"Oh." Eria let out an exclamation of surprise as Jack grabbed her and motioned for her to accept the offer. "Well. If everyone else thinks it best." She allowed herself to be marched back to the captain, who raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I have spoken with my companions and we will take your offer. If you shall have us." She curtsied, offering the man a coy smile.

"I see." The man said, returning her display with a bow. "In that case please finish any business you may have at the port and make yourselves at home on board. We depart at dawn's first light." He said. At this news the armored guards lowered their polearms from in ftonr of Vinsces' face with the sharp, robotic movements that spoke of countless hours drilling.

"My thanks." Eria replied. "I shall round up my fellows and we shall return by dawn. "Now in regards to your compensation..." She reached for the small leather purse at her belt and the man raised his hands in protest.

"I will hear nothing of it my lady." He smiled charmingly at her. "After all. What kind of Erusian would I be if I did not come to the aid of a woman of the cloth?" He said. Eria eyed him curiously. "You are a priestess of the church, are you not?" He gestured to the small bead rosary tied around her wrist. A small Thorned Eagle dangled from its end. She smiled back at him, fingering the pendant fondly.

"Why yes. How observant of you." She drew her cloak closed again around her shoulders. "Well. I must be going." She said, hurrying back towards Jack and the others.

"We should find Inali and gather whatever we need for the voyage. We depart at dawn." She said.

Erdu, who had been quietly following the group in deep contemplation, finally spoke. "We should not delay. It is likely that the ones who attacked us earlier today have regrouped." He peered skywards, as though scouring the roofs of the waterside buildings. Thin wisps of smoke twisted skywards in lazy spirals from the chimneys. "They will resume the hunt shortly." Of this, he was certain. "They will not dare to attack us while we are in the custody of the crusaders."

Inali left Nathaniel's ship in search of the rest of her party. If Eria who appeared to be their compass at this point decided to take the Erusian ship, it would be a long trip. She pondered what would make it easier. She would want an excuse for solitude and reticence for now. The best bets for this were scholars and peoples of religion. She didn't think she could pass as the second safely, so a scholar would be least likely to get her killed and not so much of a lie.

Inali pursed her lips as she felt a strong hum somewhere around her. From the feels of it somebody was trying to cast a calling spell, something to bring a body home. It wasn't strong and kept faltering. Perhaps a love lorn individual attempting to attract their idol's desire? Possible. Although people scoffed at magic, most didn't realise that the spells youths and superstitious elders tried were real. They just so rarely had the ability to actually feed the magic and make it work. If it did succeed, the event wished for looked like weak luck.

Inali decided she'd head back to the ship she'd left the others at, and if they had moved further down the docks she'd come across them earlier.

Eria perused the market stalls that sat opposite the waterfront, filling a rough cloth sack with goods for the journey ahead. A hammock, some rope and of course, a great deal of food. Though she supposed the ship would supply meals for them, she had decided it best to prepare for the worst, in which they may be stranded at sea for far longer than anticipated.

Looking down at a stall of breadloaves she reached out to take one, only to find a small and slender hand intercept her own, snatching the loaf down under the table. Curious, she knelt down to look under the stall and was greeted by a pair of wide, cat like eyes. The small demi child was frozen in terror, his ears pricked up, hands grasping the bread tightly. A mess of shaggy black hair sat atop his head and his skin was mottled with streaks of dark filth. The boy dropped his prize and looked ready to bolt when Eria gestured for him to remain quiet, pressing a finger to her lips. She picked up the small loaf and rose to her feet.

"I'm sorry." She apologised to the baker. "I dropped this one." She said, handing him a small coin as payment. The small boy was skulking off quietly when Eria grabbed him by the collar, turning him around to face her. She pressed the bread into his hand.

"Don't get caught next time." She said with a sly smile, ruffling the boy's hair. He beamed up at her and ran off, soon becoming lost in the crowd.

When finally Eria drew the string tight on the bag its contents bulged noticably.

"Hmm. Perhaps I bought a bit too much." She pondered aloud. She strained to lift the bag, which budged only a scant few centimeters.

"Allow me." Erdu offered, noticing her stuggling. And he lifted the bag effortlessly over his shoulder. As they made their way back to the galleon Erdu spied the familiar form of Inali.

"Miss Inali." He said curtly but politely. "We have been looking for you. Miss Eria and the Captain have found a vessel to continue our journey Eastwards."

Jack left the group after Eria accepted the ship captain's offer. He moved away from the others subtley, tying to avoid catching their attention. he needed time alone, or so he thought. He wandered down the docks, looking at the many ships. It had been a long time since he'd last sat his foot on the deck of an ordinary ship. A Captain rarely wished to travel on another man's vessel, even less so if the ship was any other ship than the Batavian. Still, Jack thought, it was nice to let someone else be responsible for taking them to their destination, for once.

Their destination...
He stopped and turned to face the sea. His face, usually so young, friendly, open, and even innocent, was dark, grim, and cold. He crouched on the edges of the docks, staring down into the black water splashing against the dockside below. The darkness reminded him of a stormy night many years ago, when the Batavian had been ploted by its first captain, and her first mate. So many years ago...before Nathaniel Arrow and Jack Highwind took command of the beautiful flying vessel. Everything had changed on that night, however. He felt the familiar cold feeling of fear gripping his heart as he thought about it.

"Obsidias, huh...?" He muttered to himself. "I guess I can't avoid him any longer..."

His eyes drifted out to sea again as he stood up, turning to return to the ship they were to travel with.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll stay with the boat. I'm quite weary from travel, and already have my gear and wares prepared. I'll wait here for the rest of the group to arrive," Jade said, feigning fatigue quite well. The truth was that she had an alterior motive for staying on the boat that didn't necessarily mean she would be resting. She had a theory to test, and she had to be in a sleep-state to do it.

Jade had been thinking about it ever since Raven had popped into her dream. She hypothesized that she wasn't necessarily dreaming, but that her mind was being pulled into a different consciousness. She didn't know how, but that explanation made the most sense to her logically oriented mind. The idea that frightened her was that the second consciousness wasn't necessarily outside of her own body. Her idea was that she could use this state of heightened psychic awareness to find a consciousness that she was attuned to... more specifically, that she could find Raven's mind and see into it. If he had made a strong enough connection with her, she could just follow it back to him. Psychic connections were a two way street for those who didn't know how to cover their tracks, Jade knew that much from talking with other Al Mayin. She didn't have the skill to discretely cover her psychic footprints... it was more like obliterating her trail by setting fire to the forest she walked through. It wasn't subtle... but it worked.

Inali felt an itch behind her right ear as Erdu hailed her. It was never a good sign, and she narrowed yellow eyes as she scratched at it thoughtfully.

"We're taking the Erusian ship, aren't we?" she asked, a wry smile quirking her lips. On receiving confirmation she sighed as she fell as much into step as she was able.

"I'll do my best to hide my nature completely. I've done it before, but I've found men of that sort to be very wary for anything.... not normal. It's possible they may try to either capture or execute me if they find out."

She shrugged one shoulder, jostling her pack. "It doesn't worry me too much, but I thought I should warn you in case anything happens to out me."

Inali decided not to mention Jack's potential problem. Although the name would carry, his face wouldn't and he'd probably be considerably shorter, well behaved and less bloodthirsty than his legend. It was up to him if he wanted it known.

The dock had grown quiet as morning approached. In these hours the normally bustling boards of the marina were reduced to a ghost-town. The odd tranquility almost dreamlike.

As the early morning sun's light spilled over the horizon in softly melting rays of gold the Captain bellowed a command to his crew and the ship 'The Aquamarine' drifted gently from its mooring towards the barbican of the walled harbour. Between the two towers of the grey stone fortifications a great arch, many hundreds of meters wide and nearly three times as tall between of which an immense grille of metal hung suspended by chains made of links in which a full grown man could easily stand. At the Aquamarine's approach there was a call from one tower to another and the grate slowly rose to the mechanical clanking of chains and gears.

The Captain smiled broadly, his arms crossed proudly across his chest and his cape billowing in the sea breeze as he watched the horizon open up before him. Some way from the harbour he let out a cry and the galleon's sails unfurled from their masts. The Aquamarine roused from its lazy drifting, spurred Eastward by the winds.

Eria had taken up position by the ship's bow and was watching the sun crawl above the water's surface. She cast her gaze back towards the city of Northwall.

Farewell. With luck this may be the last time I see you... She thought to herself. She turned back to the sun and closed her eyes, resting her head on crossed arms as she allowed the warmth to wash over her.

Altaea Saga: Song of the Ancients

Chapter 1

End.

Interlude.

“Sedea!” The voice called out, rousing the woman from her trance like wandering. The blistering cold of the wind at her face seemed to blast the flesh from her bones and she stumbled, grasping for something to hold onto as the loosely packed snow beneath her feet gave way.

The plate clad hand seized her and Sedea looked up at the man, who was haloed by the corona of the sun behind him.

She felt him haul her to her feet and she nodded her thanks breathlessly as she pulled her hood about her ears and clasped her cloak tightly around her shivering body. Her eyes ached from lack of contrast. All around was white. From the ground beneath her feet to the distant horizon it seeped into the dark figure of the armour clad knight like a blinding light at the edges of her vision. Like a world stripped bare, the endless white of the snow was a void of nothingness. Of non existence.

She fell again, The ice on her cheek was strangely comforting as Sedea felt the cold take her. Her consciousness fading into that whiteness.

Never before had the world seemed so suffocating close. And so terrifyingly distant.

Interlude.

End.

In life we find many patterns. None greater than the pattern of Fate.

For in history, do we not see man repeat endlessly the errors of his father? And he, his father before him.

Over and over until they are returned, ever in ignorance.

To The Wheel.

-Unknown

Altaea Saga: Song of the Ancients

Chapter 2

Erdu sat in a meditative posture. His back straight and legs folded in a position known to the Kishari Yogin as the 'lotus posture'. His hands were draped across each other in his lap, the tips of their thumbs touching lightly. He felt the warmth of the sun at his back. Erdu's eyes were open, but distant. As though roused from a deep sleep he inhaled deeply, rolling his shoulders and rising steadily from his position. He took a moment to observe the crew, who were milling about doing their work maintaining and steering the ship. To the port side of the ship stood an impressively tall and powerfully built man with long blonde hair dressed in a green longsleeved tunic and brown short sleeved jacket. He was apparently admiring the view of Ignir's southern cliffs that lay far off in the distance. Beside him a man dressed in blue and white robes was draped over the railing of the ship.

Towards the starboard a young boy hurries across the deck, carrying in his arms a large box filled with scrolls. He slips and falls, the crate tumbling across the deck and spilling its contents. He hurries to collect them as several of the crew berate him loudly.

I'm sorry." He says meekly. The boy could not be more than 10 and he cowers visibly before the sailors, lowering his head meekly. "It was an accident." He protests.

"I've had enough of your accidents, boy. Perhaps we should throw you overboard. Eh?" One of the men barks cruelly at the boy, who flinches at the words.

The Captain is busy at the ship's wheel where he is pouring over maps beside his navigator, apparently deciding on the best route to take given the sudden change in weather.

Jade had mad her way to the passenger's quarters and found an open place for her to settle down and sleep. For how long she wasn't sure... for all she knew, especially if something went wrong, she could sleep for days with no way for anyone to know anything was wrong. She had to know, though... and she didn't want the others making a big fuss over her doing something potentially dangerous. Even before the boat had left, she had settled herself into a comfortable sleeping position and concentrated.

The unconscious mind is a much more powerful entity than she knew...

She hadn't felt like even ten minutes had gone by before she was standing in the familiar ruins. The sky was cracked, and the familiar dark presence searched from overhead. This isn't where she wanted to be, though, and she ignored the familiarity. She always awoke in the same place: what had used to be a courtyard, and from what she could tell, it was the epicenter of the disaster. All of the destruction seemed to radiate outwards from where she lay. Jade didn't bother moving, she just sat herself up and concentrated on the image of Raven, and any kind of psychic footprints he may have left behind.

Jade was always amazed at the difference of her powers in this realm. When she was awake, her powers always felt so heavy handed and clumsy, like a child trying to swing a heavy sledge hammer. While she was dreaming, her powers were so refined, so precise... not even a single grain of sand was beyond her reach. She could lay down a swath of destruction, or sew the most delicate fabric... here her thoughts became real. Is this what her potential was?

She pushed the distracting notion away and focused, immediately zeroing in on the faintest psychic residue Raven had left behind. It was familiar, and she remembered her first encounter with his Quad. Raven himself never seemed to have any kind of extraordinary ability until now. There was the Dreamwalker, who could use his powers to walk inside another's mind while they slept and find the information they kept in their subconscious. He was the tracker, and his ability let him find anyone without fail... Raven's psychic trail was identical. It wasn't as refined as she remembered, like he could absorb the power and the knowledge to use it, but the years of practice and control were beyond him. He obviously didn't know how to cover his trail very well, or wasn't aware that he had to.

The second member of the Quad was an exceptional archer, and could flex the lenses of his eyes and magnify his vision, almost as though he were looking through a spyglass. He was dangerous... he had to have an exceptional strength to pull the enormous, six foot tall war bow he shot with... and a cunning mind to calculate the flight of the arrow over such a distance. He could fire arrows with deadly accuracy from farther than a normal human could spot him.

The third member was the Lion, and was a large person to begin with, but had the ability to transform himself into a hulking beast and become possessed of an unearthly strength, speed, and agility. He was beautiful, but deadly. She had seen him lift a full grown war horse and throw it, and move nearly faster than a human eye could track. He was stealthy in spite of his size, and he wasn't just able to leap huge distances, but also free-run across the narrowest ledges, balance on the tips of posts and swing himself from one place to another almost like a circus performer.

Raven was the mystery. How many of these abilities could he hold, and for how long? What did he have to give up to use them? She didn't know, and that is what made him so frightening to her... and here she was, chasing his mental trail across deserts and oceans until she was looking right at him. Jade could tell that he wasn't alone, but she couldn't see who he was with. Raven was dragging the corpse of a mage back to their camp with methodical tenacity. The body couldn't have been light, but Raven dragged it behind him with one hand, hardly seeming to toil with it. An obsidian dagger still protruded from the mage's chest, though she could tell that wasn't what had killed him. He had been cleaved from shoulder to sternum by a large weapon, probably the bastard sword strapped across Raven's back. From its location, the dagger had probably just been a flesh wound; a distraction or impediment to the mage's spellcasting.

"Wh... what are you doing?" She heard someone ask.

"We're hunting the most dangerous kind of monster: the kind that believes with all its heart that it is a human. Sometimes extreme measures must be taken... I'm going to cut off his head and look at the world through his eyes," Raven replied glibly, and gave a fanged grin to the man following him. "It's a very delicate ritual, so I don't want to be disturbed until morning." He received an uneasy affirmative and was left alone in a clearing at the top of a hill. He'd picked this spot for a reason... the game trails on this hill came to a natural crossroads, and it felt like a font of old power to him. His ritual could only be performed in certain places, and it was very specific. Any number of things could interrupt it.

Raven took hours setting it up, arranging the body specifically while he chanted words in an ancient tongue she didn't understand and stripping down to his waist. He pulled the obsidian dagger out of the mage's flesh and raised it up over his head. Glinting in the moonlight, Jade could see that the dagger had seen constant use over a number of years, but was well maintained. The handle and blade were both covered in markings that seemed alien to her. They spoke of old magic, and some of them resembled some kind of winged serpent.

He never once stopped chanting as he sliced the cadaver open and peeled back the flesh surrounding the ribcage. He used a small hunting saw to cut the bones in specific places and remove the ribcage. With surgical precision, he cut out the heart, placing it on a small stone altar he had brought with him. He took a few moments to fill a stone bowl marked with that winged serpent with blood from the body, which he used to paint ritual markings on his face and right arm. He offered the heart and blood up to his God, and was as still as a statue for hours, until the moon hit its zenith. The blood and heart inexplicably burst into flames and a feral energy seemed to surround him... the marks on his face and arm were practically glowing with it. Raven continued to pray well on into the night, until the moon had set and the sun had started to break the horizon. The old energy had slowly built to a climax about him, until he seemed almost possessed. Raven lurched forward and ate the dead flesh of the mage's arm until there was nothing but bone showing.

He leaned back, his mismatched eyes burning with energy, face to the sky. He was exhaling slowly, as if trying to control his pain impulse. His back was arched as the first rays of the morning sunlight struck his naked chest, and his body convulsed as though something were surging through it. It felt to her almost as though something was being ripped out of him, and being replaced with something new. The blood was slowly lifted off his face, dissolving into a kind of magical energy that she couldn't understand. Arcane markings began to etch themselves across his skin, which she recognized as belonging to one of the mage-tribes of Obsidias. They started over his icy blue right eye, and his flesh sizzled as they were burned into his neck and shoulder, and then down the length of his right arm: a fully realized arcane circle. After it was finished, he slumped forward in obvious exhaustion. He made a burnt offering of the rest of the corpse to his God and collected his things, though he stopped, looking over the flames directly at Jade.

"And there you are... Just couldn't stay away could you? Remember this ritual closely... the next time I perform it, your body is the one I will use," he said, grinning coldly. "It'll be soon... I know where you are, and now I know you'll be coming straight to me."

Raven's grin twisted into a wicked smile, and he leveled his palm to her. Arcane power surged through the marking, down his arm, and a jagged bolt of lightning arced from his hand. She awoke gasping, clutching her chest where she swore she felt the magic strike her. It was dark when she woke, and they were already well out to sea, though she couldn't be sure how long she was asleep: it had felt like only a few minutes to her. She was sure of one thing, however... She was headed straight into the mouth of danger, and there was no turning back.

Jack stood by the starboard railing, gazing out at sea. It felt strange, being on another ship than the Batavian (and one that didn't *fly* at that), and not being its captain as well, for that matter. But his thughts were occupied more by the fight that lay ahead of him, in Obsidias. He was about to finally come face to face with the Black Baron himself... He felt the fear once more grow in the pit of his stomach, and gritted his teeth hard. This was unbecoming of the captain of the Batavian. He had to shape up - if not for his own sake, then for the sake of his crew - his former crew, as it were, he reminded himself. After all, he had resigned his position as captain of the Batavian, until the day he returned with the Black Baron's blood on his hands.

He heaved a sigh, running his hand through his hair.
Suddenly, the deckboards creaked behind him, and a giant stepped up next to him. He didn't even have to look to recognize Vinsces' humongous size. The spearman leaned against the railing next to him. He spoke, with an unusually intelligent tone in his voice:

"You seem bothered, little brother. Are you that afraid these knights will find out who you are?" Jack looked up and gave the giant a wry smile.
"Not so, big brother..." He replied, jokingly addressing the giant in that way. "There is another reason. A certain person is waiting for myself in the beautiful town of Obsidias. A person whose blood I must spill in order to pay back a blood debt of old. However, the mere mentioning of his title is enough to send naked fear down the spine of this lowly pirate. I do not know how I can fight him like this, let alone defeat him. For the second time in my short life, I know and feel the meaning of the word "doubt", for I have it aplenty."

Vinsces looked down at the young captain. Despite his great responsibility towards his crew, Captain Jack Highwind was still barely past his twenties. By all accounts he was still a kid. Vinsces gave him a smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"Do not worry, little brother. I don't know who the bastard is, but I know that what you lack in age, you make up for in courage. You'll do fine, and when the time comes, you'll rise to the challenge, I'm sure." Jack looked up at the giant again and gave a wry smile.

"Thank you, big brother." He said, this time without the joking tone at the mentioning of the words "big brother". He added: "I do hope you are correct, for I cannot return to my beloved Batavian in failure. I have sworn so to my crew, and to myself."

Suddenly, noise reached their ears. They turned around only to find a young cabin boy having dropped a crate with scrolls. It didn't take long before crew members began to berate him loudly and angrily, even making threats of throwing him overboard. When that threat reached Jack's ears, he turned around, and with a glance at Vinsces who nodded, he stepped forward, and spoke in an unusually cold and steel-like voice.

"And perhaps, friend, we should haul your fine self under the keel, for your character surely is less savory than this poor lad's." He looked down at the boy, and, crouching next to him, said, all the while helping him gather the scrolls again: "I would pay these men no heed, young lad. We all make mistakes." He reached out and ruffled the boy's hair as he added with a chuckle: "You will make a glorious and fine captain of your own ship one day, I'm sure. If you would ever consider changing crews, you should travel with me, and I would see you join me in sailing the skies rather than this azure ocean. The waves are less violent up there, and the crews far more friendly and forgiving."

As he said that, he finished picking up the scrolls, stood up with the box, and offered his hand to help the boy up as well. Vinsces, while Jack talked to the boy, turned and snarled at the crew.

"Oi, you bastards! Don't go around threatening young boys like that, or I'll toss you overboard myself!"

The sailor grumbled under his breath at Jack's remarks and returned to his duties. The boy meanwhile smiled at Jack's help and kind words, beaming brightly at him wthough a mop of messy, sandy blonde hair. He was rail thin and frail looking, with barely an ounce of muscle or fat on him. Nevertheless his cheerful face was round and ruddy, with the soft and beautiful features of a noble-born. "Thank you sir." He said with a slight bow, though as the box threatened to topple once more he straightened his back.

"You would do well not to mention such things here." Eria said, looking sidelong at Jack through half lidded eyes, her head still rested on her folded arms. "It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. A ship that sails the sky. A pirate who likewise sails with the clouds..." She hummed to herself in a half yawning manner as she turned her eyes to the sun's rise.

On the port side of the ship there was a heaving sound as the man in blue started to cough and splutter noisily. Evidently not everyone found the trip as pleasant or as calming as the green haired woman.

Now where had Jade gone? Inali concentrated hard. The deck was strong tasting, but thankfully Jade had only gone through here once. Inali nodded politely to those who caught her eye, following the trail. It lead to passenger's quarters, tiered bunks and places to stow baggage to prevent it rolling with the waves. Jade had settled down to sleep, but something was off. Inali laid her pack and staff by the wall and out of the way before rustling over to the Al Mayin. She settled herself down, her skirts carefully arranged to hide the knot of limbs below. Inali took a few deep breaths, her eyes closed as she centered herself. Then lids slid open halfway to expose a lazy golden amber.

Jensi saw themselves as threads, copper ones all weaving together to create a massive tapestry that continued across space and through time. Blackfox shied away from her own silver one. What silver thread signified wasn't something she wanted to contemplate now. She looked for Jade. Most of mankind were distinct from Jensi in this state. They appeared as individual lights to Blackfox, seperate and lonely. Blackfox had been right to be suspicious. Jade wasn't here. There was the barest glow to signify that she was still alive, but Jade herself was no longer there. She'd gone wandering again. Blackfox frowned slightly in concern. To leave the body without an anchor or a teacher to guide her back was dangerous, and given the almost nonexistant level of Jade's tutoring the woman probably didn't even realise the risk she ran. Blackfox glided to her pack, still looking at the world through yellow eyes. She already wore her pendant for protection, and she lifted out her grounding bracelets carved of mirkwood. These were items that could pass for pure decoration. Moving back to Jade's side, Blackfox lowered herself once more.

Curling her limbs around in a very specific pattern, Inali rested her hands in her lap, each hand grasping the opposite wrist loosely. A touch of the mind to her charms brought them to life, and Inali wrapped herself in their power. Then she reached out to feel what Jade had done.

An old habit, apparently. Blackfox circled the edges of the little hole that Jade had dropped through, taking a pinch of Jade's self. She should have done that yesterday, given how wayward her new ward appeared to be. Blackfox then dropped through after the magelet.

What a burnt out world. Blackfox was impressed by Jade's skill. She'd hit the soul plane, what Jensi considered to be the pure existance where the discordances of the world no longer constrained the self. There were Elthsas who had never reached it, and even Blackfox had to think for a moment to find it.

Now she had to think for a moment to locate Jade. She wasn't in this blasted city, she was further out of it. Blackfox breathed on the pinch of Jade that she still had, and then twisted it between her fingers. She spun it out further and further, before she lifted it up and began to gently swing it around her head with one hand. It caught and snagged over her left shoulder, and Blackfox turned to exam it begin to glow softly. She smiled and took a pinch of herself. Spinning it into the end of the thread, Blackfox let it go but didn't feel it vanish as the vision of it did. Now they had a link, Blackfox would be unable to lose her. The Jensi struck out in the direction Jade had gone, feeling the lines of the world here.

Something had happened. Something terrible, almost on a level of the dark histories. All that remained was the rubble, even the souls of the ones who had lived here burnt away. Blackfox resolved to ask Jade about that when she found her. As well as what the name Ishtar meant to her. When she finally caught up to Jade, she hung back. This was a realm of psychic awareness for Jade and the man. Blackfox slid sideways from it, losing her corperal form and flattening herself between the threads of this world's weave. She observed, and was horrified by what she had seen. What this man used was old, and terrible, and a familiar stain of her people. When he struck at Jade, Blackfox wasn't quick enough, yanking on the connection between her and the Al Mayin to bring Jade into her protection and vanishing back to their bodies. Both females started awake on the ship.

Inali could hear Jade's rapid breath, and she spoke softly to try to avoid startling her.

"Jade, you need to tell me what you know of that man." Inali didn't know how forthcoming Jade would be with the information. "I don't want you to face him alone with your power so loosely grasped." There was no pity in her voice, only the understanding of the situation and the offer of aid.

"Thank you sir." The boy thanked Jack, who smiled and ruffled his hair again as he replied:

"You better run along now. But let me know if these gentlemen give you any more trouble."

As the boy ran along, Eria addressed Jack from some distance.
"You would do well not to mention such things here. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. A ship that sails the sky. A pirate who likewise sails with the clouds..." He gave a slight smile.

"You are right, of course, my lady, and I shall heed your advise. Forgive my carelssness." He bowed to her. Vinsces, however, clenched his fist at her, and growled:

"A noble man like my little brother shouldn't have to hide his identity like that! If these darn knights try any funny business I'll toss 'em all overboard!"

"There will be no need for that." Jack chuckled, patting his large friend on the shoulder. "Now, if you two would excuse me, I shall withdraw and conduct some meditation. It is high time I do so." WIth that, he bowed, and left the two, heading into the darkness below deck, where he would be undisturbed and could meditate in peace.

Jade's eyes flicked towards the Jensi when she heard her voice. A wave of annoyance shot through her at first, but it washed away shortly after she realized that the Jensi's meddling had probably saved her life. Jade didn't know how she knew, but she was aware that she was back in the boat because of Inali. Jade sighed and sat up, pressing her knees to her chest. She thought about exactly what she knew about Raven when she was asked, and realized it wasn't much.

"His name is Raven... I realize it isn't much, but the only thing I know for sure is that he's a member of the Sharifan emperor's black hand. They're elite assassins, and many of them are reported to have abilities bordering on the bizarre. Surgical alterations... men with poison for blood... assassins who can climb walls like spiders. It all sounds like a tall tale until you meet one of them. Raven was part of a four-man hunter-killer squad, and from what I can tell, his ability is that he gains the powers of anyone whose flesh he consumes... if that's true, then from what I know about his team, and also from what I've experienced: he can track people through their dreams... I imagine he also has some kind of far-sight, and can turn into a large beast. Apparently now he can also use sorcery. I do know that the mimicry isn't perfect: the knowledge is there, but the refinement from years of practice isn't. He wasn't able to cover the psychic footprint left by his dreamwalking, and I'd wager that though he can use sorcery, his selection of spells and how to use them is probably quite limited. That doesn't make him any less dangerous: he's clever, not just in making his plans, but how he goes about achieving them.

The Emperor's Black Hand hunt down many high profile targets, not just Al Mayin. Don't ask why I've got his attention, or why he's going through such great lengths to destroy me... because I don't know. For my crimes... slavery, or jail... or death, but to be hunted to the ends of the earth like this," she shook her head. "I don't know what I could have done. I know his kind though... Raven will not stop until one of us is dead."

Inali frowned as her worries were confirmed.
"Are you certain that his ability is consuming the powers with the flesh? No, that was a silly question," Inali interrupted herself.
"His ritual. I know it, though none of mine have used it since the Claiming. My Elthsa taught me of it as part of the terrible knowledge I had to know. It's old." Inali rubbed her thumbs along her wrists and her tattoo. "Very old. Like much of the old magic, it's precise. But its precision is what makes it dangerous. Even the press of a finger in the right part of the magic will bring it crashing down and rip it from him. The difficulty is finding that place, it will completely repel simple battering at it." Inali doubted somehow that his ability was the eating of the flesh. The ritual was one that could be performed by anybody with the knowledge and the patience. Or perhaps his ability was making the ritual more stable? He had received a spectacular amount of the dead mage's gift.

"My theory, is that he will want your power. Jade," Inali touched the back of her hand to the side of Jade's arm, a light touch to reinforce the weight of her words. "You have the raw strength. I have never seen somebody with so much unrefined power at their disposal. Your challenge will not be that of mine, attempting to accumulate enough power to complete a working. Your challenge will be to weave your magic. Make it something that you can use, to shift mountains or cut a single vein without breaking the skin."

Inali leaned around attempting to meet Jade's eyes. Warm amber glowed fiercely. "You are my student now, I can teach you control, and show you exactly how you do the things you do. I will not make you face this alone."

Inali knew how cold alone could feel. She'd had tastes of it, coming to grips with why people feared her when she wanted to help, knowing she was the only one for miles who knew the meaning of her name. Who knew the curse of it. Blackfox Learning was a bad name to carry. The black fox was not meant to be alone.

"Well... it looked ritualistic, I guess... there was one thing that really stuck out to me, though: that winged serpent. It feels significant, but I don't know why. My understanding of him... his powers, even my own powers is limited to what I've seen, or what I've tried. My caravan was destroyed just as I was starting to awaken, and I was..." she paused, obviously the subject was painful for her. "Taken. Um... I had some of the 'you are a very special girl' conversations with my father, and with the elders but I've never had any kind of instruction. I've been able to figure out a little, and I consider myself pretty smart, but all this magic... makes me feel dumb."

Jade sighed, leaning against the cabin wall. She even opened her mouth to protest at the Jensi becoming her teacher, but Jade knew she wasn't going to take "no" for an answer, and finally getting some insight into this enigma that had clung to her for so long might actually be a relief. Jade grudgingly accepted.

"You're a peculiar woman, Inali. You discover I have this incredible and dangerous force inside me, and that I scarcely have any control over it. I can feel that you're scared of it, possibly even of me. Instead of bearing arms, you offer instruction and insight. I may have been more comfortable with you trying to kill me," she gave a grave chuckle and grinned.

Inali smiled, an almost bitter quirk of her lips.

"I'm not a woman. I'm female, but not that. A fire in the hearth is to be respected but not feared. A wild fire is pure terror. I assume that magic is high among your people? It is very common among mine." Inali's smile became wolfish. "Our greatest can do things that would make the Obsidians crap themselves. But we don't just know it, somebody has to teach us. I'm just odd in that my gift is seeing how any magic works."

Inali rose and moved to sit directly in front of Jade, allowing her limbs to show. Lowering herself into a seated position, she raised up two tips and took them in her hands, curious to see by Jade's reaction if the Al Mayin had realised just what Inali was sooner.

"I must warn you. As a Jensi, I touch a lot. We communicate complex thoughts and ideas, and emotions. As a healer, I can use contact with patients to prevent them panicking or going into shock. A warrior will use them to stun and paralyse his opponent. A mother will use it to understand why her baby cries." Inali's face was serious. "If you begin lose control, I may have to use this to keep you calm, I don't want to have to repeat Northwall." Inali wasn't sure if Jade remembered the runes in the earth or the angrysadhurtlostjealousrevenge presence. If she didn't and the memory or asking about Ishtar set her off again, Inali wanted to be able to calm her down immediately. To do that, her ethics demanded permission to touch.

"Well, I read in the imperial library that the average of people who are 'awakened' amounts to about 1% of the world's population. This is coming from the scholars employed by the emperor of Sarife, though so he can make them put whatever he wants. If you think about it in a mathematical sense, though, if you lower the population of a civilization, you'll increase the density of awakened children, even if the total world average stays the same. The Al Mayin are very few so the density of 'awakened' Al Mayin is very high," she had begun to stare off into space in thought while she was talking and didn't notice Inali pull her tentacles out. She looked towards Inali to make a comment about the "greatest" of her own people and was met with the image of the Jensi holding her own limbs up.

"SHEXX!" she exclaimed, recoiling, completely unprepared. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and for a little while she just gaped at them. There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Inali continued to explain, though it didn't seem like she was paying very much attention. She was rapt with morbid fascination, having leaned forward to inspect Inali's limbs and even reached out to touch one... poke... she squealed and laughed.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to be rude. That will take some getting used to. Um," she began a little hesitantly. "If learning how to bring my powers under control means you have to... touch me... with those, I can accept that. However, until I get used to it you may have to warn me beforehand," she said, chuckling, still a little shocked. "I know what it must be like for you, having to hide that all the time, so I will do my part not to expose you in public unintentionally."

The sound of Vinsces' brash boasting caught Caim's ear and he cocked his head in the large man's direction. "I recognise that voice." He commented aloud, looking around the busy crew for the man it belonged to. It didn't take him long to spot the spearman, standing as he did head and shoulders over most of the crew and Caim called out to him with a wave.

"Vinsces!" He yelled over the gentle roar of the waves. Caim leant back against the railing of the ship.

"Well, fancy that. What an odd coincidence." The knight said to Vincent, who was still leaning over the edge of the deck, body wracked with heaving coughs. "Say hello to Vinsces!" He prompted the robed man and Vincent raised his hand weakly behind him in a blind wave.

It was through long practise that Inali resisted the childlike impulse to curl around the poke and hold Jade's finger like an infant child gripping a parent's thumb in a tiny fist. It also looked like she'd learned a new swear word. She smiled at Jade's further reactions. Fascination meant curiosity. Curiosity was a good trait in students.

"It's mostly uncomfortable, like trying to walk normally on your knees with your ankles tied to your waist," Inali chuckled. It would take Jade perhaps less time than others to adjust. "We call ourselves Jensi, and if you use the word and know it, then you will always find a friend among us. The common name for us is Cecaelia."

Inali reached out to snag her pack with a limb while she spoke, depositing it in her lap but keeping the rest of herself close. She dug out her travelling desk and easily set it out, pulling out her journal. Lifting a fine brush with ink, she looked up at Jade.

"The first thing we must do is understand your magic. Once we know how it feels to you, we can work on how you use it. I think of my magic as a hand that touches the strings of magic around me, pulling them, weaving them, directing them. What do you think of your power as?"

"You two!" A voice called out and Caim and Vincent turned as one. "You aren't travelling for free! Come and earn your passage!" The sailor barked, beckoning the two over. Caim shrugged, waving again at Vinsces.

"We'll have to save the greetings until later it seems. Come Vincent." He said, grabbing the ill man by his collar and dragging him behind.

The day was uneventful and night soon fell. Caim set down the crate he was carrying in front of the table. The smell of stewed meat wafted through the dining area and he sat himself on the wooden box with Vincent and the rest of the group, eagerly awaiting his serving. Eria was quietly sipping from a mug of rum, clutching it close to her chest like a bowl of hot soup on a winter's day. Her cheeks were already flushed with red. Erdu likewise sat silently on one end of a bench. His stiff posture and stoic expression making him seem for all the world like a wax sculpture. The sailors were chatting loudly, exchanging boistrous jokes and stories of their homes. Colourful jokes and curses filled the room and one occasion one group would burst into an off key song only to be met with an equally raucous chant from another. They all cheered when the cabin boy arrived, bearing a heavy pot big enough for the boy to sleep in in his arms. He set the steaming mixture down on the table with great effort and started doling out portions to everyone's bowls. A lantern swung from the rafters of the hold, the shadows shifting across the faces of the men and women sat at the table.

"Is everyone accoutned for?" Caim asked over the drunken song. "I'd hate to be the one who missed a meal on this ship."

Jade thought hard about it. What did her magic feel like? She thought about the kinds of things that she could do and realized that though it felt very sophisticated to her, it was actually quite rudimentary.

"Like a giant hand," she decided. "This hand has thick, swollen, and clumsy fingers that have trouble grasping or manipulating things, but it's heavy and unwieldy: easy to swing around but difficult to moderate. It's like trying to use a claymore without the upper-body strength to properly hold it." Jade shrugged, not knowing how else to describe it. "I'm always exhausted after using it, even if it's just for a little while."

Jade described the kinds of things she could do with her power, describing the kinds of objects she could move. Mostly it was bulky things, or objects with a large surface area she could move. "Move" was probably not the correct word to use. Her description carried the idea that she could throw these objects with a significant force, but she probably could not gently lift one. She described her method for affecting smaller objects like one would teach another person how to hit a cup with a thrown rock, where the rock was her power. She couldn't manipulate the cup because it was too small, but she could throw her power into it and knock it around.

"That's the gist of it, I think," she shrugged, and pushed herself off the cot she had claimed. "All this talk is making me hungry, I suggest going to the galley before the men eat all the food, it's probably dinner time by now."

Erdu looked up from his meal.

"As a matter of fact I believe Jade and miss Inali are both absent." He said. "Perhaps I should go and find them." He braced himself to stand when he noticed Jade descending the stairsfrom above deck. The large hold had been adapted into a dining space, with a rectangular table placed in the middle of the deck and lined with benches. The crew were hunched around the table, many banging their cutlery or fists against the table while they waited for their serving. The room tilted as the ship swayed gently on the waves. Caim waved to the woman.

"Come, join us!" He fetched another crate for a makeshift seat and set it down at the end of the table.

"Where is miss Inali? Does she require someone to bring her her meal?" Erdu asked Jade.

Obsidias

The air beside the docks smelled fittingly of salt and half-rotted, sun-warmed fish, baking as the sleek silvered bodies did beneath the merciless skybound orb. In this, at least, the seaside was more savory than the slums that lay just beyond. There, the odors were of poverty and disease, as those without the magical talents so valued in this place crowded in amongst each other and tried to carve out lives from what dregs they were allowed.

There was a tension in the air, but not the tightly-strung atmosphere of a people ready to snap. No... this was the tension of a bridge that had seen too many passing feet and wheels, struggling not to break and collapse in upon itself. A delicate balance, and one she could see the upper class preserving just enough to keep the infrastructure from crumbling at their feet. They were savvy, the men who ran this city, but they were cruel.

Selene, as she called herself at present, was something of an interruption in this, the aura of both magic and serenity rather unorthodox in such a setting, but this, she was only barely-conscious of, and instead devoted her attention to surveying her surroundings. She had never been to a port before, though of course she had read about them and heard tell from more experienced agents of her Order. The ocean and fish smell, she had been prepared for, the downtrodden faces, not nearly as much.

She did not quite understand why so many people were looking at her. Granted, her manner of dress was different from anyone else, but this was a port. Surely many strange people came through such places? Even amongst her order, her hair and ears were strange, but... drawing this much attention was strange. had she perhaps neglected to observe some important custom? Her information did not lead her to believe so. As far as she was aware, Obsidias was run by an Archmage, or at least it was usually. They were without one presently, part of the reason she had been dispatched. There was much infighting over who the next one would be, and she was told to do what she might to resolve that.

It was a bit important for a first mission, she could not help but think. Hopefully, it was a sign of her masters' faith in her. There was always the chance she had been set up to fail and perhaps learn something from it that she had missed by more conventional instruction. Such a method would not be unheard-of. Likely, there was a senior member of the order here, to track her progress.

Perhaps unwise, then, to dally here, fascinating as it was. For all her thoughts, Selene's face had never changed, and she started forward on what appeared little more than a whim, soon disappearing from the dockside area, headed for the slums and through them, to the finer parts of the city.