Kaldalis was waiting on the Cotanaku dock at dawn. Big Mike’s ship - the Rambutan - had already been maneuvered into place and tethered to the dock, where two dozen sailors were working to load the boat with boxes and barrels. Near as Kaldalis could tell, it was mostly food and water for the trip, but some amount of it may have been trade goods. He didn’t know what trade goods Cotanaku might be providing, but he hoped that the council got a good price, since they no doubt needed to pay down whatever debt Garyung had made.

With nothing else to do, Kaldalis settled in to wait. He wanted his friends with him when he boarded the ship, and it seemed like they weren’t so haunted by what was to come that they’d been unable to sleep and then come out here as early as possible.

He wasn’t alone the whole time, though. Big Mike spotted him from the ship, and was so delighted to see him that he leaped down from the ship deck to the dock without waiting for the gangplanks to be cleared.

“Kaldalis!” Big Mike said, greeting him with a smile so wide it warped his handlebar moustache. “Good to see ya, boy!”

Kaldalis forced a smile to match the captain’s energy, but it rapidly became a real smile when the man grabbed him up in an unexpected hug, thumping him on the back with a laugh.

“Big Mike,” Kaldalis said, though he broke into a cough as one of the thumps on the back interrupted his breathing. “Good to see you, too.”

Big Mike laughed and let go, letting Kaldalis catch his breath, though he clapped his hands on Kaldalis’s shoulders shortly after. “Why so glum, boy? You’re not the one going to trial.”

“Feels like I am,” Kaldalis grumbled. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer, this has just been a nightmare.”

“Don’t worry,” Big Mike said, not letting Kaldalis’s mood dampen his own in the slightest. “It’ll all seem better once we’re back in Baimer. I know adventurers like to say you chafe at the comforts of civilization, but I never met one of you who doesn’t enjoy the occasional change of pace.”

“Thanks,” Kaldalis said, trying to let the reassurance comfort him a bit. “No offense, but some of my anxiety comes from how the council in Panbu has been treating me.”

The captain’s smile finally broke at that, and he shared in Kaldalis’s grimace. “I don’t want to speak ill of Cerh while I’m still in the same region as he is, but he’s kind of a dick. Don’t let him color your perception of a whole civilization. Everyone you’ve met - good and bad - started this trip as a Zaran.”

“I want to believe you,” Kaldalis said, “but Demriv is coming with us, and I think she’s going to be going out of her way to make me miserable whenever possible.”

“Ah, if she does, that’s just because she has a bit of a crush on you,” Big Mike said with a laugh, giving him a gentle elbow. “I’ve seen the way she looks at y-”

“I’m the reason her sister is going to jail,” Kaldalis interrupted. “Probably forever. Hopefully forever. I don’t think my winning smile is going to mitigate that.”

“I didn’t realize-”

“I also killed her, too?” Kaldalis continued. “Kind of. She got better. I don’t know what Onirioago actually told Demriv about that. It’s… Complicated.”

Big Mike blinked and furrowed his brow, as if unsure if Kaldalis was being serious. Given that Onirioago returning to life was impossible, he didn’t blame the disbelief.

“Regardless,” Kaldalis said, “I don’t think she’s going to be a fan of me anymore.”

“She may be one of the bigger fish out here,” Big Mike said, pushing past Kaldalis’s wild claims. “But back in Baimer she’s not going to be anybody special. She won’t have any more ability to mess with you than any other middle-management administrator.”

Kaldalis nodded at that.

Big Mike was right. Out here, she was basically number three in the power structure. She could shit on him from that great height if she wanted. But outside of these islands? It wasn’t like he had pissed off a princess or something.

He might come through this okay.

“Thanks, Big Mike,” Kaldalis said at last. “That puts things into perspective.”

“Anything you need, boy,” the captain said, puffing out his chest with a bit of pride for having helped. “I know I’ll feel better about the trip with you on board, anyhow. Any big monsters that want to- Jesse!” Big Mike whirled around towards the ship abruptly. “Jesse! Put that down!”

“What-” Kaldalis started.

“Sorry, boy, I gotta deal with this guy before he hurts himself,” Big Mike said, already moving back up the dock. “Two men to a barrel! How many times do I gotta tell you?”

Kaldalis couldn’t even see from here who he was talking to. It made him wonder if Big Mike was just that good at his job to recognize when and where things would go wrong, and who would be behind it. Or maybe there was some gamified mechanic that gave the captain of a ship some sixth sense for if one of their sailors was doing something stupid.

Luckily, he didn’t have time to wonder about that vis-à-vis his relationship with Heluna, and what Filomena might know. The rest of the passengers on the ship arrived, and he found himself swept up in the mess of getting aboard. He managed to meet up with his friends as they were all ushered aboard, even as Big Mike ramped up the loading process to finish up so that the voyage could get underway.

Before he could get his bearings aboard the ship, it was already moving away from the dock.

Kaldalis felt a stab of panic and checked over the rail, but all the goods that had still been there had somehow been loaded up in the scant few minutes between when the others arrived and were loaded aboard.

Despite knowing that he’d rather not, Kaldalis broke away from his friends to make for the helm, where Big Mike was casually guiding the ship with one hand as he turned it out into the ocean.

“I didn’t see them bring her aboard,” Kaldalis said.

“Demriv and the guardsman brought her on last night,” Big Mike said, already knowing who Kaldalis was talking about. “For some reason, she’s got it in her head that you might try something inappropriate during the transfer from cell to cell, if you were around.”

Kaldalis grimaced. “So I shouldn’t-”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, boy,” Big Mike said, slapping Kaldalis on the back with his free hand. “Head on down to the brig to check. Just make sure your hands are where Demriv can see ‘em the whole time.”

Kaldalis nodded his thanks and headed below deck. He didn’t know where the brig was, but he only had to wander around for a few minutes before he spotted a metal barred door on the side of a hallway. It wasn’t locked, but there was a heavy padlock and chain hanging up next to the door from the outside.

“Hold,” barked a voice as soon as he touched the door. Kaldalis stopped dead until Gavinkim peeked his head around the corner beyond the door. Both Kaldalis and the Bhogad relaxed when they saw each other, and Gavinkim gestured for Kaldalis to enter.

“How are the accommodations?” Kaldalis asked.

Gavinkim grunted a noncommittal noise. Kaldalis knew why when he came around the corner. There was a chamber in here with seating and nice accommodations, with a row of metal cells against the inside wall. While Onirioago was sitting on a low stool in one of the cells, outside of the cell was her mirror image. Demriv was sitting on another low stool facing her sister.

Kaldalis had to do another double take now that they were in the room together. Internally he kicked himself for thinking the resemblance was due to Monsoon lazily reusing character models.

They must have been identical twins.

He would have feared that they’d switched places - Demriv taking the spot inside the cell while Onirioago was allowed to walk free - in some kind of weird sitcom plot. But Kaldalis knew perfectly well that real twins didn’t actually look identical without a lot of makeup. Especially as adults who had led different lives. Onirioago was more heavily muscled, while Demriv was a bit slimmer and softer. There was no way they could have swapped places, since Kaldalis had seen plenty of both of them before this moment.

“I can’t believe you,” Demriv said, standing up and fixing him with a glare. “You were going to kill her and then try and hide it? I knew Jetmorpan was right about your type from the start. I never should have trusted you for a second.”

“Now now, sister,” Onirioago said. She stood up and instead of glaring, leaned forward and planted her hands on the bars of her cell, giving Kaldalis a look just like the one she’d given him in the cell in Cotanaku. Despite the sturdy steel of the cell, her hands were still manacled, and the chain rattled against the bars. “Let us not be uncharitable. I’m sure he had a good reason to roll me into a shallow grave and lie to you about it.”

“I didn’t,” Kaldalis began. He almost fell into a stammering defensive mess, but he knew he had to keep himself composed. Onirioago was feeding off the chaos of this misunderstanding, and if there was one thing that she’d enjoy more than seeing him flustered, it would be to see him accidentally talking himself into the cell next to her. “That never happened. Someone with excellent foresight and immeasurable cunning set up a whole situation to make it look that way. I can’t possibly imagine who.” He shifted his look from Demriv to Onirioago and back again. “Maybe you can help me. Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do, and been stuck with no opportunity to defend yourself? Like maybe with your parents?”

For the second time since they met, Kaldalis had an effective weapon against Onirioago. The first time he’d used her own tactics against her to make her think she was seducing him. But this time was on his home turf. Dylan had had a sister, too, and knew exactly what it was like to have a troublemaker for a sibling. That experience became a useful tool in Kaldalis’s hands now.

The corner of Demriv’s mouth quirked a little, her scowl turning into a grimace. Kaldalis hadn’t won her over with a word, but he’d planted a seed of doubt there. But she didn’t budge in her stance. It seemed even making that connection wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

“I just wanted to be sure she was secure,” Kaldalis said after the moment’s pause. “That’s all.”

“For now,” Onirioago said, drawing out the words. She let it hang in the air for a long moment. An open threat. Her hands shifted and the chains rattled against the bars again. “We’ll see what happens when the trial comes,” she said, by way of hiding her intent while in front of her sister. Or, at least, providing Demriv with plausible deniability.

Kaldalis found himself fearing what she could actually do to escape. Gavinkim had proven incorruptible, but now Demriv was in the equation, and had made it clear that despite knowing the truth about her sister, she wasn’t going to be budged from her defense. And what if Onirioago could somehow kill herself, and then respawn outside of the cage?

Even before Cotanaku could be more than a bowshot away from the back of the ship, this voyage felt like it was going to be very, very, long.