[OOC: For the purpose of this thread, I'll assume that Xalli and Natsumi haven't met before.]
Seas of mystery; seas of danger: both could be used to describe the Nyella Ocean. It was an area rife with superstitious shipmen, and one that attracted all sorts of brave – or, rather, insane – people from across Revaliir. Natsumi was one such fool who had been trying to explore more of the seascape, searching out underwater ruins to acquire more artifacts and riches. Making sure Saya was properly cared for required funds, and so the druid would often seek out whatever means she could to support her fragile family. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your outlook – for some sailors, this often meant doing things that were morally questionable.
On a cloudless night in one of the region's calm zones, a lone vessel drifted across the moonlit waters. It was ravaged by storm, its masts torn apart and a great many of its oars broken. The captain was an explorer who had up until recently been charting out some recently discovered islands nearby, but his luck had run afoul of the ocean's unforgiving nature. A hurricane had hit his ship, and, as a result, he lost half of his men. Additionally, the aftermath of the storm had thrown him off course into a calm zone: a place that had no wind or current. It was a sailor's nightmare to end up in such a place, especially if he or she didn't have oars to paddle out. Greater men had died from lack of drinking water in such places, and the crew would have likely shared the same fate had a certain druid not found them.
Natsumi, in her boundless altruism, offered to bring them to safety. In exchange for a share of their profits from the expedition funding, she would guide their ship to the nearest port where they could repair it. Of course, those left alive were cautious at best with this offer of hers, but the lack of choices available to them assured its acceptance. Eventually, they agreed, and so the young woman used her developing polymorph skills to transform into a large sea serpent. Positioning that hulking form underneath the ship's hull, she moved the vessel through the waters, at least until the airship crash lit up the sky.
It came from nowhere: a bright flash of light and flaming debris. Natsumi had to stop quickly to prevent the ship from getting too close, and she listened to the chatter of the sailors behind the figurehead during the immediate aftermath. She had placed her head above water to make it easier to hear requests and also to scare off pirates that might attempt to attack such a crippled ship.
"Oi, cap'n! The sky and sea are burning!"
"If it's not one thing, it's another." The chatter continued among the crew until an agreement was made to examine the wreckage. Supplies were running low, and, while they could make it to the next port with what they had, a little cushioning never hurt. They automatically assumed there could be no survivors, and Natsumi made no attempt to correct this assumption.
'I saw that figure off in the distance,' she thought while listening for Kino's response.
'Indeed, madam. There was definitely some sort of humanoid falling with the debris.' The druid was unsure if the person that Kino and she saw would be friendly or hostile, as they were still too far away. She was not even aware that there was another creature present in the area, but she didn't tell the crew that. She had agreed to take care of the sailors, and she would acquiesce to their requests on that front. However, she had not agreed to give them all of her information free of charge. They would soon find out anyway, and she could always charge them extra if they demanded additional information.
With that in mind, the group sailed toward the airship wreck. They would soon be in sight of the survivor and her unwelcome guest, as would the monstrous head of the sea serpent that Natsumi had assumed. One could only hope that the spectacle would be greeted as a sign of good fortune rather than of terror.