Re: Ch09 - Legends are Born
It's not too tricky to convince Holly, who has some misgivings about the trip, that sailing to Silvergate is the best course for now. What little you are able to turn up around Rankor Heights points to Captain Octus being a fair man who handles little of the business of buying and selling goods, preferring to leave that to others in his employ. His family is known for fine ceramics and textiles, but he moves all manor of cargo. You're unable to find any direct link between he and Flavius.
You pay Idora for the room and board, and pay Jeremy for taking care of your horses, before heading to Tergan. Being out of the city suits Holly and Mord well, and being reunited with Moonlight brightens Holly's spirits dramatically. It's just few hours ride south to the port. There isn't much more to Tergan than the large impressive docks, a few warehouses, a stables, and a longhouse. There is still a buzz of activity loading and unloading ships' cargos. You marvel at the wooden and iron cranes used to move crates of a very uniformly large size. You've seen these crates before in Silvergate, but never before the cranes. They are wondrous!
The trip is not cheap, over 100 gold, but you have it to spare in Ferisedan gold, which is required here too. Soon you, your horses, fox, and the wagon are all aboard and setting off. The Paulina Belle is a massive and very stable ship. It barely pitches around on the waves at all. That's a remarkable difference from the smaller Triplefang boats. At times your forget you are not on solid ground. This would annoy the more nautical of clan raiders. They prefer to let the seas speak to them through the movement of their waves.
There are only a few merchants on board, and only one other woman - the wife of an empire merchant. The all male crew outnumbers the passengers by two to one. You find out that a female sailor is rare to unheard of in the Empire, but it's not clear as to why.
You are invited (and accept) more than once to have a meal with Captain Octus. He is a friendly, well dressed, bearded man your fathers' age. Octus enjoys regaling you with stories and delights in hearing your bard's tales as well as you personal adventures.
"I do so love Caledonia." That is what the empire calls your clan lands. "There is such freedom here."
"In Carth, where I'm from, and throughout the Empire there is a rigid caste system. You are born into a life and that is what you will always be. If you are born a serf you work your lord's fields, a single unchanging rotation of crops, and tend the same pack of animals your father did. Your wife is chosen for you, and your children take your place in the fields. If you are born a priest your days will be spent in service of the same god at the same church as your father. So too will be your child. Be you prince or pauper your life is mapped out from the cradle to the grave. Even the lords and ladies are paired up by arrangement. It feels as not a single choice in life is your own. People just accept it."
"But not here! The Triplefang man is free to make what he can of his life. The poet can be king. The waterbearer can roam far and wide. The warrior can become a shepherd. And the adventure! Oh, there is much left to explore and discover. Caledonia is a land of wonder."
"This is why I sail instead of tending a shop in a province of Carth. I was very lucky to be born into a wealthy family too large for it's own good. There is no need for me back home. Why I was practically discarded."
Captain Octus spends more than a little time flirting boldly with Sunna. You lose track of the number of times he extolls the virtues of choosing your own wife.
In four days you arrive in Silvergate, back home in Triplefang lands.