[b]Expedition’s Shores[/b]

“Agua!”

[i]Slosh[/i]

“Voda!”

[i]Slosh[/i]

“Ilma!”

[i]Slosh[/i]

“Almost there, Pip! Just a little more!”

“Vesi!”

[i]Slosh[/i]

“That should do it! You can stop spouting nonsense now, it’s far out of the tide’s range,” Chumi said, hopping down from the ship. The water that had been lifting the hull off of the sand and further inland slowly slipped away, as Piper released the magic holding it. She was panting, but she’d recover soon. She always did, after all. She’d been practicing this for ages! 

“Right! Well, let's get our stuff all packed now, then!” She managed to get out. It probably hadn’t been the greatest of ideas to pull off that spell while the ship was still fully loaded with supplies, but that was just how it went. They were both forgetful sometimes. 

Chumi threw down the rope ladder, and Piper scrambled up it, her energy recovering quickly and an eagerness to get started overpowering the minor exhaustion completely. 

“What was that all about, anyway? Vesi, never heard that one before,” Chumi poked, as she reached the top. 

“Er, some fantasy language is all. Helps me concentrate sometimes,” She replied. They opened the door the the below decks, where all of their stuff was tightly packed, aside from the food they’d been eating while “sailing” here. In all actuality, neither of them knew a thing about sailing, aside from that it was supposed to catch the wind. Piper had just provided a current for most of the way there. 

Chumi picked up his bag, a large, magically lightened thing that could carry a good deal more supplies than you’d expect. It had cost them a pretty penny back in Port Fort, but it was definitely worth it. He started putting supplies, like books, maps, sleeping bags and tools within. Piper removed her hat, eliciting a sigh of disappointment from it, and started putting her own stuff inside of its brim, ignoring its protests. The hat, too, was quite a bit bigger on the inside than the out, to an unknowable degree. Neither of them really wanted to find out just how much it could hold, it was too useful for that, and the more stuff was inside of it, the more uncomfortably friendly it got. 

A minute or so of silent fervent packing later, the ship was empty, the wheel magically locked, and everything was ready to go. Piper grinned, and pulled a map out of her hat. The moment she unrolled it, it began to fill itself out with what she could see. The coastline was already there, and it marked the thick forest beyond the beach as Jaded Woods. The thing had a knack for naming things. 

“Okay! Checklist, Chumi!”

“Ship secured!”
“Check!
“Supplies packed!”
“Check!” 
“Stomachs full!”
“Check!”
“Magic functional!”
Chumi briefly shot a bolt of lightning into the sea, instantly murdering some poor fish.
“Check!”
“Smiles everywhere!”
“Check!”
“Feet on the beach!”
They leapt together from the edge of the small ship, and landed on their rears in the sand. A bit of giggling, and they stood up.
“Check!”
“That’s everything!” Piper said, unable to keep from smiling. 
“Time to explore!” Chumi chanted.
“Time to unveil!” Piper replied.
“Time to make history,” they chanted together, “Team Thunderstorm!” 

They jumped into the air, high fived, and turned to wave the ship goodbye. It was time to explore this mysterious land, to see what it had to offer, to take it if it was good, and to defeat it if it was bad. They turned, and walked in excited unison towards the darkness of the Jaded Woods, wands in one hand, maps in the other.