27th Vhalar, Arc 716
It was hard to believe how much has happened ever since Saun. The uprising of the Brunan clan was as much a surprise as it was expected. The damages, however, were brutal. The city was on fire. Lives were lost and Ayissi dreaded every day that she was no out on the sea. It was during this time that she felt the most anxious. Hence, when a new job opportunity arose, she did not lose a trill and said yes. Perhaps, in hindisght it was the one mistake of carelessness she would need to address in the future, but anything was better than staying around. Even if it was around Vakhanor. The man was still very much a mystery unlike the one she knew six arcs ago.
This time she was contracted to navigate the ship out into the open for a trade off with another ship. It was an odd job. There was no logical reason why the exchange could not happen within the port. It sowed a seed of suspicion in her. Within the growing darkness of her sloop, Ayissi set on the simple bed, frowning. She saw the maps on her table, the notes and to her content the lack of smudges on the papers. During Saun, she has improved, became more efficient in her planning. She could read the nautical information with growing ease. Translating it onto situation was still a little bit of a struggle sometimes, especially when the nautical charts weren't exactly up to date.
However, no matter how well she thought she might have prepared for this job, the doubt inside her mind that nibbled away on her conviction, it just would not go away. Why meet outside the port? Oh, it's just a favour I was asked to do, said the captain when they met to talk about the details.
Ayissi was not naive, however. Once the doubt took proper hold, she took her time to ask around about the ship that was called Kraken and its crew. Whoever she asked, in whatever way, overt or covert, the answer was almost always the same - Kraken was a trading ship that was once attacked by Mer pirates and somehow managed to survive. Fair enough, that could happen to anyone. Still, the odd feeling sat heavy in the pit of her stomach.
Nevertheless, work was work. It paid the bills and the debt she had. She dropped her eyes to her notebook that she held in her lap. She was given information by the captain where the ships were meant to meet. The exchange was to happen six nautical miles from the northern shore of a small island just south of Rynmere. It was in the deep waters so a ship couldn’t anchor there too long for safety reasons. That required precision for the time of arrival. It was to be the fifteenth break of thirty first trial. They would need to deviate from the usual trading route just as they’d be about to turn towards Etzos. It was there that the currents weren’t so well mapped. There were missing entries on the map. Hence, Ayissi worked with partially correct information, or so she assumed. The annoyance with the lack of intel and the fact that she could not afford more up to date maps, it slowly drove her to the decision that she would do her own nautical maps.
28th Vhalar, Arc 716
The rising wind was tearing at her clothes as she stood on the top deck, her notebook safely deposited in her hands. As usual, she kept the important maps in captain's cabin rather than fighting with them out here.
"With this wind, we will be able to pick up the speed and arrive there sooner." Which was not really what this ship needed. The time and trial was decided. They needed to be there spot on in order not to miss the right ship, or not to approach the wrong one. The captain was quite adamant about that.
"We'll just keep full fore mast, half main mast and the spanker." Ayissi then said in her momentary calculations how to slow the ship down enough, but still keep going. It was rather strange to be trying to count down rather than up. This job would test her precision and versatility. She liked the challenge despite her discomfort.
With her decision, the captain shouted the orders as Ayissi jotted down the notes. The wind speed was erratic which she only hoped would stabilize once they'd get outside of the harbour. As a navigator part of her job was to include unberthing in her plans as well. However, as she found out during one of her jobs, she did not necessarily need to oversee it. It made her life easier. So as she stood on the deck, with feet firmly planted in the wood to withstand the gusts of wind and the subtle sways of the ship, she occasionally looked up to see the progress. Just in case...
31st Vhalar, Arc 716 ~ Morning
Come dawn, Ayissi was already on the deck, at the bow of the ship. She was using her spying glass to see along the horizon, searching for the outline of the designated island.
“Starboard four point turn!” She then shouted across the deck. There, in the distance, she could see it. With the ship turning away from the windward course it was following, Ayissi knew that they would slow down, however. Quick check with her notes showed, that according to the nautical map, they would hit a header. A backward current that would work against them. It should not be such a problem. They did get here a little sooner than she'd like.
“Let down the mizzen mast!” Ayissi ordered, taking a pause, doing the good old lick of a finger stuck in the air. Not that it helped much but it gave her enough idea on the wind direction. With all three masts at full sail, they should level the force against the backward current and experience only a minimal difference in speed. Nodding to herself, Ayissi jotted down a few more notes as she walked from the bow across the deck. Her focused, or maybe even concerned expression, caught the attention of the captain who has decided to follow her into his cabin where she kept the nautical maps.
“Everything fine, aye?” He asked as he entered after her.
“Aye, everything neaty good.” Ayissi lied, spreading out the more detailed map. Of course, it was missing the numbers!
“You’re a bad liar, ya know.” The captain pointed out after Ayissi let out a frustrated huff. Her pink-golden hues raised to look at the man in front of her.
“The map’s crap.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I am doing a guess work right now on how fast to get you to that meeting point.” Ayissi said honestly. There was no point in lying. No captain was dumb. They only hired navigators because they had many other things to take care of themselves to be navigating at the same time. The young woman knew as much. Thankfully, this man, even if of a shady nature, was understanding enough that he walked over to look at her notes and maps.
“Did ya--?”
“No. It’s from the marine library.” That coaxed a hearty laughter from the captain, causing Ayissi to frown. She wasn’t entirely sure whether to feel offended, embarrassed or indifferent.
“U’frek be damned, girl! These maps are old!” The captain exclaimed with the laughter resonating in his words. Without a permission he then grabbed Ayissi’s notepad, humming with approval before deciding to give Ayissi a crash course about marine cartography. It was easy to disregard a sailor of any kind and rank them as a drunken man. Yet, it was at these moments that everyone should witness, when an individual spark of brilliance shined through. It turned out that the captain was a seasoned cartographer, able to calculate, explain and deliver decisions with undoubtful precision. He pointed out in her notes the numbers and their connection, the application of the ship’s speed, the number of sails in use that he made a range of speed of the backward current they were facing.
“For now, this is your range.” He said, pointing at the number he wrote on the map. “You stick to it. But document the curve of the current, its varying speeds and then write it down in here.” Closing her notepad, he handed it back with a subtle smile on his lips while Ayissi had the expression of utter focus on her face. Her father never taught her about these things. She never expressed interest in them either. But finding out about the logic behind them and the fact that marine maps were much more important than land maps and hence had to be absolutely correct, she felt attracted to the idea of creating one of her own.
“Aye, I will.” Ayissi replied, looking up hoping to see the captain so she could thank him. She only saw the cabin door wide open and the loud voice of the captain shouting: “Belay!” Rouge filled her cheeks.
31st Vhalar, Arc 716 ~ Near fifteenth break
Throughout the morning, Ayissi was taking notes, correcting the speed, letting down sails, rolling them up. She would bet that the sailors were fed up with her by the time they were soon to arrive at the designated spot. There was so much information that she would need to imprint into the map.
“How much longer?” Speak of the devil, and the devil came up from behind her, his heavy boots thudding against the wood.
“Half a break and we can anchor.” Ayissi replied confidently.
At that moment, a sailor in the crow’s nest hollered down. There was a ship ahead. Taking the few steps to the side, Ayissi and the captain synchronised, they both looked out and indeed saw an unmarked ship. The navigator turned tense whilst the captain ordered a few sailors to send out a signal. It appeared the reply of the ship matched.
“Well done, Ayissi!” The captain said joyfully, giving her a great smack on the shoulder. One of the likes she was used to but did not feel like receiving under those circumstances.
“Um, if I can…” She then said to the man as he was about to walk away. Her voice was uncertain as she felt even if she tried to appear assured.
“What is it?”
“What are we actually delivering?” She asked straight off, knowing that there were no more chances of skirting around the issue. At a flick of a switch, the man’s eyes grew darker, intense and Ayissi had to apply all self-control so she would not flinch. So it was a smuggler’s ship.
“Well, why don’t you stay on deck and see for yourself?” He replied in words that were as neutral, as they could have been the signing of her own death penalty. Was she to get in trouble with the law? If someone associated her with this ship and it turned out they were smuggling, her whole career would go down the gutter. The crew noticed the color draining from her face, but unlike what she expected, no one came around to restrain her.
She stood on the starboard side of the ship like an awkward model for a non-existent statue. She looked here and there, informed the captain they’ve arrived in the place when it was needed. Not long after the other ship came to anchor just a few cable lengths away.
“Aye! Where’s Corian?” Shouted the captain at the sailors gathered on the side of the other ship. A short exchange followed until words that made her shiver with apprehension were delivered.
“Do you have it?”
“Aye. Right below deck!”
“Get it ready! We'll throw you the grid!”
Just what on earth could this mysterious 'it' be? Ayissi watched the sailors disappearing below the deck to gather whatever it was that they were trading whilst the two ships were devising a transferring line made of spare, long rope grids that usually held the barrels together. Each trill felt like a bit that dragged out painfully. Then eventually, Kraken's own barrels were brought out from underneath the deck.
“That’s five barrels of salt buoys, aye?” The captain shouted over the sea, causing the navigator to blink a few times in confusion. Salt Buoys? Just that? No slaves? No drugs? No illegal objects? Nothing, but the means for a ship to have drinkable water…
34th Vhalar, Arc 716
So it turned out that the captain of Kraken was only doing a favour to a fellow captain. He owed a favour to Corian after he helped him defeating those pirates everybody kept talking about. There weren’t that many anyway and Corian just happened to be sailing by when the assault happen. Then why couldn't Corian just sail and port in Andaris? The man was on a mission of travelling from southern Idalos all the way to the north. If it wasn't for Corian's first mate who miscalculated the number of Salt Buoys barrels needed, there would have been no trade-off. So when the issue came to light, Corian sent ahead a delivering bird to ask for the captain's help. They would not have made it to Andaris port and it would have been quite a detour from their course anyways. Hence, Corian called in the favour with the captain of Kraken.
“Maybe next time, less suspicion and more trust there, aye? Just ‘cause people don't know us, don’t mean we’re shady.” The captain heartedly slapped against her shoulder as he would with any sailor and sent Ayissi on her way. Even after her debacle of mistrust, he still offered a few corrections to the marine maps that she started making on his ship.
It was hard to believe how much has happened ever since Saun. The uprising of the Brunan clan was as much a surprise as it was expected. The damages, however, were brutal. The city was on fire. Lives were lost and Ayissi dreaded every day that she was no out on the sea. It was during this time that she felt the most anxious. Hence, when a new job opportunity arose, she did not lose a trill and said yes. Perhaps, in hindisght it was the one mistake of carelessness she would need to address in the future, but anything was better than staying around. Even if it was around Vakhanor. The man was still very much a mystery unlike the one she knew six arcs ago.
This time she was contracted to navigate the ship out into the open for a trade off with another ship. It was an odd job. There was no logical reason why the exchange could not happen within the port. It sowed a seed of suspicion in her. Within the growing darkness of her sloop, Ayissi set on the simple bed, frowning. She saw the maps on her table, the notes and to her content the lack of smudges on the papers. During Saun, she has improved, became more efficient in her planning. She could read the nautical information with growing ease. Translating it onto situation was still a little bit of a struggle sometimes, especially when the nautical charts weren't exactly up to date.
However, no matter how well she thought she might have prepared for this job, the doubt inside her mind that nibbled away on her conviction, it just would not go away. Why meet outside the port? Oh, it's just a favour I was asked to do, said the captain when they met to talk about the details.
Ayissi was not naive, however. Once the doubt took proper hold, she took her time to ask around about the ship that was called Kraken and its crew. Whoever she asked, in whatever way, overt or covert, the answer was almost always the same - Kraken was a trading ship that was once attacked by Mer pirates and somehow managed to survive. Fair enough, that could happen to anyone. Still, the odd feeling sat heavy in the pit of her stomach.
Nevertheless, work was work. It paid the bills and the debt she had. She dropped her eyes to her notebook that she held in her lap. She was given information by the captain where the ships were meant to meet. The exchange was to happen six nautical miles from the northern shore of a small island just south of Rynmere. It was in the deep waters so a ship couldn’t anchor there too long for safety reasons. That required precision for the time of arrival. It was to be the fifteenth break of thirty first trial. They would need to deviate from the usual trading route just as they’d be about to turn towards Etzos. It was there that the currents weren’t so well mapped. There were missing entries on the map. Hence, Ayissi worked with partially correct information, or so she assumed. The annoyance with the lack of intel and the fact that she could not afford more up to date maps, it slowly drove her to the decision that she would do her own nautical maps.
28th Vhalar, Arc 716
The rising wind was tearing at her clothes as she stood on the top deck, her notebook safely deposited in her hands. As usual, she kept the important maps in captain's cabin rather than fighting with them out here.
"With this wind, we will be able to pick up the speed and arrive there sooner." Which was not really what this ship needed. The time and trial was decided. They needed to be there spot on in order not to miss the right ship, or not to approach the wrong one. The captain was quite adamant about that.
"We'll just keep full fore mast, half main mast and the spanker." Ayissi then said in her momentary calculations how to slow the ship down enough, but still keep going. It was rather strange to be trying to count down rather than up. This job would test her precision and versatility. She liked the challenge despite her discomfort.
With her decision, the captain shouted the orders as Ayissi jotted down the notes. The wind speed was erratic which she only hoped would stabilize once they'd get outside of the harbour. As a navigator part of her job was to include unberthing in her plans as well. However, as she found out during one of her jobs, she did not necessarily need to oversee it. It made her life easier. So as she stood on the deck, with feet firmly planted in the wood to withstand the gusts of wind and the subtle sways of the ship, she occasionally looked up to see the progress. Just in case...
31st Vhalar, Arc 716 ~ Morning
Come dawn, Ayissi was already on the deck, at the bow of the ship. She was using her spying glass to see along the horizon, searching for the outline of the designated island.
“Starboard four point turn!” She then shouted across the deck. There, in the distance, she could see it. With the ship turning away from the windward course it was following, Ayissi knew that they would slow down, however. Quick check with her notes showed, that according to the nautical map, they would hit a header. A backward current that would work against them. It should not be such a problem. They did get here a little sooner than she'd like.
“Let down the mizzen mast!” Ayissi ordered, taking a pause, doing the good old lick of a finger stuck in the air. Not that it helped much but it gave her enough idea on the wind direction. With all three masts at full sail, they should level the force against the backward current and experience only a minimal difference in speed. Nodding to herself, Ayissi jotted down a few more notes as she walked from the bow across the deck. Her focused, or maybe even concerned expression, caught the attention of the captain who has decided to follow her into his cabin where she kept the nautical maps.
“Everything fine, aye?” He asked as he entered after her.
“Aye, everything neaty good.” Ayissi lied, spreading out the more detailed map. Of course, it was missing the numbers!
“You’re a bad liar, ya know.” The captain pointed out after Ayissi let out a frustrated huff. Her pink-golden hues raised to look at the man in front of her.
“The map’s crap.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I am doing a guess work right now on how fast to get you to that meeting point.” Ayissi said honestly. There was no point in lying. No captain was dumb. They only hired navigators because they had many other things to take care of themselves to be navigating at the same time. The young woman knew as much. Thankfully, this man, even if of a shady nature, was understanding enough that he walked over to look at her notes and maps.
“Did ya--?”
“No. It’s from the marine library.” That coaxed a hearty laughter from the captain, causing Ayissi to frown. She wasn’t entirely sure whether to feel offended, embarrassed or indifferent.
“U’frek be damned, girl! These maps are old!” The captain exclaimed with the laughter resonating in his words. Without a permission he then grabbed Ayissi’s notepad, humming with approval before deciding to give Ayissi a crash course about marine cartography. It was easy to disregard a sailor of any kind and rank them as a drunken man. Yet, it was at these moments that everyone should witness, when an individual spark of brilliance shined through. It turned out that the captain was a seasoned cartographer, able to calculate, explain and deliver decisions with undoubtful precision. He pointed out in her notes the numbers and their connection, the application of the ship’s speed, the number of sails in use that he made a range of speed of the backward current they were facing.
“For now, this is your range.” He said, pointing at the number he wrote on the map. “You stick to it. But document the curve of the current, its varying speeds and then write it down in here.” Closing her notepad, he handed it back with a subtle smile on his lips while Ayissi had the expression of utter focus on her face. Her father never taught her about these things. She never expressed interest in them either. But finding out about the logic behind them and the fact that marine maps were much more important than land maps and hence had to be absolutely correct, she felt attracted to the idea of creating one of her own.
“Aye, I will.” Ayissi replied, looking up hoping to see the captain so she could thank him. She only saw the cabin door wide open and the loud voice of the captain shouting: “Belay!” Rouge filled her cheeks.
31st Vhalar, Arc 716 ~ Near fifteenth break
Throughout the morning, Ayissi was taking notes, correcting the speed, letting down sails, rolling them up. She would bet that the sailors were fed up with her by the time they were soon to arrive at the designated spot. There was so much information that she would need to imprint into the map.
“How much longer?” Speak of the devil, and the devil came up from behind her, his heavy boots thudding against the wood.
“Half a break and we can anchor.” Ayissi replied confidently.
At that moment, a sailor in the crow’s nest hollered down. There was a ship ahead. Taking the few steps to the side, Ayissi and the captain synchronised, they both looked out and indeed saw an unmarked ship. The navigator turned tense whilst the captain ordered a few sailors to send out a signal. It appeared the reply of the ship matched.
“Well done, Ayissi!” The captain said joyfully, giving her a great smack on the shoulder. One of the likes she was used to but did not feel like receiving under those circumstances.
“Um, if I can…” She then said to the man as he was about to walk away. Her voice was uncertain as she felt even if she tried to appear assured.
“What is it?”
“What are we actually delivering?” She asked straight off, knowing that there were no more chances of skirting around the issue. At a flick of a switch, the man’s eyes grew darker, intense and Ayissi had to apply all self-control so she would not flinch. So it was a smuggler’s ship.
“Well, why don’t you stay on deck and see for yourself?” He replied in words that were as neutral, as they could have been the signing of her own death penalty. Was she to get in trouble with the law? If someone associated her with this ship and it turned out they were smuggling, her whole career would go down the gutter. The crew noticed the color draining from her face, but unlike what she expected, no one came around to restrain her.
She stood on the starboard side of the ship like an awkward model for a non-existent statue. She looked here and there, informed the captain they’ve arrived in the place when it was needed. Not long after the other ship came to anchor just a few cable lengths away.
“Aye! Where’s Corian?” Shouted the captain at the sailors gathered on the side of the other ship. A short exchange followed until words that made her shiver with apprehension were delivered.
“Do you have it?”
“Aye. Right below deck!”
“Get it ready! We'll throw you the grid!”
Just what on earth could this mysterious 'it' be? Ayissi watched the sailors disappearing below the deck to gather whatever it was that they were trading whilst the two ships were devising a transferring line made of spare, long rope grids that usually held the barrels together. Each trill felt like a bit that dragged out painfully. Then eventually, Kraken's own barrels were brought out from underneath the deck.
“That’s five barrels of salt buoys, aye?” The captain shouted over the sea, causing the navigator to blink a few times in confusion. Salt Buoys? Just that? No slaves? No drugs? No illegal objects? Nothing, but the means for a ship to have drinkable water…
34th Vhalar, Arc 716
So it turned out that the captain of Kraken was only doing a favour to a fellow captain. He owed a favour to Corian after he helped him defeating those pirates everybody kept talking about. There weren’t that many anyway and Corian just happened to be sailing by when the assault happen. Then why couldn't Corian just sail and port in Andaris? The man was on a mission of travelling from southern Idalos all the way to the north. If it wasn't for Corian's first mate who miscalculated the number of Salt Buoys barrels needed, there would have been no trade-off. So when the issue came to light, Corian sent ahead a delivering bird to ask for the captain's help. They would not have made it to Andaris port and it would have been quite a detour from their course anyways. Hence, Corian called in the favour with the captain of Kraken.
“Maybe next time, less suspicion and more trust there, aye? Just ‘cause people don't know us, don’t mean we’re shady.” The captain heartedly slapped against her shoulder as he would with any sailor and sent Ayissi on her way. Even after her debacle of mistrust, he still offered a few corrections to the marine maps that she started making on his ship.
