EVENTS:


There is a pause, as the mud king seems to consider her words, but its response comes on a more confident tone, almost like... Comforting a scared child. With some effort, Rosa’s human mind manages to translate the echoing tones into vague feelings and words.

One day, One. Have patience.

We were warned, twice. Once from outside, then once from within ourselves. Another approaches. It devours and grows, and calls out in the true notes, but they do not form the Song. Another called it a Monster. Neither sound nor force will make it One.

Before it arrives, we dance to rejoin ourselves. Within our womb, not even it can go. One day, the storm will pass. We have patience.”


_______________________


Sally’s scowl vanishes momentarily, and she takes on a proud, beaming air.

Sally: ”Hah, so ye know of the Code? Aye, the privateers an’ shipmasters of old were an impressive lot. Sailed from island to island, sea to sea even. Long ago, back ‘fore I made the mistake o’ dyin’ an’ givin’ birth to my dumb sisters, I read much about them, an’ sailed their ancient routes leeward an’ windward. The ocean was me playground! I might be shipwrecked now, but I still bring a sloop up the coast ev’ry other fortnight. One day, I’ll forge a mighty galleon worthy of me crew, an’ roam the watery vastness once again.”

EVENTS:


Something changes slightly in the mud king’s tone, a low, cautionary growling echoing through its notes.

Beware. They are many, and different. Only safe if you make them One.



_________________


Sally’s eyeless face is incapable of looking away, but Klimt feels like she just did anyways.

Sally: ”Ah, yes. Something close to that.”

EVENTS:


Finding the road too flooded to walk through safely, Eigla climbs on top of BigRosa, sitting down next to the stowed zombike. Together, they make their way across the procession, trundling towards the old seawall. It is slightly disconcerting to pass unmolested by the normally murderous creatures, even as they occasionally stop to touch and observe Rosa.


As they move closer and closer to shore, the waves seem to grow stronger, lapping at Bigrosa’s knees. She feels her legs heat up and itch, the armor plates growing uncomfortably tight around them. The mud kings’ movements are bringing them towards a specific spot on the beach, where they pile up against one another, bodies pulsating and shivering rhythmically as they melt together and slowly flow out to sea.



Eventually, the indistinct seawall presents itself amid the mist. One of Sally’s armored vehicles seems to be parked atop the structure, though it’s hard to see if there’s any occupants from this distance.



___________________

Meanwhile, Sally continues to answer Klimt’s questions.


Sally: ”...Well. Uh, we, had, some guns, but the rest of the convoy had the actual cannons. And, uh, I am told there’d been a flight deck once, but when I lived there it had been, turned into a field for growing food, and stuff. A pirate’s life be hard and thankless, ye know! Sacrifices have t’be made!”

EVENTS:

Sally looks confused for a moment, frowning.

Sally: ”Marooned? Ye mean-

Oh. The noggin-belly wench. She... Hm. I see. Hm.”

She gets up from her perch and walks off, seemingly having lost the desire to argue.


Klimt feels a poke on the back of his neck, and turns his head to listen to Peggy’s whisper.

Peggy: ”...Thanks.”