New Beginnings (The Arcana)

Churning Tides

Okay, I had a familiar. Minor setback.

I allowed Feivel to run around the ship with me in the hood of my cloak, just for convenience, while I let the pact stabilize. Those few hours were spent feeling stupid for letting that link slip into existence, but I couldn't take it back then. I had more important things to deal with, like focusing on not being caught trespassing and hung at the stakes.

Just before nightfall I had been introduced to the others on the ship, thanks to Genevieve. The tall and gangly redhead from before was Julian, the elderly woman had been confirmed as Mazelinka --per my suspicions--, and the blue and pink haired man was Ezra. If I was being honest, Ezra still bothered me to a certain degree. Getting a good look at him made it easier to see through the obvious glamour that he kept on, and the flaming, shifted form that I glimpsed at earlier was only more grotesque up close. I was sickened by the sight, and Ezra must have noticed when he glared down at me. Nonetheless, I turned away and kept my comments to myself for fear of being caught.

After introductions, I was sent back down into the kitchens and tasked with making the meals for the crew, which was easy enough. Having spent day upon countless day observing Mama's cooking, I could easily admit that I picked up a thing or two. I brought a hand up to my mouth, resting my elbow on the counter as I pondered over what exactly to make for the crew. The first thought on my mind was the risk of an open fire on a completely wooden ship, so I decided to go with a Ceviche meal, which was (down to the barest minimum) uncooked fish.

Nearly the whole crew gave the food a sideways glare when they were served, which made me laugh a bit. I explained the curing process, adding tidbits of detail and information about how the dish was made before stating that it was safe to eat. The looks of awe on the crew's faces as they took the first, singular bite was absolutely priceless with guilt on their foul judgement beforehand. The sight was one to remember.

After dinner everyone had gone off to their cabins, and I followed soon after tidying up the room. The cabin that I (or, the traveler who was supposed to be here in place of me) was assigned was small, but it kept the homely nature that I saw and felt in the rest of the ship. I finally plopped down onto a bedding setup in the middle of the room and passed out, Feivel still cuddled in the warmth of my satchel.

* * *

I awoke the next morning to the soft pitter patter of rain outside of the vessel's hull. Though, when the rain began to pour harder on the iron infused bow, what once sounded like a soft tapping became an angry, raging thunderstorm in only minutes. I sat up from the bedding I had burritoed myself into, exhaustion still tugging at my features. What could've been a slow morning had done a 180 in almost an instant, and I was caught up in the fray.

All at once, the crew members in the cabins beside mine were rushing to get to the main deck as quickly as humanly possible. I scrambled to dress myself, following the imminent panic with confusion plastered on my face. The second everyone was on deck, Mazelinka had begun barking orders to the crew, for what reason I didn't quite know.

At least, I didn't until the proceeding storm began churning the tides below us, sending crashing waves of salt water that slapped the ship around like a ragdoll. It seemed almost as if mother nature herself were livid with us, sending the boat rocking furiously on her tides as we tried to keep it afloat. Mazelinka suddenly turned to me, insisting that I go check on Genevieve and get her up to help with the rigging. Without thinking, my frantic walk turned into a desperate clamber as I made my way from the crew's cabin to the bilge below deck, just barely slipping past the dramatic lurch that threatened to toss me overboard.

I was already on my way down when I met Genevieve halfway, and I yelled a direct "We need you on the main deck!" over the booming thunder. Genevieve nodded, giving me a 'say no more' look before following me back up to the soaked surface. The situation was gradually getting worse the more time passed by, even so much so that the ship was nearly out of everyone's control. The waters were so violent beneath our feet that the ship had begun to make a sudden tilt against the ocean's waters, and it didn't show any signs of stabilizing.

There was a small scuffing noise in the folds of my cloak before Feivel popped out of the fabric, nose wiggling in fear of the situation. His appearance sparked an idea, and I reached for Genevieve's hand. "Hey! You do protection spells, right?!"

"What does that matter? We're going to tip!"

"If I lent you my power, we could stabilize the ship with a barrier!" I exclaimed, avoiding her question.

At that her eyes lit up with determination, and we allowed ourselves to reach the side of the vessel closest to the water. With Feivel near, I could use him as a catalyst to concentrate my magic into energy and lend it to Genevieve. And I did just that.

With a valiant push and a great exertion of energy, the ship was set back up to sit properly on its rudders. Only the efforts to keep it that way weren't finished, and we continued to switch between helping managing the rigging while we rode out the storm to keeping the ship afloat. In a single moment of calm, I noticed that we had been missing someone. "Where's Ezra?" I called out to no one in particular, but everyone shared the same look of worry. There was a blinding flash against the sea, forcing the murky depths to stirr with an unnatural force. Almost as quickly as that moment had come, it had crumbled around us, and we lost control.

My adrenaline-rushed mind circled back to the memory of Ezra's vividly hazy glamour. That thing that I saw, under the humane facade... I still didn't know what it was. I still didn't know if he was exactly human. It wasn't natural.

But the storm wasn't natural, either. I didn't even have to use my magic to know that an otherworldly force had an influence on the notoriously untamed sea.

What if it was Ezra's doing?

As insane as the idea was, it was the only conclusion that my mind was willing to make at that moment. Almost the second the crew had given up, Ezra made his way onto the deck to help out and rush us into the fray again.

And almost as quickly as it'd come, the storm had suspiciously left without explanation.

The waters had calmed down, setting the ship back on its course. Finally, everyone could take a deep breath.

We ended up with about half the supplies and cargo that we started the voyage with, which --thank Apollo-- also meant that we wouldn't stop at any other settlements along the way to a city called Vesuvia. After a lengthy discussion, Mazelinka and Julian made their way back up to the quarterdeck.

When we finally arrived at our destination, I decided to depart from the crew with the hopes that I would never have to see them again, especially the pink haired monstrosity that I had begun to grow suspicious of. Maybe, if I was lucky, I would catch a boat ride home before Mama chewed me out for all I was worth. I waved and said my goodbyes, stepping from the gangway onto the pier of a shining new city. Feivel peeked out from the hood of my cloak, sniffing the air out of the same curiosity that filled our minds. I rubbed the bridge of his snout, and became swept up into the crowd of other departing passengers. I could instantly feel the familiar giddy rush that bloomed in my chest as I looked around, and I began to imagine the endless possibilities that Nevivon would never give me.

I ditched the idea of returning home, knowing that I couldn't leave then. Not when a new adventure could be just past my fingertips.