As the group approached the raised wooden platform, the priests stopped their activities and walked towards them. A tall man with salt and pepper hair who walked ahead of the others greeted Shutana and she replied in kind. The three men and three women were of varying ages and ethnicities. The youngest looked to be a pale-skinned girl in her teens while the oldest was a dark-skinned wizened bald man. With silent bows, they said a few words to Leanne and Ruciella. Ada nodded in return though she understood nothing they were saying. With the polite greetings concluded, the six bowed gracefully and returned to their work.

From Ada's vantage point, the work consisted of draping acorns and colorful mushrooms in a pattern on the platform. She sincerely hoped that they wouldn't need to eat them for their impending voyage. The mushrooms resembled fly agarics which was interesting in that it was a musicmol mushroom. Probably mutualistic associations existed in this entire ecosystem to a degree greater than that of a typical forest. Taking another look, Ada's attention was drawn to the overall pattern which looked to be fractal in design and much complicated than a Barnsley fern. Barnsley ferns only have four functions iteratively applied. To generate this particular pattern would require iteratively applying an equation in the complex plane like the Mandelbrot set. What exactly was the mathematics behind it? Perhaps she could write some code which could iteratively generate this pattern. Objects could be created and placed in the domain of this set. Ruciella interrupted her thoughts. "So are all of us invited or just Ada?"

"Ruciella, this decision is under the purview of the divine one Goddess Ada," Shutana replied. Then, to Ada, she said, "Our goddess, blessed be her name, if you're willing, are curious about these mortals with you as well and would be happy if you bring them with you."

Ada glanced over at Sçæaisøh who was still drooling with now a noticeable amount of dripping snot as well. He was staring vacantly into space oblivious to everything around him. "Uh, even this guy?"

"Divine one, our divine goddess Ayula, blessed be her name, wishes to clarify that she's interested in the two women next to you. However, if you wish to bring the man and this creature, she does not object. Our divine one understands that he is currently under Compulsion."

"Okay, in that case, I think it's best that both Sçæaisøh and Kayu stay here."

Shutana bowed. "Divine one, that can be accommodated. We will watch over them until your return."

"Thanks for letting me know, Shutana. Yeah, he's under this spell because he tried to attack us earlier. I had to force him to get on our side. But I probably don't need to explain that since I'm sure your goddess heard everything when I was talking to Ruciella."

"Divine one, our divine Goddess sincerely apologizes for her intrusion. She found it necessary to infer whether your intentions were good or ill. Clearly, none of you have any ill intentions and the one who may is firmly under your control."

"True. We just came here to get Kayu healed and then we'll be on our way. We weren't or maybe I should say I wasn't expecting this to become a quest activity in an RPG game."

"Divine one, apologies but our divine Goddess does not understand your analogy."

"That's fine. She is from this world right?"

"Divine one, our divine goddess Ayula originated at the life first bloomed on Urth. Indeed, she is not from another divine realm."

"Ah, yeah, that's what I thought."

Ruciella interrupted. "Priestess Shutana, sorry to step in but when would their preparations be ready?"

Shutana smiled. "Soon. Have patience, young one."

Ruciella didn't smile back. "You know I'm not a little kid. I'm a full-grown mature adult."

Ruciella really need to cool it down a notch, Ada thought. She didn't think Shutana meant 'young one' to be an insult. The priestess kept her composure and simply smiled. "I apologize for my lack of manners. Saying little one was my words and not our divine goddess's. From now on, our divine goddess, blessed be her name, would like to call you Lady if that is of more amenable disposition to you."

Ruciella nodded. Just as she was about to speak again, Leanne stepped in and asked a question that was on Ada's mind but haven't yet voiced. "Priestess Shutana, we will prefer to not be gone for too long since our cloud palace is still on the outskirts of the city. Though not on the main trail, a traveler or hunter may discover it."

"Seer Leanne, we have dealt with this. Our divine goddess Ayula, blessed be her name, have blockaded the trails and surrounding areas leading to your divine one's palace with thorn bushes and thick vines. No mortal, not even a magician or sorcerer, would be able to go through it."

Ruciella grinned. "Really now? Did you know that some of us can fly?"

"Lady Ruciella, the vines can produce a thick fog of somnolence which would blanket the entire area. Our divine goddess, blessed be her name, knows no known mortal which can cross her barrier."

"Won't people suspect if there are suddenly weird plants that pop up out of nowhere? I mean doesn't that give away your goddess?" Ada asked.

"Divine one, our divine goddess Ayula's awakening will be known to the other gods shortly regardless of what we do. We sincerely appreciate your concern. As far as to your divine one's concern that your palace would be found by the other gods, there is unfortunately always a possibility though we believe the chance of that is minuscule."

"I sure hope so. Wouldn't want your goddess to be the reason that Ada here is caught in a river fisherman's net before should she could even swim in the ocean."

Shutana smiled. "Lady Ruciella, are you comparing the other gods to river fishermen?"

"Well, yeah. I mean that's a pretty apt analogy. I can also call them trained cormorants if you wish. I mean your goddess would probably like that more since it's a smart bird and not a dumb human."

Shutana chuckled. "Lady Ruciella, our divine goddess Ayula appreciates your sense of humor."

"Hmm, no one at the Academy thought I was especially funny," Ruciella mused aloud.

"Well, I'm confident that my cloud palace is safely hidden within Goddess Ayula's hands," Ada said.

"But come," the priestess gestured for them to look at the platform behind her. She turned and pointed. "The preparations are ready and we need you three to step onto the platform."

"Priestess Shutana, divine beings frequently use this method of travel but no mortal I have known have ever done so. Before Ruciella and I step on there, do you know if we need to be aware of anything?" Leanne asked.

"Seer Leanne and Lady Ruciella, are any of you prone to seasickness?"

Leanne nodded her head while Ruciella vigorously shook hers. Shutana spoke. "Ah, our divine goddess, blessed be her name, had these in mind just in case."

Shutana waved at the wizened man and said something. The old man strutted over with an abundance of energy well above his years. He replied and took two round fruits from his pocket. He handed one to Leanne who graciously accepted it. He was going to hand one to Ruciella but she gave him a glare and said something which was a clear refusal. He shrugged and then retreated to where he was standing. Ada took a look at the fruit held in Leanne's hand which looked like tiny apricots. They looked fresh and had a pleasant pungeant smell. She wondered what they were. "Priestess Shutana, what are these?"

"Divine one, I believe this fruit is called gingko and it should help with dizziness and vertigo."

"Priestess Shutana, this doesn't look like gingko to me. They're much larger and they aren't the same color. Also, aren't gingko fruits really stinky?"

"Divine one, I feel that we have a mistranslation. I am not sure how else to translate it."

"That's fine. So what does it do? Any side effects that I should know of?"

"Divine one, ingesting one should prevent from a mortal from a severe sense of vertigo and dizziness in general. Our divine goddess Ayula highly recommend any mortal to take it before undertaking this journey."

Ada noted that the priestess have said nothing about the fruit's side effects or what other effects it might have. "Well, Leanne, what do you think?"

"I think I should take it. I have never handled well being on a ship in the ocean and this appears to be much worse."

Ada wondered about Leanne. Was she really holding on to some existing loyalty to her former goddess or was she just foolishly naive? The seer's latest suggestion has landed them in this hot mess. By coming here, she was throwing caution to the wind and Ada had just followed along foolishly. Ada decided that she has been too trusting in Leanne's judgment when it came to matters related to the gods. This was a lesson well-learned. She kept these thoughts private for now since Ayula's domain was not a good place to speak her mind about these matters. Ruciella, however, had no reservation on speaking and voiced her opinion bluntly. "Are you a complete ostrich brain? You're going to take something which you don't even know what it is? I know Ayula was your former master but this is just too naive even for you unless you just happen to trust Ayula more than Ada?"

Good, she spoke what I was going to say but just in a less tactful manner, Ada thought. Ada stared at Leanne waiting for a reply. The girl had a complicated expression on her face but after a moment nodded. "I believe that what Ruciella said makes perfect sense. Priestess Shutana, I must decline this offer."

Leanne handed the fruit back to Shutana. Ada smiled. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Remember that I also have the power of healing for my followers."

"Divine one, Seer Leanne and Lady Ruciella. Our divine goddess Ayula, blessed be her name, is ready and waiting for your arrival. Please step on to the center of the platform as soon as you can."

"We will do so. Keep the big man and the big dog safe for us." Ada said while stepping on to the platform with the two other girls.

She looked down and saw that the platform was made of a dark shiny wood of undecipherable origin. The acorns and leaves that was put together earlier were gone but the pattern that remained glowed through runic-looking lines etched in the wood. She was quite sure those lines didn't exist before. Looking up, she saw the man still drooling and the dog sitting beside him quietly watching the trio. Probably Ayula's influence had something to do with how quiet and obedient the dog is, Ada thought. Aloud, she asked, "So when does this teleportation thing start?"

"Now" was the one word she heard before the world blurred. Though the three of them standing on the platform were not moving, the scenery rushed by them as if they were flying extremely fast. Ada felt perfectly fine but her two companions clearly wasn't. Leanne was on both of her knees vigorously vomiting everything she has eaten this afternoon on one side of the platform while Ruciella was rocking back and forth on the ground curled up in a ball with her arms wrapped around her head. Though Ruciella kept the contents of her stomach inside, she was moaning loudly and started to cry. She was definitely glad that she wasn't experiencing what they're going through. Let's see what I can do for Leanne, Ada thought.

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Leanne looked a little better and started standing up. Barely half a second later though, she was on her knees again and started to dry heave.

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Through the entire journey, Ada continued to reset Leanne's health back to 100% every second. She decided that she would need to write a script to run this from now on. It would be quite useful to prevent Leanne from dying when her attention have to be directed elsewhere. Every so often, she glanced over at Ruciella and saw that the girl's position has not changed but her moans have grown softer. Whether this was good or bad, Ada couldn't tell but there was nothing she could do at this point.

The trip suddenly ground to a halt. One moment they were moving and the next they were not. There was no sudden jerk as if they were in a car or plane that slowed down and stopped. Ada didn't expect there to be one since this method of transportation seemed to be a method of pushing spacetime around and past the travelers rather than the travelers themselves going through spacetime. Hence, the usual jerk backwards did not apply. She was going to check on Ruciella but the scenery around her grabbed her attention and she gasped. What Ada was expecting she didn't know but it definitely wasn't this.

Leanne rotated her head to take in the whole picture in front of her. Her eyes grew wide. "I have always pictured Goddess Ayula as a world tree or a beautiful dryad. I have no idea what this is."

Ada said. "I'm not quite sure either but I have my suspicions. Ruciella, what do you think?"

There was no reply. Ada glanced over and saw Ruciella lying prone on the ground with her eyes closed. Leanne gasped. "Oh no! Is she still alive?"