The cloaked figure we met on the dock stood before them and lowered his hood. Soft blue skin that reminded me of a fish’s glimmered in the sunlight, his neck gilled with four slashes that opened and closed as he watched us. His bright yellow eyes staring at us as we took him in, he seemed to be used to this.
His ears and figure seemed to be cut similar to an elf’s, but the pointed appendages had earrings and smaller pointed growths that spread along the bottom of them. His face was a little more fishlike, and his nostrils were slitted, though he had a slight point of a nose. He wasn’t hideous or anything, but he wasn’t a looker.
“You done gawkin’?” He asked pointedly, and I nodded before he turned back to the crew. “All right, you miserable bastards! These here are our guests, Storm Company. They be makin’ their way across the sea to the Continent o’ Beasts! Now, none o’ you sorry dogs better be givin’ ‘em more a hard time than anybody, or expect to have to swim! They mean to help us protect the ship and each o’ you, though why I don’t know. You’re all, the lot o’ you, the sorriest set o’ sailors I ever laid my golden eyes on!”
I looked at the others and thought. Is there going to be a mutiny on this bitch?
The first mate looked up and pointed up at the sailor in the rigging, the sailor’s eyebrow raised slightly, and the first mate hollered, “Especially you, Taejon! I ought to beat you for your insolence!”
“Said the same thing to yer mother, boy,” the older sailor howled back, and the rest of the crew laughed.
I expected the sailors to all be berated, but the first mate began to laugh with the rest of them and turned to us with a grin. “Sorry, all o’ you, this is a little joke we like to play on people. We don’t get many guests, so we try to have fun. The crew is as well-oiled and prepared for the sea as our fine ship is, you’re all in good hands.”
I could get behind a crew like this, I thought to the others, then added, “Well, you had us all fooled. Listen, we were thinking about something and wanted to run it by you, if you had a moment?”
“Of course, what is it?” He stepped closer while the crew milled about behind him curiously.
“We wanted to offer you one of the rooms back,” Balmur stated before I could, looking over to Bokaj for him to continue the conversation.
“We have a way to create a space for us to rest and recover in.” The first mate seemed surprised but remained quiet while the ice elf spoke. “With that, two of us will sleep out in the room itself, while the others will be in this space. That way, you can communicate with us and us with you, and your crew doesn’t have to be completely cramped in their quarters.”
He blinked at us. “Mighty kind of you all for a bunch of strangers.”
“We’re about to be cramped on this craft for a while, sir,” Jaken explained with his normal easy-going tone. “Better that we try to make everyone happy and be as accommodating as we can so that it’s more of a pleasant voyage for all.”
“Well, I’m Joesa Webbost, first mate o’ this ship, and I’d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude for that to the lot o’ you.” He reached a slightly webbed hand out for us to all shake before he turned and called to the sailors. “Get your asses in gear! Best sailors today get the swanky bunks!”
Everyone except Taejon moved with an urgency to get their work done, making Joesa snort and turn back to us. “We’ll get this lot sorted out later. Tonight, you’ll dine in the cap’n’s quarters with the cap’n. For now, let’s talk a watch rotation. Any of ye are more than welcome to patrol the deck at any time, just mind the sailors and their workin’, and we’ll be fine. We’ll need a couple bodies at night, though.”
“We have someone in mind for that.” I grinned, knowing Yohsuke would be able to keep watch at night and likely would be fine. “He sleeps during the day, so he’ll be good enough at night.”
“Excellent.” Joesa brought out a small piece of paper and pulled out a monocle on a small stick that he held in front of his eye. “I do believe that we were also promised assistance with provisions?”
“Yes, we have barrels that are enchanted to keep food fresh far longer than it should be, and a barrel that always has fresh water in it.” The enchanting process for both had been surprisingly easy to come up with and the component I had used for the food barrel had been a finely cut piece of amber and a little ice magic from Bokaj. The water had been very easy, and little imagination was needed to make it.
I pulled both of them out of my inventory easily and set them down before the first mate to inspect, “There’s no food in here.”
“It will be full later on,” I assured him, “Once our cook is awake for the evening, he will put our food stores in the barrel and seal it properly, as well.”
“Very well then.” He nodded and scratched the paper with a long fingernail before looking back up at me. “Would you be so kind as to take these into the cargo hold?”
“Certainly.” I smiled at him and lifted one of the barrels before glancing at Jaken. “You mind grabbing the water one, bud?”
“On it!” Muu launched himself forward and grabbed the barrel before Jaken could. The other man just shook his head, and the two of us marched toward where Joesa had pointed us to. A large grate with a latch and a hook attached to it stood open as the crew pulled out several items they needed to clean and treat the ship with for maintenance. We walked the barrels down the wooden steps, they creaked and groaned a little under Muu as he walked, and I resolved to have Bokaj take a look at them when we got a chance.
I found the other barrels of food easily enough by the smell of salt and blood. But there was another scent mixed into the air that I wasn’t quite as familiar with. It smelled of wildflowers, baked goods, and strawberries.
“You smell that?” Muu asked over the calls of the sailors above us.
“Yeah, what is it?” I found myself drawn to the back corner of where the food was.
They are close. The whispering wind of the Air Primordial flashed through my mind. Find them for me!
I shifted into my fox form and hopped onto the top of the barrels, Muu calling, “Hey, what the hell are you doing?”
I ignored him and set about sniffing my way toward the object that I had found caught a whiff of. There was a scent of sweat mixed into it now, and I could hear a soft grunting sound. I launched myself over the last barrels and landed just above a small creature. Big, almond-shaped brown eyes looked up at me out of a messy batch of black hair before a cry of “Fox!” Echoed in my head. Hands snatched at my vision, and I was scrabbling not to fall into the child’s fiendish grasp.
Muu tore his way through the barrels easily, shoving them aside until he towered over the small creature and reached down to lift her and me out of the cubby she’d tried to hide in.
I fought like the dickens to safely and gently extricate myself from her grasp, but she held on for dear life. “No! He’s my fox, and you can’t have him!”
“He’s not a full fox, kid, and he wants to be let go,” Muu tried to explain calmly. Her grip tightened around my throat, and I growled evilly.
She yelped and let me go, so I shifted into my fox-man form and regarded my assailant. A small girl with a button nose and a smattering of light freckles watched me curiously, no taller than three feet she had to be some kind of halfling or something.
“What are you, mister?” she asked quietly.
“I’m Zeke, and I’m a kitsune.” I pointed from myself to Muu. “This is Muu, and he’s a dragon-kin. And both of us are surprised to find you here. What are you?”
“I’m Odany, and I’m not sure what I am.” She seemed to be more curious about me than anything, so Muu sat her gently on a barrel.
“Where are your parents?” I asked, and she shrugged. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I was brought here by someone in a ship as a baby, spent about ten years tryin’ to figure out a way back home.” She shrugged and held up her hands in defeat. “I don’t have none, I guess.”
“You found a stowaway?” She hollered and lifted her chin to look farther back. “I’ll go let Joesa know, thanks!”
“Oh, no!” The girl squirmed and tried to escape our grasp; it was actually difficult to hold on to her she was so strong. What the fuck was she? “They’ll throw me overboard to the sharks!”
“No, they won’t,” I assured her. “You are a very special person, and we will take care of you.”
Muu nodded and mentally put out the call. We need you guys on deck. We found a stowaway, and Zeke says she’s the final elemental champion.
Seriously? Balmur called out excitedly. We’re coming!
“Come with us, Odany.” I held out a hand, and she eyed me uncertainly before she grasped my fingers and hopped off the barrel she was on easily.
We escorted her up the stairs to the waiting first mate, who had a grim expression on his face. “I see you found a bottom feeder.” He raised his chin and called out to the others. “We’re still close to shore, get the plank ready, let’s see if she can swim!”
The sailors around us hooted and hollered, all except Taejon, who shook his head sadly.
“Belay that.” The first mate’s gaze shifted to me as I only said it loudly enough for him to hear. “We’ll pay her way, and make sure she’s fed and behaves well.”
“She’s a child that you just found on a ship.” Joesa narrowed his eyes at us distrustfully. “Unless you brought her on board to try and save money, or you seem to like children, which will get you cut here, I do not understand why she needs to be here.”
I rolled my eyes. “No one I know likes kids that way, and the suggestion alone is call for an ass-kicking where I come from. We don’t want to see her die, and she’s also a key component to a quest that our group is taking on.”
“Quest?” The first mate perked up. “You have a quest to find children?”
“We have a quest to find special people who will do great things.” I nodded down at Odany, who looked both scared and excited to be above deck. “And I can prove that she’s destined for greatness. Watch.”
I motioned for the sailors to step back away from her, and knelt down in front of Odany, “Hey, I’m going to show you a magic trick, do you want to learn?” She nodded enthusiastically, and I smiled at her. “I want you to hold your hand up into the air and say, ‘wind come, I summon you.’ You have to really want it, though, okay? Can you do that?”
She frowned, and I could feel the presence of the Wind Primordial watching, waiting.
The little girl closed her eyes and let go of my hand, she frowned and her little eyebrows knitted together. She lifted her hand and cried out, “Wind, come here, I summon you!”
A gale-force wind slammed into the side of the ship from the aft and bow that rocked all of us almost onto the deck, the course we had been on slightly changing. Joesa bellowed loudly over the noise, “All hands, mind the mast and the sails! Rild! Straighten our course, woman! All hands to your stations!”
The gusting gale whipped around all of us, tearing at loose clothing and hair whipping around each person with Odany in the center of the small maelstrom. As I worried that the wind would see us wholly off course, it stopped and died down to a breeze. She opened her eyes in confusion. “No wind came.”
She frowned up at me, and her hair whipped back and forth as a towering wind elemental formed next to her. It stood easily as tall as I was, and as thick. Holes in the concentrated gust were where the mouth and eyes should have been.
“You need to name it, Odany.” I encouraged her as she stood rooted to her spot on the deck in shock. “It’s waiting for a name.”
Should we be concerned that it’s so big? Bokaj asked from where he stood near the mast with his bow out and an arrow drawn.
Maybe it will explain? I hoped as I watched her.
“I’ll call you Dusty!” Odany finally raised her hands and launched herself at the windy figure, and it silently caught her.
My child will speak to none other than her, for that is her choice. The whispering of the Wind Primordial in my mind became deafening for a moment in his victory. You have completed your quest. I will speak to my brothers and sisters of this, and we will visit you together, soon.
I found myself grinning and looked fully toward where Joesa watched us in shock and nervousness, then I pointed to where Odany and the elemental played. “The kid stays. You’ll get extra gold with her passage as well. Talk to you in a bit!”
He just nodded, dumbstruck, while Muu and I coaxed Odany and Dusty toward the rear of the ship and the rest of my friends. It was time to fill them in on what could happen next.
Chapter Twelve
The group of them stood in a small semicircle around both Odany and me with her large elemental friend dancing in the slight draft of air on the back end of the ship. Every now and again we would catch sailors watching us then scurrying back to work.
“Dusty says that you all are weird,” Odany piped up finally, making me glance down at her. The funneling elemental simply stood there. “She doesn’t like how all of you are staring at her, she’s self-conscientious.”
Balmur blinked and glanced at me, and I shrugged. She won’t speak to me, but having Odany as a mouthpiece, for now, isn’t too bad.
“She says that the furry one is supposed to train me on how to use my magic?” Odany looked at all of us before everyone’s eyes settled on me.
“I will, but wind isn’t necessarily my forte, so I can really only teach you theory stuff until I can access the magic myself.” I frowned at her, then at the elemental, “Why is Dusty so big?”
“That’s not a nice thing to ask a girl, mister Zeke.” Odany frowned at me angrily, then cocked her head to the side. “She says I was too strong to risk one of the older siblings coming here. My call tore her through instead of a design-ated one.”
“How are you so strong?” Jaken asked, and I found myself wondering the same thing again.
“Dusty says it’s cause my aff-nity with wind and magic both are real high already.” She shrugged and left it there.
“But why,” Muu asked as he dug into his pocket. “Listen, if you will tell us why I have something sweet you can have in trade. We have a deal?”
She eyed him steadily, then looked to Dusty, who just shrugged back, likely not knowing what sweet was. Did elementals eat? I’d have to ask sometime.
“Deal’s goin’ fast, take it or leave it…” Muu waved his hand in front of her face, and her head moved side to side along with it like a dog trying to scent for a treat.
“Fine!” She finally barked. “But the sweet thing first!”
Muu narrowed his eyes at her. “Promise?”
“I promise!” Odany smiled, and Muu relinquished her treat. A small piece of something tan and red in his scaled palm. “What is it?”
“Saltwater toffee.” She seemed a little skeptical until he popped another piece into his mouth and groaned in delight. She did the same and immediately grinned and chewed loudly, making my skin crawl.
Yeah, I’m one of the people who hates noisy eaters. It’s just a visceral reaction on my part, but it sucks. Gross.
“So spill, what’s so special about you?” Muu pressed her.
Odany looked at Dusty intently for a moment and then turned back and shrugged. “She doesn’t know.”
She went back to chewing, and I had to stop Muu from freaking out by putting a hand on his chest.
“Okay, so like Dusty said, I’ll be teaching you how to harness your powers.” She regarded me as her teeth beat the toffee into a paste, making me close my eyes to rein in the fit of chills running down my spine. “To do that, we need to harness your mind and creative abilities. So we start with meditation.”
“Whassat?” Odany bounced toward me, her eyes huge.
“It’s where we
sit and focus our minds so we can draw on our power.” She frowned and shrugged, following me to the side guard-rail of the ship.
Water lapped at the belly and wind whooshed by as I explained the process to her, which made her sigh exasperatedly multiple times.
I opened my eyes to find her standing on the rail with her arms out to the side for balance with Dusty watching silently.
“What are you doing?!” She turned sharply to look at me and slipped, her arms waving as she pitched backward.
Time seemed to slow as I mentally ordered Kayda to swoop down and catch her if I couldn’t get her myself. I pushed my body into overdrive and lurched forward, so slowly.
Kayda’s sharp cry caught my attention as I frantically searched below the side of the ship and saw the child skipping on the air, almost like how Bea could. Kayda’s blue feathers flashed across my vision as she snatched Odany up out of the spray of the surf by the back of her shirt.
The flailing girl smiled and howled excitedly as Kayda deposited her onto the ship’s deck.
“Okay, none of that.” I growled menacingly at her, but she just giggled and ran about some more. I focused on my bond with the Primordial Elementals and called to the wind, Hey, what’s with this kid?
I felt nothing for a moment, then a breeze crossed my nose, and a scent of ozone reached me. Her control is unlike anything you can comprehend, all you need to do is guide her. She needs no true teaching in meditation, or accessing her mana—she does it naturally. Teach her to harness her natural gifts and mind her until you make landfall.
Out loud, I snarled, “You expect us to babysit for more than a month?!”
The Wind Prime’s voice was chilling as it replied, And your reward is coming, druid. My brothers, sisters, and I currently decide how to divide our blessings to you all. Or would you rather we abstain?
I rolled my eyes and turned away, looking out toward the sea. “I’m not going to train her anymore until I understand how your powers work, Wind, it’s dangerous to expect her to understand what I’m talking about when you and I have no connection other than a shallow one.”
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