A form of Aether-magic associated with the manipulation of wind and air, Aether Wings are a staple of Maelstrom Spire’s angels. The wings themselves are more symbolic than physical. Though there is a vaguely wing-shaped distortion about their shoulders when they utilize this magic, they are fairly static, or at least do not mimic the movement of natural wings when they are visible.

Simply put, this magic allows Solia to fly. However, with her Aether Engine currently damaged, she may glide, but cannot outright fly high or long without risk of plummeting from the sky.

A form of Aether-magic involving the manipulation of the air and sound, this magic was developed for the angels of Maelstrom Spire only a century or so ago. While their wings allowed them to scale the spire with relative ease, the angels could not be expected to see every winding, rising corner.

This enchantment enhanced their hearing, but very specifically. It allowed them to pick up sounds of distress, namely calls for help. Despite the logical nature of the spire’s residents, many came to view this as a kind of prayer. Whether they were called for more mundane tasks, or to protect someone from danger, whenever “help” was uttered in sincerity, it was never done lightly.

Currently, Solia still has access to this enchantment, but possesses the ability to silence it with focus.

Maelstrom Spire is one of Aruth’s oldest structures. Once nothing more than a humble bump of dirt and rock jutting up from the flood, survivors from the old world raised it into a port. Their skills as builders ensured that it was not only stable against the settling waves, but generously sized. So fervently did the builders work, and so readily did those who came to Maelstrom learn their craft, that, when the rest of the world was only beginning to stabilize itself, the port had grown to the width of a small town, and had several stories to it.

Centuries passed this way; visitors who decided to stay in Maelstrom would end up building upon it. Eventually, when they could go no higher for fear of the winds and the thinness of the air, the residents deemed their port a proper spire.

Once Maelstrom ceased to grow physically, it began to grow intellectually. Its reputation for building morphed over the following years into a reputation for general invention. Welcoming to all who wished to further their knowledge of old-world technology, or to pioneer newer creations, the Maelstrom turned away no ambitions, so long as they caused no harm.

Since the Maelstrom’s focus shifted towards peaceful invention, there was a silent understanding that, if the citizens were not going to defend themselves, then they would need to be defended. At first this simply meant hiring mercenaries to patrol their waters, but unlike the works created within the Maelstrom’s halls, people were fickle. They were tricky, and unreliable.

Then, the Chief-Architect at the time, Baelia Somni, astounded her fellow inventors with her new creation: the Aether Golem. Powered by the same magical engines found in ships, these golems were able to man vessels, keep watch, and¬—if needed—even defend the Spire. Able to wield Aether weaponry with inhuman might and precision, it was not long until the Maelstrom entered an era of intellectual prosperity behind the shield of Baelia’s golems. She passed before the peak of this time, but was then also spared the eventual fall of her creations.

Over time pirates grew braver, bolder, and smarter. They knew that while the golems were strong, they lacked the most crucial aspect of a living thing. They did not think, they merely did. Armed with vicious, cunning, and thoroughly human ingenuity, a band of pirates larger than had ever collectively attacked Maelstrom before, nearly brought it to ruin.

Faced with a terrible darkness, it was Baelia’s protégé and grandson, Rom Somni who stepped forward to protect the Spire with his new invention. Similar in concept to the Aether Golems, Rom’s creations were more sophisticated and pointedly more human. Unlike their predecessors, who were massive and blocky, these new beings had wiry frames like alabaster, pallid and stony. They lacked the same overwhelming strength, but they could be gentle, and nimble, and swift. Their Aether Engines were much more like actual hearts, pumping the magical essence through them as blood would flow through a human. They could listen and speak, they could act outside of a predetermined routine. To a hazily-defined extent they could think. To many, Rom included, they were alive.

He called them Angels.

As with all Aether Constructs of the time, their creator’s death meant their own as well. So, with the success of his inventions, it became tradition that each new Chief-Architect would learn Rom’s process and, when their time came to lead, they would create their own band of angels.

It was not until only fifty years ago that the last Chief-Architect Maelstrom Spire would ever have, discovered a way to improve upon Rom Somni's mysterious designs.

Mordin Ori’s angels were independent.

Solia was made during a time of relative peace. She saw no terrible devastation until the Spire’s fall, and enjoyed a cycle of residents who, unlike some past, enjoyed the presence of angels. She spent many of her days fluttering through the levels, assisting inventors with casual labor, patrolling the docks, or simply resting in the company of her brothers and sisters.

Mordin had made twenty-five of them, the smallest number to date, but he had also insisted on undertaking the entire process himself. With no help the creation took much longer, but he was almost manically obsessed with keeping the nuances of his “recipe” a secret. In fact, from the time he began until he was finished, he was utterly unreachable. Mordin put much more care into them than his predecessors had. He sculpted them individual faces, threaded hair into their scalps and etched tiny imperfections into their eyes. Each angel was entirely unique in appearance, with similarities designed to appear familial.

Solia was among the last to take her first “breath.” Like all angels, she was fully aware of herself, what she was, what her purpose was; everything that Mordin deigned they should know, they knew. He referred to them as his “children” and they knew to call him “father.”

The oddities did not end with their appearances, though. Mordin’s angels also acted dissimilarly to the ones who had come before. Their thoughts and actions were mechanical, but their decisions often weren’t. They did things on impulse, without always knowing why. One of Solia’s brothers would spend much of his free time whittling driftwood into fantastical art, another of her sisters could choose not to hear requests for help. Some of her siblings gained reputations for their peculiar behaviors. Solia herself was given to these strange impulses as well. Whenever the Spire did face danger, and she came to blows with pirates, rogue adventurers and imperial deserters, she never left the survivors to drown. In armfuls she would pluck the thrashing crews from the brine and drop them on the Spire’s docks to be hauled off into jail cells. Those she could not save, she left, and this plagued her with the beginnings of guilt.

By and by the residents came to know her as the “Maelstrom’s Mercy.” She found the title pleasant, and father seemed proud of her. Tentatively speaking, all was well. For a time.

Eventually the day of reckoning came. A fleet of rogue ships, united but bearing no flags, set upon Maelstrom Spire with unprecedented fury. Solia and her siblings swarmed them, weapons alight with Aether magic, ready to unleash the full might of the Spire’s angelic guard. But the fleet was prepared.

The ships and every crewman responded with weaponry unbefitting a seasoned adventurer, let alone a vagabond cluster of ships. Only Imperial research and Imperial coin could have supplied such equipment. Aether light arced across the sky, crashing against the angels’ stony bodies and sending them shattering into the waves. Those who managed to land upon the ships found themselves overwhelmed by war-hammers and guns much more advanced than anything they had faced before, wielded by men and women with the combative prowess to match the angels’ strength and speed.

Solia landed heavily on the leading ship’s deck, wings fizzled and engine damaged. She and two of her siblings managed to stave off much of the crew, until the captain appeared. Amidst the rain and lightning, she never figured if they were man, woman, or unholy beast. They said nothing, only roared with horrible fury as they smashed both of her siblings apart.

Alone with naught but her spear, Solia and the captain clashed in a flurry of Aether sparks and vicious strikes. As they fought, it became clear there would be no victory for Maelstrom. Before them the Spire’s frame shuddered and leaned under the constant barrage of cannon fire. People fell from its highest levels, whole chunks of beautiful, ancient architecture crumbled away. The inevitable end was coming.

In a masterstroke, the captain’s hammer caught Solia across the face, smashing away one of her eyes, and they shoved her overboard. In the brief moments she spent tangled in the side-roping, she saw Maelstrom Spire start to collapse, saw her father’s station explode in Aether fire. Then the captain cut her free, and she was plunged into the deep.

Solia came to a rest on the sea floor, surrounded by wreckage, and the debris-remains of her siblings. With her engine damaged, she could not raise herself back to the surface and so had only one option—she began to walk. At first she rushed, hoping to find some means of returning to the fight, but quickly she realized there was nothing, and nothing she could do about it.

Weeks passed this way, until eventually she came to a reef near enough to the surface that, when a ship passed by, she latched onto its hull like a barnacle and was carried with it. The crew was bewildered and frightened, though they had heard of Maelstrom Spire.

She was far from it now, but word had travelled fast. Even people who hadn’t known of the Spire knew of the attack, it was a leveled wreck now. Those who had survived were either captured, or rescued in the following weeks by passing ships. Nothing was left.

The crew took her to another port, but no further, and she continued to travel this way. She covered her more apparent damage under rags and bandages, passing for human when it was necessary and the inspection wasn’t too thorough. Not that she wanted to hide.

Aether Infusing - Used as a way to safely use her powers, Marea channels Aether into objects and people to give them temporary enhancements such as coating a person in a layer of protective ice or creating blades on shoes for skating.

Frost Lance - A simple attack in the form of creating a frozen projectile and launching it at a target.

Mother Ocean's Grace - By imbuing a living being with Aetheric energy, wounds begin to close and stamina is restored.

Glacial Prism - Used to protect individuals, it entraps them into a thick block of ice until it is melted, broken, or dispelled.

Sculptor's Touch - A general ability that allows for simple, mostly harmless tricks through freezing of water and manipulation of ice.

Like a still lake, Marea is a calm, collected individual. Though willing to share her thoughts on matters, she keeps problems to herself and maintains a steady composure. While her expression rarely betrays her thoughts, she is nonetheless a caring individual and is more than willing to intervene on behalf of others with the same fervor of more energetic individuals.

Marea tries to find beauty in all hand-made crafts. From a simple dish prepared by another to the labor and resource-intensive Ironclads.

Her favorite food are mussels, having become enamoured with them when they were the first food she had eaten after gaining her freedom. In a way, they remind them of herself with their strong, protective shell.

Though born in the Imperial Sea, Marea would call it a home only in that she was born there. Her parents were both soldiers for the Empire, raised on its virtue and divine decree that its borders should blanket all of Aruth. Serving together on the same ship, they grew close to one another during their tour until one fateful day in the Frozen Sea, the sky was blanketed in beautiful, green light that seemed to dance and swirl like the ocean their ship coasted along. It was on that night that they united to create a child they would never know.

After their duties were complete, the lovers returned to their homeland to settle down and pursue a life suited to raise a child. However, as the mother's pregenancy developed, she began suffering from increasingly detrimental health as all the energy she once had started to seep away for seemingly no reason. Eventually, they were approached by the Imperial Military not for recruitment, but for the child the mother carried. The mother could be saved, but they needed to act quickly and cut the child out before she was entirely drained of life force. If they agreed, the child would be taken from them, but she would live.

With little choice, they both agreed and the operation. Marea was ripped from her mother's womb and taken away to live a life mandated by the Empire. The many symptoms her mother was exhbiting were investigated, and it was found that Marea had an immensely potent connection to Aether. Their plan was to mold her into a powerful weapon they could use to conquer their rivals with the powerful Aether magic she could wield. For a time, the process went well for the Empire. The child was trained almost daily to wield the Aether, and her prowess with it rapidly grew.

Unfortunately, while excellent trainers, her overseers were poor caretakers. Constantly pushing the child beyond her limits, they had little patience for anything but perfection and progress. Most days, after the sessions were complete, Marea would instantly pass out in her simple bed before being sent back into the grinder. The only times she truly got rest was when she would collide with the very limits of her body and pass out for several days at a time. She hated her life in Galma, trapped within the walls of her facility.

Eventually, Marea's growth began to stagnate. No matter how hard or long they pushed, she simply did not seem to improve. Drastic measures were taken to try and force a breakthrough. The young girl was placed into live combat with an elite officer with the hopes that the stress would cause her to tap into that latent might she carried. They got what they wanted, but not quite how. Marea was no match for the battle-hardened veteran and beaten down over and over again, only to be healed up and sent back in.

She pleaded, begged for them to stop, but each time she was forced back to the arena until finally, she snapped. The stress and desperation forced an explosion of Aether Magic. Ice erupted from Marea and tore the facility apart. The connection it had to the rest of Galma was destroyed, and the entire place was sent sinking deep into the ocean. Comatose and encased within a jagged block of ice, Marea drifted out of the ruined building before being carried off by the tide.

A warm light pierced Marea's darkened vision, and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"...Wh-Where?"

"A child, encased in ice and floating through the sea? Can't say We've fished up something like that before."

As her eyes refocused, the blue-haired girl found herself within a large, wooden building kept lit by a pleasant fire in the center. People were all around her, staring with curious expressions at what had been dragged from the water. Right in front of her, though, was an older man adorned in attire much more decorated than the others. He spoke calmly to the mysterious child.

"I am glad to see you are okay, young one. I do not know where you are from, or why you are here, but I will not turn some lost child away."

The man looked over his shoulder and barked out an order, "Marlowe! Get some food for the girl! Surely, you can at least get that right!"

As a brown haired youth ran off to fulfill the request, Marea's new life began. Though unable to forget her taskmasters, she was free from them. Though he never learned her past, Talu Wayfinder took Marea in as his own and raised her well while encouraging her to live and grow at her own pace.

In this strange, foreign land, she had a place she truly could call home.

Marea stared at Marlowe, bent over slightly as she used her elbows to keep herself propped up against a window sill. Watching the boy swinging his inherited blade around as he tried to mimick the movements he saw Divers performing. It was clumsy and slow, but at least he didn't accidently send the weapon flying into a tree this time.

A voice broke the hazy, peaceful afternoon and caused the girl to jump, "Marlowe! Have yo-"

Quickly spinning around on her heel, Marea cut off the chief in her usual calm voice, masking the surprise from his sudden outburst, "It's already taken care of. I helped out, so we got it done quickly."

Talu eyed his daughter incredulously for a moment, seeing straight through her lie before giving a long exhale as he decided to let it be. Leaning up against the window, the chieftan joined her in spectating the training.

Eventually, the man's gaze fell back onto the girl as he said, "You shouldn't just do all his duties for him so he can slack off. Marlowe is a man now, and he should start acting like one."

"I suppose so," Marea responded while looking up at her father "but he wants to become like his hero. Helping him reach that dream is just how I want to repay him for finding m-"

A sudden, metallic thud loudly echoed out followed by a pained groan. Both of the Wayfinders snapped their attention out the window, spotting Marlowe laying on the ground with a bright red mark forming on his forehead and his blade on the ground next to him.

They both stared at the young adult for a few seconds before they both just shook their heads. Marea started moving to go heal the minor injury before she felt her father's hand rest on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Take care of the lad. We don't need that blade delivered here again. I owe his mother that much."

The girl had a moment of pause, mulling over her caretaker's words, before giving him a nod and hurrying off to go heal that fresh bruise.

Clothing - Of higher quality than most members of the Free Islands, they are befitting of a chieftan's child, even if adopted.

Eliza was born in the Sea of Stars, into a family of historians and divers - who sought to unveil whatever secrets the seas of Aluth held... whether that history be above the waters, or within the deep blue below. Yet, the one mystery that nagged away at them was the lost city Gaea... though, despite all the effort they placed into locating this ancient civilization, they never found the city. But a flame still burns for the Rebargo family's goal to locate Gaea... and that flame is Eliza Rebargo, a self-professed Seeker of Gaia.

Eliza is the oldest daughter of three siblings, herself included - whose early life was positively filled with reading tales of adventurers who headed off, exploring the lands and uncovering all manner of things lost to time. Following in the footsteps of her parents, Eliza aspired to become a Diver - her ultimate goal to do what the rest of her family couldn't, and that was to find the lost city of Gaea. No matter what anybody said, Eliza was set on her path. From the age of twelve, she began to train herself in various skills, for when she became a Diver. She would often practice swimming out in the Sea of Stars - and would often practice using various weapons on practice dummies. She particularly enjoyed utilizing a shield - blocking attacks from the enemy would prove useful in combat.

Eliza was capable of utilizing Aether, though her capabilities are average at best - however, even still, she enrolled into the Aetherium, in hopes of becoming able to utilize Aether proficiently. While she wasn't the best student by any means - prone to tuning out when bored, particularly in lectures... but eventually, she managed to control Aether at an adequate level. And from there, only one more step remained... actually becoming a Diver. By now, Eliza was twenty years old, and she felt she was definitely capable of becoming a diver, thanks to all her training. So, she waved farewell to her parents, promising them that she'd definitely become a Diver - and that she'd 'find Gaea, no sweat!' When she arrived at the Sea of Ancients, Eliza headed to the Diver's Guild almost immediately - and signed herself up just as fast, and found that she had what it took.

Being a Diver proved to be quite fun for Eliza... and not only that, but it felt like finding Gaea was closer than it ever had been before, though she was still a rookie diver. From there, Eliza began to take up more and more Diver missions, though two years later - she chose to head to the Southern Seas, for a little time off - and to search for any artifacts that may have gone unfound.

"Eliza... I've heard that you've been trying to become a diver." A tall, bespectacled orange-haired man spoke with a clear voice. "However, please... do not feel as if you are forced to become a diver. Remember - this is your life. It's not anyone else's to steer however they choose."

With a shake of her head, Eliza quickly refuted the man's words. "Dad...! I don't feel forced to become a diver at all. It's all a hundred percent of my own will, and nothing less!" Eliza responded. "I've wanted to be a diver since I was a kid, and I didn't - and won't - let anything stop me. Those're the facts, dad."

Adjusting his glasses, Eliza's father, known as Lepon chuckled. "Why, it's good to see that you're so passionate regarding diving... even through all these years. If the years weren't catching up with me, I'd still be scouring the seas, for-"

"Gaia!" Eliza finished her father's sentence enthusiastically. "The ancient capital of mankind, now lost underneath the waves of Aruth!" The very thought of the city enthralled Eliza. A presumably prosperous city from the past, now fallen to the sands - or rather, seas of time.

Once more, Lepon chuckled, then nodded proudly. "I've taught you well, I see." He pointed his finger, and waggled it back and forth. This was one of the characteristics of Eliza's father.

"Well, yeah! You guys - I mean, you and Mum did a great job raising me and all. Without you two, I don't think I'd have realized how cool the world's history is. It kinda... speaks to me, I guess you could say?" Eliza tried to explain. "Anyways... there's just something really fascinating about things left from older times, right Dad?"

"You know fully well what my answer to that question is, Eliza. I don't think I need to answer it, but," Her father added with a kindly smile smile. "You're completely correct. Even things that others might dismiss as minor are major to us. For instance - this coin, from a civilization long gone. Some may pass it off as junk, yet to me? It's nothing short of an artifact." Lepon reached into his pockets gently, and before long, his hand resurfaced, now with a coin that well and truly seemed ancient. Any sign of a shine was long gone. Lepon handed this to Eliza, whose eyes searched the coin like a hawk. Foreign patterns marked the coin, and it was rather rusted, to say the least... but that was to be expected of a coin in the sea.

"I could be wrong, but... I've never seen a coin like this! Is it from an ancient civilization... Maybe it's from Gaea?!" Her tone was one of excitement as she uttered this, still eying the coin for any hints to its origin. It was well and truly unlike any coin she'd ever seen.

"We never found that out." Lepon explained. "It's certainly a possibility that it came from Gaea, though. It's unlike any other coin, in terms of patterns that I've ever seen. I did some background research, too, and it doesn't seem to have been created by any of the Seas, either... so, I am almost certain that it is a relic from the old world."

"I wonder what that old world was like. I bet it wasn't as watery, for one. But really... what was it like? What was Gaea like?" Eliza spoke. "It's almost incredible to think that however many years of history the old world had, it was all wiped out by the mother sea... yet some of it still remains, deep in the depths of the ocean. It really makes me want to find everything I can from those times, and figure out everything I can about them."

"Eliza,' Lepon addressed abruptly. "I want you to keep that coin."

"Huh?"

Lepon's kindly smile returned, as he met Eliza's eyes. "Consider it a good luck charm... I sure did, back in my diving years. It's only fitting that the next diver of the Rebargo family carries it with them, too. But, if I let you keep that coin, I want you to make a promise. I want you to solve the mystery behind that coin - I want you to discover what I couldn't, as a Diver. So, do you accept?"

"Y-you want me to do what you couldn't...?" Eliza questioned. "That sounds... kinda impossible, if you couldn't manage it, dad..."

"No-"

"Shut it, dad! I'm still talking! Geez." Eliza retorted with a sly grin. "Sure, it might seem impossible, but I know that there's a chance, no matter how small it is, that I could discover both the truth behind this coin... and Gaea!"

Lepon nodded, then hugged his daughter. "Eliza... I'm so proud of you. Now get out there, and show the world who's boss! Leave no mystery undiscovered!"

"To leave a mystery unsolved is a true crime... and I'm no criminal!" Eliza uttered with a serious, determined tone... before cracking up into laughter. "That... sounded lame, didn't it, dad?"

"It did... but it certainly had some charm to it..."

"My name means 'Flower'. I think that's kinda dumb, but hey- it's my name, so only I can make fun of it. Everyone else has to like it!...I'm not sure what my last name means, though. Think it's just a name. Blech."

The Frozen Sea is an unforgiving home. The peoples here are hard, strong, and tightly knit. The Snow Hare tribe is no different from the other peoples of the Frozen Sea in these aspects. Where the Snow Hares stand out is their unwavering resolve to conquer the snow and ice, rather than just eke out a survival on its surface.

The Snow Hare tribe has attained a reputation for being the masters of the ice and frigid waters of the Frozen Sea; they are most well known as independent divers who break the ice, and nomads who wander the surface of the snow rather than take to the sea unless they have to.

Terhikki was born to this tribe, this tribe of hardened survivors and explorers, with an immense amount of crying. This overbearing amount of sound that the infant produced caused both its mother and clan chieftain to laugh, and the chieftain expressed a particularly amusing thought after hearing the child's unbearable crying; "Well, at least it won't be quiet on the ice anymore."

Little did the Snow Hares realize their Chieftain's comical quip would turn out to be a prophecy for the girl's entire life. All through her childhood and youth, Terhikki was relentless in her curiosity to understand the world around her- and her energy seemed limitless for sprinting through the snows, or climbing across the ice. The only task forbidden to her as a child was to dive into the sea- and, naturally, this one forbidden task turned out to be the one that fascinated her the most.

As a small child, she would often sit on the edge of an ice shelf and watch as the older divers bravely launched themselves off the shelf and into the sea below. It was such an exciting and spectacular thing- watching her brothers and sisters of the Snow Hares submerge into the frozen waters and re-surface with glittering treasures, or beasts from the hunt to feed the tribe.

She swore that, one day, she would become the greatest diver in all the Snow Hare tribe. But until that day, she would practice her climbing and running ceaselessly while taking care of her other duties.

The Tribe was fond of the young girl- her questions brought light to a bleak world, and her excitement was refreshing. Children often had this effect on the hardened survivors of the cold, and many were glad to have this 'Flower of the Snow' in their tribe.

Terhikki was fourteen. Finally old enough to officially join the Divers of her tribe. When she received her climbing gear she squealed with delight- but soon find that her childhood excitement was no longer welcome.

"Teacher was the best. He was the tribe's most experienced diver and warrior. When I screamed at having my own gear at last, it was also my first time experiencing the cold waters of my Home. I jumped up and down in excitement, only for him to suddenly push me off the shelf and into the sea. I remember that cold to this day- no other cold even compares. Some nights I still feel that chill in my bones, but after I got over my anger I realized what teacher had done.

Teacher had taught me to respect the sea with one simple gesture. Ugh, teacher was so cool. I wish I could do things like that. When I pushed someone in the sea, I got my rations cut for a week. Goes to show how cool of a guy he was, yeah?

Terhikki had to grow up- fast. What she always found so exciting to watch and observe, she now had to live. And for a Snow Hare, diving is almost uniquely tied to 'survival'. Terhikki found herself being the one the tribe blamed if there wasn't enough food, or enough to trade, and she finally understood the weight of the burden divers suffered.

She didn't bend, however. She stood up straighter, held herself high, and refused to let the weight of her tribe hold her down.

She began to swim harder, faster, go deeper than she ever had before. Pushing herself harder and harder for the sake of the tribe. As she turned fifteen, Terhikki had become one of the tribe's best swimmers- second only to her own Teacher.

She had one thing she could never do, however. Something critical to the Snow Hare Divers; Breaking the Ice.

----

"The traditional way of breaking the ice is hard work, but effective. Most divers carry a long harpoon with a great weight on the counterbalancing end- making it into both spear and mallet. The standard process was to embed the Ice Knife into the layer of ice you wished to shatter, then take the mallet and smash the knife down until it cracked the ice and you could pull it apart. Makes sense, yeah?

Well I don't carry no mallet. Don't need one, because I'm the best at breaking it."

Terhikki struggled at breaking the ice for the better half of her fifteenth with the Snow Hares. She swung the mallet, hit the knife, and just couldn't get the job done in a satisfactory manner. Even her teacher was astounded at her lack of ability to do this relatively simple task- She had always been incredibly strong, comparatively to the rest of her tribe, and her unwavering fervor for the Diving had always fuelled her to succeed no matter what.

So for Terhikki to fail at the most important part of Ice Diving... It was disheartening. To both Terhikki and her Teacher. Terhikki nearly gave up on ice-breaking entirely after her repeated failures, but one night while walking on the ice- deep in thought, worried about her own failures- something horrible and beautiful happened.

The Ice Broke beneath her feet, sending her plummeting into the frozen landscape below.

"Oh boy you bet I remember falling in the ice like that. If I hadn't been locked up in my own head, I would've heard the faint cracks of the ice under the snow. No problem, right? But I was dumb, looking back on my failures rather than forward to my successes, and i wasn't paying attention. When I hit the waters, I thanked my Teacher deep in my heart for pushing me in the sea at the very beginning- the shock of falling in right then didn't knock me out."

Terhikki swam down, avoiding the ice falling above her- thusly blocking her way back out the same hole she came down. It was a terribly cold night, and the ice was already freezing back over into a horrendously thick layer; the thin-ness of the section now freezing over the thicker chunks she had broken down.

She didn't have her rebreather. She didn't have her ice hook. All she was carrying that evening was her Ice Knife. She wasted precious moments thinking about how she was about to die because she broke the ice and fell through, when she could never break the ice when she wanted to.

A pounding in the ice a small distance away shook her from her reverie; the other divers heard the ice break and had sprinted over to break through in a new spot, to give Terhikki a chance to survive. The fact they hadn't given up on her lit a fire in Terhikki's heart, and she surged up to the ice from below. She didn't have a mallet, but she had her ice knife and a newfound feeling of determination blazing in her soul.

Her lungs screamed at her as she stabbed the knife into the ice above her in futility, feebly forcing her chilled limbs to move.

After about a minute of this, she realized that those above her weren't going to be able to break the ice in time. Despair entered her heart, but she didn't let it take root. The overwhelming determination to survive swallowed that seed of hopelessness and blazed ever stronger in her heart.

Even as her vision began to grow dark, she gripped the Ice Knife anew and reared her arm back in the water...

and when she swung up this time, her knife smashed through the ice and broke all the way through to the surface. Her arm only had to rise for a moment before familiar, strong, hands grabbed her and pulled her from the ice.

Terhikki, for her part, was already unconscious before she rose from the sea. She didn't learn she'd broken the ice by herself until later when she woke up and was told the parts of the story she missed.

When she was finally able to return to Diving, she found that she could break the ice with just her knife- no mallet needed. This emboldened her immensely, and for the next few years of her time with the Snow Hares she became increasingly more ambitious as a diver, as she could always break a new hole in the ice to resurface whenever she needed, rather than relying on finding one already broken-in.

After a few years, Terhikki found herself...empty. Not depressed or hopeless, but dissatisfied with her current lot in life. She loved diving, loved her tribe, but... knowing that there were six other seas out there, full of monsters and treasure and exploration to be had, made her want to leave behind the ice and snow of her Home.

"When I sat on the Ice Shelf at night, I'd look up into the stars and wonder if these stars that I was looking at were the same in other seas. I would see the moon, the sun, the sky, and every day I'd begin to see more and more in it that I recognized. Constellations, movements, small things that used to amaze and astound me that now left me...Empty. It wasn't new anymore, it was commonplace- everyday- something that the others found comforting in our world of shifting ice and rolling waves...

But for me, it was painful. Seeing the sky become...boring. It's what triggered the wanderlust at first. I could no longer look in the sky and find something new to wonder about. What really pushed me was when my tribe finally stopped at the capital of the Frozen Sea- I'd never been there before in my life, so it was...a wondrous experience.

When the Snow Hare tribe returns to Windkeep, it's a time of massive trade. The famed divers and explorers, when returning, bring with them immense wealth in the form of salvaged goods, and in return trade for the supplies and tools they can't salvage or replicate themselves for their travels.

This was Terhikki's first time at Windkeep, and her brief stay changed her forever. She witnessed, firsthand, peoples from other seas bartering and trading- Imperialists sneering over the hard peoples of the Frozen Sea and striking hard bargains, mysterious figures from the Dragon Sea peddling secrets and wares she couldn't imagine, and so much more.

It was like looking at a brand new world, a new night sky if you will. It sparked a fire in Terhikki's gut that she couldn't just let simmer until it died- it was like the fire that drove her to become a diver in the first place. She wandered Windkeep aimlessly- but not recklessly or restlessly. She used her seemingly endless amount of energy to ask traders about their home seas, about what the sky looked like outside the Frozen Sea, asked them questions about their families, their lives, their work-

she asked them every question she possibly could until most of them got tired of entertaining her.

"Tch...I was such a little girl. I was so fascinated by all this...newness, by these things I'd never imagined. Heck, I still am- it's why I left. Talking to all those folks and hearing all their stories made me realize I wanted to leave. It was a hard decision, don't get me wrong. Few members of the Snow Hares ever considered leaving, and the ones that did never returned.

But me...I love my tribe, more than I love myself. But I also love the sky, and the sea, and all the little treasures and monsters hidden deep down below the surface...and well, if there's more to experience out there...I have to find it, y'know? Find it and bring whatever i can back, to show the tribe that the world outside the Frozen Sea is just as fascinating as the world below it."

She approached her Teacher before the tribe left, presenting him with her desire to leave the tribe and the Frozen Sea. Her teacher didn't even hesitate to encourage her to leave- he reassured her that the Tribe would be okay without her, and that they'd await her return one day.

She hugged her teacher tightly and thanked him a thousand and one times, before packing all her things and heading out on a ship of traders to experience the rest of the Seas.

She was going to start on the far opposite end of the world; the Southern Sea.

"I headed out with fire in my heart, secure in the knowledge that one day when I returned I'd have a home with the Snow Hares. But for now? For now I would explore every inch of the world I could, and I would bring small parts back with me. Small things about the world, about its people, that I can bring back to the Frozen Sea to show my people and teach them about the outside world. My only complaint about the outside world?

HOW CAN PEOPLE HANDLE IT BEING SO HOT ALL THE TIME? AHHHHH-"