Chapter Text

It was nearing midday and the sea was calm. Eerily so. There were no wherries in the air, no dolphins in the water. The winds had gone still, slowing the Seawing down to a bare crawl. The weather reports when they’d left Fort Sea Hold a sevenday prior had indicated a small storm, but Tiernan had a bad feeling about things. There was nothing scholarly about his feeling; it was more gut instinct than anything that could be solidly defined.

“Captain,” one of his deckhands called. “Should we turn around? Or try to maneuver around it?” Tiernan smiled in amusement. The deckhand was an apprentice, who they’d picked up at Fort Sea Hold. He had struggled with his seasickness for a few days, and was just now becoming adjusted to calm seas. He’d need to have a word with the Master who assigned him to the Seawing about making sure apprentices had at least one extended trip under their belts before they were to complete the long trip down south.

“It’s not supposed to be that severe, I’m sure we can sail through it. We have a schedule to keep, and the lack of wind is putting us behind enough already,” Tiernan said. While the supplies they were taking South weren’t perishable, they were important. Gauging by the conditions, Tiernan assumed they had at least a few candlemarks before the storm began.

He set out to begin preparing his ship for the worst. “Tie everything down!” he ordered. “Last and most important of all, yourselves.” Squirt had already hidden himself in the Captain’s cabin, and was refusing to come out. That, more than anything else, was sign of what was to come. Squirt hated to be stuck inside; since his Hatching, he’d been permitted to fly around the ship at his leisure.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The sails had been tied down, slowing their progress even more. Tiernan had gathered all of the maps and sealed them in a waterproof tube. He would figure out where they were after it was through.

The apprentice deckhand stood nearby, fidgeting anxiously. “Where were you born, apprentice?” Tiernan asked.

“Lemos, sir,” the apprentice replied.

“Lemos? So the only boats you saw as a child were riverboats?” Tiernan said with some amusement.

“Aye, Captain. I had hoped to be assigned to a riverboat. But... I told the Master that I’d been out to sea...”

“Ah, so now the confession comes out. Well, I can tell you honestly, if this is your first sevenday out to sea, this storm will likely cause you to rethink your choice of crafts,” Tiernan said.

The apprentice’s eyes widened in shock, and he hurried off to busy himself below decks.

“Bos’n!” Tiernan called out, summoning Boatswain Falorgan.

“Yes Captain?” Falorgan responded quickly.

“All ship’s maintenance is up to date? Everything’s waxed, tarred and tallowed?” Tiernan asked.

“Aye Captain. She’s as good as she’s going to get,” Faloran answered. “I think the storm is going to be far worse than we were told though.”

“I agree. The last time I saw the the sky this dark it was a hurricane near Ista. But we were at port then, so it wasn’t nearly so bad,” Tiernan said. He’d been at sea for hurricanes before, but never as Captain. “I do hope that we’re wrong though.”

Tiernan kept his gaze focused on the sky. Dark, angry butts had hidden Rukbat from view, and he knew from the rise in humidity, and the feeling of electricity in the air that the storm would be starting shortly. Nodding to himself, he did one last walk of the ship. All non-essential crew were below decks, and absolutely everything that could be tied down had been.

He stopped at the Mess Hall, where his crew was collected. “Alright, quiet down, I need to talk to you!” he shouted to be heard over the ruckus of anxious sailors. “I know most of you have been through this before, but there are a few new apprentices who’ve not weathered their first storm yet. If you go above deck, or return below deck, you are to check in with the Quartermaster. If you see anyone go overboard, inform either myself of the Quartermaster immediately. Don’t try to help them yourselves or you might end up overboard with them. When you’re above deck, make sure you’re tied down. We don’t want anyone going overboard if we can prevent it. And don’t take this as an excuse to take to drinking too much, we’re going to be rotating people up top, so be ready for your shift.”

As is typical, if you see a leak, take care of it to the best of your ability until the carpenter can have a look and see what he can do. Understand?”

“Aye aye Captain!” came a chorus of responses. Tiernan grabbed a wherhide jacket, which had been coated in order to resist water better. He pulled on a knit hat and took a deep breath as he surveyed his crew.

“Alright, now that that’s all cleared up, who’s seen my bottle of rum?”

The ship’s cook walked over to him and handed him the bottle, which he took a hearty swig of. “Alright men, let’s show this storm what the crew of the Seawing is made of!”

After a few shots for fortification, Tiernan stood next to his First mate at the Helm, waiting for the storm to begin. The winds were beginning to pick up a bit, and the waves were starting to get bit higher than normal. “How’s she responding to the wheel?”

“It’s not bad yet,” Paraner said. “I don’t think this storm will be as bad as you feared, sir. Just a squall.”

Tiernan shook his head, “Honestly, this is one occasion where I hope that you prove me wrong.” Light rain drops began to fall, splashing lightly on Tiernan’s face. To the Captain, the raindrops were mocking - deceptively non-threatening. But he wasn’t going to get too comfortable. He still had the sense that it was going to be a big storm.

“We should untie the sails, try and take advantage of this bit of wind, at least until it gets worse,” Paraner said.

“I fear that this will go from just a light drizzle to a very intense storm in short order,” Tiernan said. “But I don’t want these supplies to be late, else I’d just have us try to steer around it.”

“I think you’re right about that, I doubt this one will be worth trying to avoid,” Paraner agreed. Tiernan silently hoped that his First Mate was correct.

A half candlemark passed, and the storm hadn’t increased in intensity, and Tiernan was beginning to wonder if he made the wrong decision. He’d been a Captain for around 2 turns now, and he still had moments where he doubted himself. Swearing under his breath, he decided to give the storm another half candlemark before making his decision.

Mere moments after the thought of waiting occurred to him, the wind picked up strength drastically, tossing Paraner and Tiernan about at the helm. He quickly struggle to right himself, an action that was made far more difficult by the rain that was now falling in sheets. The wind was whipping around so much that the water seemed to be coming from in front of the ship, rather than from the side. Tiernan was not fooled.

The Seawing bucked from side to side, as wave after wave crashed into her. The few crew members who had stayed on the deck scrambled to keep their footing on the slick wooden deck, and Tiernan watched as one slammed into the side of the ship with a sickening crack that Tiernan recognized all too well. Tiernan stumbled down to the main deck, struggling to identify the man as he approached, whose identity was masked by the large hat and jacket that he was wearing.

As he got closer, he recognized it as the ship’s carpenter, a man by the name of Galliet. “Gall? Gall, are you alright?” Tiernan asked as he sunk to his knees beside the man.

“Aye Captain,” Galliet responded, his voice strained as he attempted not to cry out with pain. “I... My arm. I fear it’s broken,” he said after a moment.

“I’ll help you get below deck to the healers,” Tiernan said. The ship was bucking too wildly for him to pick Galliet up, but he managed to half carry, half drag the burly man down below the decks. “Hawthen!” He called out, trying to find the Journeyman Healer who was on the Seawing.

“Aye Captain?” The healer responded, carefully making his way over. “Oh... Galliet’s been hurt, that isn't good.”

“No, no it’s not,” Tiernan agreed. While every seagoing apprentice was required to have basic ship repair skills, their carpenter was nearly as vital to their survival as their cook was. And he wasn’t going to do anyone well with a broken arm.

“I’ll get him fixed up as best I can, Captain,” Hawthen said. He quickly removed the jacket from Galliet’s form, and managed to get him into a small cot where he would be more comfortable. The jacket removed, Hawthen gave Galliet a dose of fellis, and inspected the broken limb carefully before gesturing the Captain aside.

“I’ll do what I can, sir, but this is a bad break. I couldn’t set it properly out here even if the ship wasn’t shaking like mad, and the bone is through the surface. If we don’t get him back to shore sometime soon he might lose the limb - or worse,” Hawthen said.

Tiernan shook his head. “Who knows how long we’ll be stuck out here at this rate,” he said. “Do what you can, make sure he stays comfortable. Talk to me before you try to amputate, or if he gets any worse, you hear?”

“Of course, Captain,” the healer said, cleaning his hands with redwort. “I’ll concentrate on getting it set a bit better, and stopping up the bleeding. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the winds will push us towards the Northern Continent quicker than we’d hoped.”

“If only we could be that lucky,” Tiernan said dryly. “I’m heading back to the deck, hopefully I won’t have any more patients for you.”

“I hope so as well, Captain.”

As Tiernan departed, he almost immediately went back on his words, as a particularly strong wave send him sprawling awkwardly into a wall. He hit his head, although not hard enough to cause serious damage.

“Oh sweet Faranth, how much worse is this going to get?” Tiernan said aloud. But the storm had just begun, and he knew that it wouldn’t be over that easily.

Tiernan rubbed his head quickly before looking down at his hand to ensure that he wasn’t bleeding. His ears were ringing, but he wasn’t certain if that was because of the blow he’d taken, or because of how loud it had been above deck. Tiernan straightened for another attempt to go above, then was knocked back down as someone was propelled into him as the ship bucked once more.

It was apprentice Fievan. His face was white with fright, and his eyes were wide. “S...sorry sir, I was told to replace Galliet above. My father works as a Woodcrafter. I know some about repairing boats,” he explained quickly.

Tiernan felt his heart go out to the boy, who looked to be around 14 turns. The sea wasn’t the place for him, and he knew it. But they needed every man they had working, and that meant that he couldn’t precisely force good help to stay below decks. “Be careful,” he said.

Tiernan hoisted himself up, and was astonished by what he saw. Despite the fact that everything had been tied down to the best of the crew’s ability, a few barrels had come loose, and were careening about as the ship was tossed by the waves. Tiernan pointed to one, and shouted to Fievan to be heard over the wind. “Get that one below deck, I’ll grab the other,” he said. The wind was now strong enough to bend him over double. The wind was bringing the bow of the ship around, and as a result, the Seawing was being propelled sideways through the water. “Well, that explains why we’re getting bucked around so much...” he said softly.

Ignoring the barrel for the moment, Tiernan moved to the helm, where his First Mate Paraner was fighting with the wheel. “I’ll take over here,” Tiernan said, wrapping the rope that was about his waist around the ship’s wheel to ensure that he stayed in place near it.

“Aye aye, Captain,” Paraner said.

“Grab that barrel over there and chuck in below, and see to it that Fievan knows what he needs to be doing,” Tiernan commanded, as he fought with the wheel to bring the ship about to face properly. “We’ll break up into half candlemark shifts at the wheel,” he added. “This is too strenuous of work for anyone to do for long.”

“Yes Captain,” Paraner said, as he left to go wrangle the errant barrel into a less damaging location.

At the helm, Tiernan was fully at the mercy of the storm. The rain drops that were falling hit his face with force hard enough to sting, making it difficult for him to keep his eyes open. He squinted hard, trying to determine what direction the wind and waves were coming from so he could steer the ship accordingly. After some though, he decided it best to stop fighting the waves to maintain course, and instead just to allow the water to push them about as it would, and to deal with the consequences later. He’d worry about where the water had taken them once they had a good clear night.

By now, the storm had been raging for over a candlemark, with no signs of slowing. There was no doubt in Tiernan’s mind that what they were in the middle of wasn’t no tiny summer squall - it was a full blown hurricane. And despite the fact that Tiernan had steered the ship to best avoid the full force of the churning seas, it was still a constant battle with the wheel to keep the ship steady.

All of the sudden, it became easy to manage for a moment, and Tiernan had a glimmer of hope that perhaps they were reaching the eye of the storm. But then the storm punished him for his optimism, as a huge wave came up over the side of the Seawing, crashing directly into Tiernan. Tiernan lost his grip of the wheel, and forced down against the deck. The force of the impact forced the air from his lungs, and when he gulped to refill them, he got only sea water.

Coughing and sputtering, Tiernan grabbed ahold of the ropes that held him to the wheel, and pulled himself up to a standing position.

“Captain, are you alright?” Second Mate Uvannt said, clapping him roughly in the back. “Paraner sent me up here to relieve you, it’s been a half candlemark,” he explained, roping himself to the wheel in much the same fashion that Tiernan had.

Tiernan nodded, as he continued to cough sea water up from his lungs. Uvannt assisted him in getting his rope untangled from the wheel, then turned his focus back to the task that was steering the Seawing safely.

Tiernan headed back below decks once more, grabbing Fievan as he passed. “You’re shift up top is over, get back down where it’s safe,” he directed.

Hawthen was waiting for him below decks, and wrapped him quickly in a mostly dry fur blanket. “You alright Captain?” He asked.

Tiernan nodded, “Yes, I think I’m alright. How’s Galliet.”

“The arm is splinted, and he’s had enough fellis to put him out. I can’t do much more with him until we get to calmer waters,” Hawthen said.

Tiernan nodded his understanding. The longer the arm remained unsplinted, and the wound unstitched, the greater the chance that it would become infected, or worse, require amputation. Tiernan sighed deeply. In his 2 turns as a Captain, he’d done rather well for himself, rarely having anything more than a minor injury aboard his ship. This would be the first real test for him and his crew. He just hoped that everyone made it out alive.

“Can I get you anything?” Hawthen asked.

“Rum. Just rum.”

Tiernan sat down heavily on a bench in the Ship’s Mess, glad that all the furniture in the room was solidly built, and connected to the ship. Fieven sat down across the table from him, his eyes unfocused, and his entire body trembling.

“Are you alright, apprentice?” Tiernan asked, handing his bottle of rum across to the young boy.

“I... I think so sir,” Fievan said. The ship rocked hard, and Fievan was almost sent sprawling, but caught himself at the last moment. Tiernan frowned as the wood of the ship creaked and groaned it’s protest. So far, they hadn’t had many issues with the ship’s structure, which he was glad of.

“So how old are you? And what made you want to come to sea so badly?”” Tiernan asked, trying to distract the boy from his fear.

“I’m 14, sir. And... I came to sea in hopes of meeting my Da,” Fievan explained.

“I thought you said your father was a Woodcrafter?” Tiernan asked, wondering if the boy had lied about that as well.

“My Ma’s husband is a Woodcrafter, yes. But Ma has never had any children with him. The only reason I’m around is because of a fling with a Seacrafter,” Fievan explained. His face was beginning to look a bit green as the ship shook. It looked like he hadn’t gotten past the sea sickness after all.

“Ah... I see. Did your Ma give you his name?” Tiernan asked.

Fievan answered, but his words were stolen away by the creaks of the ship. He said it once more, and Tiernan almost heard what he’d said, but assumed that he’d heard incorrectly. On the third repetition, however, it was clear. “Fieranan.”

“Fi...Fieranan?” Tiernan asked, to be certain that he wasn’t imagining things. The apprentice nodded. “That’s my father you speak of.”

Fievan’s jaw dropped, and Tiernan continued to study him quietly. The boy had his father’s sandy red-blond hair, that he could see. And now that he was focusing, he had to admit that the shape of his nose, and the color of his eyes were oddly familiar. “You look a lot like him,” Tiernan said finally.

“Th...thank you,” Fievan said softly.

“After we get out of this mess, I’ll see about taking you to meet him, but you should know that insofar as my mother’s concerned, he’s always remained faithful to her,” Tiernan explained.

“I.... I’d really appreciate that. Captain. Sir.” Fievan said, stumbling over his words a bit in shock.

“But I want you off my ship. The Seawing is no place for an apprentice who’s never been out to sea. A Riverboat would be a better life for you. You could have a real family, if you wanted one,” Tiernan said.

“Do you think he’d like me?” Fievan asked.

Tiernan braced himself as the ship shook once more. “I don’t think he’d know what to do with the fact that you were prone to sea sickness. But yes, I think he’d like you.”

The family moment was broken when seasickness overwhelmed Fievan, and he wretched into a bucket next to the table. Tiernan reached across the table to rub his half-brother’s back comfortingly.

“Get back above deck as soon as it calms down. The fresh air would do you well,” Tiernan said, before standing to take his shift at the helm.

As Tiernan got back above deck, he noticed that winds were calming somewhat, and the rain was no longer coming down in horizontal sheets. It looked like they were finally getting into the eye of the storm. Tiernan breathed a sigh of relief. They needed a bit of a break to regroup and to tend for Galliet, and anyone else who’d gotten injured.

Uvannt was still at the wheel, looking considerably older than his 29 turns. “I’ll take it over for a while so you and Paraner can rest. You’ll need it,” Tiernan said.

“Aye Captain. I have a feeling that the worst has yet to come,” Uvannt said.

“I hope you’re wrong, but I’m inclined to agree. We got through the first half without too bad of incident. I doubt we’ll be so lucky again,” Tiernan said. Tiernan looked up at the sky one more, and pointed to a ray of light piercing through my butts. Once more, the wind had died down, and the seas were calm.

“Go tell Hawthen that his best shot to set Galliet’s arm will be now, and send up Fievan. Hopefully we can get his stomach settled a bit before the storm picks up again.

“Aye Captain,” Uvannt said, before disappearing below.

Finally having a moment to breathe and catch his thoughts, Tiernan considered what Fievan had told him. He didn’t believe that the apprentice was lying— after all, he bore a strong resemblance to his father— but he couldn’t believe that his father would have had relations with a woman. Especially not one who was already married. Despite what people said about seafaring men, and the fact that he was often away for months at a time, Tiernan had never seen his father so much as look at another woman. How was he going to look his father in the eye and tell him he had another son? And how would his mother react?

He was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of Fievan wretching over the side of the ship. He cringed in sympathy for the apprentice. “You going to make it?” He asked.

“I think so,” Fievan said.

“Just make sure you get down below before the storm starts up again. The last thing we need is you getting swept overboard because you’re too sick to keep your feet beneath you,” Tiernan said.

“How long do you think before it starts storming again?” Fievan asked, noticing that once more, dark butts covered the sky.

“Hard to say, since I have no idea where we are in relation to the storm right now. I’d assume soon, though. You might want to clean your bucket out soon, though,” Tiernan said with a grin.

“Aye.... I think I should go do that now,” Fievan said, and disappeared back below.

In the distance, Tiernan could see the rain begin to fall. It was one thing that he’d always found amusing about the sea. Since it was so flat, you could frequently see the edge of the storm from outside it. You could be standing in a sunny patch, and watching a torrential downpour directly ahead.

Tiernan braced himself, and shouted out to his crew. “Batten down the hatches! We’re coming back into stormy seas!”