Following Sentha, I shifted the bag on my shoulder since the strap was a little prickly.

It was summer now, in full. It was too hot to wear anything too baggy, and so my shirt wasn't really thick enough or covering enough skin in my opinion. Since it was too hot otherwise. But keeping it thin, which kept me cooler, made it harder to carry this blasted bag that was so prickly and itchy.

I needed some kind of towel or cloth, to put under the strap and on my shoulder… would I start bleeding? It felt almost as if it was about to bleed. As if it was scrapping that badly.

At least we weren't traveling to another city or something. Just going from here to the nearby dock. An hour or so at most. I could endure that.

Maybe.

"Sweating quite a bit there Brandy," Sentha said without even glancing at me. In fact as far as I was aware she'd not looked at me in quite a few blocks.

Which meant she was either just teasing me, or could hear my strain from my breaths alone. Probably was doing both.

"I'm not used to this heat… it never got this hot back home," I said, defending myself.

"Aye… and you an otter? Yes? I guess I can understand that," Sentha said, a little too happily. As if amused at my own dis-comfortable predicament.

"What are you, Sentha?" I asked as we turned into an alley. One that had a bunch of boxes lined up against one of the walls. They looked… empty.

"Me? A much better suited creature for the heat and hard labor! But worry not about it. All you need to worry about is your new friend," she said as she finally turned to look at me.

Although Sentha had a smile on her face, and sounded happy, I could hear the undertone of discomfort. One that was… similar, but not the same, as mine.

She wasn't struggling because of the bag on her back though, loaded with spices. She had another issue. One that I was starting to realize was… rather common, for some reason, amongst those in the Society.

Not everyone liked to share what they were. Or are. As if it was some important secret that you only shared with your closest friends and allies.

Some, like Oplar or the others who I had traveled with down south here, didn't seem to mind sharing such things at all. But maybe it was more a personal thing, not something to do with what they actually were.

Non-humans were rare nowadays, but not so rare that one needed to hide it completely. Not yet, anyway.

"Why would I need to worry about a friend, Sentha?" I asked as we left the alley and walked out onto a new road. One that had fancy stones and even lampposts. They weren't lit, of course, since it was midday… but I hated the idea of them being lit even at night. I bet they made it hotter.

"She's a shark. A predator! And you an otter? A river fish? Haha!" Sentha laughed, rather loudly, and did so in a way that told me exactly what she meant.

I smirked a little at her, and decided to not correct her on her misunderstanding.

I was a river creature, but I wasn't a fish.

Or… well…

Maybe I was…?

For a tiny moment I doubted my whole existence as I followed Sentha to the docks. I tried to remember all the books I'd read, and the teachings of my teachers. Quite a few times I'd been told, and read about, otters. Hard not to, since it was what we were. Of course we'd be taught what we are.

The drawings had always made us look like some kind of weasels or something. River rats, one book had called us.

Surely not a fish… right?

Pushing the thoughts away, I decided to focus on something else. Namely the pretty woman I was about to part ways with.

"How long have you been a member, Sentha?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh most my life. I joined with my older sister, not long after my parents died. They were eaten by another one of us, some big jerk with huge teeth. The protector hunted him down and we met him while he did, and we joined that way," Sentha said, speaking rather happily as she did. Although she spoke of something obviously painful, it was also something she found she could speak about with pride.

I envied that, since I hated telling people where I was from and how I had joined.

Sentha hadn't asked for mine in return, though I expected she already knew. Oplar and her family had been the ones to bring me here, and handed me off to her. They had likely told her everything, every little bitty detail. Especially since I had taken a small nap upon arriving, since traveling in this heat even in a wagon had been torture.

In the future I'll need to figure out how to answer such a question without being odd about it. Especially since it was in all honesty, an innocent and gentle question.

But I hated the idea of telling people how helpless I was. Or had been.

My joining the Society had been a pure fluke. Happenstance. And my story before that was even worse. I had been the princess of a foolish kingdom, one brought low by its own hubris and pride.

I hadn't joined on purpose. I had simply been found, saved by members who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Though… maybe Sentha's story was the same?

"I was saved by Vim too. Do most join through him?" I asked.

"No. Not really."

Hm…

Before I could ask another question I was led through another alley. This one though led us to the docks. Ones that were so busy and noisy, I had no chance to say a word to Sentha or get a word in response as she led me to a ship.

The boat was huge, with several big sails that were currently all folded up. I almost couldn't comprehend how big it was; even as we rounded it and walked down the pier it was attached to.

It was so big, the shadow it cast over the pier cooled me off. By a noticeable degree.

We eventually reached a large bridge looking thing that connected to the boat. Though not to the boat's top area, where one worked the sails and guided the ship. It instead led straight into the ship, as if into a window.

"Come on," Sentha didn't hesitate to step onto the bridge and head up it. There were two men standing near it, both with swords. They both stared at us, but must have recognized Sentha since they hadn't stopped her… or me as I followed her onto the bridge.

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It luckily had little rope guide-rails, which was more than most of the larger ships around us had. But the bridge ended up being not much more than a fancy plank of wood by the time we reached the ship itself. Plus it was angled in a way that made me feel unsteady, since I had to crouch a little as to enter the ship and pass through the entrance.

Inside the ship was hot. Hot enough to make me almost regret joining this merchant vessel.

"Sentha! How've you been lass?" a man noticed us entering. As I stepped down the small stairs that led to the floor, I glanced behind me at the hole we'd just passed through.

It was indeed just a window. And it looked like we were in a small storeroom. There were barrels and boxes everywhere, with people coming and going and picking them up to take them elsewhere.

Was this how larger ships were loaded? Seemed… stupid. Why not use a crane, or make a latch that opens farther below?

While Sentha spoke to an older man with a colorful rag wrapped around his head, likely thanks to the hot stuffy ship, I studied the boxes around us.

I could smell food in them. Grains. A lot of it. The sight of all the boxes made me try to calculate how much food it took to sustain a ship such as this.

A lot, likely. Which meant this massive ship, which looked like it could hold countless boxes of goods… most likely had half or more of its hull full of supplies. Supplies it'd not be able to sell.

Made me wonder how such a ship made profit. I looked forward to learning more, and…

"Oi!"

I jumped, bumping into one of the boxes I'd just been studying as I looked up and found someone new.

A woman. A very dark skinned woman, who looked as if she'd been burnt thrice over on a pan, was glaring down at me with a look of utter disappointment.

"This? This thing? Really Sentha?" the woman asked loudly as she continued to glare at me.

I gulped and wondered if this was the supposed captain. The one I'd be working for, for the foreseeable future.

Did her skin hurt…? She had lots of little bumps and stuff all over. As if her darker skin was actually because of burns.

"If you want to complain do so later. I have to go spend the night with the Sisters and I have zero plans to give them a letter. If I do that they'll make me carry more elsewhere," Sentha said, not sounding too bothered by the loud woman's voice.

"Bunch of…!" the woman was about to curse, but stopped herself as she glanced me up and down.

Why were so many of our members so loud? Oplar and her family had been too.

"My name is Brandy…" I introduced myself, but didn't hold my hand out. The woman's hands, like the rest of her, looked like they had been recently burnt. Badly. I worried if I touched her it'd hurt her, they looked that bad.

"Hmph. Come on then. You get off my ship then, if you're job's done, Sentha! Or else I'll toss you over myself!" the woman shouted at Sentha as she turned and walked away.

Hurrying to follow her, I waved lightly at Sentha as I passed her. "Thanks, Sentha," I whispered lightly, since I knew it could be many years before I see her again.

"Safe sails, Brandy," Sentha said simply, then turned her attention back to the man she had been talking to earlier. As I left the room, following the burnt woman, I glanced back again… and noticed how Sentha stepped a little closer to the man as she spoke. The way she smiled up at him, and fluttered her eyelashes at him, told me all I needed to know.

Had he been a member too then…?

Was everyone on this ship members of the Society…?

It was daunting to realize that the Society was so… affluent. So massive and powerful.

This ship alone was likely worth more than the whole fleet my family had owned, and we had been a legitimate kingdom! And supposedly this was but one of many? Of many fleets? And there were entire nations, and regions, under the Society's banner too?

Maybe my plan to earn my place in the Society was… a bit more of a dream than an actual plan after all.

"I'm told you're an otter. Pure-blooded."

Blinking, I nodded… then realized she wasn't able to see me nod. "Yes Ma'am," I answered, as I would my teachers.

"I'm no ma'am. Call me Captain."

"Yes Captain. Though I'm not sure what you mean by pure-blooded," I said.

"Your parents. Both O'them otters too?" she asked with a glance over her shoulder.

I nodded.

"Then you're of pure blood. Simple."

Was it…?

We rounded a corner, entering a larger hallway. One that had people in it, a few of them were carrying the same boxes I'd just been studying earlier.

Passing the men carrying the boxes, who were walking slowly because of their heavy load, I wondered why they didn't just… unload them. Carry the stuff in smaller pieces, maybe. Or maybe make some kind of rail system. The hallway was big enough for one.

"Up we go," the captain said as we reached some stairs.

Or at least, I hoped they were stairs. The tiny stairwell was so thin, so tight a squeeze, the woman barely fit. And she wasn't fat at all. I had to turn a little, since the bag I carried wouldn't fit otherwise.

We rounded a corner, ascending to another level, and then out into another hallway. This one was almost empty, with the only other person in it, way down the way… looking almost all the way down the other side of the ship. I didn't get to figure out if this hallway actually went along the whole ship though, since we eventually stopped before some doors.

The captain pointed at one of the doors. "That there's mine. This one's you's," she said.

I noted her speech, and wondered if that was an accent I didn't recognize… or if her slight slurring of words was from her disfigurement. Her lips, like the rest of her body, were blotchy and scaly as if from bad burns.

She opened the door to my room, and I found it really couldn't be called a room much at all. It was made in a similar way to that stairwell we'd just used. Thin and tiny.

A few feet into the room was a bed, with an empty shelf right up above it. There was enough room next to the bed to reach a window, which was barely bigger than my head, and right below the window a bucket.

"You toss that out over there, Ne're the deck-rail," the captain said with a new point down the hallway. In the direction of the distant man, who was now turning down a different hallway.

"Deck-rail…?" I asked as I stepped past her as to put my bag down onto the bed. I'd empty and sort it later.

The captain sighed at me. "That much you need to learn'ah?" she asked.

I nodded a little gently at her.

She didn't seem too bothered, even though she had sighed at me. "You're my mate. From this day forward you' takin' care of me," she said as she pointed at me.

"Mate…?" I asked. Please tell me she didn't mean it the way I was interpreting it.

"Aye. Wake me. You'll deliver my orders. Prepare my food, and such. You sent to learn, you will learn by doin'ya?" she said with a smile. One that was wobbly and revealed perfectly white teeth.

At least that part of her seemed fine. "Alright… I can do that," I said, agreeing.

So I was to be her steward. Her servant.

Yes. That would work.

In fact it was far better than I could have asked for! I had expected me to be some kind of laborer, or maybe working in the kitchens or something. But to work right under the captian? In such a administrative way?

This was great! I'd learn so much, so quickly this way!

"Good. Now go clean my room. When you're done find me up on deck," Captain said as she nodded, contently, and then turned and left.

I nodded, and hurriedly shut the door to my room… then went to open hers…

And suddenly regretted, slightly, my decision and position.

Her room was utterly filthy. Clothes were everywhere. Books stacked high. And to make matters worse, unlike my room which barely had enough room for me, hers was nearly as big as the storeroom we'd just been in.

Groaning at the sight… I realized once again that the ship was hot. Stuffy.

And now smelly.

But it was what I had decided to do. I had to earn my place in the Society… and other than being a princess, the only thing I really knew was money.

I wasn't sure yet if I actually did know money at all, or if I had been taught wrong about it all these years, but…

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out the single coin I had. The one I'd brought from home.

It was all I had to remember home by… and was the only coin I'd earned for myself. So far.

And it was the proof of something obvious. Something any merchant learned, and every person was forced to eventually.

"One has to start somewhere," I whispered as I put the coin away… and decided to start with all the scattered dirty clothes.

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