{{All you peeps on duty in the Cargo hold, assemble!}}

Kept awake by Khava alone, Isawa O-washi sat on a crate of rope, an upended empty barrel before him. With a tired grin, he decided to summon his crewmates the easiest way possible...by making a racket. His big hands began to sound out a summons with a masterful display of skill, the impromptu drum's beat sounding throughout the hold.

Choukichi takes only moments to show up, praying that whatever the source of the racket is, might be work that he actually knows how to do. When he sees O-Washi beating on a barrel his hopes remain high and he moves nearby and waits to be told what is going on.

Nozomi enters, her feet padding softly against the floor, curious what all the commotion was about.

With a few more rapid beats, O-washi stopped. Not one to stand on ceremony, he bowed and then said, baldly, "There's been a change in plans. We pulled a survivor in yesterday and he's come 'round. What he told the Captain has him concerned enough that we're going to skip the Coral Islands entirely in favor of the mainland. We expect to hit landfall tomorrow, Fortunes' willing."

Fuichi appears, his serenity unbroken by the complications of the last day or so.

Nozomi's eyebrows raise ever so slightly. Landfall in a day?

Choukichi listens to the news then almost the moment O-Washi is done, starts blurting out questions.

"He's from the Ivory Kingdoms then? What kind of trouble did he talk of? Is he well enough to be speaking much? Are the
crew allowed to see him? Where are we making landfall? Will we be allowed to leave the ship when we do?"

It had taken Kichirou a few moments extra to extricate himself from the Armory but he made his way to the meeting not too terribly late.

Patiently, the big man answered Spooks' questions.

"Some sort of army that's utterly razed several large cities, apparently. He was on his way to wan one of their largest northern ports, Lanka, when his ship was attacked. If you wished to speak to him you can try, though he only speaks the language of the Kingdoms as far as I know. We will be landing because the Captain wants more information and, yes, we'll be allowed offships but only under strict rules. They're friendly to us in the port, having met a few of the Mantis in particular several years back, but they're still gaijin...we don't know their ways and accidentally starting a war ourselves does no one any good."

Being late Kichirou did his best to piece together what was going on as the discussion was taking place, "Do we know what the rules for going ashore will be?" he asks simply enough.

"Ah, I can speak it well enough... My great grandfather taught me the language, though I have never spoken to an actual gaijin."

Choukichi nods his head a few times, then with all his questions answered starts thinking over what he should ask the gaijin when he gets a chance to see him. For the time being his excitement is keeping him from worrying about who sunk the mans ship, or who is razing the cities.

Nozomi looks concerned, but stays quiet.