Glorious Home

[Anastasia]

"Once I take a few days off, sure," Moonlight agrees, "All I want to do today is work on my tan."

[Nephrite]

"Then I'll cross my fingers you're not unduly bothered by anyone else. Please excuse us. ...And sorry!" He manages to remember to say before another Plane Shift returns them to Lunia!

[Anastasia]

Thus you stand on the beaches of Lunia again and...

Next move?

[Nephrite]

"So, let's review." Moore says as he starts to fly on the beach.

"I'm looking for someone who went to Mertion. She left Mertion and went to the House of the Triad and ended up helping out in Illmater's realm. From there, she went to Water and met the Padisha, got into some sort of trouble and was exiled to Fire. She went to Fire, -happened to have water on her,- and then left Fire and went back to the House of Nature." Moore explains.

"It seems like a rather elaborate way of bringing water to Fire, doesn't it?" Moore asks. "I'm afraid I think I'm missing the ulterior motive or the wisdom behind all of this. I don't really think it was for my benefit..."

[Anastasia]

"I don't really see it, either," Xandra admits as you fly along, "It's possible we're watching some plan we're missing parts to understand, or perhaps this journey was something else? Still, we now have a target at Salty Pier, so perhaps that was the greater meaning?"

[Nephrite]

"We could've just as easily been given a missive to go to Salty Pier for some other reason." Moore says. "You're right, though, it's entirely possible I may be misreading it. It might've been for Jetina's benefit more than ours and we just got... tied up in it? I don't know." He shakes his head. "Ultimately, I could've just used a Message spell to find her, or a Divination. I think us seeing those places was important for... some reason."

[Anastasia]

"Now that Jetina's back," Xandra continues, taking a breath out, "Let's go home and contact her directly with magic."

[Nephrite]

"I was kind of half-expecting her to already be there, If I'm being honest." Moore admits. "Or for us to find her on the way." A shrug and a smile as he flies back towards home!

Although they could just teleport...

[Anastasia]

Regardless, you're soon enough home. Stone and Rock hold guard as in the courtyard? Sure enough, Jetina is there. She's sparring with Cresiel, the two going back and forth as a familiar face watches. Kaja sits against a wall, watching the two practice away. Several hound archons also watch the frantic, fast-paced back and forth.

[Nephrite]

Moore looks at Xandra and gives an almost apologetic shrug.

He gives Kaja a wave as he settles in to watch the sparring match.

[Anastasia]

It's reasonably close, but Cresiel is slowly, steadily pushing Jetina back.

"You're all good," Kaja says without preamble, "And somehow I'm as good as all of you after a few hours of sparring." Turning to you, expression incredulous, "You're sitting on a goldmine, however you do this."

[Nephrite]

Moore blinks. "Huh? You mean you gained some sort of... accelerated knowledge by coming here?" Moore asks him. "Or would you say it was more like you gained knowledge all of a sudden?"

[Anastasia]

"In an hour or two of sparring with Cresiel, I advanced more than I have in entire years," Kaja says, bluntly, "I thought I was good before, but I've reached a new level now."

[Nephrite]

"Really..." Moore rubs his chin and looks up towards Chronias. "That's... unexpected. I suppose you're the first person we've recruited from outside here, so... it may have just happened naturally to us... but it bears keeping in mind."

Did you anticipate this, Sylvie?

"You'll be happy to hear we have a target, on that note." Moore says as an aside. "I hope you don't mind salt."

Wait, salt?

Wasn't there a salt dragon somewhere he read about once...?

[Anastasia]

Perception real quick.