Editing Rising in the West/Toben (section)

===Post-Exaltation===

Now, you might be asking yourself: was the fact that Toben Shen exalted on the deck of a ship built by a Solar half a world away from it's home waters pure chance, or was it Fate? Well, although the reason you'd ask a question like that of yourself when you know nothing of Fate must remain a mystery, there happens to be a clear answer, revealed to Toben decades after the fact by an enigmatic traveler from Yu Shan: No, it was pure coincidence. The other Solars who joined the crew later on: now, that was Fate.<br>

In any case, those first few days aboard the galley were the happiest of Toben's life. That was in no small part thanks to the ship's Exalted owner and builder, a man called Driftwood who had probably risked his life for a stranger on the Nexus docks, and who Toben would grow to respect immensely. The respect even became a bit mutual when it turned out that the Lunar could take on the life of a sailor as easily as he had that of a hunter-gatherer or accountant. In time, and after a brief tutelage under an eccentric Silver Pact Lunar named Eight Monkey Attack, who gave him his caste marks and taught him the nature of his gift, Toben became a permanent member of the ship's crew, and something of a right-hand-man to their Solar leader.<br>

The first time he recognized Puukani was almost as great a shock as his exaltation. It wasn't love- he'd known that for a time back in the jungle. It was to love what bedrock is to a hill. It made him feel like the dream of a greater personality; made his deepest held motivations feel like someone's passing mood. Suddenly, he realized there was only one person he really knew, and he didn't even know her name.<br>