Tristan got off the bowsprit and onto the main deck of the ship, "That was fun," he said with a wide grin.

Captain Yokain chuckled, "You Elves seem to be natural sailors. Must be because of that island nation that sunk."

Tristan shrugged, "Perhaps. I've heard of the story, too, but it was before my time."

Yokain gestured for Tristan to follow him, and as he followed the man asked, "What is your age, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Eighteen," Tristan replied. "I'll be nineteen on the first of Freezing Season next year."

"Thanks for answering – I can never tell you Elves and your age." Yokain gestured to the interior compartments of the vessel. "If you don't mind – I'd ask that for the first leg of the journey you, your companions, and the Pathfinders stay in quarters. Bad luck to have non-crewmen on deck when we first venture into the depths."

"Making course for Maladonia first," Tristan clarified. And when the captain nodded, he continued. "Then to the south of Klaktol, then Schlarz, and finally Yustat."

"Yes sir!" The captain cracked a smile, "We'll make for Rigger's Cove. It's the closest port. Eight days' travel."

Tristan turned and entered the ship's interior. Going to his room, he closed the door and slid the small, metal slide-lock in place – not for security, but rather to keep the sliding door from banging around as the ship rocked gently.

Felicity hopped off his head and onto the bed. "Decently comfy. Not much room."

Tristan sat down next to her and began taking off his armor and removing his weapons, "Mind putting these into the storage?"

She opened the space and Tristan began putting the various weapons and armor components into storage – but he kept his sword. Because you never know, he thought, and with my clothes, I can still use Scales of our Foe for some defensive qualities. Reaching into the storage dimension one more time, he pulled out the spell book with Ice Elementalism spells stored in it.

"Going to study?" Felicity asked as she made herself a little nest of a spare blanket near the head of the bed.

Tristan nodded as he cracked open the tome, "I have mastered every First Order spell in the spell types I have access to and knowledge of – minus smoke elementalism. I'm hoping we can buy a ton of spell books on Yustat." He tapped the cover of the book, "I think it's about time I moved up to the next Order."

"I still don't agree with your grandfather's methods of slow and steady…but meh, he lived a long time for a human. Maybe he was onto something." She curled up in place and began breathing deeply. "I like this rocking."

Tristan began flipping through the pages, taking in the information about Second Order spells for ice elementalism:

Rime Blast (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Die eisigen Winde des Nordens treffen meinen Feind und lassen ihn bis ins Mark erfrieren." (Frozen winds of the north, smite my foe and chill them to their core).

Spell Gesture: Hold your hand out in front of you - palm facing the direction you wish to launch the Rime Blast. Push all of your fingers together, except for the thumb which should be pushed into the palm, not visible from the back of the hand that you will be looking at. You must push forward as you say the spell phrase and push the essence into your palm.

Other Notes: This will spell creates a cone that is sixty-feet in length directly in front of the user's hand. Not very effective against armor.

Armor of Ice (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Die gefrorene Hülle wird mich vor Schaden bewahren." (The frozen shell will protect me from harm).

Spell Gesture: Place your hand against your neck - the crook between the thumb and index finger wrapped around your throat. The other fingers should be flat alongside each other - as if you are making a 'chop' motion towards your neck. Then, as you say the spell phrase, move the hand down to the center of the chest - rotating the palm to face your body - stopping just above the navel.

Other Notes: The backlash for this spell is separate from the spell's effect – you may have more ice encrusting your body, but it is not easy to move around with it clinging to your body. And, the actual Armor of Ice will be like real armor, whereas the backlash is just random-shaped chunks.

Shape Ice (Second)

Spell Phrase: "Ich befehle dir, Frost und Eis vor mir, meinem Befehl zu gehorchen. Werdet zu dem, was ich mir vorstelle, und verändert eure Gestalt nach meinem Willen." (I order you, frost and ice before me, to obey my command. Become that which I envision in my mind and change shape to my will).

Spell Gesture: Place both of your hands at your midsection and bend your fingers so that each is like a small crook. Put one hand on top of the other, and have the fingers pull against each other. Pull against the crooks made by the fingers as you say the spell phrase, slowly tightening your grip and rolling the fingers inward until the fingers of both hands are in the palms of the other.

Other Notes: Must be used on existing ice. Will not work on snow or sleet. Must be solid ice.

Tristan mumbled the spell phrases over and over to himself, practicing th spell gestures as he did so, but not spinning his essence crucible. I'll practice tomorrow, he thought, when I can be on the deck without disrupting anyone. Practice every single spell. Make sure I'm not forgetting any of them.

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He spent the next hour practicing the spell gestures and phrases for every ice elementalism spell. Then, setting the book down, he practiced the spell gestures and phrases for all of the spells he knew – only having a slight problem when he got to the fire elementalism spells. I always did do better reading than learning from people talking, he thought. I'll ask Obadai to give me a refresher tomorrow.

Putting the book aside, he got under the covers in the bed and nodded off to sleep; lulled by the rocking of the ship.

Morning came swiftly, and Tristan was woken up by a knocking at the door. Getting out of the bed, he went over and slid it open to find Shandra standing there. She looked very queasy and did not seem to have acclimated to the boat as well as Tristan had.

"Hey, Tristan. Got a minute?"

"Sure." He stepped into the hall as he grabbed his sword – making sure to not disturb the still-snoozing Felicity. "What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted…oh gods, hold on." She ran towards the aft of the vessel, where a small door let out onto a balcony of sorts with a lifeboat suspended below. He did not follow, but heard the dry heaving of an already empty stomach before she returned to him. "Sorry. I wanted to know if you had any of those clearcool elixirs – I don't think I could keep down regular food."

"Felicity has a lot in her storage. When she's awake," Tristan replied. He walked out towards the main deck and winced as his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the sun. The various crew were attending to tasks, and the Captain was nowhere to be seen. Going up to the aftcastle, he stood at the edge of the railing and stared out behind them, where a wake was being left in the ocean. Land had vanished from sight, and all was blue around him.

For the first time in his life, Tristan felt the fear that comes with being far from home. This was not like traveling across Bhant, or through the Sapphire Coast – on both of those occasions, he was on foot or horseback and knew he could go anywhere. But this? He was at the mercy of the waves, the wind, and without the ship would surely perish. It felt him with a sense of dread that he did not know could exist.

Shandra joined him a moment later and leaned over the railing – seemingly heedless of the terror that momentarily gripped Tristan's chest. She mumbled, "I can't believe that you aren't sick."

That made Tristan chuckle a little and lightened the dread he felt, "I guess I'm just a natural boatsman." Taking a deep breath, he began spinning his essence crucible – and Shandra glanced over at him quizzically. Holding out his hand, he made the spell gesture for Frost Flurry, incanted the spell phrase, and launched a fist-sized projectile.

"What spell was that?" she asked with her queasiness replaced with curiosity for a moment.

"Frost Flurry, ice elementalism. You can't use it. Fallthorn Elves have wind elementalism, along with the standard Elf set of spell types from heritage restrictions."

Shandra nodded, "I…I talked to someone…about that…remind me?"

"Illusions, flora, imbuement, artifice, enchantment, and fortune," Tristan rapidly rattled off. "I don't have any spell books for wind elementalism, but I do have some for the rest – you may borrow them to practice and learn during our journey to Yustat." He smiled and glance at her, feeling the momentary dread from earlier melt away as he focused on the interaction of the here-and-now instead of a possible demise to a watery doom. "It will put you at an advantage when you arrive at the Citadel of Essence."

Shandra nodded, hiccupped, and put her head down with a groan – leaning against the railing.

Tristan turned back to the stern of the ship and began practicing every spell at his disposal – feeling his essence continually drain, little by little. Some of the sailors came over to watch, but were admonished by a first mate before going back to their duties. After two hours had passed, Tristan had exhausted his essence, was ravenously hungry, and had successfully used every spell…except for the fire elementalism ones.

"I must have messed up the spell phrase or gesture," Tristan said as he turned to head down from the aftcastle."

Shandra didn't respond, just groaning against the hull of the vessel as she dry heaved again and moaned in suffering. "Gods above, this is horrible."

Tristan patted her on the back, "I'll see if Felicity is up." Heading down the stairs and into the rooms, he heard sounds of revelry – Felicity's voice dominant among the sounds.

"Drink!" he heard chanted from one of the compartments below.

"I'm…hic…I'm going to!" Felicity's voice was unmistakable, and Tristan hurried down to the next level down where the Pathfinders and crew had their bunks. Felicity was sitting on her rump, atop a barrel, as Pathfinders were sitting around, drinking.

She looked at Tristan as he came into view, "Oh…hi," she said, drawing out the word. "Being…drunk on a boat…is fun!" her head lolled to the side.

Tristan glanced at William, the Pathfinder who was also drinking alongside his fellows, and laughing at the now-color-shifting Felicity. Her scales and feathers were going through a spectrum of colors, and Tristan just shook his head. "I need the clearcool elixirs," he said as he got next to her.

Felicity nodded and opened the storage dimension. Tristan grabbed a small tray of the elixirs – ten of them – "Alright, you can shut it."

She did so, and then looked up at him with glassy eyes, "Want…to drink with us?"

"I think you've had enough," Tristan replied. "But, we are cooped up on a ship." He looked at one of the sailors who must have been up on the shift the evening before, as they were sleeping. "Make sure you keep it down. The crew don't need to be woken up."

The Pathfinders muttered assurances that they wouldn't get too loud, and Tristan returned to the aftcastle to find Shandra still leaned over the rail, with Obadai standing next to her. Popping a clearcool elixir, he slurped the delicious slurry down, feeling sated. He offered one to Obadai who took it with a brief, "Thanks," and drank it down.

"Shandra?" Tristan asked as he nudged her. "I got you the elixir."

She turned around, grabbed it, and fumbled with the cap a little bit. Tristan helped her uncap it, and she slurped it down. Color returned to her cheeks, and she let out a little sigh. "I don't think that'll come up," she muttered as she looked back out to the horizon behind the ship.

Tristan looked at Obadai, "Mind giving me a refresher on those fire elementalism spells for First Order?"

The man nodded and began re-instructing Tristan, who focused every spell out over the back of the ship to prevent it from catching fire. The bursts of flame did cause a little panic at first, but after some quick reassurances, the crew went back to work. Tristan spent an hour drilling the fire elementalism spells, ensuring that he knew them perfectly.

"You know," Obadai said as Tristan was panting with exhaustion, "You could teach Shandra a few of the Elf heritage capable spell types. The best way to reinforce learning is to teach another."

Tristan glanced at the woman who had seemingly gotten over the worst of the sea sickness thanks to having her food and fluids replenished with a relatively empty stomach. "Do you want to learn some spells?"

Shandra nodded, "Sure. What do you suggest?"

"Elves seem to get good outcomes with fortune spells – let's start there."

The next few hours saw Tristan slowly coaching Shandra. She did not seem like the type to learn well from books, but she did excellently at mimicking Tristan's movements and repeating the words he spoke. But her Elvish was very, very poor. Most of Tristan's day was spent correcting her pronunciation. She was fluent, but her words had the wrong emphasis on some of the words that need accentuation, which meant that the spells did not work.

As evening drew to a close, Felicity meandered up to the aftcastle in her fairy dragon form; teetering around as she drew chuckles and laughs from the crew. Most though she was some weird type of talking dog, despite her numerous corrections with slurred speech. She got to Tristan and clambered up his clothes before finding her perch on his head. "Mmm….don't let me drink like that," she mumbled as her tail swished in his face.

"Drunken fairy dragon," Obadai said as he shook his head. "Fun times for sure."

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