Tell It To The Birds and the Bees

    It's shortly past lunch, and the air off the sea is pleasantly warm. Fortunately, The Right Clothes today for Wake proved to be a long, airy dress in a mint color with a comfy camisole beneathe. The Baroness is waiting to meet Uta today.
    As she waits, she is briefly interrupted by a Lander, who presents her with a message scroll. She curtseys to the messenger and presents him with a tip for his trouble. Idly Wake examines the seal, but resists the urge to open it just yet.

    Uta wanders in, nose buried in a hand-drawn map she keeps turning at various angles. Her face periodically emerges to check her surroundings in deep concentration, only to be buried again, turning a new angle... and there she is. Clad in her usual martial-arts-gi-slash-nurse's-unform starting oufit, she finally spots Baroness Wake. "Lady Bombast!", she lights up. "It's so nice to see you again!"

    She covers the distance. "It's so nice that you invited me here. I've always wanted to see the City of Canals and-" She blinks and looks around. "Wait, where are all the canals?"

    Baroness Wake greets Uta with her usual, graceful curtsey. She rises and laughs gently, "The canals? They are behind you, in the city proper, of course. As many as you could wish to see." She gestures to the sea, "I rather love this view best, though. The wind is wonderful today!" She makes a point to draw in a deep breath and lets it out with a happy sigh.
    "But I did not ask you all the way out here to simply indulge in a taste of the sea tang with me, though that would not be a wasted trip! It occurs to me you might help me resolve a mystery that is in your area of nursing expertise."
    Wake is rarely one to dawdle, and so she gets right to the point. "I am concerned that the population of Landers is at risk, and to determine the impact of the Waves and monsters on our friends in this world, I have to understand things. Birth rates of baby Landers is among them. What can you tell me about the way in which Landers have babies? To be more specific, I do understand that Landers will say they have children in a manner that is essentially identical to what would happen in the real world, but I have no evidence. Nurse Uta, what can you tell me about this topic?"

    Uta spends some time looking beetween the canals and the sea as Wake describes the scenery. She doesn't say a word, but she seems equally awed by both vistas. She breathes in, tilts her chin up, and smiles as the wind ruffles her hair. "...yes," she says, after exhaling. "The elements are simply delightful. Poseidon must be pleased."

    She listens with full attention to Wake's concerns, and after a moment of silence of reflection, she resumes, "...I have been volunteering to help Landers with medical support, especially at the height of the Ezzo refugee crisis. I am but a beginner nurse, still apprenticing under properly skilled physicians, some of which were medical professionals pre-game as well. That said..." She looks up at Wake, and waits for a slightly stronger gust of wind to subside before continuing. "...yes, the whole process, as far as anyone can tell, works exactly like it worked in the real world. I haven't been around long enough myself, but common medical knowledge is that the gestation period is roughly equivalent to the real world's. As far as I can tell, well... everything, reproduction-wise, here, works exactly like it does in the real world: from conception through childbirth, to development and aging." The last part seems to make her a tiny little bit little uncomfortable. Nothing huge, in fact, most people would probably not even notice, but Wake's enhanced social skills might make her able to pick up a few subtle body language cues. "Oh, and yes," she finally concludes. "To put your worries to rest, I've visited plenty of pregnant landers. I've even helped with midwife duty, and seen a few Lander children being born with my own very eyes." She points at her pupils as to emphasize the point . "I am afraid I have no specific data on birth /rates/, that's probably more of a census question than a medical one... but I can look into it if you really want me to?"

    "So then all our knowledge from the real world applies here," muses the Baroness. "Which calls out several more questions, none of which we can answer without gathering data." For an almost uncomfortable length of time, she watches the waves crash ashore in silence.
    Finally, she speaks once more. "I sense something is bothering you. Many things are bothering me, as well. Landers aren't the only ones who are aging, and we have no data on our players. I'd like to know what our attrition is, especially with the wild rumors that occasionally spin-out. We have plenty to panic about in a world with Waves of Calamity, monster raids, undead armies, goblins, and eventually.."
    The Baroness doesn't finish her statement, but goes on to something else entirely. "I don't know if carrying out a census or data mining is really something that resonates with you, Nurse Uta. But perhaps I might have some ideas on where such talent might lie. Unless, of course, this is something you would enjoy? I want to know where Landers and players live, in what numbers, what threats they face, what crops they raise, what minerals they gather.. all of it."
    Wake clenches her right fist, but her expression does not shift. "We will gather the information we need to make good decisions." Somehow.

    Uta goes silent. The kind of silent one goes when someone struck exactly the right nerve.

    Or the wrong nerve, depending on perspective.

    "We know nothing," she says, and turns to look at Wake with a worried intensity, focused, no hint of her former distracted head-in-the-clouds self. "It's been driving me insane. Where are we. What are we. /Who/ are we." She gnashes her teeth, and digs her fingers in her skull, and circles around Wake. "It's driving me /insane/. I have no idea of /what/ to do! What I am supposed to do if this is just a game we are still hooked into is antipodal to what I should be doing if this all is real and we've been transported into a new land, in new bodies! But I don't know! Nobody knows!" She turn to Wake again, eyes almost popping out. "Clouds gather in whirpools at the horizon, like some kind of drain everything is metaphorically, and possibly literally, going to go down into. And here I am, terrified to end up like Hamlet, bound to be undone by my indecision and inaction! I have to know, I need to know what /is/, So I can know what to /do/!"

    Realizing she's just had an outburst, having jotted herself forward and almost into Wake's face, Uta blinks.

    She awkwardly pulls back and resumes a more dignified pose; she pats at the skirt-like structure of her uniform, and straightens the jacket part, avoiding eye contact. "...I'm sorry. I... had a moment there," she mumbles. "...that said, I'll be more than glad to help you with data mining. It turns out that I am moderately skilled at navigating bureaucracy in this world. I won't be able to do much, and maybe you will want to have things double-checked, but I'll do whatever I can. You... you are right. I have all reasons to know more about what is going on, and..." She fidgets with her fingers, "...and you sound like someone who might actually figure something out where I couldn't. I'm more comforatable with words, numbers aren't my forte."

    "What you say is accurate, though I think, perhaps, we can take some comfort in a strange fact: nothing about this lack of certainty is truly unique in this world. After all, one of the most powerful questions we must confront as living people is 'Who are we?' Another is 'Why are we here?' The beauty of both questions is when we take them as a call to action, and decide we exist to project our sense of what is right on the world and partner it with the humility needed to learn and grow."
    Baroness Wake smiles kindly at Uta. "You are not alone in your fears or doubts." She steps forward to wrap the Nurse in a warm embrace. "Do not be afraid of fear, Uta. Do not think we must move beyond all doubt. Instead, I ask you to help me by doing what you believe is right to the very best or your ability. There will be no shortage of things we must do, and I will not attempt to deceive you: I will need help to protect this world. Even if I were what all those legends about me used to claim, I could not do this on my own."
    She steps back, out of the hug, though she does hold Uta's hands, still. "It's a beautiful day. Let's take hope from it, and look ahead. Peace most likely cannot be absolute. The world will always throw things our way. But if we act swiftly and compassionately, we may still find a way to bring together a Grand Alliance and prevent a terrible tragedy."

    Uta just lets the embrace happen. She doesn't move, but her formerly tense wings relax, to a full extent eventually; a telltale unconscious reaction, much like a dog's tail.

    As suggested by Wake, she just looks far into the ocean. She closes her eyes, slows her breathing down, and once again, lets the occasionalyl rising gusts of wind pass over her.

    "This world compounds those doubts with two extra layers of uncertainty. It is true, I am not alone in fear and doubt, but at least everyone else seems to be better at picking a side and doing... something." A sigh. "In any case, yes, we must protect this place." She turns to look at Wake, head tilted slightly down. "Whether we are to stay in it or leave it, we must make sure we do not destroy this world in the meantime. Unlike us, it will almost certainly not have the luxury to respawn." Again, she looks up at Wake. "...I will do or find anything that needs to be done or found. Just name it. I may not be a top raider, or a legendary explorer, or have my name forever etched in commemorative plaques at the tower like many of my friends do, but what is within my possibilities, I will be glad to offer."

    "What we need most now are facts," replies Wake. "We only have hunches and suspicions. I want to know as much as we can learn about Lander populations. The Ezzo refugees are of special concern, as they are extremely vulnerable. Eastal is also an area that seems to be in danger with the rise of the Goblins after the most recent Wave of Calamity. This includes things like food stability, weather concerns, suspected and verified monster dens, and likely a thousand things besides."
    The Baroness emphasizes what she says next. "I am unable to be the force behind this. I need to delegate it to someone who has not only the passion and skill but knows enough people to gather a team on her own to seek all this. Honestly I'm hoping, if you do this, that you will think of things we need to know that I haven't thought of yet. I'm certain there is more."
    She releases Uta's hands and smiles. "We're going to win. You know that, right? My teams always win, because we always have the best people on our side and learn from our mistakes." She remembers something, and draws out the message she received. "Speaking of which, I wonder what news has come our way concerning the Castle Eas."

    Uta nods at Wake. "I'm from Eastal," she says, almost deadpan. "I mean..." Embarrassed at the admission, she continues, "...my avatar supposedly is. I know that either way it's not really a place I come from, but... it... technically counts as my homeland?"

    She remains silent at the end of Wake's speech. After some thought, she begins, "I know I can trust you. You're not some nonsense peddler who brags about their successes, but someone who points out mistakes as the primary means of reaching goals. If I had any doubts you were the real deal, which, incidentally, I had not, now they would be utterly annihilated." She straightens. "I'll do my best."

    She then goes silent, and simply watches the message, respectfully. Not trying to peer at all. It might involve private matters.

    Wake pops the seal off of the message and opens it. She doesn't hold it out of view, but it probably doesn't mean much to others. Hidden in its mundane language, however is a real message, and it has Wake's attention.
    "It's funny how sometimes you have to find something by not trying to find it. For some time I had been wasting time trying to find the Castle Eas by seeking out waterfalls, mountains, that sort of thing. But doing that requires going into the depths of islands, and that is hard work. Dangerous and slow, too. Then I came here and noticed the massive port that was constructed here. It occured to me, what we should seek to do is narrow our search by looking for large islands thgat have natural harbors and ruins of ports. No castle of that size could exist without a trading port."
    The Baroness smiles and says, "And now.. we have found just that. It's not certain, and it's hardly the same thing as location Eas itself, but I feel like we're getting close now. The vessel that made the discovery could not approach the harbor and make anchorage as they saw monsters on the shore."
    The Baroness turns to the sea, looking now south and west. "I'm glad you are here, Uta. We are at a beginning of something amazing. And thank you for doing what you can for this world. I appreciate it. I think, now, we should have a quick meal, and then I fear it's time to get to work again in earnest."