On Board

A day after Guts and Zodd wrested their win from Ganishka, Roderick's vessel the Seahorse has been under sail for some time. It carries Guts, Casca, Serpico, Farnese, Isidro, Schierke, Puck, Ivalera, Roderick, Magnifico, a helmeted knight, and the full crew. Much of the ship amuses itself watching Isidro spar with the knight, who keeps his helm on to conceal who he is. The boy's speed and cunning give him the edge, until he tumbles groin-first onto the knight's cleaning tool and hands over the match.

The knight scolds Isidro for dodging a straight fight. Puck offers an apology, but the elf's very presence unsettles the man, who moves to retreat below and is instead reminded of his deck-scrubbing duty. He obeys while grumbling about being dragged aboard against his wishes. When Serpico passes and greets him as Azan, the knight denies the name, though his private thoughts confirm it: he is indeed Azan, masking his face out of shame at his expulsion from the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Roderick and his navigator talk over their situation, both unnerved by this new reality of elves, apostles, and possessed beasts, yet Roderick insists that people from this very world, Guts and his companions, saved his life, and so they will be honored, the women of the party above all.

Below deck, Schierke continues Farnese's magical instruction while Serpico stands watch. The two rub a balm over Farnese's bare skin, then Farnese lies on the bed and Schierke settles on the floor, Ivalera watching over their bodies as they sink into meditation and cross into the Astral realm. Farnese's awareness reaches the lightless expanse without any body, but Schierke's guiding voice helps her shape one. A far-off spark grows until she finds herself back in the cabin, staring down at her own motionless body. Panic gives way as Schierke appears and praises her: she has formed a luminous body, the shape one wears in the Astral world, and is becoming a genuine practitioner. Confiding in each other, Farnese admits she has felt purposeless beside the others, and Schierke shares how her old distrust of humans softened through their journey. Schierke then draws her outside, and sylphs lift the pair aloft in their luminous forms to glide over the ship, where Farnese can see Guts on deck far below, watching Casca marvel at the sea, unable to see the two witches overhead.

The Seahorse sails onward the day after Ganishka's defeat, carrying Guts' party and Roderick's crew. Isidro spars with a helmeted knight who is secretly Azan, hiding his face after being cast out of the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Roderick vows to honor Guts' group for saving his life. Schierke guides Farnese into the Astral world, where Farnese successfully forms her own luminous body. The two witches confide their insecurities in each other and then fly above the ship together in their luminous forms.

This twenty-three-page chapter of the Millennium Falcon Arc ran in Young Animal issue thirteen on June 22, 2007. Flora appears briefly in flashback. The installment marks a milestone in Farnese's development as a magic user and deepens her bond with Schierke.