Kasumi shouldered her seabag as she stepped off of the deck and onto the dock.

She had left the Yukikaze behind offshore, well downriver, but the smaller riverboat had still felt more familiar than what awaited her.

The young Mantis took a deep breath, fished her invitation and travel papers out, and went looking for the dockmaster.

It wasn't much of a port, of course, and she quickly realized that it wasn't going to be quite like finding the harbormaster at the City of Lightning, or even at Shiro Shiba. She copuld see the Winter Wind moored nearby, so there had to be some kind of...

And then a rather perplexed-looking Crane functionary came up.

"Mantis-san, it is customary for new arrivals to come via the land gate..."

"Oh? Er, sorry, just figured, since there's already a Mantis kobune in port...?" She held out her sheaf of documentation. "Yukizae no Kasumi. I've got an invitation. Here for the Topaz."