PreCursive

  At dihat night, I asked Grey why this house was so dusty, and why it wasn’t in stasis like his room at the tavern had been.

  “There is a size rule to the usage of stasis runes,” My mentor expio me patiently. “My private room is about the maximum size that you manage for a single array. This is the reasoypically use them for things such as object ste, especially for ables.”

  I leaned oable in front of us, my pte empty after the meal. “So, why didn’t you just outfit eadividual room with a stasis array then?” The rest of our panions were either absorbed in their own versations, or watg our own in mild curiosity. Small lessons like this were typical of Grey and me, and they were used to seeing them. I couldn’t help the fact that I was almost always curious about the magic that I saw in use around me. Even the very casual stuff like the stasis arrays.

  Grey s my question. “I may have accumuted a degree of wealth over the years, but I’m not made of mohe cost to outfit every spa even this small manor would be extravagant ihat’s even if I did all of the tedious work myself, mind. The material cost alone would cause many noble houses to bno, it’s simply not practical to outfit aire house with stasis runes. Especially not for a domicile that I only use once every few decades.”

  I nodded. Mentally, I made a o ask him to teach me the correct runic sequence for a stasis array.

  “However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t pay for the instaltion of one in my kit, obviously. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this meal. Speaking of,” Grey stood up from the table and began colleg everyone’s ptes, seeing that they were finished. He gave me a pointed look aured to the other dishes oable with a free hand. I got the hint, and rose from the table to help him. The two of us carried the ptes and utensils into the kit and got to work ing up.

  While I was setting the ptes into a washbasin, Grey startled me by ying a hand on my shoulder. Looking over my shoulder, I could see that he had a ed look on his face.

  Ah. I get it.

  I guess now was the time to talk.

  “Nathan, are you well?” Grey asked me, ed. “The way that you pursued those pirates earlier was most unlike you.”

  I turned around to face him and took a deep breath. “I’m…better than I was,” I told him holy. “I talked to Sylvia but…I still don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why that happened.”

  Grey shook his head firmly. “There is nothing wrong with you, Nathan. I’m beginning to suspect that you are not quite as ued by your experiences in Addersfield as I hoped. I believe, at this point, that you merely possess some unfrorauma from your time as a sve.”

  I was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. “Yeah,” I said quietly. “You’re probably right. But…what do I do about that? Am I just going to fly off the handle again, the ime I see a sve?”

  Grey smiled helplessly at me. “I truly don’t know Nathan. I regret to say that I have no experience as a Mind Healer. Ohe war has reached its clusions and I have full access to my resources again, I will see that you have access to the Academy’s Mind Healer. Until that time, all that I or anyone else do is try and support you.”

  “All right,” I said. “Okay. For now my issues just…aren’t as important.” I took another deep breath, a out slowly. “Let’s just get to work and the some sleep. Big day tomorrow, yeah?”

  Grey me, befesturing to the still-dirty dishes. “As you say.”

  We got to work.

  ……………………………………..

  Rather thary to a few bedrooms for our use, those of us of a fleshy persuasion just crashed iting room of Grey’s dusty manor. It’s not like we weren’t used to sleeping close to each other at this point, and it was both roomier and more fortable thaher a campsite or the wagon. Our Sculpted members, wholly unbothered by the yers and yers of dust, found their own aodations.

  I settled onto one of the couches with Fade lying on the floor o me. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was out like a light. It had been a long day.

  We woke early the m, before the green period had even begu to work immediately, hauling the cart out from where it had been stashed behind Grey’s manor. We weren’t intending to take it onto the ship, but there were still valuable supplies stored in it. Nobody was willing to leave something like our ons behind and armor behind, after all.

  This time, Grey drove the wagon while I sat o him on the driver's seat. He easily maneuvered our horses through the gates of his manor, and through the streets of Marrowmist. Because it was so early, most of the businesses were still closed. Eveaverns.

  I guess even pirates had to rest sometimes. Some of them were doing that oreetside, sn away with a bottle of liquor in hand.

  As we rattled through the cobblestoreets of Marrowmist, I saw the sun start to rise over the horizoe the fact we were in an enormous seaside cavern, some of the green period light still reached us. I couldn’t help but smile at the effect of the green light refleg off of the water and scattering through the cavern.

  Man, sometimes Vereden mao surprise me with its beauty.

  Before long, Grey had directed us down to the docks. By that time, the green period had passed. From a distahe docks seemed as sleepy as the rest of the tht now, which was surprising. Weren’t docks always supposed to be busy? But, if nobody could leave right now because of the aurian herd, then maybe it made sense. Why prep your ship when you know you weren’t going out that day, after all? The lone exception was the harbor master’s office that we saw with its lights on. There were a few people l outside of that.

  Grey though, directed us to the lone dock that did seem to be busy. A little less than two dozen people were swarming around one ship in particur, a rge two-masted one. My mentor hummed to himself, seeing the activity.

  I g him. “What is it?”

  Grey shook his head. “I see that Bel is light ohat’s all. We may o assist with certain duties on our voyage.”

  Uh, alright. Whatever you say.

  When the wagon rumbled to a stop on the dock where the ship rested, I was startled by a loud voice from above us.

  “Oi!” I heard. Looking up, I saw that Bel was leaning over the back half of the ship and waving at Grey and I with a grin on her face. Seeing that she had her attention, she grabbed a nearby hanging rope and swung off of the side of the ship to nd easily o Grey’s side of the wagon. The thump she made upon impact with the dock startled the horses, causing them to shuffle in pce. I slid off of the driver's bench to reassure them, while Bel started talking to Grey.

  “Well, here she is,” She said cockily, throwing an arm out to sweep over the length of the ship. “The Thorny Reef in all her glory! Such as it be. She ain’t me fgship, gods rest her soul, but she’s a fine ol’ girl all the same.”

  Sliding down from the driver’s bench himself, Grey ran a critical eye over the ship and nodded in satisfa. “Hmm. She’ll do, for our purposes. A brigantine, correct?” He said to Bel.

  The pirate Captain nodded and crossed her arms. “Aye. She ain’t no warship, and she ain’t no hauler. But she’ll get the job ye want done all the same.” She paused for a sed, to gnce over at where I was soothing the horses. I flushed slightly, caught i of eavesdropping. Bel didn’t seem to care though, just turning back to Grey. “Ye know these beasties ain’t settin’ a hoof on me ship, right?”

  Grey rolled his eyes at her. “I was captaining ships before you were a sparkle in yreat-grandfather’s eye, Isabel. I wasn’t intending t the horses with us. Speaking of, Nathan?”

  I nodded, already knowing what he wanted. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get on it.” Moving around to the back of the wagon, I was unsurprised to see that our panions were already unloading things from it. They knew what the pn was as well. I got to help unloading.

  When we were done and our supplies were resting on the dock, I hurried back over to the front of the wagon. Grey and Bel were already gone, visible on the deck of the ship to my side. I climbed up on the driver's bench of the wagon, and she reigns to spur the horses. Turning the ship back around where we came, I directed it to the harbor master’s office that assed by earlier. Once I had reached it, I hopped off the bend walked inside.

  Earlier, Grey had asked me to iate the sale of the wagon and horses to the harbor master. He had assured me that in this port, the harbor master would be willing to buy odds and ends. Such as a wagon and four horses formerly owned by the Uprising.

  He was right, and I did mao iate a sale. But I walked out of that office feeling like I had just been fleeced. I guess that was just part of doing business with pirates.

  Before I left the office, I said my goodbyes to the horses. I was a little sad to see them go, actually. For my first time driving a wagon halfway across the tryside, they had been surprisingly friendly. They hadn’t ever really given me any trouble. I hahem some oats, said my goodbyes, and then got on my way.

  By the time I had returo the Thorny Reef, I was unsurprised to find that ear and supplies had already been loaded up onto the ship. Those crew had looked like they worked fast. I walked up the gangpnk to set foot on the ship that would likely be my home for the foreseeable future. Looking around I found that it looked…pretty much as expected. It irate ship, all right. Still, I found a smile creeping onto my face. As a kid, I’d loved pirates and sailing and everything about it. It had never gone anywhere, of course, but the fantasy of it had stuck with me. Now it seemed like I would be living it.

  I was jolted out of my introspe by someone bumping into my shoulder. It was Azarus, with a raised eyebrow. He jerked his head to follow him. “. We’re meetin’ with the Captain in her .” I him, and followed him ihe ship and through a few corridors, passing by several curious crewmen along the way. At st, we arrived at a slightly fancier-looking door. Azarus ope without knog and ushered me inside. Our panions were in the room, with Grey and Bel hunched over a rge table with a map spread out over it. They looked up at our entrance.

  Grey waved us over. “Ah, Nathan. I trust the sale was successful?”

  I held up a king bag. “Yeah, got it here. ’t help but feel like I was taken advantage of, though.”

  Bel openly ughed at me. “With ie, ye probably were!”

  Cassandra chuckled as well, leaning over both Grey and Bel’s shoulders. “The man has always been y.”

  Wait.

  Cassandra?

  Everyoook notice of the Triumvirate member at the same time. Including Grey and Bel, whose shoulders she was leaning on. Bel let out a surprisingly girly shriek of surprise and jumped away from the woman in a red coat.

  Grey though?

  Grey had a more violeion.

  Spinning in p a move nearly too fast for me to track, I saw his fist erupt into bd silver light as he used his momentum to hook a punch at Cassandra. She caught it easily, not even blinking. Direg a nguid g the shining fist she held in her hand, Cassandra smirked at Grey. “Losing your touch, are you Whitegull? Time was, a blow like that from you would have torn me apart.”

  For some reason, Grey narrowed his eyes at the woman. I uood a moment ter. Somehow, Cassandra khat Grey wasn’t quite up to his old strength just yet. He was still weakened from his time as a sve.

  In a beted reay panions tensed up, ready for a fight. Most of us didn’t have our ons on us, but Venix did. He narrowed his eyes at the dark-skinned woman a his four arms on his bdes, but didn’t draw them yet. Oddly, Fade was the only one of us that didn’t show any aggression. He just looked at Cassandra with a calm, even gaze from his pear my feet.

  Meanwhile, Bel had recovered her equilibrium. She balled her fists up and shook one of them at Cassandra. “Don’t do that shite, woman! Ye know I hate it when ye just pop up out of nowhere!”

  Cassandra turned her gaze from Grey to smirk at Bel. “Oh? Are you really in a position to be making demands to a member of the Triumvirate?” She gave a low ugh, gaze sweeping across everyone in the office. I felt a chill run up my spine when her gaze lingered on me for a moment. “You are aware that you’re aiding someone in direct defiance of one of our orders, yes?”

  Realization stole across Bel’s face, causing her fist to drop back to her side limply. “Oh.”

  The tension in the room skyrocketed.

  I slowly started to reay dagger, sheathed at my waist.