Lauretta Mitchell slumped into her chair once the girl left. No, the monster pretending to be a girl, left. She shouldn’t have played games but she couldn’t help herself.

“Caught up with you, huh?” Marcus smirked though he didn’t avert his eyes from the view port.

“Look who’s talking.”

“Yeah, you’ll need to take over.”

“I’m not sitting on a puddle of your piss,” Lauretta yelped.

“Well, take over from your post then!”

“Right.”

Lauretta shakily called the captain’s control spheres to materialize above her armrests. Once she funnelled her Animus into them, Marcus detached his spheres and got up. He hastily cleaned his station, then disappeared into his quarters to change.

He came back a quarter of an hour later, carrying a tray with two cups of tea. And from the scent, they were liberally spiked with brandy. Lauretta took her cup and took a bracing gulp, feeling the warmth run down her throat and heat her belly.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but what manner of monster did we let into the Ebon Horizon?”

Lauretta just shook her head.

As Captain, she was the ultimate authority on board, but the reality of the situation was that young Riley was already stronger than she or Marcus. And now, from the look of it, Yuriko Mishala was even more powerful.

The things she did for coins. Ten million. That was more than enough to buy all the shares of the Horizon from its investor-owners, and to acquire a letter of marque. She fancied herself a corsair though truth be told, the Horizon hasn’t been to many actions.

The Plasma Carronades were always well maintained and powered though, ready to defend against threats both from the Chaos dwellers and fellow humans.

She was dissembling. Yuriko Mishala’s presence was stronger than she expected and from the little bit that Layla had told her, the girl was quite the warrior. She didn’t even lie. Heading to Realmheart was faster, though she did slightly, very slightly, overstate the danger of trying to cross hostile territory.

How did the girl even end up here, in the first place? The Bella plane didn't drift too far from established coordinates. A Chaos storm and some sort of accident? Well, it didn’t really matter, she supposed. At least they’ve got that bounty in the bag. All that’s left is to get the girl home. Er, to Realmheart, which apparently, Yuriko Mishala hadn’t ever been to. Oh, well.

After the rather unpleasant encounter, thankfully solved by showing the girl maps of the Chaos shipping lanes, she had settled down and accepted though Lauretta felt that this wasn’t over. She’d have to ensure that the child stayed with them until the end, otherwise, the Horizon would stand to lose catastrophically. And if the investors found out that she had to abandon or foist off cargo contracts, why she’d be lucky to just go into debt. Far more likely they’d string her up and ruin her chances of getting another command. Still, the bounty was worth at least ten times more than the contracts and it practically fell in her lap.

The Ebon Horizon soon arrived in Viterra City and Marcus manoeuvred the Chaos ship to land on the quay. They still had supplies to pick up, not to mention the remaining crew on shore leave.

_________

Yuriko moped in her room, face down on the bed cuddling a pillow. She could have summoned Fri’Avgi instead, but the space isn't wide enough to accommodate the great sword. She thought she was close!

When she met her distant relatives, who came with a Chaos ship, she believed it was only a matter of time until she left Bella and returned to Rumiga. To find out that she was farther from her home than she thought, and that she would have to cross the entirety of the Empire to do so, was disheartening.

The captain had shown her Chaos Sea charts, and of course, she couldn’t understand them. Damien was of absolutely no help at all.

You do remember that I predate the Shattering, right? he said with an amused voice. The world I lived in was one huge continent. The edges were the Chaos Sea but the rest of it was one single plane that held everything.

Which meant modern maps weren’t at all familiar to him.

Beyond the Sea was nothing. It was freely shaped into whatever we desire. Damien continued wistfully. Ah, well. Bygone days.

‘Do you know how and why the Shattering happened?’ Yuriko asked idly.

… I don’t remember.

Afterwards, her Ancestor kept his silence until she went back to her room. She’d been so put off that she brushed off Tiernan. He was supposed to give her a tour of the ship but other than a pained squeak, he led her back to her quarters and left her alone. There, she moped for the past couple of hours, with her mind going round in circles, jumping from how she missed Rami and her elder brothers, and how her hands were now stained with blood.

While she had felt safe enough in the Lucentian camp, only here, amongst her countrymen, did she truly feel secure enough to let her emotions out of the partition she made in her mind. Fear, upset, pain, frustrations. They came out all at once and it was all she could do to press her face into the pillows so that her sobs wouldn’t travel beyond the room. She wasn’t sure she succeeded though, since she heard footsteps outside pausing, before continuing on.

Once she’d regained her composure, after her tears dried on her cheeks and she woke up from an unexpected nap, she scrubbed at her face so that she’d at least look presentable.

“Now where’s the washroom?” she muttered.

She left her quarters and wandered around the corridors. She eventually found it after a few minutes, with the door labelled. The room was a combination lavatory, washroom, and shower. It was cleaner than she expected, though that may have more to do with the runescript patterns etched on nearly every surface. She did her business then wandered off, eventually finding herself back on the deck.

The Ebon Horizon’s flight had ended, she realized once she went out. They had already anchored at a city that she supposed was Viterra. It certainly matched the description His Excellency, Gonir, the Viterran Ambassador, gave her.

They were high up enough that the mountainside was covered in a layer of pristine snow. The air had a bite to it, and she shivered in her Dougi and Hakama. The ones she had were for lowland use and were quite thin and breathable, something she definitely didn’t want in the cold weather. At least it wasn’t raining.

“Miss Davar,” one of the sailors greeted her as she came on deck. “Your relatives went down into the city.” The man gave her a friendly grin. “We’ve got a couple days of shore leave before the Horizon enters the channel. Mighty fine time to take a last look at Bella. Viterra’s a friendly sort of city and you can’t get lost.” He gestured over deck railings. “Just head for the highest place you can find and you’ll see the quay. Have a nice day, little miss!”

Taken aback at the man’s forthright nature, Yuriko gave a wan smile and nodded along. He gave her a short bow and indicated the exit ramp over by the side, before continuing on to his duties, which turned out to be polishing the railings with a rag and some kind of oil.

Viterra was built on the mountainside, with roads on a terrace. The centre of the city seemed to be a massive pit that dug into the mountain. Roads and cave entrances dotted the side, spiralling until it reached into the darkened depths.

Shrugging to herself, Yuriko glanced at the sun, which was halfway down the horizon, but with the mountains, twilight was likely to be earlier than usual. She trotted down the ramp. The Ebon Horizon was floating above a chasm, with mooring lines securing her to the quay. Cargo doors over to the side were open, about five paces wide and just as much high. Various crates were being off-loaded, while others were being brought inside. A woman with a crystal screen held before her checked the bills of lading, with the Viterran counterpart which happened to be an Oskan, towering at nearly three paces tall.

The bearman had a huge board and was checking things off with a pencil. Both the board and pencil looked comically small against the man, but it was twice as large as the crystal screen the woman held.

“No, no, we won’t need the beryls anymore!” the man who was in the bridge with the captain, a beefy looking person wearing loose forceweave, said as he stomped down from the cargo hold, “We aren’t continuing on to the Coalition territory, we’re headed back to the Empire. Beryls aren’t in great demand at Realmheart!”

“But, Marcus…”

“Officer Elly, those are the captain’s orders.”

“Aye, Officer Sommel.” The woman saluted with a fist to the heart. “Well, we’ve to return this cargo. We’ll have to forfeit the deposit,” she said to the Oskan man whose face was a storm cloud that eased at her words. He nodded wordlessly, jotting down a few notes.

Oskan happened to glance at Yuriko who couldn’t help but eavesdrop. The man’s expression loosened further and he gave her a solemn bow.

“You must be Elder Yuriko. Ambassador Gonir spoke of you.”

“His Excellency is here?”

“Yes, he returned not a week ago. I must say his description of you is underrated. You’re even more striking than I expected.”

Marcus slapped the Oskan man’s shoulder, stretching his hand all the way up. “She’s still a child, Jarq.”

Jarq reared back. “Truly? You humans look the same and are all so tiny I couldn’t tell. I apologise if I gave offence.”

“Uh, none taken,” Yuriko said quickly. “I enjoyed tea with the Ambassador the last time we met. Can you direct me to his residence?”

“Of course. Gonir's house is along the Emerald Quarry Road, his door sigil is a golden bee with three stingers. It’s on the other side of the valley, so you’ll have to take the circumferential road there.”

“My thanks.”

“You’re quite welcome, Elder Yuriko,” he answered with a grin.

Yuriko nodded to Marcus, who eyed her warily.

“Perhaps I should arrange an escort?” he offered.

“No need,” Yuriko sniffed. “I’ll be sure to return.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

With that, she stomped down the quay until she reached the road. It must have been the expression on her face, but people kept well clear of her with just one look. The sight of so many huge men and women jumping away from her was so puzzling that she forgot why she was annoyed. Well, that, and the breathtaking view was simply splendid.

She briefly contemplated leaping over the chasm and using her Anima to glide to the other side, but that might frighten any watchers. Besides, she needed to walk off her suddenly pent up energy.

The roads were quite wide, considering the size of the people. The dwellings were all dug into the cliffside, though each entrance had a small foyer that was more often than not, decorated with planters. With the Season of Air coming to a close, the planters were mostly winter-bare but a few were evergreens. Some even had pink flowers the size of her palm and gave off a sweet fragrance.

The Oskans were light on their feet, she realized. She could barely hear their footsteps, though to be fair, the constant breeze distorted sounds from too far away. The road eventually led down into a market square. Quite lively at this time of day, with hundreds of Oskans trading. Rambunctious voices, squealing kids that were still bigger than she was, raced around the open spaces, playing a game of tag. The adults ignored the children racing between legs, though a few muttered imprecations when a child used someone’s leg to make a quick pivot and to escape the chaser, who invariably used the same pivot to chase.

A few of them looked at her and gestured for her to join. One even grabbed her wrist and jabbered away in their native tongue, to drag her away from the chaser. Tried to anyway. The girl took a couple of running steps, but that was as far as she managed to pull Yuriko’s arm.

Yuriko, in turn, reflexively braced herself, and the sudden stop pulled the child off her feet, and if not for her quick catch, the girl would have fallen.

The girl shouted excitedly, and all of a sudden, their game changed from tag to trying to get Yuriko to move. Near a dozen of them pulled and pushed, while Yuriko glanced about in bewilderment. But she kept her feet planted on the ground, using her Anima to brace against the cobblestones and keep her balance.

The squealing kids kept at it for nearly a minute, before a few of the adults, their watchers, Yuriko assumed, chased them off. The first girl ran off, then glanced back, making a beckoning gesture. Yuriko smiled sadly and shook her head. The girl-child gave her a curious stare, but afterwards, shrugged and sped off, now being the chaser instead of the chased.

After a few moments, Yuriko continued on her way. Those children. Their features showed that they probably weren’t that much younger than she, maybe Rami’s age. So, ten, eleven, or twelve. Maybe nine. She watched them dodging around adults until the crowd hid them from her sight.

Yuriko’s hands clenched into fists. She was no longer a child.