All of Haven's senior members sat in the sun room of the Free Company's castle. Xerelia, Lunar Haven's second in command, had put a call out after finding out the location of their leader. Alagh, Pharais, Nyssa, Ritsuko, Dartmoor, Crow, Valindra, and Yurika Yumitori, a powerful tank fair skinned Au'ra known for her silky black hair and strong will. The eight assembled guild members all sat on the various couches and chairs in the room, gazing at Xerelia.
The frustrated looking cat girl paced a bit, holding the letter from Sapphire in her hand. She thought carefully on how to explain the situation as Yurika spoke up.
"We already all know why we are here," she stated simply.
After all, the group had been assembled nearly half an hour ago and had spoken amongst themselves all while Xere thought carefully on what to do. Grimacing a bit Xerelia finally spoke. "Alright. Nobu is missing, and we know why. He got a letter from Sapphire and rushed off. Ritsuko's dream concerns me. It was right about him being on an island, and I worry if he went alone he may really have gotten hurt by someone. So I think Alagh, Pharais, and I will go look for him."
Instantly the other senior guild members looked at Xere with concern.
"I'm worried, and since it was my dream I'm coming too!" Ritsuko Objected.
"If Ritsuko is going I'm going to, plus you three can't go alone." Dartmoor added, Ritsuko smiling at her husband as she held his arm.
"Um, If Nobu is in trouble, I'm not just sitting here. We could just go raid together!" Valinda said cheerfully as Crow nodded thoughtfully by her side.
"I already got volunteered and Nobu will need healing if he is somehow still alive. So I'll come." Pharais chimed in, stroking his beard a bit.
"We are all senior members of Haven. We should all just go together." Nyssa said firmly, looking at Yurika to agree with her. The pale Au'ra shrugged a bit.
"We shouldn't let Alagh be the only tank." At the show of unity, Xerelia's face took on a warm smile as a voice came from outside the room.
"Shir'a, Ves, and myself can hold down the fort. Go get Nobu." Suaco said. After all the senior members had been using the trio's personal lounging area for the meeting. The sudden interruption caused both Ritsuko and Nyssa to start giggling as Xere opened the door like a mother realizing her children had been listening in the whole time. Outside the door stood Sua, Shir'a, Ves, and Luna.
"Plus someone needs to be here in case Nobu comes back." Shir'a added.
As Xere looked back at the group everyone already seemed to be double checking the battle gear and items they had on them. Being skilled adventurers most of them just kept the items they would need in combat on them at all times. Sometimes hidden in parts of the Free Company's storage chests.
"Alright, we'll trust things to you guys." Xere said, preparing to leave before Luna interrupted her.
"What about me?" Luna inquired. Xere stopped for a moment. Thinking of how to respond when she suddenly got an idea and a clever smile crossed over her features.
"I have a special mission for you Luna!" Xere proclaimed as the assembled Haven members all turned to look.
"Really? A-are you sure?" She asked, a bit taken aback by Xere's sudden declaration.
"A lot of strange things have been going on in the Southern Seas lately, and a lot of strange aether flows have been detected. We don't know what is waiting for us and we may need an emergency rescue. Also, Nobu's linkshell isn't working and it's probably due to the strange aether currents in the area. So go visit the Ironworks!" At the order a few of the Haven members started giggling as Luna's cheeks started turning a bit pink.
"You mean... go see... C-Ci-" She tried to say it but her face steadily turned more red the harder she tried. Xere's smile had turned truly vicious like a cat with a mouse cornered.
"You have to. The rest of us have our jobs. The Scions are all busy. No one else can go talk to him except you." Sua and Dartmoor had both started laughing really hard, nearly to the point of falling over. It was well known that Luna's crush towards the engineer, and his masterful use of technology, was no small thing. As she tried to glare at Suaco her face had turned dalamud red.
Doing his best to remove the tears from his face Dartmoor moved towards the door of the room with the others behind him. "Well, we better get going. Good luck Luna!" He said, smiling a bit.
"We have a house to watch, so we better start with this room. Let us know how it goes Luna." Sua said, moving into the now empty sunroom with Shir'a and Ves following.
As Luna started moving downstairs she found Melkaili Redtail, Ritsuko and Dartmoor's friend and fellow Haven members, talking with the Free Company's merchants. Far too embarrassed she yelled, "MELKAILI COME WITH ME!," to which the miqo'te jumped a bit and looked back.
"Um, okay, but where?"
Luna's face still pretty red she blurted out, "TO SEE CID!" Then embarrassed she pushed the castle doors open before running out, a confused Melkaili following close behind.
Meanwhile Haven's senior guild members had moved to the guild's workshop. A large metal hanger full of maps and design plans. It contained a large holographic screen for imputing coordinates and planning travel routes. Taking the location from Sapphire's letter Xere pulled up a map. Unfortunately, it seemed that travel to the island would take quite a while, even using their fastest ship.
"Nobu was just one person so he didn't add much weight, and he took our fastest ship." Alagh said, a bit of spite in her words. Less over Nobu's appearance and more so that the group's best way of collecting resources had been taken away.
"Yeah, and if we take the other airships and they break along the way we will be in trouble." Ritsuko added.
The group gazed at the maps for a while in contemplation before Nyssa smiled. "Manacutters," she said simply. The manacutters had been designed by Cid as small, single person airships that could travel at high speeds and slice through thick aether currents and barriers. The rest of the group all looked at one another and nodded. They didn't need fuel due to their design and would be perfect for the journey.
"We should teleport as far south as we can first, to save time though." Crow suggested before pointing to the southern tip of Doma. The very southern part of the Ruby Sea was the furthest south the group was currently able to instant travel to. As their bodies began to glow and levitate, reality warped around them and within a few seconds the familiar trappings of the guild's hanger had been replaced by the chilled winds and salt water smells of the Ruby Sea. As each held their hands out one by one a mancutter was summoned in front of them.
Strapping into their vehicles Xere activated the linkshell pearl. "Everyone, keep your linkshell pearls on and keep in constant touch. It may get difficult the further South we go." And like rockets into the horizon the group took off.
The clouds seemed to rush past them as the nine of them traveled Southwest. The area they currently set out for hadn't been properly mapped and adventurers rarely had reason to travel that far South. The other problem came with the constant storms, and even legends of ship graveyards and evil spirits that haunted the Southern Seas. Any small island could easily be completely empty, or full of pirates, or even full of dragons if one wasn't careful. It would take the group less than four hours of traveling to see a black and gray sky in the distance. Lightning was easily seen jumping along the thick storm clouds.
"Are you sure we shouldn't try and go around?" Valindra asked as the group kept going forward.
"It will be too slow. Look at how wide the clouds are!" Alagh yelled back. It was hard for the group to hear one another due to the wind rushing past them, and would no doubt be worse yet once they entered the cloudbanks up ahead.
"We have about an hour of daylight left!" Crow shouted as the group, now getting closer to the storm, began diving down to hug the water's surface. The roars of thunder filled the air as hard rain swept over them. They knew the higher up they traveled the more appealing they would seem to all of the lightning moving about. As Nyssa's stomach began to growl, so did Ritsuko's, followed by Xere's. The group had left around noon and it was already into the evening hours. They had managed to cover a lot of ground in six hours but they still would need to travel another full day to reach the island. As Xere gripped the controls of the manacutter hard she had a tough choice to make. They needed to reach Nobu quickly, but she also knew the group couldn't fight on an empty stomach and the storm was making it difficult to travel. They also hadn't encountered whatever strange aetheric activity Xere had been warned about prior to their mission. Finally breathing and using her monk training to clear her mind and focus she gazed up ahead, slightly pulling back on the controls of her manacutter to slow it's pace.
"On the left, up ahead, a small island with a cave. We can withdraw the manacutters and rest for the night!" She shouted. The rest of the group had a difficult time hearing above the storm, but Xere raised her arm, waved, and pointed to an upcoming island. One by one the rest of the group responded in agreement as they slowed their crafts and pulled in to the island for their much needed rest. It was about the size of one of Eorzea's housing districts and had a large cave in the middle. As the group, with some of their stomachs now loudly growling, entered they kept their weapons at the ready. Fortunately nothing seemed to be afoot as they went back outside to their manacutters and begin to set up a makeshift camp.
"If Nobu is in danger and anything violent is on the island going full speed and hungry will only hurt us, and I don't plan on dying with an empty stomach." Xere said with a bit of a sigh as she got some food ready.
Pharais and Crow both nodded. "We have been pushing the manacutters at top speed all day. I'm sure it will be fine." Crow said in order to try and comfort their party leader.
As the camp was finishing being set up it contained a fire, multiple cans of food and drink, and nine rolled out beds in the Doman style. They would need to be washed of course, but the group would surely be sleeping in comfort. As one by one they stripped their gear the ladies took one side of the cave as the men took the other. Nyssa and Yurika had worked hard to set up traps by the entrance should anything try and enter the cave during the storm.
"Well get a few hours in, then head out again in the morning." Xere ordered, finally trying to settle in her sleeping bag.
"Yeah, we'll want as much of the sunlight as we can get." Yurika added, getting comfortable in her own sleeping bag as well.
The group seemed restless, and it was likely none of them would be getting a good night's sleep that evening as the storm continued raging outside with no end in sight. However, all nine of them had been adventuring together for a long time now, and had fought in multiple wars together. They knew one another's strengths and weaknesses, and knew that none of the group would let less than ideal sleeping conditions stop them from setting out at full speed once the morning finally came.