On a beach near the village of Otara, a portal shimmers into existence. When fully formed, it is a round opening, just over three feet high, through which the view is very slightly different if looked at from the right angles. Someone looking closer might be able to make out the edges, wavering like heat haze.
A few motu fishermen are nearby, hauling in their day's catch. They do not notice the portal immediately, but the sound of their singing carries through it on the breeze.
"...no, no tentacles."
Darya shakes eir head. "Don't know why I'm trying to talk you out of this..." ey mutters.
"Still want to hear an actual 'yes'."
"You don't."
Darya looks at her levelly. "So. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"
"Alright then." Smile.
Normally ey would lean in and try for a kiss at this point, but the height difference makes that a little awkward. Darya bounces on eir heels and grins up at Peka again.
Mmm, kisses.
And now they should probably both finish packing, because they need to leave soon. Anything much past kissing will have to wait until they have a little more time and privacy.
Darya starts humming, a dwarven tune Peka won't recognise.
And pretty soon they're all packed and ready to go. There are lots of requests to take a turn carrying Katin as they travel! Humans might not spring but they still like babies just fine.
The different members of the company vary in the amount of nose-grabbing they are willing to tolerate before passing Katin along to the next person. The journey is otherwise uneventful. They explain Peka and Katin to the guards at the portal, and pass through without any issues.
On the Corth side, a jetty has been built on the beach, so that merchant ships can unload their cargo as close to the portal as possible. There's a ship waiting to take the merchants and their mercenary troop to a port town, since the portal inconveniently appeared on a tiny island with no significant towns of its own. Most of the people in sight are motu, including the majority of the sailors. Some of them have children even smaller than themselves, running around and playing in the surf.
So tiny! Very very tiny!
A few of the bolder children run up to get a closer look at the new arrivals, getting somewhat underfoot. One little girl, not much taller than Katin, is fascinated by the differences between herself and an apparently-human child. She bounces on the tips of her toes trying to get high enough to see the baby, who is back in Peka's arms.
Tiny motu children chatter to each other in a random mixture of Common and Reo as they inspect Katin's big head and fair skin and fluffy bright hair.
After a bit one of their mothers comes over and herds the giggling horde away, bare breasts dangling as she leans over to pick up her son. She smiles at Katin and apologises to Peka in accented Common.
Darya steps in to thank the woman. And now ey is thinking of it—
"Here." Ey passes Peka eir translation ring. "Still need to teach you the long way, but for now..." It's not like Darya needs it on this side of the portal, where most adults speak Common.
Ey nods.
And now she can understand not just Common but also the Reo being spoken by the motu.
"We should get to the boat."
Boat!
It's a sailing ship with three masts, and it'll reach Port Arran sometime tomorrow. From there, they'll have six weeks of sailing, with no more stops along the way, to reach Darya's family in Versizo.
Darya stands by the railing as they set sail, looking out at the water and turning a small object over in eir hands. It's one of the novelty light-up snowglobes you can get in tourist shops all over Tapa; ey must have gone out and bought one at some point.
The boat is excitingly novel! Peka takes a while to find her sea legs and stumbles around giggling.
Darya, who mastered the art of switching between sea and land more than a decade ago, keeps half an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get into trouble. Katin is probably too small to get into trouble of her own just yet.
Still holding the snowglobe, ey murmurs a few sentences with the air of a ritual, then leans over the side—and drops it into the water. The little lights vanish beneath the waves.
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