Kyuden Gotei - Near the Entrance
The soldiers, inebriated and taken by surprise, straighten up and give respectful bows to Kyorlin as the man takes Uga away. The old lady pats Uga's back as if she were reassuring him, lending herself to the ruse. It looks as if the soldiers want to say more, but they don't quite yet.

The two soldiers return to the caravan and they put their heads down to confer with a few more soldiers.. It looks like although they may not concern themselves with openly challenging Kyorlin, his actions are indeed noticed. Soon, after having collected into the city's proper, they ride off out of the city.


Deep Ocean - West of Kyuden Gotei
The salt water bites at Yrashnal's new wounds as he fully enter the water. The cold is a cool soothing undertone to the sharp sting of his self-inflicted wounds.
"Swim around lad, be alive! Let yer blood flow as you kick 'n the Sea!"
Ahab's encouragement comes none-too-soon as water threatens to overtake Yrashnal. Although the clipper seems barely affected by the medium chop of the waves, and needs only little adjustments here and there, the monk faces the undulating crest of a massive beast.

The ocean's waves dwarf him. It's not too hard to stay with the rise of the first wave that comes his way, but as it passes through his space he finds himself plummeting downwards. By the time he's able to extract a breath from the air above him, another swell tosses him away from the boat into the depths of another wave. As Yrashnal emerges he hears the voice of Ahab lending encouragement.

"You gotta embrace her, lad! Use yer arms to help ya ride how she flows!" Whatever sort of man Ahab was on land is lethargy compared to how he seems. The veins in his arms and neck surge, and he walks animatedly up and down the ship as only a man possessed of great love and purpose will do. He watches Yrashnal struggle and shouts encouragement as he can.

The man pauses to turn to Donovan and says, "Tha excitement's barely started, Mugsy! There's no peace ta be found in the world that we don't make ourselves. My body may be failin' but I c'n tell I'll remember this trip fer years. Hold this line." Ahab hands Donovan a rope with quite a pull on it that holds a sail and with it, the boom, the long wooden rod on the sail's bottom. "If tha wind yanks yer boots, loop tha jib around tha' cleat." He points, of course, to one of two many metal loops on the ship's gunwhale; they're very much like the top portion of a torii.

The seaman goes below the cabin deck and emerges, of course, with a harpoon gun. The item is like the barrel of a crossbow stock, and it has a toothed set of grooves in the barrel where a bar can pull itself back. "Yer not ta speak a word o' this beauty ta the Rokugani, Mugsy! This baby's banned on their isles, fer some reason. Summat about guns bein' creations o' evil or summat. Blast that I say. It uses na powder, only tha strength a good forgework." He doesn't ratchet the harpoon back, but addresses Donovan seriously.

"You look stronger'n me lad, and yer eyes a damn bit better'n mine. I c'n handle the lady, but when tha' first shark appears, yer gonna need ta act quick. He'll be ripped apart by the beasts should we stay long, but if'n we're lucky, he'll grab onta one and we catch a wind an run it from tha others." He means, of course, to face the boat in the ideal way to catch the wind with greatest thrust from the sails.