who engineered this undertow? -- visitor/invitation

[MYERS]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]They don't have the space, the time, the resources for this. Ahab is nothing if not pragmatic, and he is ready to turn these strangers away - he will lead them elsewhere if need be, but the island is in ruin and he must spread himself thin to keep it alive. Not another tendril of his care can he spare to someone in panic and disarray - the poppy seeds are for the injured, to calm them, and the most terrified young. They must have seen the bright lights, the crashing of the sky above. The way the world shook must have drawn them in, if only to survey the damage. Or, perhaps they are there to take advantage of the weakness their humbled land offers. he was never a fan of strangers, joiners and visitors alike, for their faces spoke mystery and their intention always unclear. Diya cries out. He surfaces from his thoughts tired, too-aware of the fright lingering in the air.

Dissociation is an old friend.

"What do you need," it comes out less of a question and more of a calm demand, for Ahab is beyond his limits and holding on by a thread. Elysium, as far as he knows, is neither enemy nor friend. If Roan were here, he'd ask for the younger Sage's pouch, to keep their herbs close at hand. But instead the bear only reaches for the bag on his own hip, pulls out a smoke. Strikes a match on the cool metal of his prosthetic palm. Breathes, slow and deep. Maybe the scent of wormwood would bring Warringkingdoms to, just as it did for him. "And who is this, Diya?"