Hrm.

[camwyn]

My brain wandered off without me, and came back with a little fillip of something from VicMage.Asia that has yet to happen... It's a little weird stylistically, but I'm just experimenting at this point. Have a look, if you like.

What in the Nine Hells is this?

Will you look at -

-never seen anything that -

- where the hell did this come from?

It's a typhoon, they come up at this time of year.

No they don't. Not like this. I mean, look at those-

Nothing moves like that, Chiang. Nothing. I've never seen clouds like-

Is it just me, or is the sky turning green?

It's not just you, Lieutenant. It'll be steel color next.

…

Then black. Green, steel, black. It always runs in that order.

But never quite that fast, right, sir?

… no. Never.

Should I tell the admiral, sir?

I think you'd better, yes…

Where did this come from?



Lord Admiral?

Get up, Lieutenant. What is it?

Yes, sir… We have a problem. It's - sir, there's - I -

Incoming storm, is it?

Sir, you need to see this. Now, sir, if you'll pardon my saying so.

… Very well.

… thankyousir…



Drop the sails! Drop them, now, all of you! Fire the engines and make ready to - oh!

Ah. I see what Lieutenant Deng meant.

YesLordAdmiralSir!

I'm not going to tell you again to stop doing that. Salute or bow, we haven't got time for the fancy stuff - when did this begin?

Not more than three minutes ago, sir. I've been timing it. Sir.

… three minutes? Are you quite sure, Commander?

Yes, Lord Admiral.

Damnation. This isn't natural. I would have sworn - Are the prisoners secure?

Every last man, woman, and child, Lord Admiral. Not a one of them could pull off a ritual like this.

Get the Sky Steeds belowdecks, then. And … slip the hawsers on the floating city.

But sir!

I know. I wanted to present the new Emperor with the Sun Bear capital as a prize of war as much as anyone in this fleet. But we can't -

Sir?

No. No, I was wrong. We can weather it. I'd forgotten, there were fishing ships that rode out storms worse than - Pull the entire fleet in and lash every last ship together! And double the treasure ships' ties to the floating city! I'm not going to lose our prize to some Ainu bastard's revenge!

YesLordAdmiralSir!



Why does the sky look like that?

You mean blue, and quiet, when we've just had more rain in a quarter of a glass than I've ever seen before in my life?

Er… yes.

It's not natural. Who knows how a sorceror's storm behaves?

Yes and no, Commander.

Aiya! I'msorryLordAdmiralIdidn'tseeyouthere-

For the last time, stop doing that. The next man or woman who starts kowtowing before we're safely in Chang'an harbor will be put on prisoner duty - do I make myself clear?

Yes, Lord Admiral. - Yes, Lord Admiral. - Yes, Lord Admiral.

You're right, Commander. It's not natural. Not entirely, anyway. No one can summon a storm like this - not this big, not this quickly. Not even the Koreans. Someone's commandeered a real storm.

So you're saying-

I am saying that at the rate this storm is moving we have less than a twelfth of a glass before the rest of the storm catches us. I don't think we need to worry much more, though.

How do you mean, sir?

This isn't an Ainu storm. It's not their style. An Ainu who could control this much weather would've sunk us when we were still licking our wounds after we broke the Sun Bear's back. Someone else is involved.

Do you suppose it's the Koreans, Lord Admiral?

You watch too much opera… Well, it's possible. We don't have time to worry about that now, though. Tell the fleet to brace for the impact of the other side of the eye.

Yes, Lord Admiral. - Yes, Lord Admiral. - Yes, Lord Admiral.



Did you see that?

A blind man could have seen that, Commander.

The man's insane, or something…

Or something.

The sailors are already talking about it. Especially the ones from Liangshan.

Liangshan sailors see omens in the least little thing.

I know. This is different, though…

You believe them, don't you.

Can you blame me?

… no. Not really.

It's A Time For Stolen Omens all over again. I swear, it's exactly the same.

Well, except for the part where there's no raging sea battle going on…

We already did that.

… and we've still got at least a day to go before we reach Chang'an…

Less. Even without the sails up the storm gave us one hell of a boost - city and all.

… and the part where the Lord Admiral completely failed to leap off the deck with an axe in each hand…

All right, I'll concede that one. But you have to admit it's damned close!

…. yes, I suppose it is, at that.

Which isn't a good thing. Not if they've found the real Emperor already.

The sailors've been talking about that since the birds arrived. Are the Seekers of Heaven absolutely sure?

I don't think they'd have made that kind of an announcement if they weren't, ma'am.

Tell that to Song Jiang, Commander. Uncertainty didn't stop them then, did it?

You don't seriously think the Lord Admiral…

Honestly? I don't know. And neither do you. Neither does anyone else in this fleet.

So what do we do now?

We follow the Lord Admiral's plan until we hear otherwise.