Exploration|Contrasta

[Kender Bard]

Lya stood near the prow of the ship, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun on the water. She was grateful that at least today there were no storms; her stomach was fluttery enough as it is. Even a crew of mostly Water types couldn't keep the vast ocean calm.

"I'm so tired of looking at water," she sighed softly to herself. "Suddenly the Great River seems more like a puddle in comparison to this." She leans against the railings and wonders, not for the first time, if the foreign priests aboard the ship, still as captives, haven't sent them all to their deaths at the ends of the world.

[Northen Light36]

Damien has spent most of his time below deck, a slightly green tinge to his face every time he's seen - much to Shadow's mocking delight. Ann and Flash seem to be enjoying the trip though, with Ann cheerfully poking her nose into every thing on the ship and Flash just enjoying being surounded by his element and often joining the other waters for a swim when the ship is ancored for the night. Now though, he walks up quietly behind Lya.

"Copper for your thoughts Lya?"

[Kender Bard]

"I'm just nervous," she confides in Flash. "All this water; even when traversing the River, you can usually see the land in the distance. Do you think that Max and his men would be willing to put themselves at risk, just to see us all get lost forever out here?"

[Northen Light36]

"No," Flash replies easily. "They strike me as too self concerned for that. Don't worry Lya, everything's going to be fine." He gives her his usual heart-melting smile to reassure her. "Just relax and enjoy the trip. You're tenser then Damien is." As he speaks, Flash playfully leans dangerously far over the ship's guard rail, peering down into the waves.

[Kender Bard]

"Flash," Lya whimpers and leans over to put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't do things like that. You'll scare the wits out of me. I just-"

"LAND HO!"

Lya starts at the voice from the crow's nest. She gapes disbelieving as the man repeats his proclamation. "Can it be?" Stretching her wings she takes to the air, high as the crow's nest and higher still. In a heartbeat later, she lands, looking elated. "It's true! Land is in sight!"

[Northen Light36]

"See? Told you everything would be fine," Flash laughs, but he does step away from the railing to reassure Lya. Seconds later he has to catch Ann as the little girl comes racing up the slippery deck and nearly skids straight off the side. "Careful there, kid," he laughs.

"Are we really there?" Ann asks excitedly. "Really?"

[Kender Bard]

"Yes," Lya sighs, relieved. "I'll go tell your Uncle!" Hurrying, she went below deck, calling out, "Damien! Damien, there's land!"

[Northen Light36]

"About damn time," growls Damien, looking up from the card game he and Shadow are playing in Damien's cabin. There's sill a decidedly green tone to the Fire's face and Shadow smirks.

"A little water getting to you Damien?" he teases. Damien's eyes narrow.

"Care to swim the rest of the way, Shadow?"

[Kender Bard]

Lya's in too good of a mood. She flings her arms around Damien in a hug, then approaches Shadow for the same; though a lurch in the ship sends her stumbling past him and into a pile of sacked potatoes.

She sighs, "I can't wait to get off this Forces damned ship!"

Before long, they've reached... not the docks, but close to it. The captain comes down, looking as nervous as a mouse before a council of cats. He takes his hat off and wrings it. "M'lords and m'lady, there's a bit of a problem. The, uh, wharfmasters of this land won't let us dock and for... admittedly good reasons. They're quite wary of us. We told 'em about the prisoners and they said that if we hand them over first, they'll let us land. Elsewise, they say, we have to swim the rest of the way."

[Northen Light36]

Damien and Shadow exchange looks, silently discussing something in the silent manner of old friends. "I don't see any reason not to hand them over," Damien annouces and Shadow nods his agreement.

[Kender Bard]

The captain looks acutely relieved as he hurries off to make the exchange. Some time later, the boat began moving again. Once they had docked, he came down and made the announcement.

Lya took a deep breath and smoothed her dress self consciously as she climbed back on the deck and made her way down the gangplank. Standing on the shore, she had to tread carefully so as not to stumble. Despite her lack of grace on a ship, she needed to find her land legs again. All around, the people went about their business. Some folks had stopped to gawk at their ship and at them, but a surprising amount of folks paid them no heed whatsoever.

[Northen Light36]

Damien carries Ann down careful and sets her down as Flash and Shadow follow. "My legs feel funny, Uncle Damien," the child complains, looking up at her uncle.

"It'll go away," Damien replies.

"Walk around a bit, carefully," Flash advises. "That'll help."

"Okay," chirps Ann, trying to stand on her tip toes to get a better look around her.

[Kender Bard]

Lya looks about, marveling. "I don't know why, but I guess I expected something... different. This doesn't look that much different from the ports of Ronduin."

A few people look at them funny and move on. The dockmaster walks up, a large brawny man, red in faced and looking perpetually out of breath.

"Welcome to Port Widor," he says by way of greeting, eyeing them carefully and suspiciously. He takes measure of Damien and smiles; obviously he likes what he sees there, and directs the rest of his talking exclusively to the man. "Your captain says you hale from a land across the sea. Is that true? We'd heard rumors of another land..." He shrugged. "What's it called, and what business do you have in Contrasta? We thank you for the prisoners, by the way. Are you bounty hunters? The King pays well for live captives."

[Northen Light36]

"Yep! We come from Naruta!" Ann replies excitedly. "King Shadow and Queen Lya live in Maelstorm and so does Flash. Uncle D-" Damien silences his niece with a hand over her mouth and a frown before he addresses the dockmaster.

"Excuse my niece, she's a touch over-excited. No, we are not bounty hunters. My companions and I are rulers of various places in our own land," he replies smoothly. As little patence as Damien has, he can be Shadow's equal in diplomacy when the mood strikes him. "What would it take to arrange a meeting with your King?"

[Kender Bard]

The dockmaster stares a moment, thinking he's gone in over his head. "Well I guess I should have figured nobody would send a fisherman to parlay with royalty, eh? Hm, well, the King isn't here. His kingdom is to the south of here, on the top of the Humpback Hills. Will you be wanting an escort? I'm not sure how you'll get a meeting with the King but it shouldn't be that hard. He holds open audiences every other day in his court."