Rijin Scoffed, “I am Rijin, Son of the Sentinel, Randorin of Midoku. While Randorin may be my official title, I do not require any of you to call me that since none of you are Midoken,” Rijin said. Rijin seemed like he was trying to be humble but to Garus he just came across as pretentious.

  “Wow thank you for your graciousness,” Varithorn piped up, “we are blessed with your presence.” Varithorn was clearly being sarcastic with his words but Rijin did not seem to get that. He nodded in a noble manner towards Varithorn.

  “I do not want any of you to feel like you have to treat me with any sort of reverence. We are all leaders of countries here; there is no one lower or higher on this council,” Rijin said.

  “Tell that to the people of Penzamen,” Lia answered.

  “Or Niepe,” Varithorn snapped back.

  Garus decided to stay quiet. Midoku had oppressed many countries in the world, but Penzamen and Niepe had the brunt of it more than any other. While Midoku was not on favorable terms with Limgren, the two were not in open conflict unlike some others.

  “Bold,” Qrow piped up, “to say that being in the position you are in. If anyone has any right to talk about equality among people then it is not you.” Rijin glared at Qrow, but most of the rest of the party was glaring at him. Garus was the only one not caught up in the intense staring contest. Garus sighed a little under his breath while pulling out his lute and beginning to strum again. He smiled and began to sing:

  This present darkne…

  He was abruptly stopped by Lia softly putting her hands on his strings.

  “I think we have had enough singing for today,” Lia said with a soft smile. Garus was slightly offended but felt that he had read the situation wrong, so he nodded and put his lute away. The others' aggression seems to fade away slightly.

  “I am Varithorn, Heir to Niepe, Sorcerer of the Silent Heart,” Varithorn said bowing slightly, “I would say it is a pleasure to work with each of you but unfortunately it is not.” Varithorn is blunt and willing to say his mind, Garus appreciated that about him.

  “Well I guess last but not least I am Prometheus. I am the captain of this ship we will all be sailing on, the Desert Winds, I have quarters prepared for each of you so if each of you would like to follow me I can lead you to where you will be staying as well as give you a tour around the ship,” Prometheus said.

  “Thank you for allowing us on your ship,” Lia said kindly, “it is a beautiful vessel.”

  “Yes thank you for letting us come aboard,” Rijin said.

  “I am glad y’all approve, it will be your home for the next…however long so I hope it is preferable,” Prometheus said. Qrow raised his hand.

  “I just have one quick question,” Qrow said, “what should I do about Tenatus?” he asked. Prometheus looked confused. Qrow pointed up towards the sky and the party all looked up. Flying above the ship was a large beast with wings and a lion face and spikes all over its body. Garus stared in disbelief, he had never seen a manticore before. Qrow smiled slyly, and slightly awkwardly.

  -

  The party proceeded down the steps to the next level of the ship. As they descended, Garus got one final glimpse at Tenatus, the manticore, being wrangled by some of the other sailors. They were struggling immensely with the large beast Tenatus himself seemed content to gnaw on a rather large bone he had found somewhere in his journeys. As they entered the first lower level Garus was astonished at the size of the Desert Winds. Limgren did not have much of a navy to speak of, given that the main part of Limgren was encapsulated in a wall surrounded by a treacherous swamp, but the little ships they did have were small, made mainly for speed and agility rather than for actual naval purposes. The Desert Winds was at least five times larger than any boat he had ever been on to the point that Garus seriously wondered how the vessel managed to float. The first level below the deck was a large open area stretching from the bow to the stern of the ship with doors and wooden walls that closed on a portion on both ends. In the main portion of this large area were many barrels and chairs along with a makeshift bar with shelves that held many drinks swaying with the waves of the sea.

  “This is the first level we call ‘Thalassa’s Beard’. It is where we mainly store different provisions for the journey ahead as well as this area will be filled with about 60 drunken sailors come nightfall. Most of the sailors spend the beginning hours of the night drinking and singing after a hard day's work so do not expect to head to bed early,” Prometheus said. The words were music to Garus’s ears.

  “I have been known to be quite the entertainer at a tavern or two,” Garus said.

  “I am sure that the sailors would be excited to have a new musician to lead them. The men love singing but if we are being honest they are not very proficient at it,” Prometheus said.

  “Wow Prometheus you are more fun than I thought. Having a bar on your first deck, I approve,” Qrow smirked as he spoke, “It partly reminds me of my own bar back in Fearsh, if the men need a good bartender then you are lucky to have me aboard.”

  “We are not here to form the best tavern on the seas,” Rijin interjected, “revelry is good for the down time but let us focus on the mission ahead.”

  “Hey, Rijin,” Qrow tapped on Rijin’s large arm, “does being a goliath mean that instead of a stick up your butt its more like a tree?” Lia chuckled at Qrow’s words, Rijin was less amused.

  “We are going to be on this ship for Gods know how long, and most of this time is going to be physical and psychological warfare; we need to find some place to…refresh our minds,” as Qrow said as he held up a bottle of ale that seemingly came from nowhere. Prometheus noticed that one of the bottles was missing from the shelves behind the bar. Prometheus quickly walked over and snatched the bottle from Qrow’s hand.

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  “While you may be a guest on this ship, you are expected to pay just like everyone else,” Prometheus walked over and put the bottle back. Qrow snickered, then pulled out a second bottle and showed it to Lia. Garus rolled his eyes.

  The party proceeded down to the next floor. This floor was different from the previous.Instead of being a large open area, it consisted of many hallways that led off to the side and down the length of the ship. However, the hallways were numerous as well as had doors attached to each wall even though there was not enough room for there to be anything behind the door other than the next hallway. The entire floor looked like a labyrinth of walls and doors.

  “This is the main quarters, every crew member on the ship has their own room as well as anyone else staying on the ship stays in the guest wing,” prometheus said. The party looked at him confused.

  “I’m sorry this is the main quarters?” Garus asked, he wrapped his wings around his body to warm himself up. It was unexpectedly cold in this area.

  “There are not really any rooms,” Lia also said.

  “What do you mean there are no rooms?” Prometheus looked just confused as the rest of the group.

  “Guys, isn't it obvious,” Qrow said, shaking his head disapprovingly. He walked over towards one of the doors and began to lay against it. He settled in for a moment and then closed his eyes. He pretended to snore loudly and profusely just to add to the effect. Prometheus walked over to the door Qrow was leaning on and turned the handle to it then pushed the door open. Qrow stumbled for a moment then fell through the door but surprisingly he did not just fall onto the floor on the other side, it was like he disappeared altogether. Garus ran over towards the door, astonished at the disappearing act. Instead of seeing the other hallway through the door instead the door led to an entire room with Qrow laying on the ground after falling through the door. Garus was amazed.

  “All of the doors on this floor are enchanted to lead to rooms that exist in a pocket dimension. When building this ship I wanted to make enough space for a lot of people so instead of doing many small rooms or a smaller amount of large rooms, I decided to do both,” Prometheus said. Qrow lifted himself up from the floor and gave a thumbs up.

  “Very clever,” Qrow said.

  “Let me show you to the guest quarters,” Prometheus walked down a hallway that led along the right side of the ship followed by the others. Some of the doors on the hallway were already open and different sailors and servants were bringing luggage into the doorways. Garus noticed one of his attendants and walked to the door they were bringing his things into. The room itself was very nice and spacious, it was put together like any other room in a ship's cabin but was a little bit larger to accommodate the larger amounts of luggage. The main feature of the room was a large window that peered out into a starry night along dark calm waves.

  “How can these rooms have windows?” Garus asked.

  “They actually don’t,” Prometheus answered, “The windows are simply pieces of glass with an illusion depicted upon them. You can actually change the image to be anything you want. I always found this to be the most calming,” Prometheus walked over and pressed a small metal device on the wall next to the large indented window. When he pressed the device, the image on the window faded and a blank white void appeared instead.

  “That is incredible, how does it work?” Garus asked.

  “It is fairly simple to operate, just touch the switch and put a little bit of magical energy into it. Whatever you are thinking of when you do so will appear on the window,” Prometheus walked out of the room to tend to other things. Garus touched the switch on the wall and let a semblance of magical energy flow through it. In an instant the window showed the image from the top of mount uldrak, the mountain that housed most of the people of Limgren. Garus smiled, happy to have a piece of home with him.

  Garus looked through his things for a moment, making sure everything was accounted for. Everything was where it was supposed to be but strangely he found a small piece of parchment inside of his satchel that he would carry various objects and magical catalyst in. He opened the parchment and found it to be a letter from his mother. The letter read:

  Garus’s blood began to boil. His mother had never truly cared for his safety in most circumstances and then decided to produce an ultimatum that would cause war around the world in his name. Garus did not know how the month of preparation went for others but for him it was preparation without his mother. Garus hated her influence, he hated her rule, he hated the way she hid behind her ‘solemn duty’ as an excuse to let cruelty reign throughout their kingdom. His mother had never truly been a mother to him and he was not going to randomly trust her words now, but in spite of this Garus continued to read on.

  Garus’s eyes flared red for a moment and Garus sang a deep, guttural note, from the bottom of his throat and the letter combusted in his hand. An intense anger rose up in him. Garus thought to himself. Garus knew his mother to be many things but sloppy and reckless was not one of them. As Garus watched the paper burn to a crisp, and with it his mothers rule over him, his friend and travel companion Nial walked into the room.

  Nial looked at the paper burning in his hand and immediately knew what it could be. Garus hummed a different note and the room grew quiet, to quiet, a thin clear veil appeared over the door as Garus’s eyes glowed white.

  “Speak freely,” Garus said, “There is a zone of silence in the room.”

  “The Skutsamling I am guessing?” Nial asked, “What did she want this time?”

  Garus watched the fire begin to fade. “She tried to claim that her concern about joining the council was due to our curse.” Nial became angry as well and his nostrils flared. Nial pulled a small drum from his back and hit it once. A circle of faint energy came from the drum and formed a circle on the ground creating a small black hole in the middle of the floor.

  “Discard the letter, your mothers carelessness will not cost us our influence within the council,” Nial said, “the Skutsamling is only scared of losing control over you. She fears the things you will learn and the decisions you will make.”

  Garus wiped the ashes from his hand, content to have disposed of the evidence. “She may be content to stay within Limgren and cry vengeance on the rest of the world, but I am not. The people of Limgren deserve to have the ability to leave our country, even with the curse,” Garus said, clutching the dagger at his side, its energy pulsating under his palm “I am the heir to Limgren. While I may not care about ruling I do care about freedom,” Garus said.

  “I know that you have always viewed me as more of a friend rather than a subject but even so I want you to know that I, and the rest of the band, support you always,” Nial said, “What kinda band does not follow the lead of their lead singer?” Garus smiled at the sentiment.