Closed Perhaps, Svefra are Sometimes Lost

[Vanari]

Summer, Day 13, 510 AV In her dream, she was back at home, sitting beside her mother's hearth. The fire was blazing merrily. She could see its flames fill the well kept living room with a warm glow, and by all rights she should have felt it, too. But. the newly turned eighteen year old couldn't. Because she was drowning. Vanari tried to scream for help, but when she did more water rushed into her lungs and left her coughing up what little air she had left. She couldn't see the water. Couldn't even feel it, save for the way it choked her throat and dragged down her limbs as though they were made of lead. The girl waved her arms, kicked her feet, made herself look an absolute loon. But no one saw her. Before her eyes, her mother, father, and sister sat at the table, calmly eating their hearty fare and discussing practical matters. Ari was now sitting with them, too, though her condition had only worsened. "I'm going to die," she thought in some distant region of her mind. "I'm going to die, and none of them are going to know why. Will they even care? Or would they just find another to replace me?" They were all laughing now. Was it something Sania had just said? Ari had missed it, what with all the water in her ears making everything sound like muted glomp, glomp, glomps. Her vision was starting to go black and her lungs burned. Perhaps it was time to give up... Vanari's eyes flew wide open and she gasped for air, surprised she could breathe at all. Where was she? Why wasn't she in her bed? And...Great Morwen, why was she naked? It wasn't until after another handful of chimes before the girl realized everything that had happened had been a dream. It took even longer for her to remember all the events leading up to said dream, and why she was in a bed that wasn't hers, wearing naught but her own skin under a musty blanket. Ari shifted slowly, her limbs cramped and sore from both her vigorous swim the day before and her bundled sleeping position, which she had somehow maintained for the entire night. She peered at the other half of the cramped sleeping quarters, but it was empty. Must have slept long, she thought to herself before propping herself up and looking for dry clothes. Fortunately, she had some spares in her bag, its contents strewn about the floor as though a toddler had come and rifled through it. They were still a bit damp having not entirely escaped her sudden dive into the Suvan Sea, but they were wearable. Once the Vantha was comfortably clothed, she wrapped the blanket around her once more and shuffled barefoot up to the main deck. Her stomach growled loudly. She hoped to find the captain soon. And breakfast, too.

[Finian Truewind]

Finian had meant to make his way back belowdecks to sleep, but he never made it. Syna's setting had brought a cloudless night sky and the young Svefra had spent much of the evening under the stars in the warm summer darkness, trying to discern his location and get his bearings. Had he been successful? He thought so. He was very confident they were totally not headed the way he'd hoped … but that was about as far as he'd gotten. Life on the Flotilla had always been too busy for him to pay attention to all of that navigation shyke, and it didn’t really help that maps often had too many words on them to make them comprehensible. It was a pity now, but he'd just have to figure it out on his own.

Eventually, his eyes had grown heavy and the rise and fall of the waves had lulled him to sleep. It wasn't the first time he'd slept on the worn, salty wood of his deck. It wouldn't be the last, either.

So, as Ari lifted the hatch from the cabin and made her way onto the gently swaying topside of the casinor, the blond shipwright was still sound asleep in the sunshine, ignorant to his sails luffing in the wind, one hand still on the tiller. There was a steady breeze, dancing through the rigging. The mainsail wasn’t set right however, so it flapped loudly instead of handsomely taut and full of air.

The wood of the deck creaked warmly underneath her bare feet, not quite as rough as it looked, possibly even recently waxed to protect the old boards from the brine of the Suvan that frequently washed over them. To someone not used to the deck of a ship, undulating in the sea, dangling with ropes and sailcloth, it may have looked all a little confusing, but the ship was long and wide enough to allow for a few safe pathways and comfortable places to walk about.

Once the Vantha stepped onto the deck and the hatch snapped shut, however, Ian startled awake, not used to someone else on his ship. He blinked and inhaled sharply, realizing that he’d fallen asleep in an uncomfortable spot.

A few mumbled words in Fratava came first before he managed some Common, rubbing sleep from his lagoon blue eyes with the calloused heels of his hands, “G’mornin’.” It was more of a groan, really, “Watch’er head there … th’boom.”

An inked arm pointed in the general direction of the mainsail in an attempt to protect the woman from the part of his ship that swung most freely, even as he sat up and began to take stock of the direction of the wind and how much of it was in his sails,

“Didja sleep a’right? I bet’cha you’re hungry … Lemme jus’ get us back on course here an’ then we can figger out what I got t’eat.”

He trailed off for a moment to allow Ari an opportunity to make her way toward the stern of the ship where he was at the tiller, even as his hands began to move on their own to adjust the lines that held the sails and snap them full of the warm, salty summer breeze.

[Vanari]

Warm... Ari basked beneath Syna's morning rays for a moment, relishing the feel of smooth wood beneath her bare feet. She wiggled her toes a bit and breathed in as a salty breeze blew by. Thank Morwen the waves were in a more temperate mood today. The Vantha wasn't quite sure if she could handle another round of heaving hard earned food over the railings and stumbling around with jelly for legs. "Morning," she answered in turn as the groggy eyed captain roused from his uncomfortable slumber. Vanari felt a bit guilty and hoped he had gotten some sleep on his half-occupied cot. Sometime in the night, she may have felt the bed shift, but there was no way to be certain; she'd been too dead in slumber to remember. In fact, the exhausted Vantha might have mistaken any movement as those of her sister in the midst of dreaming. The girl shuddered at the memories of her nightmare and shoved them aside as best she could. It was too fine a morning to dwell on such things. At a grumbled warning of something called the "boom," Ari looked in the direction Ian had pointed and took note of a long pole beneath the main sail. She'd heard the term a few times aboard her previous ship--which she chose to spare only a momentary shred of fury over--but never quite understood what it was until now. "I will," the Vantha responded in earnest. The last thing she wanted was to get knocked out into the sea a second time. Vanari followed the Svefra slowly, answering his questions along the way and taking extra care not to smack her forehead or catch her foot in any equipment. She wasn't the most graceful of people on solid ground, let alone gently swaying planks. "I slept like a babe," Ari called out, painfully aware of the thickness of her accent. Though, it was less embarrassing in the company of the equally intermediate Svefra. "And I am hungry enough t--" Her voice trailed off, however, as she caught sight of a glimmer and splash in the water. The Vantha rushed to the edge and looked out, suddenly forgetful of both her lack of sea legs and growling stomach. Moments later, she was rewarded by the incredible sight of a large, laughing fish leaping out of the water before plummeting back in. "Great Morwen!" she gasped aloud. Ari turned to look at Ian in bewilderment, having never seen the likes of such a creature before. "What was that?" Her eyes, now a shade of bright coral in her exuberance, scanned the glittering water with hungry concentration. Where did it go? Would it come out for a second glance, or was the first rare enough? She tried to will it to make another appearance, so stunned was she by its alien features and utterly mirthful sounds. In that moment, Vanari vowed to no one in particular that she would stand here and wait until the strange creature emerged once more. And when it did, she would commit its image to memory, then run straight for her tools to begin carving it before the details faded. Yes, this was a worthy goal, she decided. An achievement worth more than a few laudations back home. Just imagine their faces when the see the likes of this bizarre looking fish! She was relishing her moment of glory already. The girl maintained her vigilant watch for all of ten ticks before her stomach gurgled again and she curled forward in pained hunger. Ari turned to stare at the captain once more, this time with a look pitiful enough to shame her entire lineage. "So...did you...um...say something about food?"

[Finian Truewind]

Ian laughed at Vanari’s surprise, shaking his baubled locks in amusement. The blond Svefra took many of the creatures of the sea for granted in a way the Vantha most likely took bears for granted. Well, maybe not entirely like that, but still. He watched her grip the portside railing, all but dangling herself overboard to catch another glimpse of the large, leaping things and their strange noises.

He opened his mouth to answer her request for a name, but only Fratava came tumbling from his lips. It took him quite some time to come up with what to call them in the Common tongue they somehow managed to patch together to communicate with, and he wasn’t even sure he could say the word correctly regardless. Freckled shoulders rolled in a shrug, glancing once again toward where she leaned, ”Them be dolphins.” He finally offered, though he was unable to give her a more specific name, ”Maybe y’can call’t a laughin’ fish … but they ain’t fish.”

Not that he could explain what they were instead, but the creatures breathed air just like he did.

With a wink, the blond added with a taunting sort of tone bubbling up in his deep tenor voice, ”Wanna see s’more?”

Without waiting for an answer, Finian let his lagoon blue eyes shift their focus from the Vantha and toward the surface of the Suvan. He moved his body as if he was shifting the direction of The Handmad'n to bring them around for a better view of the dolphins, although, in fact, he was mostly staying their course while he allowed his god-touched connection with the Suvan come into play instead. For a moment, his pale lashes flickered as he focused elsewhere, reaching out through his Oceanus to the dolphins that were frolicking in the wake of his casinor. He only needed to reach one of their minds, which were so ebullient and playful that Ian found it at first difficult to even differentiate one from the next. He couldn’t help but smile at their unfiltered enjoyment in Laviku; it was refreshing but thankfully didn’t threaten to overwhelm his thoughts. The Svefra tightened his grip on the tiller while he concentrated, carefully convincing the creatures to allow themselves to be seen off the portside railing. Not that there were any words needed; just a gentle invitation. The dolphins were more than happy to show off their sleek bodies and smooth grey skin, to reveal to someone who was not a child of Laviku just how wonderful and full of prowess he had designed them.

Had Vanari been watching him instead of the creatures that soon began to leap and splash, she would have caught a glimpse of his gnosis mark churning across his inked skin as the Svefra’s mind brushed with thoughts totally unlike his own, waves washing over tanned skin. However, the dolphins put on quite a show for the two, always just out of reach from the rails of the casinor. Leaping, teasing, laughing, splashing, and singing. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared again, back into the depths of the Suvan, leaving the Vantha and the Svefra to themselves once again.

Ian sighed wistfully once they were gone, their thoughts lingering just within the range of his gnosis blessing, teasing until they faded completely, a quiet prayer of thankfulness to Laviku himself for their generous cooperation with his wishes.

”Sure y’won’t be forgettin’ ‘em now!” The itinerant shipwright finally broke their quiet, speaking above the sound of his sails in the wind. He finally reached to adjust their course, one hand firm again on his tiller while the other reached to grip one of the lines that held his jib sail in place.

And then reality filtered back between them with the growling of the woman’s stomach, though if Ian heard it, his expression didn’t falter. When she asked about breakfast, the freckled blond was reminded that he, too, was more than just a little hungry. Setting the tiller to keep it in place, he made to stand, ”Food? Aye. I’ve got somethin’ around belowdecks. I did some good tradin’ earlier in spring, so let’s go see what goodies I got left o’that.”

He ran wood worn hands through baubled platinum locks, tossing them from his face before making his way, barefoot across his deck, waving a hand to invite Vanari to stay where she was while he went back into his cabin to fetch a meal. Once back into his modest living and workspace, Finian searched his meager kitchen for whatever delectable foodstuffs he could find. He managed to produce a few wrapped packages of dried fish, some dried fruits formed into round cakes, biscuits that were perhaps hard enough to be called crackers, and a half bottle of rum. The itinerant shipwright somehow managed to bring all of this stuff back up and out into the salty sunshine of his deck again, offering his edible bounty to Vanari first while he began to settle into a comfortable spot under his sails,

”’Ere we are, lass. There's plenty, I'd say. 'Elp y'self.”

[Vanari]

Dollfins. Her mind would have flown away on yet another vivid daydream, had her stomach not been competing for attention for the past bell or so. But then Ian taunted the Vantha with an irresistible offer and curiosity won out yet again. For a time, anyway. "Yes!" she replied breathlessly. Ari watched in open wonderment as the shipwright steered them closer toward the bewitching creatures. At least, that was what she assumed he was doing. But the nearer they drew, the less she believed it had to do with the ship itself. Perhaps it was just an instinctive suspicion. Or perhaps it had to do with the inked waves on Ian's skin roiling in ways muscles alone could never induce. For a moment, the young Vantha forgot about magical, laughing fish. Watching Ian focus on something far away--far, far beyond her understanding--had a magic of its own. Despite the foreignness of his style and speech, Ari found a quiet sort of beauty in the way the Svefra was now poised before the ship's wheel. His hair, entwined with various trinkets, glowed pale blonde beneath Syna's strengthening rays like a platinum halo. Every now and then a salty breeze would blow by and a piece of sea glass gleamed, making it seem as though sparks of light glimmered about his tranquil features. That and the shipwright was just so vastly different to behold. All her life, Vanari had been surrounded by the same faces and multi-colored glosses of hair. Even the ever-shifting hues of her people's eyes had grown tiresome in their eventual predictability. Observing him now, however, which she hadn't had the real luxury of doing the day before, was as stark a contrast to looking at another Vantha as the sea was to snow. Where he was fair, she was dark, and while he strolled about the ship with a gait so natural he seemed to know the casinor's very own heart, she stumbled about clumsily like a newborn calf. Even in darkness of skin they differed. All of her kin had virtually the same, even, nutty complexion, and though the Svefra was also of the tanned variety he was swarthier, with smatterings of freckles and a more salt-weathered look resulting from years spent under Syna's searing warmth. That, and he possessed a build better adapted to life on the high seas. Broad shoulders, lean muscles, a carefree smile to go with it all, and other pleasing traits of that nature. Ari sighed contentedly with an artist's deepest, most genuine, less than altruistic appreciation. It was all just so nice to look at. Whether the experience would turn into a worthy piece later was of little consequence; she hoarded it to herself like it was a pile of her mother's legendary meat pies and she the last Vantha to know of them. Before her thoughts could yet again return to food, sounds of splashing water and other worldly laughter invaded her ears once more. Ari was leaning over the rails again in less than a tick, eyes glittering with anticipation as she scanned the churning water. Not a breath later she was rewarded with the shimmering backside of another dollfin diving back into the water with effortless grace. Morwen, how they played! Joyously, without a care in the world, and all the while laughing in that strange, chirping fashion of theirs. Vanari swore she even heard them singing at some point, an alien choir of mish mashed voices all bubbling amongst one another. Their whimsical antics were contagious in spirit and soon the girl found herself grinning ear to ear, even laughing out loud at times when one did a flip or splashed at one of its playmates. Then as quick as they appeared, they were gone again. Ari was crushed to see them go. It was like they took a piece of her with them as they dove back into the watery depths from whence they came. But, the Vantha supposed, this was only fair, since she too now harbored a bright sliver of their memory. A good trade. And an inevitable end to a good thing, as all good things must face. When Ian returned, arms laden with food, the girl's vision swam with overwhelming gratitude. He'd barely proffered the invitation to feast before she began gobbling up whatever she could reach first. Ari had plenty of dried fish before, since all those of Coolwater hold were either fishers or whalers if they weren't sailors, and devoured them with gusto. The biscuits were hard enough to give her teeth a workout but they tasted like the best biscuits in all of Mizahar right then. She tried some of the fruit like cake stuff too, turning a piece of it about in her hands in curiosity before downing it with no regrets. It was odd and delicious. The girl wanted to thank her host for his generosity but found her mouth too stuffed. In attempt to remedy that, she took a big swig of the rum, thinking it was water. And then she violently choked on the unexpected bitterness and burn. "Thank-hack-you for the-hack-food-hack," Ari managed eventually, eyes watering and posture bent as her lungs wracked up one cough after another. Once the fit had more or less run its course, she hazarded another question. One that had come up only recently in her mind, but grew in importance as Ari began to realize she hadn't the slightest idea where she geogrpahically was, other than in the middle of the seemingly endless sea. "So...where it is you plan to go?" the girl asked, accent thick as fermented, fish-jelly marmalade.