The Wandering Isles: Session 82

The Resolute cuts steadily through the water, its sails full as the journey continues. Life aboard begins to settle into a rhythm, though unease and curiosity are never far behind.

Amaedrianna Blüdfist speaks quietly with Ekdíkisi Tintreach about The Seal, the strange object that currently contains Duckie the horse. The conversation spirals quickly. If the ship were to sink, what would happen to Duckie? Would he drown, suffocate, remain trapped forever, or exist endlessly in stasis? The questions pile on, and Eos grows increasingly unsettled as everyone speculates far too vividly about impossible outcomes.

To steady herself, Eos retrieves her compass and takes her place guiding the ship. Dash Heidmann focuses on steering, learning the subtle language of the vessel as he figures out how she responds to wind and current.

Amaedrianna seeks out Hatsu Toshitsugu, asking him to train with her. She wants to spar. He agrees, but only under conditions. No wings. Flat blade only. No reckless attacks. She accepts without argument.

The spar begins abruptly. Hatsu’s first strike comes not with the blade, but with the hilt, catching her off guard. His second strike misses, but he immediately follows with a sweeping kick, attempting to unbalance her guarded stance. In a single, fluid flurry of motion, he lands three clean taps, ending the exchange decisively.

Amaedrianna responds by slowing the air around him, trying to reposition as he descends from a jump attack. Hatsu adjusts instantly. Power surges through him as he throws a heavy left hook, landing solidly. He follows with a right hook crackling with electricity, a sound like thousands of bees humming through a sunset. She dodges instinctively, just in time.

Using that momentum, she surges forward and headbutts him, trying to drive the advantage home, but the strike fails to fully connect. Suddenly, darkness floods around her. Sight vanishes. Sound distorts. In the void, she hears Hatsu’s voice clearly:
“don’t trust your eyes. don’t trust your ears. trust your heart.”

Dash panics slightly as he realizes he can faintly see shapes moving within the darkness. Weslyn Theiwyse, however, sees perfectly clearly. Hatsu moves silently, then deliberately makes a sound to announce his position.

Then he is gone.

He reappears behind her, teleporting through the dark. She spins, her wings instinctively flaring despite their earlier agreement, creating a storm of spinning, feather-like blades around her. Hatsu weaves through them with razor precision, never overcommitting.

Blind and breathing hard, she retreats, bracing herself. Hatsu vanishes again, then appears in front of her. He sweeps low, striking her left leg, spins, and clips her right knee. She falls.

Amaedrianna places her hands on the deck, slides back slightly, then lowers her forearms and bows deeply, wings falling limp at her sides. She yields.

Hatsu helps her to her feet. He speaks calmly, explaining that seeing is not always about eyes, open or closed. Everything is one, and to fight properly, she must be part of that whole. He shows her a new stance, a different way of holding herself in combat. Humbled, she steps away to rest and reflect.

Later, Eos’ voice booms across the deck, asking which direction the group prefers. Dash suggests traveling alongside Rirtez. Amaedrianna doesn’t care, so long as they keep moving. Together, they decide to head northeast around Vurduar, passing Rirtez and Gomgalor at a distance rather than risking the southern route near Asazaki and Saigo no Toshi. No one wants to invite those dangers again.

Hours later, Dash gathers Eos and Weslyn at the bow. He pulls out his journal, troubled. Kaelora Toshimura had shown an unusual interest in it, and he cannot understand why. He worries it might be magical. Eos points out that it mostly contains sketches of books. She admits she encouraged Kaelora to look at it, which only deepens Dash’s confusion.

He asks for it to be checked.

Weslyn offers to teach him the ritual to detect magic. Over the next ten minutes, Dash cannot stop talking, mentioning his age, twenty-nine, among other things, until Weslyn, visibly irritated, restarts the ritual from scratch. When it is finally completed, Weslyn confirms the truth. The journal is just a book.

Dash checks in with Eos afterward. She insists she is handling things fine, but the weight beneath her words is clear. Navigating the ship reminds her of her stepfather, who once served in the military doing this very job. She believes he is alive, somewhere. The reports of his death feel wrong. Unreal.

Dash warns her gently that some fates are worse than death. She asks about his father, imprisoned in Scorchwood Correctional Facility. Dash admits he wants to free him one day. He describes him as a merchant, but one who protected people in need. When pressed on what he traded in, Dash says he does not know. He believes his father’s true calling was helping people like Eos, magical beings judged unfairly. He says quietly, “purpose matters more than the action.”

That night, the ship settles into calm. Weslyn studies the stars, the sky, and the sea. Eos sleeps in the crow’s nest. Hatsu speaks with Ayame Fujiwara and Asuka Toshitsugu. Asuka remarks that Hatsu’s training of Amaedrianna resembles how their father once trained him.

Hatsu demonstrates a series of stances inspired by the elements: earth, water, fire, air, and finally space, the space between all things. They move together in sequence. Hatsu leads. Ayame follows. Asuka mirrors her. Each motion flows into the next, synchronized and deliberate.

Amaedrianna stretches her wings nearby, reflecting on the day’s lessons. She begins to understand how to let go of what she cannot control, how to fight as herself rather than against herself, and how to be true in motion when the gloves come off.

Dash spends the night sketching, sitting on the railing with pencil and paper. Weslyn stays awake until the horizon begins to glow, watching the crew and the water, knowing that dawn always brings uncertainty.

The sun rises on their second day aboard the ship.

Weslyn hears a crash below deck. He discovers that four crates of supplies were destroyed as waves slammed the ship from both sides while passing through the archipelago’s center. Losses, but manageable ones.

Dash climbs into the crow’s nest and spots Rirtez in the distance. The sight floods him with emotion and memory, leaving him silent and awestruck. He feels a strange sense of déjà vu, as though he has lived this moment before and yet never has. He feels respect for his ancestors, for his family, but sees something better ahead.

They sail on. Eos points out Gomgalor, an island she dreams of visiting. A beacon of hope for people like her, a place dense with magic users. She fires a bolt of lightning into the air in excitement. Weslyn immediately scolds her for creating a magical signal. They do not know how Gomgalor treats magic.

Amaedrianna asks if she even knows anyone there. Eos admits she does not, only that her people are.

Hatsu jokingly offers to punish the crew, a remark that goes completely over Eos’ head. Weslyn reminds her that magic should not be used publicly at all, especially not before Anbudon. She interrupts him, pointing out a pyramid on the horizon. Dash explains they are passing the Badlands.

Amaedrianna sends her people to rest after their night of sailing. Hatsu lets his owl-like brother, Boreal Paleclaw, out for air. He thanks Boreal for everything he did in Saigo no Toshi. Boreal points toward Gomgalor, noting strange lightning strands in the sky, possibly a response to Eos’ earlier display.

Hatsu asks Boreal to teach Eos etiquette, while she, in turn, teaches him magic.

The sun sets on the second day.

Hatsu sits with Dash, reminding him that he always has his back. He notes Dash’s growth since his early days at the Arcanum. Dash admits he needs to learn how to fight properly. The idea has been raised often, and it lingers. Dash asks for sparring sessions like the one Amaedrianna endured.

Hatsu agrees, provided Dash follows orders. Dash agrees, with his usual edge of sass.

Hatsu gathers the group and again demonstrates the elemental movements. Ayame and Asuka follow. Dash tries his best to keep up. Hatsu wonders aloud if routine itself can become a form of meditation.

Meanwhile, Amaedrianna asks Weslyn about gambling, specifically dice. He dislikes gambling but wonders if she needs money. She explains she only wants fun. He muses aloud about what else might be wagered. A loincloth. A rod. A book. A meal. A song. She suggests skipping gambling altogether, or at least winning a song from him. He agrees, once the rules are clear.

She wins the first game. He wins the second. He finds no joy in it. Amaedrianna tries to teach him how to enjoy small pleasures, but it does not take.

They rest as the third day begins.

Hatsu notices a shrine floating at sea, dedicated to Tempestas and Minerva. It sparks a wandering conversation about pigeons, money, and the meaning of wealth, with Weslyn attempting, in his own way, to redistribute what he has.

Anbudon rises into view.

It is a city that never stopped taking. Built at the edge of the sea with the remnants of dense forest at its back, timber walls carved from trees that once stood untouched. The harbor is choked with ships. Trade never sleeps. The forest feeds the city, and the city consumes it.

Cobblestone streets and old wood remain, darkened by soot. Smoke stacks pierce the skyline. Clockwork and steam grind endlessly. Salt air mixes with ash. Progress claws at preservation. Industry presses against a thinning treeline. The Greenward Rebellion lingers not as victory, but as scar tissue.

The people are proud, hardened, suspicious. Magic is policed harshly while smoke is ignored. Unity is preached because it must be. Balance is spoken of, though rarely practiced.

Anbudon is a city of trade, unity, progress.

And of overreach.

They dock, pay their taxes, and declare nothing to declare. Eos disguises herself with magic. Hatsu remains on the ship.

Amaedrianna casually notes that the ship is not actually called The Resolute. Its true name is “AMS REMINGTON.” The dockworker shrugs and says his people will change it.

Weslyn stands on the dock, weighing options, paths, and plans, trying to decide what comes next.

And there, with the city looming and choices pressing in, the session ends.