A red-brown bat, by the name of Zebulun, flaps over to a black Vartan. "Zoltan! Prince Boghaz is going to be coming back to the ship!" he squeaks.

Nearby, a grumpy-looking female Vartan (not that anybody but a Vartan could guess at the gender), pokes her beak here and there, grumphing and hmphing and doing her best to look unimpressed.

Zoltan squawks, "Is about time." He glances skywards to see if he can catch sight of the bat. "You hear him say anything abouts what he plan to do when he get here?"

Jakka scrawks, "Aha! A parasail. Shokar would not need a parasail, with wings!" She points several times to the emergency device.

Zoltan peers down at Jakka. "Hey… that you, barkeep?"

Zebulun squeaks, "Plan? He plans to see what we've been up to all this time, and give us a good thrashing if he's not pleased! But he will be!" The bat smiles proudly.

Jakka snorts, looking to Zoltan. "Yes."

Zebulun looks curiously in Jakka's direction. "Is something amiss?" He seems horrified by the notion that there might be anything out of place.

The Vartan grins at the bat, "Ahh… is any chance I could talk to Bog-has when he gets here? Is think I know something he might be interested in."

Zebulun, momentarily distracted from Jakka's "discovery", nods to Zoltan. "In fact, I'm supposed to ask you if you can carry his bags. He'll be checking out of Faraon's Dome soon."

'The no-beaks probably stuck the fake wings on the ship,' Zoltan scrawks to Jakka in the Vartan tongue.

Jakka just snorts again, since that seems to do just as well as anything else she might have to say on the subject. "I'm not jealous," she lies.

Zoltan grins. "Ah… I carry bags while he carry new bride, yes? Will I meets him in city or do you need Zoltan to fly to island bottom?

'Guess who got to stay in Shokar's old cabin, barkeep?' Zoltan screeks to Jakka, fluffing his feathers proudly.

Jakka shrinks back, glaring at Zoltan with a gaze that positively radiates envy.

Zebulun squeaks, "You'll have to pick up the bags at Faraon's Dome. They'll be expecting you, and know not to shoot you out of the sky when you arrive."

Faraon's Dome IS a rather exclusive establishment, after all.

( This is almost as good as having Paradys itself braided into my tail. ) Zoltan thinks to himself.

Zoltan nods to the bat. "You need me to go get captain and bags now?"

Jakka seems to decide she's let Zoltan puff up quite enough. "I should get back to the Three Thieves," she scrawks. "I have many MANY empty bottles of many colors to throw away." She cackles and spreads her wings, leaping into the air.

Zebulun nods to Zoltan. "Yes, if you wouldn't mind," he smiles.

Zoltan winces, and grumbles just a little. ( Sour grapes, who needs your bottles anyhow! Wait… did I just think that? )

Jakka circles around the airship a couple of times, zooming low to eye the painted-over inscription on the side. A few more snorts and "hmphs", and she wings off back toward the city proper.

Zoltan shakes his head just a bit, "Alrights… I go now. Is any specific place I supposed to meets him? Or maybe something you wants brought to Bog-has?"

Zebulun shakes his head. "Just go to Faraon's Dome, to the Landing, introduce yourself and they'll show you the way. Simple! Nothing could go wrong."

Zoltan hooboys, "Is heard that one before… " He mutters to himself. Then, a bit louder, "Alrights… I head out now, already have everything I needs. Would be nice to get glance of this place anyhow."

Zebulun waves a wing. "Don't tarry too long! I know how you Vartans are with shinies!" With that, he flutters off, getting back to the thrilling job of … polishing wood. Whee.

Zoltan trods down the deck, getting his bearings on which way would be the fastest route to the bottom of the island.

The Docks are located on the edge of the island, some of the platforms stretching out into space to better accomodate larger airships which are essentially floating beside the island. Simply diving off the side of the ship would be one route, though it would require a bit of squeezing past various supporting frames and the occasional dangling cable. The safer route would be to fly out a bit to get better clearance, and then cut downward for the underside.

Zoltan goes down on his hands and knees to get a better look at the obsticles. Perhaps he could climb down through them.

That's one way of doing it. (Flying would probably be faster, though.)

Zoltan, being the paranoid little Vartan that he is, decides to take the safer route. He launches out over the edge and tries to glide an appropriate distance away.

The platforms and airships slip away, revealing the surface of Sinai so far below. As Zoltan flies further away from the island, the air gets colder and lighter. But then, that's what always happens once one gets far enough away from the sky islands … at this altitude, after all, barring the local phenomena that accompany the islands, it SHOULD be rather cold up here. However, as Zoltan begins to arc back and under the island, the temperature begins to return to "normal" again (normal for Rephidim, that is).

The underside of Rephidim is rocky, but not completely barren of vegetation. Mosses and kyootcumber vines cling stubbornly to the huge "stalactites" which descend from the underside. Here and there, some trickles of water leak downward, and disappear into a misty spray.

While the terrain is mostly nondescript, here and there can be seen some structures that probably once served some particular purpose, but which presently are largely just relics of bygone times – ruins that cling to the bottom, the parts that have crumbled and broken away being long gone.

Zoltan shakes the brief chill from his wings, fluffs his feathers up, and continues towards the bottom of the island.

It does not take all that long to find Faraon's Dome. Aptly enough described, it looks like a crystal bead imbedded into the side of one of the greater "stalactite" structures, glittering in ambient light, despite the shadow cast upon it by the island above.

The Vartan slows his decent, partially to soak in the sights, and partially to keep an eye open for any of the guards in the area.

The guards aren't hard to spot – Some Eeee, Solus and Vartans launch out from their rocky perches on the side of the upside-down mountain.

Apparently this isn't just a welcoming committee for the lone black Vartan, though. Most of them are fluttering off to other points. Despite the relatively dead look of much of this stone, there is a bit of flyer traffic here and there.

( It's almost as though there's a whole other city below Rephidim… just for those privileged enough to have wings. Too bad my pay bracket will probably keep me from ever being able to move in. ) Zoltan thinks to himself as he continues toward the Dome.

A bleach white Vartan scrawks at Zoltan, in his native tongue, "Identify yourself!"

Zoltan stops and hovers in the air. "I am Zoltan of the Sil-… er… the Freedom's Dream. I am here to assist my captain, an Eee named Bog-has and his mate back to the ship." He squawks back.

The white Vartan soars on past, screeing, "Clear to land!" He then circles back toward the "mountain".

Zoltan dives after the white Vartan, "Where do I need to land?" He yawks… hoping he'll be heard.

The white Vartan screeches, "Follow!"

With that, the white flyer leads the way toward the glittering, emerald dome, and toward a rocky platform jutting out from the area just above it.

Zoltan waggles his wings back and forth in a sign of acknowledgement and follows after the guard.

The guard touches down on a white, half-circle platform large enough to host a small party on … though it probably wouldn't be a good idea, seeing as there is no railing around the side. (Sure, flyers wouldn't have to worry, but what if the hors d'eouvres tray rolls off the side?)

Where the platform meets the stalactite face, there is a peaked archway cut into the stone, through which a short tunnel can be seen that ends in a large cylindrical chamber that is lit from below.

Zoltan squints as he tries to make out the white guard on the white platform. He judges what he hopes to be a spot that the other Vartan is not standing on and begins backpedaling his wings to slow his decent.

"In there," the white Vartan calls out, in a voice like the cry of an eagle, "… then down the shaft." He points toward the archway and the chamber beyond.

Zoltan lands with a gentle *thud*. He bows to the guard in thanks and makes his way to the arch.

Through the arch, the cylindrical chamber is evidently (as might be guessed at from the guard's instructions) part of a vertical shaft, which runs both up and down. It is sizeable enough to fly up or down without worry of colliding with the walls … and enough leeway to avoid hitting any other fliers. The walls are covered with vines, flowering with crystalline buds … buds which intermittently glow in different colors, forming complex patterns that twist and flow and change – a kaleidoscope of near-symmetrical patterns.

The trip down is not all that far – down into the interior of the Dome. Below can be seen much greenery … lit as if it were outside, on the surface, on a sunny spring day.

Zoltan looks around with amazement. ( How is it light with no sun? )

As Zoltan touches down, he gets a much better look at just what the interior of this place is … and a more full appreciation for its size. He stands on a bluff overlooking a stepped valley, with a river running down the middle of it. Here and there are trees, flowers, clinging vines. Exotic birds and Creens twitter and flutter about. Stonework peeks out from amidst the foliage … but toward the perimeter of this area, the stonework becomes dominant once more, as it rises in formidable arches and curving supports, to form the offset "dome" that contains this self-contained, artificial ecology.

"Amazing… " Zoltan mumbles to nobody in particular. He then shakes his head; he's here to pick up his captain after all…

Some stairways and other structures can be seen to hint at a way around all of this, but without a doubt, wings are the only suitable way to navigate this place without having to spend hours to get from Point A to a Point B which should only be a few yards away. And, of course, fliers can be seen here and there, and the sounds of music intermingle with the songs of the birds and Creens.

"May I help you?" squeaks a lady Eeee. She is at a desk underneath a heretofore unnoticed wooden gazebo, to one side of Zoltan's landing spot.

Zoltan squints his eyes and looks around, hoping to see either Boghaz himself or hopefully a servant or a guard that can lead him to the Eee.

The lady bat waves a wing. "Hello?" She looks down at her desk and runs a finger down a page of paper. "Hmmmm. Ah. Are you by any chance one Zoltanos Cambino?"

The black Vartan almost jumps out of his feathers at the sound of the voice. Upon seeing that it's just a secretary he smooths his feathers down and tries to 'casually' approach the desk.

Zoltan squawks, "I here to pick up my captain. Is Eee named Bog-has, he here on honeymoon." Upon hearing his name he answers, "Yah… I is who you say. They tell you I coming I hopes?"

The bat smiles and nods. "Lady Saraizadze has already headed out. Lord Boghaz is up at Observation Deck Number Three… " She points out of the gazebo and up toward a structure that blends into a place high up the outer wall of the dome, as it begins to curve back inward, and along the glassy plates that afford a dizzying view of the underside of the island, and an expanse of clouds that occasionally breaks to reveal the surface of Sinai passing below.

"Thank you," the Vartan says to the secretary and begins to work his way upwards towards the observation deck. Takeoff is a bit hard through all the snaggy trees, but once he manages to get off the ground the rest is much easier.

The light within the biodome is partially supplemented by what light comes through the massive glassy panels along its curved surface … but is largely provided by glowing bulbs (as in, flowers) of the same sort as those within the shaft that led into this place. They grow more brightly in a circular area that mimics the notion of a sun crossing the sky. Certainly, this can't be natural.

Zoltan tries to get a closer look at one of the glowing flowers on his flight up. Could these be like the strange lamps that he's ocasionally seen in the temple?

The bulbs don't quite seem to be like those in the Temple. They're either flowers that glow with a luminosity all their own … or glassy structures that simply LOOK like flowers and are attached to vines to enhance the illusion.

At last, Zoltan reaches the indicated platform. A short walk, and he's inside what is, essentially, a building housed along the wall, self-contained, and a definite break from the organic look of so much of the expanse below. Inside is a lounge, and its sole occupant at the moment is a bat who reclines on a chair that is facing the glassy panels which reveal the view beyond the biodome.

Zoltan pauses at the entrance, "Captain Bog-has?"

The bat turns around to face Zoltan. "Aha. Early, I see. That's good. I wasn't expecting someone to arrive quite so quickly."

Boghaz pauses a bit. "You do look like a ghost of that Vartan captain," he remarks.

Zoltan chuckles. "Is notice that myself. Some of you crew think I Captain Shokar's ghost for a bits… except for tan fox with big ears, is think he know what ghost smells like."

Zoltan looks at one of the chairs. "You mind if I rest few moments? Flight up will probably be harder than flight down, especially with bags. Would like to get wind back."

Boghaz gestures toward a chair. All of the seating arrangements look to be designed with fliers in mind. "Certainly. We have time to spare. Saraizadze has headed out to do some shopping."

Boghaz pauses a bit, then says, "I understand this ship has a certain significance to you?"

Zoltan squawks, "Thanks. I appreciates." He settles down in a chair and looks out through the glass. "Ship? Hrr… is mean lots to most Vartan. Ship is legend… great Captain Shokar use it to search for Paradys. Was floating island made out of gold and other shinies."

Boghaz says, "Paradys? I think I may have heard legends of that before. But searching for any particular sky island – aside from, of course, such a large one as Rephidim – seems like a rather futile exercise. After all, they move randomly, and the world is a large place … despite some claims to the contrary."

Zoltan peers around at Boghaz from his chair. "If you knew of way to find Paradys, even if way was dangerous… would you go?"

Boghaz laughs. "Of course I would! Anyone with an airship would jump at such a chance."

Zoltan's eyes narrow, betraying just a little bit that his words might mean more than 'what if'. "Even if it take you into Forbidden zone?"

Boghaz raises an eyebrow at this. "Now, THAT would be suicide. Any ship that flies into a Forbidden Zone is destroyed."

Zoltan rises from his chair. "What if I tell you that I know of way we could find Paradys? Would mean danger… but I think I know people thats lead us through safely."

Boghaz eyes Zoltan. "Then I would want some sort of proof before I entertain such a notion. I might just think you're guilty of delusions of grandeur on account of your looking like this … What was his name?"

"Shokar." The Vartan answers. He drums his fingers on the back of the chair as he thinks. "Would you give Zoltan a few days to get proof together? I is go to forbidden zone once, find place there that lead us straight to island."

Zoltan pauses, "What kind of 'proof' would you needs to believe what I say?"

Boghaz shrugs his wings. "A map with 'X marks the spot' on it would be nice. Or a really good story. Or maybe a good character reference."

( I knew I should have taken the crystal hands with me… now all I have is a chunk of broken obsidian. I doubt that flashing that will make him believe. ) Zoltan grumbles to himself.

Boghaz smirks. "We'll be taking the refitted Freedom's Dream for her 'maiden voyage', so to speak, shortly. I haven't any particular notion as to where to take her. I might be inclined to take suggestions, but flying through a Forbidden Zone seems too much to ask of any ship, no matter how sturdy."

Zoltan chuckles. "Maps with 'X' usually lead to trouble… not treasure. As for rest, is can bring you people that went to Forbidden Zone with Zoltan. I bring back things from there with me… but only one I gots now is no very impressive as others." He digs through his beltpouch and pulls out the obsidian shard. "Is no very convincing… but I find things there in secret city that plot island flights. City is near Savan… dangerous as any jungle, but I swear on tail that is exist.

Zoltan twirls the little shard in his hands. Too bad the hair on his tail is black… it would have made a lovely ornament otherwise.

Boghaz looks at the shard, but sighs, not seeming terribly impressed at a broken piece of volcanic rock. "Interesting tale, but if you have some way to plot island flights, perhaps you should apply for the position of Captain-Astromancer." He slowly stands. "I think it is high time we set out, back to the ship."

Boghaz heads out of the Observation Deck, with Zoltan in tow to carry the baggage out of Faraon's Dome … and back to the Freedom's Dream.

Back on the ship…

Zoltan squawks, "Captain… is sorry if I sounded crazy in dome. I gots something in my cabin that might explain better. Was what made me decide to come see ship in first place."

Zoltan carefully piles the bags on the deck. He stretches some of the kinks from out of his wings.

Boghaz waves dismissingly at the Vartan. "Fine, fine." He sighs and walks about the deck, wondering what on Sinai Saraizadze is buying that is taking her so long.

Zoltan grins and disappears below, a few moments later he climbs back up clutching a brass-bound tome to his chest. "My master give me this. He say he bought from gold vixen who was on ship when it first come into Sinai. Is Shokar's logbook."

Zoltan opens the book to the first page, proudly showing off the picture of Captain Shokar rendered inside.

Boghaz raises an eyebrow as he looks at the book, muttering, "Golden vixen… ?" He reaches out for the book, and raises the other eyebrow once he sees the picture of Shokar.

Zoltan hands the logbook to Boghaz. "Is written in Vartan… but you can gets someone to translate for you if you no trust Zoltan. Is talk about how Shokar find Paradys."

Boghaz flips through the pages, looking at the diagrams and charts. Even not being able to read the text, it looks authentic … and being told it has to do with the search for Paradys, it doesn't take much imagination to fill in enough blanks for it to make sense. "Fascinating," Boghaz whispers.

Boghaz hands the book back to Zoltan. "I'd like you to translate some of this for me … some relevant passages. And don't try to 'correct' it in the translation, either. I know a fair deal about airships, and I think I have a fair chance of judging its authenticity. I have some work to do … but if you will join me for dinner, let's talk about this way you have of finding Paradys." With that, he marches off to oversee the work.

Zoltan clutches the logbook to his chest, almost as though he were hugging the thing. ( I never thought I'd ever be eager to go back to that cursed city… but if we manage to actually find Paradys, it will be worth any risk. Old Shokar, your ship will dock at your island. )