"Oh, by the Sea God's great green gills..." he groaned to anyone who would listen, which may well have been no one at all. "Isn't this boat EVER going to stop rocking?" At some risk of further upsetting his already very unhappy stomach, he looked heavenward to where the rain was falling. No, this wasn't the same kind of super-localized effect that he'd been able to deal with on the way south. A Wind Sprite wouldn't do a thing to get them out of this squall and into quieter waters. There was nothing to do but tough it out.
He lurched back into his cabin, feeling slightly proud of himself for not having made it all the way to the railing so he could punch his cookies. To look on the bright side, they were getting close enough now to the land mass of Farrel that there was some small chance that his Crystal-net connection might work again; there were beginning to be enough Tsuirakuan traders in Port Lorrel that magical energy for the net might reach all the way out here. Maybe browsing his messages (the connection would still be too tenuous for much else) would get his mind off his seasickness. Once he'd landed on his bunk again, he pulled out his crystal ball and turned the thing on.
His mood brightened slightly along with the cabin. Yes, he could indeed check messages here. The first several were generally things he already knew: content-free reports on whatever had happened to the Tower of Artifex, an announcement from his employers that the Artifex Sashimi Palace would be closed until further notice (how could it not be, given the state the Tower was in?), and so on. There was an interview with Councilman Hinadori about the attack that was mildly interesting reading. Khoo had met the man at some Sashi Mu function and found him to be generally rather well screwed on, if gruff and forbidding even by the standards of the Tsuirakuan upper crust; nobody he'd ever want to do business with directly, but at least someone who might be more straightforward and trustworthy than most of the council. It sounded like things were about a week from getting back to normal, including resumption of classes at Sashi Mu. Well, that was more good news than otherwise. It might take most of that week to get himself extracted from this miserable bobbing cork on the Southern Sea.
He continued to page down the messages ... until one caused him to stop short.
Khoo didn't even look at the rest of the messages; the combination of this one and the pitching and rocking of the boat was more than his stomach could handle. Without even powering the crystal ball down, he burst through the door of his cabin, and headed for the rail to complete some unfinished business.TO: T. L. Khoo
FROM: A. L. Po
SUBJ: Found you, you naughty boy!
So THAT is where you went when things went to shit! It took me two whole days to home in on you and figure out where you were. Now why should a sky-city rat run off to the Southern Continent? It wasn't ... to get away from me, was it?
Anyway, I'm coming for you now. See you in Port Lorrel, and you're going to owe me big-time for this!
Anna-Lisa