The Parting:

Zalm is momentarily surprised by Slang's request, but then gives their captain a wink.

"I'll see what I can do."

A tear pricks Kelam's eye as her girlfriend vaults away up the rigging. They've spent so much time together over the last couple of months, Brown Leaf's absence feels like missing part of herself. But this won't be long, she assures herself again. Just a simple rescue mission...

The thunderbird... "Thunderbolt Smile," he has decided to call himself... mirrors Skymoth in scoffing at Leaf and Tuoni's notions of caution, but the Vaktri's crystalline voice provides another vote for subtlety. Wic's erstwhile entourage begins squabbling as the sorcerer prepares to depart, but in a companionable way, and either Briar or Camellia interrupts with a yip or a growl whenever one of the two (usually Smile) seems to be getting too worked up. And all four of the elementals reunify in waving Wic goodbye when he does fly away, Slang and Kelam in tow.

Spoiler: OOC
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pfm, if you'd like for Tuoni to respond to Wic's farewell, feel free to, I'm just continuing with the introductions of Dari and Chalan while I have enough free time to write them.

Dari:

The late afternoon Sun is sliding down the sky by the time Wic's stormwind approaches the broken shell of Dari. While the little tempest has flown as swiftly as usual, the ride has not been the easiest or most comfortable. The air currents have been unpredictable. Maybe just a quirk of the weather, or, perhaps... another omen? Either way, best to hurry.

A partial dome of white Jade, what's left of the Shogunate's attempt to seal Dari away for all time, still looms above the city's Southwestern quarter, but as Wic and his allies fly in from the northeast, their view into the ruins is only obstructed by the mists which cling to the broken stumps of the city's opalescent towers.

Wic knows those towers fell long before the dome fell, long before the Empress claimed the Sword of Creation. They fell...

...under the relentless barrage of Essence artillery. An upswelling of anger fills Wic's Terrible Bloody Rose's heart as she witnesses her city's desecration. The usurpers have brought their full strength against Dari, of course they have. Her city stands... or stood? No, stands for everything these ungrateful upstarts oppose. Out in the streets, her people fight and die in the service of order, of rationality, of hierarchy.

Yet, though her people fight with their all... all those who would not have already been purged by Rose's command... she knows that today their fight is lost. As much as she is loath to admit it, the undeserving have, once again, risen in triumph over their rightful masters. But with a long view... the only logical view... while the battle may be lost, the war is far from over. Rose will not allow her Scepter and her dear husband's Orb to fall into the hands of the enemy, and as long as the holy artifacts endure, Dari will rise again...

"She will rise again," Wic finds himself saying, as his thoughts come back to the present, come back to himself.

Chalan:

With Slang's disguise in place, transfiguring the Remora into an image of its former self, the tree-ship has made the voyage to Chalan unmolested. Unfortunately, however, as the Remora approaches the port of Chalan, gateway to the Lap, it becomes evident that the city burns. Thick plumes of smoke rise in several different locations, including the harbor itself, where the great grain storehouses which feed Realm garrisons throughout the South are now consumed by spreading fires.

"Gods, that looks like a rightful mess," Zalm swears. They turn to their Exalted passengers with a quizzical look. "You lot still want to go ashore here?"