Session 21 - Primal Judgment

SESSION TWENTY-ONE Previously, across the Horizon...
It has been eight hours since Orrey died. ...again.
Fresh off propelling himself back in time to an era where he was in mortal danger to save Linnet from her own mortal danger, Orrey plummeted into the raging seas below Alterna and found himself at the mercy of the Slim Reaper's boarder, a walking suit of armor named Dobverat. Above the raging seas, Linnet had a completely understandable nervous breakdown. Despite the lack of faith from some members of the Starfall's crew, she refused to let the ship move from the site of Orrey's splashdown, determined to wait for him to emerge from the depths. A pillar of golden light erupted from the seas, heralding a number of strange portents, and then Orrey's sudden fall toward the water, unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Even as a train whistle sounded in the distance, the party decided to retreat from Alterna to allow Orrey and Linnet to rest and recover themselves, even as the fog returned around the once-proud capital of the Alternan Empire. It has been almost eight hours. The sun is low in the sky, threatening to disappear over the horizon. If there was ever a time not to go into the ancient city wracked by magical storms and bizarre happenings, this is that time.
And yet...
And yet...
We join our heroes in the makeshift war room, as a plan to do that very thing is laid out. **
Bast looks out through the viewport, to the vast sky above. "So, if the weather doesn't knock us out of the sky, it should give us some cover - as much as we're going to get with this ship, anyway. Isa, you still up for piloting in that mess?"
Linnet drifts about the room. "I'll keep watch for the scary giant lightning bird. And, um, probably yell at everyone to hide if I see it."
Isa is leaning against a cabinet along the wall, arms crossed. Sometime in the last eight hours she's exchanged her sword for a short-hafted spear, clipped into a harness on her left thigh. "Within reason. I'll let you know if it gets too hairy."
Yves is tracing out diagrams on the table with his finger, a flicker of lightning following in its wake. (Fortunately for everyone's mood, the lightning is vanishing fast enough that it's not marking up the table surface.) At least he's not drawing little hearts in the notebook around pictures of the ship anymore.
"Yves - do we have any damage to the ship after that session of tug-of-war?" Bast seems to be favoring one shoulder as he leans on the table.
Linnet glares at him. "Did you take damage and not tell me? Good thing I'm recharged."
He shrugs demonstratively. "Just sore. It'll pass."
Yves shakes his head, looking up from the diagrams. "This ship is... They're just amazing. The things they can do! What they could survive!"
"Are we expecting to be slightly more lightning-proof this time?" Linnet asks.
Yves looks over. "...like, we-personally, or we-the-ship?"
"We-the-ship. I have no illusions about us personally."
Bast smothers an answering grin at Yves' distracted rambling. "I'll take that as a no on the damage. Any last work to be done before we go in? Thoughts on whether the train or the station is the better target to start?"
Orrey, still a bit shocked by events, sits staring down at the table. "Do you know what happened to the Slim Reaper, and Cass and Galley?"
"Took the ship and left. Didn't see where, assuming given the tantrum Cassiat threw that it was to go look for your father. So, back to the city most likely." \ "Any sign of other people coming on board?" Orrey pulls his sketchbook out of his pack and sets it on the table. \ "I haven't seen anyone, but this ship is a bit... big.” Yves’s hand gestures fail to accurately communicate that size, but he tries regardless.
"All I heard was Bast snoring, Yves talking in his sleep, and Cinnabun running up and down the hallway at zero dark thirty," Linnet says.
"I do hope they don't try to open my toolbox before we catch up to them." Bast's suddenly saccharine tone could probably etch the tabletop, given time.
"Some of my sketches have gone missing. I'm going to guess Cass took them. But I don't know why she would." Orrey looks down and sighs.
"Which ones?" Bast asks.
Isa shifts her weight to the other leg. "Not sure when she'd have had time to."
Having heard her name, Cinnabar has entered the room, and sits by Bast's foot, staring at the wall for no discernable reason.
"Alitheia, Arendall, the 13th Floor, and the Skull Shadow I know are gone. Possibly others," Orrey says.
Isa sniffs. "Definitely couldn't have been her, then. She was off-board before you went investigating the 13th Floor."
"Cinnabun, did you eat Orrey's sketches?" Linnet crouches down to scritch Cinnabun and feed her some cinnamon roll.
Bast leans down and scritches Cinnabar between the ears, glancing over at the wall she's staring at to see what's got her attention.
Orrey locks eyes with the bunny.
"Maybe the ship took them," Yves says. He does sound as if he's making a joke.
"...did we forget to check for poltergeists? Dammit, Linnet, you airhead," Linnet mutters.
Cinnabar munches away, twitching an ear up at Bast, and then continuing to stare.
"We're still going in after my father? Are you all still up for that?" Orrey looks around at each of his friends in turn.
"Of course," Yves says promptly.
Isa shrugs. "It was always the plan."
Bast looks thoughtful, then gets up from the table and walks outside. When he comes back in, he crouches by Cinnabar and asks, somewhat quieter than before: "So why are you staring towards Alterna?"
"It's a sign. Even Cinnabun approves!” Linnet chirps. “So let's quit stalling and make up the plan on the way."
"Station first, since we don't have to chase it down?" Bast says.
Cinnabar wrinkles her nose up at Bast, and then hops, headbutting Bast's pom-pom with her ruby forehead, and then hops off down into the belly of the ship.
Isa nods to Bast. "Aye-aye," she says, ostensibly seriously, and heads off for the bridge.
"I wonder if they want faster engines," Yves says to himself.
Bast looks towards Isa's retreating back. "...what, am I the captain now?"
"Yves, please do not blow up the boat on the way into Alterna. Not before we've researched alternate methods of transportation. And yes, Bast, didn't we decide that already? Captain Bast, rather?" Linnet performs an elaborate double-handed salute and heads up to stare over the railing at pretty clouds.
"You'll need a new hat, then, Bast. A nice captain's tricorn." Orrey smiles as he imagines the fashion statement.
The Starfall zips northwest, toward Alterna.
Isa's had enough time to get more familiar with the controls. She's hardly an expert pilot, but the ship no longer overcorrects when leveling out, and she can adjust to the changes in the wind without any difficulty. Alterna is no longer easily visible. The setting sun to the west has cast most of the city into shadow -- the tips of the buildings that aren't obscured by a sickly yellow-green fog, that is, spots glowing from the sun's rays, probably. Retracing your steps, you see a changed terrain below, the former dock for the Slim Reaper somewhere underwater, the temple toppled and far out of sight. The wind here is lukewarm and static-y, with Linnet's hair attempting to form itself into new shapes. Isa guides the ship to port, well before a slightly familiar-looking cloud of sparks in the distance notices.
"Ohhhhh hellstorms. Don't go bug that thing. I mean, conceivably we could talk to it, but it seems pretty easy to piss off," Linnet says warily. She has wrangled the largest hairbrush ever seen out of her bag - it's collapsible - and is trying to tame her huge braid in the staticky breeze.
Yves has given up on staring admiringly at engines and engine-like pieces of the ship, and is at the deck to stare down at the terrain below. "I wonder how many of these buildings have toppled over just because someone wanted to poke around a bit."
There is a large stone building up ahead, with an entryway wide enough to accommodate the four train tracks you can see heading into it, overgrown with grass and something else that's oddly blue. The architecture reminds Orrey of Saron's train station, and then Orrey is reminded of how he was killed when he got off the train, and then Orrey is sad.
A cool rain starts to fall.
"Any signs of life?" Isa asks over the intercom.
The building itself stands about four stories tall, wide as a city block. Windows are dark -- whether they are broken or not is hard to tell in the fading light. No light is shining from inside, at least not that can be seen from a healthy altitude.
You have heard no further train whistles on your approach, in contrast to how frequently you heard them (four times, in fact) during Orrey's dive.
Bast adjusts the receiver closest to him. "Not so far. Think we can make this ship stay in place while some of us go explore?"
The tracks exiting the train are heading southwest, back toward Saron. There is no corresponding entry on the other side of the building -- this was the terminus of the line, back when it was operational. There are doors on the other three walls, including a set of large loading-dock doors on the northeast wall.
The rain is warm now.
"Haven't figured out how to have it keep station on its own yet, not sure I'd want to anyway. We'll need to set it down somewhere secure if we all want to get off," Isa says.
"We've got the only key. Might as well stick together," Orrey says.
Yves flicks a dampening ear. "I wonder what's in there."
"First one to spot a clear plaza large enough, yell." Isa returns her attention to the controls.
"What about on the roof?" Orrey offers.
"Was thinking we might not want to advertise that Orrey's with us just yet, in case someone recognizes him," Bast says.
"Get him a hat and don't let him jump off of anything," Linnet replies.
The light is fading very fast. Probably too fast, all things considered.
Isa glances over. "Yeah, it's going to be a while before you are allowed to make judgements on architectural soundness, Orrey."
The rain is a bit hot.
Yves looks up at the sky.
"Somebody tell me the rain is not going to start boiling," Orrey says.
"Come again?" Isa says.
The rain stops.
...and then rises.
Linnet looks up in dread, hairbrush dangling forgotten from her hand.
Raindrops rise up from the sides of the ship, from the ground, falling in reverse, sheets shooting up like the rising falls.
"Anyone see what's causing this?" Bast says sharply.
"...okay, I'm no meteorologist, but this seems... unusual?" Yves offers.
Isa grips the controls. "Right. Things might be getting hairy."
A few of the raindrops -- one per 5,000, let's say -- are a lot brighter than the others now, an uneven set of reddish sparkles rising up as the ship sails.
No light shines from the train station below, but an ill wind blows.
"We should probably get out of the rain before...something...happens. I have a really bad feeling about this," Orrey says, shifting nervously.
Bast clearly agrees. "Right. Unless someone has an idea for what to do about this right now, let's get some distance from that thing."
"Aye-aye," Isa again says with a maddening lack of humor, and the ship begins to turn back out towards the sea.
"Can I go into the tunnel and check it out while you're looking for parking? Please?" Linnet asks.
"Park it somewhere and run into the station gets my vote." Orrey looks mildly perturbed.
One in one thousand drops are now red, rising around the Starfall.
"It's just a little funky colored glowing rain, I guess. It's not painful or anything," Orrey continues.
Yves squints up at the rising droplets. "...let's get the ship somewhere safe, and then head in on foot, at this rate. Because the line between 'funky glowing rain' and 'now all your fur falls off' isn't always as thick as you'd like."
Isa puts the ship on a relatively flat trajectory, only gaining enough altitude to avoid taller buildings as she heads back out to open water, hoping to leave the inverted rainstorm behind.
Linnet remains on deck in defiance of the rain, staring alternately at the inviting portal shrinking in the distance and at the sky. (Turns out, staring into upward-falling rain still gets rain in your eyes.)
One in five hundred drops of rain burst into flame.
Yves bolts for cover.
Linnet does not; the rain is entirely too fascinating for cover. And the other four hundred and ninety-nine drops put out the occasional one that singes her hair or clothes.
The rising falls erupt into gravity-defying conflagrations, sheets of fire shooting into the sky as a sudden burst of hot air buffets the underside of the Starfall. A horned figure, broad and bulky, exists and ceases to do the same in the shadow of the rain.
"We've got company!" Bast shouts.
Linnet snaps back into the current time. "What in the livestock-hurling tornadoes is that? Orrey, did you make friends and forget to tell us?"
Yves has found a doorway to stand in, away from any rain, whichever direction it's coming. Unless it starts going purely horizontal, from a single direction. Then that would be a problem. "Have we tried talking to the company yet?"
"Never seen anything like it before! Is it another of those trapped beings?" Orrey shouts back.
Bast pulls out his new crossbow, sighting on the barely visible figure in the rain. "This isn't what I would call a friendly welcome!"
"HI! PLEASE DON'T BURN US OUT OF THE SKY! THAT WOULD BE MEAN!" Linnet yells at the horned figure. She turns to Yves and shrugs. "Worth a shot."
The fire winks out, and the rain flash-freezes to tiny pebbles of ice, ice that covers over in snow, the horned figure dissipating and leaving a breath of cold air behind. A piece of a building -- a long pole, perhaps a support beam -- whips forward, and then the tiny snowballs whip forward, sparks of lightning connecting them in a massive net of crackling power that splashes against the side of the ship.
"Okay, I'm saying, fifty-fifty 'greeting' versus 'attack' on that one," Yves remarks.
"Well, let's respond to their greeting in kind." Bast lowers the crossbow and hurls a grenade at the flying beam.
Orrey attempts to use Libra on the Storm.
Linnet weighs the options at her disposal - currently, wind and ice - and attempts to blow some of the net of snowballs away from her friends.
"HELLO," Yves shouts politely into the rain. "YOU ARE SETTING OUR SHIP ON FIRE. ALSO US. WE ARE NOT GREAT WITH BEING ON FIRE. PLEASE STOP. HOW ARE YOU?"
The wind howls in response, forming no words inside its screams.
"Nice try, buddy!" Linnet says.
"Use none of the elements against it! It's made up of ALL of them!" Orrey shouts over the howling storm.
"That's all I've got!" Linnet throws her hands wildly into the air. "I'M an elemental, dammit!"
"...what do you want me to do, throw a book at it?" Yves shouts.
Linnet waves her hairbrush wildly in the direction of the storm.
Orrey looks so confused right now. "Anyone know what PRIMAL JUDGEMENT means?"
"It depends on how you define primal, so... no!" Yves replies.
Somewhere in the distant storm, a tiny explosion goes off from a grenade hitting a beam. Not much seems to happen as a result.
Bast swears. "That sounds like a whole lot of not a friendly welcome! How far to the coast?"
"Last thing: it's made up of like 6 different...beings? Entities? Parts?" Orrey shakes his head as he stares off into the storm.
"...you pissed off nature and it has found you wanting? What the hell did we come back here for again?!?" Linnet shouts.
Bast looks over at Orrey. "Any idea what the six are?"
"Maybe the elements? Fire, ice wind, earth, water and lightning?"
"Ice and water aren't different elements, it's a chemical reaction! Sheesh," Linnet grouses
"Maybe we should, uh, back off? And come back when the forecast is sunnier?" Yves suggests.
"I'M about to pass some primal judgment in a minute, stupid storm monster," Linnet grumbles.
"MAGICAL elements! This is no time to debate natural and unnatural philosphy, Linny!" Orrey can't help but grin at her.
Isa looks out the windows across the deck, and then down at her feet, where Cinnabar sits placidly. She sighs. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...any ideas?"
Cinnabar quirks her little head to the side, right ear twitching.
"Don't know what I thought was going to happen." Isa keys the intercom again, and calls out to the deck. "Make fast, I'm going to full ahead!"
"Grab on to something!" Bast translates for Team Nerd.
Yves grabs onto the doorway he's already found. Earthquakes, fiery rain, fast airships: doorways can do it all!
A volcano erupts off the port side of the Starfall, sending chunks of ancient laboratory and fractured concrete sailing into the air, followed by ten-foot-wide bolts of surface-to-air lightning into the clouds.
Isa gives the crew exactly ten seconds before punching it.
Orrey wishes he still had 50 feet of rope.
Linnet is still blissfully ignorant of gravity for the most part, but she does back up to the wall beside Yves' doorway and hang on tight.
Bast wastes no time in following Isa's advice.
Orrey lets out a yelp of pain as one of the chunks of concrete clips him on its way by.
The Starfall takes a direct hit to port, followed by starboard clipping through the remains of a tower.
"FUCK. Right. Yves, move over." Linnet stumbles into the other half of Yves' doorway and points her hairbrush. "MEDICA." Nathan/Orrey01/08/2020 "Everyone get inside the ship! We can't take this kind of beating for long!" Orrey heads for the nearest hatch.
Yves is looking stunned. And bruised. And crisped. All the hair on his head is trying to stand up at once, and even being able to tell that through the amount of gel he uses is impressive.
Bast begins yelling something before he takes a flying rock to the ribs, getting knocked loose from the rail he was gripping and then slammed into a wall.
A piece of debris shatters one of the bridge's windows, but Isa throws herself to the side before it can do the same to her skull.
The Starfall limps out over open water, water that then bursts forth into serpentine waterspouts, pulling the Starfall closer and then blasting into blue-white fire.
"OH COME ON." Yves makes a rude gesture at the waterspouts before staggering indoors entirely.
"Linny, can you channel the wind or something to help the ship escape?" Orrey holds open the hatch and waits for everyone else to get inside.
"Not that well! I can give it about a gnat's fart in this hurricane!"
Orrey gets an idea and aims another Libra at the Starfall.
"We are not well, Orrey Alyon."
It is a woman's voice that answers Orrey, and then a human woman's form that shimmers into existence in front of him -- and in front of Isa, and in front of Linnet, and in front of Bast, and in front of Yves.
Bast looks up at the shimmering woman and tries to get up from where he fell - then decides that sitting up against this wall is just fine, thank you.
"...are we dead?" Linnet asks.
"No, you are not," she states. "I am. We are. All Alterna is dead, and we deserved every bit of our fate."
Yves thinks. "...that seems harsh."
"Majesty!" Orrey bows as best as he knows.
Isa nods, as if this is an entirely reasonable assessment.
All five instances of her head look to the northwest, where Alterna is receding, where the storms rage but the ship is past the worst, embers and sparks still trying to score the side of the ship.
"Your Imperial Majesty? What...were you in the ship all along? What in the world is happening out there?" Belatedly, Linnet remembers to drop to one knee.
"That... is our hubris. Our divine punishment."
Her head snaps to the side, five sets of eyes looking for Orrey, one finding him. "This ship carries our best chance to set our wrongs right. Our best chance to undo the tragedies we visited upon the Thirteenth. Our best hope to restore what we cut down to build ourselves higher upon. "Stand. Stand! Do not bow to me!" Her voice rises, eyes flaring, as if seeing them for the first time.
Orrey stands up. "The Truth?"
Bast raises an eyebrow at that, and continues sitting.
Bemused, dripping, and aching, Linnet hauls herself to her feet and tries to stand at attention.
Isa has been standing this whole time, and definitely plays it off as intentional, totally not because she didn't realize who she was looking at, nope.
Linnet spreads her arms. "But Your Majesty, we're just...us. How can we hope to bring about your, uh, restoration?"
Yves is near enough other people talking to kinda catch on, but still looks generally baffled.
"The Truth. The Truth. This ship car$#( $ --" The image suddenly flickers out.
Linnet whispers to Yves, "That was the first Empress of Alterna. And apparently she can still sense us, so she's not just a projection. I'm only slightly less confused than you are."
The storm rages, far behind you now, out of reach now that you have left Alterna behind.
Yves blinks. "--this ship carries WHAT."
"Relis Laurent!" Orrey exclaims.
"We're clear of the threat of the storm," Isa says over the intercom, "so maybe time to talk about our next move?"
Outside, Bast slides slowly down the wall to lie on the deck, staring at the sky.
"Is that going to happen every time we go into Alterna? Because if so, we need a smaller ship,” Linnet says.
"Or a bigger umbrella,” Yves says.
Inside the bridge, something bumps against Isa's leg.
Isa looks down. "Thanks for the help," she says drily.
Cinnabar looks up at Isa, her right ear quirking. She's transparent. Two more bumps of her head against Isa's leg, then a hard rub to the side. A pat of her paw against Isa's boot.
"What--"
And then Cinnabar sparkles out of view again, the last image of her a flicker of light from the ruby.
Isa shakes her head. "Just once," she mutters to herself. "a nice straightforward answer, just once."
The starry sky stretches all the way across Bast's field of vision. splashes of light painted against the inky backdrop, bands of color in the cloudless expanse above.
A star streaks across the sky, west to east.
Linnet finishes checking everyone for damage - having been able to emergency-heal most of it - and pokes her head onto the bridge to check on Isa. "Strategy meeting in the mess. You comin'?" (Linnet has called a strategy meeting in the kitchen. Bast has been made aware.)
"Once I figure out how to lock in a course, yes."
Anyone who decides to come will find a pot of strong tea and an open tin of butter cookies, along with a dryer seat than any on deck.

Yves is trying to make coffee. He still looks a little... singed.
Bast gets up, rather unwillingly, and makes a circuit of the ship to make sure nothing's on fire before he joins the rest of the company.
Orrey munches a butter cookie and sips at some hot tea, examining some singes and cuts in his coat.
Linnet stares into her oversized tea mug, quietly not looking at Orrey. "So I think I have to bite my tongue and say this isn't working. Alterna is out to kill us and we can't even get close enough to figure out where we might have a breadcrumb trail."
"Also we might have a projection of the first Empress of Alterna on board. I'm a little unclear if she's part of the ship or only manifests in times of severe wounding or what, but Your Majesty, if you're listening, you're welcome to join the discussion."
No spectral empresses join in.
Orrey nods. "But there has to be a way."
"No there doesn't," Isa says as she comes in. "Not everything can be solved with a plucky optimism."
"There may not be a way for us right now, right here, with this group and this equipment,” Yves says. “So I guess the question is which of those details need to change. People? Stuff? Timing? Direction?"
"Isa, as the main provider of plucky optimism in this party, I want to reply with something plucky and optimistic, but right now I've just spent almost all my usefulness keeping you all from being dead, again." Linnet looks very, very tired. "At least we're not falling into the ocean this time, but I don't want to see what happens if we do."
Yves stares into the coffee grounds. "It's like my geometry teacher always said. Very difficult things need to be broken down into pieces that can be assessed individually."
"Isa, I didn't say it would be solved by optimism, damn it, or that it would be easy. But it's not IMPOSSIBLE. Nothing is. Beyond our current capabilities? Yeah, most likely." Orrey sighs and sits down, munching more aggressively.
"Orrey, you're the one with the biggest stake in this whole operation. I think the final vote goes to you, but I would invite all comers to discuss our course of action before we put the decision in your hands," Linnet says. "Do we continue in Alterna on foot? Do we try to track down the teenagers? Do we try to book passage on the train so we don't have to continue beating the hell out of this ship? Do we abandon Alterna altogether and go find that, uh, gentleman behind the chocobo stampede?"
Bast shifts. "I'm thinking we may want to go over the ship again, to check for damage and...whatever else is going on here. After that...well. I didn't see any signs of life in that station, though I don't see why a train would be going out to an empty building - maybe they hid from the storm, maybe it's just a stopping point for the train that no one is crazy enough to stay in. Unless we sit around waiting for another break in the weather, our next best lead is the train."
"Can we find a train?" Orrey asks. "It headed back to Saron, right?"
"I mean, we can find the tracks, at least. Those are a fairly essential feature of trains," Linnet says.
"Picking up the trail in Saron is going to be our best bet. We can find a berth for the ship far enough from the city to avoid attention," Isa says.
"Before or after the fire and ice and volcano gods smash us to smithereens?" (Linnet's plucky optimism reservoir is temporarily filled with withered sarcasm. Try back later.)
Bast turns to Isa: "How high do you think we could take this ship?"
"If the instruments are more than just ambitious, high enough we wouldn't be able to breathe on deck."
"I don't think we have a ladder that long for getting back down, anyway," Yves says.
"Not for getting down, but I was wondering if there's a limit to how high that storm can go. We might be able to stay out of range and follow the tracks," Bast says.
Linnet slumps. "Please let me recharge before you do that, just in case we all get stormed to our deaths again."
"I think we just got a very clear 'off-limits' sign for the entire city, at any altitude," Isa says with finality.
Bast taps his fingers against the table slowly. "Maybe, yeah. I was thinking we don't want to miss the Reaper if it's been downed somewhere."
"And I think that means we just haven't made friends with the right bits of it yet. I mean, the Empress said we're the empire's best hope! Or someone in here is, at any rate. Probably Cinnabun," Linnet says.
"The who?" Isa says.
"Isa, I swear, I will plucky-optimism you right in the gaps in your armor." Linnet glares without venom at Isa. "The projection? The first Empress of Alterna? Relis Laurent? That's who we saw, if only for a minute."
"Is that who that was supposed to be? Didn't look anything like her."
"Oh. OH WAIT!" Orrey exclaims. "It's the SHIP! Or the Empress! Or whatever represents Alterna!"
Bast looks around. "...also, is everyone on a first-name basis with ancient Alternan royalty here besides me?"
"Not face-to-face, but some of us read our history. That's what's taking up the part of our brains where you keep most of your useful skills," Linnet says.
"PRIMAL JUDGEMENT!" Orrey pops up out of his chair and starts pacing. "The storm was not mad at us, it's pissed off at the empire for imprisoning it and all its friends! It makes so much sense, now! We weren't attacked when we went in there before because we didn't have this ship!"
"...and you think the Empress wants us to release it? How?" After thinking about Orrey’s last statement, she adds, "...I mean, we kinda were, look at the giant lightning bird."
"Hm. Probably shouldn't point out that I'm descended from her, huh," Isa says.
"I mean, you're welcome to try playing that card, just be plenty respectful about it. And don't kneel. Not that you would," Linnet says.
"Oh, I heard the no kneeling part. And you're right, I wouldn't."
Linnet fills Orrey in on the lightning bird when she sees the blank look on his face.
"Oh. Damn. I guess not." Orrey slumps back down into his chair.
"Hey, don't look so glum. Remember, the biggest discoveries don't start with 'Eureka,' they start with 'Huh, that's funny.'" Linnet puts more biscuits on Orrey's plate and smiles at him.
"I really hope Cass didn't go into that storm." Orrey grabs another cookie and chomps it.
"If she was smart, she went home." Isa decides, diplomatically, not to give her assessment of Cassiat's intelligence.
"If she was impulsively dedicated to rescuing your father, she probably hared off after whatever lead she had. But yeah, I don't think Galley would have let them try a storm like that. They'll be fine," Linnet says, trying to cheer him up.
"The train, then? In Saron?"
"Right. So. Action plans? Anyone? Because I'm pretty sure 'let's go explore the train station' got shot down and I don't know where the booking office for the train is."
Isa nods to Orrey. "Saron. Find some hard intelligence on your father, hope to hear word of the Slim Reaper. Maybe see what we can do about crewing the Starfall as well. It would have been a lot easier to get out of the storm with some extra hands."
"And maybe we can take another shot at that place when we're much, much better prepared," Yves says.
Bast scowls. "Get ready for some interesting conversations with Coda."
"...I hope Ingrid's okay," Linnet says, wincing at her memories.
"Just...." Isa sighs, then sets her expression hard and serious. "We need to put Alterna out of our minds for the time being. I know that most of you don't spend a lot of time doing threat assessments, but we very nearly lost everyone today. And there's no guarantee next time will be any better. So turn your attention elsewhere, to what we can accomplish. And like Yves says, one day we'll be better prepared and we'll do whatever it is this ship is meant to do there. But not today. Not tomorrow. Long-term plans, alright?"
Bast, slowly rubbing his ribs where a few blood stains have seeped through his shirt, doesn't seem inclined to disagree.
Orrey moodily bites another biscuit in half.
Linnet gulps down the rest of her tea, slams the mug on the table, and throws her arms around Orrey's and Yves' shoulders. "Right, Team Plucky Optimism, let's reframe it as 'strategic information-gathering detour' and decide where we go that gets us information and ideally not arrested or killed in the process. More tea, anyone?"
And with that...
End session.