Sunrise was still an hour away, and only the bigger of the two moons was visible through the clouds. Its glow illuminated the peaks ahead: the sandstone ridges of Hartla.
Right on schedule, thought Gunnar.
For the second night in a row, Gunnar had been unable to sleep. This time, he'd volunteered to man the wheel through the night. It felt good to do his own steering sometimes. It put him in touch with the ocean, the wind, and the currents. Beneath his patch, the place where his missing eye should have been was burning. It did that, sometimes. It had never quite healed properly, but that might have had something to do with his modifications.
"I don't know if your friends would be happy about this."
Gunnar looked over his shoulder. He had not heard Adonica Lor's approach. "Then I've got the advantage over you," Gunnar said. "I know they wouldn't be happy about it. And you aren't either, are you?"
"That is a really stupid question."