Rage and Rebellion (Histories of Havenhearth)

1.8 Cerys

Since the ship had left the port of Albion in Tainland in a spray of sea and a cloud of seagulls, Cerys Woodstock felt like each day had come with it something new, exciting even extraordinary. The first day of the trip alone had shown her wonders of the sea, squalls and rocks sticking out of the water in the middle of nowhere, dolphins, flying fish and even a breaching whale. It had shown her work on a sailboat, how to hoist sails, and about wind directions and waves and storms. It had shown her other ships, merchant traders, protectorate vessels, small local fishing boats.

They had travelled south from Tainland, past the mainland of Fuchsjaegersland, around a cape, where huge sand dunes lined parts of the coast. They passed even volcanic islands and transparent turquoise waters near distant Paoa, and each day ended with the most spectacular sunsets she had ever seen, followed by the most spectacular starry night skies.

She felt she had never been so alive in her own life as she had the day she left. As if each day from before she had left had been in black and white, and now she was living in rich colour, like a picture book, with each page depicting more thrilling colourful and stranger images than those before them. She almost regretted the years she had wasted not exploring, not travelling, not living. And although the scholar, her designated travel companion had been a part of some of this new life, Cerys could not understand why she did not love him. She thought he loved her, and he was someone she would certainly have fallen for in her previous life, but now she seemed to need more. More mystery and excitement. And he was none of that. Bernebe and Cerys had travelled together by ship to Cassion. It had at one point been a dangerous journey, through bad weather conditions. They had turned to each other in fear, finding comfort in each other's arms, but nothing of any consequence had happened and nothing had been made official, and they certainly had not yet shared a bed, but they had become close friends.
She had been so thankful to have him with her, because she would have known even less about Cassion than she did already if it weren't for him, and he had been happy to share his expertise in Cassioni society with her. He had read to her from the book he had written, entitled Havenhearthian Societies at a Glance, which covered all of the lands on the continent including Tainland, Elsa, Fuchsjaegerland, Quirem, Petrovia, Poao, Witwatersrand, Gawa, others he couldn't remember, and their current destination, Cassion, whose section read as follows:
Built upon the cohesion and comradery of its past, the state of Cassion is now among the lands in Havenhearth which are in financial need. Their collectivist ideal is among its current greatest strengths but public safety and personal hygiene are not. The untouchables of Cassioni society are in addition to the ascendency, the legis, and the classes are determined not by birth, but moreso by wealth, meaning that changing class is made easily possible with gold. Teachers, scholars, writers and artists are counted among the high class, whereas most labourers and farmers are of the low class, given that they tend to have less wealth. The Cassioni give ancient forms of spiritualism great importance in their lives, evidenced by the existence of numerous temples.

There are no real formal opposing groups against current Cassioni leadership and this has been so for nearly a century, which is why the flourishing of dark societies and rebel groups has become of recent concern. Perhaps, the current greatest threat to the nation is the rise of illicit substances, and specifically of the recreational usage of Ergot, a hallucinogenic which has a number of side-effects, giving some users apparent physical prowess, others delusions of grandeur, and rendering others into an almost vegetable-like state they become so relaxed. It is unclear what the current leadership is willing to sacrifice to solve this issue or even if there is motivation to do so.

Cerys admittedly did not understand most of what he had written, but she had pretended that she did. Now though, the boat trip from Tainland, a full adventure in itself, felt ages away now. The carriage ride from Vayonne to the hotel in the capital of Normontline, had been delayed, as they had gotten stuck in a hailstorm, having to see shelter overnight and wait for repairs to their carriage, but the ride itself has been almost as enthralling as the boat. Cerys had spent most of it gazing out of the windows of her carriage while Bernebe prepared some documents for his work. The landscape had changed dramatically in only a short time, and they had gone from a coastal zone, where small black pines silhouetted against the sea and sky, overtop a mountain range and then down into picturesque grasslands and river valleys. The most exciting part was seeing the Cassioni's famed mountain forts and wall, part of a vast protectorate network which spread across the tops of the mountains known as the Great Dividing Range, on the other side of which was desert. The fortresses were built at impossible heights amongst jagged cliff sides at inconceivable angles and although they were far away, she was seeing them for the first time, nudging Bernebe to point them out, "I hope we get to go exploring there at some point," he had just nodded, with a half-smile on his face. "Yes," he said, "We have much to learn."