The Boundless Star, with her charge, finally returned to Eastpoint at the end of the 9th Moon. For a few weeks, her crew was given shore leave—and for their trouble over the last few months, they were all given a small bonus. Tali took hers home to Warim, to give to her mother dearest. She told her ma, Mayela of Warim, all about her voyage to the grand city of the Joyous King, about her trek through the Raderan swamps, and about her hard work repairing the ship.
Her mother ought to go by the name, “Mayela mother of Talina,” since Tali had already assumed the name, “Talina of Warim.” Her father had died at sea—after living a life of heroism and adventure.
Her mother protested her portion of Tali’s wages, but eventually accepted them. As recompense for her stubbornness, Tali was given a handful of chores—the sorts of things she might have done on the regular had she not left to join up with the East Storm last year. Tali loved it though—in many ways, work around Warim was more familiar to her than any of her shipboard responsibilities.
Warim was not much compared to the cities Tali had seen over the past few months, but it was always in her heart, beating with nostalgia. The handful of houses, the small harbour, the garden behind her mother’s one-storey home…Tali enjoyed her time there, but set off for Eastpoint, once more, toward the end of her leave. The Boundless would get its next contract soon, if it did not already have one.
It took a full day to return to Eastpoint, so she got in on the evening of the 14th. Her friend, Rel, hurried down the dock as soon as he saw her nearing their ship. He had shaved off his beard during shore leave, but it looked like he had also been chewing his lip. “Where were you?” he blurted, as soon as they reunited. “Just wait until you hear it—they’ve lost their minds. They’ve all lost their minds.”
Rel was hardly a calm fellow, but Tali had never seen him this worked up with concern. “Hey, whoa, calm yourself. I went home, Rel, you know that. Now, who’s done what?”
“Master Kelren is taking us across enemy lines,” Rel explained. He was not fully panicked, but this news itself seemed to have shaken him.
Tali’s breath caught in her throat.
Rel went on: “The next job is reconnaissance on the other side of the Great Isle. It’s too dangerous to sail the whole way, so the ship is being sent by magic. Journeying, they call it. Guthon tried explaining it, but they don’t pay me enough to understand sorcery and…and madness!”
The more he spoke, the more Tali was nodding. Her lips slowly rose into a grin. By the end, she was smiling ear to ear. Adventure, danger, stealth…and magic? she thought. It was the stuff of stories.
“You’re happy about this?” Rel asked, staring at Tali’s expression in horror. “We could die as soon as we arrive—or we might just never reappear!”
“The pay is real fine though!” chipped in a random passerby, one of the more seasoned mercenaries from the crew.
“Sure, coin is great,” Tali called after the merc. She turned back to Rel. “But think of the glory!”
Rel did not look convinced. His recently shaven jaw scowled like a downward reflection of Tali’s joy.
Tali laughed off his pessimism. “Sure, we could die or never reappear. Or we could make a real name for ourselves! Picture it: you’re captured—life on the line, no hope in sight—and then, through the misty morning fog, an arrow! You’re saved. By me, of course.”
Rel was shaking his head. “You’re mad, too!” he exclaimed.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur. The ship was in the midst of its preparations, which might seem chaotic to the untrained eye. But like clockwork, the well-trained crew was stocking the cupboards, filling the cargo hold with timber and canvas, roping up new rigging, and reviewing their plans. Tali learned more about Captain Guthon’s explanation to the crew from hearsay: that they would be joined by a squad of Company elites along with Master Kelren, one of Kelren’s colleagues, and Councillor Ghomal of Eastpoint; that they would be sent, by magic, to a location near Tav Rock, where Ghomal would rescue his son and glean some insight as to the operations of the bandit armies; that the Journeying spell would disappear them one moment and reappear them at Tav Rock a moment later—only, months would have passed, or years if the ship would have been destroyed on its voyage; and that Guthon did not want anyone deserting over this exceptionally unusual mission. The Captain had assured his crew that if anyone had serious reservations before departure, they could come to him for blame-free reassignment, though they would be forfeiting a sizeable bonus.
Tali could not imagine anyone wanting reassignment from this—this mission was the substance of myth.
At dawn on the 15th, Tali and her shipmates welcomed Master Kelren, Master Relis, and Councillor Ghomal aboard the Boundless. A team of burly warriors followed, bristling with weapons and more scars than Tali had seen on any of the ship’s crew. Sailing through the rays of the rising sun, the Boundless cast its long shadows across the waters as it departed the cliff-bordered shore of Radregar.
A strong wind blew them east. These were the dark blue waters of the Boundless Sea, the ocean for which their vessel had been named. Few ships came this way, for nothing lay east of Radregar—nothing but a perpetual oceanic horizon.
Such tranquility served their purposes well. Tali, who was helping adjust the sails from the rigging, imagined spies lurking in Eastpoint—spies for the evil sorcerer that commanded the bandit armies. The magic of the Company’s own wizard would take them safely into the sinister sorcerer’s blind spot. When word was passed that the magicians would now commence their spell, Tali paused in the rigging to watch.
Master Kelren and his underling, Master Relis, stood next to Captain Guthon by the ship’s helm. Kelren was shorter than his colleague, but slightly older. He had short black hair and a large moustache, but was most distinguished by the dozens of piercings in his ears, nose, and lips. His colleague, Master Relis, joined him by bowing his head. Relis kept his head shaved of hair, but his beard was a rich, brown colour and his arms were tattooed with symbols not unlike Tali’s own tribal tattoos.
For nearly five minutes, Kelren and Relis stood thusly, heads bowed. If they were concentrating on something specific, Tali could not see what it might be. Her eyes seemed to feel the slightest of hums…and then—without any other warning—the sun blinked to the other side of the sky. These were no longer the waters of the Boundless Sea.