What it Costs

Piper found Winnifred staring fixedly out to sea, her dark hair being swept about by the ocean breeze - nearly a mirror of herself just a handful of nights ago, Piper thought. Tentatively, she made her way to stand beside her cabin mate and friend. 

The sun had just begun to set over the horizon, blessing the white-tipped waves with a streak of golden hue. Piper wondered to herself how far it really stretched as she failed to catch sight of any sign of land despite how hard she strained her eyes. She realized then how long it had been since she had taken the time to look out at the vastness of the great and dangerous Clarimo Sea during the light of day. 

"The Maw of the Dracticos Isles should be to our north, just out of sight." Winnie announced suddenly, pointing a sturdy finger to their starboard towards the unseen island, all the while still fixing straight ahead. Piper glanced in the direction, while Winnifred continued. "That puts the largest of the Isles that marks the seas of the Mer to our far south." 

"That would place the deserts of Padasiras straight ahead of us." Piper said after a moment of thought. Winnie smiled.

"Yes, but they are a long ways off yet."

"How can you be so certain of our place in the sea after so many days? Have you been out to sea before?" Piper questioned. She of course knew by now how sharp her little friend was, but still found it hard to imagine she could pinpoint their location without so much as a map or compass at hand.

"I haven't even seen it before stepping aboard," The girl admitted, "but I've read about it all my life." 

"Must have been pleasant, to have the leisure to learn so many things." Piper said with a warm smile that Winnifred only returned thinly.

"I do wish it had been." 

A moment of silence passed between the pair, the only sounds to break it being the combination of the lapping waves and crying gulls with the boisterous chatter of the mess behind them - like two worlds battling for their attention. 

Winnifred folded a curl of hair behind her ear as she at last turned to meet Piper's eyes. 

"Have you ever heard of my home? The village of Torgarth?" Something was off about the way she asked the question, Piper thought, but could not place her finger on it. 

"I'm afraid I haven't," Piper admitted apologetically, "I have rarely stepped foot in the Fourth Quarter." 

"Even if you had ventured into the quarter frequently, you still would have never heard a whisper of Torgarth." She stated matter-of-factly.

Piper was confused by this. "Well perhaps not if I had no business in the region, but if the militia had called for us in the Fourth Quarter for some business with the Elves or the like, surely I might have had some interaction with the village and its people."

But Winnifred was already shaking her head, interrupting Piper with a bitterness she had never seen in the girl.

"You would not have, Piper, because it no longer exists." 

Piper was taken aback, it seems as if Winnie's eyes had come alight with purple flame as she resisted the reflex to allow a tear to cross past her eyelid. 

"I suppose that isn't quite right," She continued with a cross between a sob and a laugh, "it never existed in the first place."

Piper laid an affectionate hand on the girl's back. "I'm not sure I understand. Was your home attacked? The Elves have been growing evermore restless with the lumber mills in the borderlands, so I've heard." 

Winnifred answered the question with another: 

"Do you know what it is like to have done something you believed to be right, only to spend the rest of your life regretting it?" 

A grim smile played on Piper's freckled face at the query she did not expect. "When I was just a little girl," She answered, "no more than eight."

"What is it you did?" 

"Defended my mother from a monster. It was the first time I'd ever held a firearm." Piper said coldly.

"And what did it cost you?" Winnifred asked in almost a whisper.

"The life of my uncle." She responded with just as much ice in her tone, only softening to explain when she witnessed Winnifred's shock. 

"Little did I know those were some of the last days I'd see my family before they'd choose to give me up. I'd floated orphanage to orphanage until Brackendow took me in." 

Winnifred finally broke her gaze from Piper's, nodding slowly but with understanding, and turned her gaze back out to sea. "Isn't it odd how such seemingly noble acts can spiral lives in ways never before imagined?" 

Piper was formulating a response while trying to keep up with the wild turns the conversation had taken, when she was spared the trouble.

"Thank you, Piper," Piper hadn't realized that Winnie was smiling warmly at her, "sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in my own past, I forget the struggles of others."

Piper snickered, slightly embarrassed. "It was nothing really, haven't given it much thought in many a moon." She lied. 

Before she could realize it, Winnie had wrapped her arms around her waist in a tight embrace. Startled at first and nearly knocked off balance, Piper lightly returned the hug, thinking at that moment that Winnie reminded her much as she imagined a younger sibling might, and still had some semblance of a little girl despite her occasionally queer behavior and manner of speech. 

"I apologize for running off, let us return before the officers notice we've gone." 

Piper, not eager to add to her reputation of being the ship delinquent, couldn't agree more. The pair turned back to the mess and not a moment too soon - First Mate Volgull was listing out the daily duties to be completed by each department aboard the ship. 

He shot the pair a dirty look - a habit they had realized he was rather fond of - as they re-entered the mess, but continued his droll announcements in his steadfast monotone tempo. 

Emeline smiled with relief as the two returned to their seats - a smile that Winnifred returned to show no apology was needed. 

"Cutting it close to a scolding you are." Horace half-whispered. 

"What ever do you mean?" Piper queried. Horace jabbed a thumb towards the First Mate in response. 

"Capt'n Tartan's giving the Journey's Brief today, tell me ya haven't forgotten." Piper knitted her brow and frowned, slowly shaking her head. She began to tune in just as Captain Tartan stepped forward. 

"-you are well aware, we're heading West in order to recover and escort a couple of vessels back to port," Emeline met Piper's eyes, giving her a nod, "today I have been given permission from the Commander's desk to provide more information as we sail closer." 

There were general whispers and excited murmurings at this, which quickly quieted down at the Captain's next intake of breath. 

"Around three moons past, two naval vessels, the Leviathan and SS Ironwind, set sail with a diplomatic emissary for the Perdakon Sultanate to establish positive relations with the ruling Sultan. While both ships arrived in a timely fashion, we lost contact with them two days out from Pelandar, somewhere in the Fourlands Sea. After close to a full nock, we received a brief phonowave transmission from the Leviathan. It was long enough to signal distress, giving coordinates further out West into the Clarimo Sea. No word was spoken regarding the Ironwind, and nothing has been heard from the crew of her. 

As we grow closer to the last known location, I expect each sailor to maintain their station with the utmost vigilance. It is entirely possible the vessels became stranded due to malfunction or storm, but that has yet to be determined. I will provide more information as it becomes both available and necessary." 

Captain Tartan concluded these important remarks void of any pomp or flourish, and after a few closing announcements from the First Mate, the crew of the Lockjawe was back to business as usual. Though it seemed as if the clamor of the galley seemed to carry more electricity. Piper couldn't help but share in the excitement of the mission ahead; she fought this internally of course, telling herself that her position would provide little involvement in the aid of the stranded sister vessel. She deigned not to entertain conversation regarding the matter, and instead poured her attention into her plate. This was made a greater difficulty considering she could almost feel Emeline's stare penetrating her flesh, clearly eager to compare what they had just learned back to their earlier conversation. 

Horace was the first to break the silence with a scoff, to which Micah shot a questioning glance. 

"Don't rightly know what all the excitement is for," he began, prodding his fork at what remained of his chow, "story seems pretty straightforward to me." 

"How so?" Emeline queried carefully.

Horace shrugged. "That Leviathan's a mighty fine ship - only a few roats past her maiden voyage - from what I've heard she's as swift as they come. Problem is that old smoke-belcher. Why the two would be paired together is the only real mystery." 

Micah knit his eyebrows. "You mean that Ironwind?" 

Horace nodded, swallowing a mouthful. "Was more rust than iron the last time I laid eyes on that floating tub - and that was when I was just a boy, when Pa took me to the city. Can't imagine it's gotten much love since then." 

"So the Ironwind's stranded, and the Leviathan's stayed to help?" Emeline asked. 

Horace snickered, "That'd be the best case. That ironclad should've been scuttled cades ago, so I wouldn't be shocked if a storm sent her under." 

Emeline and Horace went back and forth with curious theories bordering on an almost childlike excitement, accompanied by the odd question from Micah or matter-of-fact statement from Winnie. Meanwhile, Piper tried her best to push it from her mind and go over her duties, assisted by a mental visual of a number of diagrams from Azariah's journal, but something the Captain had said kept tugging at her attention. 

No word was spoken regarding the Ironwind, and nothing has been heard from the crew of her…