27] "He was hiding in House Mnemon." 08[21:27] 10He's going to hold Clara and Mockingbird(?) a little closer to his chest.  15[21:29] Furia: "Star-browed men without conscience or character. Machine-men with machine minds and machine hearts! It is they who send the cream of our people to their doom. It is they who permit the Realm and the world to fall to ruin because it suits their designs. It is they who took her from us." 15[21:29] "And it is they against whom we must gird for war." [21:29] 4Well, she might have gone mad, but she hasn't gone crazy. 15[21:30] "Of course they do not act alone. They will wear any face, serve any master, march under any banner to ensure the survival and the success of their vision. Mnemon has fallen. Skullstone is theirs." [21:31] 14Who was the secret men at the table, the night House Iselsi died? [21:31] *14man 15[21:31] Furia: "Without the Empress, all is lost." [21:32] 14They're going to have to have a serious conversation in private about how to handle Garnet. Simply revealing her to Furia right now would be a disaster. [21:32] 6Yes, that is not an option at this time. [21:33] 10Daizo leans forward intently. "So you believe you have a means to unmask these hidden enemies? To flush them out? Or that the Empress did?" 15[21:35] Furia: "She was in the process of doing so. That is why she was taken. She was on the very precipice of turning the tide, of breaking Heaven's grip and returning the Realm to its true honor and glory." [21:35] "And if they took her… where did they spirit her away off to? Is that what this—" 10Daizo spreads his arms to take in the floating city and the roiling vortex— "is for? To lay siege to her prison?" 15[21:35] Furia: "Not siege. War." 15[21:36] "This is the fleet that will break Heaven's lathe and put the shape of our nation in the hands that the Dragons endowed." [21:36] 07Dryas is doubtful. "War against Heaven?" 15[21:38] Furia: "War against their catspaws. War on the Guild, on Skullstone, and on the puppet houses too weak or greedy to resist Heaven's manipulation: Ledaal; Mnemon; Peleps; V'neef." 15[21:38] "War to free the Empress and bring her work to fruition." [21:38] 4Piu's eyebrows raise at that. "V'neef?" [21:39] 14This is going to get complicated. [21:39] 07Dryas ignores the urge to glance at her Hearth-Sister. "To avert civil war and catastrophe... we must plunge the Realm into civil war?" 15[21:40] Furia: "Civil war has already begun. To ignore it is to concede defeat." 15[21:41] "Her Imperial Majesty's kidnapping was the first blow struck in that war." [21:41] 07Dryas: "We sacked Brightwork on the way here and destroyed one of Onyx's Deathknights set to marry the local potentate." 15[21:42] Furia: "Good. Good! That buys more time, and softens them for the inevitable assault. My best information says that the true Empress is a captive of the Silver Prince at Heaven's behest." [21:43] 6Hrm. [21:43] 07Dryas: "Then why are you here, the fleet rotting?" 07she asks, as she wracks her brain for a crucial detail. [21:48] 10Daizo: "I don't expect you to shout it here on deck for all to hear, but you must understand, these revelations are all quite sudden. Of course, we knew of Heaven's Killer, but the rest…" 15[21:48] Furia: "For lumber and hulls afloat. Ships fit to be made viable on the new strategic terrain. I admit it's not the prettiest fleet in Creation, but we've had to make do without the shipwrights of Bittern, just what we can do by hand as we go and what help we can solicit from capable natives." [21:49] 10Daizo: "We need to know more about your sources before we can commit to any action." 15[21:50] She waves her hand at Daizo. "There's no use pretending at secrecy. Our enemies can see our futures, our thoughts, our dreams. We cannot outmatch them with cunning. We must meet them with overwhelming force." [21:50] 07Can't outmatch them with cunning, eh...? Then again, overwhelming force did seem to have its merits... [21:51] 6Overwhelming force is the best kind to have. 15[21:51] "Skullstone's navy floats low and heavy in hulls of black iron. Unsinkable. Unrammable. Only the sea itself can master them." 15[21:52] "But we have a secret weapon. A means to shatter the symmetry of sky and sea. As long as we organize ourselves around its use, we will not know defeat." [21:53] 07Dryas, to her Hearthmates, sotto voce- "You see where Deled gets it - and perhaps why our Commodore is such a black sheep." 15[21:55] Furia looks back to Ratel. "I'm pleased. Your crew is capable and understands the requirements. Join my fleet, join me in battle to save the world... and the only stars that will trouble you will be the ones the Empress affixes to your shoulders." 15[21:57] ed. note: a four-pointed star with a diamond cut out of the center is the rank insignia of the admiralty. There are three such stars on each of Furia's shoulders. [21:57] 07Dryas offers a quiet assessment: "She is exhausted. One sharp push and she will fall where we wish. Wherever that is. But perhaps we can wring more information from her first." [21:59] 10Daizo, similarly quiet: "You think so? I don't think she's shown us a tenth of what she's capable of yet." 15[22:02] Piu sizes Furia up herself, and comes to a different view than Dryas. She sees what Dryas does, to be sure — the staticky frisson of her personal presence, the threadbare character of her clothes and hair, but where Dryas sees a woman on her last legs, Piu sees someone riding a rolling wave of religious ecstasy, undergirded by unshakeable confidence. Piu can't tell what makes Furia 15[22:02] feel so invincible... but that's the impression that she gets. [22:04] 14Piu, darkly: "She's a true believer." 15[22:06] Ratel: "Admiral... Furia... there's a great deal we need to talk about. That we need to understand." 15[22:07] Furia: "Such as?" 15[22:07] Ratel: "How did you come to know these things? Who told you? How can you be sure you're not just another pawn?" 15[22:09] Furia's smile is warm and gratified, a sort of afterglow. "She told me. I spoke to her." [22:10] 14Piu: "..." 15[22:10] She clarifies: "To an echo. A message she left behind. She knew this day would come, and that it would fall to her most loyal daughters to see her will done." [22:14] 14Piu: "A contingency plan worthy of Her Imperial Highness's reputation." 15[22:15] Ratel gives her senior staff a look. Specifically, a 'do we tell her?' sort of look. [22:15] 07Dryas leans back, thinking. [22:16] 14Piu shakes her head almost imperceptibly. Not yet. [22:16] 6She might handle it... poorly. For everyone. [22:17] 10Absolutely not.  15[22:18] Ratel: "How did you come upon these echoes? Where?" [22:18] 10Unless we have indelible evidence on our own side that'll absolutely flip Furia to thinking we've gone to the "other side". 15[22:20] Furia: "Scattered around the seas. In old places, places no one has gone for centuries. No one but her. Seeded with secrets, memories... and tests. To measure the character and trustworthiness of those who'd pursue her." [22:22] 10Daizo: "Was it the Maw? That's where we first caught scent of your trail… the facility's daemon showed us that'd you'd been the last to visit before we did." [22:24] "But if it was there… whatever message the Empress left for you, only you saw it." 15[22:24] Furia stares at Daizo for so long he starts to feel like she's punched a hole clean through him. "Is that so." [22:25] 10Daizo: "…I nearly burst a blood vessel in my brain bending the thing to my will." [22:26] 6Rumbling: "It was unpleasant." 15[22:27] Furia: "Tell me, the Maw, was it haunted? By any apparent echoes of the Empress?" [22:31] 14Piu, carefully: "If it was, it's not anymore." [22:32] 10Daizo: "Only Jadeborn, and a scorpion-crawler which was trying to have them for lunch." 15[22:34] Furia casts her gaze around the crew on deck again, passing over Ratel, Dryas, the Cathaks, and Zhangyu without any apparent concern, frowning a bit at Daizo... and stopping dead as her eyes meet Piu's. [22:36] 14Piu holds her gaze. 15[22:36] Her expression changes, a slow dawning of something that had not to now clouded her face in the slightest: pain. 15[22:36] "Oh, sister..." 15[22:37] Her fingers curl around the hilt of her sword. "Who is this? Who is this V'neef girl? Who is she to you?" [22:38] 07Dryas: "She is my sworn Hearth-sister." [22:38] 14Internally, Piu roils. What magic does this madwoman have that she can just look at her and know? 15[22:39] Ratel: "Piu is my best woman. Strong, smart, loyal. She has saved not just this mission but our lives again and again. I trust her completely. With my life. With the lives of my crew." 15[22:40] "Whatever's wrong with V'neef, whatever she's gotten into... Piu's not a part of it." [22:40] 6Zhangyu, without hesitation: "Our sworn hearth-sister." [22:41] 10Daizo: "And mine as well." [22:42] "You know what Sworn Kin means, Admiral—if there were treason in her heart, our bond would long since have broken." 15[22:44] Furia strokes the orichalcum hilt of her blade, one gloved thumb grazing the latch that locks it in place within its jade scabbard. "Treason... to you." 15[22:45] The clouds are rolling back in; the moon is obscured by thickening darkness. [22:45] 14Piu, coldly: "Do I stand accused of anything in particular besides my House name?" 15[22:48] Furia: "You haven't concealed yourself as cleverly as you think. I see you, I see the hate you nurture in your heart's secret garden. I name you an enemy of the Realm, someone who would gladly seek to destroy all that the Empress has built and all that Heaven has subverted. Do you deny it?" [22:50] 07Dryas intercedes. "In my House, we learn that love is not necessary for service, nor to usefulness. What Piu does not love, she manages to serve nonetheless." [22:52] 14Piu: "Yes. I don't know what you think you know, deep in your madness as you are, or what you simply believe you can intuit, but my disdain for the Houses of this Realm is based quite firmly on the way they insist on behaving these past five years. I do not seek to destroy 'all' of anything. But I have nothing but contempt for the willfully, wantonly corrupt." 14She's not lying. [22:52] 14The Empress built House Iselsi as well. Once upon a time. 15[22:52] Furia: "You're lying." [22:53] 14Piu: "You're insane." [22:53] 10Daizo: "Did you not, some minutes ago, announce your own plan to make war on four of the Great Houses? Should we have struck you down as a traitor at that moment?" 15[22:55] Furia looks to Ratel: "Sister. Please. I beg you. Don't you see what's become of you? Your vices turned against you? Snared in a pit of indulgence? You have been turned away from the path of the righteous! You have been led to your doom. But it's not too late. Not for you, not for them, not for the Realm." 15[22:56] She reaches out with her right hand; the left has a solid grip on the sword's hilt now. "Please. Don't let it end like this." [22:56] 07Dryas, who has served worse masters: "What do you want from us?" [22:56] 6Oh, no. 15[23:02] Furia ignores the others; in this moment it seems as if her sister is the only person in the world. Judging from the tense, tight expression on the Commodore's face, one would guess she feels the same way. [23:02] 10Daizo flexes his fingers, reaching for the ship's mast, until a sudden intense sensation grips his attention—the clouds over the moon are growing darker by the second, and there's something up in them—descending?! "Commodore! 'Ware the skies!" 15[23:04] Ratel: "Furia... you know I would never abandon you, or the Realm, or the Empress." Deep breath. "Or any of my people. If you've ever known me, you know that. No one gets left behind. No matter what they've done. No matter who they've done it to. My people are my people. To the end." 15[23:04] Cautiously: "Are you my people? Am I yours?" [23:04] 14The Chain is in Piu's hands now. She doesn't really care if anyone objects to that. 15[23:04] Then Ratel looks up. [23:06] 07Could I do that, Caxi? 15[23:06] Furia's sword is out in one swift stroke, and a thin tendril of electricity winds its way from pommel to blade, curling around it like a snake. The sea, which had darkened almost to blackness, is thrown into noon-bright relief as lightning splits sky and sea, followed by a peal of thunder that sounds like shattering timber. [23:07] 6Ah. 15[23:07] The thing in the clouds stretches for malms. Long, wiry arms, a maned, beastlike face, something at once reptilian and equine, and a long burden-beast body with six legs that vanish beneath the crackling lightning. The sea is tossed about like rags in the wash. 15[23:08] Furia: "I am the daughter of the living tide, and on my holy blade the very world lies in balance. FACE JUSTICE, AND FIND REDEMPTION IN THE WHEEL!" [23:09] 10Instead of reaching for the mast, Daizo's condensing a skein of Essence— 15[23:09] Akavadra, the Moment of the Storm, Second Soul of the Sea That Marched Against the Flame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjoOOPU6Xo - Sky is turning red / Return to power draws near / Fall into me, the sky's crimson tears / Abolish the rules made of stone! [23:48] 10The means to shatter the symmetry of sky and sea. This terrible behemoth—why does it smell familiar? [23:48] 14The full force of the demon-storm hits Piu, but isn't enough to take her off her feet -- just barely. [23:49] 07Dryas pulls the string on Earned Nemesis taught and crouches low, low down to the deck, aiming the enormous soulsteel weapon almost directly skyward. She waits, waits, waits for the right moment - and looses an arrow right into the path of the shockwave. She screams wordless defiance back up at the leering demon. 15[23:56] Dryas's skill, Piu's resilience, Zhangyu's stubbornness, Daizo's implacability... the titanic spirit's ear-splitting scream of fury doesn't knock them down. But when it comes for them, charging across the sky in an eyeblink, its hooves touch the deck of the Defiance for just a split second, suffusing the air with a pregnant, ear-ringing, spirit-flooding charge of potential. 15[23:56] When it touches off again, continuing beyond the ship in one smooth bound, it explodes in a spray of sailors and splinters. 15[23:57] NEXT TIME: Luck be a lady [23:58] 10The room was completely black [23:58] 10I hugged her and she hugged back [23:58] 10Like the sailor said, quote, [23:58] 10"Ain't that a hole in the boat?"