Kelton and Jeremy quickly arranged payment for their passage with the captain of the Scalded Sun (and at no discount, it was certain), but they were unable to negotiate any kind of early boarding, so they returned to their cart to sleep until sunrise. When they awoke, they and their meager possessions were promptly loaded on board.

The barrels that Kelton had stolen from the potters was taken down to the cargo hold, with only the bare minimum number of questions as to the contents, and then he and Jeremy were put up into a small cabin below deck. The room was actually reasonably elegant for being a travelling ship, and it was clear that the Scalded Sun did a lot of work in passenger transport. Unlike Kelton's first transoceanic voyage, he could tell that passenger experience and comfort mattered a great deal to this ship and her crew.

They set sail without much fanfare or drama, and soon enough they were on their way to Juldania - the thought of which caused Kelton to have more than a small amount of heartburn. It wasn't like they had better options, though, and besides, Juldania was a big place - millions of people in all. It should be a reasonably trivial matter to go unrecognized, but it did add a degree of complexity that he would have preferred to avoid.

Kelton thought to himself as he laid on his small bed, staring at the ceiling, that in the worst case, he could flee again if recognized. Maybe even prematurely, if he wasn't going to be able to relax...but he was tired of running. Panic and fear were no way to live a life of safety and security.

Jeremy was a problem, too. Yes, he had more than proven his usefulness to Kelton, in much the same way that Ben had back in Khartok; unlike Ben, though, Jeremy clearly had a violent streak that was a sure liability. Kelton was also the only person that Jeremy knew who could link him to the murders. If that was a good thing, or a bad one, Kelton would need to decide. A knife in Jeremy's back as he slept once they got off the boat seemed like the safest option, but then Kelton would need to find a new ally. He understood now that he couldn't do it alone.

Kelton knew that he'd have several days of travelling to figure it out, though. This vessel made a far more straight-line path to Juldania than Garal's boat did, and Kyris was actually considerably closer than Khartok would have been, so the journey would only take about half of the time that it had taken Kelton to arrive. By then, Kelton would have made a decision regarding Jeremy, he knew.

He went for a leisurely walk around the deck, then settled down into a small parlor (more like a large closet, honestly), which had books to read and some cards. Before long, Jeremy joined him, and they began to talk. "It's sort of hard to believe that everything's gone, Kelton. I can hardly stand to think about what I did. But now, we just drop everything, and we're running away to another country."

Jeremy looked like he wanted to pace around a bit, but there wasn't room, so he had to simply fidget in his chair. "I know I said this what I wanted, in the heat of the moment, but...this is all too much for me. What are we going to do?" Jeremy rubbed his temples and looked generally miserable, while Kelton decided exactly how much he would tell Jeremy about his past.

"We're going to reinvent ourselves, Jeremy, that's what we're going to do. This is something I have a little bit of experience in already. I didn't expect to have to tell anyone this story, but if we're really going to be partners in this, we should talk."

Of course, Kelton wasn't about to put his entire safety and well-being in Jeremy's hands, no matter how much he thought he could trust him (or kill him should that become the better option). Kelton simply didn't have it in him to tell anyone anything that they could really use against him, unless he had something better on them first. He decided to spin out just enough to make Jeremy trust him even more than he already did, and to rely on Kelton fully.

"I didn't always live in Lezseka. I think you figured that part out already. I came from Juldania, and in fact, came straight from there to Odellia. It wasn't my first choice, and honestly, there is a certain amount of danger for me in going back. I don't really want to get into why, or what happened - there are some things that should stay buried - but there are definitely people who wouldn't be happy to see me if I made my way to the wrong part of the country."

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Kelton took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then continued. "There are certain precautions that I've already made. For instance, nobody in Juldania knows me as Kelton, because it isn't my real name. Even still," he muttered, "I can't be jumping names every time I hop on a boat. I'm going to stick with Kelton."

Jeremy jumped in. "I always knew there was more to your story than you wanted to say, back in Odellia, but whatever it was that made you leave...well, obviously, I'd like to know more, even if you don't want to tell me about it today. It's funny how little I really know about your life, your background, your family; but you've always done right by me, for whatever reason you chose to do so. As for the whole name thing, I don't know that you're making a good choice there. Are you sure you want to stick with Kelton?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Kelton replied. "Like I said, nobody in Juldania knows me by that name, and nobody in Kyris knows me at all."

Jeremy put his elbows on his knees and cradled his head in his hands. "True, true, but what you're telling me, this is your third life, at least. Maybe you should be as careful as possible. I mean, unless you like just starting over. You're young...and I still don't understand your whole goal, or what you want to do."

Kelton nodded and scratched his head a little in thought. "You might be right. I guess a new name isn't that big of a deal, and if it severs ties, it might serve to protect us. OK, we'll do it. I'll be...I'll be Bernard. That'll do. You're Peter. Starting now, and we make sure that the old names never come out of our mouths again."

Kelton - that is, Bernard - thought again for a few seconds, and Peter gave him the quiet he needed as soon as he saw the pensive look on his face. What was Bernard going to do with Peter? Peter had wanted to go home and make it big, and that just wasn't a realistic goal anymore. Although, Bernard was pretty sure that Peter had started to walk away from that goal anyway with his dream of settling down with Millie.

Walked away...the phrase stuck in Bernard's head as he thought. He would have to improvise a little, but he needed to give Peter a new vision, and make sure that it would keep him doing what Bernard wanted.

"Let me tell you a little about Odellia, Peter. Maybe this will help." Bernard paused again to collect his thoughts, still unsure how much he wanted to share. "Some mistakes were made, and I need to avoid making those same mistakes again. You see, Peter, what I want is power and security. It's as simple as that."

He leaned forward slightly. "There are a lot of ways to get power, but what I've learned in my life is that the easiest way to keep power is to get people to want you to have it. That was the whole purpose of what I did in Odellia. Making their lives better, but making it clear that it was only because of me, that was the point. We do that properly, and life is easy."

Bernard continued, "You see, money is fine; but have you ever noticed that some rich people seem to be untouchable, whereas others are made examples of whenever they do something wrong? That's the difference in power. I want security that can't be touched. Money will come with it, I'm sure, but that's never the point. The more power, the more security - it's a very simple pattern."

Bernard lowered his voice conspiratorially, although the men were alone. "It should be easy to notice that there are virtually no truly powerful people in the world that are not rich, although there are rich people who are powerless. We'll get the money, I have no fear of that. Stick with me, and you'll be very rich indeed."

Now Bernard leaned back and settled into his chair. "I have figured out a few ways that don't work, unfortunately. Empire-building via commerce makes too many enemies, and enemies are dangerous. So we help people; that avoids unnecessary enemies, ensuring that there is nobody with a chip on their shoulder that wants to take us down. Oh we can take out enemies, but that becomes a never-ending game...trust me.

"I was smarter in Odellia, but still there was a mistake made. We can't fundamentally change people's economic situation - we saw what happened there. It's too much. If we just make them healthy, safe, and above all, grateful for it, we'll have nice cushy safe roles in a peaceful environment. How that scales, well, that's the next thing to solve."

Peter looked at Bernard in wonder, not entirely certain that he was believing what he was hearing, as Bernard finished up. "Now Peter, this time we have to figure out how to keep others from wanting to be rich. Greed, even in others, leads to too much trouble. I'm thinking about getting them to share everything, like a small cooperative farm community might, but that seems trickier right now. There's time - we'll figure it out. I'll get the power, and I'll make sure that you get your money...we just have to play it right, and make sure we don't make enemies that we can't completely and utterly wipe off the map. No games this time, and no mistakes. Nobody should be coming for us."