Interlude: A Day at Sea

[Talisman]

25 Glade, Year 125

[Closed - Finn]

[Continuation - A Meeting of the Minds]

Things got started early when one was in the military track. The enemy didn’t sleep, after all, and neither could they. Watches were done in shifts of eight hours, and the starts were staggered to reduce any chance of being caught unawares. They would be relieving the overnight shift, and would be skyborne until mid-afternoon before coming home. It might not be easy for someone who was not used to eight straight hours in the saddle, but one adapted. Finn had an advantage over some with his mastery of Traversion, but they would see how he managed here.

Finn had been outside of Raxen's temple thus far, and had been on the training grounds with Achaka, but he had yet to be invited formally inside by the demigod or the Dragonborn that acted in his stead. Chuck and Syren had extended an invitation, Raxen and Galetira had not. They may have seen each other when Finn trained with the arbiters on the training grounds, and they saw each other at the Senate meetings, but Raxen's sanctum was not one to cross into uninvited, especially considering which god had marked the young man from the North. When sunrise came, Varilian emerged from the temple with Raxen and two others in their wake. Apparently the son of Akrivar would see them off, though the shadow dragon looked as grim as he usually did. The two younger Orkhan had plenty of dark scales similar to Varilian's, and they may well have been related to him somehow. They stayed by the elder dragon, though they nodded silently to Finn in greeting.

“Good morning, Finn,” Raxen looked over the bard-turned-diplomat, his tone genial and calm. “Off to see the Crystal Sea, are you?” The enormous Orkhan eyed Kherdroth appraisingly. Sturdy, solid, and decidedly dangerous, Raxen was dressed in a pair of dark pants and an open vest. There were two leather bands around each of his biceps, with a close-cropped beard and multiple piercings in each ear.

[Finn]

With an early morning appointment, Finn had not opened himself a portal into the Palatium Umbrarum to sleep with his husband in his arms the night previous. While he certainly could do so every night, it would prove taxing to gate so far twice a day and seemed a waste of other people's aetheric energies. His conjugal and family visits were regular now, which kept everyone happy, but they were not constant. He did want to be present in Drathera while it was the focus of his Work.

He had flown Kherdroth from the Prædium to Raxen's temple, and had waited, double-checking the riding harness and soothing the wyvern, who was not used to the scents of so many Orkhan. No doubt he had been trained to battle the people of Ecith, but between his familiarity with Finn and the latter's Mesmer, there would be no accidents.

Finn wore black Sentinel armor, albeit with his veil and hood down for now. He was never itching for battle, but he would be ready should there be any Gelerian incursions. They hadn't actually told him how often those happened; it was not information they readily shared, although that would have to change if Solunarium was to bolster their border guard.

As dawn came, he was honored with a divine audience. He bowed to God, nodding to Varilian and the Orkhan in turn.

"Ave, Feretrius!" he greeted, using an ancient Vastian epithet for the God of Swords. It might be translated either as 'he who strikes' or 'he to whom offerings are brought,' and Finn liked the ambiguity of it. But then, he was a bard, if not one of Syren's own.

"Last I saw it was from Tertium. Never have I seen it from greener shores. Kherdroth and I are ready to fly."

He flew the beast regularly to keep both of them in fighting trim, but eight straight hours would likely require a soak in the solium when he returned to the Prædium.

"Will we have a divine companion on our patrol?"

[Talisman]

Raxen nodded as Finn bowed to him. He supposed that it was surprising he didn't have his entourage here with him, because where they were going, the Sentinels in his crew were not going to be able to follow so easily, at a distance or otherwise. Just as well, because this was going to be a long day. Possibly an uneventful one, but it wasn't smart to count your dragons before they hatched. Still, they didn't need the Phaedryn's little shadows everywhere amongst the jungle in the event that they called this quits and they decided to try it from a military perspective.

"For a little while, at least." He had some things to do today, but it would be good for the troops for him to be there. It was good for morale, and good encouragement to all who flew or operated the vessels that would be in the water. It had been some time since he had gone flying over the Crystal Sea, and it was a sight to behold. Beyond that, it would probably make Finn feel a bit more at ease, considering the shadow dragon that was not particularly friendly. If there were any Imperial vessels or would-be saboteurs or agents to be found, they would be coming face to face with the God of Swords.

He said three words in Draconic to Varilian and the two with him, and the three nodded in agreement or understanding or both. "We are going to the third landing," Varilian spoke, addressing Finn. There were apparently multiple landing zones from which patrols were launched, and considering the size of the Ecithian continent compared to Ailizane... it was not surprising. From the notes and the map that Finn had gathered, the third landing was the one that was directly in line with Gelerand. They were going to put him to work, if nothing else, in one of the more likely spots to find any invaders. The elder dragon made a gesture with a claw-like nail, and a portal opened, large enough for all of them, including Kherdroth, as big as he was, to go on through.

Raxen went first, and Varilian motioned for Finn to follow him before he and the other two followed behind them. It was a protected area just off of the coast - while he could see ships on docks in the distance from where they stepped out, this was almost an impromptu barracks as well. Food was cooking, mounts were being tended to and looked after, some dragons were resting in the sands - not all of them as big as the members of the House of Sol'Zalkyrion, but there were far more of them. Even as early as it was, the landing was a hum of activity - well-organized activity. There were Avialae there with brilliantly-coloured feathery wings and some with reptilian, oddly, which made them seem almost Draconic. There were flying dinosaurs - pterosaurs, he was given to understand. Hilana probably would have liked those, and Finn was going to get a chance to see them in action out here. Others were taking off as some were coming in - the changing of the guard, though others would still be in the sky.

A shout went up in Ecitharese as Raxen was recognized, and there were an assortment of cheers and whoops for the one of the Triumvirate. The demigod spoke up, and his voice carried over the landing. "Well met, all of you. A good night, I hope. And it will be a better day. The work is long, but it is essential. We of the Shield safeguard our home. All of it!" He raised a fist into the air, which produced a roar from those assembled. He addressed the dragons that they had come with. "Let's check in with this shift's commander."

Varilian nodded, and led the way towards where a tall female Orkhan was looking over a pterosaur and their rider before giving them a nod and sending them on. "Commander Enyth," the dragon nodded. "We are here to fly. Finn," he indicated the human among them, "Myrelian, Myzedian," he indicated his great-grandwhelps. Each of them nodded in turn, greeting Enyth with her title.

The savage-looking woman bowed to Raxen and Varilian and looked the small assembled group over. This was an Orkhan that had little patience for incompetence and inanity. Her hair was half shorn off, and at one point it looked like something had burned part of her scalp - the upper third of her ear on the same side was missing as well. It was something that likely could have been replaced with Necromancy, but for an Orkhan warrior... that was a waste of time and resources. Most of what was exposed of her was scarred and tattooed to indicate previous battles and family connections, and there was plenty of the former. "Welcome aboard. I take it you will be flying with them?" She didn't bother using Common - she spoke straight Ecitharese. That got a nod from the shadow dragon. "Head for the Eastern reef. We've seen some activity there. Some foreign fuckers were trying to hunt the skywhales. Might be pirates, might be sponsored by the Imperium. Might be Imperials attempting something."

[Finn]

Finn smiled. "An honor."

His ear perked at the Draconic. His august father-in-law would not deign to teach him the language of the drakes, and so Finn had not pressed the issue with any of his family. If he happened to pick up a word or two in Ecith, though, it was hardly his fault he had been blessed with a musician's ear. Sometimes he had learned Arry's lines faster than the actor when helping him run them in more innocent times...

Finn nodded. He could point to the landing zone on a map, though it took Varilian's knowledge of the slipspace to open their way there. With a verbal command, Finn urged Kherdroth to follow him and the wyvern did so. Not so graceful on land as in the air, still, he enjoyed watching the creatures move. He was trying not to read too much into what Alikhandrian had said of true dragonriders returning to Solunarium. It was no longer meet for Finn to exhibit boyish enthusiasm.

Once through the gate, he began to memorize the threads of space, the ley-lines, if only to make it easier to beat a hasty retreat should everything swerve sideways.

He nodded respectfully to commanders and dragons. A dux Vastii did not bow to a foreign power, but he did show grave respect. He said their names, both to acknowledge and to memorize. That musician's ear helped him pronounce foreign words and names with much greater fluency than he owned, at least.

"Commander Enyth, Myrelian, Myzedian."

Thankfully, his grasp of the local tongue was such that he didn't need a translation of orders. He knew the no-nonsense type from his time among the Golden Legion, and so he didn't waste her time with unnecessary words. Finn nodded; he would be flying with them. Kherdroth remained behind him, nares flaring to take in all the new scents.

"Ita, domina," was all he said, and from the black steel of his gorget, he pulled a hood over his head and a veil up to meet it. The fine fabric would protect skin and eyes from the glare of the sun, and Amadeus Viator Finn became a faceless Vigilia Argentum.

[Talisman]

Enyth eyed him when he spoke her name, looking him over with sharp eyes. She was no slouch; she recognized the armour of the Vigilia Argenti of Solunarium. Vespera would have been utterly aghast to know he could compare her to this heavily-scarred beast, and Sevaerys' baby sister probably would have thrashed him up and down the training grounds for it. Best she never find out. But the Orkhan just didn't give a damn. There was work to do, and if he was going to fly, then good. She'd seen those wyverns in motion in the past; whether Finn could fly them at their full speed or not, time would tell. "Good hunting," she nodded to them, and with a salute to Raxen, turned to get on with inspecting the next group that was waiting rather than interrupt Raxen and an ornery reptile.

If the two younger dragons took umbrage with Finn using their names, they kept it to themselves. Whether they shared their great-grandsire's animosity towards all things Solunarium was difficult to tell, or if they chose to keep their mouths shut for some other reason, that was neither here nor there. They merely nodded - their features were identical but for their hair styles, and one could only hope that their horns were different to distinguish them should they transform.

Raxen laid a large hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at the demigod and nodded. "Keep up the good work, Enyth. Mind yourself." They shared a smile, and he let her go. The fearsome Ork demigod may have had the reputation for being a monster on the battlefield, but what Finn was finding was that he was completely relaxed until he wasn't. And when he wasn't, that was going to be the time to be concerned for one's life. What minuscule time was left of it. "Shall we, brother?" he addressed himself to Varilian now.

Varilian nodded, heading for the beach. The landing area was massive, but there was a chance that the senator was going to cause a problem with his size out here. Raxen winked at Finn, following in Varilian's wake with the younglings. Upon the beach, the raven haired Orkhan let out a growl, and took on his true form. He easily outsized the ships at the docks, and he had a number of horned protrusions all over his head and tail. The rest of his body looked to be fairly sleek, but in some ways, it was hard to tell - shadows gathered, even in the light, constantly shifting and moving. Figuring out where the shadows began and the dragon ended was difficult to the naked eye, and even through his veil with any enhancements, it was challenging. Raxen strode up to the draconic Senator, and seemed to be blinked onto the monster's back.

The twins transformed, smaller versions of the behemoth that was waiting on the sand, unfurling wings that threatened to block out the sun. "Keep your eyes peeled. Your grasp of Mesmer may be beneficial to you out here," Varilian told Finn, crouching before lifting off into the sky. The original landing zone might have been easier for winged mounts to take off from, but with his size, there was nothing for it. There was enough room for Kherdroth to run, at least, in order to gather speed to launch himself up. "Do not attempt to Mesmer Skywhales if you see them. It will end poorly." He was blunt, but at least he gave Finn the warning. Myzedian and Myrelian launched themselves after him, one of them being slightly more acrobatic about it than the other.

He had seen the Crystal Sea from Tertium, but up here, on the far side of the continent? That was a completely different ball of wax. Behind them, endless green from the trees, even where there was evidence of cutting and logging for materials. Below them, the waters were sapphire, with white-capped waves once they got away from the launching zone. It was entirely possible that elementalists or summoners were working to keep the cove optimal for the vessels. He could see monstrous fish, some of them just below the surface, and when they went further out, there were dolphins - streamlined and grey-blue, leaping from the water and diving back in. Varilian was mindful enough of the speed of Finn and Kherdroth, and the fact that they were going to be airborn for a large part of the day. There was no point in overexerting themselves early for show.

[Finn]

Finn was unfailingly polite as best he knew how, relying upon them to correct him if he misspoke. But then, he was neither Ecithian nor draconic, so there was no way to know. He was used to speaking to Arvælyn's platinum kin now, but even with Alikhandrian, who was younger and not royal, there were frequent misunderstandings.

"Ita, dominus," he said, acknowledging Varilian's instruction. He walked, and Kherdroth followed, nearly apace with him. The beast was affectionate now, and he only used Mesmer when absolutely necessary. That was how he was with anyone, though.

For once, the wyvern didn't seem to be itching to be aloft, perhaps knowing that a dragon might snap him out of the air before he could get away. He could sense draconic kin even when they wore two-legged guises.

Humor sparkled in blue eyes, all that was visible of him anymore, but he just nodded to acknowledge that he wasn't supposed to meddle with the minds of the skywhales. He hadn't planned on it, but the warning was likely for the best.

Wyvern and man gave the dragons wide berth when it was clear they intended to take on their native forms. If he overestimated, it might have been a sign of respect. He didn't know the younger dragons, but he held Varilian in high esteem. Taking that time to rub at a sensitive spot Kherdroth had trouble reaching, he got a little momentum, set his hands, and vaulted smoothly into the saddle.

His legs tightened just so, and he said "Kherdroth, vola!" That was all it took, and Kherdroth was bounding over the sand, arcing away from the dragons so as not to get caught in their downdrafts. When he had sufficient momentum, his wings unfurled to catch the air. He leapt, and his wings carried them aloft.

They found a thermal and used it to circle higher, idling until Varilian set their course. They had flown patrol before, and so Finn knew how best to conserve the wyvern's strength, but if they were fortunate and he was able to read the flows of air, much of their flight would be gliding more than anything.

Whither Varilian flew, they would follow. Finn stretched out with his runes of Traversion and Mesmer to get a sense for the world around him. It wasn't the same as Sembling, but it was what he knew to do.

[Talisman]

Warning regarded, Varilian was more or less satisfied. Raxen had no problem on the back of the shadow dragon, and parts of him seemed to be obscured as well by the natural shadows that cloaked the ancient beast. Full size, he had to be close to Zalkyriax, though the whelps that were accompanying him were closer in size to Kherdroth. There were rumbles between the three of them as they communicated, and as the twins straightened out, Finn could probably guess that they'd been told to settle down and fall in line, and learn the routes that they were taking.

There was a benefit to Traversion in that spatial awareness came in handy. Mesmer let him find any symphonies within a rather considerable range. It wasn't quite the same as Kinetics in the way the practitioners of that Craft could sense things in the Aether Flux, but one made due with what they had, and being resourceful was smiled upon even here. The larger dragon took them out on a northeastern course. They were still fairly close to the western side of the continent, but from the landing zone that they had set off from, most things on a northern route were eastern. Whether that was the actual name of it or just the name that the Orkhan were going with to obfuscate things from the Sentinel, who knew? It didn't matter at this point; they had something of a common enemy in the Imperium.

The wind was working with them, at least, and there were no clouds in the sky. This was a beautiful day for patrol as they went, though overland Solunarium storms were few and far in between beyond the dust storms that could be easily fatal. Perhaps there were some sea dragons here that were helping this close to shore; it wouldn't have been remotely surprising. It was certainly a way that they could help, even if they were less inclined to interrupt their patron Mythori's cycles, though the dragon god had not been seen in the world for some time. It was just redirecting devastating weather slightly elsewhere, especially if it inconvenienced or obliterated the Imperial enemy.

At least with Raxen present, if Varilian had had poor intentions in taking him out this way, he was unable to act on them, for as long as the demigod remained with them. For all his hatred of all things and people Solunarium, he didn't get to his age being brash and reckless. There was work to be done, and if Finn wanted to be a body on the sea, then so be it. He could be put to work. What they were doing was nothing that the Sentinels surely hadn't already observed. It did seem like there was little communication needed - the dragons were more focused on their surroundings, and he didn't need to be micromanaged. They knew he was perfectly competent, or he wouldn't be here.

His awareness picked up multiple symphonies, mostly the wildlife around them. Beings like those he was with were those which he shouldn't mess with - attempting with Raxen alone could fry his brain and leave him a vegetable for the rest of his days, but Finn already knew that. There were far more as they approached what was clearly a large reef in the water. He might go lower to look at it, and if he did, he could see that it was utterly teeming with life. There were a great many harmonious songs down there, from the shrimp to the shark, and this was wildlife at its finest. "We are here," Raxen turned on Varilian to address Finn, his voice carrying enough for the Sentinel to hear him. "This is the vicinity where the pirates were last time - listen for the faint songs up above. They are quite haunting and distinct. That will lead you to the skywhales, and that was what they were hunting before. We'll aim to stay in a fifty kilometre radius of here."

Varilian and Raxen went one way, and Myzedian and Myrelian went another - Finn could go down the middle, or follow either pair - this was their destination, and now that they were here, they could keep an eye out and search. The twins may have been the less sure thing of a gamble, though at the same time, they were young enough to be wildcards. On the other hand, he could stay close to the elder dragon and the God of Swords, and see what impression he could make on him.

[Finn]

While training was one thing, Kherdroth seemed inclined to follow the dragons as a matter of course. If their shadowy nature frightened him at all, it only seemed to instill something of a flock mentality. If he was flying with the dragons and the dragons weren't hunting him, then he was one of the apex predators.

Finn could understand that.

As they flew, he couldn't help but map. A memory for music had gradually been trained into something similar for landscapes and the like. It helped that he could feel and engage with space in a way most people couldn't, and if reading individual aetheric matrices while flying was nigh impossible, he could focus on Kherdroth's while also hearing the larger song of Life all around him.

When they halted over the reef, Finn awaited further instruction. Kherdroth cried out, and then hovered as best he was able while Raxen's divine voice seemed to ignore mortal limitations. The bard in him wished his own voice could cut so cleanly through ambient noise.

When the patrol split, Kherdroth wanted to follow Varilian, the undoubted leader. However, as orders were rather loose, Finn directed him to split the difference between the younger dragons and the elder. They would cover more area that way and, if he caught the whalesong, he could more easily get both parties attention from somewhere between them.

He reached out with his senses, tracking the dragons from whatever parts of their thoughts and feelings were on the surface, but not diving into deeper things. Then, he 'listened' for something akin to the whalesong he had heard years ago while crossing the Crystal Sea in a ship.

It took some time, but patience was rewarded. Just a hint, at first, but he focused and Kherdroth followed his subtle guidance. They were colossal creatures when he found them, but still diminutive in that great expanse. There weren't even clouds to hide them, but so great an area they roamed. Once he had them in his sights, he focused and pushed with his own aether, a pulse of excitement to let the dragons know he had found something.

He hoped that was enough to bring them here.

For now, they kept a safe distance from the pod, and observed for signs of pirates or similar.

[Talisman]

They didn't direct Finn either way - Raxen and Varilian had decided to see what he did when he was given some rope out here. He was trained by the best of the best of the Sentinels, after all, so he would doubtless have some instincts and training to fall back on. He had said he had done patrols before, and he had an idea of what they were looking for - those that were hunting skywhales. And if one could find the whales, then they could keep an eye on them from a safe distance, and intervene if the enemy showed up.

There was no mistaking the haunting, ethereal songs that seemed to pierce his soul that accompanied the airborne behemoths. This was not the Sky King's pod, but another one, and they were massive either way. They could churn out clouds at some point if they decided to, surely, but for now they had clear skies and sunshine on their hides to enjoy. He would definitely have to tell Hilana about these later. The pod numbered thirty, perhaps forty, individuals in it, from smaller calves that were the size of basilisks to much larger adults and the matriarch and patriarch of the group. The closer the pod came, the louder the songs among its members became, until he could practically feel it in his soul.

When he reached out to communicate to the others, Varilian and Raxen were the ones the ones who closed the distance between them first, gliding on the thermal currents that rose above the shimmering expanse of the Crystal Sea. "Beautiful, aren't they?" Raxen's voice cut through the orchestral melodies of the colossi. They would maintain a respectful distance, not wanting to cause a a crush or encourage the creatures to act in a defensive manner with them. And that was likely why he had been warned not to press them with Mesmer - they were perceptive creatures, much more like the wyverns with their above-average intelligence and awareness. Varilian was paying them no mind, his monstrous head focused in the direction in which his great-grandwhelps had gone. But on the other side of the pod, coming into Finn's awareness, was a Problem.

It became apparent to Finn what Varilian was watching for. The peaceful scene was soon to be disrupted - Myrelian and Myzedian were working together to herd and harry an airship that was doing its damnedest to get away from the shadow dragons, who were looking to get it around the pod and drive it straight into the more formidable members of the patrol. The ship had a barrier around its blimp that was woven from Kinetics and Negation, and one at least one mage was using Kinetics to try to protect the ship from dragonfire.

He would be able to sense twenty-one symphonies on the ship, and he could detect an overwhelming level of panic and fear - part and parcel of the influence of the shadow dragonflight. And if he was not careful with his Mesmer, it would leak over into his own symphony. "Show time, as you performers like to say." The big dragon was already wheeling, large wings casting a deep shadow under him.

[Finn]

The song was faint from this distance, and with the rush of the winds at this altitude, the whoosh of Kherdroth's wings, and the creak of the harness leather. But he could just make it out, and it seemed to resonate with the song of their aetheric symphonies. And Raxen's voice cut through all of it. Divine voice, he supposed. Finn was unused to using his ears in the high winds, where the air was rarefied. He was glad of it, though, for they wouldn't know the hand-sign he had been taught by the Sentinels for communication in the air.

He nodded, a universal affirmation among all the bipedal species he had encountered.

Ere long, he sensed where the other dragons had gotten off to. Kherdroth was fast, but apparently nowhere near as fast as the dragons, who were on the far side of the pod of flying whales. While they seemed to have things well enough in hand, he supposed it were better for the whales if the entire team took care of the problem. Raxen and Varilian seemed to agree.

Finn wheeled Kherdroth about and made short dive to pick up some speed, then flying below Varilian, his Sentinel blacks all the darker with a shadow dragon blocking the sun's rays from hitting him. The need for speed required it, in any case, if he was to keep up with the god and the great wyrm. In a sort of communion with Kherdroth, he stoked the beast's hunting instincts, and felt them well up within him as well. Gauging the distances and trajectories of the younger dragons once he was close enough to do so, he vaulted them closer, on the opposite side of the ship from the dragons, and allowed their momentum to carry them forward.

He didn't know if the wards tasked against dragonfire were impervious to a ton of flying wyvern and its rider, but he had Kherdroth bank before he ran into it, screaming bloodthirsty defiance. If nothing else, they would distract the crew—perhaps critically—from the shadow dragons on their opposite bow. And they would see if they couldn't get to the ship's hull, and start tearing it apart.

Opening his mouth behind his veil, he sang, and amplified the terror of those aboard the ship.