Tsarer had already been dreading the spring, just a bit, though for a very different reason. The Zestsaksanrewp Island Preserve was intended to maintain an ecosystem that had avoided much of the Kingly interference that the mainland had suffered, but to public visitors its greatest attraction is its flowers, which through cross-pollination with mainland strains have arrived at a unique blend of natural and royal aesthetics.

Tsarer admits that they're pretty, and the way that the blooms look different every year is interesting, but the particular species that does it is one of the least entangled in the island's actual ecosystem, and is actually somewhat invasive. It's normally not too bad, though some years there's a bit of explosive growth and the city calls in a clearing team to cut it back.

Most of the time, Tsarer loves guests. People who come out to Zestsaksanrewp are usually people with an interest in ecology, and give him a opportunity to share what he knows about the island's. During spring, though, it's almost all just crowds of gawkers, not interested in learning anything about the environment, and leaving a mountain of litter behind every evening that it always takes hours for him to clean up.

If you'd asked him before whether he'd prefer the normal spring flood or to have absolutely no one show up, he'd have said the latter without skipping a beat.

Waking up to see the mainland gone, though? That's making him rethink things.

There's no response on the radio either, and he can't spot any ships. The spring mist blurs the horizon, in a way that can make it hard to tell where the water stops and the sky begins. It's a little dreamlike, he thinks. He hopes this is just a nightmare, and not the world ending or something.

At least he has a few months of food and water saved up.

He should technically be patrolling the island, like normal, but he thinks he's going to take the day off, head back to his cabin, and read instead.