Assisted Regicide 02
Art - mcfan
Writing - Runa
Pluvian - mcfan
Valencia - Runa
Other Cameos/Characters - runa216 gilbertthepony2 olympiaxylaige
Part 1 - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21547859/
Part 2 - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21596922/
Just a shorter story due to the fact that I ran out of time in October. Not the 10k words I usually post, but I think the end result is succinct and tells the story well!
This story picks up where the last one finished, with Pluvian eager to get that plug out of him with the aid of the captain's mate. Howeve, when word surfaces of his misdeeds at port, Valencia has a thing or two to say/do to him.
Assisted Regicide 02
Valencia stared him in the eye with a devious grin as her prehensile tongue snaked is way out of her maw to wrap itself around the metal plug stuck in Pluvian's cloaca. Her teeth were showing, and her wings were spread to almost entirely cover the table he was resting on, leaving him to lay on his back with bunched up bird feet flailing in the air.
"C-can you please get this over with, captain?" He insisted, his voice quavering ever so gently. Though his eyes were locked with hers, he wanted to close them to hide from the embarassment.
While still staring at him, Val reversed her tongue around the plug base, lapping at his flesh before returning to her maw. She bit at the rounded metal with her sharp teeth to give a teasing tug that distended his cloaca lips outwards before she let it go to slam back against his petite body. "Now why would I want to do that?"
Pluvian froze. "Be-because this is...nevermind. Just, do your th-thing." He turned his head to the side and nuzzled his beak into the crook between Val's finger and thumb, hoping to do all he could to ensure this was over quickly. Sadly, he was entirely at the mercy of his captain, and worse it was the middle of the day so he couldn't just leave. The embarrassment kept him from making eye contact, but that only enhanced the sensations of the swollen flesh that throbbed about the thick metal plug.
Valencia was a kind and caring captain, but she was also an insatiable seafaring slut. The type to play with any of the crew members at will, people at port she found particularly attractive, and especially her mate and co-captain Ilorek. Despite that reputation, she rarely ever touched Pluvian, which was good for him because he wasn't particularly into females and she wasn't exactly physically compatible with him.
But of course, neither was a too-large plug.
Again, she leaned down to grab the base of the toy with her teeth to give a strong tug that dragged him almost off the side of the table until she grabbed him and held him down. She tugged until his lips were stretched out with cloaca distended away from his body, then releases to let it slam back against his tiny belly, only to then lap around his opening with her tongue to caress and massage it better. Again, and this time the toy came a bit farther out, with his cloaca widening to nearly release it; when she let go, this time she curled her tongue up to slip into him next to the plug. Again, a third time in a row, and this time he could feel his body stretching and crying out in an odd mix of mostly pain but a bit of pleasure.
"S-stop!" He chirped at her, voice trailing into a sort of squawk. "Pl-please stop." It hurt him deep inside to say please, and to ask for such a distinct request, but it was too much for him to bare. His cloaca felt like it was going to slice in to, and a sharp pain was lancing down either side of his opening; he was utterly certain he was going to tear something open against the girth of the toy.
She squeaked gently and leaned in, rubbing her nose against his belly as she returned her tongue to his opening. After a few gentle licks and one wrap-around-the-toy's-base, she pulled her tongue back in and nibbled his belly. "Awh, now why would I want to do something like that? If I don't get it out, it'll never come out, you'll never fly again, and if you fell into the water you'd sink. I happen to enjoy your company, ya grumpy little bird." As she spoke, she slid down his body, then wrapped her lips around the plug's base as though it were a cock; she gave it a gentle suckle to have it shift and rotate around inside him.
He opened his beak to protest, but then clamped it shut as he realized that she'd noticed how utterly helpless he was with the plug in him. She was right, he couldn't fly or swim or float or do anything, really. The realization of truth sunk into him and he decided to deal with it, leave it be, and let it happen. If he didn't, he was a dead ship in the middle of the Ijimulian, good as dead and sunk. With that in mind, he sighed heavily and let her have her way with him. He relaxed his rump end as best he could, relinquishing his pride. "Go ahead. Do your worst."
"Aw, that's cute." She crooned at him, still nuzzling at his belly, her hands holding his wings to the desk to keep him in place. "You think I'm doing bad to you. No, dear. I'm just looking out for my favorite navigator. I want to ensure you will have many more years aboard the Storm of the Rift alongside the rest of the crew." The moment she finished her sentence, she once again wrapped her teeth around the base of the toy and pulled, her tongue snaking out to caress his distending flesh with every tug.
He winced in pain, then flailed, then winced again before futilely attempting to flap his wings and get out from under her control before he felt a sudden and intense lurch deep within him. The toy shifted and twisted, so that all but the thickest part of the plug was extending out from his cloaca. When he looked down he saw Valencia's big green eyes staring at him as her maw peeled back in a grin, toy in her maw and nearly out of him. A telltale teal mist was emanating from her cheeks towards him, and her tongue was lashing it about to disperse it onto his flesh.
Then, when he was about to protest at her use of magic, the plug popped out! A juicy, squelchy popping sound could be heard in the room followed by his long drawn out chirp, but then he stopped when he realized it actually didn't hurt. Sure, his cloaca was still quite sore from being stretched, and he could feel the warm air tickling his gaped hole, but it didn't hurt. Deep inside he wanted to yell at her, or to kick himself away from her, but he was too amazed at how well it came out of him. Instead he just stayed motionless as his open cloaca throbbed and pulsed, slowly closing itself back up.
Valencia smiled down at him with the plug still in her teeth. There was little flecks of gooey mess dripping off the end of it to splat on the table next to him, and he came to realize just how big that toy was inside him; the diameter of the plug was twice as wide as the base was, which was really big on its own! He was shocked that it fit, and in an odd way it actually made him swell with pride. He fit that in him, aw yeah!
Pluvian needed to take something positive away from this otherwise unpleasant and embarrassing situation. Just as he was ready to push himself out from under her, she spat the toy out to the side and returned her snout to his lower belly, maw partially open and tongue snaking its way out to slide into him.
After having been so thoroughly ravaged by the plug, the gentle caress of tongue inside him was a pleasant change of pace. The undulating, prehensile appendage caressed him in waves from within, coiling and rotating against his flesh in between sensual thrusts and darts in and out. The pleasure and embarrassment mixed in an odd way that he was clenching his lower body down on her tongue, but was also looking away at the same time.
Then, as he was doing so, Valencia gave his pucker one last peck of a kiss before rubbing it and standing up straight. She placed the plug next to him on the table and stepped back, still staring down at him while she got her corset back on.
"Wait, that's it?" He asked, rolling and hopping to his feet. After shaking his feathers off, he bounded to the corner of the desk and squawked at her. "You're just leaving me now?"
Valencia nodded. "You made it clear you didn't want me to do that, I could feel it in your glare. Besides, we need you above deck, Night is coming soon and Matilda won't be able to help with navigation much longer. No dalliance." She smiled and turned, quickly hopping out the door to leave little Pluvian alone with the plug and his thoughts.
A blush bubbled up in his cheeks as he came to realize that he'd actually asked for more. That wasn't like him at all, and he got caught up in the ecstasy of her tongue prodding at him tot he point where he accidentally let slip that he was enjoying it. No, he had to get back out to reaffirm his status as the grumpy, stern bird. Yeah.
He shook off his apprehension and opened the door by fluttering over to the handle and standing on it, his weight turning it enough to let him use his beak on the frame to open the door. Then, he flew his way back through the barracks and personal quarters, and away from Pariah's mini-kitchen to return above deck. When there, he saw the others all working away as the ship sailed west bound towards the setting sun. The deep orange over the horizon was something special to him, but he couldn't pause to appreciate it.
Instead, he flapped hard to fly out over the open ocean, happy to be free of the metal weight that was keeping him down before. He flew around in a wide circle, leading the ship before coming back around and flapping up to go above the many sails. After a good few minutes of circling the ship, he swooped down to land at the edge of the crow's nest, where Matilda was leaning against the railing next to him.
"Can I help you?" She asked, then pulled up her binoculars to glance out over the sea. While she was staring, she took a bite of jerky and leaned back against the railing after putting the binoculars down.
Pluvian puffed out his chest and ruffled his feathers. "I'm here to relieve you of your duty, m'lady! Gonna be taking over the navigation duties for the next little while."
Matilda cocked her head to the side for a bit, brushing her mane away from her eyes. "You're going to do what now? Yeah, I really don't think that's going to be happening yet. I still have a few hours until the sun is gone. Go be grumpy somewhere else."
"Well that's not very nice. Come on, I'm in a good mood right now. Just let me have this okay" Pluvian begged, practically whining to her. He didn't really want to do it, but he wanted to look strong and eager to work above all else, so he was keen on getting her out of the crow's nest so he could do his job. He couldn't use his muscles to pull rope or hoist the sails, but Matilda could.
She paused, hesitating as she thought of what to say next. After half a minute, she sheugged her shoulders and conceded. "Well alright. I guess I can go down to the deck and help out there if need be." With that, she placed the binoculars down and got to her knees, quickly opening the hatch to descend down the mast's ladder. "It's all yours, burd."
When she closed it behind her, Pluvian exhaled in a deep sigh, letting the puffed out chest recede. He could be up here and alone with his thoughts now, and would no longer have to worry about putting up a front of strength from the others. That was why he loved being Navigator; he had to call down to Valencia or Ilorek - whoever had the wheel at the time - whenever he needed to guide them, but aside from that he was alone and free up on the mast. As the only flying crew member aside from Valencia, he could easily fly up and down at will without the tiring process of climbing up and down a tall mast ladder while the ship was rocking and swaying against the waves.
To him, this was how things should be. The shore was long behind them, they were heading northwest up and around the Balican mountains, and every crew member was in place. Ilorek was giving commands, Valencia was with him, Miki and Arnika were rushing up and down the deck to convey orders or below deck to count inventory, Olympia and Krendius were tending to the sails and weapons, while Matilda was still sliding down the mast to them. Everything was in it's place.
That was, until Pariah made her way out from below deck with a somber look on her face.
From his vantage point, he could see what was happening, but couldn't quite hear anything over the constant sloshing of the hull meeting waves. As he watched, Pariah beckoned over all the other members of the crew to huddle around the helm, where Ilorek and Valencia seemed particularly interested in what she was saying. The crew was around her in a semicircle, intently watching as she told a tale of some sort.
It took Pluvian a few moments to realize this was probably incited by her mishap on shore with him. Eventually, both Mikhail and Arnika leaned in to give her a hug while Valencia stared up at Pluvian. He squinted back, but then decided not to worry himself too much about what went on. He had a job to do, and dragging himself down with remorse and sadness was going to do nothing to navigate the ship to their destination.
He flutter-hopped his way over to the front of the nest, so he could keep a weathered eye on the horizon. It took much of his self-control and desire to ensure he didn't turn back to focus on the meeting that was taking place. He didn't know what was happening, but he feared she might have been ratting on him for ruining their meal. Or for inciting a fight. Or for something, he really didn't know for sure. Either way, he had other things to worry about. Whatever she was saying was future-Pluvian's problem.
Eventually, the crowd dispersed and everyone went back to their stations. Things were as they should be again, with Pluvian as navigator, Valencia as captain, Ilorek below deck to sleep for the next day, and the other crew members all pulling themselves, angling the sails to catch the best wind every step of the way.
One by one, the crew members retired to their beds, leaving only Pluvian and Valencia on deck. He was a little worried about what she might say to him - she was known for being a bit more blunt and forthright with her words than Ilorek or most of the rest of the crew - but he still knew that he was safe and fine. He wasn't going to be in trouble, he didn't think. Why would he? It was an honest mistake.
Luckily for him, the job of navigator was particularly easy when sailing out over the open ocean. Without any sub-surface rocks or formation within a hundred meters of the hull, all he had to do was keep a weather eye on the open seas to check for other ships, while investigating them to see if they were a potential threat. There was a reason he loved his job, all the booty, none of the work. He wasn't selfish, but he knew his value as an avian with keen eyes, and he was the best at it.
Of course, the lack of concentration needed on his actual job left him with ample resources to randomly fantasize. The relieving sensation of no longer dealing with that plug was leaving him with a warm tingle in his cloaca, a reminder of how tender he'd become and how much he desired more. His mind swam with images of tongues and cocks and fingers exploring him, and he actually felt his opening moisten a bit at the mere thought.
Eventually, he even went so far as to gently prod at his own cloaca, prying the lips open while rubbing the vent on the rim of the nest. The pleasure was quite intense, far greater than he was expecting due to how sore the plug had made him; in fact, it was kind of odd to him that he even wanted to touch anything in that region since he had been so roughly violated. Despite that, he couldn't help but rub and grind his hips down against the wood.
All he could hear was the flapping of the sails and the crashing of waves against the hull, and those two sounds drained out all others in the area, leaving only his own light gasps accented by the slosh of the sea.
"Aren't you supposed to be navigating?" Valencia's voice growled from behind him.
Pluvian yanked his talons out of himself and turned to see the captain perched on the other side of the crow's nest; she kept her eyes on him, squinted to narrow the view to her emerald green irises. She seemed angry, but more importantly the bird had no idea how she managed to fly up to see him without him noticing. He was navigator, he saw all even when he wasn't trying to! It must have been since he was distracted with his own pleasure. "C-captain, I am navigating, see? There's the sea!" He explained, caught off guard at first, but then quickly regaining his confidence.
She lifted one of her wing arms to point portside. "Then explain how we got so close to shore and you didn't say a thing."
As Pluvian glanced out from the ship, he saw the dark figures of the shoreline mountains getting close very quickly. If they didn't move, they'd hit shore within ten minutes or so. That took him off guard, because in spite of being distracted, he was in fact paying attention to the horizon; how could he have possibly missed an entire continent coming up to their side? It made no sense to him, but as he was about to blubber out some excuse, he thought of something a bit more pressing. "Wait, why aren't you at the helm? Shouldn't you be steering us away from the-"
"You know what, you're right?" She reached up behind herself and grabbed a small net with weights around the sides to throw it at him.
He had next to no time to react, but still tried to push away and flap. However, that motion meant that when the net grabbed him, it was immediately wrapped around him and pulling him down through the sails to the deck. His heart raced as he realized that one wrong shift in weight or motion would have him tumbling over the side, and even if he didn't he'd hit the deck with quite a lot of impact, which could potentially kill him. That was it, he was done.
Luckily, as he fell backwards with his beak all caught up in the net, he saw Valencia dive off the mast after him, wings folded up at her side as she quickly caught up. He saw her only in flashes as he hit the sails, tumbling him beak over tail, but before he hit anything solid, her feet grabbed the net and pulled him back up in the air, away from the dangers below.
It took him a moment to regain his bearings and find out where he was. After shaking his head clear of the disorientation, he found that he was well above the sea as Valencia carried him out over the water; he was scared at first, worried she was going to drop him to sink, but it was soon evident that she was gliding back to the helm. Pluvian breathed a sigh of relief, only to be dropped in a heap of rope and feathers on the deck.
Valencia made a graceful landing as she grabbed the wheel, glancing back over her shoulder. She was only a meter or so away from the bird, so she hopped over and yanked the net out from under him, leaving him to spin in the air and land on his rump, once again dazed.
"H-hey, what's the meaning of this?" He asked, still swaying from the impact and dizziness.
She glared down at him, getting down on all fours and staring at him so close her snout nearly touched his beak. "I think you know what this is about, don't you? That little incident at shore? Pariah told us all about it, the poor girl is distraught, and it's all your fault. What do you have to say to that?"
Pluvian shook himself off, using his wings to brush off dust as he puffed out his chest. "I did no such thing, Val. I told a neighbour to shut up, and they....well. If she told you the story then you know already. How could I have known they were going to do that?"
"You're a pirate, Pluvian. She's a pirate. You're at a notorious pirate port, alone with a woman. Tell me, what in the world made you think anything else was going to happen? Pirates rape." She slowly got back to her feet and grabbed the wheel, spinning it starboard to turn away from hitting the sandbar at the last second. The entire ship tilted as it turned, but they were safe and very soon sailing parallel to the shore.
He stomped away from her and spread his wings. "They were bandits, not pirates. Bandits are unpredictable. Besides, she said so herself, she isn't worrying about it; rape is part of the package and she said she kinda liked it. Tell her to suck it up." His intention was to fly, but she immediately grabbed him with her free arm and pulled him right up to her face, his beak pressed to her snout.
"She's leaving the ship, Pluvian. She's put in her one month resignation, and it's all because of you." She growled, lips raising to bare her fangs. "And I repeat: What do you have to say for yourself?"
There was a brief moment of contemplation as he looked up and down her body before answering. "I guess I say sorry? Like I said, I didn't mean for it to happen or anything, pirates are unpredictable, as I'm sure you know." He was trying his best to put on a face of bravado, but he couldn't keep it for long; he knew he was in trouble and there was little to nothing he could do to stop Valencia from enacting revenge, if she so wanted to. Though she was the smallest on the Storm of the Rift next to Pluvian himself, she was much larger than he was and she had complete control over him.
"Then you should have been more considerate. So, with that said, I think you deserved your punishment." She reached down under her skirt and pulled the plug out of herself, holding it up to Pluvian so he could get a nice up-close view of the reflection of the moon that glistened on the plug's moist girth. It was covered with her juices, a thick slime dripping around its edge to soak the base. "I hope you don't mind if I-"
He immediately started kicking and flailing. He was free of that plug, he didn't want it back inside him! However, her wing-hand was holding him tight and no amount of resistance could stop her from squeezing him tight while she pressed the bulbous tip into him. As he felt the girth of it spread his cloaca, he squawked loudly, claws slashing at anything he could find with eyes clenched shut.
But it was futile. She had him held down and pinned, so much so that he couldn't even spread his wings out in protest. She applied more and more pressure on the toy, spinning it to disperse the lube and slickness all over the place for a minute amidst his protesting squawks. Just as he felt the thickest point rubbing against his opening, he was shocked to feel it was pulled out of him. When he opened his eyes to see what happened, he saw Valencia licking it clean to plug it back in her own plump lips. Somehow she'd taken all her clothes except her hat off in less than a minute, and he could see her thick bulbous lips drooling in arousal.
This took him by surprise, since he didn't understand why she'd be so cruel to him and get off by it, but he soon realized that she wasn't as mean as she seemed. When he glanced back up to her face, he saw her smiling with a sort of maniacal grin, like she didn't know if she was crazy or happy. This scared him even more, and he found himself pecking at her soft wing membrane in protest. "Let me go!" He demanded.
"Why would I want something like that? This is too much fun!" She leaned in close and wedged him in between handles on the ship's wheel so that she could keep control of the vessel while she toyed with him. As he lay there, still unable to wiggle out, she leaned in close and started biting at his cloaca, kissing it passionately while her tongue darted in and out of him.
Again, he found himself in an odd situation where he was actually enjoying her abuse of him. He wasn't happy about it and didn't want to admit or show any signs of pleasure, but her tongue was doing quite a good job at pleasing him and he wasn't in pain or anything so he had a hard time complaining or arguing. That was, until he felt her sharp teeth bite into him, which coaxed a surprised squawk out of him. "H-hey!"
"Sorry." She apologized. "Sometimes my hunger gets a little carried away." Again, she gave him a peck on the cloaca and pulled him out of the wedged position between the wheel handles. Right when he thought she was about to leave him be and let him go due to her sudden change of attitude, she plopped him down on the handle itself, forcing it to penetrate him right up to the wheel part of the wood.
He grunted and squinted one eye as he felt the smooth, rounded wood slip into him with ease, parting his lips and bulging out in his belly. It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable since the handle wasn't nearly as thick or as blunt as the plug, but it still emasculated him as he felt like he was once again being abused in the wrong ways. As he wiggled and struggled, he felt his walls clenching around it, which in turn intensified the feelings of it sloshing and rubbing about. He tried to get a foothold on the wood to push off, but her hands were still on him, holding him in place.
This time, when he opened his eyes, he saw she was actually off to the side of the wheel, rubbing her own pussy up against another handle as she used her lady parts to steer. Honestly, it would have been quite hot if not for the fact that it was so surreal and a little outlandish. Pluvian couldn't piece together if she was actually angry, in that time of her cycle when all logic went overboard, or if she was just messing with him. Either way, he was in fear and confusion as he kicked and struggled against her.
Slowly, she started bobbing him up and down, as if she was using him as a toy on the handle, or that she was deliberately trying to make him orgasm from the sensations. No matter how much he tried, he had a hard time denying that it felt good, even if the situation was absurd to him. As she thrust his body up and down the handle, she was also using him to rock the rudder back and forth, which in turn made the wheel turn into her and out of her; she was using the wheel as a dildo!
"V-Val, what are you-"
"Shhhhh!" She hushed him, putting a finger to his beak. "Let me enjoy this."
Still, he had absolutely no idea what to say, what to do, or how he should react. His feet grasped at the wood, ineffectually clawing at it to try to get some leverage, but she was too aggressively slamming him down on the handle for him to do anything to stop her. Then, after she gave three quick thrusts of him down on the wheel, she randomly let him go to finger herself!
Valencia slid her single un-tethered finger into her pussy next to the wheel handle, rubbing herself as she squeaked and chirped in delight. Her maw was open in a smile but her eyes were closed, so she couldn't see Pluvian at all.
Nervous, he kept an eye on her. He had no idea if she was just done with him or if she was forgetting due to her own sensual distractions. Of course his first reaction was to push off the handle and fly away, but if he tried that and she caught him, he'd be punished more! Still, he had to risk it. Just as he went to push off the wood, he felt the smooth wood slide out of him in an oddly pleasant lurch, which actually made him tingle a bit.
At that point he didn't know if it was nervousness or desire, but as he watched her rub herself on the wheel, he slowly pushed himself back down onto it, relishing its girth and texture. The only thing that kept him from enjoying this brief moment was a worry about splinters, but given the polish on the handle mixed with fact that it was gently tapered and bulged, he wasn't worried. It wasn't ragged, he would be fine.
Again, he bobbed up and down of his own volition, eager to get that pleasant fulfilling sensation in wake of her abuse of him. He was trying to tell himself he was only doing it because he didn't want to risk her catching him to punish him more, but when he was in control of it himself it wasn't so bad; in fact, he quite liked it!
When he let out a gentle chirp of pleasure, Valencia's eyes shot open and she stared at him for a moment, her body still undulating against the alternating rotations of the wheel. She reached out for him, but rather than grab him and hold him down, she pulled him off the handle with a juicy pop before letting him back down on the wheel between handles.
Confused, he hop-turned to look at her, tail up to air out his cloaca. "W-what are you doing?"
She grinned and pulled herself off the side of the wheel, returning to her feet so she could walk around to the proper place at the helm. When she did that, Pluvian could see that the plug was still in her rump, not her pussy like before. She licked her lips, then gave a quick suckle to the handle that Pluvian was plugged by. After smacking it with a kiss, she shrugged her shoulders. "What do you mean? Shouldn't you be up in the nest navigating us away from this treacherous location?"
Pluvian blinked and cocked his head to the side, eyes wide in a combination of confusion and a bit of anger. "What do you mean what do I mean? Weren't you just punishing me for-"
"I was, yes. I'm done now. Have you learned your lesson?"
He shrugged his wing-shoulders. "I g-guess?"
"Then let us not speak of this again. It's in the past. Now, can you go below deck to get Krendius? I'm in a knotty mood thanks you you, and I need someone to take care of that." She brushed him away off the wheel and took command of the ship, completely dismissing him.
This was beyond normal confusing to Pluvian at this point. Absolutely nothing Valencia had done made any sense to him, but she was captain and he was off the hook for the misfortune earlier in the day, so he happily spread his wings to fly below deck, where he made it to Krendius' cabin. He could hear he was already up to something lewd by the rhythmic huffing and yipping he was making, but that didn't stop Pluvian from tapping his beak on the door.
"Hey, Kren. Captain Val says she needs you on deck. Now." That was all he said before he fluttered off, eager to get out of that situation and back to his nest. He had absolutely no desire to be around for any of this. Right before he left, he did see the orange fox's head poke out from the door, but he trusted that he didn't need a follow-up.
Pluvian flapped his wings as hard as he could, catching every updraft from the waves and mist of the ocean to aid his ascent. Soon, he was back atop the mast, and ready to land. Just as he fluttered down, the ship hit a wave and rocked to the side, but as soon as it calmed itself he was back to landing on the railing.
Once there, he glanced back down to deck, and managed to see through the billowing sails Krendius walking meekly towards the helm. When he saw Valencia was naked, he stood up straight, both in spine and in cock. She curled a finger to urge him forward while arching her back and lifting her tail, and he eagerly sidled up behind her to mount the smaller captain.
The show let Pluvian return to his pleasures, once again clawing at his own cloaca to enjoy himself on his own terms.
At least for now, he wouldn't have to lash out against the captain. He had no interest in enacting revenge, since she wasn't as harsh as she could have been. Such was life on the Storm of the Rift.