Beneath Pale Boughs
The Twenty First of Elnu-hamba [Elnu Descendent], Year Unknown
Your mind is already running over the cost of fish oil and rope before you even realize what you mean to say. "If by word or deed I can help you fulfill your vow, I shall."
In the face of the girl's amazed expression giving way to the brightest smile you have yet seen upon her face even the realization that you had promised to help her become a more powerful magician pales. If the power she calls on be evil than surely you would know that by now, either by some secret stirring in your soul or by a sign from on high. Absent both you can but treat Inge for what she has done, not how she has done it, and those deeds have been nothing but good to you and yours, and if anything more honorable than you have been since the storm, good reason or no.
Thus is it with a lighter heart than you have had in a while that you look towards land, and the chance for Silver to stretch his legs. The island ahead, Lirman, is long and low, laying down white beaches into the waves though away to the south you can see the hint of a modest peak. All around you long sleek fishing boats with a single square sail cut through the waves and cast their nets into the waters, though none come close enough to hail you, perhaps wary of the
Marcella's obviously foreign make.
As to the port of Apadu itself it seems both much larger and of obviously different make than the abandoned settlement you had set out from. For one it is made almost entirely of wood and not stone, for another they seem to have some sort of greenish roof, like fresh pine needles. It takes you a moment to realize what you are looking at... Every house in the city is built around the trunk of a large tree with a flat green crown that grows almost parallel to the ground. The sloping thatched roofs that grow out from the crown of the trees seem to be trying to match the texture of its canopy and the wood of which the walls are built bears the same pallor in the bright sunlight.
"Hearth trees," Inge explains, a note of longing in her words almost in spite of herself, although you note that the actual hearths are placed well away from the trees at the heart of each house, as can be seen by the thin trails of smoke rising into the clear blue skies.
"Those are the clan holds of each lineage in the city," Zaia explains from beside you. "They carve the names of their forefathers into the living wood and those trees are never cut, but left to stand until they wither and die of their own accord. Only then are they cut with reverence and many songs in honor of Ashinu are sung, and they are either buried at the roots of a new tree or carved into the prow of a ship which sets off in search of new lands across the sea. There are ballads sung to the Lost Trees, though I confess my understanding of the language is not good enough to be able to appreciate even such of them as Inge can sing."
"That is still more of an understanding than I can manage I fear," you laugh. Pointing at the stone structure at the heart of the settlement, you ask. "Is that the keep of their lord or the temple to their god?" It certainly would not even be able to fit the townsfolk long in the event of a siege, but it looks tall and strong enough that you would not wish to assault it with anything less than a decent siege train. There are slits for arrows at every level you would wager, and if there are no murder-holes in that wooden overhang you will eat your boots raw.
"That is indeed the hall of the local... well, not just lord, but king of all the island. Though the kings of the Anwe rule with a light hand by necessity for their people are proud and warlike, with even the least freeman demanding to have his voice heard and his grievances known. I suspect we bring the potential of great wealth to the islands, if only because our arts and works are different from them, but we should be careful how we show them... and how we show ourselves."
How do you present to the King of Lirman?
[] As lost merchants from far off lands (Antonio takes the lead)
[] As a lord and his retinue (Roland takes the lead)
[] Try to explain how you are different from each other from the start and who he should deal with for what
[] Write in
OOC: I know I said you guys would make landfall, but the description of the town was odd enough that I felt it merited its own update and the chance to decide how you would introduce yourselves. 
