[Grania Rojia, Most Divine Kingdom of Alterya]
(25th, Black Sea Moon (VII), 644 ASY)
"Are you really sure about this?" Tyson sighs as the wind howls in contempt. They are at Grania Rojia, the largest port in Alterya. The weather today is simply terrible. The wind rages above, a not-so-fine sea mist blows with it and dampens everything it touches. Tyson's platinum-white hair has already been stained a light gray. Angry grey clouds harass the sun, flashing briefly with lightning as they blot out the sky. The sea angrily sways and sloshes, shaking massive Galleons as if they were little toys in a bathtub. Then again, to the ocean, these ships may as well be toys. In this cacophony of howling wind, crackling thunder, pounding waves, and groaning wood, Tyson and Ashe stand on the wet stone, staring at their ship, the 91 meters long "Waverider." It's quite a small ship compared to the 500-meter long cargo ships of our era, but it stands out like a sore thumb in this port. When comparing this 1st rate ship-of-the-line to fishermen's boats, this ship is a titan towering over a city. The Waverider was originally the RN Georios but was gifted to White Dawn. Since it was gifted, White Dawn had made many improvements to her, namely, cannons. She also got a new skin job, a brilliant white coat of paint. Ashe turns to Tyson after some time.
"I'm not sure… Honestly, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. We need to know what's going on in Dalycon, but I know we shouldn't trust Daniel from the beginning…"
"Not that, I mean this storm. Are we really sure we want to leave in this storm?"
Ashe stares at Tyson with an extremely annoyed face. She purses her lips and then sighs.
"Really Tyson? I'm not sure that you really understand what we're dealing with. You should be a lot more worried about what's waiting for us in Acnoc, not about this light rain. I can simply cast {Manipulate Weather} if you're so scared of the kind of weather we're going to set out in. Actually, I won't because screwing with the weather has always caused bad chain reactions,"
"Yeah… Don't want to deal with another 5-month drought in the middle of spring… I swear if Daniel knew that we had messed with the weather to make it stop raining and that cause that meteorological freak event, he'd straight-up turn us to dust.,"
"I doubt he'd be that angry, but yeah, don't mention that to him… Anyhow, what are your thoughts on Daniel's current state?"
"I think we can trust him. I'm sure that he's been doing things to help us in the background. That's how he works, you know?"
"Fair, I never thought he'd do in-depth research on the migration patterns of Wyverns to help us with the Ataki clan's migration,"
"Exactly. We didn't fall out that hard. We wrote each other letters afterwords for about a year and a half. He seemed quite cheerful in the letters,"
"You did what?" Ashe whips her head around to face Tyson.
"I wrote him letters. You know, the things that you put in envelopes to send out to someone. If you're asking for his address, it's 1441 Balicon Avenue, Sisiphora,"
"Wait, so he's staying in Greyvan?"
"Yeah? Didn't he say that that he was in Greyvan?"
"You really thought so? I was sure he was lying since he would be able to guide us through Dalycon…"
"No, all his letters were sealed with Greyvan seals. I'm sure that he's staying in Greyvan,"
"That does make sense. Acnoc is close to the Greyvan border…" Ashe mutters.
"Isn't that the reason he chose Acnoc in the first place?"
"What?"
"Weren't you listening? I swear to god, you are one of the most airheaded people I've ever met. How'd you keep up with Daniel's pace of study if you're so airheaded?"
"I… was thinking of other things…"
"Like what, Daniel's ass?"
"No!?! Why would I think about that?"
"Because you used to stare at it quite a bit in High School?"
"I did? When did I?"
"Don't fool yourself. You had a massive crush on Daniel in High School,"
"N-No I didn't!"
"Right…"
"A-Anyhow, can we please get back to the topic at hand?
"Yes. The entire reason why Daniel wanted us to go to Acnoc was it was the closest port city to Greyvan. That was the point of going to Acnoc instead of, I don't know, Talcnic?"
"I see… I should pay attention to things that you two say, huh?"
"You not paying attention is a problem that needs to be solved,"
"I-I see.." Ashe stutters. Tyson simply sighs in response. Ashe was too easy to read. While Tyson's educational edge had been lost to Daniel, Tyson's ability to know what people wanted was still incredibly fine-tuned. Tyson lifts his head up to the sky.
"Finally… Took you two long enough…" He mutters. As he says those words, two people come walking down the pier to join them. One of them is a large buff man with a polearm in one hand who is wearing light chainmail. The other one is Lucya, still in her uniform.
"Yeah yeah, we know we took a long time. But have you considered that you called us the day before yesterday? It's going to take more than just a day to get our stuff ready for a trip across the damn ocean," The man sighs. "You should really take these things into account Tyson."
"Hey Moricant, we can get ready for a intercontinental trip in less than six hours, so shut your trap," Tyson snaps back. "You're just wasting time."
"Calm down both of you!" Lucya demands. She looks very miserable, her blond hair turning brown and sticking to her forehead in the wind and mist. "We're not here to argue. Also, Moricant, carry your own things. You can lift a giant greatax but not your luggage?"
"She has a very good point," Ashe shrugs when Tyson turns to look at her. Another person appears on the Waverider. She's an older woman, maybe in her late 30's. She has a captain's uniform and a deep scar over her left eye.
"Hey y'all! The Waverider's ready to go! The sooner we set out, the better! There's not a moment to spare!" The woman hollers.
"Impeccable timing Captian Wiv! Let's go, this… is this rain? Well whatever it is, it's making everything damp and miserable," Tyson hollers back. The other three nod in agreement.
The Waverider is a very large ship. It has a crew of seventy-three and 25 cannons. It's large enough that even with the ammunition, storage, and other amenities, the four VIP passengers all have their own rooms, along with the Captian and First Officer. Tyson sits at his bed in his private room. A deep sigh escapes his lips even though said lips didn't want that sigh to escape. Things have gotten weird. Although it was the middle of the night, Tyson couldn't sleep. While this for Ashe and Daniel wasn't so unusual, Ashe simply couldn't sleep very well and Daniel would stay awake for weeks on end, Tyson always sleep very soundly. It isn't that he isn't tired, quite the opposite. Yesterday had taken a large toll on him. But yet, he could find himself in sleep's sweet embrace. He frowns. Something feels really off with Daniel. In the letters that they had written back and forth, he always mentioned that Angelica, one of the first members of White Dawn, had met up with him in Greyvan. He mentioned it so much that when he didn't say a word about her in their first face-to-face meeting in over half a decade, it utterly confused Tyson. What happened to her? Tyson had always been an idealist, Ashe the skepticist, and Daniel the realist. When they founded White Dawn, it was up to the people of the new world to balance them out. Ernst and his brother Frederick Karl Ribentoff were both calm and collected men, able to cool down fights between any of the other members. Angelica Asina was very lively and could cheer anyone up. Moricant was the massive goofball that inadvertently got everyone's mood up. Now, without Ernst, Frederick, or Angelica, the top of White Dawn has gotten more and more polarized. Now, Tyson rarely thought of them as the people that held the group together as Daniel, Ashe, and himself had been very good friends in the other world. But something changed about Daniel when he came to this world. He seemed more agitated, more motivated, more impatient, and at the same time, more patient. He seemed paranoid at times, refusing to leave his room, and at other times he would drag everyone along with him to some adventure. That being said, those 'adventures' all culminated in them 'accidentally' finding some conspiracy or other, and so they had gotten into a habit of following Daniel on his little adventures that would almost always get them almost killed. Out of the 19 'adventures' that they went on, 6 of them ended up with them killing some big bad guy, 9 times they fought some giant monster, 4 times they fought a reanimating sentient golem that was intent on killing every human so Daniel just went "fuck it" and buried him in the ocean to stop him from reforming. It was very entertaining.
As Tyson was absorbed in his thoughts, he hears a rapid and annoyed knocking at his door.
"You do know what coming into a boy's room in the middle of the night means?" Tyson asks the person knocking, already knowing who is at the door.
"Oh, shut your mouth. We need to talk," Ashe responds curtly, opening the door without waiting for Tyson's reply. She has very large and noticeable bags under her eyes, her expression hollow. She has clearly not been sleeping very well.
"Wow, didn't know you still had makeup left. Did you even bring any to this world?"
"Oh stop. It's not funny in the slightest,"
"But really? How is it that you-"
{Pressure} (Wham)
"Owww! When did you get so violent?" Tyson screams out as a burst of air slams into his cheek with an audible noise.
"When will you learn to shut up?" Ashe hisses under her breath.
"Ok ok! I'll stop!"
"Good," Ashe sighs. She pulls out a small chain and rubs it. This is her way of calming herself. Tyson had never seen Ashe without that chain, its silver locks always sticking a little out of every pocket that Ashe put it in. Tyson still doesn't know what it meant to Ashe, and never wanted to ask.
"So, what are you unsure about this time?"
"Ah? Was it really that obvious?"
"Yes it is… You really don't know anything about yourself, do you?"
"Well… It's not like I'm Daniel. I can't get C from A and B,"
"Don't worry, I get AB from A and B,"
"Anyway, are you really sure about trusting Daniel?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know… Daniel feels… Different somehow. It's an even bigger difference than when we came to this world. He feels… Scary. Genuinely scary," Ashe shudders.
"I guess you have a point. He wouldn't resort to violence that quickly before. Perhaps someone or thing agitated him to the breaking point?"
"That's what I want to believe, but-"
"Then believe that until you find something otherwise,"
"Why? Why would I believe something that-"
"Because it will keep you calm. Why worry about something that you don't know anything about?"
"B-But…" Ashe stutters then looks down at the floor. She has not stopped rubbing her chain this entire time. Tyson wonders how that chain is still untarnished.
"Look, we'll see him in person in a couple of days. We can observe him more at that time,"
They would later get caught up in something that put this conversation to the back of their head.