( Scene Change:— Northern Ocean)
The ship was nothing like what they had imagined.
Elina stood by the window in the common room of Deck C, her reflection faint in the tempered glass. Beyond it stretched the endless black sea, calm and gleaming under the early evening sky. The Edelra cut through the waves without effort, almost too smoothly—as if it were not touching the water at all.
Behind her, the common room buzzed with quiet conversation. Students from Britannia, still in their layered robes and leather satchels, stood awkwardly near the sleek white walls. The metal benches and glowing light panels were a strange contrast to the carved wood and candlelit halls of their homeland.
Garven sank into one of the soft seats with a grunt. "These chairs feel like marshmallows."
Mirell glanced around nervously. "Everything here is so... white. So clean."
"Sterile," Elina added, not unkindly. "It's how the Bernardians design things. Minimal distractions, maximum function."
