Big Mike pushed the Rambutan harder than Kaldalis expected. When they’d talked about trying to beat the Contender back to Cotanaku, he made it sound like getting back to the islands in a week was a physical challenge. But on the morning of their sixth day, the islands came into view on the horizon. Kaldalis wanted to ask how he did it, but didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He figured it was safe to assume that the man would bluster something about the Rambutan being better than the average boat. It felt safer to not take the risk of the captain mistaking his disbelief for an insult against his baby.

The group had done a fantastic job over the trip of avoiding discussion of the problem the entire time they were at sea. Garyung had waved Kaldalis’s attempts off, saying that he was busily formulating ideas for the Cotanaku constitution. Balrim, Myrin, and Reno insisted every day that they’d forced it to the backs of their minds, and that they’d definitely have something to say tomorrow. Ess actively changed the subject whenever Kaldalis tried to bring it up.

He didn’t blame any of them. He couldn’t even bring himself to approach Big Mike or Bangen on the subject. Every time he tried to think about talking to them, he couldn’t think of how to word it in a way that didn’t make him feel gross about it. The only way to describe it was that this was their world. He was a - potentially unwanted - visitor from another, more technologically developed planet.

The sight of Cotanaku gave them all another subject to think about. As the town came into clearer view, it was obvious that their absence hadn’t stopped the continued work in building it up. The clock tower was much larger and more ornate now - clearly visible before they could see the Persimmon II sitting half-constructed on the beach. There was much more than those two things, and as they described them, Bangen took educated guesses at what they might be. There was a building that she guessed was a hospital, and another with a small bell tower that she predicted would be the fire brigade.

Garyung was very happy to see that the council had taken his directions to heart, explaining that he had told them that in his absence, he wanted to build up Cotanaku’s services. He didn’t know what Panbu and the Zarans were going to prioritize, but he wanted to make sure they were prepared for emergencies, since they were so far from proper civilization.

As nice as that was, the other shoe dropped as soon as they got closer. Cotanaku’s pier had been expanded, and there was another ship docked there.

The Contender.

They’d known he was going to arrive well ahead of them, but the problem went from a nebulous abstract concern to a very immediate one. It only grew more strained as Big Mike pulled the ship into port and a cadre of guards - clearly dressed in Zaran garb - were waiting for them. At the head of the group wasn’t the contender, but one of the green-robed priests. Kaldalis wasn’t sure if it was one of the same two from Baimer, but the outfit was exactly right for one of his judgmental entourages.

As they lowered the gangplank, Kaldalis wished he hadn’t been so excited to run headlong into the next problem to get away from the last one.

“Halt!” the priest yelled up at the group at the top of the gangplank, even though they hadn’t started moving. “To enter the Ulun islands, you must identify yourself and submit to registration on our records!”

“Great,” Kaldalis called back. “How are we gonna do that if we’re halted up here?”

The priest tried to give Kaldalis a withering glare, but Big Mike burst out laughing, and the sailors in earshot echoed his mirth. It undercut the seriousness of the priest’s demands.

“One at a time,” one of the guards barked. Apparently the priest’s authority was a bit more tenuous than Kaldalis anticipated. “Come down and be interviewed. We only need your name and what Lataxinan abilities - if any - you possess. You can be allowed into town once we have you registered on our list.”

“Yeah, this isn’t going to go badly at all,” Balrim muttered. “You didn’t tell me this guy was Robert Kelly.”

“Who?” Myrin asked.

“Mutant Registration Act guy,” Balrim explained. “In the movie, Magneto turned him into a water monster and he died horribly?”

“I’m coming down,” Kaldalis announced loudly, interrupting the discussion. He turned quickly to Balrim and Myrin to add, more quietly. “We’re not going to have a Civil War about this, okay? We play nice, and we can get back to the business of exploring the jungle and grinding EXP like always.”

The so-called “Interview” was as painless as Kaldalis expected. They took his name, confirmed it was not already on record, and then asked him if he had any Lataxinan abilities. He didn’t want to cause any trouble, so he admitted to knowing both Kaia’s Flicker and Nyxlas’s Augment. Once that was done, they let him go and called the next person down. Kaldalis kind of wanted to go into town and see what else had changed, but it seemed more polite to wait for everyone to be done to make sure they didn’t need anything else from him.

Balrim came down next, followed by Myrin. Garyung apparently emerged from belowdecks with a big book of notes in hand, and was politely allowed to skip the line, since he was technically a president.

“So what’s the plan from here?” Kaldalis asked, once Garyung was done being questioned and Reno was coming down the gangplank.

“Hard to say,” Garyung said. “I think we need to get our feet under us before we do anything else.”

“I could definitely stand to stretch my legs,” Myrin groaned, stretching. “We’ve been on that boat for so damn long I just want to go for a run.”

“I will probably need to touch base with the council, but-” Garyung began.

“Garyung! Sir!” a man called from up the pier. He was a green-scaled Talsar at a flat run. “Hurry, this way!”

“What?” Garyung stammered. “Why? Where?”

“The council sent me,” the runner said, pulling up short just before he would have bowled Kaldalis over. “They’re in need of you right away.”

“Why?” Kaldalis asked, adjusting his stance to be a little sturdier. He didn’t want to be unexpectedly knocked into the water.

“Cerh is in town,” the runner explained. Despite the run, he wasn’t even out of breath. “He’s making demands, and Sardol thinks Ikzoz is about to throw the first punch. I was sent to fetch you as soon as you’re done with the, uh… Registration.”

“Balls,” Garyung cursed. “Okay, so apparently I have business that demands my immediate attention. We’ll have to talk later.” He gestured to the runner. “Lead the way.”

“If we’re not all sticking together,” Balrim said, “I kind of want to check up on some things in town.”

“Yeah,” Kaldalis agreed, “we’ve all been cooped up together for a week. Maybe we need to take some time to reconnect with things here.”

“Yeah,” Myrin said, elbowing Kaldalis in the hip. “Reconnecting with ‘things’ here. Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“Stop,” Balrim said as he started up the pier. “We should try and track down Martok. He’s probably got acres of jungle mapped out for us.”

Kaldalis stuck around to explain things to the others as they came.

Reno and Ess went to work on catching up on their crafting, now that they wouldn’t have to pay for the workbench time like they would have in Baimer.

Bangen went running off to report back to her normal job.

“I appreciate you loopin’ me in, boy,” Big Mike said with a broad grin. “But I’m not gonna be sticking around here. Cargo hold is loaded up with goods for Panbu. I only came down to give you a little something.”

To Kaldalis’s surprise, the captain handed him a large widemouth jar. The dark brown glass didn’t quite obscure what was inside: pickled roe.

“Fantastic!” Kaldalis said with a smile, holding it up to examine it. “How did you know?”

Kaldalis had gone through most of his remaining bait on the trip back, and only had a few dozen more Pale Perch to show for it. It had appeared some new roe-loving fish had been on a migration path through the region as they sailed, and so he’d gotten a ton of them instead. They were bright orange, and were called Catadromous Salmo. Apparently they were a valuable food fish, prized for smoking and salting, but were just as good baked, fried, or fire-roasted. As nice as they sounded for eating, they hadn’t been what he was after, and they’d eaten up a ton of his pickled roe.

“Yeah, good question, there, kid,” Big Mike cackled. “How could I have possibly known you’d like to get a big ass jar of bait? I guess that makes me the world’s greatest investigator.”.

“That’s you,” Kaldalis said, clapping a hand to Big Mike’s shoulder. “The captain the Rambutan deserves.”

Despite the silliness of the tone, the man stood just a little straighter at that.

“Good luck, Kal my boy,” Big Mike said with a big smile. “If you ever need yourself anything I have the power to give, you can count on me.” He gave him one last clap on the shoulder before returning to the ship.

Kaldalis let the man get back to his business. It was time to return to his own, anyway.

Once he figured out what his own business actually was.