Deep in the throws of the Eternal Ring, a metal schooner named Lucille staved off the attacks from an unforgiving storm. The schooner had suffered through the gauntlet before and the ship’s hull was used to the battering. Parts of the ship let the storm seep in. Parts that worked brand new were now teetered and creaked. Still, the crew held onto the hope that they’d make it through.

The key passenger of the boat, Quinn Wixel, held her stomach as another wave sloshed the boat hither and thither. While the boat persevered, Quinn was barely hanging on. The storm outside was trying its darndest to bring the spunky metal schooner to join the other boats it had accrued at the bottom of the ocean. Quinn turned to her companion, about to say something, when another quick force majeure knocked Quinn off of her bed. When Quinn tried to get back on, the boat rocked back and she was thrown on the bed’s other side. Quinn could not win.

Captain Pelican was topside, shouting orders that were drowned out by the howling winds. Were the crew any less battle-hardened they would be flailing, but the ship’s position held as everyone worked their station with practiced know-how.

Captain Pelican shouted out ‘Jibe Ho!’ loud enough for the crew members close enough to hear it, who relayed the message to the crew farther out. The news spread rapidly. They all shouted the message as Captain Pelican swung the steering wheel starboard, causing the large mast to sweep through the deck. By that point, everyone knew to duck and only the tallest crew member, a human named Gozu, got bonked by the jib.

“Gozu’s down!” Cried the man closest to him. Like a school of fish navigating a shark, working separately but as one, they spread the message until it reached Captain Pelican’s ears.

“Gozu’s Down!” Captain Pelican repeated, “Swabbies, pull him away. Manigold, you’re the new boatswain.”

Pelican helmed the wheel while the men followed their orders. The captain’s fear of this pass had long since given way to excitement. He took this role seriously and beamed that things were going well. It was his job to keep his men and the passengers aboard his boat safe. He peered through the endless barrage of water, wind, and salt to the tiny dapples of ray on the other side. They were almost out. He knew his crew would make it. He trusted them to survive. And Pelican trusted that as long as the passengers stayed in their room, they would be safe too.

“Uhm… Captain Pelican!” A soft voice cried.

Captain Pelican kept beaming, yelling at a crew member to double bucket duty. The soft cry came once again, “Captain Pelican, sir!”

Captain Pelican turned to see Quinn Wixel, the elf passenger he had sworn to protect, gripping tightly to a railing as the rain slapped her senseless.

“What the hell are you doing here, lass!?” Pelican shouted.

Quinn Wixel had felt havoc in her quarters. Her normally bright face was pallid. Her usually impeccable braids looked more like a bird’s nest than the scalp of a respectable elf, and the tip of her pointed ears had taken on a shade of green for the first time in Quinn’s life. Quinn was experiencing something new, she was feeling nauseous. Her body was not used a good day on a ship, let alone a ship going through a particularly fierce trial. The thumping and bumping that the storm was putting her through disorientated her. It seemed her entire room was toppling, things falling off the walls onto her. Any chance she got to stabilize would be quickly received as a challenge by the storm as she would proceed to fall off the bed and slam against the wall. Her security, a stern vampire with gray skin and red eyes, Demeter, stayed still with his hands gripping the handles on the sides of the doors. His position was so secure it was as if there was a permanent gyroscope in his belly.

“How are you dealing with this so well??” Quinn asked him.

Demeter stayed perfectly still while the chaos unfurled around him.

“Let me help you, Miss,” Demeter said as he released one arm and offered it to her. Quinn reached out and grabbed him. He was steady. Even touching him helped balance her.

“I think I’m going to go out and talk to the captain! I’ll ask him when he thinks we’ll be out of this storm! Do you want anything while I'm out?”

“Miss, may I speak freely?” Demeter bargained with her.

“Of course!”

“That is a very dumb idea,” Demeter stated, trying to be polite.

“Well, maybe not that freely.” Quinn said, “But if I stay cooped in this room I’m going to…” Quinn did not finish her thought. She let go of his arm, bouncing on the bed and quickly grabbing the wastebasket Captain Pelican had given her. She, then, emptied what little she’d had for lunch.

“I said…” Captain Pelican leaned over and got a hold on Quinn as she started slipping down the stairs, “Why are you here!?”

“Just some fresh air!” Quinn said, swallowing her bile, “When do you think the storm will end?”

“This storm never ends!” Pelican stated, “We’re in the Eternal Ring!”

“Sure feels like it!” Quinn commiserated.

“No, Lass,” Captain said, “This storm doesn't end. Hasn’t since the gods spit this country up from the ocean. There’s an endless ring of storms around Sojourn. It’s a nasty little gauntlet but we’re almost through.”

“Ahh.” Quinn had not realized they were in the Eternal Ring. She’d read about it when it became clear she would have to leave her cozy library and for a life-threatening boat ride to the New World. From what she’d read. It seemed like everything in the New World wanted to kill her, even the journey. While she had intellectually prepared for it, a day long trek of storms had not been easy. In a small way, it was a relief. Her one month journey was almost over, Quinn was excited to get off this boat as quickly as possible, deliver the package she was meant to deliver as quickly as possible, and return to the boat for another one month journey home. As quickly as possible.

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“The Eternal Ring,” Quinn whispered to herself. Her fingers hurt from gripping the railing so tightly. Even still, the fresh air was a tonic to her stomach.

“Aye,” Captain said, “So, if that’s all your questions, I think you’d best be getting back inside.”

“Wait!” Quinn screamed.

Quinn dreaded going back in that tiny cabin,bouncing around between the walls and throwing up more of her lunch. Thus far, in her fateful two minutes outside she was not fairing that much better. But the fresh air gave her stomach a rest.

“So, how are you?” Quinn screamed over the winds at Captain Pelian. Pelican gave her a look before seeing an oncoming wave.

“Get down” he screamed at Quinn, needing to act fast. He turned the wheel once again, delivering the boat directly at the wave as best he could to brave the tide. The wave collided with the right bow of the ship, causing the ship to point upwards.

The wave hailed onto the deck in buckets and the water punched Quinn like big fists. She dropped down the stairs further onto the deck.

“Okay, well… good talk!” Quinn turned to crawl back below deck not attempting to stand and eager to get back. The nausea she had been experiencing was a delightful substitute for potentially going overboard.

“Rogue wave!” A crewmember cried out.

“I’m turning into it! Jibe Ho!” Captain Pelican warned, causing them to turn port and once again have the mast blast through the deck, narrowly missing the top of Quinn’s head who felt grateful she had decided to crawl.

The ship could not finish its rotation in time. The rogue wave collided with the side of the deck, taking the brunt of an explosive force.

“Brace yourselves!!” Pelican commanded

A surge of water swept Quinn off her hands and feet. It filled her mouth and nostrils with shivering ocean water and rudely dumped her off the teetering side of the schooner. Quinn heard “Woman overboard,” before she even realized they were referring to her.

“That couldn’t be me, could it?” Quinn asked as she fell toward the water, “Although I’m the only woman on the ship.”

Her brain finally picked up on the imminent danger she was in. As her body fell toward the murky depths, she searched her mind for what she had read about the dangers of the deep. Quinn recalled a passage from a book she read titled ‘Ship Etiquette,’ which she had only read the first few pages of. Quinn had started reading it right before she received the letter from Professor Hobblepot. To her best recollection, she tried to remember the passage about falling off a boat.

“When falling off the deck, try not to…” (Ship Etiquette, John Dorsey, Pg. 256)

Quinn wished more than anything she had finished reading that part. She yelled for help and as suddenly as she fell, help had arrived.

Demeter had grabbed on to her hand. His other hand was holding on to a rope. In no time at all, he’d grabbed on to a rope and jumped over, snatching Quinn from the air.

“You’re worth every penny, Demeter!” Quinn said,

“I know, Miss.” Demeter said.

Captain Pelican’s voice trembled with urgency, “Someone to pull them in!”

Demeter’s calm demeanor was unbreakable. As if Quinn weighed nothing at all he hoisted her and himself back up the rope, climbing up the wall of the ship.

“This one’s the last one! Everyone brace yourselves!”

Demeter got back on the ship with Quinn, he pulled her in tight so she didn’t get hit by the waves again. The water splashed on to them, but they didn’t notice while in each other’s embrace. Quinn looked into Demeter’s eyes, a piercing blood red color that somehow still conveyed warmth.

“I’ll keep you protected for this journey, Miss,”

Quinn held her head in his chest, thankful he was here, “I know you will, Demeter.”

“I need to get back inside, Miss, we’re almost out of the storm and the sun will hit me.. I don’t have my umbrella.”

“Of course.”

Demeter tinkered the knob to the cabins but it wouldn’t open. He shook it again. Still nothing.

“Is this locked?” He shouted to the captain.

“No!!” The captain shouted back, “You just have to jiggle it!”

“What did he say?” Demeter asked,

“You just have to jiggle it,” Quinn said,

“I am jiggling it.”

“We tried jiggling it!” Quinn shouted back at the captain.

“Gets wonky in cold air!” the Captain shouted back, “REEEALLY jiggle it!”

“I’m really jiggling it,” Demeter hissed under his breath.

Just then, the ship burst through the shroud of the Eternal Ring. The deck became awash with sunlight and when it interacted with Demeter, his gray skin caught on fire.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” Demeter cried out.

“Oh my!” Quinn shouted, “Get inside, Demeter! Jiggle the handle, Demeter!”

“III AAAM JIGGLING IT!!!” Demeter screamed while shimmying the handle.

“Jiggle it harder!” Captain Pelican called to them.

Demeter jostled the handle, screaming in agony the entire time. He shook it so hard that his vampiric strength broke the handle. He stared at it, burning still, screaming for shade. Quinn stared at it too, screaming as well as she watched her security crumble to ash in front of her.

Quin bore the sight of her former would-be security in ashes. She could only whisper ‘Demeter,’ one last time.

“Ahh, well,” Captain Pelican mused, mostly to himself, “You always lose one or two.”

The sun shined on the ship as the crewmates hustled, brooming the remaining water and pile of ash off the deck, tying the sails in place. Quinn stepped in a daze to the bow. Taking in the sight. Sojourn. The New World. Known for its unforgiving brutality, which Quinn had only just met.