Stowaway and Seasickness

“And now the last touch…Perfect. What do you think?”

Nona jumped from the bottom bunk and brushed her bangs out of her eyes before looking at herself in the round mirror hanging on the cabin wall.

As someone used to sharing a tiny room with eight siblings, Nona wouldn’t have minded to sleep in one of the hammocks of the lower decks, just like the rest of the sailors. However, her group preferred some more privacy, so they ended up crowded in one of the empty cabins of the ship that hadn’t been used in quite some time.

“Wow, the mark is completely gone!” She turned around and smiled at Vesper. “Thanks a lot Vesper! You are really skilled at this.”

Vesper chuckled, closing her small makeup box. “It’s not as good as Adish’s Disguise Spell, but at least we’ll avoid compromising questions.”

“Yep, because four-eyes is out of combat for the moment.”

Adish snorted weakly from the other bottom bunk where he had been lying almost since they set sail.

“Now you only need to find a proper excuse for the change of hair–oh crap.”

“Are you sure we can’t do anything to help?” Nona said with concern as Adish reached for the basin, suffering a new strike of nausea.

“Yes, you can leave me alone.” Adish seemed to regret his cutting reply, because his next words came out softer. “I know you mean well, but there isn’t much to do about this. So I’d prefer to be alone to rest.”

Nona pressed Adish’s shoulder softly - or at least softly enough so that he just made a very light grimace - and left the cabin followed by Vesper in the direction of the main deck.

According to Zander’s estimations it would take them between a week and ten days to reach the North Continent. And if it weren’t for Adish’s condition, Nona wouldn’t mind if it took them more time.

She took a deep breath, enjoying the strong wind in her face and the sound of waves breaking against the ship. The morning was sunny and pretty calm. Zander was humming a song at the wheel while the rest of the sailors relaxed on the deck, either taking early naps, playing cards, or training. It was a very different scene than the one they witnessed when they set sail, with all the sailors moving around while shouting maneuvers Nona had never heard in her life.

It didn’t take her much to pinpoint Lorian leaning against the bulkhead of the forecastle. The elf was so focused writing on his notebook that he didn’t notice Thorny sneaking from behind.

“Whacha writing?”

Lorian cursed in elven, rapidly closing his notebook. He glared at Thorny who let out an impressed whistle.

“Didn’t take you for an artist, pointy-ears.”

“Oh, were you drawing?” Nona leaned against the ship next to Lorian, resting her elbows on the taffrail. “Can we see it?”

“No.”

“Come on, we promise we won’t laugh!”

“I doubt you draw worse than Adish.” Vesper extracted her bestiary from her bag and searched for a particular page that she showed Lorian.

“Is that a…?” Lorian blinked, half-closing his eyes and tilting his head. “What is that?”

“It’s supposed to be a worg.”

Lorian blinked again, and without saying a word, he opened his notebook again.

“Wow, you have drawn all that!” Nona said in awe, admiring the drawings that filled Lorian’s notebook. Most of them were landscapes, but there were also a few portraying animals and plants. “They are so beautiful.”

“I remind you I am more than a hundred years old. I had time to practice.”

“Still, I don’t think that all elves can draw like that,” Vesper pointed, smiling at Lorian. “You have a talent for it.”

A faint blush appeared on Lorian’s cheeks as he closed the notebook.

“So? Are you satisfied?”

“Hey, but there were more drawings!”

“Yes, but I’m not willing to share those.”

Nona pouted, but Lorian’s smirk showed that there was nothing to do to convince him.

“C-Captain Zander!” called a nervous-looking sailor from the hatchway. “I-I’m afraid there’s something you must see.”

Zander frowned before handing the wheel to his second-in-command. Everyone’s attention was focused on the nervous sailor, who was being helped by another one to hoist a heavy-looking barrel from the ship’s hold.

“Wait, let me!”

Nona promptly approached, seeing the men struggling. She effortlessly lifted the barrel, but was about to drop it when she heard a high-pitched cry coming from inside.

“You have to be kidding me…” Zander muttered with a mortified tone while Nona carefully left the barrel on the deck. The captain pinched the bridge of his nose and opened the barrel lid. “Isabella, what are you doing here?”

A loud huff came from inside the barrel.

“You promised that you’d take me on your next trip, so here I am!”

“Exactly, I promised you that I’d take you on the next trip, not this one. I told you several times that this one was too dangerous for a twelve-year old.”

“I’m almost thirteen!”

“Isabella, you turned twelve last week, don’t lie!”

“HAH, that’s rich coming from someone who always lies to me!” Nona was about to take a peek inside the talking barrel when a girl with vibrant red hair and freckles suddenly jumped up with her arms crossed, in the exact same posture that Zander had. “You promised you wouldn’t take any risks, and here you are going after that sea monster!”

“W-Who said I’m doing that?”

“Waffle did.”

“Waffle?” Zander dug his left eye on the chunky seal, who was doing a rather poor job pretending to scrub the deck. “You traitor. You’re not having fish for tonight dinner!”

“No!” Isabella, Nona and Vesper shouted at the same time while Waffle dropped the mop with a shocked bark. Isabella then dug her index finger in Zander’s partly exposed pectorals. “If you dare to punish Waffle, I’m throwing away all your alcohol!"

“A-Alcohol? What are you talking about?”

“Waffle told me you have bottles of rum hidden in your cabin!”

“Waffle again?!”

Zander looked about to shout at the seal again, but Isabella’s menacing finger seemed to dissuade him, making him groan in frustration instead.

“You know what? I give up. Do whatever you want, as usual.” He was about to turn around when he blinked at Nona. “Weren’t you blonde yesterday?”

“O-Oh, ah, yes, but–”

“Actually, I don’t want to know. I have enough with that exasperating brat,” Zander said before coming back to the wheel.

“And I have enough with an awful old man like you!”

Isabella shouted with such emphasis that the barrel rocked dangerously, but Nona managed to steady it before it rolled.

“Are you ok?”

Isabella huffed and brusquelly shooed Nona away waving her hands. “Step back, woman. I don’t need anyone’s help. I’m perfectly able to take care of myself.”

About five minutes later, the girl finally managed to get out of the barrel. She offered Nona a condescending look and disappeared inside the hatchway after calling the seal with a caring ‘let’s go Waffle!’ that really contrasted with her haughty attitude.

“That’s why I don’t like tykes,” Thorny said with a grimace. “What a piece of work.”

“Really? You were rather nice to me when I was little.”

“No, I was not, but you were so dumb that you didn’t take the hints!”

“Well, Waffle seems to get along with her,” Vesper smiled observing the seal happily following Isabella to the hold. “That’s a good signal.”

“Her good manners are conspicuous by their absence,” Lorian said pensively. “But I can relate to having a strained relationship with your parents.”

The next couple of days passed by in relative calm - aside from the explosive arguments that flared up whenever Zander and Isabella crossed paths, which was every time the girl needed to leave the hold.

Nona spent most of her time helping the sailors to organize the heavy cargo in the hold and fishing. Vesper performed medical checks on a few sailors that hadn’t seen a doctor in ages, while also reviewing the medical supplies they had. And, surprisingly, even if Lorian initially was trying to avoid Zander as much as possible, the captain managed to convince him that his knowledge of the North Continent could come in handy to update their nautical chart, so they ended up spending quite some time together.

It wasn’t until the night of the third day, while they were all relaxing on the forecastle, when Nona’s group received an unexpected visit.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Nona greeted Adish happily, automatically reaching for the mage’s arm when a sudden swaying of the ship made him about to lose balance.

“Better. I haven’t thrown up since I took Vesper’s medicine.” With Nona’s help, Adish reached the rail to take a good grip on it. He smiled at the druid. “Thank you for that.”

“Oh, you should thank pointy-ears too, hehe.”

“Yes, if it weren’t for the willow roots Lorian gave me, probably the medicine wouldn’t have been that effective.”

Adish stared at Lorian in disbelief as the elf cleared his throat awkwardly. “It is always inconvenient to have a debilitated member on the team. You never know when your fake magic tricks can come in handy after all.”

“They are not fake–” Adish exhaled a tired sigh, shaking his head. “I’m going to go full Nona and focus on the good things. So, thank you for the help.”

“You are welcome.”

“Oh, I’m glad to see you have awakened from the dead.” Everyone turned towards Zander, who was approaching the hatchway carrying a blanket and a pillow in his arms. “I still remember my first time on a ship. Man, my seasickness was so bad that I was about to be expelled from the Marines.”

“Wait, you were in the Marines?!” Thorny snapped.

“Yep, but I quit a few years ago.” Zander looked at Nona with an amused smile. “So even if you happened to be running away from certain flowery organizations, you don’t have to worry.”

Zander disappeared then inside the hold. They could hear Isabelle’s ‘I said I don’t need your help!’ followed by Zander’s ‘And I don’t need my annoying daughter to die from a cold!’ before Vesper sighed dreamily.

“I bet the Marine uniform looked really good on him.”

“Indeed.” Everyone stared at Lorian in disbelief. The elf’s sudden blank stare and the drop of sweat on his forehead showed that he had not planned to say that aloud. “I-I mean, uniforms usually look good on anyone.”

“Care to share your opinion, four-eyes?”

“I don’t see why my opinion would matter in this topic.”

“Because you are also gay.”

“WHAT? I’m not!”

“Wait, you aren’t pulling my horns? You are NOT gay?!”

“And even if he were, it’s totally uncalled for to meddle like that.”

“Vesper is right, Thorny. You are not getting any muffins as dessert tonight.”

“But then why do you have a portrait of a blonde, burly dude in your bag?”

“Wait, did you rummage through my things?!”

“H-Hey, in my defense, it was the first night after you joined. I wanted to be sure that you weren’t a threat!”

Adish kept glaring at Thorny for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

“I can’t say that I wouldn’t have done the same if our positions were reversed.” Adish searched inside his robe and extracted a small portrait. “This is my father.”

Everyone looked at the man in the portrait and then at Adish.

“I guess you take after your mother,” Vesper politely said.

“But he has his father’s eyes,” Nona added.

“He’s my adoptive father.” Adish chuckled when Nona blushed with embarrassment. “But yes, some people used to say our eyes are similar.”

“What happened to your birth father?”

“Thorny…” Vesper admonished.

“He was an asshole who left after finding out about my ‘disgraceful’ magic allergy, deciding I was not worthy enough to be his legacy.”

“Yep, definitely he was an asshole,” Thorny said while Nona effusively nodded.

“You said people ‘used to say’ your eyes are similar."

Lorian's comment made Adish clench his jaw, as a hint of sadness and anger shadowed his eyes.

“He died during the 200-Days Winter that isolated our village.”

A shocked silence fell within the group.

“Uhm…What’s the 200-Days Winter?” Nona asked in a shy tone after a few seconds.

“Wait, you are a Wish Bearer and you don’t know?” Lorian exclaimed, surprised. “Even my people know about this unfortunate story–” He stopped and looked at Adish, who nodded.

“Go ahead.” Despite his serious expression, Adish managed an ironic smile. “Let’s see if the superior elf knows as much as he boasts.”

Lorian simply nodded and proceeded.

“Long story short, there was a pretender that managed to convince an entire town that he was a Wish Bearer. People theorized later that he used the aid of archimage to fool people into believing they were witnessing a proper Revelation. The village was pretty modest, but people used all their savings to help the ‘Wish Bearer’ to rent the best possible ship to the South Continent, where he supposedly had to defeat an epic beast. But it was all a fraud. And when the villagers were unable to properly give offerings to the Goddess in their next festivity, She got enraged. And as punishment, she made a terrible winter fall upon the village for two-hundred days.”

“OK, I have to admit that you did your homework.”

“But I don’t understand…” Nona muttered with a thin voice. “Why was Adish’s village punished? The pretender was the culprit, not them.”

“I told you, dummy,” Thorny said with an uncharacteristic serious tone while patting Nona’s head. “The nature of the gods is unpredictable.”

Nona swallowed thickly, trying to remove the lump that had formed in her throat when thinking about all those people who, just like Adish’s father, had perished for such a wrongful reason.

“...I doubt the Goddess has simply decided to kill you on a whim.”

Nona’s heart skipped a beat, remembering that the reason they were on that journey was precisely because she refused to fulfill that first wish.

She had discovered then that the Goddess’ actions were not always fair; that her Wishes may not be deserving to be granted.

And the fact that she had spent her entire life preparing to serve such a deity made her feel sick.

“OK, let’s lift the mood. Leader and four-eyes make your bets: who will bang the sexy captain first, the bestiary girl or pointy-ears?”

“T-Thorny, lower your voice!”

“Y-You evil fairy, every sailor is looking at us right now!”

Adish burst out laughing while Vesper and Lorian joined forces to try to catch Thorny, who was flying around mockily saying ‘They like the captain, they like the captain!~’.

But for the first time, Nona had to force a smile, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.