The Disaster
Minami-Akali Ocean
"Well, thank the gods for hammocks, huh?" Kagemaru said, looking for a spot to secure the second end of the cotton sheet.
"Yeah, they're easy to set up in a hurry." Rubi replied, adjusting the crate bed she had set up for the child, who was too small to safely use a hammock. "It'll be cramped down here, but it's better than sleeping on the floor."
Kai and Sama had returned to sleeping in the locked storage area, but now Rubi felt content to let them roam freely. They had only been at sea since sunrise and when the sun hit its peak Kai was actively helping their trip run smoothly.
Sama was curiously exploring, a constant source of questions and amusement.
"When will she start her element training?" Rubi had asked Kai.
"She's still pretty young." Kai had replied. "She knows to observe me and learn the theory before she tries it herself."
Rubi wondered if Sama would ever have her own demon like Kai did. The Elemental was always hovering somewhere in the water just out of clear sight.
The waters had been smooth so far. Sometimes she caught a flash of red eyes in the gentle waves. Sama frequented the side of the vessel and talked into the sea spray, laughing and pointing as she spoke.
Indra had asked for a stick of sorts to use as a guidance cane, which Rubi had happily supplied. He walked the decks like everyone else, deeply breathing the sea air and enjoying the sun on his skin. He looked calm.
"I have one more thing to ask for," he said. "If it's not too much."
"Sure. What is it?" Rubi replied.
"Do you have a long strip of cloth? Rectangular preferably."
"Yeah, I should." Rubi said, thinking of her shawls. "How long?"
"A full arm span if possible. Longer would be best."
"Let me look for you."
Rubi went to her captain's quarters and rummaged through her things. She compared a few shawls and scarfs, finding the longest of them. She reemerged on deck and handed it to Indra.
"That's the longest scarf I could find. It's orange and white, if that matters."
"Not at all." he said. "Could you help me fold it so it's about a hand's width wide?"
They laid it flat and folded it so that all the edges were smooth. He lifted it carefully and began to wrap it around his head in well practiced movements, knowing where to overlap and where to tuck the ends by heart.
"I've wanted to wear my turban again for so long, like my ancestors did." he said, gently patting it to be sure it was right. "It was the first thing they took from me when I was captured and sold."
"I'm sorry." Rubi said. "What does the turban mean?"
"For my people," he explained. "It means that every man is his own king. Or queen, we all wear them. No one owns them, and they have a duty to serve others to the best of their ability."
"Is it a religious item?" she asked.
"Not so much an organised religion, but a personal one. We greatly value autonomy and condemn slavery."
"My father was a freedom fighter." Rubi said. "He agreed that no one should be property."
"Was he ever enslaved?"
"Yeah. He was a gladiator before I was born. He came from invaded lands that are now part of southern Migiue. His family were farmers."
"And your mother?"
"Her family had been domestic slaves for many generations, I'm told. She's passed away."
"It is our duty to them to uphold their stories so that we may become better." Indra said. "If we can't improve our world, we truly have no purpose. Do you believe in fate?"
Rubi paused for thought.
"I don't think so." she said. "It's hard to picture every moment as planned. Maybe some people have a clearer picture of their purpose, but it's up to us to chase it."
"Do you have a faith?" Indra asked further.
"Not any more." Rubi said. "I was raised around the Proper Gods so I tried to be a good daughter and take part in the ceremonies. I think I wanted to believe in them, I just was never really convinced."
"Who are the Proper Gods?"
"The Seven Virtues." Rubi explained. "They made the world, the human race, and are responsible for maintaining balance and the cycles of life. They were stuff like Compassion, Patience, Friendship, that kind of thing. I don't remember them all. It was a long time ago."
"It's a popular theme." Indra said, nodding thoughtfully. "Kibo is a diverse place, you hear a lot of stories. Gods with human-like qualities are everywhere. It makes us feel closer to them."
"I never really felt close to any of them." Rubi confessed. "They were so mighty and extreme they were just impossible to believe in. Like, a whole entity that feels nothing but Greed and we're supposed to respect that? We wouldn't like a person who behaved like that."
"I can't speak for true believers," Indra answered. "But sometimes people like it when every difficult thing has an answer. It's a test or temptation we need to overcome. When our needs change so do our deities."
"I've heard of smaller communities worshipping gods of farming and rainfall." Rubi said. "Where my father grew up it was like that, since that was their life. Having fancy gods seems to make certain people feel superior. I don't believe in any of it."
They stood quietly at the side of the ship, enjoying the ocean breeze.
The Wanderlust sailed along side them, a much larger, grander vessel. She soared across the water on five masts with gleaming white sails, nearly three times as large as the Disaster. She boasted three common levels and two for cargo or passengers, compared to the Disaster's two common decks and one dedicated to storage. At her bow she carried an intricately drawn statue of a part human, part fish woman with a crown of seaweed woven into her hair. She held a trident ahead of her in a pose of victory, leading them on.
At home in Migiue, a fish tailed woman was called a Naddaha, and they were considered malicious. Naddaha lured people into dangerous water with alluring words, always hiding the lower half of her body until she dragged them under. The idea made Rubi shudder.
Gaku had drawn her from an enormous block of wood, chiseling her out with careful pen strokes like a sculptor. The Wanderlust carried fifteen passengers along with her crew and their supplies. Gaku was giving orders on deck and Kiramaru sat in the crow's nest of the tallest mast, his feet hanging out of the edge. Funny how both brothers had the same preferred spot.
"Rubi!" Gaku called through cupped hands across the surf. "Ruuuuuubiiiiiiiii!"
"Yeeeeeeeees Gaaaaaakuuuuuuu?" she shouted back.
"Do you want to lock ships?" he called back.
"Sure! Let me tell the others!"
"What does lock ships mean?" Indra asked.
"We use fixtures on the side of the ships to bolt a walkway and supports over the water between us. We form like an asymmetrical catamaran."
"I have no idea what that is. But I think I can picture it. A bridge with a boat on either end."
"Yeah, but since his ship is bigger than ours, he has a fold out bridge that can reach down to our level. He just lets it settle at whatever height it needs to be."
"That's pretty impressive."
"Yeah, he drew it. I'm going to get the others to help me fix the supports in place so we're braced together nice and tight."
Rubi and Take'Ichi stood at one mast of the vessel, Mimi and Kagemaru at the other, and they waited for the Wanderlust to pull up close beside them.
Zodwa threw them the slack end of a rope. They then all pulled the ships the last few feet until they could hook a strong metal beam with a wide bracket on each side onto their hull walls.
Rubi screwed bolts through the bracket to clamp the supports firmly, preventing any drifting and holding them steady for the bridge to be attached.
Gaku bolted his side of the bridge at the centre of his ship and began to turn a crank to unfurl it. It folded out into an arch, slowly reaching its peak and curving down towards the Disaster's deck. It touched down and Rubi and Take'Ichi fastened it down. They were finally connected. Gaku really could draw anything.
"Wooh!" Gaku cheered, wiping his brow. "We did it!"
He climbed the bridge and extended his arm for a familiar Migiue greeting. Rubi gripped his wrist firmly, the pride of their prison escapade surging up through her again. He pulled her into a rib squeezing hug and she gladly returned his enthusiasm.
"We did great." she agreed.
"The way you blew up that wall?" Gaku reeled. "What an explosion! And Kai, you made those keys? Those guards are going to have no idea how you got through those locks without breaking them! They'll be looking at their keys like 'whaaaaat these keys never left my side!'"
"Too easy." Kai replied, Sama dancing around him.
"How about Sino-Ji turning to stone?" Rubi added. "Your whole body!"
"I should get fatter for next time." Sino-Ji said. "Nearly toppled over with Artair and Bradach's robust behinds on the rope."
"So get some muscle on ya, ya skinny lad." Artair retorted.
"Can I come next time?" Sama asked Kai. He laughed and shook his head.
"No, I'd rather you didn't. I want you to be safe."
"But you weren't safe." Sama argued. "You said sometimes we have to do scary things to help others."
"And you will, one day in the future." Kai said, patting her hair.
The rescued people filed out on the deck to stretch their legs. Men, women, children, all approaching Indra to thank him. There were happy tears. Rubi felt her eyes getting wet too. Kagemaru and Mimi were stony faced but Take'Ichi was opening bawling.
"What's our headcount?" Rubi asked Mimi.
"Twenty. Six men, eight women, six children. And us, of course."
"I wish you could have seen me blow down that wall." Rubi reminisced. "It was so terrifying and so exhilarating to just go whole hog on that awful building. I just wish we could have helped more people. There could have been other Collectors in there. Other slaves."
"We did as much as we could." Mimi replied. "We are not a large ship."
"Speaking of doing what we could," Rubi said, remembering Mimi's display on the dock. "Where did you get that insane drive from? You went berserk on those guards. I thought you had frozen in place again."
"I recall assessing the situation." Mimi said, pausing for thought.
"Do you recall what you assessed?"
"I was not going to let anyone harm you, so I should strike first and strike hard." she said. "With hindsight, I consider this was an appropriate assessment."
"More than appropriate." Rubi agreed and she laughed deeply. "They wouldn't have known what hit them."
"What happened?" Take'Ichi asked.
"Mimi took out five guards on her own."
"Two were incapacitated, two knocked down, one disengaged."
"Incapacitated?" Take'Ichi repeated with a look of horror. "You knocked their heads off?"
"No, 'Ichi, that's decapitated." Rubi said. "She made sure they couldn't chase us anymore and scared the others off."
"Oh, that's alright then I guess." he said quietly, looking a little less squeamish.
The crews organised a rotation for everyone to eat, starting with the children and young adults. Rubi was glad to see some local food offered some nice variety to their diets. She sipped some tea and watched a crowd of children begin to braid Mimi and Take'Ichi's hair and tie off each one with loose threads.
Gaku sat with her quietly, breathing easy and letting the engines do the hard work. After lunch they familiarised the passengers with their ships and handed out duties for everyone to pull their weight. One older man proudly raised his hand as a chef by trade, eager to help prepare nourishing, hot food.
A lithe young woman had joined Kiramaru in the crow's nest for a lesson with the telescope. Others with good physical strength were taught about knots and sails. Without being asked, some of the rescued immediately began to clean.
"What can I do?" Indra asked. "I'd like to be able to help."
"Of course. Is there something you're confident doing?" Rubi replied.
"Yes, although it might surprise you." Indra said. "I am almost totally blind, but I have extremely sensitive hearing. Out in the open, I can sense noises much better than most."
"That's really amazing!" Rubi said. "Maybe you can help take the night watch. It's good to have someone else with you to help. Can you sleep during the daytime well?"
"Like a rock." Indra replied. "I often plug my ears to help me settle in."
"Great. We'll have to write up a roster."
"Thank you." Indra said. "I want to help out any way I can."
Rubi retired to her cabin for a while to recharge. She spread the map out before her, clipped the edges down and checked the currents for that time of year.
She traded her finger over the route, mentally measuring the distance left to travel. Kai's destination was still far away but in the right direction. She was tempted to ask the crew if they would be eager to travel there too for a change of scenery. Eat some new food, see some new culture. Maybe even meet some Fire Tsuki, if they could. She wanted to see more people like Kai.
She left the map set up and headed to the engine room, checking that the rudder was in neutral so that Gaku's ship could lead the way.
The engine was half empty, so she would have to use her power to charge it soon. Everything was in order and she took a deep breath, readying herself to go back to the bustle of a much busier ship. After so long at sea with nothing but space, it felt claustrophobic now. A bit of discomfort now to change the lives of these people was worth it.
She was looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight in the sanctuary of her quarters.
"Love the hair." she said to Mimi and she smiled.
"Thank you. I quite like it." she replied, touching the slightly messy braids.
"You should braid your hair more often then. It's nice."
"Is there anything I can do for you, Captain?"
"Could you write up a lookout roster? Indra has said he's happy to join someone for night watch. Two people every six hours if possible."
"Yes, Captain. I will ask our passengers for their preferences."
"Thanks, Mimi."
Rubi made her way up to the deck, checking the sails, the ropes, the pulleys. She felt confident that the two combined crews could teach the passengers effectively but checking things over put her mind at ease.
"Relax, Rubi." Gaku said to her as she started to check over his ship. "You can take a break. We're in open water, the weather's smooth, things are breezy."
"I'm trying to." she lamented. "I just want to be sure everything really is going well."
"You've got both crews behind you." he assured her. "Everything is going to be fine. Come get something to eat."
She gave in, finally making her way into Gaku's galley hall to the main table. She was served a steaming bowl of stew and cool slices of melon. There was some kind of pea in the stew but the meat was definitely goat. She savoured the taste of the rich broth, towards the end of the journey they would be living off preserved foods. Kai sat near them, wolfing down his food with the voracity of the average young man in his late teens.
"So what's the plan for the day?" he asked, chewing. "This is really good."
"For you, I just need you to keep an eye on the ocean and smooth it if needed." Rubi answered.
"And what about downtime? What do you do to relax?"
"Oh. Sometimes we gather together and tell stories after dinner. I think we'd get a lot of new stories with new people aboard. When it's warm and calm we can send out this square net and we go swimming in it like a pool."
"That sounds nice." Kai smiled. "I've got some good stories."
"I'll bet. I can only hear Gaku talk about the Festival of the Famous Laughing Dead so many times. It's still terrifying. Probably not for the kids."
"It's supposed to be." Gaku said. "It's a festival that encourages morality. It's supposed to teach kids that their actions have consequences."
"What's the story?" Kai asked.
Gaku shot Rubi a smug look of success. She groaned.
"Every autumn," he began. "My home country celebrates our departed with a huge street celebration. In the morning we visit graves and at midday we gather to have a feast and celebrate their lives. But, when night falls, we lock our homes because it's the one night of the year the dead walk."
"I'm never visiting your home." Rubi said, shaking her head. "I draw the line at angry ghosts."
"What happens?" Kai asks, intrigued.
"The dead parade down the street, led by the Patchwork Girl," Gaku continued in a sing-song spooky voice. "A towering, headless woman with an enormous, trailing ball gown made of lost items. Everything from keys and buttons to children's toys. Our ancestors follow her as she floats down the street, laughing maniacally all the way, scratching at the windows and doors, looking for people who have committed unforgivable crimes. When they find the hiding spot of a guilty person, the ghosts break in and they are dragged screaming into the streets.
From there, we don't know what happens to them. We just find them dead in the street, frozen in fear. Scared to death. Even if the criminal flees, the ghosts hunt them down and they're found dead where they ran. There hasn't been a violent crime in my hometown for decades because no one dares evoke the Famous Laughing Dead."
He looks to Rubi, knowing the next part to be her least favourite moment.
"One year, I was dragged from my hiding place into the street." he said. "But when I looked up at the Patchwork Girl and I thought I was done for... she stopped. I stared where her head should have been, at the crown settled around her neck with strings of precious things hanging from the prongs sticking out from the top like antlers.
She stared down at me without a face and then before I knew it, she had moved on. I lay on the floor, so sure these would be my last moments, and I watched the long train of her dress disappear down the road. My mother can attest to this story being absolutely true."
"You never told me what you did." Rubi commented. "Why you were pulled out of your home."
"And I never will." Gaku said, folding his arms. "All that matters is, I wasn't guilty. It was complicated."
"That's an awesome story." Kai said, his mouth full of stew. "But probably one best not to tell children."
"Take'Ichi didn't sleep for about three days after hearing it." Rubi said, rubbing her temples.
"And I am so sorry for that." Gaku admitted. "At the time, I had no idea he was so sensitive."
"Story night can only have happy endings. I make this rule now." Rubi instructed.
They both murmured in agreement.
Once they had finished, Rubi thanked the chef who was already prepping for dinner. The shadows on the decks grew long and Rubi was pleasantly surprised to see the ship practically sparkling; it was so clean. Someone had even dusted their pantry space and reorganised the shelves.
Rubi had noticed Mimi was pacing a lot too, with nothing to do. No engine work, no chores, all the sails were manned. Kagemaru had mostly stayed out of the way but after dinner he joined the crews on Gaku's deck for an entertaining night of storytelling. He looked tired and in need of a good night's sleep too.
Kai was sitting on an upturned barrel with the groups of families gathered around him in the sinking sunlight. They were all wrapped in blankets to defend against the cool sea breeze, listening intently to his story.
Just repeat what I say, the demon said to Kai from over the ship wall. Many moons ago...
"Many moons ago, there was a man who came from the sky." Kai began, listening and repeating carefully. "He came from another world, a bit like ours. But he was sick. He wanted to be well, but no one could help him in his home."
The children stared at him with wide eyes, gripping their parent's hands. Some of Gaku's crew were sitting on the deck floor with them like schoolchildren.
Rubi could see the demon lurking at the ship's side, mostly blocked by the rise of Gaku's captain's quarters at the ship's rear. She saw Kai's eyes dart back and forth as it fed him his lines for the story, though she could not hear its voice. The demon scared her less now. It made her think of an antisocial ship's cat creeping around in some ways.
"So he floated through the stars for a very long time, the same stars we see above us today. He waited patiently until one day he saw the perfect spot to start a garden. It was a place where the sun shone just right for what he had planned. He helped tiny pieces come together and build a huge ball, until it very slowly became a globe. It became our world that we live in now.
The man liked it very much, but it needed something else. He made a moon in the sky above it to cycle with the sun and illuminate the night. He made water to cover some of the world and to his surprise, tiny things started to grow in the waters. Tiny animals and plants so small we could never see them with our eyes. But he could see them.
Those animals and plants started to grow bigger and soon there were little things living on the ground outside the water too. His garden was becoming so big and so beautiful. Then one day, he heard a voice he recognised. There was a lady in the stars, a lady he recognised and had missed very much."
"Was it his wife?" one child asked.
"She would become his wife." Kai answered. "The lady he saw was like him. She was sick too so she had left her home, and when he saw her, he hoped that the garden he had made would help her feel better too. He welcomed her to his garden world and showed her all the small things he had created to enjoy it too.
The lady liked it as much as he did and the two fell in love. After many years, the man realised that the lady was still in pain. She did her best to walk on the ground with him but she became so tired and sore she could not go on. The man wanted her to feel better so much, so he made more water to cover the globe. What can we do on water that we can't on land?"
"Swim?" another child said.
"Float?" another suggested.
Kai smiled.
"That's right. When the lady was in the water floating, her body didn't hurt so much. It was easier for her to enjoy the garden. Slowly, she began to feel stronger and it made the man so happy. Sometimes they would use a little boat to paddle all over the world across the oceans, helping all living things live good lives.
As time went on the plants and animals continued to become bigger and more beautiful. The man was now an old man so he let the living things start to make choices of their own and he watched over them like a parent.
Time passed, and one day the first human was born. The old man was very happy. Humans were so special because they could talk to one another as equals and he could see them begin to build their own things just like he had. Humans wandered all over the planet and began to meet other beings that had grown there.
Many generations later, here we all are. Sitting on a boat just like he did and sailing towards better things and feeling free, just like he wanted for the one he loved. The same hands made each and every one of us out of the dust in the stars. That was how the world was made. The end."
A collective 'woooow' rose from the children and some adults.
"Are the man and the lady still watching over us?" the first child asked.
"I believe so. He cared about all his creations so much that he must be." Kai said. "The people who care about us are always watching us in one way or another."
"Where did your people come from?" a little girl asked. "Sama said you're a Tsuki."
"I am. I'm a Water Tsuki. We took over control of the waters when the man became old. There are Fire, Earth and Air Tsuki too. These days the world does a good job on its own."
Another 'wow' came from his little audience.
Sino-Ji took over the stage and started to tell a tale from his home in the east. Rubi came to Kai to compliment his story.
"And thank you for sticking to the rules." Rubi said. "I cannot imagine how we'd handle a ship full of children too scared to sleep!"
"I didn't tell them the whole story." Kai admitted to her in a quiet voice. "It gets a little scary after that."
"What do you mean?" Rubi asked. "How does the story end?"
Kai took a moment and looked at the edge of the ship. The demon lurked over the side. It shook its head, sad. Then it sank away, like it was refusing to relive the true story again.
"When humankind was becoming more adventurous and self-sufficient, they became greedy." Kai said solemnly. "Before humans dispersed and became their own groups, when they were all the same. Their greed made the Tsuki move away to their own lands, unable to help them any more. The humans thought they were better than the Tsuki.
The humans soon started to make demands and in his compassion the old man had a hard time saying no to his creations. By this time too, many other beings from the stars had arrived in his garden, and they were ruling and guiding mankind as fairly as they could. But the old man was the closest to humanity. The most easily manipulated.
One day the humans gave him an ultimatum. He could be an ever present god for them and leave the sick lady behind, or he should leave them to run their world by themselves."
"That's horrible." Rubi said. "He loved her. He was helping her."
Kai nodded.
"It's in mortal nature to want more than they need. They felt she was keeping the man's time from them. They wanted it all. Their ultimatum made the man angry and he spoke to the other beings like him who had come to his garden to heal. He told them he wanted to step away from humanity.
While they deliberated, they heard the world echo. The humans were making religion, the first of its kind. They gave names to the gods and in the names came power. The gods and the humans we too tightly interwoven, using them to justify their actions.
The old man struggled to make his decision about what to do with man. But then there was one final blow that broke him." Kai sighed, looking for his words.
Rubi watched his face, the pain. The betrayal.
"The humans attempting to appease the old man called him the God of Compassion. The truest name ever given. But, the sick lady he loved, the one who could never give them enough... they called her Sloth."
Rubi's gut panged, a thousand memories of her illness dragging her down resurging and slicing her like a thousand cuts. A thousand snide remarks. A thousand missed events she could not get to. A million doubts of her own self worth as she lay in the fetal position, retching and shaking with pain.
"Compassion. One of the seven Proper gods." Rubi said bitterly.
"And seven more, the 'Old' Gods. They are not older gods at all, just... less desirable. They together were the fourteen souls used to personify and explain humanities' wants and needs. When the God of Wrath heard when they had done, she took to the world in a fiery inferno, striking down anyone in her path. Humanity fled and scattered across the globe.
From there, the gods started to war amongst themselves. Some were even killed. As for the survivors, no one knows who made it, or where they went."
"How do you know this?" Rubi asked, her mouth dry. "How can you know it's true?"
"The Tsuki and elementals hold onto old stories. The demons were there, in the water, fire, air and earth. My father said it was part of our duty to the world to never forget how we came to be. If we forget, we're doomed to make the same mistakes time after time. I just wish I knew more. I was so young when I lost my parents and my demon spirited me away."
Rubi felt weak and heavy at the thought that the story could all be true. She looked to the side of the boat and there was the demon, lurking with narrowed red eyes. The demon had saved Kai when his parents died. This terrifying creature had protected and nurtured him like some demented guardian angel into the man he was now, and in turn he had cared for Sama.
"Kai, I know we're telling stories, but there's something I need to know." Rubi said, a cold feeling hitting her as she suddenly connected the dots. "You said your parents died when you were young. That means Sama is definitely not your sister. Who is she?"
Kai's jaw tensed.
"I'm not going to lie to you." he said, his eyes shifting to check who might hear. "She's not my sister. We're not related at all. I found her in an abandoned temple of the Goddess Hoard, and when she came out of the ruins I saw her transform to look like me, right in front of my eyes. She's not a Tsuki."