Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is late! I found it really hard to write for some reason, despite the fact the idea was just 'take me, and how out of place I would feel, and make it into a chapter'. Go figure. I guess the problem is while I would be out of place, I'm not exactly like Arcadia, so it makes it difficult.

Bit shorter than usual, but not by much, so sorry about that! That's my laziness and lateness. I'm tired so decided to cut it a bit short.

CHAPTER 26

PURPOSE

Olose leapt off of the chocobo carriage as soon as it pulled into Seblina. He spotted a familiar dockhand and rushed to him.

"Did that stuff I ordered on linkshell get loaded?" He asked quickly.

"Urm. I'm not sure." The dockhand seemed puzzled. "Who are you?" Olose sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It's me! Olose! Captain Sampson!" He exclaimed.

"You're not Olose Sampson." The dockhand replied.

"Sure I am." Olose smiled. "Long story. Are those supplies loaded on the Destiny?"

"They're at the dock. They haven't been loaded yet." The dockhand answered.

"Hm. Well, we had better get to work." Olose turned to the carriage. "Come on guys! We haven't got long!" Murmurs of acceptance came from the crew as they clambered out of the carriage and set about grabbing and hauling the crates up onto the deck of the Destiny.

"What is in all of those?" Arcadia asked, puzzled.

"Food. Tents. The kind of stuff we'll need." Olose explained. "Payment should be easy, at least." He tossed a bag of gold over to the dockhand.

"Is there anything I can do?" Arcadia asked, watching and feeling more and more out of place.

"Nah, don't worry. I've got it covered." Olose grabbed one of the large crates and lifted it, carrying it up a ramp onto the Destiny.

The crew continued to work while Arcadia shuffled awkwardly on her feet, feeling very useless. Eventually she decided to help out, disliking her feeling of being the odd one out. She tried lifting one of the crates, but gave up, discovering they were ridiculously heavy.

"What are in these things?" She asked Nadia, puzzled by the extreme weight.

"That one?" Nadia smirked. "That one's empty." Arcadia folded her arms, irritated. "It's not one of ours, either. Maybe you should just go and do whatever it is you do." Nadia walked back on deck leaving Arcadia slightly stung and a bit confused.

"But what is it that I do?" She asked. There was no reply.

"Come on!" Olose called, sounding overly cheerful to be back on his old ship. "Get up here, Arcadia, we're leaving!" Arcadia quickly ran up the ramp and onto the ship, lifting up her dress to avoid her tripping. "Hoist the anchor!" Olose ordered. "Lower the sails! Get that ramp on board!" The crew scampered about, obeying his orders as quickly as possible. Phabrizoe nipped past Arcadia, almost knocking her over. She watched in amazement as the ship converted from being moored in port to being fully at sea. "Bring me that horizon!" Grinned Olose as the ship departed, Arcadia feeling uneasy as it rocked beneath her.

She leant out over the side, watching as Seblina disappeared into the distance. Nadia let out an annoyed grunt, apparently Arcadia was in the way.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly, backing away. Nadia sighed, and continued about her business. Everybody seemed to have found something to do, even Saria. Arcadia, however, didn't have the faintest idea. She looked around the ship, at the mighty sail billowing above her (which was much bigger than she had thought it would be), at the water gushing past (which splashed with a ferocious power), and Olose who was stood at the helm (who looked to be having far too much fun to be captaining a ship). She sighed, backing away from the edge, realising that the water roaring past was making her feel ill. She sat on the steps leading up to where Olose was directing the ship. Phabrizoe ran to the steps, but sighed irritably, realising that she was in the way. She went to get up, but Phabrizoe cut her off.

"Don't worry, I'll use the other side." He sounded irritated, but didn't show it, running across to the steps on the other side.

"Sorry." Arcadia whispered in confusion, getting up. She turned and watched as Phabrizoe reeled off some information to Olose, which she either couldn't hear or didn't understand a word of. Olose nodded, and swung the wheel around, changing the ship's course. Suse bolted past, heading below decks. Even she seemed to have some purpose. Saria hurried up the steps to Olose. Olose nodded to whatever she said, but Arcadia couldn't hear it over the roar of the sea, and ordered Phabrizoe to take the wheel. He descended the steps with Saria.

"Oh, hey." He said sweetly to Arcadia, who managed a smile. "We're heading into the captain's quarters. We need to discuss just how we're going to find our way to the plateau once we make the island. Luckily, Saria has a more detailed map." He paused, seemingly reading Arcadia's feeling. "Why don't you help out? I'm sure you can come up with suggestions. From what I hear, the jungle isn't going to be easy to navigate." Arcadia smiled.

"I will do my best!" She cried with enthusiasm, following Olose in, glad to finally have a use.

Saria set out the map on the table in the corner of the quarters. Olose sat down, and Arcadia pulled up a chair beside him. He looked down, scanning the map.

"Easiest place to land is here." Saria pointed to a smooth and pleasant looking bay.

"Looks nice." Arcadia remarked.

"Yes." Saria said, almost through gritted teeth. "Except for that." She pointed to a hoard of jagged rocks just off of the coast. Arcadia hadn't realised what they were.

"Navigating them could prove difficult." Olose input. "Even for the Destiny, she may be small, but a single change in the currents and we'll be lost forever."

"Why do we not just come in from the other side of the island?" Arcadia suggested, pointing it out on the map. Olose sniggered, and Saria laughed.

"Urm, Arcadia, sweetie, we're a sailing ship. We can't sail against the wind." Olose tried to explain tactfully.

"Oh." Arcadia answered, blushing in embarrassment and sinking back into her chair.

"How did your father do it?" Olose inquired to Saria.

"He had one of the best navigators in the whole of Vana'diel." She answered. "We navigated the rocks."

"Well, if he can do it, so can we." Olose grinned. "At least leaving is easy. The rocks only seem to cover the approach angle. The winds don't show any signs of changing any time soon, so we can easily just sail away, letting them carry us."

"Once we're ashore, we still face many challenges." Saria explained. "For starters, as you can see on the map, we land on the south coast, and the plateau is in the north. The problem is that this river runs from this mountain in the west, across to the ocean in the east, entirely cutting us off from the plateau." She pointed to each location as she spoke. The mountain was to the far east of the map, and the river ran across in an almost straight line, at the south of the island (just north of the bay they were planning to land in). "It is a ferocious set of rapids. Last time we tried to cross it, we made a bridge, but eventually lost somebody anyway."

"We're not risking losing anybody to a river." Olose stated firmly.

""Why do we not just go around the river, at the mountain?" Arcadia inquired.

"See those rings on the map, and how close they are together?" Saria explained. "That means the mountain is incredibly steep. It wouldn't be easy."

"It's still our safest option." Olose pointed out. Saria didn't look as if she agreed.

"We have another problem." She admitted. "Past the river is a massive boggy swamp. If we climb over the mountain, we'll be dropping down in the worse of it." Arcadia looked at the green shaded area on the map, representing the swamp.
"But that covers the entire island." She pointed to the area with her soft finger, her bright red nail standing out against the murky yellow paper. "We would be in it wherever we crossed."

"The water source is at the mountain." Saria explained. "The swamp is much thicker and much deeper up there than it is elsewhere, and believe me, it was hard enough to struggle through it having crossed the river."

"The mountain still seems the safest choice." Olose fielded. "We can't risk losing our equipment the river way anyway."

"But you'll end up stuck in a bog, and if you're not careful, that'll be literally." Saria protested.

"It's the only way." Olose gave in answer. A cocky grin spread across his face. "Besides, we can handle a swamp."

"What if Phabrizoe froze it with his magic?" Arcadia suggested.

"Good idea." Olose agreed. "See? Told you we could handle it." Arcadia smiled brightly, one of her ideas finally being accepted.

"Phabrizoe is that powerful?" Saria asked in shock.

"What do you think made that fleet run aground?" Olose asked with a grin. Saria's eyes went wide.

"Urm, anyway." She tried to get back on track. "We then face a long trek through the actual jungle. It isn't easy, but it should be doable, before we reach the plateau. Then we face the real problem." She pulled the map closer to her, and pointed to the plateau. "The main bulk of the plateau is totally inaccessible. No way up. But, as you can see, just off to the east of the plateau is a smaller raised section cut off by a massive sheer drop from the main land. That we can ascend. My father built a bridge across. Something made it collapse, I don't know what. If we can construct one of our own, we can hop across without a problem."

"Felling a tree would be much quicker." Olose answered.

"It's high up. I hope you have a good sense of balance." Saria told Olose. Arcadia shuffled in her seat.

"Nothing we can't handle." Olose paused. "Right, we get across that way." He stopped to grab a pencil, and began to make markings on the ship. "We anchor the ship here, just out of the bay." He began.

"Hold on." Arcadia said. "I know I am probably being foolish, but why do we not just anchor the ship off shore, and then navigate the rocks on the rowing boat?" There was a pause.

"You have a point." Olose answered. "With supplies, we'd have to make two trips to the ship, and leave Phabrizoe with the Destiny, since he's the most qualified, but that can be done. It's much safer." Arcadia smiled, but it fell when she realised she was being competitive with Saria, a good friend of hers.

"Make sure we have medical supplies." Saria warned. "Wading through water, mud and fighting through the jungle often leads to diseases. You know what happened to me." She seemed reluctant to revisit that topic, as if it made her appear weak somehow.

"None of us are qualified doctors." Olose pointed out. "And Phabrizoe deals strictly in the black magic side of fighting." Arcadia paused hesitantly, looking at her hands, wishing she could be useful. "Anyway, once we've landed we move quickly. Phabrizoe is now staying with the ship, which makes freezing the swamp impossible. We'll just have to face it. When we reach the base of the plateau, we'll set up camp. Trevia will stay with both of you and Suse for protection. Myself and Nadia shall enter the plateau."

"What?" Saria sighed. "You'd be cutting down your forces greatly. What if you need us?"
"We won't. I can handle myself. I'm immortal, remember?" Olose answered. "I'll make sure Nadia stays safe too. We don't want to risk more lives than necessary."

"So why are we even coming?" Saria asked. Olose laughed slightly.

"Urm, you're back up." Olose admitted. "I'm not entirely sure what we're going up against. And I think we may need reinforcements." He paused, taking on his deeper and more serious tone of voice. "If we don't keep in constant contact via link pearl, you are to form a second wave. Or, more over, Suse and Trevia." Saria looked offended, but Arcadia looked somewhat relaxed. She knew if Olose was afraid of something, it was much better to stay safe. "You're our employer, so we can't risk harm to you, and Arcadia needs protecting, so you two stay." Olose paused again, realising that sending in people after him might appear cowardly. "Our mission is to rescue your father, so I don't plan to stop until we find him or find out he's dead. Same goes for Trevia and Suse. That's our reason for two waves. Safety is our primary issue. This looks to be dangerous."

"Right." Saria said bitterly.

"I understand." Arcadia nodded nervously.

"Right. Now to tell the others." Sighed Olose. "I really should have held this briefing with everybody, shouldn't I?" The others nodded. "This 'Captain' thing isn't as easy as some people make out." He grumbled.