Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Desert Suns

Darya watched the spice merchants walk off of the Calamity and back onto the peer, signalling to the crew to begin offloading her goods into the empty wagons that lined the one side of the pier she was moored to. The other side of the pier began filling up shortly afterwards with wagons filled with the gold and spices she had just negotiated as payment for the rare Dromean fruit, teas, and alcohol that she had purchased from the island nation they had stopped at before heading south.

They had sailed from Watersbreak after dropping off the pirates, having received word that the Foxglove and Comet were being redirected back to Morningside after their last run, on de facto orders from her sister through Tisaso.

She had been updating Tisaso, her sister's friend, and the Duchess of Watersbreak. Word from the Foxglove had come, explaining the situation Darya had rescued the limping Ivenmers' ship from. Darya had been hunting pirates, and the pirates had been about to stumble onto an unescorted ship that contained the future ruler of Clairval, and someone that Morningside wasn't on speaking terms with. Not that Darya believed for a moment that Val or Tisa would have done anything different, but there would be people aligned with them that would fume about a missed opportunity.

They'd agreed that Darya would hold off on more pirate hunting for the time being and the Calamity had left port alone, leaving the Comet to catch up and assist in the escort to the Capital.

There had been words from her sister waiting for her in Dromea about the fact that she had saved and provided escort to the Princess-Heir, though Darya couldn't tell if Val was upset that they hadn't tried to run the Princess down for some sort of political concession, or if it was because Darya hadn't tried to politick like a good noble-born.

In fact, Darya hadn't even attempted to meet the Princess at all. She'd had no desire to talk to whomever was on the ship and had given the Captain of the Foxglove permission to escort whomever it was to a place of safety.

Instead of waiting for her sister to respond to her brief response that had explained she was on a private trading mission currently, Darya had stocked up on goods in Dromea and then headed south. Toward Tanjerya, port city of the hot desert republic of the flying horses, where they loved Dromean wines and offered good deals on anyone with goods from the north. The journey had taken a month from Dromea, which was a couple weeks away from Clairval itself, though there had been no messages waiting for her.

Which was odd. Birds often outraced ships. Which could mean that Val had given up or her sister was furious at her.

Possibly both.

It was easier for both of them when Darya stayed far away, seeing as how Val often disagreed with her choices and blatant disregard for the political climate of Clairval. There had been no word from any of Darya's informants in Clairval either, nothing signalling that they needed her back home, or that Clairval had finally burst into flames fanned by the egos of the Peerage and bureaucrats.

But once she had arrived in Tanjerya, the itching to venture far afield that Darya usually got, the drive to continue a larger circuit in search of new ports and opportunities, was missing. Instead, she felt an unfamiliar pull to go home instead.

The sun overhead beat down on her as she watched the exchange of goods, though her crew had the process well in hand. And the dry salt air scratched her throat until she left her ship and walked into the market, slipping through the shaded alleyways past market stalls selling everything from jewellery to spells to food that made her mouth water.

Darya walked alone, though she knew that she was being watched. Whether by the agents of merchants she had dealt with, the Republic's senate, or other rogues with hope of some sort of advantage or payday, the moment she had stepped off the ship, she had been followed.