Nicole's Bistro was buzzing with lunchtime activity. A corner table showed a solitary figure lounging in her chair, casually observing the patio. The fountain captured Aja's attention for a little bit, she peeked in it to see if there were fishies in it or not.

Several servers made their way around the patio attending to taking orders and delivering food. For the summer, Harker's Academy was on a half time schedule. A quick trip across the street meant lunch and one of her sister's specialty pizzas. With her mother away, she was taking care of hospital related business on her mother's behalf. Chelle tended to legal matters, but Rhi had always been a people person. Public relations often fell to her. Maggie would be spending the afternoon with her siblings and cousins right next door.

This luncheon was different from the usual Wednesday ones with Mami and Aja, where clinic matters were discussed interspersed with defusing arguments about Rico's love life, or lack thereof. Maranya hoped that it would go smoothly, but she was prepared for tangling with what might come her way. She patted her ever present black leather satchel, and smiled at the thought of the 'secret weapon' within. Nixies.

The journeyman wanders towards the Bistro for his lunch appointment. Gloved hands were tucked into the pockets of his trenchcoat. Alec spies Aja sitting across the way. He offers her a friendly wave.

Aja waves upon seeing Alec arrive on the patio. Not that he needed help identifying her. He knew her well from their Monday morning meetings when they would work on stuff on the farm, while sharing what was going on with their lives.

"Good afternoon, Sis. This is a different sort of place for a meeting."

"Yeah, it is. But, it's not just us two today." Aja grinned. "I invited Anya and Rhi today. Figured they'd enjoy this more than coffee and muffins while we worked on fences."

A server directed Maranya to the table where Aja and Alec waited. She flashed them a smile. "Good afternoon, sestra moya, brat moya."

Alec sees that they are indeed joined by more people. He waves to Rhi and Anya, whom he had not seen in what felt like ages! She would get a hug at the soonest opportunity.

"Hey, Anya." She beamed a smile up to her and waited for her to get comfortable at the table.

Hugs and cheek kisses were delivered to Alec and Aja in turn before the tall blond seated herself at the table.

Rhi greeted the others after taking a moment to visit with her sister. "Hello!"

Hugs and kisses were given to all of them and then she reseated herself. "So. I've been debating?" Aja picked up the menu. "If I should have pasta or cow."

"Veal is cow." Rhi winked at Aja.

"Mmmm. Veal." Aja considered this. "Perhaps I should just go with a surf and turf."

"The grilled shrimp and pasta is good, but I'm bit biased when it comes to the food here," Rhiannon said with a smile.

"I believe that I will have the Frutta di Mare, white sauce, over fettuccini," Maranya decided with a firm nod.

"Excellent point." Aja laughed, answering Rhi. "So....are we ready to plan adventures!?" Aja was nothing if not enthusiastic for anything that could potentially lead to the use of weapons.

"Adventures or excuses to explode things, Aja?" Maranya smiled tolerantly.

"I'm good with either." She beamed to Anya. "We just don't tell Mami about any of it. Lest we want to give her a coronary."

"Tell Mami what?" A wry grin appeared on Rhi's face as she settled at the table.

"So, standard operating procedure. Got it." Maranya paused in thought. "This demands cheese garlic bread and tiramisu for dessert."

A wink was shot to Rhi from Aja. Her friends understood well, that there were certain things that should never reach Mami's ears. And speaking of Mami and reasons not to tell her stuff, Rico was on his way to the table now. He settled in after giving Rhi and Anya a kiss to the cheek, and a handshake to Alec.

"Sorry I'm late. Amy had me signing my life away before she let me go to lunch."

"You need a good lawyer, Rico." Rhi chuckled and jerked a thumb to the place next door.

He motioned to Aja then. "Of course I do. I run with her. One of these days, you all may have to bail us out from the Watch Brig." Aja said nothing to this. Just grinned, Rico was allowed his moments of teasing her.

"I can dip into "Tonio's petty cash fund if need be. Which I am hoping that doesn't become necessary." Maranya studied Aja. "Or will it this time??

Alec gave a handshake to Rico and settled into a chair at the table. He idly perused the menu for a moment, then set it aside. Gloved hands folded onto his lap as he listens in quietly to the conversations flowing around him.

A pair of servers appeared, one to take drink orders and the second to take appetizer requests. Rhiannon ordered an iced tea to start. A small order of garlic bread with dipping oil was her choice of appetizer.

Maranya placed her order, starting the meal with Mozzarella Carusso, served with olive oil and anchovy sauce, and black coffee.

Aja gave her order to the server then leaned back in her chair. She tugged her tablet from her ever present bag, and pulled up the list she had running for Alec's mission. She wouldn't be forgetting a thing. He was family, and you did everything in your power not to let them down.

Rico also gave his order then peeked over at what the boss lady was doing, even though he knew he wouldn't be going this time.

When the server comes to him, he orders a cup of coffee to drink, and a chicken carbonara for lunch. He sneaks a peek at what Aja was doing and realizes that the moment had come for him to make his pitch.

Some time later....

The Isle of Tempest is the most barren patch of earth that Alec had ever seen before. He knows that it hadn't always been that way. There was once a thriving community of farmers and shepherd here, to say nothing of a trading port that bustled with activity, trading in goods from all across the world. There were green fields, lush tropical forests, roads, rivers, and the sounds of human and metahuman activity of many shapes and sizes that were to be found from around the planet.

Then the dorokusai came.

Now all that was left was bare dirt and rock, fields of skeletons and the lingering smell of death. But there was one thing left, something so powerful that even the dorokusai could not expunge it from Creation.

Alec sits before the Hyperbola Gate. It consists of a pair of obelisks, between which thrummed cords of space-warping energy. There was a sound all around the area, it sounds like when someone drew the rosin bow of a fiddle across a particularly rusty hand saw. It was the kind of sound that could, and often did, drive people with weaker wills insane from prolonged exposure to it. Even before the Scathing of this Isle by the dorokusai, this was a place that few mortals dared to tread.

For his part, the journeyman had arrived far in advance of the ship that, he hoped, would soon arrive to deliver a cargo of friends and family alike.

Piloting new waters was always tricky, but having enough experience behind her made it less so. Aja glanced back to the precious cargo of family and friends on board and knew that no mistakes could be made. Docking a vessel was old hat for her and the well trained crew got it secured in no time flat.

"Well...it seems we're here." she look up the path to the mountains. "And we're hiking!" She tried to stay upbeat...the rest of the day was going to be quite the trial.

Maranya's ring bearing hands rested in her lap while she rode along for this mission slash adventure. She had given her loved ones kisses and hugs before she boarded the craft along with the others. She trusted Aja implicitly. Still, there was a formation of butterflies doing maneuvers to shame the Blue Angels in her stomach.

Hearing Aja, Rhi looked toward the trail. One dark brow lowered as she murmured, "Curiouser and curiouser." Rhiannon inhaled, the air around her held more than the scent of death. To her, one that could glimpse past the veil between life and death, there were voices and the remains of emotions held by those that were now skeletons. She closed her eyes a moment to listen and to feel.

Brenya would have followed Alec to the ends of the earth, which it seems she had, to some measure actually done at this point. She was, however not all that inclined to venture from the ship once she had discovered information that set her nerves on edge. Not that her nerves weren't already on fire. So many things could go wrong and her world could end, the dreams untold never to be lived. No, she would wait here, hiding in the darkness like the coward she was.

The desert may have seemed like the apotheosis of all deserts to some— broad, stretching far past the horizon with a bitter, devastating dryness that scraped tooth and bone and breath— but Sivanna Cyredghymn had felt its effects before. Rather, she sensed the uncanny influence of the dorokusai, the damned, as she traversed the wasteland wordlessly, scuffed boots kicking up plumes of dust from decayed floors that once boasted all walks of life. Struck by a momentary dizziness, the kind of yawning sensation that made the world ephemeral, the cleric paused. Leftover static from her abrupt apparition to that plane still lingered on her skin, left her jarred and uneasy. Taxing as teleportation might have been, she had not sailed that evening. No turn of events could convince her to near a body of water of that magnitude, even in one of Aja Bird's vessels. After a moment the dizziness passed, and she stepped forward, sensing with keen Elvish perception the presence of more than one friendly spirit arriving. From which direction she'd no idea. She'd only one direction in mind. Forward.