Pink World

The process of repairing the Merry Carpe was not easy, but was efficiently done. Roland found watching their work more interesting than the empty horizon. 

Jimmy disagreed, his eyes unblinkingly fixed on distant points Roland thought the man must be imagining. 

It took only a matter of hours to stop the leaks and repair the ship, while ropes were slung between Haf's boat and the Moonless Sea.

The towing process had to be done carefully, with the towed ship under only partial sail; if it had more momentum than the ship in front of it, steering would be impossible and the boat would collide. 

Once everything was ready, Haf gave the order to weigh anchor. The navigator gave his educated guess as to the direction of land, based on their prior position in their own world and its relation to where they had returned on the last voyage. 

The fact that they had departed during a storm last time made that somewhat difficult, but he was doing his best and Roland felt for the man of whom much was expected. 

A random thought occurred to him as he returned to the stern to take his place at Haf's side for the trip's continuation. 

"Uncle, you said the stars move in this world?" He asked, squinting. 

"Yes, that is why navigation is so difficult here," The Commodore shot a look at the navigator, whose face was scrunched in frustration. 

"Stars shouldn't move," Roland continued. 

"This is another world. The rules are not the same here." Haf replied, turning to face his nephew. "Do you have a point you are leading toward?" 

"If the stars do not maintain their positions, maybe the land doesn't either?" Roland guessed. "It is just a random thought, and perhaps nothing, but it did occur to me." He shrugged. 

"Hmm. I'll consider that." Haf stroked his beard thoughtfully. 

Roland put a hand to his own chin. He had begun growing a beard more out of fear of shaving aboard a moving ship than choice of style. The stubble had grown a respectable few-days growth, and he wondered if Finn would like it once it came fully in, or if he would simply give it up and shave as soon as his feet were on steady ground again. 

He smiled at the thought of her, briefly, before turning his attention back to Haf. 

"Ain't no use guessin' at what you don't know," Jimmy chimed in. 

"You seem to do plenty of that," Roland challenged. 

"Maybe I know more than you think I do," The smaller man eyed him. 

Haf's stern look silenced them both, and Roland regretted letting his irritation at the quarter-hafling provoke him to bickering.

Jimmy was worse than Riley in that respect… mostly for the fact that Riley had never endangered Roland's children. 

The helmsman had been reassigned to other duties, as the ship's wheel had been rendered utterly useless. The navigator too, had resigned himself to resting for the time being. At nightfall he would try in vain once more to map the duplicitous stars to discern some pattern they might make. 

It was a fruitless task, but one Haf felt the man should continue to attempt for so long as he was able. 

They had been underway for some time, moving slowly towed behind the Moonless Sea, and Roland took some time to learn more about the way the measurements of speed were taken. It had made him incredibly curious when the Leviathan had yanked them so quickly. 

Haf's lessons had not yet included the topic, and so Roland watched intently as one sailor threw a weighted board over the side of the ship. As it hit the water, one edge floated and the other sank, making it stand upright in the sea. 

It was attached to a thin rope with knots tied at equal distances from one another. One sailor, wearing gloves, let the rope pass through his hands freely, as the one who had thrown the board watched an hourglass. 

When the hourglass ran out, two knots had passed between the man's hands. 

"Interesting," Roland murmured to himself, "and ingenious." 

He wondered whether he would have ever thought of such a method, admitting to himself that Cetoans had many generations of time to come up with things like that for life at sea. 

The wind was fair, but Haf chose to cautiously move, given the state of the ships.

"Are the days as long here, or different?" Roland returned to the stern and asked after several hours. The sun seemed to be creeping along in the pink sky. He imagined it should have been sundown long before now. 

"They vary, along with the stars," Haf answered. "It is perplexing, is it not?" 

"Quite," Roland concentrated on what might cause that. "Is there a pattern?"

"None that we've discerned," Haf responded, "but usually we do not spend extended amounts of time here. We fish and then leave, usually within a week. The creatures here tend to be large and we do not have room for many once they are caught." 

The Rhone Prince wished he'd thought to ask Finn what the stars were like in Faeland. There had been none at all in the Darkness, and the ones here moved. How different were all these worlds? 

Roland yawned after a moment. How did one know when to sleep when the days were not a set length of time? 

"Go and rest, there is not much to be done at the moment," Haf encouraged.

"When will you sleep?" Roland asked his uncle. The man was surely as tired as he was, if not moreso. The pressures of leadership were exhausting in their own right. 

"Soon." The man answered, looking out to the horizon, "but not yet." 

Roland shrugged. He wouldn't keep himself awake for no reason when there was nothing happening. "Well, goodn… afternoon…" He said lamely. He clearly needed sleep more than he realized. 

__________________

Naomi looked with pity on the little girl Mayra brought to join the boat back to Klain. The child's mother accompanied her, while the father apparently decided he needed to stay at home and finish bringing in the harvest so that the family would have enough food on his wife and daughter's return. 

"Keep an eye on her, please? And give this to Finn so that she knows everything I know."

Mayra handed Naomi a sealed envelope, and Naomi nodded. Caspian and Roland had decided that, unless Finn objected, the couple would stay with her during their time in Klain. Naomi vowed to help with the babies, while Caspian thought he might learn more from staying in his cousin's home than a stranger's. 

King Duncan offered his home as well, but Cora and Haf wanted a more neutral place. Since Roland was both the prince of Rhone and the ambassador of Klain, it seemed a good solution. 

Naomi held her hand out to the child. "Hello, there. My name is Naomi." 

"I'm Quilina," The girl said flatly, looking up at her mother, then at Mayra.

"Naomi is a dear friend of mine. She'll help keep you and Lucy company on the boat, and in Klain." Mayra encouraged, and the child nodded, peering at the new woman shyly. 

"Let's get going, we don't want to be late!" Naomi smiled. She wasn't even sure what the schedule was, really. It just seemed like something to say, and the girl looked like she needed someone to talk to. 

The group boarded the river boat, with Lysander and Dierdre already there. 

Seeing a 'child' with dark circles under her eyes, and not smiling, The woman flinched away visibly. 

"Are we sure she's not–" She began in concern, halting mid-sentence before taking a deep breath and switching her tone to a bright one. 

Naomi understood the question, and held up a finger. 

"Quilina, would you like to hear a silly joke?"

She asked, and the child nodded. "What kind of tree fits inside your hand?" 

The little girl squinted at her in thought. "A very little one?" She tried. 

"A palm tree!" Naomi announced, holding up the palm of her hand and then pointing to one of the swaying trees down towards the beach. 

Quilina stared for a moment, and Naomi made a comical show of being disappointed that the joke wasn't appreciated. The child giggled at the the woman's forlorn expression, and Naomi watched Dierdre's discomfort ease. It was well-known now that halflings had no joy or humor. 

"Is she all right?" Dierdre asked Jacqueline with compassion.

"She suffers from terrible dreams," The mother said tiredly. 

"My husband also," Dierdre tilted her head. "Come, let us talk while Naomi watches your child." 

Naomi was tickling the doll's nose, chastising her for forgetting to bring any doll-luggage, cheering up Quilina further. 

"You're good with children," Caspian whispered in her ear, putting a hand at the small of her back to guide her to an available seat on board. Quilina accompanied them and sat contentedly next to the woman.

The smile in his voice sent a thrill of pleasure through her, and she silently wondered whether the travels to come would strengthen their young marriage or test it.