Gone Overboard

''In the year 627 ATA, Fastheld's Emperor, Zolor Zahir, commissioned an expedition to travel beyond the Aegis, to the North, to find the makers of a mysterious flying machine that crashed in the Lightholder Crossroads months before. This is the fourth night of the expedition and tensions run high as the expedition, traveling aboard the Pride of Darkwater, nears the Aegis.''

''It is the Ninth hour by the Shadow on Shadowwatch, the 31st day of Bleakdreary in the year 627. It is a quite cold night. A steady gentle breeze stirs over the land. Puffy white clouds fill most of the sky.''

Main Deck 


 * Sixty feet long and wide enough for three to stand abreast between the ship's two poleman's pits, this river cutter's oak deck is scarred with the wear of many journeys and almost as many battles.


 * Forward, the prow looms upward to form a protective barrier of thick wood- to provide cover for archers, for example, or to reinforce the ship for use as a ram. As the keel curves up into its aggressive forward wedge, it forms two sides of a cabin with a pair of hatches, normally securely fastened, set in the angled decking.


 * A similar hatch rests to port, leading to the crew quarters below deck, while the low rising swell of wood that acts as the captain's cabin rests towards the aft of the vessel, a heavy wooden door closing it off from the rest of the vessel.


 * Finally, looming tall and proud over the deck below stands the mast of the Pride of Darkwater; centrally located, it remains roughly seventy-percent of the length of the sailplan, with multiple triangular headsails and a reeving bowsprit. Black silk forms that which the sails are made from, granting the river cutter a degree of striking elegance that befits her position within the Darkwater Fleet.

Ester grips the railing and leans over it even further. She appears to be trying to look at the outside of the ship. "Strange," she mutters to herself.

Standing on deck for a few moments, Vhramis finally turns about to head below decks once again.

Norran currently sits leaning back against the ship's mast, his hand resting on the claymore leaning against an armored shoulder. His expression is distant, remaining quiet as he looks off over the river.

Lucius Nepos walks updeck from the crew quarters with a piece of deer jerky in hand. He quietly munches on the salted and smoked meat, green blue orbs peering out onto the almost empty deck. He does, however, spot Ester and Norran and heads towards.

Ester continues to lean over the railing and look down at the side of the boat. One foot lifts off the ground as she leans even further, straining her neck as she tries to see whatever it is she's trying to see.

As Norran takes notice of Lucius, he begins to slowly draw himself to his feet. His hands rest on the claymore to aide in his rise, taking the blade once he's stood up and returning it to the baldric on his back. This done, he begins to make his trek quietly toward the crew quarters.

"Something wrong, you two? I must've farted or something." Declares Lucius in a half-joking manner, stopping once he's reached the side of the deck. The ship quietly sails on, approaching the Aegis.

"Nothing wrong with me," Ester comments but doesn't move from her position. "Don't know about the Duke though. His business is his business." She shakes her head as she peers down at the water, "I must be seeing things. Strange."

"Too many hours in the cold staring at a wall. I'm going down until the next watch," explains Norran as he passes by Lucius, the sound of his armored boots upon the deck light as he continues on his way toward the crew quarters.

"Fair enough, Norran. Have a good rest if that's your inclination." Lucius transfers his gaze from the armoured man to the woman in black and brown. "What're you seeing, Ester?"

Ester straightens up and shrugs, "River monsters I guess." She shakes her head, "It's nothing. Probably just a log or something."

"Don't you have some Shadow vision to help you see it, Ester? I'm not really sure what it is you can do, see." Lucius replies, also shrugging. "Also.. I want to apologize for the other night. There was no call for me getting emotional."

Ester blinks once, "No need I figured you were putting on a show more then anything." She takes another quick look over the railing, "And I am sorry I was late. I literally came straight from the palace." She smiles a little, "A no I haven't any 'vision' that would help me in this instance."

"No worries. We were all a little bit high strung, I think. People on the ship seem mighty morose to me, lately. Somebody needs to snap them out of it." Comments the Constable, watching the water. "Looks like it's on me. I'm glad to hear everything is straight now, with you and his Highness. And you've taken the mark. Good. The only thing I'm irritated about is how long it's taking us to get out of the bloody Aegis. We take any longer and we'll run out of supplies before we even leave."

"Patience Lucius," Ester replies in a quiet voice. "And don't worry about supplies. There is always food available if it's needed." She smiles a little wryly, "Besides if we're all starving I can alway pop back to a tavern and get us all a nice hot meal." She and Lucius are standing by the railing.

"Now /that/ would be interesting. So you can travel anywhere you want to, at any time? What's stopping you from checking ahead in Crown's Reach then and finding us out our information?" Lucius poses in question, genuinely curious

The port hatch opens with a creak and Syton Temple emerges, rubbing his eyes with one hand as he gropes about blindly with the other. The young freelander makes his way onto the deck, blinking his eyes clear before taking a moment to look about. He huddles in his cloak, pulling its hood up over his head before making his way towards Ester and Lucius.

"Because I haven't been there before," Ester replies simply and offers a nod at the approaching man. "It works through visulization you see." She smiles a little, "So once we are there. I should be able to go back and forth at will."

"Ah, I do. Can you take other people with you, or is it only you who can do that? Also.. what exactly happens when you do your dissapearing act? Do you automatically appear there?" The Constable continues to press Ester for information though it is in a completely detached manner; perhaps he is indeed just out for information. "It's good you're with us, though. If we find this place where the airship came from, you'll be able to go there again I assume." He gives a little half wave at Temple.

"Master Nepos, Mistress Shardwood." Syton greets each with a nod. He seems unwilling to unbundle himself enough for a wave. "I do not mean to intrude," he says, "but I grow tired of the stale air below decks, and I need to talk to keep my face from freezing."

"It is not a problem Master Temple," Ester offers before continuing her chat with Lucius. "I have managed to take a person several times as evidenced by the actions that brought me so much of the recent troubles." She pauses, "There is a small time delay Lucius. I step into the..." she searches for a word, "...the shadows and step out again. Sort of like that."

"No need for titles out here. First names do perfectly. Except when talking to Thayndor, I reckon.. I'm going to call him by his Light given name until he tells me not to, but I don't know how much he'll appreciate it. Good to see you up here though." Comments Lucius with a grin. His expression resumes seriousness at Ester. "Step into the Shadows? Is there some Shadow entity you deal with? Some Master of it?"

Syton quirks a bit of a smile at his companions. "No more titles, then," he says, following Lucius' question back to Ester. He watches her curiously, bouncing on his heels as he listens.

Ester shakes her head, "No no. It's not an entity. It just is. It's just there." She shakes her head again, "It's hard to describe."

Lucius Nepos nods in what can be described as rough understanding. "I can imagine that, it being hard to describe. Of course I don't have any experience with that."

"I would hope not," Syton says, glancing sideways to Lucius for a second, then back to Ester. "That must be a hard thing to live with," he says, smiling suddenly. "Of course, the past few months have illustrated that plainly enough for you."

"I have grown used to living with it over the years Master Temple," Ester explains, seemingly ignoring the declaration about names. "It is not difficult. It's my own actions that are hard sometimes. For we must remember that everything we do is at it's heart a choice, no matter what may influence the ones we make."

"You're never worried that the Shadow itself may corrupt you, Ester? In the way you act? Most Touched that I know are good people, but that doesn't really change anything.. Is it not the Shadow that caused the Cataclysm?" Lucius asks academically.

Syton hmms thoughtfully. He looks between Ester and Lucius as converse, though he adds nothing for now. The young man continues to bounce up and down on his heels.

"That was long ago Master Nepos. It is uncertain what truely caused it," Ester replies after a moments thought. "And no I am not worried that the Shadow itself will corrupt me. It has no desires in any way. It simply is. It is people that make the choice to allow the power...any power for that matter to take over."

Lucius Nepos smiles thoughtfully at both Ester and Syton. "That's good. I'm glad that one's choices are those that corrupt, not the actual nature of their power. Though, certainly, people in power are also in a position to abuse it like it happens. Meh. Guess that's the case with everything, eh?"

"Probably," Syton says, nodding in agreement with Lucius. After a moment of thought, however, he frowns slightly and says, "Still, there is a difference between overtaxing ones vassals and destroying Light's Reach."

Ester looks to Temple after his comment, her expression darkening. She immediately turns away from both of them, grips the rail and stares out into the darkness.

Lucius Nepos sighs at the mention of Light's Reach. "I think that the world of Drakes and the world of men are completely different. Know, actually. What a Drake does we will never understand, because one of them has power greater than all the Mages and Scourges in Fastheld combined. And everybody else for that matter. I've met two of them; Kalath'aria and Val'sharax. Different personalities, if you could call it that, but they shared a similar detached nature to everything we do. Val'sharax, for instance, seemingly doesn't care about us very much but knows every one of our names and every single detail of our life. Whoever they answer to, if they do answer to someone.. must be very powerful indeed."

Syton looks to Ester as she turns away. Slowly, his attention returns to Lucius. He shrugs. "Drake or man, it was the Shadow that destroyed Light's Reach. It was the Shadow that caused the Cataclysm--or so they say." He spares a sideways glance to Ester, then continues, "I believe that the Shadow is capable of being as much a force for good as the man or woman who wields it, but nearly every major disaster in the history of history can be traced to the Shadow. There must be some truth in that."

Ester grips the rail for a moment and tenses as the conversation continues, especially when Syton speaks. "Excuse me," she mutters, turns away from them and strides towards the other side of the ship.

"Perhaps. Then again, the recent Church conduct was almost a disaster for Fastheld, and they operated with the conduct of the Light. Sun's Keep? It is a bastion of torture and death, yet those within it use their powers of the Light. They helped trap a Drake under Halo! I was there when we freed Aisha'taria, who later become Kalath'aria. In the name of the Light? One does not trap a Drake. Drakes are forces of nature and, I believe, operate with the sanction of the Light itself.. or else how would they even exist?" Lucius ponders, belatedly looking towards Ester as she walks off. "Ester? Please, come back. It is simply talk."

Syton takes a single step in pursuit of Ester. He opens his mouth to speak, bit says nothing, giving Lucius a brief, hopeless look before calling after the Marked woman. "I am sorry," is all he says, looking more than a tad lost. Syton and Lucius stand near the railing, their attention on Ester, who is walking towards the other side of the ship.

Ester doesn't say anything as she continues to her destination, the excitement of the *other* railing. She sigh a little and plants and elbow on the wooden surface to rest her chin in her hand.

"I'm not so good at that. The reconciliation." Lucius says in a quiet tone to Temple, which is probably drowned out by the sound of the rushing river to anybody further than two or three feet away. "She'll be okay, let's just leave her be, then. How're you adapting to ship life?"

Call that a precisely perfect moment - Kael, rubbing absently at a sore shoulder, makes his quiet way up from below, that piece of leather that normally holds his hair in check in his teeth. Said hair is wild, rumpled, and obviously slept-upon, though he pays it little mind - he seems somewhat rested for once.

Syton looks regretfully after Ester for a moment before turning back to Lucius. "Well enough, for now," he says. "I am used to having much more freedom than this. Despite being outside of the walls, I feel as though my world is smaller than ever." His back turned, he does not notice Kael's arrival.

Ester closes her eyes and breathes in deeply a couple of times content enough to just stand and do nothing it seems.

"You'll see when we actually /get/ outside the Wall. Your outlook will change. You'll probably see animals you've never seen before.. forests and lands that are unknown and exotic. It will likely excite you." Lucius also does not notice Kael's timely appearance on scene. "And it is that, exciting, but we must exercise and do other things to keep busy. We'll probably be on ship for two weeks."

Kael moves in the direction of the mast, absently tying his hair back once he's up and on deck, flashing a grin at nothing in particular. A glance around the deck drinks in the polemen - and the non-Deeper crew, of course - and it's Ester that gets a merry wave first, a bright. "Evenin', Mistress Shardwood." Of course, he merrily calls across to Lucius and Syton, too - "Y' nae throwin' each other o'er th' side yet? Must b' doin' /sommat/ right."

"Hail, Kael. Not yet." Syton turns to smile and wave at Kael, though his merriment is somewhat strained. "Any idea when that will be?" he asks, looking back to Lucius. "Passing outside of the walls, I mean."

Ester barely lifts a hand at Kael's greeting as she mutters back, "Eve," and grows quiet again. The dark river seems to be quite interesting.

Lucius Nepos smirks a little bit. "'Ey, Kael. I imagine it'd be a problem if ol' Syton over here tried to throw me overboard." He switches topics. "But the river's been moving real slow. Let's hope tommorow, unless we can get everyone at once to start rowing. I don't see why not. This is ridiculous, we were supposed to be outside yesterday. Kinda makes me question our Captain's credentials as a boater. Almost. Anyways, I'm bloody exhausted. I better go get some rest." He pats Kael and Temple on their backs. "You two are on watch for now. I'll be up in a few hours to observe. Gonna send Wheat up, too, to take the watch with you." He turns, approaching Ester and smiling. "Goodnight, Ester. Hope the night finds you in better spirits." Then he's off downstairs.

Kael blinks. "M' on /watch?/" He gives Syton a look. "Now th' are givin' us responsibility - 's a frightenin' thought."

"You can go back to rowing, if you would like," Syton says to Kael with a slight smile. He leans against the railing, idly watching Ester as he speaks to the man beside him. "How are you?" he asks. "Still sore?"

Kael nods. "Gettin' better.. .m' goin' t' try flyin' t'morrow, jus' t' stretch out. M' hopin' I didnae pull sommat, wavin' th' oar around." He takes a breath. "M' jus' glad t' come up here when th' noble sorts are nae decidin' t' be wranglin' wi' each other... I keep findin' m'self wonderin' what 'm supposed t' do."

"I feel the same way," Syton replies, frowning thoughtfully as he continues to gaze across the boat at Ester. "So far, my duties seem to be limited to rowing, philosophy, asking questions without answers, and upsetting people. I could have done at least three of those on dry land."

Kael finally crosses fully to the rail, next to Syton, leaning in conspiratorially, keeping his voice low. "Syton... 's 't wrong o' me t' wonder about all o' this?" He waves a hand. "Nae th' boat, o' th' trip - but about all o' these people 'n ..." He frowns. "I keep hearin' 'em worry 'n fret 'n wrangle, 'n e'erything seems so.. unimportant, y' ken? Maybe 's jus' me - but if yer goin' t' be people, aye? Why woul' y' worry about some o' th' nonsense th' seem t' think matters?"

Syton takes a deep breath, shifting his attention off Ester to look at Kael. He shrugs. "There is nothing important worth worrying about right now, that is all. With nothing to occupy their time, being in such close quarters, doing such a damn foolish thing as this... Well, it is bound to play games with one's wits."

"I donnae hae so many wits th' like bein' played games with." Kael snorts. "M' startin' t' think I spent nae enough time in th' wood - most o' 'em make no sense 't all."

"Do not worry, Kael," Syton replies, turning to face the railing. He looks down into the water. "In a day or two, we will be beyond the wall. Everyone's attention will turn outward, and we may all just be too terrified to insult one another for a while."

Ester stands quietly eyes closed, content to wallow in her own thoughts. She hmms to herself a couple of times. Then suddenly she grunts in surprise and struggles as her arm appears almost dragged over the railing. The with little warning she tips right over it and a splash is heard in the dark water below.

".. s' nae just here - 's more /obvious/ here, aye." Kael frowns, leaning on the rail to look down into the black water, as it streams below - "Been thinkin' about 't fer a while. Th' nobles - I donnae ken, really. Nae supposed to, 'm guessin'. Ye I kin feel, mostly. Alainne, too - but e'en ye two I donnae /really/ understand. I keep tryin', though..." And then there's a splash. A splash is an /unexpected/ sound. Kael looks up, blinking. "Did y' hear that?"

"What?" Syton asks, looking puzzled. He gives Kael and glance, then turns around to look at the rest of the ship. It takes a moment before he blinks. "Ester?" The word hangs in the air for a moment, and before it comes down, Syton is away from his railing. "Oh shit. Ester!" He dashes across the ship to the spot where the Marked woman once stood, having gone from philosophical to frantic in the blink of an eye.

Kael blinks, moving after Syton, already shedding his cloak as he moves, calling - "Ester! Speak up!" A glance then, at Syton, frowning. "Y' think sh' went o'er, then?"

"I don't know!" Syton spits back at Kael. He runs to the port hatch, flattening against the deck and sticking his head down into the crew quarters. A second later, he is back on his feet, and running back to the railing. He peers over, at the dark, rolling water. "Shades, I--I said something to her... We were just talking... she got all..." He screams into the river. "Ester!"

Kael moves up to the railing - for the briefest of moments, those eyes of his ignite, with that red luminance, that inner glow... and then it sputters and dies, the Marked man stumbling and leaning hard on the rail near where Ester once stood, one hand going up to his head, and offering a vaguely strangled cry. Not exactly an auspicious moment in a pending rescue - but he does croak out, "Syton - tell th' Bosun - now!"

The boat continues on it's merry way. The sound of splashing can be heard near the back and growing fainter. A female voice, wafts out of the night punctuated by more splashing, "'ight....shadi...let go...lea...me...gah.."

"Kael... oh shit..." Syton goes to Kael's side, then back to the railing. "Ester!" he calls once more, following the sound of her voice aft along the railing. One more look at Kael, then he cups his hands to his mouth and calls out, for those who haven't noticed already, "Man overboard! By the Light, man overboard!"

Kael shakes his head, eyes squinting, growling against obvious pain... and stumbling with it aft, "m' hearin' sommat, that way - " It's through a haze of something that the young man works as far to the rear rail as he can, using the rail for support - "Ester!"

A couple of crew members who were winding some rope or something like that stop and blink incredulously at the two men running around. "Oyah? Who? I ain't seen nobodies..." he gruffs.

The sound of splashing stops. The sound of the voice stops. The boat continues with the flow of the river.

"Ester Shardwood," Syton replies to the Deepers quickly, moving to the aft of the boat. "The Marked woman." He stops, quiet, and listens for a moment before frowning. "Ester!" he yells in the boat's wake.

Kael says, "Y' bloody well wi' /stop/ this boat.." Kael snarls.. literally snarls, a raw, and animal sound, as he rounds on the deeper, focusing through eyes that aren't really obeying him well at the moment, "O' 'm goin' t' throw /ye/ in, 'n let ye find her yerself." He advances on the man, stumbling a bit, as though quite prepared to follow through with that."

The crewman scoffs a little and walks towards the aft of the ship and peers out into the darkness. "I canna say that'd do much good. Pity as it is. That rivers a might cold and we's a'ready far and beyond and movin' even beyonder." The other pipes up, "If she's so all and powerfu' like she can save herself. Right right?" The other crewman nods, "Aye sides I got orders to git to da wall...we's behind."

"Oh shit..." Syton runs his hands through his hair. He sweats, pants, and looks generally exasperated, peering into the darkness behind the ship. "Kael, sit the fuck down," he shoots over one shoulder, then looks back into the night. His eyes look glassy, and he yells once more, "Ester!" Syton is one of a small group that has formed around the aft of the ship, including Kael and a small number of Deepers.

The water laps against the boat as it floats down the river, otherwise silence.

Vhramis stumbles up on deck, rubbing at his face with a hand, looking generally ill tempered. He looks about the deck, fixing swiftly on the goingons at the end of the deck, and he turns to make his way towards.

Kael rounds on that Deeper - reaching out to grab at the man's clothing - "Ruddy bastard..."

One of the crewman looks troubled, "Been a long time since someone's gone over. Usually they jus git left yah know, specially if they down something stupid...." He cut off when Kael grabs his shirt. "Oyah hey hey!," he yells and pulls back against the man and swatting at Kael's hand.

Syton, meanwhile, is uselessly focused on the quiet darkness that stretches out behind the ship. He stares into it, frozen, taking panicked breaths.

Vhramis wanders up to the group, watching quietly for several moments with a blank expression. He nudges someone next to him. "What's happening?"

With a low growl in the Deeper's face - "Looks like two are goin' o'er then.." Kael's not a small man, by any means - oh, he's no /norran/, but give him time. Regardless, he hoists that deeper, dragging him in the direction of the rail, stumbling and unsteady. Unthinking, he calls out into the darkness behind the boat, "Ester!"

Ester rolls for a Good level with a modifier of 0. The result of the roll is Good.

"Shit..." Syton deflates, turning and walking away from the aft railing. He heads towards the mast, ignoring Kael and his altercation with the Deepers. As he passes Vhramis, Syton mutters to the ranger, "Ester Shardwood went over."

The Deeper growls back and plants his feet firmly on the deck and wrestles against Kael, successfully enough so he doesn't move for. "Let go yah friggin crutch or yer gots more trob commin the it's worth." As he speaks the other crewman lunges to grab at Kael to pull him off.

"Over?" Vhramis' repeats with a small frown "How? When did this happen?" He doesn't bother heading to the railing to look over, instead regarding the assembled men with a sudden intense scrutiny.

Kael lets go, when a particular stumble nearly sends him into the deck, shrugging off the other deeper as he comes from behind.. turning to look aft, doing his best to focus on the darkness.

"Not long," Syton replies to Vhramis his voice sounding clear despite the tears in his eyes. "We were talking, and she walked off. She was leaning against the railing one second, there was a noise, and when I looked back she was gone." He waves towards the back of the ship vaguely. "I could hear here in the water before... now nothing..."

Both the Deepers back off, grumbling and eyeing Kael. "Looks," one of them says, "We can stop the boat, but nots to be all mean like or nuthin' buts if she ain't swam ta shore by nows...well the cold and all..."

"What was the noise?" Vhramis frowns at that, looking over to the water and blinking. "Ester can swim. And do..other things. I really think she'll be ok..and if she became separated, she'll just need to head back east," he answers, rubbing at his chin, staring off into the dark.

Kael does his best to focus on Vhramis - "... 'n yer' willin' t' bet her life on that? Jus' leavin' her out there? E'en if sh' makes th' shore, th' cold kin kill 'er." The young man still nearly snarls the words, his expression a naked worry, though he's clinging to the rail.

"Ester's much more capable than you give her credit for," Vhramis grunts, squinting at Kael as he snarls at him. "But, I'll go over after her, if that's what's needed. Let me just grab something below deck..I need it." The ranger turns on his heels and stalks off to the stairs heading down.

The Deepers step back from the group. "Guess we should tell the Lord. Oyah...he ain't being happy. Our record is broke now."

"We do not need two overboard," Syton says, moving past Vhramis. He stands with his back against the mast for a moment, then slides down to the floor. He covers his face with hands and breathes deeply.

Kael lowers his head, eyes closing. "Yer right.. m' nae thinkin'." He takes a breath. "Wi' go after her come daylight - kin sweep th' river faster, 'n 'f she 's well, 's nae any sense riskin' more folks." He looks up again, to peer back off the aft rail. "I kin find 'er, if sh' kin just make land."

The sound of buzzing forms around a spot on the deck of the boat and the air flickers. A soaking wet and shivering Ester appears. She looks shaken. Her face is pale and blood drips from underneath her chin.

Abruptly pausing at the sudden loud sound, Vhramis turns about to stare blankly as Ester appears, his eyes widening a bit. "..there she is," he states blankly, not seeming to know what else to say.

Kael turns, at that sound, startled, and swaying a bit ... and looking visibly relieved. "Ester - " A bleary moment later, and the sight of blood seems to parse.. "Y' hurt?" The marked man, swaying, starts her direction, fingers fumbling with his cloak clasp.

Ester's return heralds the arrival of Syton's third sudden mood change of the evening. The buzzing, combined with Vhramis's and Kael's statements lift Syton's head out of his hands. He twists around to look at Ester, eyes widening. "Ester!" He scrambles off the ground with barely a pause, coming up in front of her suddenly. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Ester blinks at all men and speaks through chattering teeth, "F.f.fine." She touches her chin and winces a little and adds again, "F.f.fine." She looks towards the railing and comments without really looking at any of them, "Don't g.g.go there. S.s.some..th..ing g.g.grabbed." She sways a little where she stands and lurches towards the entrance to the crew quarters, and almost bashes into Syton.

Vhramis sweeps in at that, reaching out to grab at the staggering woman to try to stop her from walking into Kael. "Easy. Let's just get you under and in bed. And dry." He lifts his voice as he looks back to the watching crew. "Stay away from the rails, she says."

The crewman nod and eye the rail. They start murmuring with each other as they slowly return to their duties.

Kael offers, blearily - "I hae extra clothing 'n m' pack - yer welcome t' 't - " Finally that cloak comes loose, and gets held out to Vhramis - "S' warm, y' kin have 't - 's easier n' rootin' through things." He stays a bit out of reach, deferring to the other man, it seems.

"Ummm..." Syton looks from Ester to the rail. He seems confused, but still quite keyed-up. "Ester, what was it?" he asks, moving to stay with her and Vhramis. "What grabbed you?"

Ester gratefully leans on Vhramis for support as they head towards the crew quarters. "Jus st..stay away," comes a tired reply and then "I need to lie d.d.own. I feel sick. F.f.fine though. Don't f.f.fuss."

"Not much chance of that," Vhramis murmurs, suddenly seeming all the less sure of things, despite his earlier insistance that Ester is fine. He leads her along, bearing her weight.

Kael lowers his hand, and the cloak... just letting those two head below decks. Absently, he makes his way over to the mast, leaning on it, and drawing a careful breath.

Syton takes a step back towards mast, leaning against it beside Kael. "Our first watch..." he comments dryly, pulling the hood back up on his cloak. "This is going to be an interesting trip, my friend." He hums thoughtfully, watching the ship's railing and the darkness beyond.

Return to Season 5 (2007)