On thick Ice

It ain't like passing through a threshold. The fleet is the threshold, and reality changes around it. What can be confusing is the difference between the collection of ships, which need to be an unchanging constant, the water it displaces (and nevermind those dirigibles, because), and everything beyond the invisible snowglobe.
Ruby and Maggie concentrate on the canvas and then start to alter all that pesky reality beyond the sphere. First it's things like temperature and wind, and then air pressure, and then landmarks that appear to melt away into something closer and closer to the sketch. Broad strokes of the pattern paintbrush carve away the obvious and produce the most detectable effects for those on deck. Gravity and smells, ambient sounds and sudden swells to challenge the heading of the ships. Hawkish lookouts are alert for those that may start to stray, and messages are passed forth as is possible, with perilous delays if only mundane measures are used. The pattern-pushers have their attention solely on making where they are, into where they want to go. It takes time.
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