His Fifth Vision was a massive coupled barge, as the Numa called such a vessel, with two main masts and two quarter-masts. The ship’s sails were foiled yellow and grey canvas, her oar galleys seated three men abreast, ran fifty benches deep on both sides of the craft, and her two angular hulls resembled two halves of a watermelon—though closer in sharpness to a rectangle—resting side-by-side. The name was a reference to the crew’s god, Tag’na the Eternal Emperor. Many coupled barges, according to the public ambassador, were named ‘vision’, ‘reach’, or ‘horizon’. The Numa used the ships exclusively for distant travel.
Aralim had spotted the ship first, as he and his young friend wandered from speaking with the Wise Man to the harbour. The ship was moored to the main wharf, with three boarding ramps lowered and a group of delegates, merchants, and business-folk arrayed in front of it. As soon as Miresh had seen the enormous craft, she’d been taken with it. The Numa wore such colourful garb: robes of green over white silk blouses, red and gold vests with a pale copper cape, and cyan-striped black dresses. Even some of the men wore dresses with broad, arched collars and braided hair. All of the Numa wore rings and piercings out of iron, and a few had eloquent tattoos with bright colours. There were no beards, save a beaded one, and no dark, greasy inks—unlike the crew that had brought Aralim and his companion to the city of Bellasa.
That was a few weeks ago to him now. Aralim had spent enough time amongst the northerners to notice their odd distinctions in gender. There were no such divisions in the lands where he came from, though jobs were allotted by the skill judgement of one’s lord. Similarly, there seemed to be no differences between the sexes amongst Numa society. Aralim found that refreshing; he had not seen any female soldiers or sailors since arriving at Bellasa until now.
Miresh and he had both been awarded work positions to pay for their passage across the sea, more than ten days ago. The public ambassador had directed Aralim and Miresh to speak with the starboard barge’s supervisor, and allowed them up onto the deck. They had glimpsed the captain, beneath one of several square pavilions, as they crossed the barges to the starboard side. The ambassador had called him the “Navigator”, as a term of authority. He had glanced at Aralim briefly, and nodded, before returning to the table he had been working at.
The work forewoman was a short woman with defined muscles and a set of four interlaced silver necklaces hanging down her chest. She had offered each Aralim and Miresh two positions, as she saw their options. To Aralim, Forewoman Holla had offered a job assisting one of their craftsmen or a guest services role. He had asked her, in surprise, how many men and women worked on His Fifth Vision. “We’ve a crew of one hundred,” she told him. “And guest quarters for up to twenty.”
Miresh had also been given a choice, between fishing or gardening. She decided to help the fishers, something she claimed to have past experience with. Aralim was a Walker of the Path, and he had left his home to find enlightenment. Well, that and because of the fire. He wouldn’t find power in the forging of nails or the crafting of a chair, but he might encounter it in the person of some guest aboard the ship, so he told Holla that he’d prefer to work with their passengers.
He spent the next ten days helping four others prepare the chambers of the guests. Miresh and he were given a cabin to share with two small beds and a small square table. Their room had no windows, for it was on interior of the starboard barge. A small fern was growing in the corner of the room, which neutralized the smell of timber and varnish that seemed prevalent in the internal structures of the ship. While Miresh spent a lot of time learning some tricks and jobs from the fishing crew, Aralim was cleaning laundry, floorboards, watering plants and introducing himself to those passengers who secured space before launch. Most of the guests were workers like he, passengers who secured passage with a small amount of coin or none at all. Several prevelent merchants arrived a few days before the craft departed.
There were two people of particular note, to arrive the day before the Vision set out, and Aralim and his coworkers spent a lot of time working on preparations for them. One of them was a Grey Brother, a priest of the Atmos Septi, a northern religion; he preferred his room full of living things, so Aralim helped carry a few more potted plants in, as well as a fishbowl which they would have to regularly feed for the priest. The other special guest was one of the Three Matriarchs of Noress That Was, and she required servant quarters adjacent to hers to be prepared as well, as she was bringing aboard her own staff. Holla had explained her importance to Aralim by saying, “The ruling class of Noress used to be royalty; now they are wealthy lords and ladies who run economic empires to keep themselves afloat in a sinking city.”
“Sinking city?” Aralim had asked.
“The Orrish, at the bottom of the sea, still pulls it downward,” Holla said. “An anchor at the bottom of the world.”
Aralim felt a slight elation at that—even after all of this, Miresh’s choice to sail toward Numa’nakres would bring him to the destination he had first sought out. They set sail from Bellasa on the 16th of the 7th Moon, with all their renowned passengers and wealthy crew. Miresh and Aralim were expected on the deck with most of the crew when they set out, and they walked amongst the gardens under the pavilions where the Numa grew a variety of fruits and herbs to offset the diet of fish and salted bread they consumed. The coupled barge loomed over the other ships in the harbour as it slowly set out to sea. Eighty of the hundred crew filled the oar galleys, angular rooms that allowed their deep-set oars to plow the ocean’s surface on either side of the massive craft.
During the night, they reached the seaway and the oars were all pulled back in. With lowered sails, His Fifth Vision caught a northward wind and picked up speed across the Grey Sea. Still, compared to any ship Aralim had ever stood upon, the barge moved slowly over the waves, but with a sturdy, un-swaying comfort. He and Miresh fell asleep that night exhausted, without saying much. They had a long voyage ahead of them.