The Journal of Isla Jintaro

Amber 2^ndApavich PPF 5

I had expected us to leave for Maenios on horseback this morning, and was therefore surprised to find a coach and four waiting for us in the stable yard. I was even more surprised when it only took us as far as the docks.

I was also interested to note that Florimel wore attire similar to that Cordelia seemed to prefer, a heavy leather jacket in the style of a mans, a skirt of a length to mid-calf and a pair of heavy boots.

Having boarded the "Waltzing May", a four masted ship of the Royal Amber Navy, and been assigned cabins we departed the harbour. After lunch I was summoned on deck by Florimel. She explained that whilst we could sail directly to Maenios using the existing sea lanes doing so would take four days or there abouts. She was however going to accelerate the process using a technique called "Hell Riding", and whilst she would normally do this from the comfort of her cabin, unless she needed to moved multiple ships simultaneously, when it was necessary to keep all in sight, for my benefit she was going to do it from on deck. In addition, given that the crew was an experienced one of the Amber fleet and therefore used to crossing shadow, and also as we were only crossing the Golden circle she wasn't going to generate a storm of the intensity normally required to mask such an activity. She was going to produce one of sufficient intensity to increase our speed considerably, which should bring us into Maenios a little after 10 pm, athough the "Hellride" would only last about 4 hours. She then asked me if I suffered from sea sickness.

It seems I do not, although I find it much easier to ignore the motion of the ship when I'm on deck. This motion made it difficult for me to follow what Florimel was doing as she first pushed us across shadow into the path of a gentle storm and then started pushing shadow parameters about. The manner in which she performed the latter had all the characteristics of what Fiona had done when she abandoned us in Shadow. At least Florimel seemed to care that I was aware of what was transpiring as we travelled.

Whilst we are now docked in Maenios, we are staying on board tonight. Tommorow we are due to receive delegations from Maenios, Dakota, and Nancheng, and sail up the coast to look for possible sites for the establishment of a new port, one which whilst on the coast of Maenois will enable Dakota to export their goods to a wider market and which will improve transport times to Nancheng, a trade which is growing in volume, but being limited by having to transport everything by road via Amber.

Amber 3^rdApavich PPF 5

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