>Return the little nerd's nod, then depart.
>Upon leaving the building, look around for an appropriate wall to punch. Hard. Then do so.
>Take a few minutes to let the bile and ire from the frustration of yet another dead end settle down.
>Make for the harbour, see what boats look the fastest.
>You give a nod back to the nervous student, then turn and exit the room. Your face is calmly neutral as you make your way out of the inn, betraying nothing of your inner state following that meeting. You stride briskly past the people milling around the nearby storefronts and turn down a small side street. The featureless and unadorned walls lining this section suggests it runs along the rear of some of the adjoining businesses, but at the moment you frankly do not care - it is empty.
>You turn and slam your fist into the nearest stonework hard enough to draw a wince from you at any other time. But you do not react to it; your expression is flat save for the frustration seething darkly behind your eyes. Dammit! You'd pinned your hopes on this! You'd waited, and all you'd gotten out of it is the promise of more waiting. You don't have time to wait! You don't have time...
>You stay like that a moment, letting your resentment churn and eventually play itself out. You let out an irritated sigh; nothing for it now but to keep going and hope that
something goes your way. No one ever said that finding a cure for an ancient disease would be easy, even for you; it just damn well better be possible. You head westward towards the harbor.
>As the most important mining center for the Outer Freelands and indeed Val Razua itself, much of the traffic out of Braston is industrial and the tone of the port district reflects this; the docks are ringed with blocks of warehouses and offices of shipping concerns, crammed together in a seemingly haphazard fashion, and the bustle of workers moving goods in and out is near-constant. Oni are a common sight here, as they are in many professions where muscle is a major qualification, and their raucous chatter rises above the general clamor - spirited in whatever they do. You cut smoothly through the activity and make your way to the docks proper.
>There is a token organization to the harborfront, with berths grouped roughly by size and type of cargo, but like most of the rest of the town, the growth of the harbor was organic and often hasty; concessions to necessity or simply impatience have resulted in an odd hodgepodge of industrial and passenger docks staggered in among each other in a rough semicircle along the island's edge. In the open sky beyond, you can see the faint iridescent shimmer of the aether stream in the bright afternoon sun.
>As usual, the docks are dominated by thick and stolid vessels designed to move maximum goods in minimum comfort. While there are a range of sizes and styles in evidence at the moment, they are all alike in their unabashedly utilitarian designs, their hulls flanked by the bulky turbines needed to lift such heavy loads and often emblazoned with the emblem of one shipping company or another. While they are undeniably powerful vessels, most are also not particularly speedy. In among these, you also see a couple vessels of slighter build, positively dwarfed by some of the larger freighters; these would mostly be passenger ferries connecting Braston with other islands in the Outer Freelands, with perhaps the occasional short-range cargo ship in among them. You don't actually see any of the larger passenger vessels docked at the moment - those which could safely make the crossing to Val Razua. This is moderately unusual, though you suppose it doesn't matter; it's not like any of them would keep a fast enough timetable for your current situation. You see no Tengu ships docked at the moment either, though this is hardly surprising; visits from Tengu are a rarity, and while their vessels are famously swift and agile, it's not like they'd be willing to let you hitch a ride anyway - their isolationism, and frankly their imperiousness, runs deep indeed.
>One vessel among all these does catch your eye, however; it is moderately-sized and broad-hulled enough to suggest a cargo transport, yet there is a certain sleekness to its appearance. Rather than the fat barrel-like hulls of the industrial fleet, many of the features of this ship are streamlined, with a narrow tapered prow and swept tail. At first glance it appears to be a standard twin-rotor engine design, but you also notice a bank of smaller turbines running along the sides of the vessel. It still has the air of a working ship, but it looks like there's some real power and maneuverability in it for its size. It is painted deep blue with white accents, and doesn't seem to bear any company insignia that you recognize.
