It rained from the evening after Hawsi until they reached the Pit. And it didn’t just stop then. When the rain stopped—it could begin pouring as suddenly as their ship’s cat might dash by—the air held such a stiff humidity that Aralim’s robe grew scentless sweat stains. Of course, he sweat a lot too. Dullah and Devran were more accustomed to rainforest life, despite both being city-acclimated, while Aralim suffered in ways he had never known he could. But, by determination, it didn’t limit him in any ways.
Aralim hadn’t come up with a name for his newest companion yet. He’d resolved to wait until a fitting name came to him. For now, it was ‘the cat’. The tomcat didn’t spend its time with anyone, yet, and only sought out Aralim for a fish or two in the morning and in the afternoon. During a few hours around noon, the cat found a bench or bed to hide under and fell asleep. According to Devran, most reed cats slept throughout the hot midday hours, out amongst the underbrush.
A call from above-deck summoned Aralim to see the Pit as they sailed by. He’d requested such a notification. The rain had let up, and they’d nearly missed it. He climbed up the ladder to find a thin rain fog surrounding the ship. Twenty feet away, a few leaves shaded the mist green, and the contour of a land branch was visible. This was just a part of the peninsula. Aralim peered to the left of the landform, into what he presumed was the Pit proper. Then he felt a drop of rain on his nose and blinked. Within a moment, it was pouring, and he was soaked.
They sailed along a lowering coast, quickly seeing it become a salt-water bog split by small tidal rivers. Ahead, he was told, after a few weeks of this miserable heat and humidity, they’d cross the Sweltering Water, the companion of the Pit. After that, they’d reach Emerald Bay, and the port of Varravar. That was the final destination of Flying Sunset, but it was only the first leg of the journey for Aralim and his comrades.
After getting caught in the rain, it took nearly all day for Aralim’s robe to dry out.