An owl, at least twice the size of a man, flaps its wings as clouds and floating stones whiz by. It tilts its head in curiosity as it hears something approaching from below - as a huge face bursts through the clouds! Screeching in annoyance as it banks to the left, the Owl turns away from the balloon effigy of a jester - one of several jolly decorations trailing down to a floating island where people from all over the Cell of Everwing are gathering. Propeller-driven airships at the docks, flying mounts, and rickety flying machines of all stripes flit about the island. Today is the Four Winds Festival, where the children of Nimbuston come of age by venturing into the "haunted ruins" below. The adults of Nimbuston know full well that the ruins are perfectly safe, but they are the preferred nesting grounds of the Fruit Bats, which they use to make flying mounts that the children must befriend as a test of courage in a rite of passage.

Nimbuston is a bustling community of about 400 souls, well situated between the trade winds. Giant dandelions line many of the fields, used by the townspeople for food, shade, and building materials. Most buildings are constructed of dandelion wood and packed earth from the forests and hillsides. Aside from its trademark Four Winds Festival, the town's main claim to fame is its Batrider militia, who help pacify the nearby Flying Mountains, which are the main source of stone and ore for this particular Cell.

For those from other islands or kingdoms, the lure is a bit easier: Nimbuston's Four Winds Festival is a great way to network, whether it be finding an apprentice or squire, chatting with old friends, or simply buying and selling at the pop-up marketplaces. From street cooks to blacksmiths, everyone has something to sell today, hoping to do business before sundown, when the children must descend into the ruins below. For now, the windswept travelers are free to wander about.

[Alright, sorry to let y'all loose, but you're free to establish what brings you here! Maybe you're looking to meet up with an old friend who comes every year, or hoping to headhunt some talent. Maybe you just really like dandelion salad.]

"And as she walked into the unknown, the rustling faded, until all that remained was the sound of her own steady footsteps, and the quiet of the night." Grandfather Trafalgar said before closing his storybook, signifying to his audience that the story was finished. The end of the Ćororo storyteller's tale was met with applause from the audience, especially from the children who had gathered at Grandfather Trafalgar's feet.

"Another one! Another one!" One of the children cried out then. And soon enough, every child sat before the old man was clamoring to have him read another story.

"Ho ho. Oh as much as I would enjoy reading another story, it seems like the sun is preparing to make its final descent." Grandfather Trafalgar said with a gesture towards the shining orb in the sky. "I imagine for some of you, your time would be better spent preparing for the trials ahead."

Predictably, the children let loose a disheartened chorus of "Awww" in response to this.

"Now now. No need to be like that." Grandfather Trafalgar said with a reassuring smile. "Once the rite is complete, I'm sure there will be plenty of time for some more stories."

After a moment, the children either deemed these words of placation to be sufficient appeasement and ambled off elsewhere or were led away by their parents if they proved too stubborn to move.

Once the audience had left, Grandfather Trafalgar picked up his hat and counted the Zenit that had been left within by some of the more generous listeners. Once the counting was done, the old man gave a satisfied nod, pocketed the currency, donned his hat, and looked to the one child who had remained. "Well Miloh, it appears we have some free time on our hands now." Grandfather Trafalgar said to his recently acquired traveling companion. "Any thoughts on how we should spend it?"

---

"Alright, alright, Let's think this through." The young man muttered absentmindedly as he made his way through the town square. Children played, gigantic dandelions swayed in the wind, and market stalls sold their wares in celebration of some festival or another, but Ellion was very much unaware about all the goings on, and very much un-blissfully so. He exhaled slowly to try and calm himself down. "Yes. Yes, let's think this through. Again." Thinking it through had not been a good idea, not for the last five times he tried it. The glider he had stolen crashed because of it. And now he was... well, here. "Oh gosh, the Collegeon's gonna expel me for this aren't they? My parents are gonna kill me." He pulled his cape's hood close over his pale face and hair, his violet eyes flitting around like an animal on the run, which he very much was. Yankind had bounty hunters for runners like him. For those who had stolen something of value from the Hegemony.

Or rather, for those who had helped them to escape, in Ellion's case. "Whatever we do, let's not cause a scene. We want to lay low." He said, as he paced after the companion in question. Cloaked in similar travel capes, the pair didn't stand out too much, but there was something undeniably... magical, ancient and alien about her. "We need to find passage away from here, some way off-rock. But where would we even go? Ahh, what a nightmare..." He said as he counted what leftover Zenit he had managed to scrounge together from his trunk before the two escaped from the Collegeon's archaeological camp.

Ellion went on to walk beside her, leaned in and whispered, almost conspiratorially. "Hey, Amalia, don't you have, like, a databank inside you or something? On... I don't know, places we could go? Oh what am I saying, from what century out-of-date would they even be? We don't even know where we are now!"

Among the Everwing children gathered around Grandfather Trafalgar, there was a boy in his early-to-mid teens who didn't seem like he quite belonged: he was much scruffier, two scars over his left eyebrow and dressed in clothes that had received so much wear-and-tear it was impossible to imagine what they had looked like when first made. He only half-listening to the story told by the old man, preferring to gaze around at those around him, first the children in his close vicinity, then at the area beyond.

It had been a few weeks now since he had vacated in his own island, and he was still getting used to the sights, sounds and smells of societies run by adults. While he was of the older kids from his island and one of the few who had memories from before they had been shipwrecked, those memories seemed to get foggier and more difficult to recall with each passing day, like some kind of dream. Not that he'd ever strained himself too much to remember. He had been happy where he'd been. Sure, there were things he thought could be better, would be better if he had allowed to take charge, but he wouldn't have traded it for anything.

And now it was gone, probably forever if he couldn't figure out some way to ingratiate himself back with his tribe.

Still, at least he was among other children again, even if they were very different from the ones he had grown up with, and he was eager to see the results of Four Winds Festival he had heard about. People learning to fly on giant fruit bats? That sounded pretty neat, actually. In fact, a part of him wondered if he could somehow sneak himself down into those ruins and locate his own winged companion. He, for a moment, allowed himself to imagine him finding one of those bats, taming it and then using it to fly all across the islands, locating all sorts of treasure and renown. Then, when he had traveled around for a little, he could maybe, possibly, return back to his island with all his riches, fame and, of course, his cool new steed and the Weasel Tribe would then beg him to return.

Miloh was so caught up in this daydream, it took him a few moments to notice when all the other children had left, and it was just him and Grandfather Trafalgar remaining, with the old man now addressing him about what to do with the money he had earned from his storytelling. "Errrrrrrrr...." Miloh began, glancing around him again at all the various shops and stalls as he tried to consider what they could buy.

Then his stomach gave a loud growl, and he suddenly realised how long it had been since he had eaten. He doubled over, suddenly feeling quite a bit weaker. "Food. Yeah, food sounds good right about now," he said.

@rush99999

Grandfather Trafalgar waited patiently for Miloh to make his decision as the shipwrecked child looked around in consideration of what to do next. A touch of amusement entered the old man's smile as the boy's stomach demanded attention. But the smile vanished in an instant when Miloh doubled over from a bout of hunger pains. Given the boy's sudden arrival, Grandfather Trafalgar had lacked sufficient provisions for more than one person. As a result, they had been traveling on half rations up to this point. And while the Ćororo elder was used to such measures, his young companion was not.

Grandfather Trafalgar lifted a hand to reach out and opened his mouth to ask Miloh if he was alright, but he pulled back at the last moment and closed his mouth. One of the first things Grandfather Trafalgar had learned about Miloh was that he had a short temper, and nothing made it flare up quite like the implication that he was being looked down upon. Not wanting to upset the lad any further, the old man restrained his concern and continued waiting for a response.

"Food. Yeah, food sounds good right about now," Miloh said.

"I cannot recall a time when food did not sound good." Grandfather Trafalgar said with an approving nod and an eager smile. The old Ćororo rose to his feet and looked around. "So the only question worth asking now would be... which way is the best food?" Grandfather Trafalgar turned northwards and sniffed the air in that direction. "...Not that way." He spun around then to face the south and took in the scent of the air from that direction. "Hmmm... Maybe." He turned then to the east, sniffed once, then immediately covered his nose. "Definitely not!" Finally, he turned to the west, sniffed the air tentatively at first, then began sniffing with increasing interest. "Well that does smell promising." He said at last before turning back to Miloh. "I think I'm onto something good. This way." With a beckoning gesture, the old man set off in the direction of the promising scent.

For some reason, all the people were giving her a wide berth. She wasn't quite sure why, but then again… the motivations and drives of other people were definitely an enigma to her. Call it lack of experience. If she had to guess, it was probably the fact that she was rather blatantly armed, but then again, what could a girl do? It wasn't like she could just leave her axe or armour lying around, she'd never be able to go find them again, and someone might seriously hurt themselves.

That, or they really didn't like her fluffy friend. That was also a possibility.

But at least they were willing to take her money! And when they realised that Caria wasn't really all that scary, or again got drawn in by her buddy, then she was able to ask questions. Mostly about the food and drink, you could never know too much about feeding yourself.

It was amazing the sheer number of things they could do with dandelions round here. Dandelion salad, fermented dandelion as part of a drink, dandelion wood to build with, dandelion cotton to make clothing and fabrics, just using the giant dandelions for shade…

Or maybe they just didn't have anything else and had to make do? Hmm, she'd try asking Swordy, but they probably wouldn't know. Unless she was asking how to weaponise dandelions.

Amalia gazed around at the festivities in awe. The diminutive golem's unblinking eyes darting around from balloons and decorations, to the market stalls and among the festivalgoers. The colour, sound and movement were all so new and alien to her, and provided a welcome distraction from thinking about all that had happened since she woke up.

She paused for a moment to consider Ellion's question. Were there magitech devices or golems capable of large scale mapping like that? Probably. Was a workshop assistant who barely left her home, prior to recent events at least, one of them? Unfortunately not.

"Hmm...sorry. There wasn't really any reason for me to collect that kind of information," she replied. "Father wasn't much of a traveller."

"Perhaps we-" Amalia shook her head slightly before correcting herself, "You could ask one of the other attendees where we are?"

It wasn't that the golem lacked social skills. Well, not just that. Rather, the longer she interacted with someone, the more likely it would be that they would notice some inhuman trait about her.

---

”Yes, quite. You may be right.” Ellion said to Amalia as he finally took the time to look around the busy scene. It was a good thing she was with him. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Must’ve been the nerves, from the aftermath of the crash. Yes, that was it. But there were so many people! Who would be able to help them? Who, indeed, could even be trusted? He looked suspiciously at a child staring at them from a distance, licking on some syrupy piece of dandelion stalk. No, not that one, definitely not. Then, he saw two people shuffling by: one young teen, and one that may well have been his grandfather, following their noses. They didn’t seem to be too dangerous.

Ellion shared a look with Amalia, then tightened his lips in concentration as he drew up the brass fastener on his cape, a habit to make himself appear presentable that he picked up from the Collegeon’s uniforms. He nodded to himself in self-encouragement, then he stepped towards the duo, and cleared his throat, with not exactly a small sense of insecurity to it.

”Excuse me, but we seem to have wandered into this town by… accident. Might you be so friendly as to tell us where we are, and what’s going on?”

”Excuse me, but we seem to have wandered into this town by… accident. Might you be so friendly as to tell us where we are, and what’s going on?”

Grandfather Trafalgar turned to regard the speaker and his companion with a friendly smile. "Of course, friend." The old man happily obliged. "You stand currently upon the island of Nimbuston, which floats within the Cell of Everwing. Nimbuston is famed for its Batriders, who bond with their mounts from an early age. Today is the day of the Four Winds Festival. And a part of these festivities is a rite of passage undertaken by any child considered old enough to be ready to bond with their bat. The rite consists of entering the ancient ruins in which the giant bats make their nest, befriending one of them, and then riding them back up to the town."

Grandfather Trafalgar paused a moment to sniff the air then, before turning back to his fellow travelers. "If you have only just arrived here I'm willing to bet you're hungry from your journey." The storyteller surmised. "My companion and I are on the scent of a particularly promising morsel. Why not join us? If you have lost your bearings, I can think of no finer way in which to help you regain them than over a nice meal."

Miloh nodded weakly as Grandfather Trafalgar indicated where they might find their next meal, and began following after him. The old man was strange, but he was definitely one of the better adults Miloh had met in his life. Again, Miloh's memories from before the island were fuzzy, but he did remember that they were strict, always telling him what to do and getting upset whenever he talked back or didn't do what they asked. They were always worrying about something. They would never explain what that 'something' was though, but Miloh's not-knowing just seemed to make them more agitated. They were particularly agitated with him on the day he was sent away on the ship, though he couldn't remember why. Couldn't remember what he did to make them upset. Sometimes it felt like everything he did made them upset.

Grandfather Trafalgar wasn't like that at all though. He seemed much more free-spirited than any adult Miloh had met, even though he was also definitely the oldest adult Miloh had ever met. Maybe that was why. Maybe once you got old enough, all the worry and anger went away and you became freer, more like how you had been when you were younger. He hoped that was the case. The last couple of years, Miloh had definitely felt himself getting more angry, more worried, more likely to snap at people, and he didn't want to be like that for rest of his life.

As he was considering this, he caught movement in the corner of his vision as someone seemed approach him, and his body immediately tensed up, as if expecting a fight. He turned to see a young man, pale with purple hair and eyes, asking them if they knew where they were. A little past him, Miloh could see a young woman in similar traveling garb, watching this exchange.

Both of them were definitely worried.

Miloh glared up at the man, looking him up and down suspiciously as he considered how to respond. However, before he could, the old man jumped in, politely answering his question before asking if the younger man and his companion wanted to join them for food. Miloh turned his glare towards Grandfather Trafalgar, then to the young man, then back to Trafalgar again, clearly confused and a little annoyed by this turn of events. Why did the old man want to invite them along? He didn't know anything about them, only that they weren't here for the festival and that they had shifty vibe to them.

As he waited for the strangers to respond, Miloh felt his stomach grumble again and he shook his head, feeling weak once more. "I don't care if you join us or not, just decide quick," he grunted at the duo, his suspicion of them temporarily taking a backseat to more urgent matters.

---

Ellion hadn’t expected the man to break out into an entire lecture, but he was grateful for it. He had a knack for it, and Ellion felt he learnt some very valuable information. The youngster walking next to him didn’t seem so pleased about it, though. He seemed rather skeptical about Amalia and him, or judging by his face as the old storyteller went on, alternatingly frustrated, grumpy, pained, and annoyed at least. He almost seemed to bark at the two to get a move on, as his stomach growled. Ellion’s own stomach purred back in accord. “Well, it has been a while since I saw any food.” Ellion replied. He glanced at Amalia and wondered how she did the whole eating thing. Only one way to find out! “We’ll come!”

On the way, Ellion stroked his chin as he muttered to himself. “Giant bats, huh? Bonding ritual, you say?” He turned to Amalia and mouthed the words The bats! They could be our tickets out of here!, then tentatively adding some gestures, as subtle as he could, to drive the idea home.

Then, when they came to the stall, he seemed to petrify a little. A huge woman with a huge axe? Had Yankind sent their bounty hunters after them now already? “Y-you two go ahead…” He said, his voice nearly a whisper. Then he eyed Amalia and gestured, just as inconspicuously: What do we do now?

The food in question was some dish of meat, mushroom, honey, cabbage, and other vegetables... stuffed into an arm-sized tube of dandelion stem. Sweet and savory, it seemed that this was a dish meant to be shared. Probably a festival food, given the fact it was being prepared out in the open on a grill rather than inside in the kitchen of a restaurant or somesuch. And, of course, the stall was also selling a drink made with honey and copious amounts of mint that could be identified by the smell... about 20 paces out.

The tall and weathered stall vendor placed a length of the dish on the counter, twirled a meatcleaver in her hand, and gave a grin.

"Right! How much ya buyin' today, y'all?"

"I don't care if you join us or not, just decide quick," Miloh grunted at the new arrivals.

"Now now, Miloh." Grandfather Trafalgar gently admonished the lad. "I know you are eager to get some food, but that is no reason to be unkind to fellow travelers."

“Well, it has been a while since I saw any food.” The young man who had approached them replied. He then paused a moment to glance at his companion in a way that seemed like he was wondering something, before returning his focus to the conversation. “We’ll come!”

"Wonderful!" The old storyteller exclaimed joyously before sniffing the air once more. "The scent is getting stronger now. We shouldn't have much further to go." With that said, Grandfather Trafalgar led the way as he continued to follow his nose to the source of the scent.

“Giant bats, huh? Bonding ritual, you say?” The young man spoke up again.

"Indeed." Grandfather Trafalgar confirmed. "The giant fruit bats that nest in the ruins beneath Nimbuston are half the reason the island's Batrider militia have achieved as much renown as they have. They are a sturdy and robust species, well suited to a wide variety of missions. Especially the pacification expeditions to the Flying Mountains for which the militia is particularly known for. The other half of the secret to this success stems from the rite that will happen today. A strong bond between bat and rider can mean the difference between glorious success and disastrous failure, and these bonds only grow stronger with the passage of time. And so Nimbuston's particular rite of passage was put into practice to ensure that the children of the island bonded with a bat as early as possible."

Just as he finished speaking, Grandfather Trafalgar turned a corner and caught sight of their destination. "Here we are!" The old man declared as he advanced on the food stall.

"Right! How much ya buyin' today, y'all?" The stall vendor asked with a grin on her face and a twirling meat cleaver in her hand.

Grandfather Trafalgar returned the grin and presented the Zenit that he had earned from his storytelling. "We will take as much food and drink as this can afford us." The Ćororo elder said. Once the order had been placed and the vendor set about preparing the food, Grandfather Trafalgar turned to introduce himself to the new arrivals. Only to find that they were no longer present. "What the...?" He asked in confusion as he looked around.Between old age dulling his sense of hearing and how the young man speaking so softly when he had split off, Grandfather Trafalgar hadn't heard the young man's words. And so he hadn't realized that the two new arrivals were gone until he'd looked behind him.

Miloh ducked his head in shame as Grandfather Trafalgar lightly scolded him. "Yeah, sorry," he muttered, though he was more apologising to the old man than to the actual people he might have offended. He was quiet as he followed the rest of the group to the stall, not looking any of his companions in the eye as he took a moment to reflect on his actions...

... only for any introspection to cease the moment he caught sight of food. A bizarre collection of assorted foods, stuffed into the largest plant stem Miloh had ever seen. It was weird, but at that moment in time Miloh was not picky.

As he resisted the urge to drool, he was vaguely aware of the two strangers whispering before excusing themselves from the group. Normally, Miloh would have been suspicious, but his hunger had gotten the better of him. "They told us to go ahead," Miloh responded to Grandfather Trafalgar. Apparently the old man hadn't noticed them leave. While eying up the next meal, Miloh addressed the store owner. "Hey, what is it with you people and dandelions anyway? You all seem to use it in everything." He didn't sound judgemental, just curious. Sure, back with the tribe they'd had to forage a lot and use whatever they could find, but the fact that dandelions were so prominent here seemed odd to him.

Amalia watched on as the older man explained their current location, her gaze shifting back and forth between the pair. She found her mind wandering a bit when the presence of ancient ruins was mentioned. Was it possible that anything from her time could be present under this strange island? Had any magitech been removed? Could she find more information on what had happened back before her shutdown?

And then her thoughts snapped back to the present situation as Ellion agreed to go eat with the duo. The golem followed on as Trafalgar led the way towards the food stalls. She nodded along as Ellion suggested the bats as a potential way off the island, especially since it would give her a reason to go to the ruins.

As Amalia looked over at the imposing stranger that Ellion gestured towards. Her general expression didn't seem threatening or angry. And she looked more like she was enjoying the festivities than being here to cause trouble. If Ellion had hoped for advice on avoiding alerting the amazon, that went out the window when the small...plant? animal? creature that was accompanying her caught the golem's eye.

"What is that?! Can I pet it? It's so cute!" she called out, waving to the axe-wielding woman.

Still stuck in her inspection of all things Dandelion, it took a good few seconds for the armoured girl to realise that she was the one being addressed. And then a good few more to actually identify the source, her gaze initially skipping over everybody's heads before coming to rest on a small redhead. Actually small, not just small from her perspective; she was still learning the difference between those two…

"She's, um…" That was a good question. Did they even have a name? 'My fluffy plant friend' wasn't super descriptive, she didn't know if they could be found anywhere else, and there'd obviously been quite a lack of anyone to properly name them… "I have no idea what they're called! But sure, you can pet her!"

That meant shifting the grip on her axe, and Caria swore she could almost here a sigh of relief as the axe head was rested on the ground, with her other arm carefully lowering the curious ball of fluff from her head to something around pettable height. Fluffy even gave a little chirp, she must be interested, too.

@Tachi@MrSkimobile

The chef shrugged her shoulders, looking down to Miloh.

"Well, sonny jim, it grows wild here, and every time the wind blows it scatters seeds all over. We tried getting rid of it a while back, but it grows so dang fast it was easier just to figure out what to do with it."

@XxFellsingxX

---

Ellion felt the hairs on every inch of his body raise up as he saw Amalia go up to the headswoman saying she was cu-cute? Then the woman turned around to face them, lowered her axe, and took off her hat, which appeared to be alive, and pettable no less! Oh, what a strange festival he had gotten himself into! He slowed his breath and felt his heart rate go down. The woman didn't seem very threatening towards them, now he took a good look at her, despite the size of her and her axe, and her plant-sheep-like hat did indeed seem very cute. Maybe it would be better to keep her a friend for now, and so Ellion too went on to pet Fluffy the hat.

"Phooey, haha, what a day, huh? You really scared me there for a second, thought I'd lost you in the crowd, Ama--..." Then he leant in again and whispered "I don't think we decided on code names together, did we? What do we call ourselves?" Then he turned back to the amazon and said "A-a-anyway, uhh, giant lady, we were just going to get some food with our friends over there. Want to come with?"

---

"Food? Ah, more dandelions?" Caria said, cheerfully starting to move in that direction—and naturally acting as an icebreaker to any forming crowd, "I really don't get how buying things works, I have some money but… for some reason, when I ask people if I can have something, a lot of them have just handed it over? Maybe they were just being nice?"

@MrSkimobile@Tachi

Well, that made sense. Miloh nodded to the merchant's explanation before frowning, "Err, my name's Miloh, by the way... not Jim. Or Sonny Jim." Before he could say anything else or the stall owner could react, he sensed movement behind and turned, expecting to see the man and the woman from before... only to see a different woman, carrying a huge axe and heading straight towards them. Almost instinctively, he got into defensive position and placed himself between the newcomers and Grandfather Trafalgar, expecting a fight.