Leon: "Heated farms, magic crops, and hunting. In world, they've developed a lot of technology specifically for carving out livable spots from the snow and ice. Big artificial bubbles of warmth and very good insulation for buildings."

Leon: "Plants that can grow in snow, probably thoroughly magical ones. Also one big difference in the book is all the big islands have volcanoes or at least molten lava cores, so the islands get warmed from the inside. A decent number of people and critters live underground, but most of em are still on the surface."

There isn't another shift change for a while, but the ships do all moor together for the night. You all pitch in with tying lines to the other boats and positioning cushions between the ships, then Leon heads below to sleep while Frederic and Karina stay up top.
Frederic is sitting up by the wheel, while Karina is sitting at the edge of the ship, legs dangling over the edge around one of the posts of the wooden rail. She's currently looking out over the night sky, head tilted up a ways above the horizon.


You tactically choose a spot a couple posts away and sit with her, legs over the railing as well.
She doesn't hear you ask at first, just continuing to star out at the sky, but then gives a start.
Karina: "Huh? A, uh, stars? Favorite?

Um. Hmm. No, not any specific ones. I'm not very familiar with them. But, I do like the ones with color. There's a few with hints of red or blue.
Like that one."
She points out into the sky. It's hard to see what she's actually pointing at. But, you think you see one like that, a fair sized orange twinkle about halfway up the night sky.

The moon is... actually, a bit behind you right now. You point your arm up at it anyway, and Karina cranes her head to follow your arm. She stares for a moment, then smiles.
Karina: "Heheh. You're a dork, Gram. But I laughed at it, so who's the real dork?
Mmm. The moon. Not quite the prettiness of stars, but a certain reliable presence."
She leans back and lies onto the deck, staring up at the moon with her legs still dangling over the edge.

Karina: "The highest island of all, in a sky above the sky..."

Karina: "That sounds really nice. Papa and Mama are nice and I love them, but Papa always shelters me so much. I've only barely been out of the capital, and never outside of Belus. I can barely even go around the city without Frederic there to watch me.
It's not without reason, but... for a girl who dreams of adventure, it's a bit stifling."

Karina: "Oh...
Gram, I'm so sorry...
I'm, glad you still have your spirit. I want to have those kind of stories too."

Karina: "Mhm! We're all gonna see the world."

Another day passes of ships traveling uneventfully. This morning, the other ships passed around the news that you'll be entering the skies of the Air Lord's domain soon, and to be ready for a fight. Being the Air Lord and all, the domain is filled with flying creatures and extends far out into the open sky. Indeed, you do see more small independent islands than before, a couple every hour now rather than one every couple hours.

Midday, during your turn at the wheel, there's a sudden ruckus from some of the ships up front, and following that the loud clanging of a bell. The clanging intensifies as each other ship begins sounding off their bell as well, and Frederic jumps to attention on deck at the sound, moving swiftly to ring your small ship's own bell in solidarity. A few more seconds of this, before a sailor on the ship in front of you pokes over the edge to speak.

Sailor: "Birds! Big ones, the size of a small man! Nearly sixty! Prepare yourself, they'll want to haul off anyone light for a meal!"
Frederic: "Aye!"

The sailor then turns away, as the four in your party gather on deck.

Frederic: "These again. We dealt with some on the way up, a lot fewer than sixty though. Buggers put some gouges in my breastplate even."
Leon: "Got any tactics, Gram?"