This is the final update for this week, tune in a week from now for the next instalment!

(-)

Yisha constantly adjusted the bundle of papers and apparatus in her ink-stained grasp as she was escorted by royal attendants throughout the gangways of the western dragon towards the great war chamber of the crowned prince Iroh.

Armoured guards opened up the elegant double doors and ushered her inside. As she expected, she was the the last one to respond to the General's summons.

She recognized a quite a few faces, the General, the Prince, the Commander, Admiral and Captain. Chang her ship's captain. By their similar uniforms she could tell seven other men were captains as well, there was also a merchant by the looks of it.

"Acting head Navigator Yisha, it's good to see you've finally arrived." The General welcomed her.

The balding General that was the Crowned Prince was quite short, one could see it even as they sat, yet the man's sharp amber eyes and broad-shouldered form of thick muscles was enough to exhibit the man's might.

'This man is the Dragon of the West...slayer of the last dragon.'

While she was well versed in referring to military personnel as highly ranked as Admiral, she would have to tread lightly before the General, especially with the information she was about to present.

"I greet the esteemed General, Admiral, Commander, Captains and...uh private. I apologize for my tardiness. My fellow navigators and I have been running through various calculations to better ascertain our position." Yisha cupped her fist in a proper fire nation salute.

"It's a small matter. Correct information is paramount, especially at this time. I only wish for you to tell me what you've discovered and the identity of the island we've spotted." The General waved her apology away and jumped into the matter at hand.

"If course General, please give me a moment to set up." Yisha adjusted her glasses and began arranging her lecture apparatus; fumbling with the papers and maps.

"Help her." General iroh motioned to a guard standing close by.

With the guard's help she was able to set up a labelled and graticulated map showing the North and South Western hemisphere of the known world and even a gas lamp to illuminate it.

"Before the storm, the fleet was 10 degrees North of the equator and 25 degrees West of the prime meridian, precisely in the middle of the Mo Ce sea.

"During the storm our navigation dials weren't working properly for some reason and were just spinning erratically." Yisha paused and looked at each individual to ensure they followed.

"We weren't sure they were still working after the storm as the compass readings in particular were off. Even after taking other variables into account, we noticed the the measurements to be ludicrous.

"As the situation was dire and we were being pressured to report the coordinates, we had to make certain...educated guesses as to our location."

"So you reported false information to the admiral and had us all sailing blind?!" Commander Shu shouted at her.

"In simple terms yes. The method is known as Dead Reckoning. We use the initial position, wind speed, the vehicle's speed, direction, and how long velocity has been maintained; to determine a vessel's new position.

"The method is not precise and may throw a vehicle off by a few degrees at most. With the situation being dire and the Admiral's orders; my colleagues and I did the best we could." Her explanation silenced the Commander.

"So what you're saying now is that you have no clue where we are." The General looked at her with a grim face, though for some reason, she didn't feel as if the prince was directing anger towards her.

"If I may General." Yisha looked to the merchant who spoke up. The man was dressed in expensive silk robes of gold and crimson.

'The failed Sage Uzo...' Kaijin recognized him.

This man was famous in the higher classes of society. Born to a declining noble family and sent to Bhanti island at young age. Uzo was said to be a talented firebender and proficient in the flame scriptures.

He caught the eyes of the fire sages and was late invited to train on Crescent moon island to become a fully realized fire sage.

The main reason he ended up in the Fire nation gossip circles was due to reports off his illicit relationship with two fire priestesses.

The disgraced fire acolyte was then thrown off the island, after which, he was said to have travelled the world and somehow built up a successful merchant fleet, selling goods from kyoshi island all the way to Ba Sing Se's North Eastern coasts something very few Fire Nation merchants could do.

"The method she mentioned is a rather sound one which my navigators have used many a time whenever we were caught in bad situations. I'm sure her figures and those of my crewmen would align if compared. Even if her figures were incorrect, it still stands that such an island shouldn't have shown up in our horizon."

"Hmm..." the General nodded and rubbed his pepper and salt coloured beard.

"I might also add, General, while trying to ascertain our position I found that my figures for the Magnetic declination and Solar declination kept coming back wildly off. "

"Even when taking variables such as deviation and wave drift into account." She paused and looked around the room fairly certain none other than possibly Uzo and the Admiral would know of what she spoke.

"To clarify, Magnetic declination is the deviation of a compass from true north. Solar declination is the day-by-day variation of the angle between the world-sun line and the world's equatorial plane. "

"Both are extremely vital to navigation, I discovered not too long ago that both of these figures have changed from the norm. While they do change deepening on position and time of year, these figures are too ludicrous." Yisha couldn't help but sigh as she could see the puzzled looks on the military men's faces.

"What I'm saying gentlemen, is according to my calculations, we are here." She pointed at the ocean in the North Western part of the map.

"T...the world edge ocean?" Prince Lu Ten asked with a trembling voice.

She nodded in response.

"This is our position if I used the mathematical adjustments I made by measuring the sun's angle. However, if I plug the previous measurements into the equation... those we originally had before the storm, we would be somewhere between here and here." She drew her pointer from the coasts of the fire islands, through the Mo Ce sea and all the way down to Whale tale island.

She felt some guilty satisfaction as the men began to understand her more clearly.

"But even with the fierce wind speeds and tidal strength of the previous storm; we shouldn't be anywhere near the world's edge ocean. Not just that gentlemen, according to my calculations, it is now early winter." She could see the jumping of eyebrows all around the room.

"Impossible! It's summer!" Admiral Feng shouted as the other men began chattering.

The General didn't speak and merely raised his hand to silence the room.

"...Are you certain of this?" General Iroh leaned forward and locked eyes with her.

"Yes General. My calculations were sound and prudent despite the situation. I've double checked and compared them with my colleagues."

The Dragon slayer seemed to peer deep into her soul for an eternity before relenting his gaze and closing his eyes for a moment. The room remained silent as the general was obviously deep in thought.

When he finally opened them his eyes seemed to glow even in the well lit space. "Then I'll pass down my orders now."

He turned to look at guard standing beside him. "Sentinel Po, go to the pilothouse and ensure all personnel know their findings are confidential."

"Sir!" The heavily armoured soldier saluted and marched off, his black and crimson steel armour clanking as he went.

"Do you have all your calculations with you navigator?" the General locked eyes with her again.

"Yes general." She said, now a little worried.

"Good, Mr Uzo, you will send word to your crewmen and command your navigators to board the western dragon. They will do their own calculations and compare them with those of the Head Navigator and her colleagues. Their findings will also be under heavy confidentiality."

"I will see to it General." The merchant priest nodded.

"Navigator Yisha. Do what you can to further ascertain our position using whatever means you can. Let me know of any resources you may need. You are dismissed." He said to her.

"I will general" She assured.

The sun was almost down so she would have to wait until nightfall to use the stars or moon. If the skies were clear enough that is.

As she was escorted out, she felt a foreboding feeling. Actually, Yisha hoped her calculations were wrong and she was going mad. If she wasn't ...then she didn't know how to tell the general they were possibly in another world entirely.

(-)

Writing the chapter was both difficult and fun. My basic navigation research for this chapter gave me a whole new perspective on how brilliant and resourceful the individuals who contributed to the development of modern navigation were and a fresh sense of respect for the ancient people who sailed the seas without any modern technology or techniques.