Mark sat on an adamantium chair of his own making on the sunset deck of the ship. The sky flurried with blue auroras and snow, while the land beyond the railing reflected blue and white from icebergs and ocean. The air smelled of frost and distantly of meat, burning back where they had come from. The ship moved steadily forward. Barely rocked at all, but it did. Mark felt it as Eliot's vector swam through the ship, melding this part and that part to the main structure.

Isoko was with Eliot up in the main castle behind Mark and Sally. Most people were up there, or near that space. Andria and Tartu were down below, working on something.

Mark looked at the stone castle parts and said, "I hope he doesn't melt the castle down."

"He said he's keeping it. Helps with Castellan when the place looks like a real home." Sally thumbed backward, as she reclined in her own chair beside Mark. "There's a whole part of the cathedral back there, too."

"From the settlement?"

"Yup! Eliot just took it, and a whole lot of other pieces besides. The settlement won't miss them too much, but Eliot said it'd form the basis for a strong airship," Sally said, "And so, here we are, in this pile of a barge, headed off to kill kaiju."

Mark grinned wide. "I kinda really love all of the mashed-together pieces— As long as it's air-worthy."

"It was air worthy, but then— Well you heard? We met the Many-Eyed Watcher kaiju. Didn't know about that one. It ate one of our ships. Eliot grabbed what he could but…" Sally sighed a little, but she had a smile, too. "I was a lot more worried about Endless Daihoon, but then we found you and 3 kaiju corpses."

"Sorry I wasn't there," Mark said. "I'm glad you guys got away, though. I ran from him, too."

"Yeah; he's a protected kaiju… You went for the neck on the balloon lizards, it looks like?"

"Thinnest, most vulnerable part— Well. I actually think it was the most defended part, and I thought that when I fought them, too. But I had enough offense to cut through that defense."

"They were a variation on the snake-headed lizard species. Ballooner lizards, kaiju version. The normal ones spit flaming oil and the neck is the strongest part on them. They're pretty common around the lands I patrolled back at Harbordock, with Arana and the guys, in my previous party. The monster version is 10 meters long, and they're super easy to kill if you go in through the back. Pretty much the only part that's tough is the neck. I imagine that the kaiju's neck was even tougher."

"Didn't know that… I'm glad you guys will be here for the next fights."

"Yeah, me too," Sally said, looking in the distance, feeling distant.

The sun hovered on the western horizon.

In the summer, this far north, Mark was pretty sure it wouldn't set at all.

All the world was colorful in so many ways, Mark was sitting on a ramshackle airship maybe 400 meters long and 150 wide, and headed off to the Northern Crossing with his team to kill kaiju. Mark had just proven to himself that he could kill some, and with a team behind him, calling shots from angles Mark could not see, it would be even easier.

Mark felt good. Real good.

Despite everything, Mark had more hope in his heart than he had in a while, and especially if he could power up his team right alongside himself.

Sally was having deep, silent thoughts.

Like throwing a boulder into a pool, Mark asked, "You want prismatic mana, right? Because I'd like to see you with Titan Strength and getting as big as Titanfist and then as small as you used to be."

Sally's vector went everywhere, her eyes widening, and then she chuckled. She was 9 feet tall these days, 750 pounds. Maybe 800. She was strong as fuck. Sally held a hand out, raised it just a bit off of the ground, and asked, "Could you imagine me this tall again?"

Mark put some adamantium out there in the rough shape of the girl Sally used to be, making it smaller than Sally used to be, too. It was about a handspan shorter than Sally's guess, and she laughed even as Mark said, "Don't lie now! You were this short."

"I was not! I was taller than that."

Mark made the sculpture shorter. "Maybe even this short."

Sally guffawed. "Talk about short! You were the same size, shorty."

Mark smiled.

A moment passed.

Sally softly said, "We're really going into Endless Daihoon, huh."

"Looks like, yeah." Mark added, "Just a short trip. Nothing deep. Just gotta find some specific kaiju, I guess? I didn't know about that part. Did you know that part?"

"A lot of things got explained very fast by a lot of higher ups, mostly Walaria… I think she said something like that. Isoko was much more with-it. Eliot was completely out of it. I was kinda shaking with rage the whole time… You know your Agreement for Mage Society has compunctions on her, too, right? You could force issues more than you are."

Mark looked at the sky of blue auroras. "… Maybe? Yeah, maybe I could. Not sure how, or for what… But what do you mean?"

"I'm not even sure. Only that part of your Agreement has her as agreeing to shield you from Aluatha's overreach. And she's a witch. Agreements, hospitality, unsaid-rules-of-interaction; those things are important for witches to… you know… adhere to."

Mark shrugged. "I think she is adhering, from her direction. They called me a soldier of Aluatha an awful lot, trying to reframe everything to their perspective. Not sure what would have happened if I went 'AWOL', but it probably would have been bad. Whatever witches can do —and I'm not sure what they do— I'm pretty sure all I can do is fight and take the hits as they come."

"I guess so."

"… So you want prismatic mana, right?" Mark asked, redirecting the conversation back to what Sally had avoided.

Sally cringed for a moment, and then she softened, and said, "If it works out how I want it to work out, it means I end up on the same stage as Titanfist and you, and you're the only person in the world who could heal me right, and you'd want me fighting beside you to kill kaiju, yeah?"

"More or less, yeah. Does that… scare you? Or something?"

Sally was unsure.

Mark asked, "Have you been able to do any of the Altering for Titan Strength? You've been working with Inquisitor Walter, right?"

"With Walter, yeah, and yes... Actually doing the Alteration and then using it would kill me, though, so that's scary."

"… Why would it kill you?"

"Heart failure, speedster-necessities that I don't have, death from malnutrition… More. There are a lot of very large problems with Titan's Strength. But I talked to Walter for, like, 5 minutes, and Walaria handed me a whole book on the subject which I still need to read more of, but I have the Alteration already active in my Binding. It's not hooked up because of the problems. But… I could activate it in a moment's notice." Sally added, "Ostensibly, before I get the prismatic mana, and then it's a race against time for me to carve into a dead kaiju and eat their heart… or something like that."

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Mark's appreciation for Sally deepened, quite a bit. She was adjusting, fast. Mark said, "It sounds like you don't want that?"

Sally winced again, but it was smaller this time. And then she just came out and said what she wanted to say, "… Do you want to fight monsters your whole life, Mark? Because I really like helping Eliot with pretty much anything he wants to do, because everything he does is housing and families and communities, and I really love that. A lot."

"Of course I don't want to fight monsters my whole life," Mark said, "The plan is to kill all monsters, after all. I'm working to put myself out of a job!"

Sally snorted, amused at that line of thinking. "I'm serious."

"I know, I know… I do want to make sure absolutely nothing in this world or any other is a threat to me or mine, and I'd prefer if my team had more power to them so they weren't so scared of kaiju. So killing all monsters is a big thing that I hope to achieve, and which probably involves System fuckery and trips to Arakino and fighting gods, or whatever, but in the meantime, there's life to be had. And to have life, you have to be strong."

"Now, see… That's the other side of the scales that I'm weighing. A very heavy side." Sally added, "I guess my only real issue is that… It's all happening so fast, Mark."

"Yup."

What else was there to say?

Yes, this was happening fast; Mark agreed.

Sally breathed out, looking across the world. They were flying over the open ocean and picking up speed again. Soon, they'd be flying over some mountainous land up ahead, filled with glaciers. Then, they'd be out over the D'Arctic Ocean, and the auroras of the sky would touch down into the waters, into the world, and lead the way to Endless Daihoon.

Sally found her mental footing, saying, "Yup. It's happening fast, and I'm ready enough. If we find a size-changing kaiju then I'm taking that mana, and then I'll fight alongside you to kill the next one, and all the ones past that."

"When you're super tall again I'll be the real shorty."

"You're short right now!"

Mark mocked offense. "I'm 6'5"!"

"Maybe your ego is."

"Nah. My ego is currently 1.3 kilometers wide."

Sally laughed. "Fuck, man! That's your damned range now?"

Mark happily said, "It was 12 kilometers wide when I was riding the elemental dragon over Goblinhome."

"That was so awesome, by the way," Sally said, "I saw so, so many people die to goblins at Harbordock— And at the settlement, too! Fuck those bastards…" Sally looked out, got a solid look to her, and said, "Okay. I'm absolutely sure, now. I do want prismatic mana."

Mark grinned. "Took a minute."

"A hot minute." Sally added, "I hope we can even find the appropriate kaiju, but it shouldn't be too hard with Andria here."

"… Why is that?"

Sally arched an eyebrow. She smiled. "You don't know! Ha!"

"Spit it out."

"She's a paladin of Pluta, with Prosperity. The only non-paladins on this trip are you and Tartu, and I'm pretty sure Tartu is thinking about pledging—"

"No no no. Not moving on," Mark solidly said, his heart beating hard when he heard about Prosperity.

That name, that Power, gifted by the Chosen system by the Goddess of Wealth, Pluta, had some deeper meaning to it than the meaning normally ascribed by society. Mark kinda forgot why, though. It was on the tip of his tongue, and finding out that Andria was a Chosen of Pluta meant something… something important.

Mark asked, "What do you mean, a paladin of Pluta? I've literally never interacted with one of them, ever. What does that mean? What is she doing here? I thought it was a ship-thing with the mithril stuff. Isoko and Eliot were both quick to add her to the list of—"

"Okay okay. You're being way too paranoid. It's… it's Prosperity," Sally said, as if that explained anything.

Mark rolled his eyes.

Sally smirked. "Are you rolling your eyes right now? I can't tell from all the black, but I do see your eyebrows arching and—"

"Oh shut up and talk."

Sally dropped the teasing, and explained, "From what I understand, which is from an Inquisitor's position, Pluta's Prosperity can do a lot of utility work. Nothing combat related at all, but a whole host of things related to commerce, finding things, and ensuring good things. It's kinda witchy, and kinda like Kardi's Luck—"

"That. That right there," Mark said, as he realized why he remembered Prosperity. "Kardi had been trying for Prosperity from Pluta, but she didn't get it. Not many people get it. Prosperity is sort of like a Luck power, too, but focused on fortunes—"

"So before you go too far down that path of worry, which it certainly seems like you are," Sally said, "We vetted her, and there are a whole lot of Inquisitors here, and she is a Chosen of Pluta, so… She's alright, Mark. I've seen her in action with Eliot and the factory a lot. You'll like her, I'm sure, and I'm sure she'll get over her crush on you just like Isoko and I both have."

"… Well… Okay… Okay."

Sally reached over and patted his shoulder, hitting metal… she paused. She felt his shoulder… She pulled her hand away. "You're sitting there nude, aren't you. Those are illusionary clothes."

Mark couldn't help laughing.

Sally complained that she thought Eliot had put clothes on him, and 'gods dammit, Mark', and 'why are you always nude!'. Mark countered with talk of maybe getting TT with the random Prismatic Mana roll of the dice, which moved into talking about nothing much at all as the ship flew forward.

Mark felt himself unwind.

He also felt out Andria, down below decks, already furiously working with that adamantium he had given her to do… something. She was focused. A gold light occasionally colored her vector, like the most subtle glitter, helping her do whatever it was she was doing. Derek-times-2 was next to her, also helping her do whatever it was she was doing, and Eliot even went down there to see what was going on, so Mark let his worries fall away with every breath of Bad, threaded away, out into the world.

Andria was not Kardi.

Tartu was working by himself, now, off to the side, heavily focused on his task of making warding stones. A few other Dereks were helping him, too, mostly with Union restoring his astral body.

Isoko was steering, and having deep conversations with Lola.

Mark was pretty sure that David was on one of the lower decks down there, tending to some crops, or something.

… And everything was good, for now.

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