Conversation

Morn sat at his desk, alone once again. Lucy had just departed from the cabin after an hour of discussion.

The two had begun planning for the future of the crew, once it expanded beyond the two. As Morn needed to be mobile and had secrets to keep, he would need a small crew that he could trust. The trust part was mostly solved by the contract, but he still wanted to find people he would trust without it.

The first recruit was obviously Lucy, the ship's farseer. The second would likely be Bel, so long as Morn could come up with a way to free him, and if he actually accepted Morn's offer. Bel would become the ship's quartermaster due to his experience.

Thanks to the ship's ability to pilot itself, Morn could survive with only a small crew, and wouldn't need to hire tens of sailors or a navigator. This meant that Morn could focus on finding a crew for more niche tasks. Aside from Lucy and Bel, Morn would need a craftsman, a healer, a few more combatants, an arcanist, and possibly a thief. Lucy had already offered to be a cook, something he readily accepted as it meant one less person to worry about hiring.

He also needed to decide if he would keep up his act in front of the others aside from Lucy, but he wasn't certain. Maintaining his Rain persona for short times in front of enemies or various people, Morn could manage, but could he possibly maintain it every day in front of his crew? He doubted it.

With various matters to think about and a ship full of people, Morn remained busy for the several more days it took to reach Nauv. He also made sure not to repeat his past mistake, updating Oscairo every night. Unfortunately, Morn didn't receive any information about Novlasbrit from Oscairo, the pirate only saying:

'Never heard of it.'

Regardless, Morn slowly began to enjoy the conversations more as he learned about the history of Palk and random tidbits about Leviathans. Though Oscairo remained fairly tight-lipped about Leviathan related information as he stated 'Most of the information will be better discovered first hand.'

The rest of the day, Morn would study the books in the captain's cabin, test out various non-harmful ideas on the people using his Vaihn spell, and synthesise more gases. Thankfully, due to the navigation abilities of the ship, the short voyage was uneventful. On the fourth day of travelling, the ship finally arrived in Lampfreude, one of the three regions that Nauv travelled through.

His ship somehow tracked the position of the island, making it easier for him to find Nauv, rather than having to hope he travelled to the correct region at the correct time, Paktenbaint. Thanking Oscario mentally, Morn left his cabin and arrived on the main deck, watching as Nauv slowly came into view.

The great island looked majestic from a distance, various lush flowers covering the tops of the cliffs. Nauv was known for its flower fields, though some areas could also be the exact opposite, covered in sand dunes and void of foliage.

Morn enjoyed the sea breeze as the ship came to a stop moments from hitting the island. After the ship came to a halt next to the island, Morn dropped the gangplank onto the low cliffside. Knowing that today they would arrive at Nauv, the occupants of the ship had already gathered on the deck, eager to return to dry land.

The place Morn had chosen to dock was nowhere near major cities, with only a single trading outpost nearby. This was simply because he didn't want to dock in a major city while dressed as Rain. Though his bounty in Palk didn't cause any problems, it certainly wouldn't be the same in a place like Nauv, where mercenaries and bounty hunters could be found on every sidewalk.

In the future, Morn could change the appearance of the ship and dress in his normal clothes. Currently, however, he needed to maintain his identity as Rain in front of the many people he had saved, otherwise his legend would be marred. Eager to ditch his hot robes in the warm climate of Paktenbaint, Morn hurried to the gangplank, de-boarding the ship first.

The occupants of the ship followed, each being handed a small bag by Morn. The bags contained three Lint in change each for a total of 84 lint! That was equivalent to eight silver spirals, which was nearly a golden ral. Thankfully, Morn had earned over 12 golden ral from the Florist's safe, not including the jewellery he would have to sell. The three Lint each was enough for them all to take carriages from the trading outpost to a major city of their choice and rent housing until they could find a job and sustain themselves, or catch a boat off island to another location.

From here on out, they would be on their own. He hoped that they would split up, allowing his legend to spread faster, but he figured many might live together. As he had learned over the last few days, many of the people had been the last survivors of raids on individual houses far from cities, or in small communities. Since the people had grown closer together during their traumatic time as captives, it was likely many would choose to find housing together and support each other.

'Whatever they want to do, it's not my concern any more.' Morn thought to himself.

After handing out the money to each of the 28 people, Morn endured an onslaught of gratitude which caused him to grow embarrassed, something none of the 28 noticed, but that caused Lily to giggle madly.

After giving them directions to the trading outpost based on a map he had purchased in 'Safe Land', Morn spoke brief parting words:

"It was my honour to free you from the tragedy you all endured, godspeed."

Without looking back, Morn returned to his ship, followed closely by Lily. When all of the 28 people disappeared over the hills together, Morn withdrew the gangplank and returned to his cabin with Lily.

"So," Lily stared at Morn, once again occupying his chair, "What's the next move, Captain." Lily put emphasis on 'Captain' to tease Morn.

Over the previous few days, he'd asked her to refer to him as Rain. He felt weird being called captain by someone who knew his real situation.

Morn paused for a moment, "I think the first move is to get you a mask. We'll head to Baghmadia, the City of Celebration a few hours from here. We can try to get your mask and information about Novlasbrit there before heading around the coast to Balkaar."

Lily nodded then spoke with a sly smile "Sounds like a plan… but hey, Captain. I was thinking, you know, now that we're alone-" Lily lingered on the last word for a moment, a devious look in her eyes.

Morn tensed up, his heart fluttering as his mind jumped to conclusions. Thankfully, Morn didn't have to worry for long as Lily continued.

"-What's your name?" Lily finished.

Morn let out a sigh of relief, thankful that she hadn't been saying what he had initially assumed. He was not ready to consider a relationship at the moment! His relief quickly faded as Lily giggled maliciously, reading Morn's brief fluctuation in emotions.

"Hahaha! You totally thought I was asking something else… Anyway, I think it's time we learned more about each other, since we'll be travelling together for who knows how long." Lily giggled.

'Inseers are scary!' Morn thought to himself.

After enduring Lily's mad laughter for another few moments, Morn finally regained his senses and broke away from that train of thought, then considered her question seriously.

'Should I tell her my real name? I mean by contract with her own soul, she can't do anything that would harm me, which would include revealing my real name to others… She's the first member of my crew, and I don't want to hide my circumstances from my crew…' After careful consideration, Morn decided there would be no harm in telling her.

With a small sigh, Morn removed his mask in front of Lily for the first time, smiling awkwardly. His pale grey eyes focused on the floor, unable to meet Lily's gaze. His hair fell down in waves, no longer pinned by the mask's strap. He had a rugged look about him, a combination of days at sea, his physique from years of manual labour, and several other factors.

If Morn could see himself from an outside perspective, he'd be shocked. Perhaps it was a physical change due to the Vaihn, or perhaps it was the look in his eyes, maybe both, but he gave off a charming air that he had never had before leaving Toli's island.

Staring sheepishly at the ground, Morn spoke softly "My name is Morn, ah… It's actually Morning, but people rarely call me that."

A long silence filled the cabin, making Morn grow nervous. After a minute of silence, Morn worked up the courage to glance up at Lily only to look away quickly as he noticed her smiling madly. After a few more moments, Lily laughed.

"Based on the way you wore your mask religiously" Lily giggled, "I totally thought you'd be hiding a scarred face or something under there, but I guess not."

Morn sighed and leaned against the wall, finally regaining enough control over himself to look up from the ground. Staring at Lily, Morn inquired something that had been on his mind:

"Now then, what's your real name?"