[right][img]https://i.imgur.com/8ZVoSBE.png[/img][/right]

The woman at the tower (stout and strong, with a whip of black hair tied tightly behind her head, and eyes a piercing blue) appraised Izzy with a cool, interested gaze -- as if she could peer through the washed-ashore traveler and see something very curious. She accepted these advances confidently, even as if they were expected.

North, upon Izzy's question, startled with a quiet yelp and fidgeted with her blouse; she'd been very busy trying to appear as if she hadn't noticed the intimate exchange.

[color=burlywood]"O-oh! Ha, ha! No ... no no!"[/color] North laughed, showing her palms with a hunch of her shoulders. [color=burlywood]"I'm very prone to motion sickness and those scythes quite frankly scare the shit out of me ... ahem."[/color] She pressed a fist to her mouth and took a second to compose herself. [color=burlywood]"I must go ensure my son is all right. Go! Save your friends."[/color]

[color=lightseagreen]"Right. Let's get moving."[/color] The uniformed woman grabbed Izzy's arm in a firm grip and ushered her quickly into the tower and up the spiraling staircase; the stone walls were illuminated dimly by little glass flasks filled with a gelatinous, blue-glowing liquid.

[color=lightseagreen]"Izzy the Lost at Sea,"[/color] the woman said, and her voice echoed up the staircase. Above them were shouts and whirring engines. [color=lightseagreen]"That's a tragic title you've got. You may call me Gale of the Storm. You're not from Pyre [i]or[/i] Echo, are you? No -- if you'd ever seen a Hollow before, you'd know there's never [i]only one[/i]."[/color]

They emerged into the blue light of the landing above, where women in close-fitting leather uniforms rushed and shouted sharp clear words. Spears and halberds, crossbows and strange guns with red-violet glowing components were tossed between them and strapped to their backs. With gloves, helmets and goggles each lighted upon their own shining, whirring machine: each was like a metallic scythe, as wide as the height of three men, that shone a deep and threatening crimson-violet underneath as the machine rose into the air.

While a few scythes and their nimble riders sliced quickly down over the town and toward the water's edge, Gale shoved a helmet into Izzy's chest. There was a bright blue light -- more glass filled with a luminescent gelatin -- embedded in the helmet's forehead like a miner's torch. It was the only light they would have to see by.

[color=lightseagreen]"Keep your feet at shoulder-width,"[/color] she instructed as she led the way to an empty scythe, strapping on her own helmet and goggles, [color=lightseagreen]"hook your arms around my waist, and lean when I do."[/color] She planted her feet on the scythe and took its reins into her gloved hands. [color=lightseagreen]"You know, we're recruiting new Windriders. But let's see if you don't throw up first."[/color]

The scythe lifted weightlessly off the platform, then plummeted headfirst, the wind rushing around them, before they leveled out and shot like a bullet over the candles and campfires of the town, tilting and weaving expertly in the spaces between the dark spires and towers. Ahead, the other Windriders' violet engines and blue headlights flashed in the night, scattered but all heading toward the darkening ocean.

Behind them, the moon was getting low in the sky, half-hidden by the mountain in the distance.

[h3][i]Meanwhile...[/i][/h3]
[color=tomato]"Friends?"[/color] the boy's head raised at that, and he seemed not to hear much else of what Elliot had to say before he was leaping across the rocks to get a better view of the two dark figures on the shore, who appeared to be staring down his griffin. He stood with his shoulders back and a foot up on a higher rock, almost imitating the eagle image of his feathered hood. He took in a deep breath, but paused instead to watch more closely.

It wasn't every day that the griffin met a stranger without ripping their heads off.

The girl, meanwhile, tilted back her fox hood and stared at Elliot with unblinking eyes. Her hair was a ratty blond, and her pale face had no recognizable expression. For a moment she only stared up at Elliot, both of them illuminated by the glow of the Obelisk of the God of the Wind.

Finally she took a small step forward, into churning ankle-deep water, but her eyes never wavered.

[color=plum]"You're from very far away, aren't you?"[/color] she asked in a breathy voice, somewhere between astonished and very confused. Her eyes widened even further. [color=plum]"[i]You've[/i] seen the [i]sun[/i], haven't you?"[/color]

The griffin nuzzled its beak into Golde's palms, relaxed as if she had cast a spell with only her trust and her gentle words. She would find that the beak was scarred, the feathers rough and broken and grayed with age.

It opened an eye when Ifor spoke.

The beast stared at him, studying him with an unsettling intelligence -- as if Ifor possessed some agency or knowledge that was gravely important. It turned its beak toward Ifor and made an urgent, warbling noise in its throat.

[color=plum]"[i]Lightborn,[/i]"[/color] the girl whispered in awe.

The boy -- confused and distracted by the spectacle on the shore -- looked back over his shoulder. [color=tomato]"Hah?"[/color]

The girl had begun to breathe quickly in excitement, and she finally broke her gaze to grin up at the boy. [color=plum]"[i]Lightborn![/i] Fang, they're [i]Lightborn![/i] They're [i]here![/i]"[/color]

The boy paused a moment, tilting his head and squinting. He wasn't sure he'd heard her. [color=tomato]"What?"[/color]

But the girl had already grabbed Elliot's wrist tightly in her fingers, her eyes pleading. [color=plum]"You have to help us, everything is wrong, the light is in pieces and the Dragon is stirring, and the Gods have locked themselves up, we're at the mercy of the Dark --"[/color]

The griffin took a step toward Ifor, and had just begun to lower its head when it panicked suddenly, thrashing and screeching, tangled beneath something webbed and dark that had dropped out of the sky.

[i]SKKRRREEEEEE[/i]

While the griffin struggled beneath the heavy woven net, the roar of engines accompanied blue and red-violet lights overhead; the scythes of the Windriders darted through the night air, descending upon the obelisk.

The second griffin flung into the air, just in time to avoid being trapped by another web -- and with a deft tilt of its wings and a midair somersault, the griffin sunk its claws into one of the metallic scythes and flung the machine's rider violently into the sea. Two more scythes gave chase through the air, but the griffin was too quick for their guns and spears.

[color=lightseagreen]"Looks like your friends've been captured by Kith,"[/color] Gale informed Izzy as they approached the scene: the floating yellow obelisk, the aerial battle between a griffin and two Windriders, Elliot and two fur-wearing children on the water-sprayed rocks. She leveled a spear at the boy, while the children both confidently yanked their hoods over their faces -- the hollowed heads of a dead fox and an eagle, demonic in the cast shadows of the obelisk's light. [color=lightseagreen]"We'll rescue them -- and then we'll clear the beach."[/color]

She was referring, of course, to the small army of Hollows that crept nimbly along the sand, from the direction of the place where their first encounter had escaped.

Nothing to worry about.