They returned to the middle of the market square, and Queen Maryanne bowed politely. "Lord Tristan, thank you for the treat. I wish you the best of luck in your ventures and do hope you come to visit again."

Tristan bowed in response, "Of course. Take care, my lady." He turned around to face out towards the ocean and breathed in a deep lungful of the salty breeze that was wafting in his direction. "Well. We have a ship and crew waiting."

"Hey! You're back!" Shandra came out of the inn's door and jogged over. "I was watching for your return through the window! Ready to get going?"

Tristan eyed her up and down, taking note that she had purchased some clothing and travel gear. "Yes. Let us head to the docks. We should run into Pathfinder-"

As if on cue, a group of individuals wearing varying amount of armor, weapon, and all proudly displaying their Pathfinder Company symbol from around their necks, walked into the market square. One of them was familiar, and Tristan smiled as Williams spoke. "Lord Tristan! I have the pleasure of traveling with you again."

Tristan nodded and held out a hand, shaking the young Pathfinder's hand. Now that he thought about it, Tristan must have only been a year or two older than him. I wonder how old they think I am? Tristan thought with a little chuckle. Finishing the handshake, he addressed the man. "William, good to see you. I thought you were going to be shipping out already?"

"Well, you are going to going by Maladonia – I've got a new group with a mission down there."

"I've lost track of time," Tristan replied as he gestured toward the docks and began walking that way. "What day is it?"

"Twenty eighth of the Season, m'lord," William replied.

So much has happened so fast, Tristan thought as the various Pathfinders chatted around him and spoke to both Obadai and Shandra. He was still replaying the events of his last few weeks in his mind when they arrived at the docks, and Felicity prompted him to pull out the writ that Queen Maryanne had given him. Unfurling it, he found a very polite letter.

To Lord Tristan Winterbloom of the Fey Realm

I have taken the liberty of acquiring the services of a renowned merchant-sailor – Captain Yokain, owner and operator of the Tideskipper's Crest – the bright, yellow railing and deep, purple hull will alert you to which it is. He is an honorable man who was a close friend of my father's, and whom I view as an uncle. I am sure you will find his services quite appropriate.

Safe travels, and may the wind fill your sails and spur you on your journey. Do not hesitate to visit – your company was delightful, and I would love to see what new wares you bring next time.

Queen Maryanne Waveclinger.

P.S. Hand this to the captain. I wrote his message on the back. It is personal, so I would ask that you not read it.

P.S.S. You will need to actually pay the man – this letter should serve as a flattering introduction.

Felicity, who had peered down from Tristan's head, was now patting his forehead for attention. "I want to see what she wrote."

"It's not right to do that," Tristan replied as he rolled it up.

Felicity sighed and flopped down onto his head once more, batting at his ears. "You are no fun at all today."

"Cheer up, we're going sailing. I've never done that before."

The Pathfinders were looking at Tristan, confused with his one-sided conversation, but William just chuckled being in-the-know about the invisible Felicity. As they kept walking along the docks Tristan got a lot of odd looks and glances from the common folk – but he ignored them, having already become used to being gawked at by the public thanks to being a half-breed noble in Bhant.

His hand lightly caressed the starmetal maul hanging from his slim pack, and spinning his essence crucible, he pushed the powerful energy through his arm and into the weapon, activating the stored Lucky Instinct spell. A few moments later, he spotted the bright, yellow railing. And along the docks leading to it were dozens of burly men and women who were sun-kissed with bronze and tan skin.

A man was leaning against the railing supervising the work, and he had a bandana tied around his otherwise-probably bald head. He was dark-skinned, with piercing, green eyes and was dressed in a deep, purple jerkin with a yellow cord around his temples, a green feather propped up in it. He must have seen the procession coming, because he hollered out to his crew, "Look alive! We got our guest!"

The crew redoubled their efforts and attempted to look professional, which to Tristan was somewhat humorous as he was already impressed by their physiques and no-nonsense way of carrying themselves. He raised his voice. "I would trust that this fabulous ship belongs to none other than Captain Yokain?"

The man up on the decks grinned, "And you must be the Elf lord I heard about. Welcome, Lord Winterbloom. Or would you rather I call you Tristan?"

"Just Tristan is fine," he replied as he went to the gangplank and strode up the length of the wood. My first time stepping on a boat, he thought as he felt an immediate liking for the slight rocking motion under his feet. He pulled the rolled-up parchment from his cloak pocket and handed it to the man, "Your adoptive niece sends her regards."

The man unfurled it, scanned the first side, then flipped it and read intently. He cracked a wide smile, and that's when Tristan saw that all of his teeth were not regular teeth – they were ivory. Something that Tristan had only seen once before in King Arinclex's court, when a noble from Klaktol was visiting on a hunting expedition and paid tribute. The man chuckled, "Oh, that girl." He furled up the letter and pocketed it inside his jerkin. "I hear you are seeking a captain and crew?"

Tristan nodded, "I want a ship that will take me to a few destinations. Maladonia, Schlarz, Klaktol's southern coast, and Yustat."

"That's a nice, long journey," the man said as he scratched his small beard, looking out at the Pathfinders who were still on the docks alongside Obadai and Shandra. "A hefty amount of coin."

"Actually, I had a proposition that not only included coin, but lucrative income for both of us. Felicity? The box."

Captain Yokain looked at Tristan with curiosity, but then when – to his eyes – a box materialized in Tristan's hand as he grabbed it from Felicity's storage dimension, he frowned ever-so-slightly. "Essence-weaving?"

"I am an essence-weaver, yes. But that is not what I offer." Tristan spun his essence crucible, poured the powerful inner well of strength into the object, and to his delight the once-empty box was filled with a small pouch. Pulling the pouch out, he handed it to the Captain. "Go on."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The man upended the bag into his palm and gasped audibly when sapphires, rubies, and emeralds rolled out in a small pile. Tristan capitalized on the moment of confusion and kept speaking, "I rule a place called the Fey Realm. What is put into the box in the Fey Realm will appear here. Not just raw gemstones, but all manner of trade goods. My plan is to hire an essence-weaver who is willing to become a crew member, and hire your ship – not just an upfront amount of coin, but as my personal merchants to peddle wares from port to port. Fey Realm to Mortal Realm."

The captain grinned widely as he poured the gems back into the small bag and wrapped the cord around it. "Now…that is a fine offer."

Tristan pulled out his coin bag – most of the coins were in Felicity's storage space, but he kept a large sum of his new proceeds on his person. "I offer a thousand gold coins for a ten-year contract. Your ship and crew work for me, taking me wherever I need to go in The Mortal Realm, and when I am not present, you travel to sell my wares. You get a fifty-fifty split of the total coinage in sales."

The Captain rubbed his small, scruffy beard again. "Fifteen hundred gold coins, and sixty-forty percent."

Tristan put on a slight frown, "That is quite the bold decision for someone not holding cards in this whole endeavor." He gestured to several other docked boats, "I see plenty of captains out there, and I know a lot of them would be more than willing to take me on for this price."

The Captain chuckled, "You are a haggler. It's either the split, or the coins up front."

"Fifteen hundred coins for fifty-fifty?" Tristan offered.

"Deal." The two shook hands and Tristan looked over the side of the boat to the docks. "Let's get ready to depart! We've got ourselves a boat and a captain."

At the same time, Captain Yokain leaned over. "We have a new contract! Kory, get up here to snag some of this coin! Take some of the lads to get stocked up on provisions! We set sail on the evening tide!"

Getting settled in on the ship was easy enough, and Tristan found that this ship came recommend for a reason – there was a captain's quarters, crew quarters, and some luxury quarters. He got set up near the deck entrance. The vessel was a carrack style of ship, with several masts, six sails, a large amount of cargo space that had been converted into passenger space, a sizable galley, and had been equipped to be a luxurious vessel.

Tristan spent some of the time that the crew was getting ready to discuss his plans with Obadai. "I want to get you to put some spells for communication into items I can apply artifice to." He pulled out several bracelets that Beatrice had made and he had not taken for trade, because they were not huge-money-making items. But, their sheer craftsmanship assured Tristan that they would qualify for items of artifice. "I want to make it so that, just like your favor that socketed into my family symbol, I can talk to people across the Mortal Realm."

Obadai nodded sagely, "This is a sound plan on action. You will need to give the bracers to people who are essence-weavers. At minimum they need to be able to use First Order spells."

Tristan nodded, "I know. What is the Order of spell that you use to send out the messages?"

"Depends on the distance, not the time. Third Order is Realm-spanning, Second Order is about half the world's size. First Order is a continent like Gvand." Obadai was rubbing his chin as he spoke. "I would advise, since they can only be used once a day – we go with whatever the highest you are comfortable artificing would be."

"Second Order," Tristan replied. "Why once a day though?"

Obadai frowned, "There is not a true limitation. The spell does not have it encoded in by default. I just prefer having them only used once a day, so people don't bother me all the time." He chuckled, "When people know you can bug someone, and you're a person of high regard? They will pester you endlessly over trivial matters. You should do the same unless you need constant contact."

Tristan nodded, "Give me a minute." He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, and spinning his essence crucible in both directions as he tried to enter his inner world. He was able to do so after only a few breaths, and when his awareness returned, he was standing in a vast, snowy field. But there were small rivulets – streams of gold, crimson, and black that trickled across the snow below. Sparkles of silvery light were scattered across the falling snow and looking up he could see the solid bands of each color crisscrossing the sphere.

Going to the tree at the center, he placed his hand on it and focused. "I want to know how much essence I have." The spiral began to fill up, and he was about halfway towards Third Order essence capacity. Well, he thought, I'll have to stick with Second Order communication bangles for the time being. Returning his consciousness to the real world once more, he looked at Obadai. "Let's get some communication bracelets made."

"I normally advise doing Receive Message and Send Message spells on the different objects," Obadai replied. "But that requires both sender and receiver have essence. Safer to use, but not as good given the circumstances. We should just do Spoken Message – Half-Realm. Anyone can use the bracelets to talk to any other user of the bracelets, and only a single person needs to use essence in that whole chain of command."

"How do we make sure no one else can…listen in?"

"We do the whole bunch at once. Once they are made, then they can be touched to each other before the essence fades to 'link' them together. A large chain of contact."

As the evening drew onward and lanterns were set out to light the vessel, Tristan and Obadai finished their work – the former had used Investiture of Artifice II on the objects, whilst Obadai used a spell he called "Spoken Message: Half-Realm." As he explained, "In your case, we are doing a communication network within a certain range. Whoever initiates the messages will have to spend the essence – but the rest will respond. And they can converse for up to a minute through the chain of linked bracelets."

At the end of it, Tristan had ten of the bangles – and one single silver ear-cuff that he looped over one of his elongated ears. He handed one to Obadai, "Just in case."

The man took the gold bangle and slipped it on. "Thank you."

Felicity snatched one and looped it around her antlers, making it into a little tiara. "It looks pretty." Felicity scooped the rest of the bangles into her storage dimension – all but two.

Tristan got up and gave one to Captain Yokain, explaining what it did. The man nodded and added it to a small collection of bangles already around his wrist. "Keeping in contact is wise, especially given our odd situation where you may be on a continent for weeks and not know where we are plying your trade."

"Precisely," Tristan replied.

Yokain looked around the ship, "The tides about to come in. Perfect opportunity to push off. The ship is ready, Lord Tristan. Tideskipper's Crest is at your command, and we sail at your pleasure."

Tristan nodded, "Captain, take us out to sea."

The man began barking orders, and the crew went to work – all very enthusiastic to not just have a hefty signing bonus, but a long-term contract which meant a guaranteed income for a good while. Plus, the split of sales of goods from the Fey Realm was all the more enticing. Tristan knew that this play, going very overt with his offers of generosity, would ensure loyalty from these working folk.

Tristan then sought out Shandra, handing her one of the bangles. "You will be in a stable place on Yustat, meaning that you can act as a node, of sorts, to enable us to do a daisy-chain of communication."

She nodded and slid it onto her wrist, "Does this job as being a glorified messenger come with any benefits?"

Tristan nodded, "Yes. I will pay you. Ten gold a year."

"First payment?" she asked.

Tristan pulled ten gold coins from his coin purse and handed them to her. She nodded and went back to stowing her few meager possessions.

Returning to the deck, Tristan felt the ship begin moving as men pulled against ropes. He walked up to the topmost portion of the deck – called the aftcastle by one of the crewmen – and watched as the ship slowly turned around in port, pulled by ropes wrapped around mooring points on the docks. Then a favorable wind picked up, and the ship lunged forward – the sailors giving out a whoop of delight as the captain joined Tristan on the topmost deck.

"It's a good sign, Tristan. Evening tide and the wind at our backs? Can't ask for a better start than that, unless we happen to see a Leviathan in the distance."

"Leviathan?" Tristan asked as he glanced at the man.

"A big sea snake. It won't harm vessels, don't you worry. People in the water? Absolutely. But not vessels. No clue why, but they're seen as good fortune." He continued barking commands but then turned to Tristan. "If you want to really experience what being a sailor is like, come with me."

He led Tristan to the bow of the ship and there Tristan could really feel the rocking of the waves; the bob up and down that made his stomach do somersaults in a giddy, excited way. He did not feel any of the sea sickness that some of the Pathfinders on the deck were now experiencing, retching over the gunwale. "Now, Tristan! Grab that rope and scoot your way out onto the ship's bowsprit!"

Tristan did as he was told, gripping the rope and bending his knees as he felt the vessel buck up from a slight swell in the waves. He felt sure of his footing, and did not bother scooting out – instead he walked out, the motion of the ocean almost blending with his movement as if he was born to live on the seas. He felt the thrill of adrenaline through him as the salt-spray lifted and kissed his cheeks. He let out a whoop of delight as the ship plowed forward through the oceans.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.