It's been a couple days in the cramped and rather uncomfortable quarters of the Nagai blockade runner Ss'relghes a Vesk, or what the snakes helpfully translated as "Races the Dawn". It's a vessel built for speed and durability while carrying cargo, and as such "quarters" and "cargo space" are often synonymous… never mind the fact that all the furniture is built for people with coils. Gibson has tried to put a positive spin on it when he can with his typical good humor, but even he seems a little restless.

Anisa herself has been in an atypical good mood as of late – most likely due to actually getting to travel again, a event that she always looks forward too. The fact that she's with her eldest brother only lightens her mood even further. Currently, the doe is snickering up a storm, trying to sit in one of the aforementioned Naga-style chairs. "Star… how the heck are you supposed to keep your balance on this thing? I've sat on crates that were more comfortable!"

Gibson is trying to make himself comfortable in one of the 'chairs' as well… only his is python sized. He practically swims around in the smooth bowl, sliding each time the ship lurches with a crosswind. So far, he's managed to keep from spilling any of his mateh on himself. "I have NO idea," he laughs. "Other than having a low center of gravity. Well, we shouldn't be much longer, I think."

Deciding that one of the larger chairs looks more fun, Anisa hops from her smaller one, and into the twin of Gibson's current seat. Sprawling out, the doe puts her paws behind her head and relaxes. "So, what's Sunrise City like? Have you been there before?"

Gibson shakes his head, ears flopping. "First time I've been to Lamu, actually! A pity we aren't staying long, I would have liked to have looked around. I have heard of Sunrise City, though… not much of a city, really. Lamu's frontier, not a lot of people know much about it or have business there. Sunrise is a trade port."

"I wondered why this trip was taking so long," Anisa says, shifting herself in the odd chair in a vain attempt to get more comfortable. "It also explains why this was the best ship the Curators could come up with. Not exactly traveling in style."

The black rabbit sets his mateh cup in a small indentation… at least the cup is comfortable. "Well, it's not comfy, but it's secure, that's the thing. For a cargo ship, this thing is fast and tough." He lowers his voice unnecessarily. "Meant for smuggling, really, but… well, that's not our concern." As if on cue, one of the crew arrives, a yellowish Naga gliding smoothly down the ramp. "Hoy, you two. Thought you might like to know we're closing in on Sunset. Should be landing soon. We'll move some goods, and wait for your return, but don't keep us waiting too long."

Anisa nods to her brother, and then to the reptile. "Shouldn't be too long, we're just picking up a thing or two. We'll probably be back before you're done unloading."

The Naga nods, and pats the frame of the door he lingers in. "Right. Let me know if you need anything." He undulates to slither over his own back, returning up the ramp. Above decks, hissing voices call out to each other. "Docking boom out." "Check the cargo." "Aye." "Raise our colors for the port authority." "Aye."

Anisa sits up cross-legged, and pulls a familiar brush from her pocket. "So, who are we meeting with?" she asks, starting in on her ears. "And why are the book and sto- er, the things so far out here?"

"Some intermediary," says Gibson, shrugging a little. "I was told he'd know who we are. The artifacts probably weren't stored out here, but to keep everything safe, the Museum keeps all its pieces in separate caches, and no one Curator knows where they all are. Lamu's probably the only convenient place to meet safely off-island, Rephidim was over the sea."

Putting her brush back into her pocket, the doe jumps from the large chair, and walks over to her suitcase. Opening it, she begins to take various personal items – which are currently strewn all over the cabin – and replace them in the box. "So… do you think this person in Sylvania has any connection to Vandringar, or are we on a wild Creen-chase?"

There aren't many windows on the ship, probably for structural support, so the bump of the ship stopping and docking might come as a slight surprise. Gibson doesn't look startled, however, and he helps gather a few of his sister's things up before taking up his own bag. "Hard to say… I mean, it all sounds so weird. You can't take anything at face value when you're dealing with old and powerful things like this."

The hatch above opens, letting sunlight stream in.

After the last bits of this and that are placed in her suitcase, Anisa closes and locks it, stowing it away for the time being. She steadies herself uneasily at the sudden lurch as they dock, her ears set back in slight alarm. "Weird doesn't even begin to cover it. So, you ready? Lead the way!"

Lead he does, the black rabbit hoisting himself up through the hatch. Above, slithery crewmen hustle about with boxes and bundles, offloading cargo that local porters seem in quite a hurry to squirrel away in a warehouse. The Nagai captain accepts a fat-looking sack that jingles from a Jupani, and quickly tucks it into his overcoat when he sees attention on him. "Go about your business," he hisses. "We'll be departing as soon as you return." Seen from the deck of the Dawn, Sunrise doesn't look like much… wilderness seems to encroach as far as the port tenders will allow.

Following her brother above decks, Anisa's ears strain forward while her eyes are peeled wide, taking in the sights of this new place. Nose wiggling rapidly, its clear that she's eager to get off the ship and into the city.

Above decks and down the gangplank, the rabbits set their feet into thick grasses, a few trails trampled into it. The dwellings beyond are difficult to see through a tree break, but look rather primitive by Rephidim measures… more curious than that, however, are the canid people porting some of the boxes around, or otherwise working nearby. They look like hekoye, but curiously, some of them trot about on four legs, and some on two… what's more, it often seems like the same ones that were on all fours a moment ago are standing the next in a distinctly different shape. Gibson looks on with interest, but his reverie is interrupted by a low hiss from the ramshackle warehouse made of frames and hide nearby.

Likewise, Anisa stares at the canids with a look that is one part fascination, one part bemusement. In reflex, her ears swivel in the direction of the hiss, while he eyes stay transfixed on the canines – as a result, neither are paying attention to the fact that Gibson has stopped in front of the doe, and she accidentally smacks into his back. "Oof!"

"Doof!" says Gibson, though he doesn't move much when Anisa bumps into him. There's a moment's pause, and the hiss comes again from the dark confines of the warehouse. "Snowshoe, I presume. And the other Snowshoe."

Regaining her composure, Anisa this time focuses her entire attention on the warehouse. "That'd be us, yes… who's you?"

By way of answer, a cowled figure emerges… a shiga, whip-thin, clad in a leather harness. His snout protrudes from a long hood, the rest of his cloak's material draping over his shoulders. "A patron. Who's your contact?"

Anisa arches a brow at the lizard, then looks to her brother. She nudges him with her hip, trying to prompt an answer out of him.

Gibson takes his cue. "Oh! Uhm. J.T.'s our contact." The shiga nods. "Good enough. C'mon in here."

At the shiga's prompting, Anisa walks over to the warehouse's entrance, not waiting for Gibson to follow.

Inside, the confines are darkened, which seems to suit the lizard just fine. "I'm glad you finally got here. I've been sitting here for two days while business in Nagai goes on without me. I couldn't just leave this here, though." He glances over his shoulder at the warehouse entrance one more time with a quickness that looks like a nervous tic more than a real check, then scoots aside the lid on a crate marked 'fruit'.

The doe walks over to the crate, and peers over the side with nose a-twitch as the Shiga pries it open. "We got here as fast as we could, Lamu isn't exactly down the lane."

"True enough," says the reptile. True to the crate's label, apples, berries, citrus greet them, and even a cloudmelon and a few popberries float out, which the shiga ignores. He simply begins digging fruit out, and putting it into a surprised Gibson's hands. A flash of steel appears beneath it all.

Anisa quickly begins to grab a few of the floating berries as though they were important, but quickly looks embarrassed as she realizes what she's doing. The flash draws her attention back to the crate, her ears perked forward as she pops one of the berries into her mouth. "Dagh, I'd forgotten how heavy that thing looks."

Lifting the tome free, Gibson nods agreement with his sister. "Heavy in a lot of ways, sis," he says, frowning at the closed clasp. The lizard is now head and shoulders into the crate, tossing fruit over his shoulder until he comes up with a small wooden box. He opens this too, and pulls wads of cotton out of it while he speaks. "It's a lot of steel all right. I'm almost glad the bottom fell out of the iron market, less attention drawn to that thing. Ah, here you go." A boney, scaled hand dips into the box, and comes up with a dangling pendant, a stone in that rhombus shape familiar to Anisa. Strangely, it looks like ordinary crystal, not the glowing cyan/green from before.

As the shiga lifts the crystal, Anisa's attention is immediately wrenched from the book, and on to it. Her eyes goes wide as they lock on to the artifact, and she timidly reaches out to it. "Star and Anchor… I though I'd never see it again. It looks… different, somehow."

Gibson furrows his brow, lowering his head to look closer at the stone as the lizard passes it to Anisa. "You're right. Is it the same one?"

The lizard shrugs. "It's the one I was given."

"No, it's thesame," Anisa says, "I can tell. But its like its… dead or something." Hesitantly, she begins to take it, then stops, looking to the shiga. "Er… may I?"

The shiga proffers the pendant, dangling on the end of its chain. "By all means. I hope it's not damaged."

Gently taking the pendant by its chain, Anisa holds it up to the light to study it a bit. "I don't think it is… I remember that it sorta went like this after we left Half-Valley, but I was never clear why." After studying it for a bit longer, the doe takes the actual pendant in her paw, holding it close. "At least it's arelief to know Vandringar doesn't have it."

The bit of crystal does… somehow -feel- familiar, especially as Anisa holds it close to her chest. Gibson shrugs, and tucks the book under his arm, covering it with a satchel he brought. "Well, I guess we got what we came for, anyway." The shiga replies, "I'm glad to have it off my hands, but it's kind of a pity too, it was an interesting conversation piece." They banter a bit more, but strangely, their voices sound far away.

Anisa blinks in confusion as the conversation begins to sound distant, and she strains her ears with a bit of mild panic in order to better hear it.

The shadows of the warehouse seems to deepen, and the voices fade all the more. Soon, it's black silence… and a shape appears, a large shining rhombus of pale blue that slowly spins in the air.

Oh Dagh, the doe thinks to herself, it's this again! Just like those dreams! She glances here and there to try and get a better look at her new surroundings, then turns her attention back to the rhombus, staying silent for the time being.

The rhombus is quiet as well. For a few long moments, nothing seems to happen, until a figure of shining white emerges from behind the crystalline shape. He's tall, broad of shoulder, and his legs seem to double back in a digitigrade stance, ending in shapes like hooves. His face is distinctly Cervani, with a tall rack of glowing white antlers jutting up from his head like jagged forks of lightning.

At first Anisa is startled, but it doesn't take long for the doe to recognize the figure before her. "Vandringar!" she yells, glaring at the man. "What are you doing here – planning to add more freaks to your manag-, menagruey- your zoo?"

A pair of dark spots on the face, looking distinctly like eyes, narrow in a faintly bemused expression. He points at the Lapi's heart with his cane.

Anisa gives a squeak of alarm, thinking that the Cervani is about to attack her. She braces herself, but then realizes that the man is merely gesturing. She looks down to the pendant, and understanding dawns on her face. "Like dagh! You'll never get this!"

The Cervani takes a step forward, long but unhurried strides beginning to carry him closer.

This time, the doe's startled response remains, and she begins to try and back away from the Cervani. "Dagh, what was that word… dissonen? Disorance?" Setting her ears back, she thinks hard, and suddenly her face brightens. "Dissonance!" she calls out.

The figure stops abruptly, and looks to the sky. Somewhere above, a faint pattern of red lights sweeps and swings about in the sky. The Cervani looks back down at Anisa, then takes a step back.

Anisa continues to back away herself, not wanting to be anywhere near the Cervani form. Looking up to the red lights, she gives a small, almost wicked grin, then looks back to the figure. "Dissonance!" she calls out again, this time pointing a finger at her adversary.

The pattern of red hovers lower, and from somewhere, a voice murmurs, "Locating… " in no recognizable language, yet somehow in all of them. The glowing white Cervani takes another step back, and glances at the sky again, then seems to arrive at a decision. He lowers the cane, and tucks a hand in front of himself to execute a courtly bow… then fades away.

Anisa frowns in annoyance as Vandringar manages to escape, but inwardly she breathes a sigh of relief. "Now, if only I could figure out how to get out of here." Looking up at the red pattern, the doe gets a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Er… Resonance… "

The pattern drifts back into the sky, seeming to be satisfied. The rhombus nearby spins faster, picking up speed and glowing more strongly. There's a bright flash, and suddenly it's dark again. "… so J.T. got found out, and we're taking these things to learn a bit more." It's Gibson's voice, followed by the shiga contact's. "Alright, you know how to get me again when you're ready to stash those." There's pressure in Anisa's paw, hard points digging into her fingers where they're clenched around the pendant.

Anisa just stares off into the distance for a few seconds, then blinks as the scene around her comes back into focus. Shaking her head in confusion, she holds the pendant out away from herself, and looks down to her paws.

Light seeps from between the Lapi's fingers… it's cyan… no, it's green. Wait, it was cyan. Green again? The detail isn't missed by either Anisa's brother or the the lizard, who abruptly stop talking as the little nugget of crystal bathes their faces with its pale glow.

A small smile alights the doe's face, and she holds the pendant up higher to marvel at its rekindled light. "I think we're back in business," she says, giving the other two a grin before she loops the chain back over her neck. "We'd better hit the road… I have a feeling Vandringar may know where we are now."

Black rabbit and gray shiga exchange glances, but while the lizard just remains puzzled, Gibson breaks into a grin. "Let's get back to the Dawn!"

Grabbing as much fruit from the crate as her arms will carry, Anisa nods to her brother. "Right behind you! Mister- er, whatever your name was," she says to the Shiga, "it was a pleasure! But you'd probably better leave too to be safe! Bye – and thanks for the snacks!" With that, the treat laden doe bounds from the warehouse, and back in the direction of the ship.

Back at 'Races the Dawn', the deck is about cleared of cargo, and the Naga are bringing fresh supplies aboard. The sandy-scaled captain looks a little surprised on the return of the Lapi siblings. "Well, that didn't take long," he hisses. "Coming all the way to Lamu for fruit doesn't seem like a cost effective proposal, but whatever. Your berths are still clear, come aboard."

After popping a few berries into her mouth, Anisa nonchalantly slips the crystal pendant under the collar of her shirt. "Well, its some very good fruit, you see. Its worth the trip." She grins to Gibson.

The black rabbit tries to stifle a snigger, with mixed results. The captain just flicks his tongue, then waves a hand dismissively. "Not my business," he says. "Weigh anchor, men! Haul in the docking boom, we're casting off!"

With a light trot, Anisa heads into the cargo hold and back into the duo's designated berth. Dumping the fruit down onto her cot, she quickly leaps back into one of the odd chairs and pulls out the pendant. "Gibson, the crystal still works! I saw him!"

Gibson slides into his bowl as well, scooting around as before and nearly bumping his head when he goes over. "Wha-? Who'd you see?"

"You know! Him!" Glancing up out of the berth, Anisa decides to switch to Skeek. "Mister V! I held the pendant like before and then I was suddenly back in that crazy dream I had before and Vandringar was there but he didn't say anything andstartedtoattackmebutthistimeIknewhowtofightbackand… " The overly excited doe's words continue to run together as her speech speeds up – combined with her use of Skeek, anyone passing by the hold would probably think she was a crazed Kadie on too much caffeine.

Big brother holds his hands up. "Whoa, whoa! Slow down. You saw… no, not in the warehouse, you had one of your dreams? But you were standing with us the whole time. He's gone, you fought him off? In the dream?"

Anisa stops her nonstop chattering, and takes a deep breath to regain her composure, smoothing her ears back. "It was like before," she says, starting over. "I held the pendant, and then all of a sudden I was in some weird… floaty place. Its hard to explain, but somehow I'm able to talk to the crystal when I'm there… er, kind of. Its also how I got into the tower in Half-Valley." She looks down to the crystal, rubbing it idly with her thumb. "But I was there again, and so was Vandringar – or at least I think it was him. It was like a glowing version of him anyway. He started to come towards me, but I remembered another dream I'd had before – he was in it, and he said something to get rid of me. This time, I used it on him."

"Wow," mouths Gibson, his eyebrows riding high. "I think getting the First Stone back into your hands has been the best decision we've made on this whole crazy trip."

Tucking the crystal back into her shirt, Anisa gives a shrug. "I had a feeling it'd come in handy, and it seems to like me for some reason. Heck, the last dream I had, I didn't even have it. Its like it was trying to contact me or something."

The ship lurches as the last of the crew call out their duties being finished, and that now familiar feeling of the bottom of one's stomach falling away takes hold for a bit. Gibson props his chin on his hand. "Maybe after wearing it for a while, it's become… I don't know… acclimated to you, or something. Well, it seems like it can only be a good thing. Now, if only this thing would cooperate." He raps his knuckles on the steel cover of the book at his side.

Anisa flops her ears to one side in puzzlement, looking at the book. After a few moments, she holds out her paw. "Let me see it."

The black rabbit nods, turning the book over to Anisa. As before, it feels heavy with a weight that would suggest more than merely the steel, paper, and sandwiched crystal.

Even as strong as she is, Anisa feels the weight of them tome, and she gives a small "oof" as she drop it into her lap. "Well, this worked before… " She pulls the crystal back out once more, and while grasping it in one paw, places her other on the steel clasp. Tentatively, she gives it a small pull.

Kletch. The hasp swings away easily.

Smiling with delighted surprise, Anisa looks up to Gibson with triumph written all over her face. "Now, if only Royce were here."

Duly impressed, Gibson nods agreement. "That's a whole different kind of unlocking, unfortunately. I'm not sure we have time to return to Rephidim, though. 'Races the Dawn' is heading for Nagai next. We might be able to catch up with Kin and company."

With a nod, Anisa gingerly tosses the open book to her brother. "Right, then it looks like you've got some reading to do. You get to be the surrogate Royce for the trip."

Gibson takes hold of the tome, eying it doubtfully as he leafs through the pages. "Ugh. I guess I'll see what I can pick up, but I'll be honest here, I'm no Royce."

"Maybe not," the doe replies, hopping down from her chair with a yawn, "but right now you're the next best thing." Walking over to her cot, the Lapi sister picks up a pillow, pulls the case off, and gathers the collection of fruit inside. Placing the makeshift bag-o-treats on top of a crate, she then plops down onto the cot, and rolls onto her side with another yawn. "It'll give you something to do while I take a nap."