At dinner that 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 explained to me patiently. “My private room is about the maximum size that you can manage for a single array. This is the reason we typically use them for things such as object storage, especially for consumables.”

I leaned on the table in front of us, my plate empty after the meal. “So, why didn’t you just outfit each individual room with a stasis array then?” The rest of our companions were either absorbed in their own conversations, or watching 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 snorted at my question. “I may have accumulated a degree of wealth over the years, but I’m not made of money. The cost to outfit every space in even this small manor would be extravagant indeed. That’s even if I did all of the tedious work myself, mind. The material cost alone would cause many noble houses to blanch. No, it’s simply not practical to outfit an entire house with stasis runes. Especially not for a domicile that I only use once every few decades.”

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

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

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

Ah. I get it.

I guess now was the time to talk.

“Nathan, are you well?” Grey asked me, concerned. “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 honestly. “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 unaffected by your experiences in Addersfield as I hoped. I believe, at this point, that you merely possess some unconfronted trauma from your time as a slave.”

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 next time I see a slave?”

Grey smiled helplessly at me. “I truly don’t know Nathan. I regret to say that I have no experience as a Mind Healer. Once the war has reached its conclusions 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 can 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, and let it out slowly. “Let’s just get to work and then get some sleep. Big day tomorrow, yeah?”

Grey nodded at me, before gesturing to the still-dirty dishes. “As you say.”

We got to work.

……………………………………..

Rather than even try to clean a few bedrooms for our use, those of us of a fleshy persuasion just crashed in the sitting 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 comfortable than either a campsite or the wagon. Our Sculpted members, wholly unbothered by the layers and layers of dust, found their own accommodations.

I settled onto one of the couches with Fade lying on the floor next to 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 next morning, before the green period had even begun. We got 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 weapons and armor behind, after all.

This time, Grey drove the wagon while I sat next to 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. Even the taverns.

I guess even pirates had to rest sometimes. Some of them were doing that on the streetside, snoring away with a bottle of liquor in hand.

As we rattled through the cobblestone streets of Marrowmist, I saw the sun start to rise over the horizon. Despite 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 reflecting off of the water and scattering through the cavern.

Man, sometimes Vereden managed to surprise me with its beauty.

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Before long, Grey had directed us down to the docks. By that time, the green period had passed. From a distance, the docks seemed as sleepy as the rest of the town right now, which was surprising. Weren’t docks always supposed to be busy? But, if nobody could leave right now because of the Neptaurian 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 loitering 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 particular, a large two-masted one. My mentor hummed to himself, seeing the activity.

I glanced at him. “What is it?”

Grey shook his head. “I can see that Bella is light on crew, that’s all. We may need to 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 Bella 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 our attention, she grabbed a nearby hanging rope and swung off of the side of the ship to land easily next to Grey’s side of the wagon. The thump she made upon impact with the dock startled the horses, causing them to shuffle in place. I slid off of the driver's bench to reassure them, while Bella 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 flagship, 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 satisfaction. “Hmm. She’ll do, for our purposes. A brigantine, correct?” He said to Bella.

The pirate Captain nodded and crossed her arms. “Aye. She ain’t no warship, and she ain’t no cargo hauler. But she’ll get the job ye want done all the same.” She paused for a second, to glance over at where I was soothing the horses. I flushed slightly, caught in the act of eavesdropping. Bella 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 your great-grandfather’s eye, Isabella. I wasn’t intending to bring 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 companions were already unloading things from it. They knew what the plan 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 Bella 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 snapped the reigns to spur the horses. Turning the wagon back around where we came, I directed it to the harbor master’s office that we had passed by earlier. Once I had reached it, I hopped off the bench and walked inside.

Earlier, Grey had asked me to negotiate 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 manage to negotiate 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 countryside, they had been surprisingly friendly. They hadn’t ever really given me any trouble. I hand-fed them some oats, said my goodbyes, and then got on my way.

By the time I had returned to the Thorny Reef, I was unsurprised to find that our gear and supplies had already been loaded up onto the ship. Those crew had looked like they worked fast. I walked up the gangplank 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 was a pirate 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 introspection by someone bumping into my shoulder. It was Azarus, with a raised eyebrow. He jerked his head to follow him. “C’mon. We’re meetin’ with the Captain in her cabin.” I nodded at him, and followed him inside the ship and through a few corridors, passing by several curious crewmen along the way. At last, we arrived at a slightly fancier-looking door. Azarus opened it without knocking and ushered me inside. Our companions were in the room, with Grey and Bella hunched over a large 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 clinking bag. “Yeah, got it here. Can’t help but feel like I was taken advantage of, though.”

Bella openly laughed at me. “With ol’ Reggie, ye probably were!”

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

Wait.

Cassandra?

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

Grey though?

Grey had a more violent reaction.

Spinning in place in a move nearly too fast for me to track, I saw his fist erupt into black and silver light as he used his momentum to hook a punch at Cassandra. She caught it easily, not even blinking. Directing a languid glance at 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 understood a moment later. Somehow, Cassandra knew that Grey wasn’t quite up to his old strength just yet. He was still weakened from his time as a slave.

In a belated reaction, my companions tensed up, ready for a fight. Most of us didn’t have our weapons on us, but Venix did. He narrowed his eyes at the dark-skinned woman and set his four arms on his blades, 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 place near my feet.

Meanwhile, Bella 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 Bella. “Oh? Are you really in a position to be making demands to a member of the Triumvirate?” She gave a low laugh, 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 Bella’s face, causing her fist to drop back to her side limply. “Oh.”

The tension in the room skyrocketed.

I slowly started to reach for my dagger, sheathed at my waist.