Where do Prayers Go? [Flashback]

by **Trios** on August 24th, 2011, 12:58 am

5th of Spring, 473 A.V.
Location: Eastern Ocean of Mizahar

“Bitlte gibb mira deine poer , Kasag zu ben jed Tag in sto proff’Leiden schaft be’re proffion begits Zweck..” A small and pale blue child sat with his eyes closed and head bowed in a chant that his mother had taught him do so every every-night. Some of the words were beyond the boy’s recognition, but he had been lessoned to know the pronunciation of every word and to speak them flawlessly. The only thing the boy knew was that this phrase was somehow thanking someone for something that he apparently had or was going to have. It made no sense to him but if his mother had made him do this every night it had to be important.

The Isur language was cold and stone like as the race it self. And as the young Trios spoke the words into the starry sky above the sounds of the ocean and wind almost lulling the sailors off duty to sleep. Opening a bright emerald eye to see if this was the day that something would happen or let him know what the words really meant. After all he had said these words for as long as he could remember who ever he had been talking to must have heard him by now. After a few moments with nothing out of the ordinary happening, the young boy got to his feat he quickly ran to a nearby pile of crates to get a good look out into the endless abyss of water to see if something had occurred. To Trios’s dismay nothing had changed, endless ocean below and endless sky above.

“Carefull on them crates boy they’re worth more than your life at the moment!” Yelled a rather weathered looking human with slight amusement as he dumped a large pot slimly liquid over the edge. Trios had only known the old man as the person whom everyday provided him a small bowl or plate of food. Trios had taken to calling him the only thing that he could think of which was the Isur word for food, “Goden”.

“Bah I just horse-shiting ya kid, hahahah” Laughed Goden seeing the Isur now frozen in fear. The old man’s wrinkled face turning into a one that was holding back more laughter at the child’s expense.“It’s just carrots and potatoes in them crates….you know food…might make some stew for the next meal….Oooh that sounds good” Goden somehow knowing that the kid had a hard time with the common language pulled out a few of the vegetables to show that there was no harm to be using the crates as a stool to look over the edge.

With a sigh of relief, Trios sat down back on the crates to look at the stars just in case that someone had heard his words. It would be a shame if something he was supposed to witness was missed due to his own ignorance. Goden seeing that the blue child had relaxed set the empty pot down before taking out a brown smoking pie from his pocket.

“I didn’t know Isur’s prayed to the stars, I always thought it was to that strength god….ahhh can’t for the life of me remember his name….Izen….Ozen…Denzin? Bah doesn’t matter not like he knows my name why should I know his Ahahaha” Goden took a long inhale of his smoke before exhaling in bliss. Within the entire sentence Trios had only picked up a few of the words two of them being stars and god. So being a child the only logical explination to what the man was talking about was that Goden thought Trios had pictured the stars as a god somehow.

“Stars god….no…stars stars….not god” Laughed the Isur thinking the human misunderstood that his one phrase was a tribute to the starts. But the thought never occurred to him, maybe he had been talking to the stars every night. Though nothing ever happened, the stars just sat idly above him not giving him the slightest confirmation or recognition to the words. After a brief moment deep in thought Trios had come to conclusion that the stars were just stars, whoever the phrase was for it wasn’t them.

by **Trios** on August 29th, 2011, 8:34 pm

“Aye lad the stars are not gods but they are something far more useful….Here I’ll show you something more useful than scrub’in decks or clean'in out the cabins” Goden rambled on as old men usually did when the liked to hear their voice more than to have a conversation. Trios just gave a weak smile as he really didn’t know what was going on but didn’t want to seem disrespectful, was Goden going to show him something? The wrinkled and grey haired man did enjoy talking the ears off the other workers whenever he could.

Hitting the small Isur on the shoulder Goden directed a weathered hand to the horizon using the tip of his pipe as a pointer, small wisps of smoke still drifting from the bell into the sky. “The Herald! Can’t you see his shape! The hands spread wide along the horizon to usher us into the New Year” said Goden moving his pipe along the outline of the constellation. To the young Trios however all the man was just using to stars to draw a picture along the horizon.

Watching the youth trace the stars with his eyes the man withdrew his pipe to take a long inhale of the burning leaves within. “The Herald…..New Year…..Spring….” Goden said slowly at first so that Trios could get the idea. It was a simple sailor’s trick to know when the New Year had begun. The stars along the arms of the “Herald” would align with the horizon for the first week of spring. It was hard to see the shape at first glance with the millions of stars in the sky but with a bit of imagination it did look like the shape of a person holding their arms out.

“The Herald, there….. New Year means Spring one?” Trios stuttered looking back to Goden for confirmation. A simple nod was all that Trios got from the old man as Goden took another long breath of smoke before emptying the embers of his pipe off the side of the boat. The young boy seeing the slight confirmation cast a long glance at the countless bright orbs in the sky a feeling of being small in a very large world slowly overtaking him.

“I don’t know about you or if you can understand this man’s rant, but I’ve been looking to the stars for as long as I can remember. I’m not a religious person, I’d rather trust something that I can see every night truth be told. And the stars they guide us, tell stories or simply provide light on the darkest of nights. A cook like me couldn’t ask for more.” Goden casually picked up his empty cooking pot before giving the child a leasireuly wave. “You best get some sleep kid, long and hard work ahead of us…” Yawned the man clear that he was going to catch as much sleep as he could before the start of the next day.

When work was hard over long periods of time, men learnt to relax and sleep as efficiently as possible. Trios on the other hand had his youth to draw upon when he found that he couldn’t sleep on nights like these. Goden’s words were a bit hard to understand as once again the language barrier kept the small Isur from understanding the entire rant. But it did feel nice to have someone simply have a lengthy conversation with someone. It made being trapped working for this ship a bit less lonely for one such as Trios.

Laying back down on the crates of vegetables the young boy tried to decipher what the old human had said and showed him. Were the stars above such an important thing? Goden said they were some sort of storytelling sign post if the ears had heard right. Maybe the stars were not the receivers of his words every night went but maybe that’s where they traveled. Those words must drift higher than the sea, sky and into the starry abyss above.

by **Trios** on September 21st, 2011, 3:41 am

1 year later...

“So there are many lands out there?” A rather intrigued Trios asked as he sat by lamplight within the forecastle of the ship. In between his legs sat a large bucket of water while in his rock like hands rested a brown cloth to which he had been cleaning dirty dishware that was stacked beside him. A old man walked casually carefully storing and sorting the unused rations with as much care as any artist would take when working on a masterpiece.

In the last few seasons that the young Isur had picked up the common tongue in almost record speed after finding a crewmen willing to have more of a conversation that wasn't just simple commands. The old man didn't mind the conversation either having found an willing audience to listen to his ramblings from time to time.

“Well the world is quite big you see, it can take over a year to sail form the frozen northern lands of Taldera to the burning sands of Eyktol. A man could live his entire life simply walking the lands of Mizhar and never see the same path twice...hurry up with them dishes kid, we need to secure them before I can close up shop as it were ahahaha” Laughed Godan who Trios had till only a season ago found out that the cooks real name but simply chose to keep calling him by the nickname. After all, it was a tradition now and it just seemed like more of an insult to go back on it. Turning his back to the small Isur Godan began o inspect a few crates filled to the brim with potatoes and onions as he listened to the child's questions.

“So where we sailing now, no one tells me anything good” Sighed the Isur as he began to scrub the dished with a bit more speed, and almost cracking the wooden bowls with his hardening midnight black left hand. Each passing seasons Trios had noticed that his left arm was almost becoming indestructible, there had been one time when he had slammed a hammer on his left hand from missing a nail, but instead of intense pain the only thing that was felt was similar to a slight punch resulting in a small bruise of the skin.

“Your in luck lad, were sailing down to Eyktol as we speak, TO YAHEBAH'S TEQUILLA!! As the men would say....you know were at Sunberth a few days ago, say Syliras is here we simply follow the coastall the way down till we sail up towards the suvan sea. Yahebah's here, you'll know when were getting close, the summer heat in Yahebah will melt the blue right off ya.” Godan said as he turned to face the boy before drawing an imaginary map with his index finger to illustrate his words. “We could stop at Riverfall, here.....that’s only if the winds are good to us and the captain feels like trading with the stubborn blue warriors that live there”

Memorizing Godan's words that they were following down the coast of the Suvan, it wouldn't help much in terms of knowing where exactly he was but it still felt good to have a general direction towards their destination. It would be a wonderful feeling to know where one was going, thought the Isur. Or to simply be in-charge of where one was headed, but constant work from the crew and Godan's stories seemed to fill the time and for that the boy was conent.

by **Trios** on September 22nd, 2011, 3:52 am

Finishing up the last pile of dishes Trios casually tossed the dirty rag into the large bucket of water. It was a good feeling to finish a task, hopefully no one would complain about a dirty bowl .Thoughts of someone complaining about a sloppy job plagued the small Isur as he casually and with utmost delicacy brought the dishes to a secure container against the hull of the ship.

“Good, Just dump that grey water off the edge of the boat and that's all the task I got for today...you might get a full nights rest........ just don't spill the damn bucket kid!” Goden said waving the boy off onto his last task of the night. Cabin boys were usually kept busy from dawn until the late hours of the night for the simple reason that they had youth to pull energy from and the fact that they were the bottom of the pecking order.

The water bucket was rather large and heavy being almost filled to the brim with dirty liquid but in a sort of waddle Trios had somehow managed to slowly walk the container to the stairs. Going up the small staircase to the upper-deck was a different story however as the small blue child had to careful in small grunts of effort lift the bucket step by step. It strained the arms and back a bit but it was only a few steep steps before Trios had managed to emerge onto the moonlit deck of the ship.

A cold night breeze filled the sails pushing the ship lazily to it's destination and caused the cringes to chime against the ropes between them. There only were a quartet of sailors on deck, Trios could see that one was the lookout, the other the night helmsmen and two riggers to keep an eye on the sails. Trios had learned quickly that no matter what the bells where there was always someone keeping the ship on it's course as well as keeping an eye out for possible dangers.

There was a splash of water that slammed against the dark blue sea once Trios had managed to lift the large bucket onto the rail, and tipping it ever so slightly that the bucket wouldn't slip form his grasp. There would be hell to pay if equipment was lost due to his clumsiness. As the water flowed from the container the small boy cast an eye to the somewhat cloudy night sky catching patches of stars that shown downward. It felt good to have some sort of thing to decorate the night sky but from all the stories Goden had been telling him the stars were a sailors guide or storybook if one could recognize them.

A few of them Trios had even childishly claimed of his own. Lifting a free blue hand to the night sky the Isur aligned his hands with a certain constellation so that his fingers were each tipped with a spec of starlight. Trios had named them in a word that he had remembered from his native tongue. Bodkrom, which was a combination of the Isurian word for hand and heaven. To Trios it meant touching the heavens and it seemed a far better concept than praying that weird prayer every-night. This he could simply say he was reaching out to something rather than praying out to nothing.

by **Trios** on September 23rd, 2011, 3:25 am

“Oi Trios get your wimpy ass over here I’ve got another job for you!” Barked a man whom made Trios fumble the bucket in fear. Benny the shipwright or head carpenter to be more specific had a voice like thunder and cut the air faster than any blade. This was a voice that Trios learned early to both respect, adhere to and in a child sense admire at the power it held. From the sounds of the voice it was coming from the portside of the ship, and if history had taught the boy anything it usually meant he was in for more work and a lack of a good nights rest.

“Coming!” Stammered the emptying out the rest of the water from the bucket before breaking out into a mad sprit to the source of the command. The small wooden bucket made small thumps of noise against the wooden planks due to the small height of Trios as the boy madly sprinted across the deck of the ship. “Here…..what do….you need” Trios stammered trying to hide the fact that the quick sprint had gotten him winded. Benny was a hard and ruthless man. It seemed that he had no tolerance for weakness or laziness, so the small Isur tried to keep the man and his usually ridicules and insults to a minimum.

Benny was a wide as he was tall with arms the size of tree trunks and a gut the size of the ocean. The human had apparently been lugging a crate onto the upper decks alongside two lanterns which glowed dimly against the dark night. Trios took note that his boss for lack of a better word looked just as intimidating in the lamplight as apposed to being shadowed by the large hat that he usually wore. The young Isur also didn’t know if it was appearance, attitude or was it just in a man’s blood to make other people give out so much respect. To Trios, it seemed that having respect was worth more than any amount of gold, and maybe one day he’d take that type of thing for himself. Looking back at Benny it just made a childish sort of sense that a man isn’t worth being called a man if other people could easily walk all over you.

“I got to looking at the deck this morning and noticed that the cracks have been getting a bit too wide for my liking but I couldn’t do to much about till most of the men were asleep for the night. Me and you kid are going to take use the hemp out from this here crate of spare ropes and stuff each crack in the boards…..got it!” Benny rapped his fist against the wooden crate he had been carrying revealing bits and pieces of discarded rope. “And were not stopping till were done and if I hear any lip I’ll beat the blue of your skin…yes?”

Trios simply nodded his head not saying a word as he knew anything else would cause the man to follow through on his threat. Benny was a man of his word, if he said he’d hit you then you can bet he will there was no denying that fact. “I don’t need a lamp Benny my eyes can see just fine” Trios said looking at the lanterns the man had brought for their nightly workings. The comment only seemed to annoy the large human as he violently tossed a handful of rope into Trios who fumbled them in his hands.

by **Trios** on September 23rd, 2011, 8:56 pm

The work of filling the cracks wasn't as hard as Trios had anticipated. What the child didn't expect was that this job of pulling strands of hemp from the strands of rope, before stuffing them into the cracks of the deck boards was a very tedious job. Trios also found it astonishing that a man as tall as Benny could even take such care in noticing the cracks that had forming between some of the boards, it was like he could smell the weakness forming in the wood.

Running a pale blue hand against the wood Trios could see the few cracks he needed to fill fairly easily due to his odd ability to see in the dark as if it were day. It even so much as caused Trios to giggle slightly at watching Benny strain his eyes against the lantern light, but no so much as to arose attention from the lumbering hulk.

Stuffing a few more strands of hemp into a crack in the wood Trios cast a way word look at the night-sky. This job required as much brain power as it did to drown in a ocean, so the boy assumed he could let his mind drift a bit onto something that would make the time pass by a bit easier.

Goden's tales were the only source of entertainment within the boys head. Sure there were times when the crew would sing as they worked but on nights such as these men kept their voices low to allow others to get a decent amount of sleep.

Yawning widely, Trios continued his task thinking about some of the things Goden had told him. Was there people who rode giant eagles? Goden said they had hair as red as a flame and eyes that could put an arrow throw miza coin if they wanted. Also was there really people who were just beasts taking a human form? The cook made the world seem so big, it made the Isur feel like a blue drop of water in the ocean. There was just so much to see, so much going on that trying to think about such things made Trios's head ache.

It was a fair better notion to think that this ship was the boy's only world. From the rudder to bowsprit all that really did matter was this ship. It was his home no matter how much work had to be done the boy felt glad to have something in his life that made sense.

by **Trios** on September 25th, 2011, 5:30 am

Trios lost track of time as he and the the shipwright worked on the deck under the cloudy night. It was a very slow and tedious pace to fill all the major gaps along the deck boards with hemp. The pale blue child and the large shipwright seemed to work in complete silence the sound of the ocean with an accompaniment of a slight wind was the only thing that seemed to break the solitude.

After what felt like four bells Trios's eyes began to flicker shut before in a childish manner forcing them to open again. The young boy felt like his body was becoming sluggish and unresponsive, even handling the rope seemed to take more and more conscious effort to control and concentrate the movement of his fingers.

Fearing ridicule or worse Trios tried desperately to cling to his conciousness. Benny, thought the Isur would most likely consider this tiredness to be an insult to the working pace. It was critical to stay awake, he had to stay awake...Trios didn't think that having the blue knocked from his skin to be a good feeling.

But a warm and comforting darkness seemed to overtake the child's vision and awareness. It was like a wave that had been building up had finally enveloped the small boy. After that there was nothing, just a comforting and warm emptiness which seemed to float around the boy for what felt like eternal bliss. Slowly however the feeling began to fade as countless sounds seemed to break through accompanied by the feeling of a warm sun.

Trios's emerald eyes flickered open and it took a few moments to figure out where he was. It was just a few bells past daybreak and he was laying atop a pile of spare sails against the companion block near the stern just in front of the wheel of the ship. Sitting up abruptly to the sights and sounds of men at work Trios quickly wiped the sleep from his eyes before in a worried sense checked to see if the blue colouration of his skin remained. To a great relief he was still alive and blue and it didn't feel like he had been beaten senseless.

“Well its about time, I was gonna wake you with my boot if you slept for another bell... time to get to work lad....Benny told me that once you get your ass up from your beauty rest your to scrub the lower deck, clean the captains cabin and than assist with the repairs on the galley stove.” The Quartermaster barked from the wheel of the ship seeing that their cabin boy had stirred from his work educed coma.

“He also said that if the work wasn't done before dusk he was going to toss you overboard and find a new cabinboy....so I'd get to doing them tasks if I were you!”This remark caused the Quartermaster to laugh coldly as he turned his attention back to a duo of young men who were wasting time chatting along the starboard side. This remark caused the young Isur to quickly step to and in a panicked state almost sprint to his first chore of the day. The threat was worse than getting beaten, not knowing how to swim would mean certain death in the ocean. And today he was going to stay awake no matter how long it took or how much work was given.

These thoughts seemed to spin within the child's mind almost ignorant to the fact that someone had put his collapsed body in a quiet spot for the night. It was a result from the fact that hard working people only asked for flawless work and one-hundred percent effort, everything after that was to unheard of to ask of a person. Gods or kings couldn't fight against the fact that men who worked and bled their efforts together looked out for their own.

--END---

by **Archelon** on October 5th, 2011, 4:31 pm

Thread Award

"Arggh... my special sea dog turtles came and told me about ya'! The news was good enough for me ta' decide not ta sink ya' ship. Yarghhh!!!!!"

And the Results!!!!:

Trios :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :