"Then I will be ready at tomorrow's first light," Garon said, "unless you would have us leave before then." He made ready to leave, clearly anxious to complete his packing and be ready.

Navic and Minas both smile, and nod in unison. "Excellent. Tonight we feast, and celebrate new friends, and adventures!"

As each of the young men are dismissed, they gather their new equipment up, and leave. Each of them can feel the eyes of their Kaer as they return to their quarters, sworn to secrecy by the elders, they couldn't even tell their own families what was evidently apparent.

They were leaving the Kaer.

After a night of revelry, Coaul rises early, bids his family fond farewell and hopes for a quick return. He awaits for his companions by the decamping Throal emissaries.

Isil shows up a few minutes later, yawning and still fiddling with the buckle on his swordbelt. He nods his greetings to the assembled party.

It was hard to tell time in the Kaer, even though the elemental light quartz used to light the main square was enchanted to mimic the real sun it was never quite as good as the real thing. Combined with the lighting used by individual families, and industries it was often more like a pale twilight than a dawn. The three young adventurers were gathered with a small crowd at the main gate.

Besides their families the two Elders, Navic and Minas Harker, were present along with the small group of Dwarves. Their packs were laddened down with supplies-the Kaer had kindly offered the dwarves a large amount of fresh vegetables, meat and the few fruits they possessed.

Navic shook each young mans hand, grasping them firmly by the wrist and then the palm. "It's best that we keep this brief. I trust that the passions shall smile upon each of you, and that the legends of your travels shall be amongst our greatest!"

Minas nodded at the elder's brief speech, and only added a little. "I will eagerly await your return."

With little more than those words, Navic and the guardsmen opened the gates-a ritual that was surprisingly brief, and they could see the darkened tunnel that lead to the surface. With a nod each man hefted their pack, and stepped into the dark tunnel. As the last passed through the gates the massive stone gates slowly shuddered  to a close, and they were briefly left in the darkness.

Coaul, hearing the gates close behind him, is a little disheartened but does not show it. He quickly tredges on to the front of the group, hoping his first sight of the outside world inspires him to continue on.

As Coaul moves to front of the group the lead pair of dwarves  move to stop him, but with a nod the female troubadour waves them off. Her voice is barely above a whisper, warm and calm-confident, "Our new found friends must be curious, and from what Elder Navic told me none fo them are with out their own means."

They march in silence, at first illuminated only by the pale red lights held aloft by dwarven staffs. But soon they realize that there's something else-a warm soft, almost white light. As they realize that this must be sunlight they begin to feel the warmth in the tunnel rising. As the ambient light level rises the dwarves pull the light quartz from their staffs, placing them in pockets at their hips, on their belts.

Wide and blue it seemed to go on forever. Tufts of white sailed through the air like lazy air ships, each seemingly a familiar shape-but none concrete enough to say for certain. Even the dwarves pause for a second, taking it all in-still unsure what to make of it all. Just ahead of the tunnels entrance floats an air ship, as if torn straight of the text of a history book!

Stepping from shade into daylight, Garon gasped involuntarily. Above him, the dome of the sky arced, impossibly distant. It stretched up, and up, and up; his neck craned until he felt himself begin to fall over backward with the disorientation. Growing up in the kaer, he'd never felt closed-in: it was the only world he'd ever known. But here, now, he felt the opposite: the sky was too far away, and he could feel it pulling him upward. The air was crisp and clean, and combined with the impossible lightness of open space, it was too thin for Garon's senses; he could get no purchase on it with his throat, feel no touch of it in the depths of his lungs. He began quietly and privately to hyperventilate, trying as hard as he could to pull air into lungs that could not feel it; his head went light, his eyes vague; only his grip on his grandfather's crystal sword kept him grounded.

The weapon drew him in, focused his concentration. What if there were to be an attack, now? It would be an ideal ambush, and here he was, lightheaded as if after a devastating blow. Kalf's voice rang in his ears like a bell, telling him to focus, control his breathing, protect his charges. Mentally, he took hold of himself, forcing his chest to rise and fall at a normal rate, forcing his eyes from the sky to the airship. His hands hefted the crystal sword of his ancestors, and Garon Stonehand drew strength from the knowledge that it had seen the light of day before, and its wielders had survived to find the safety of the kaer; though its history was lost to time, there was no doubting one of his ancestors had brought it to Kaer PorBajin from outside, and Garon used that fact as mental leverage, bringing himself utterly under control.

He scanned the area for threats, dangers to the investigators whom he was tasked to protect. His great cubic head swiveled back and forth, while he distractedly said, "We not riding on that, are we?"

Junipero chuckled, and with a flourish of her hands spoke, "While she's not quite the Earthdawn, this is the Bevelona! She's fast, and well armed! And aboard we have all the supplies we need to make the journey home comfortable!"

Coaul's eyes widen visibly at the sight of everything and a burning curiousity overtakes him. He moves immediately over to the airship and lines up to get aboard it as soon as possible.

"We'll have to march a small distance into a clearing, that's not far from here. Come, we must make haste! Although things seem safe, there are many dangers in the wide world!" Junipero smiles broadly, but the young men can see that she's quite serious.

Too much was happening, too quickly. This had been his primary concern about traveling with the dwarves of Throal: that they would be firmly in charge, and the sorts of decisions he'd need to make to protect his companions and his kaer would be utterly outside his control. Still, his orders were clear, and until they requested he do something that would directly endanger his compatriots, he would have to follow along.

He did his best to scan the area, looking for threats, while hustling to the boarding area. Coaul was already dashing ahead, focused utterly on the magnificent ship. Some caution - or creeping, quiet fear - kept wonder from Garon's mind. He was trying to keep an eye on Coaul and Isil, and the dwarves, and the ship, and the clearing, and everything between here and there, but the pace of approach made that difficult. He tried to tell himself that if the dwarves made it here, their caution must have been sufficient for survival, but he did not like losing control.

Garon tried not to think about boarding the ship. The kaer had no real equivalent of the heights involved, and he'd never so much as been on a watercraft, much less one which sailed on air. He kept his grip on his sword, and tried to turn terror to vigilance.

Isil gives a low whistle of awe as they clear the kaer, and ostentatiously stretches out in appreciation of the open space. When they see the airship, he grins, still squinting a little from the light, and slaps the other two on the back encouragingly.

"I feel like a beetle. We slink out from under a rock in order to take flight."

He stops nearly every few steps to eye something or poke at a bush or otherwise investigate the strange world they find themselves in. After a moment or two at each, he recovers himself and rejoins the pace of the group.