"Well, never really made a full one of any of the lands I went through. Just, sort of learned the routes to use, or not use. And smaller maps, to act as memory aids. So, Crab, Forest, another Forest, Bat! And this one has that mine on it. Add it to the Bat pile, see if they show how to get there best..."

He has definitely lost the thread of the conversation in his findings.

Gusai puts the map into the requested pile, shaking his head.

Had crew like this, he thinks. Real good way to get pitched overboard.

After a few more beats, his voice raises up again. "You said you rarely get lost. Is that while on the land, the water, or both?"

"Both," Gusai replies. "Combination of knowing pretty much always which way is north and having a head for charts and such."

"Always knowing which way was North, yes, that would help. But, Charts only help if it's an area someone else has already been. Or at least, someone friendly."

"Or you make 'em as you go," Gusai replies. "Always a good thing to do, that. Or to draw 'ema s soon as you can after."

"That's the theory I followed, but... it led to this..." He waves his hands at the slowly being organized desks of scrolls, papers, ...was that a tree bark?

"How fortunate, then, that you found help!"

"And most grateful for it. Any luck with finding anything for the Spider again?"

Gusai rummages through more of the documents. That the Spider have coastline aids his search, and he finds several leaves with markings on them he recognizes. "Don't know your coding," he says, "but this coastline looks like Hisomu land to my eye."

Kyosei blushes slightly. "It's, uh, not a code. I'm just not a good writer at the best of times. Drawing and writing in a moving wagon isn't the best of times." He looks the leaves and papers over. "That looks like them, yes. Good. Now the tricky part - finding the Ki Rin and Scorpion maps that include the edge of their lands. The right edge, along the mountains."

"Big maps, then," Gusai replies, "given the lands between."

He looks through more papers. "Ah. There's the issue. You've got some of these oriented differently." Some shifting and rotation. "That seems to work better."

"Well, they weren't really all anchored down the same way, and then dumping them in here didn't do them any favors." He keeps picking up maps and rotating them, trying to figure them out.

"Mark 'em, then," Gusai suggests. "Lay 'em out with north in one direction, and mark each of 'em with the north. Should help."

"You might think so, but some of them, I wasn't sure which direction was north as I made them. This one - I think we were curving as we went, and I didn't realize it, if you compare it to this other one..." He shows the two maps side by side, and one definitely seems ... off.

"It's a slog, but, especially with your help, we should be able to get through it." He continues to sort the 'maps', making piles. Gradually, over time, the chaos is coordinated. It isn't pretty. It isn't easy. There's a lot of overlap, and some that don't seem to fit in anywhere. And several that are contradictory in design. But, gradually, the shape of the Empire, and some lands still outside it, are formed.

"Long as you don't trust that bit about moss on trees for north," Gusai says. "Wait. You did, didn't you?"

"Well, yes. It works that way around my home..."

Gusai sighs.

"Don't do that again. Moss'll grow on every side.

"No, on a clear night, you look for the seven stars of the heavens' dipper; on a clear day--or even a partly cloudy one--you track shadows and find the midpoint. If you have to."

Gusai points at a wall. "That way's north, though."