It clicks. 

"I think that's one of the planes I'm connected to. The name feels right. And they say conduits are connections between planes, so..." She frowns. "Maybe this one is leaking."

"We read something about that!" She scans past book after book, looking for another Conduit book in particular. No, no, no, different Conduit book so might be useful but not what she's looking for, no, no, yes!

She slaps Variation in Conduits onto the table. "Chapter's titled Living Bridges, but there are other names suggested, like leaky connections or conduit incontinence."

"Inconduitinence."

"— sorry, my ADD wouldn't let me not say it. Uh, yeah, that sounds like the problem."

Sable laughs and nods. "Yep. It suggests that with time spent in the relevant world, and some effort, you can maybe close it? But it's a process. And Gokigenyou is quite a place by the sound of it."

"Yeah. I'm not sure I want to spend a few years there just yet. But maybe I can learn to refine my connection to it without actually going there?"

She shrugs. "No clue. Worth a try, at least."

Then she spins around and grabs a notebook to start writing a shopping list.

• Clothes
• Underwear
• Earplugs
• Saw
• More kinds of food
• Liquids and minerals to farm in the Bevin

"Can you think of anything else we need?

"Don't forget the bevin does plants too. If there's perhaps a textile crop of some kind, that could be useful."

She frowns. "Also, is there an internet in Rorch? If there is, a computing device would super be worth it."

"Good question!"

She adds both of those to the list. "Oh, and what about an adapter to power Earth tech off Rorch gear?"

"Might be hard to come up with, but we should definitely keep an eye out."

"Hell, if we can just find a book or two documenting the standard they use here, Ruby and I can figure it out making one if we take it slow. And reread a lot of books in the process."

She writes both those down.

"We'll probably think of something else as soon as we've finished shopping and gotten back here."

"Probably, yeah. But there will be other trips."

Eva stretches. "Shall we get moving?"

She nods and smiles, leaning in to shyly press a soft kiss to Eva's lips.

Eva kisses back, and parts with a shy smile on her lips. 

Then it's back to the traincar with her.

After checking all the cargo is strapped down, Sable settles into the pilot's seat. "All aboard!", she calls playfully.

Parking brakes disabled, trackless mode primed, throttle up, and then when the locomotive reaches the center of the small lake, it vanishes between heartbeats, reappearing several meters above the waters of Epiphor.

As she looks around the area, watching for hazards, she listens to the sparks in her heart: where is the nearest Bridge to Rorch, internal compass?

The bridge is north-northeast and a bit below them, following the curve of the water. 

This area of Epiphor is currently being assailed by a heavy storm. The ship rocks in the wind, battered and tossed. 

"Hold on tight!" She frowns and cranks down the rigidity of the pseudo-track system, tightening the whole mechanism. It'll cost them more power on the way down, but an easy recharge the second they touch rail in Rorch makes the slight stability increase well worth it.

The trainship stabilizes a bit, and she keeps the attitude control aimed at the surface of the water a few hundred meters before the bridge — enough time to level out before they reach it.

Eva grabs a rail, spreads her stance and holds on as the ship drives through the storm.

Despite the wind-driven rain, the ship makes steady headway, and they find themselves at the transition point with only a little more time spent. 

"Here we go," she calls as they approach the Bridge. "Three, two, one, now!"

In that instant, the world flashes away around the ship, replaced with a brief moment of swirling color, before they're charging out on Rorch's seas, steadily approaching a rail dock.

Sable locks the pitch control, holding steady on the surface of the water, then hits a blue lever, and the ship unfolds behind them into a normal train, everything rumbling onto onto the tracks with a clatter.

She locks all attitude control beyond track selection and calls out, "Tracks locked!"

Time to head further into town and find someplace to offload their lumber.

Eva grins and looks out the windows of the train, looking around at the shining island city they've just arrived at.

The train quickly rises over the city on elevated rails, driving past skyscraper after skyscraper. Mirrored glass and palm trees are the order of the day; and between them pass the stone and metal-bodied natives of Rorch, the Associates, going about their daily business as usual. 

A stone-bodied man walks by on what looks like an older model of phone, his stiffly-pressed suit crisp as the blocky lines of his face. 

He meets up with a pair of others who are waiting for him with a briefcase, and a collection of circular stone coins are parceled out between the three of them from the briefcase itself. 

The man nods, and the three Associates move off together, presumably on some important task they have just been paid for.