For this chapter, we're gonna do something completely different: Focus on Batu and the joy of seasickness.
Once again the calendar system is biting me in the butt and my only explanation is 'uhhhhhhhh, the worlds aren't complete synced up I guess.'
The Chief Consul's Diary
By Bilbo-sama
Interlude - I'm on a boat (and I want off)
Day 5 (Day 153/August 23, 20XX/Summersrage 4)
It's been five days since they have sailed off to Hydropolis and Batu was beginning to regret this adventure. The 'test drive' on the river failed to account for several things.
One: The fact that there's practically nothing but water for miles. They lost sight of the mountains near Evermore two days in. Batu was beginning to miss seeing signs of land already.
Two: Seasickness is a thing. By the gods, why is it a thing? And can the sea brained swabs for sailors stop snickering at him already? Batu's people are air pirates! Their thing was the bloody sky! They brought danger and excitement from above!
The only bright spot is that his daughter was unaffected by this affliction. Instead, Tani looked very bored.
Three: There are at least the same amount of monsters lurking in the ocean as there are on land or perhaps even more. Fortunately, this proved to be a great distraction for the constant nausea Batu had been feeling.
Four: Lady Penelope is a terrible fighter with theoretical knowledge of magic that was rarely put into practice and therefore did little damage to any attacking monster. To be fair, she knew what she was getting into when she signed up for the boat ride to Hydropolis and she did request bodyguards. She was honest about that. She also confided that Lord Summerlands (whose given name turned out to be Timaeus, who knew?) was even worse and hopefully whoever Mausinger had appointed to take up the title at least knew how to swing at least a knife in your general direction.
"Surely, yer just exaggerating," said Batu, feeling like he should come to the man's defense since he's not here to do it himself.
Lady Penelope merely stared back, "Am I?" Her tone spoke of experience and left everyone who was on deck wondering what exactly happened in the disgraced nobles' rush to safety.
At the moment, the Lady and Tani are in the cabin discussing something along the lines of what life was like before Evermore. Batu hadn't been paying attention to what has been said. The sea demanded more of his attention in so many ways.
It was probably something he was meant not to hear anyway.
Day 9 (Day 157/August 27, 20XX/Summersrage 8)
On the ninth day, Batu discovered that the secret cabin conference had to do something with making a dress in case of Evan getting the idea that Evermore should host a fancy castle party.
That...that was actually something that hadn't occurred to Batu. How many of those did Evan attend when he was a wee lad? Is this one of those things that should be brought up at some point? Can the Kingdom actually afford a party fancier than a festival brought upon by homesickness right now?
Well, this is probably a future thing. And the future meant...Tani attending these events all dolled up for all to see.
And...oh gods, there will be rich spoiled landlubbers for boys there!
But...so will some of his trusted men who could watch out for her. Discreetly and just in case she needed back up.
...In case her spear didn't spell it out the first time. Because she can look after herself. Yes.
Day 17 (Day 165/September 4, 20XX/Summersrage 16)
Batu wasn't sure what is going on in Evermore during his absence but he had the feeling that Roland had fumbled his duties a bit for the past few days. Hopefully somebody was there to get the Chief Consul back on track.
And hopefully it wasn't a social cue he missed or fumbled again. Like the time he accidentally insulted a well-known bandit chief because he forgot to bow first and then bump fists. Roland instead did it the other way around. Fortunately, the chief laughed and appreciated that Roland had done it without fear and was ballsy enough to act like he meant to do that.
Roland later told Batu that no, he wasn't pretending and was actually relieved that the result was safer travels around that tribe's forest hideout near Wiggly Way.
Day 26 (Day 174/September 13, 20XX/Summersrage 25)
Maybe Roland had the right idea of keeping a diary. Nobody will ever know that Batu was excited to see a seagull for a moment before he realized how thin it looked. Land wasn't near by yet. The poor thing got separated from its migrating flock.
They all watched as a Jelly Queen rose from the ocean surface and knocked the bird from the sky.
Day 30 (Day 178/September 17, 20XX/Summersrage 29)
Dear head diary: What is land?
Perhaps he imagined this whole 'land' thing. Maybe he hallucinated all 36 years of his life as some kind of landlubber because he couldn't handle the rage in his stomach. Its been getting easier now on that front. It just gets worse when there's a storm.
The few times Lady Penelope actually tried to fight has been paying off. Now the water-based Petalias are looking more seriously injured after a fireball to the face by the time Tani or Batu come to the Lady's rescue.
Day 34 (Day 182/September 21, 20XX/Summersend 2)
"It is done!" declared Lady Penelope from inside the cabin.
"Can I see?" called Batu.
"It's going to be a surprise for everyone!" Tani shouted back.
Well, that sounded ominous.
Dear head diary: My little girl is going to have the best damn spear in the whole damn ballroom. Where can we find the best damn weapon maker in the world?
Day 40 (Day 188/September 27, 20XX/Summersend 8)
The very large whirlpool of certain death turned out to be a good sign. For nearby it was the main city of the Kingdom of Hydropolis. It took a couple of hours to carefully navigate around the whirlpool and sail to the city.
As they approached, everyone couldn't help but notice the large eye that's watching over Hydropolis turn its attention to the approaching boat. The ensuing feeling that they're being watch didn't help quell the overall nausea Batu had been feeling. By now Batu accepted that perhaps the endless sea and the now less frequent emptying of his stomach as a fact of life. This has been his life now and the artificial island holding up Hydropolis doesn't really count as land.
The moment the ship docked and was secured, Batu stumbled out and wheezed as he felt another wave of nausea erupting from daring to move so fast.
"To be honest," said one of the sailors, "you should really get that checked out because I have never seen somebody fail to find their sea legs for this long."
"Eurgh," came Batu's intelligent reply. He waited a few minutes for it to pass before following after Tani and Lady Penelope. They stopped at a random spot at the top of the stairs.
"Well now," said the Lady as she felt the empty tile, "this trip door hasn't been used in a long while. It might not remember us." She tapped a few times on each side of the tile and said "Portia!"
A blue light flickered into existence before vanishing. There was a faint outline of a circle on the tile.
"It's ready to go," she declared.
That was all Batu needed as he stood in the circle and said "Evermore." He vanished.
Batu reappeared on a beach overlooking the ocean. He turned around and saw the now stone walls of Evermore gleaming in the sun from a distance that he could've sworn was a bit farther away.
Wait.
This is land.
Solid land!
A few patrolling border guards appeared when they heard his cheerful hollers. One of them took the initiative and ran back to the castle.
The next thing Batu knows, he's lying on the sand waiting for his stomach to stop protesting and Roland and Evan are peering down at him. Roland (did his coat ever look bright like that?) looked amused while Evan (whose hair seemed...shorter somehow) was concerned.
"So, how's the sand down there?" quipped Roland. He had the audacity to smirk.
Dear head diary: Roland ye little shit. Just ye wait, its going to be yer turn on that godsforsaken ship. And ye will feel agony in yer guts all the damn time.
Next chapter will resume our regular shenanigans.
