Harlaan

At the helm, Ariette's first mate Harlaan was struggling to stay the course. Without the dreamguide, steering the airship through the fog banks would be difficult, hazardous even, due to the magnetic interference from the jungle between their home port of Batar on the tepui known as Daor and their destination, another of the massive tepuis.

In this fog, there was no line of sight, and apparently straight lines turned out to be bent in the Swirl. If they lost their way, they could be stranded in the fog for weeks, even months, and gaining altitude above the fog would likely be unhelpful. The fog bank was simply too high.

Harlaan did not like the fog. Did not trust it. And a storm was gathering within the fog bank. He could feel it, like a migraine that was about to emerge. Harlaan was prone to migraines, something about tension, Ariette had informed him recently.

The Captain's attitude towards danger accounted for a great deal of that tension, but Harlaan did trust her, completely. When he had reported the skywhale sighting to Ariette, he had hoped for her to be more alarmed. Of course, a sighting like that was not uncommon in this region, and Ariette would be more concerned about losing the dreamguide and her ability to navigate the Runagate through the fog banks of the Swirl; but whereas Ariette was now focused on the single immediate crisis at hand, Harlaan harboured a strong disbelief in coincidence. Nothing happened in isolation, and the timing was all wrong. The Runagate was under attack, but he was hard-pressed to understand how, from which direction. He needed a better understanding of the situation. He needed a better view.

Considering his options and then making up his mind, Harlaan called over the airship's second mate, Uzbecka.

"Take the helm! I need to find out more from the top of the balloon. Captain's below with the dreamguide. One of us will be back soon, but stay on course, best you can, and stay alert!"

And with that, Harlaan broke for the main mast, grabbed the hoist, and dropped the counterweight, pulling him up through the midst of the balloon sails, to the crow's nest far above the deck. As he passed the midpoint of the main mast, he could hear the communication tube blaring, and he realized he should have filled Uzbecka in about the skywhale sighting. Too late now.