"Oh, is that how it works? Seems dangerous, dramatic changes like that without any healers of your own. I want to note that this region, White Forest, we've sort of made peace with the Ejer tribes unlike a lot of other colonies, and they had a long history of practically every adult taking on a new form when they come of age. Someone who still looks ordinary looks like a child to the traditionalists. It's a spiritual and practical thing to them. Kelosian types do it less, and it's not as popular elsewhere. I'd say probably four out of five in town have something, and one or two in five have something extreme. Storm Ward, here, is pretty Kelosian. As for the bank, we have debit numbers- You give them money and they tell you an account number, and you can use that account number to pay for things, maybe swear or sign a receipt that you're doing so. That will work here in town and a few folk don't carry cash anymore, all ledgers and receipts instead. People elsewhere won't trust it, not least because they'd have to come here to Gale Rocks to tell the bank that you paid them."

They're going down the hill now, towards a wooden bridge. The docks are visible below, with single-masted sailing ships lined up along the low coastline. Piles of timbers are being loaded onto one by burly furry people and a little crane.

"Hm? Oh! No, sorry, they don't make animals into people, they make new babies that are sort of inspired by the animal in some way. Always the same way, with physical resemblance but no clear reason for the magic. All people-of-my-specialization teleport, but foxes don't teleport, they don't do anything remotely like teleporting.

People have theories that the magic comes from an association in the first maker's mind, or in their culture, or that it's encoded in tiny little shapes in the animal, or that it depends on the time of the first creation, or the exact positioning of the creator and the room they're in... it would be amazing to be able to predict which animals make useful kinds of people, and of course everyone says their theory is almost there and they can totally explain why their experiments haven't worked.

But we still don't have a species that makes things cold, a simple ability with tremendous benefit, so fooey to the scientists, I say.

...Can you make animals into people?"

"Those boats are so big! And pretty!"

"Quite mysterious. And I'm familiar with that phenomenon of academics, yes." She snickers. "The doctors can make animals smarter by increments, and shaped more like humans by increments. I think they could turn them into people if they really wanted, but as yet all that's been made is some especially clever dogs and hawks... Cold is really quite useful, I think it's either magic or tricks with evaporation and airflow. Though Gale Rocks is chillier than most. P'raps- Hm, no, you can't carry things. I'm starting to wonder about specialized organs, but that's a pretty touchy subject, isn't it? As for the ships, why, thank you. We own that one, Seafoam Crest, and that one, Deep Blue. Would you like a tour?"

"I would love a tour!"

"What kind of specialized organs? Can you give the colors to animals? I'll try learning artificing either way, but I'm probably an animal to you..."

"Let's head down there then. An animal in the strictly biological sense, surely, not the moral one! We've never observed an animal with freeform magic, the way we have it. Sometimes people give animals magical abilities, but they always remain static. Custom organs... Women changing into men and vice versa, of course, there's some organs involved if you want that to be complete. That's the one that's most common. Retractable claws, photophores - that can change skin's color on demand - growing in different kinds of fur for different conditions or making it grow much faster, adding a muzzle and fangs, changes to the muscles for more strength or endurance, improved noses, webbed feet, different kinds of tails, there's some sort of little organ in the gut they can change to prevent scurvy, improved eyes that see the way birds do - I have that and it makes flowers so much more beautiful! All of these are taken from some animal or another, I think? More observing what nature has wrought and using it than custom-designing our own from scratch. I'm not a doctor."

As they approach the ships, the workers recognize Katherine and welcome her. A couple of them joke about finding a lovely tail to accompany herself.

"None of that, now. Unless Nefanie is interested, and if so chat her up when I'm gone, hmm? We're here for a quick tour- She's from far away and never seen this sort of ship before."

"Suppose I can spare a hand for a few minutes," the bookish woman who seems to be in charge drawls. She waves them up a wooden gangway and on to the lightly swaying deck. "Do you know anything of the sea and sailing, Nefanie?"

"But are you 'animals in the strictly biological sense'? Those modifications are very cool. I assume that's adding retractable claws to people who only have vestigial claws, not making functional claws retractable?"

Ooh, lots of cute burly fellows, but she will exercise self-restraint. For now.

"I just found out what a sea is a few minutes ago! But I've seen boats before, much smaller ones, and I've heard of using the wind to travel. Are you the operator of this boat? I would love to see all of it, but is there a private space you would prefer I teleport to? I'm not sure if I can, but I'll try!"

("Either! And we think so, the only detectable difference is magic...")

"I'm the captain, yes. Captain Moray." She looks at Katherine.

"She claims she can teleport an unlimited number of times a day, if nobody observes her doing it."

"That's... Unheard of."

"Yes, and we're going to test it later with message-relaying games or something, but for now I'd like to be polite and welcoming, no?"

"And you'd like her to be able to-" Moray stops herself and sighs. "Very well? You're boss enough for this, I suppose. There isn't much spare room aboard. Captain's cabin might be most appropriate even though it's mine. Aye, sailing is a matter of using the wind, and importantly, the fact that the wind and the water currents below - you get some currents and strong wind over the ocean, unlike some lakes - are almost always going in different directions."

"Thank you so much! The difference between a boat and a ship is whether it's meant to go through the ocean, more or less, and boats have operators but ships have captains, leaders, since they take a larger crew to work safely."

Captain Moray starts explaining ship functions as they walk around the deck - the rudder, the ladder up to where the sails can be manipulated, the cargo doors - and then they drop down into a cramped and fairly dark space below, lit by windows and occasional magic light. There are hammocks strung up in open spaces, and various barrels and bottles and sacks here and there too. They pass sailors cleaning things, a carpenter replacing a beam, and two cooks counting biscuits and sausages. Ships have multiple watches, enough people to run it around the day even as others rest and sleep, so it can keep moving. An ocean journey to the Old World takes a month or two, and remains fairly dangerous- Storms, the odd dragon, the boat itself wearing out, pirates, and more can strike. The captain's cabin is at the back, after Moray unlocks it- A space fifteen feet wide with a bed, a desk facing the door, and a metal tub, somewhat more nicely appointed than the rest. The tub has a paper divider blocking the view from the rest of the cabin.

"I understand, Captain Moray. You have a very pretty ship."

"Oh, so people on Scope normally all sleep at the same time during - the dark - the night? It must be nice not getting split from your family. We don't have that problem, but once I went into the city to work on a sewer and our wolf-specialization coworkers were complaining about it."

She bounces around the captain's cabin: behind the screen, into the tub, behind the tub - "What's the big sink for?" - flop on the bed - "Ooh, soft! Not as nice as Katherine's, of course!" - roll off the edge of the bed and teleport back to behind the tub - "Okay, I can teleport in the ship with this much motion, at least..."

"Aye, the night is for sleeping. For most. And the tub is for bathing and washing. That much water and weight is a luxury afforded to me as Captain- Getting clean is a lovely feeling. Soldiers and sailors and some other sorts take night watches. I never really considered the alternative..." The Captain glances at Katherine long-sufferingly.

Katherine giggles at the bed line. "I think her planet does not rotate? So there's no day and no night, the sun is always at the same angle."

"Huh! That would be handy for navigation, at least. Sounds inconvenient in a lot of other ways."

"The real question would be if you can teleport to Seafoam Crest while it's underway. You might end up appearing in midair above the docks instead once it moves. They're having shore leave right now, and cargo loading this afternoon, likely to leave tomorrow morning..."

"I could have the ropes let out and drift ten, fifteen feet from the docks."

"I know I can't go to a cart, but I can go to a house that's been carefully moved...

Apparently I got here by imagining that my home was Katherine's garden! It's supposed to be impossible to use confusion like that, and to go someplace I've never been. So my abilities might be more flexible than I think.

How about I leave before you move your ship, Captain, and then try to return. How long will it take?"

"Shouldn't be but ten minutes, miss."

"It's really quite inexplicable. Oh, do be sure to use your lockbox, Moray."

"...I always do."

Nefanie gives the disk to Katherine, making sure she's holding it firmly before letting go.

Hm, where will make a dramatic departure? She prowls around the room... she climbs into the tub, looks down in startled horror, and mimes being pulled downward, fighting to get away from her assailant. Poof.

Time to eat those beans from home.

They taste like normal beans! They're not as good as Katherine's food, but she's perfectly capable of enjoying their flavor and crunch. Whew.

She spends the next nine minutes at home struggling to remember all the foreign language she was just hearing and speaking, getting as far as 'I' and 'you' and 'teleport'.

Now, the boat - the Frothy Wave or something - is just like a house, right? It's exactly the same structure as it was ten minutes ago. Moving shouldn't matter, just like Ansaf and the other planet move and that doesn't matter.

Any unobserved areas in the operator's house in the boat?

Katherine giggles again as she goes.

The inside of the tub is just as unobserved as before. Moray is writing something at her desk, quill scratching across the paper and finger tapping the desk.

Sneak sneak sneak headpat!

Moray is remarkably calm in her reaction. She freezes utterly for half of a second, ink pooling slightly on the page, then raises her quill and drolls in a casual voice, "Ah, welcome back miss Nefanie. I take it you were successful, then?"

Nefanie snickers and gives her another pat as she circles around to the door. Disk! Wouldn't you like to know - no she's trying to be useful and respectable, even with the 'captain'.

"Indeed! I look forward to carrying messages for you." She curtseys lavishly and strolls out looking for Katherine, or any unoccupied workers.

Katherine is: Gesturing vigorously and scolding a group of workers near a pile of timber, which appears to have fallen apart. "-not the point-" ... "-fuck around after work-" ... "-CRUSH YOUR LIMBS!" ...

The rest of the dock remains somewhat busy. There are a few workers lazily 'sorting' crates that happen to be in a good position to overhear the scolding and muttering about how Emmer and that lot need to grow up, and more working to clean up the timbers, and a group of craftsmen working on one of the other ships who just kept working, and a few gawkers from town. There's a young-looking woman with blue skin and sharp teeth resting with her arms on the stone edge of the dock, most of her body submerged, too, looking amused at the show.

Hm, probably not the best time to seduce anyone. She meanders off the boat, brushing against a fellow sorting crates and running on tiptoes over a timber ("oops" - "yeah they need to be careful" - "hey nice pattern on your fur") and over to the not-undine.

"Hello! You look interesting! Do you live in the ocean? I just arrived in Gale Rocks - I'm Nefanie - where's the best place to hang out and hear all the news?"

The watcher grins. She has a lot of teeth.

"Hello. You look interesting too. Full snout, don't see that too much. How's your sniffer? I don't know, do you think I live down here full time? News, that kind of depends on what kind of news you're into. This place is kind of boring, honestly. Oh, call me Fins, as in shark fins."

"Ah! I'm not from around here - I'm not a kaleid! My sense of smell is average for people of my specialization, which is average for specializations who can smell well. Uh, can you tell that someone spilled alcohol right about here? That she's pregnant? That him over there wants to punch his foreman?

Well, you look like you could live down here full time! If you wanted. Keep your secrets!

I want to know what it's really like here, not just at Maxim Manor, not just what I'll hear in front of Katherine."

"No, there's totally a secret underwater society. Where old Ejer traditions are still the only way. The Kelos pukes can't even conceive of it, hah! Maybe I can show ya. The booze stench is pretty obvious but not the rest. Nah, I'm specialized in underwater sniffing. Can you tell how many fish are in the harbor to within a dozen? And where each of these ships sailed from by the salt and barnacles on their hulls? Which it's also my job to clean off, eugh."

"There are fish here?!" She steps away from the edge with a wary squint. (This is a joke; she knows fish are tiny.)

"Hah, I knew it! Floating cities? Or, no, floating just under the surface so boats don't see them! Air pockets for the kids? Do you grow food, or just eat the fish and squid and barnacles - not barnacles - anemones and whales? And sharks? What's a shark - yikes! - huh actually right next to you is the safest place!

I should warn you that if I visit I will be able to teleport there again. I'm not planning to invade your private space; I just don't want to trick you."