It was a slight bummer that Cira didn’t get to enjoy the city, but she chatted with the leaders of Plackelo long into the night. The Girl turned out to be named Jule, and her father was technically the Mayor. Lately his health had been poor and his age long advanced, so Jule began stepping up to the responsibilities he was sure to leave behind.
Cira examined him personally, of course. He had a cold, which she cured, but the terminal diagnosis was simple age. He wasn’t as old as the unpleasant Overseer, Pappy, but his sands were certainly running out sooner than later.
He seemed to really enjoy the stories she told about Paradise, even shared a few from his own youth. He didn’t have a lot of time to travel before his father died and left the island to him, but he always dreamed of adventure, even on his deathbed.
So, Cira spent the night regaling him of all her tales of adventure. The dragon was his particular favorite, but Jule kept looking at her like she was using tall tales to play tricks on the elderly, which only got worse when Cira ran out of her own adventures and had to recount those she shared with her father.
Even Cira was surprised how little doubt he cast over her tales and was glad to stay up for another evening in a row to see a spritely smile on his face.
The trouble came in the morning, when he got dressed as the girls made breakfast downstairs. He had a wooden cane and a backpack on, and said, “I ain’t dyin’ today so you ain’t leavin’ me behind!”
He was set on seeing Paradise before he died, and there was no real harm in it. Though, you’d think he already made it judging by the face he wore touching down on Breeze Haven. Cira didn’t know how she felt about all the leaders of Plackelo and Acher disappearing for a few days, but those in charge of making decisions deemed it just fine.
___
Green Pit. It hung in the sky exactly like she remembered. Verdant, unnatural, and full of mystery. Those mysteries were actually less so now that Cira had time to observe and care.
She originally had the idea to construct a large illusory array to help those she was leaving behind stay safe, but it was something already put in place over a thousand years ago. In fact, the eternal storm was an obfuscation array far larger and more potent than anything Cira could hope to conjure. It’s source, however, lie in the center of the dumpling that was Green Pit.
Deep within the earth and beneath Green Lake, stone was crystallized into enchanted formations that all comprised an unbelievable array. It’s range of effect spanned for more miles than Cira could posit just looking at it. The conditions by which some were allowed to find their way here while others became hopelessly lost was a complete mystery. This made her want to stay and study it as long as possible, but she couldn’t sacrifice that much of her remaining time here for personal reasons.
“So, this is Green Pit, huh?” Jule seemed a little nervous, “How far is Paradise?”
“Not far, I assure you.” The original plan was to use her trip to Plackelo as an excuse to test out long-range entry to the realm, but her evening went in an unexpected direction. “Looks like everyone is ready, too.”
The Saint’s Wings and Jimbo’s treasure barge sat on the lake, along with Pita's new ship, gently bobbing as ships do when they land on the sea. She was just glad they didn’t take on water, because a some of pirates she met seemed sort of half-assed about thoroughly sealed hulls up here. Thankfully, the same could be said for the Blackwood Brothers’ ship.
Cira brought Breeze Haven in close and noticed the lake’s edge was flooded into the first layer of houses from all the water their ships displaced.
Soon the tip of her garden was just a few feet from a weary-looking Jimbo on the deck of his ship.
“You sure this is gonna work?” There were dark bags under his eyes, “We were up all night emptying out houses in the flood.”
“And that’s what you get for building homes directly on the shore. The reason this ‘pit’ is here, I suspect, is specifically to allow the water to rise. I hope you cleared a few layers up, too.”
“Hey!” James approached and quickly complained, “Did you kidnap the mayor of Plackelo last night?”
She promptly explained her diplomatic intentions, introduced everyone, and shooed him away before raising her voice on the wind, “We will be submerging in five minutes.”
Hundreds of pirates, her students and all the mages left behind on Green Pit, the Mortal Council, along with anyone who wanted to and was deemed allowed by the council or Cira herself. It baffled the sorcerer how she gathered so many, and why, but the council wanted rumors to spread.
The glorious Empress dethroned Captain Wick, putting an end to centuries of Captain Cloud’s legacy. The kingdom he built was instantly dismantled, then she immediately set out and found Paradise—successfully. The masses would see this trip as something for which only the empress could allow passage, but there were plans in the works to allow her captains and council entry when they wanted. Else she would feel much worse about up and leaving them behind.
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The one thing she could discern about the obfuscation array, however, was key in this decision. The council sure was wise for a bunch of people Jimbo pulled out of his ass the other night.
For those who should not find what they are looking for within this storm, it will become exponentially more difficult to do so. Their plan after Cira shared this knowledge was to let the Boreal know that Captain Dreadheart had truly discovered the legendary island of Paradise by way of a few pairs of loose lips. With this many people around, it was bound to trickle up. Everyone thought it was a great way to kick off Cira’s reign, despite her imminent departure.
With any luck, her disappearance from the public eye would send the message that she was establishing a foothold using Paradise as an unreachable stronghold. That mixed with the mobile fortress card, along with the other ridiculous rumors and facts floating around, and nobody would mess with them callously.
Captain Dreadheart, who stole the deritium in a clash of blades, turned into an overnight powerhouse. Meanwhile, the Saint of Seven Suns and Hidden Witch—arguably the problems people were most worried about—faded away silently. Cira was amused at Lomp’s handiwork that she somehow became multiple people, but it worked out in her favor here.
“Oh, that reminds me.” Cira called out to James, “I beat up the Blackwood brothers. Does that mean anything to you?”
“You WHAT—” The ships started to sink in unison, and Cira watched them descend from above.
“Oh, I guess it’s time. I’ll see you on the other side.” She waved as his infuriated visage disappeared below the flowers at the edge of her garden. “I knew I should have waited…” A shimmering flower of gemstones appeared and Cira took it in her hand, turning her head to the young lady Jule and her father with a smirk. “We will be taking the fun way.”
“Ahahaha—” The old man slapped his knee as the world turned white.
Seconds later, they floated above the sea. In a brief moment during the oblivion of transit, Cira felt that she could decide their destination, but wanted it to be the same as the others.
“Ahhhh!!!” The old man’s laughter had turned into screams, and he grabbed onto the fence for dear life.
Cira flooded him with golden light and patted him on the shoulder, “Whoa there, old timer. You swore you weren’t dying today.”
She really didn’t want to have to give him the Kuja treatment. There were mixed feelings swirling around in her heart about the idea of doling that out all willy nilly.
“Th-that wasn’t fun at all!” Jule supported her father, who was pretty much fine now, for the record. “Warn us before you do something like that!”
“I did, but perhaps I could have been more specific. Note taken.”
Meanwhile, panic ensued aboard the pirate ships to either side of her. Apparently, their sails weren’t set up for gliding, as they were just sitting on the water all morning. Men and women rose from the deck as the ships plummeted beneath them. Cira heard a small amount of splintering from the masts and reacted quickly to save everyone with spatial sorcery.
“My bad,” She called out to all, “I didn’t think of that. Go ahead and fix your sails.”
Jimbo looked like he needed new pants as he glared up at her, “Goddamn you!”
Tawny was notably floating in the air where the deck used to be, and looked up at Cira with a cheeky grin, “Huh? See this?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cira brought the ship back to meet her feet and shot her a grin. “I’d say you’re just about ready for a teacher position. Hope you’re prepared.”
She may or may not have been bitter about how much faster Tawny was able to grasp flight, but it was pretty inefficient.
“How are you…” Jule stared at her aghast, doing double takes between each floating ship and the sorcerer while her father just laughed, “How are you doing that?”
“Just a little sorcery.”
___
While everyone made their way to Paradise, herself included, Cira was also shaping the golden landscape near her orchard into something like an amphitheater. There was no roof, but it looked like carved stone with grand pillars and a beautiful hilltop view of the agricultural district. A branch of each spring flowed on either side. Behind was the shore down a series of bluffs, and you could even see the ocean beyond.
No such meeting place would be complete if she didn’t make an underground passageway for ale to rise from beneath the earth. An offshoot not far from the spring and with the steepest path was made to diverge down and shoot up beside the courtyard, spraying into a fine golden mist to veil the panoramic shoreline view in a haze.
This was as much a test of this islands construction as it was a passion project. The question in her head on her first trip to Paradise was how does the beer stay fresh? It flowed through miles of river in the open air. Curiously enough, the cups of ale-rain she drank while sitting on the sea below tasted like Milty’s draft after twenty minutes in a glass.
This could only mean one thing, though she knew not why: Ale did not go flat on Paradise. She fully intended to test this with ale from her treasury, but it wasn’t urgent. There was also the matter of whether or not it had to do with being within the river, so that led to the first test here.
Cira’s ornamental beer geyser was constructed entirely of the land, and of course, it drained into both a moat and rain catchment system hidden within the pillars which fed a stream that circled the large central table, made of none other than solid gold, of course, as was this entire project.
This was one Cira was actually really proud of. She wasn’t focusing on the structural integrity and material efficiency of her work for once. It hit a similar vein to tailoring a new dress, or painting on a canvas if she were good at that. A new artistic medium was always welcome, and she took all the time she had until the ships arrived carving it out, adding ornament accents and even foliage since she had plants handy on Breeze Haven. Moving things between places in Paradise was satisfyingly easy, so she did not skimp.
The finishing touch was to create a monolithic grill just down the hill from the gold brick pavilion. She had a great many people to feed and only fish to feed them.
Can I find that giant snake? Bet he’s dead. No, I think it was a female actually… Usually meatier.
Spreading out her sight in detail would take a great deal of time. As Cira was not an island, she could not see everything at once. Focus was a huge limiting factor to her mortal nature, but that’s life. That said, she was getting better. Passive cast sorcery would largely take care of the serpent search in time as Cira put most of her attention to the finishing touches on her little project. Meanwhile, Cira actually stood at the fence of her garden with the mayors of Plackelo and made small talk. The shimmering shores were fast approaching.