Irwin and Greldo shared a pained look as they saw Earila glare at Rindiri. Her words hung in the air like an attack.

Rindiri had frozen, then took a step back and watched her quietly. She was clearly thinking about how to respond, and when she began talking, it was slow.

"There was no time to get anyone else," she said calmly. "If I had remained behind, I would have been killed with the others. But… I am very sad about what happened."

Earila's sniffed. "Then why did you bring Zender?!"

Rindiri smiled sadly. "Zender, Ibiri, Trin, and Brinni were already with me. I would have brought every one of you if I could have, but…"

Earila took a step forward, eyes wide as she turned to Zender. "Trin and Brinni are alive?"

Irwin saw Rindiri flinch, and he wondered if it was because Earila asked Zender instead of her or because she didn't mention Ibiri.

"They are," Zender said with a wide grin. "The Captain even gave them cards to extend their life! Even Brinni got an amethyst one with low energy! They won't die in ten years but will have at least another ten. So, I'm going to find them more cards!"

Irwin looked at Zender in surprise. He should have realized this was one of the boy's goals. A quick look at Greldo showed no surprise.

Earila's eyes widened, and she looked at Irwin and then at Greldo.

"Irwin is the Captain," Zender said, pointing at Irwin behind the wheel.

Earila nodded slowly, examining Irwin, her gaze lingering on his hands and then going back to his eyes.

"Soulcarded," she said, nodding slowly.

"Earila, how did you get here?" Rindiri asked.

Earila looked at her mother, her mouth opening. No words came out, and she looked at Zender, who nodded at her with a reassuring grin.

"When the attack came, I was at Mission Square, trying to get a job," she said, looking at the deck. "Three Shipless ran to the harbor past me, and one called out for any sail cleaners that wanted to live to follow them. I moved without thinking, running after them together with… together with…." tears fell from Earila's eyes, slowly rolling down her cheeks as she looked at Zender.

"Brais and Limor are dead," she whispered. "We followed the Shipless up, and together with a handful of others, we reached the harbor. The acting captain, some burly woman with short orange hair called Zira, had a change places skill and used it to move the remaining Galub on one of the raider's ships to the middle of us. While the Shipless took care of it, Zira sailed the ship towards us and released ropes. Half of us managed to climb aboard before another Galub ship saw what we were doing and attacked us."

Irwin saw that Earila's eyes had zoned out, and she seemed to relive the moment.

"Zira got us out of there, though we took a few heavy hits. Some black ball-lightning struck the front sail and ripped it apart. With half a ship, there was no way we could get past the blockade, so the Shipless decided to head for The Roaming Shipyard. We… we managed to get there, but when we landed, we were swarmed by Nyzir."

Earila fell quiet, more tears running down her face. Zender stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking at her worriedly.

"It's fine. We've found you," he whispered.

Earila wiped her face clean, then looked at him in a mixture of anger and pain. "I ran. Because of how small I was, I managed to squeeze through a tiny hole and hide in a small enough area that the Nyzir wouldn't be able to appear. But… Brais and Limor, they couldn't fit…"

Irwin grimaced, wondering how it must have been to see and hear all that happened.

"The Nyzir killed everyone except for Zira. Then they were arguing and shouting. Finally, two tall Nyzir fought, and the one that won took twenty others and Zira and left on the ship. I… waited for hours, then climbed back out. There was no sign of the Nyzir, but among the dozens of Nyzir and Shipless bodies…" she raised her left hand, staring at the three cards in it. "I found an emerald card! I don't know if it was from a Nyzir or a Shipless but…"

Earila shivered before glaring defensively at her mother.

"I slotted it. I had to. I needed a way to survive!"

"You did great, Earila," Rindiri said, smiling proudly. "You survived!"

Earila blinked a look of surprise on her face. She turned to Zender, then back to Rindiri.

"They helped me survive," she said, raising a hand and softly petting one of the tiny animals on her shoulders. "I didn't think anyone would come…"

Irwin sighed as he watched her wipe her face, tears streaming down again. Zender wrapped an arm around her, showing a surprising level of understanding as he just smiled and hugged his sister.

"Zender," Irwin said, drawing the boy's attention. "Bring your sister downstairs and get her some food. She can take the room beside yours or any other that is free."

"I will, Captain!" Zender said, immediately starting to pull Earila away.

Irwin saw Rindiri hesitate, then cross her arms and stay where she was. Nobody spoke until Zender and Earila disappeared down, then Rindiri took a deep, shuddering breath and turned to Irwin.

"I don't blame her for being angry… I did what I could, but it was impossible to take care of them all," she said softly. "I managed to get most of them at least one card, which took all I had saved up, but I needed to focus on Ibiri. I had to! Our people have no world, and with most of the other species hating or fearing us, we needed to focus on the strongest to slowly rebuild what we've lost."

Irwin didn't say anything. He had no idea what to say and instead looked at her quietly. He felt a wave of relief that he'd never had to deal with anything like that.

"Zender is a good boy. He was one of the few who kept in touch, found me for the odd jobs, and tried to create a bond."

Rindiri shivered, then walked back to Irwin. "Captain, can I take the helm? I need to clear my head."

"Of course," Irwin said as he stepped away.

"I'll never be able to have children again," Rindiri said as she gripped the helm. "If… you could check Earila's cards? See if they aren't too powerful for her, and don't eat away her life…"

"I'll check them," Irwin said.

After some hesitation he put a hand on Rindiri's shoulder. She jolted but didn't draw back. "From all I have seen you do, you have taken better care of your children than some of the people of my world did with just a single one."

Rindiri looked up, her wrinkles smoothing over softly as some stress seemed to fade from her.

"Thank you."

Irwin nodded, softly squeezed her shoulder, then turned and walked towards the cabin.

"Greldo, can you keep an eye out just in case?"

"You know I will," Greldo said.

Irwin entered the cabin, closed the door, and slowly walked down the narrow staircase.

I'll need to gather cards for Scintilla and my kids.

--

A few hours later, Irwin was back on deck, staring into the distance. He saw nothing yet, but Greldo had, and he was now gone to scout Sesnanser.

Zender came walking to him, his face tight.

"How is she doing?" Irwin asked as the boy stood beside him, gripping the ship's railing.

"She's sleeping in the cabin beside mine, her Faerit keeping watch on the door," Zender said, looking up in dismay. "She actually told me that nobody was to enter without knocking, or they might attack! Even me!"

Irwin held back a grimace. "She's young and needs time to work through what happened," he said. "Give her a few months to get used to us, to the ship."

Zender didn't respond.

"At least her cards are good," Irwin said with a smile. "You're going to have to keep training with Greldo if you want to keep ahead."

A tight grin came to the boy's face as he looked up. "Her third card is really incredible. She can switch places with any of her Faerit as long as she's not pinned down."

"Her third card isn't bad," Irwin agreed. "But her second card, the emerald one is even better. According to Ambraz swarm summons are among the rarest of summons, which makes sense. I've never even seen one before."

"It can become even better," Ambraz rumbled from his pocket. "There are cards to increase the number of summons or give them abilities to make them larger. Hers are special even without that as they are elementally attuned. Frozen Faerits has to be up there with your own first card."

Irwin looked at his pocket in surprise. He'd known the card was good, but that good? "Really?"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Definitely," Ambraz said. "It's a shame she can't handle more energy or reforging it to ruby would make it among the best of its type."

"Can't you make a card to allow her to use more energy?" Zender asked, sounding excited.

I can't make cards, Irwin thought. At least not yet. But he knew what Zender meant.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't have any right now that could be reforged to do that, but we will see after we reach Granvox."

"Don't get your hopes up," Ambraz said. "There's mostly metal, fire, and summon cards there. It's the only ones my people really want."

"What do they want them for?" Zender asked, sounding intrigued. "You can't use cards, right?"

"We can eat them," Ambraz said with a snort. "Those cards taste best to us."

Irwin saw Zender's horrified look, and he couldn't hold back a soft laugh.

"But that's not why we have most of them," Ambraz continued. "They are for the prospective smiths that manage to reach our world."

"They get free cards?" Zender asked, eyes glittering suddenly. "Do you think I can become a smith?"

Irwin pursed his lips, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Sorry kid, one of the things a cardsmith needs is a surplus of energy. You might be able to learn a bit, but even if you continue diligently, you would only become a quartz-rank smith in twenty or thirty years."

Zender's smile turned ugly, and he sighed, muttering something.

"Don't worry," Irwin said. "I'll help you with cards in the future. What kind of captain would I be if I didn't supply my crew with those?"

Zender's eyes snapped on him, and Irwin froze.

"For all of your crew?" Zender asked, unblinking.

"Err…. yes?" Irwin asked, not sure what Zender was aiming at.

The boy looked at him for a long time before nodding and turning around.

"Gotta check something," he shouted, running to the top deck where his mother was behind the helm.

"What was that about?" Irwin whispered.

"I could tell you, but it would just scare you," Ambraz said with a grin. "That being said, you did the right thing. Even if that kid wasn't as useful as he was, he's nice!"

Irwin looked at his pocket in surprise. Ambraz never said anyone was nice.

Then again, I never asked him, he thought.

Almost an hour later, Greldo appeared in the shadow of the mast. His face was pale, and he had a long scratch on his cheek, blood slowly dribbling down.

"What happened?" Irwin hissed as he stepped forward.

His friend waved him away, wiping the blood from his cheek.

"The entire place is a warzone. The Galubs and Nyzir have taken over most of the town, but the portal area is being fought over. I have no idea if this is just now or if it's always like this, but while I was watching, a group of people swarmed out of the portal, and they managed to reach a large, heavily fortified building. The Nyzir tried to swarm in after them, but there were weird red lanterns around the door, and as soon as they came to close, they dropped out of the shadow world."

"So they are still resisting the Galubs?" Irwin said, surprised.

"Yeah, from what I could see, the people that came from the portal brought bags filled with food and supplies. A few got taken out by Galubs, but they gave as good as they got."

"They must be trying to take the town back," Irwin muttered. "Did they look malnourished?"

"The ones that came from the portal looked okay," Greldo said.

"And that?" Irwin asked, pointing at his wound.

"I was looking at the battle and didn't notice one of those taller Nyzir sneak up on me," Greldo snorted. "Should have paid way more attention. If Coal hadn't warned me, it might have taken my head off."

As much as Greldo tried to make light of it, Irwin couldn't help but feel worried.

"Great, so now what do we do," he said, pressing his hands in his sides. "If they are there, the blockade must still be there too. Besides, do we try to help the people from Sesnanser?"

"I wouldn't know how," Greldo said. "I could probably get both of us over there, but this isn't like those low-ranked Galubs and Imps we have been fighting against. There were dozens of four-horned Galubs everywhere and at least a few of the advanced Nyzir. Perhaps there are even more things that I haven't seen…"

"Do you think you could reach the barricade and scout it?" Irwin asked.

Greldo shook his head. "I haven't been there yet, so I'd need to see it. That's why I can teleport over there," he said, waving forward. "I can barely see a few buildings, which is just enough to teleport to their shadows."

"You can just blow through," Ambraz said as he rustled out of Irwin's pocket and flew up his shoulder.

"Say what now?" Greldo said. "What if there are dozens of ships, and who knows what's there? We might get our sails ripped!"

Irwin agreed with each of those words, but he knew Ambraz wasn't one to take risks. If he thought there was a way…

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

Ambraz grinned. "What would you two do without me?"

"No idea," Greldo said, shaking his head with a big grin. "Now stop dangling your magic solution before us!"

Ambraz's metal lips cured up far wider than Irwin's could. "What do you think would happen if Irwin here creates a massive cloud of steam around the ship? As dense and hot as he can. Now that he can see through it with his new cards-"

"I can?" Irwin muttered though he was already getting where Ambraz was going with this.

"-everyone can hide in the rooms while you remain in the shadows, which are now everywhere. If a ship enters the steam cloud, you can move through the shadows and slice their navigator in two!"

Irwin shook his head, grinning madly as he looked at Greldo.

"That's not a bad plan," he said. "We would have to go fast, or I'll lose too much energy, but even then, it's a good plan."

Greldo snorted. "It is, although you are forgetting one thing."

Ambraz's smile faltered while Irwin raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"If you make that steam as hot as you can, what will happen to me if I appear to slice that navigator?"

"Bah! What are some burns?" Ambraz said.

"It's even better," Irwin said. "I can sense them come into the steam, and when they are within range, I can just remove some of the steam from the navigator. As soon as you see him appear, strike."

"There! That's using your head," Ambraz said, flying around them actively. "Now, let's go and get this plan started!"

"Wait," Greldo said. "What about the people in Sesnanser?"

Irwin and Ambraz turned quiet, and the three of them looked at each other.

"After we crash through the barricade, the merchants that have a claim on Sesnanser will be able to send help," a voice called out from the helm.

Irwin looked up to see Rindiri smirk at them. "Also. I think that's a great idea as long as the captain is sure he can get enough steam and keep it around us long enough?"

Irwin felt a lot better knowing that their crashing through would still help the people on Sesnanser. Although he didn't really know them, he did know Galubs and Nyzir, and he didn't like the idea of them hurting people.

"As long as it doesn't take hours, we will be fine," he said. "But I will need a place to restore my energy after that."

"Then I'll move to the furthest side of the Gallery, and we need to prepare," Rindiri said. "The distance from there to Sesnanser is big enough that none of their ships will be able to catch up even if they are already ready."

Irwin took a deep breath, then looked at Greldo, noting the excitement that was building up in him was shared by his friend. They were finally going towards the populated area!

They remained on deck as The Sonata flew along the side of the Gallery.

Ten minutes later, Irwin and the others were staring at the distant port town, buildings destroyed and ransacked. There was movement everywhere, as Galubs seemed to be walking around, dragging stuff and tossing it over the edge to a growing pile far below the scorched trees. The left side of the town looked to be in a better state.

"They are rebuilding it," Greldo muttered.

Irwin nodded, but he focused on the seven ships he saw at the side of the town. The docks were mostly destroyed, with a single pier still viable for docking. Three ships were moored there while four hovered to the side.

"How many do you see?" he asked, staring at the ships. He counted only one heat signature, but with his Incandescent Eyes active, he saw a few ripples from behind one of the sails.

"I only see two on each ship," Greldo replied. "The others could be inside…"

A loud trumpet blared from the town, and Irwin saw distant specks stop what they were doing.

They were moving fast, and as they closed in, he began picking up more and more heat signatures running for the docks. One of the ships was turning slowly, and a dozen figures ran up the deck. The others moved towards the dock.

"Only one with a crew," Greldo said. "I almost want to take them out!"

"Let's just get past them first," Irwin said. "If they get close enough, I'll hammer them."

They continued forward, the barrier only thirty feet to their side. Zender was rushing across the sails, wiping them as fast as he could to get every tiny bit of speed out of them.

It quickly became clear that Rindiri had been right. When they were alongside the distant town, the nearest ship was still so far Irwin could perhaps throw a hammer at it, but the chances of hitting it would be small.

Perhaps I need to find out if there are cards that let me automatically hit things I can see, Irwin thought.

Half an hour later, they were speeding away from Sesnanser, chased closely by a ship and with a half dozen tiny specks far in the distance.

"They are likely going to chase us till the blockade," Rindiri said.

Irwin, who stood at the back railing, grinned. "Well, too bad for them. How long till we reach the blockade?"

"If they picked the narrowest spot, which is what I would have done, it would be another few hours," Rindiri said.

Irwin took a final look at the ship chasing them before looking up at the sail. With his new, slightly larger posture, the ease with which Zender clung to the flat surface was made even more impressive.

"If you see them close-in, shout a warning!"

"Yes, Captain!'

As Irwin headed to the front of the ship, he saw Earila standing near the door. She was wearing a smaller coat, one that Irwin had seen Zender wear. It made her look even smaller than she already was. Two of her Faerit sat on her shoulders while the other five were sitting or standing nearby, looking around constantly.

"Captain…"

Irwin looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Yes, Earila?" he asked.

"Can I help?"

Irwin was about to say it was fine when he saw her fidget nervously. Suddenly, he recalled the previous conversation with Zender and the boy's quick departure. Was she there because she wanted to join The Sonata? It made sense… besides, what else could they do? He wasn't going to drop her in some random world all alone.

"Can you clean sails?" he asked, looking at her expectantly.

Earila shook her head. "I used to climb below the ship to clean away funghi and other dangerous things," she said, raising her hands and causing pale blue claws to appear on her fingers.

Irwin raised his eyebrows, trying to come up with an idea. Then he thought of something else. He turned to Rindiri, who he saw was observing them closely.

"Can you put her to work?"

"Definitely!" Rindiri said, nodding at him gratefully.

Irwin looked at Earila, who was frowning.

"Go to Rindiri. She will have something for you to do," he said.

From her slight glare, he almost expected her to reject, but she took a slight breath and nodded.

"Yes, Captain," she said.

Then she walked past him, the tiny Faerit following close behind.

Irwin followed her with a raised eyebrow before walking to the prow, where Greldo said.

"So… we picked up another one?" his friend whispered with a wide grin. "We are going to need to get a bigger ship if you are also planning to pick up your own kids."

Irwin snorted and elbowed Greldo, who let out a fake cry of pain.

"Instead of making fun of me, why don't you tell me what your plans for the future are?" Irwin asked. "Get rich, return to New Malorin, and build a castle?"

"No way," Greldo said. "I have no idea what I'll do. Stay with you while you craft your way through the Portal Gallery and reap juicy rewards. Help figure out who is hunting us and kill them. After that? Well, with the cards I have now, and hopefully my future soulcards, I'll live for centuries. I think I'll focus on cards to resist the cold and continue exploring the Portal Gallery."

Irwin had meant it as a joke, but Greldo's quick response showed that his friend had thought about it. Besides the fact that he wondered how easy it would be to actually find those hunting the Galadins, he couldn't imagine sailing the Portal Gallery for centuries. He looked at Greldo, wondering if he really would do that.

He leaned on the railing, pondering what he would do. After a minute, he shoved the thoughts away. It was too far in the future to worry about it now. First, he had to get them past that blockade. After that, they had a half-year journey to reach Granvox.

They stood side by side for what felt like only a short time when Greldo hissed.

"Okay… that's a pretty big blockade!"

Irwin didn't even bother trying to see anything.

"What's there?"

"Over fifty ships and what looks like a tiny fort being built in the gap. I think most of those ships are just hanging there, but they are effectively blocking the entire passage!"

Irwin felt his mood dampen when an idea came to him.

"Well, that's too bad for them," he said, his smile widening evilly.

"And why is that?" Greldo asked.

"Because that means this hairy guy I know can teleport over there and set them all on course to ram that fort," Irwin said, glancing at Greldo.

"Really? That must be some awesome guy," Greldo said as he cracked his neck.

"Definitely! The best," Irwin said.

Greldo laughed softly. "Start gathering that steam. I'm going to have some fun!"