"Once upon a time, lived a young nobleman named Angus Greenfellow, from a long dead nation. The fellow believed with his heart and soul that the presence of women on board brought bad luck to a ship. For all his life, he steadfastly refused to board any ship with women on it, a sentiment he continued to his death. In a way, his belief did come true, since the poor fellow met his end when the ship he travelled in ran afoul of the dreaded pirate queen known as the Red Corsair." - An oft-repeated bard's tale, rumored to have originated from the Red Corsair herself.

After the introduction and a friendly chat with the crew, Aby showed Cal and her nieces to their room in the ship's cabins. The tall and imposing orc woman introduced herself more formally as Abigeya of clan Bloodfang, though she insisted that they could just call her by her nickname.

Cal smiled as her nieces looked at their bunk curiously, as it was their first time aboard a ship. Like most seafaring ships, room was at a premium, and the bunk itself was very plain and simple. A square room maybe two and a half meters to a side, which had hammocks strung alongside three of the walls, and a square table - nailed to the floor - in the center. If they sat on the hammock, it'd be just the right distance to use the table.

The room itself was bare of any furnishings, save two windows on two sides of the walls, since it was located by the corner of the ship's aft. Aby explained that they had four such rooms for the times when they took passengers with them, while the crew rested on the deck below theirs.

As crews went, the ship itself had a small one for its size. The fifty-meter long galleon only has a crew of sixty-four, which was a good bit below the norm of a hundred, but the captain cheerfully mentioned that his ship was "special" when Cal asked about it.

Another three days passed while they waited for the ship to load up goods and waited for other passengers, if any. A family of tall, pale skinned humans from Ur-Teros joined them as passengers for the trip. The family of five, a middle-aged couple and their two children, plus a daughter-in-law, wanted to return home after a vacation in Alcidea.

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Cal and her nieces spent the time touring the port city instead while they waited. One thing that piqued Cal's curiosity was a popular eatery, that served fresh seafood grilled with some dark, savory sauce she was not familiar with. The vendor told her it was a popular sauce in the kingdom down under made from fermented soybeans.

As it was, the ship planned to take a straightforward route that skirted the shorelines of Alcidea as it headed southwards. Their destination - which Cal also made into her next destination - was the Jarldom of Jötunberg, a nation of snowy tundras located on the eastern tip of Ur-Teros.

On the fourth day after Cal and her nieces boarded the ship, they set sail. Cal saw firsthand what captain Da'hock meant with the "tricks" on his ship. Many of the ship's functions were streamlined with dwarven mechanisms. Tasks that normally took three to five crewmember to perform, easily handled by one or two, and everything moved smoothly without issue.

Once the anchors were raised and the mooring rope untied, the ship drifted from its berth as the current slowly led it back out to sea. As soon as they were a decent distance from the port, sails were unfurled.

Unlike most ships she saw at the port, Le Faucon Noir had not used the typical square sails favored by most, but used triangular lateen sails instead. Six sails were unfurled, two at the foremost mast, three on the main mast, and another one at the aft mast.

To Cal's surprise, each sail seemed to be capable of independent movement from one another, as the sailors arranged the sails to catch the wind. The breeze that blowed helped propel the ship out to the open sea, and there, the vastness of the ocean awaited.

Both Elaina and Sidonie watched the unending expanse of blue water with awe in their faces. Not unexpected given it was their first time out at sea. The family from Jötunberg was calmer, as it was clear this wasn't their first trip by sea.

During the past day Cal had gotten to known the couple - Orlaf and Silmer by name - and chatted with them. Orlaf was a recently retired man, from his work as the leader of a city's guard, and Cal quickly found common ground with the man and his wife as they just wanted to enjoy their old age now.

Their son Sven and his wife Fianna mostly stayed in their room or went everywhere together, like the lovebirds they were. The couple were recently married and Orlaf had timed the vacation they just had to celebrate that marriage.

On the other hand, their younger daughter Hrist got along with Cal's nieces quickly, as the three spent their day yesterday around the table, with what looked go be metal or wooden figures placed on a map and some die. Cal had no idea what the game they played was about, so she left them be.

Later that night, the captain invited his passengers to dinner. They gathered in a slightly fancier dining room set near the captain's bunk, and sat down together.

For a meal served on board a ship at sea, it was definitely excellent fare. A thick milky soup of clams and oysters were served first, a suprisingly mild soup that brought the natural flavors of the shellfish within to the fore.

Next was brought a dish similar to one Cal knew from her homeland. A circle of wheaten noodles that had been preserved by frying it was served with a thick savory sauce that contained meats and vegetables poured over it. The hard noodles softened as it absorbed the sauce, which gave a delightful amalgam of textures and tastes.

The main dish was the collagenious snout of a sawfish, braised in a thick flavorful sauce with plenty of garlic. The tender, chewy texture of the snout, interspersed with the crunch of cartilage, merged beautifully with the rich, sharp flavors lent by the braising sauce.

Cal thanked Arquivaldo for the delightful dinner before they all retreated to their rooms for the night, and offered to treat him to one should he one day visit Al-Shan.