Ruby dashes in, petals swirling everywhere, a pair of liftfruit in her arms.

Neo lands just after her, holding a pair as well. Her markings are glowing a bit with the exhilaration of the race and the concern of the island shaking.

"Okay, everyone's here. Explanations would be great, Anima, along with answers about whether we can safely swap one of these liftfruit pits out for Maya's heart now that you're not falling, among other things."

Hyacinth comes in as well and sits on one of the pews at the front of the cathedral, nodding along firmly.

Let me explain. Twenty years ago, this world was safe and prosperous. There was a great trading alliance of dozens of tribes, each with their own lift-fruit groves that kept their islands safe and their ships aloft. There were many great clans - the Vixens, the Talons, the Nightfallen, the Firebearers, the Sweethearts, the Mothwinged - and they all lived in harmony. This was the heart of their alliance, a great island where they came to trade, to give thanks to the gods, and to undertake the building of new ships and the raising of new islands. 

But then the plague came. A cursed blight, withering the hearts of the Sweethearts and spreading to the liftfruit groves. They fought, valiantly, but islands and ships began to fall from the sky as the liftfruits at their core became too corrupt and lifeless to support their charges. The people of the alliance began to withdraw, setting in place quarantines and banning any non-essential trade, yet still the plague spread. The clans became paranoid, blamed each other for the unnatural spread of the plague, and trade withered still further - and with it the supply of foreign lift-fruit to those tribes that depended on them to keep themselves above the poisonous fog of the land below. Some perished. Some planted their own liftfruit groves and withdrew. A few who still believed in the alliance sought desperately for a cure to the corruption - a cure that lives, now, in a single grove of liftfruit on this island that are free of the taint, their mana modified to withstand the corruption. 

That grove of liftfruit, though, was not yet mature when very little was left to keep this island safe. The people who lived here - the Last Vow of Sisterhood - took the last few wholesome fruits they could spare to power their ships and fled with a few immature fruit to continue their work from, as this island was believed to no longer have the strength to remain in the air. They took the knowledge of the cure's propogation with them: I know not where. All communication between isles had been lost by the time that that desperate extreme was reached. 

But the few remaining liftfruit on the isle, the blessed ones, were just enough extra buoyancy that this isle has survived the loss of its people. I used the last of the strength of the central liftfruit on a desperate gamble - to call people from another world to save this place, in the hopes that they would discover the now-ripe grove and replace the heart of the isle before it gave way. 

That gamble has now succeeded. So it now falls to you to find the fled members of the Vow, spread the holy lift-fruit, re-weave the broken diplomacy, and root out whomever it was that spread the plague deliberately. 

It will not be an easy task, but you will not be alone. I have faith in the good nature of the remaining members of the Alliance. They will see sense, if you can but contact them and convince them of the truth of your cause. 

Please, heroes. Rebuild this failing world, before it is too late for the remaining isles and their quarantines.

And yes, please, fill the bowl with as many liftfruit as you can spare! The more there are the safer this isle will be.

Hyacinth looks over at Sable. "I think we know why we were summoned. That sounds an awful lot like what of the plot summary of Skybound I recall." 

She nods. "Getting paid in individual embodiments definitely is the icing on the cake, and this is a task we'd already want to help with."

"Agreed. We will need to complete that skeletal ship, and bring as many liftfruit as we can carry to other islands."

"How many cores in the altar does it take to keep this island afloat on its own, and how long do they last, and how quick do they grow back?"

Only one is needed to keep the island floating, thanks to the efficiency of the enchantments, and each one would last about a month, but more mana is needed to run the facilities such as the shipyard and myself. I can put myself into a mana saving mode and drain less charge, but to be fully active I would need a second liftfruit. To run all the remaining facilities on the island at full capacity you would need another hundred or so per month. The current grove produces about a dozen serviceable fruits a month, which would be enough to run any one facility at minimum capacity while leaving space for me and the island's support.

You will want to bring the agriculture facilities online to grow more liftfruit, then finish the ship and begin scouting. There is space on the island that can be turned over to cultivation yet. 

"Sounds like we might be stuck here for a little while..."

Hyacinth is clearly trying not to focus on the cage between her legs. 

"Are you certain of that estimate of how many liftfruit the grove grows per month?"

I am not yet entirely sure. It is a new breed, and may have unusual characteristics.

"Sounds kind of messy..."

"It does. We'll have to err on the side of caution. Everyone, chow down on a fruit while we learn more. Anima, can you determine that more precisely if we keep you topped off while we get things up and running?"

Hailey follows her own advice and grabs a liftfruit from Ruby, biting into it.

Neo does the same with one of the ones she's carrying.

If you can provide me enough fruits to bring the agricultural facilities online again then I should be able to give better numbers. 

"And I think there's really no substitute for going out to the grove and just counting all the lift-fruit that are fully grown." 

(Hyacinth, meanwhile, is chowing down on a liftfruit.)

Along with Lily, who seems to be partially drinking hers through her fangs.

"I believe Hailey meant the usage rate, Anima. Growth rates will be easy enough to determine just through cultivation, though we will not refuse your assistance with faster and more accurate calculations there."

My analysis of these fruits says they're every bit as potent as the usual breed, perhaps more so, so they should if anything overperform. Usage rates will depend on how much machinery and spellwork is used, but I have good historical data on that so it should not be difficult to estimate for each facility in turn depending on its uses. Ask me more specifically about what you wish to do and I will be able to give more precise numbers. 

"I believe our main concerns will be your continued operation, agriculture, living quarters, and the shipyard, in that order, Anima, but a full listing of all available facilities would be useful in making a proper decision."

Sable nods, pulling Ruby into her arms and caressing her gently as she listens.