Adobo is a common house food in the Utter Islands. Commonly made with chicken, sometimes made with pork: it's a dish with a thick sauce of mostly vinegar mixed with generous soy sauce and garlic. It evolved from the kinilaw tradition of the southern islands. Kinilaw means Done Raw. It is often raw fish served in a pool of vinegar, but cooking something in vinegar became a popular way of making dishes in the Utter Islands.

From The Lasayana of the Utter Islands

Captain Ampalila looked ten years younger. A simple hair ornament bound her graying hair into a bun atop her head. A kemben, an open tunic, and a sarong covered her lower waist. Two long guns slung across her back and waist, bound by sashes. Around her waist, a carabaoskin bag.

Beautiful. Matronly. Visibly miffed.

"But I have had no explanation, and so I must continue to be irate." Ampalila forced a smile. Raxri and Sintra performed the heart reverence to greet her.

"But I have had no explanation, and so I must continue to be irate." Ampalila forced a smile. Raxri and Sintra performed the heart reverence to greet her.

"Welcome, Captain. Please, do take a seat at the living room. The adobo is just about finished."

"Good. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything since daybreak."

Sintra Kennin made a face at Raxri to tell them to entertain the captain while they finished the job. Raxri couldn't understand it first, but the repeated gesticulation and the fact that they were the only one not doing anything pointed to the fact that Raxri had to pick u the slap.

I know there's still some betel nut there in the living room. I should use it. Soothe the nerves. "A-ah, of course, Captain Ampalila. Please, come with me to the dining table and I'll explain everything."

Ampalila nodded and turned. Over her shoulder she said: "That smells delicious, Sintra Kennin. You should consider starting your own restaurant or carinderia or foodhouse or something of the sort."

Sintra Kennin smiled and said: "I will consider it now for sure, Captain."

"So that's why this entire place looks like a tornado of steel has rushed through it." Captain Ampalila looked about the room. The scratches and slashes were so deep they looked like blades had etched them into the hardwood. "An army of ghosts..." Captain Ampalila clapped her hands together. "Well, this is good news for me, because all I got from my contacts are what we already know: that there is a ghost that attacks houses randomly, and that she only very rarely reaches the Palace of High Chief Trasan."

Raxri thought for a moment. "I wonder why? I would think that High Chief Trasan is her first target... why doesn't she strike at him first?"

Ampalila shook her head. "You've seen the man. And those officials said that he's a full on fucking warlock, right? Then that just makes sense: he probably has a grandiose amount of wards to protect himself from ghostly attacks."

Raxri crossed their arms and thought. "Do you think that the High Chief would be anticipating some sort of attack? That they would have the proper countermeasures for it?"

Ampalila shrugged. "I don't doubt it. The man has stayed a High Chief for this long. That comes with no small mastery of paranoia. Why do you ask?"

"Ah. Well..." Raxri realized they had left out the part about attacking High Chief Trasan. They pitched the idea, hoping Ampalila would not be too up-in-arms at the idea.

"You want to what?!"

"ONLY IF!" Raxri raised their hand to try and explain themself before anything else. "Only if this is what Usisi would want. We will still consult her, by ways of ghost-speaking."

"You would slay an international leader. Sure, a small part of the International Seas but still an international leader!"

"I will take my chances," said Raxri. "And I do not plan on killing him, no. Just... make him face the consequences of his actions."

"You should know, Raxri Uttara, that even this action will have its appropriate consequence. And it might not affect you, but it might affect the people that live here."

Sintra Kennin arrived then. The smell of freshly cooked chicken adobo and white steamed rice was absolutely immaculate. It knocked Raxri right out of their feet. "We conspire with the two officials, who have someone from the Nunuk League wanting to do the same thing. We're planning on doing it together."

"You're in on this, Sintra Kennin?"

Sintra smiled. "It's not everyday I get to do some hierarchy defiance. And it's not everyday I try to make life better for someone living upon this river."

"You really think it will make life better?"

They performed their thanks and dug into the adobo.

As they ate, Raxri asked: "Where do you hail from, Ampalila? Are you a local here?"

Ampalila sighed. And then she grinned widely: "Nah, I'm from the Nunuk League. I just offer my services as a shipmaster."

"And you would not be in favor of us deposing the High Chief Trasan?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Well," Ampalila shrugged. "I have to pay him 50% of my weekly income, so I don't like it one bit, and I would prefer Imos Town to be owned by the workers. It's just that, I fear for the consequences. What will happen if it comes to that?"

"It won't," said Sintra Kennin. "I am sure of it. If they affiliate with the Nunuk League, they will gain a modicum of protection from said international waters. They will be protected and safer amongst the Nunuk League."

Ampalila shrugged. "That remains to be seen if it will be a good thing or a bad thing... but I suppose there are only a few things worse than having Trasan as your town's leader." Ampalila crossed her arms in front of her and leaned back. She had finished her food. Huh, she must have been really hungry, thought Raxri. "Well, I'm not one to say the Nunuk League's leadership is bad by any means. They're a league of communes. Becoming part of it means you are part of an ongoing intra-island mutual aid network. That might be enough to help."

"And the Nunuk League will no doubt finally be benefited to have Imos Town within their ranks."

"But there's a reason why the people of Imos Town don't like the Nunuk League in particular, you know," said Ampalila. "Most of the Outer Wetan River had become devoid of Nunuk League aid when the going got tough. Now, Imos Town regularly suffers pirate attacks from thalassocracies. The main reason why that has died down in recent times is because of the magicks of that blasted warlock High Chief Trasan."

Raxri was munching on a rice ball. They said, in between bites: "Then we just get a better magick person to replace him? One that isn't so... abusive."

"Well... that is easier said than done," said Ampalila.

"But it can be done. Nothing worth doing was easy," said Raxri, shrugging. Sintra Kennin smiled at that.

Ampalila exhaled. For a moment, they truly pondered the idea. The question of what to do should the High Chief Trasan truly fall. "There would need to be a replacement administrative or governing body."

"Well, the mantris said they'd take over for the time being," said Raxri.

Sintra Kennin thought about it for a moment. "It would be ideal for Imos Town to finally become a commune like among the communes of the Nunuk League."

Ampalila nodded. "I concur. However, that will take osme time of adjustment, and an interim sort of government should be in place. Additionally, an Imos Commune would have different requirements from, say, a Satorin Commune from upriver. They would need an expert body of commercial masters who could handle international trading masters and with people that do not have a communistic approach."

"Then you get people to do that, right?" said Raxri. Hopelessly simplifying the process in a way that might reduce all nuance. "It shouldn't be too hard. You can get Nunuk people to understand."

"Yes but that has the dangers of being too... idealistic. The world is more complex than just "get the people who are good at it in theory" to be broadly applicable. There comes revolutions, rebellions, conflicting interests as it all comes crashing down. Violence never cultivates peace, it will always cultivate some form of resistance. We just have to choose what violence we are comfortable in committing."

"Right," said Sintra Kennin. They went on ahead and continued to eat.

As they did, the door swung open. Akazha stepped out, her hair tied up into a knot atop her head, wearing only her kemben and sarong, but with one of Raxri's tunics over her. She was a spindly, slender thing, with shoulders much narrower than Raxri's, so though Raxri wasn't exactly inhumanely jacked, their tunic still fell about her as if it were some cloak.

"It smells good."

"Good morning Akazha," said Ampalila. "You are dangerously late."

Akazha blinked, rubbing off morning dust from her eyes. Then she bowed low: "Oh, forgive me, master! I--"

"Shut up and get some food. No need to explain yourself. Raxri told me everything I needed to know."

"O-Oh. Yes. Thank you, master." Raxri's eyes softened at Akazha. She walked over to the chair in between Ampalila and Raxri.

"How fare you?" asked Akazha, as she bent over to get rice and adobo.

Raxri shrugged. "Better, more or less. It was as if I did not have a sword through my chest at all!"

"Your recklessness warrants more than just a magicked sword through your chest, if I'm to be honest at all."

"Is that what happened?" asked Sintra Kennin.

Raxri took the impetus of telling Sintra Kennin the rest of what transpired within Raxri's room. Afterwards, Sintra Kennin nodded proudly, saying:

"Ha! So it was a good thing that you were so spooked about all the ghosts."

Akazha rolled her eyes. She didn't have the strength yet to fight back. She scared down one rice bowl and immediately filled it up again afterwards.

"I can't believe you're spooked about ghosts, Akazha Han Narakdag," said Ampalila, jumping in on it. "I would've assumed a witch couldn't be scared about ghosts. Being too afraid of the ultranatural would be detrimental to your expertise!"

"I'm not scared of ghosts," said Akazha, matter-of-factly. "I was scared of being alone."

"Oooooooh," said Raxri, suddenly, their mouth moving quicker than their mind. "Solitude ooooooo!"

Akazha snorted at that, and the table shared a laugh. After that, however, the three knew better than to keep Akazha from eating, and so they let her eat.

Sintra Kennin brought the dishes back into the kitchen. Ampalila shared a cigarette with Raxri and Akazha--she had bought it recently when a cigarette merchant arrived that morning, when they were waiting for Akazha to arrive.

"Forgive me," said Akazha, still shamed at the fact that she was not able to wake up in time.

"Like I said, there's nothing to forgive. You had to survive, and now you will survive. Worry not about it. If you've time this afternoon, then I will begin your teachings in the open kitchen in the back, so that we do not trouble other beings in the process."

"I will have to set up some form of warding just in case," said Akazha, now perking up after a bout of coffee. "But yes. Thank you master. I will make it up to you."

"But Akazha," said Raxri, leaning on an elbow. "We have to solve the problem by tomorrow, right? If we want to be able to catch... the boat? To Blacklight City."

"Two days from now," said Akazha. "This is the second day of the three days. It arrives after tomorrow."

"Yes. Usually Raka is when the traveling yakkamakina arrives," said Captain Ampalila. "According to the Lotus Calendar it will be on... the 19th Dog Moon."

Right, the calendar. "So we still have time?" asked Raxri. "Because, well..."

"Ah, right," Captain Ampalila said. "We should tell her while we're here. Did you have a good rest, Akazha?"

"I've had better," said Akazha, shrugging. "But then again, I've had much worse."

"Good. Raxri?"

Raxri and Ampalila filled Akazha in on the entire situation. Especially what the mantris had told them. After Raxri finished regaling the info, Akazha nodded and clapped her hands. "I knew it. I'm never wrong when it comes to abusive despots like that." She mopped her face. She had finished both her cigarette and her coffee. "And damn me to the hells. I slept in her bed, did I not? Oh, when mine eyes find that Galakal I will strip his flesh raw from his bone."

"Whoa, whoa there," said Raxri. "Easy, easy. Chill." Ampalila and Akazha laughed, and then Raxri laughed along with them. Ah, humor. How interesting. The more absurd something is, the funnier it is! Raxri said: "But Akazha, do you think you will be able to perform a ritual like that? For us to speak with Usisi?"

Akazha shook her head. "I am not comfortable doing something like that without the proper empowerments in place for me to subjugate such a powerful potential subject, you see."

"Ah." Raxri immediately began thinking of other ways to solve the problem.

"But," said Akazha. "I, unfortunately, do know someone that would be able to handle a ritual like that and has a ghost-subduing empowerment."

Raxri raised an eyebrow, waiting for her follow-up.

Akazha sighed very heavily when she said: "Achi Angko."

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