Chapter Twelve.

The mess hall was probably the largest single room on the ship, though it still managed to feel crowded and claustrophobic. Most of the area was taken up by a dozen long tables with six chairs per side, each just barely leaving room for people to walk between them. The far side of the room was dominated by a cut-out serving counter, beyond which I could barely see the controlled chaos of a working kitchen. Steam clouded any real view of the kitchen’s inner workings, but I could just make out an enormously fat cook humming happily away while several helpers dashed around him. Judging by the pile of dirty trays waiting to be washed, most of the crew had already eaten, so the room was fairly empty by the time we arrived.

Leigh sauntered up to the counter and grabbed a clean tray off a neat pile before flagging down one of the helpers, who paused his work to quickly pile a bowl of oatmeal, some eggs, and a chunk of bread on the tray before shoeing the (visibly disappointed) priest away from the counter and waving impatiently at me to step forward. I had just stepped up to the counter when the fat cook’s cheerful humming abruptly cut off and he stiffened, tilting his head back to sniff loudly at the air. Then with a sound like cracking knuckles his head spun around on his shoulders like an owl, pinning me in place with too-big eyes as I realized the cook wasn’t fat— he wasn’t human.

His eyes were the first thing I noticed— enormous, fish-like things that looked like they could rotate independently. They peeked out bulbously over a pig-like snout and sagging jowls that hung above a mouth that stretched wide across his lower face, almost spanning the entire distance between each of his pointed ears. Pasty-pink skin looked ruddy from the sweltering heat of the kitchen as the rest of his body did a surprisingly graceful pirouette to match the new angle of his head. He was nearly the same height as me, but easily twice as wide. Reaching out with a surprisingly long arm, he caught the helper that had been about to serve me and pushed them gently back into the kitchen. Pointing at me with his other hand, he spoke with a surprisingly melodic bass voice.

“No. You sit. I prepare.”

Eyes wide, I nodded appeasingly as the big creature took my tray and waddled off into the kitchen.

What the heck just happened?

Confused, I wandered over to where Leigh had taken a seat. He arched his eyebrows at me questioningly at the interaction, but I could only shrug.

“Your guess is better than mine dude.”

I sat down just as several more people entered the mess hall, clearly passengers from their varied clothing. Leigh and I couldn’t help but notice that each of them got significantly better service than we had, and much more appetizing food to boot. He grumbled quietly around a spoonful of the bland-looking oatmeal while shooting envious looks at bowls piled with actual fruit and syrup. I was quietly enjoying his misery when the last of the passengers stopped across from me at the table. Then he made a noise.

“Hrmh?”

My jaw dropped as my brain translated that with one short grunt, the man asked if the seat was taken while somehow insinuating that if we’d rather sit alone he would move along with no hard feelings. Even Leigh looked surprised, which meant this wasn't [Soul Tongue] working overtime for me.

“No, go ahead.” I gestured at the seat with a surprised laugh. The man nodded with another grunt and sat down. He was tall, with short, dark hair just greying at the temples and a well-trimmed beard. He gave me a measuring look out of steel-grey eyes that seemed surprisingly young on his face. Reaching across the table he offered me his hand.

“Cade.”

Accepting the hand, I shook it with a grin.

“Ray, it’s nice to meet you.” After a moment, curiosity overcame me and I had to ask. “So, how’d you learn to do that?”

Cade seemed to know exactly what I was talking about, and nodded with a sagely, “Hrmm.”

“Practice makes perfect, huh? Fair enough.” I chuckled.

The thump of heavy footsteps came from behind me and I looked back to see the cook waddle his way from the kitchen with my tray in his hands. On it was an enormous slab of steak and fresh-cooked eggs, mashed potatoes, a plate of fruit-topped pancakes and a dark glass of something that every instinct in my body was screaming I desperately needed from the first whiff.

Ohmygod is that coffee??

With a flourish, the cook set the tray in front of me and set out some silverware like we were in a fancy restaurant instead of a ship’s mess. Stepping back with a bow, his deep voice boomed out through the room.

“May the light of the Furthest Stars guide your passage, blessed [Kindred].”

A brief spike of panic went through me, but as I looked around there was only confusion on most people’s faces— Leigh being the only exception, an inscrutable expression on his features.

Another language maybe?

He seemed to be waiting on a response from me, so I smiled nervously and gave a seated nod of thanks.

“Thank you.”

Seeming satisfied, he brushed off my gratitude with a wave.

“Is nothing. If you have need, you ask. I, Bhartolo Vincémon, will provide.”

The strange creature thumped his way back to the kitchen, where his happy humming quickly resumed.

I repeat, what the heck just happened?

Cade was looking at me incredulously, while Leigh’s inscrutable expression vanished in favor of naked jealousy at the food on my plate. Catching a few other eyes from the passengers who’d been eating, I felt myself break out in a nervous sweat.

“Uh… I guess he knows the family?” I tried, lamely. My audience, seeing the show was over, mostly carried on with breakfast— except for a young woman who stormed over to grab Cade by the arm.

“My—, Ca—, Cade,” She stuttered out, angrily. “May I speak to you privately?”

The man sighed and gave me a slow nod.

“Hmn.”

“You too!” I called back as he was practically dragged out of the room.

I have to learn how to do that. Who needs magic when I can condense all language into monosyllabic grunts? I’d be unstoppable!

Returning from my brief dreams of linguistic conquest, I leaned forward towards Leigh— who was now despondently poking at his oatmeal— and whispered urgently at him.

“So, do you have any idea what just happened? Who’s the cook? What’s the cook? Should I be doing something?”

He mumbled something under his breath and kept poking at his oats. Rolling my eyes, I quickly cut my steak in half and plopped a piece onto his tray. Immediately, he brightened and reached across to pat me on the shoulder.

“You know what, kid? I don’t care what everyone else says about you, you’re alright.”

“Thanks— wait, what?” I sputtered.

“Anyway the cook’s an Eldborn, which is technically the same group as you, just lower on the pole so-to-speak. Rare to see them outside the enclaves but it happens. Them being cooks is actually pretty common; they have an amazing sense of smell and taste, as you noticed from how quickly he picked you out.” Leigh explained around a mouthful of steak.

I glared at him for a moment, which he happily ignored to keep chewing on my donated portion of food.

“Ass.” I declared, making him chuckle. “And what was the whole ritual thing he did?”

“Not a clue! I don’t know everything, Ray. Seemed like a show of respect? I know [Kindred] are up there in the hierarchy of Outsiders but they— to put it mildly— generally don’t interact much with others.” Leigh shrugged.

You know what? This isn’t even the weirdest thing to happen to me this week. I’ll just roll with it and enjoy the food.

Having solved the problem of strange things happening again (by ignoring them), I reached down with reverence to pick up the cup of coffee, pulling it up to my nose and inhaling the heavenly aroma. There were some unknown spices mixed in, enhancing the already amazing smell straight up to god-tier. I took a sip, and ascended from the mortal plane in coffee-induced bliss.

“Sweet coffee, oh how I’ve missed you.”

Tucking in with gusto, I proceeded to devour every scrap of the delicious meal while swatting away Leigh’s attempts to steal more from my tray. After the meal I felt… grounded, somehow. I was making real progress towards my goal of reaching Veris, and at this point I just had to hold tight and get there. A stomach full of good food (and better coffee) did wonders to settle my anxious mood, so for once I actually felt like I had a shot in this chaotic new world.

The ship’s alarm buzzed right after I finished that thought, of course, a quick two-tone that was followed up by a double flash of the yellow ‘ready’ lights.

“Brace.” A bored-sounding, tinny voice came from a flared metal tube by the hatchway just before a muffled *boom* sent a shudder through the ship.

“Cannon fire? Must’ve seen something big.” Leigh remarked idly.

Taking my queue from the non-reaction of the few people left in the galley, I kept myself calm and took my tray over to the dirty pile by the kitchen. Turning around, I abruptly found myself looking into a pair of startlingly golden eyes wayyy too close to my face, nearly making me knock the pile of dishes over as I jumped backwards with my heart racing.

“Hi! Are you the other mage? The warder?” A youthful, feminine voice asked, excitedly.

Holding up a hand placatingly, I took a moment to both get my nervous system back under control and to identify my latest assailant. She was a few centimeters shorter than me, with olive skin and a smattering of freckles across her high cheekbones. Dark brown hair was mostly tied back in a loose bun, though her bangs hung free around a pair of welding goggles on her forehead. She had an athletic build that was clearly visible underneath a fairly conservative dark-red worker’s dress that hung to mid-calf above a sturdy-looking pair of leather boots. I kept darting back to look at her eyes though, which were a shade of bright gold like polished topaz gemstones. She was easily the prettiest girl I’d ever met— with the exception of Lady Adelaine, though she was too intimidating in my head for me to think of her as beautiful.

Apparently I was staring for too long, because she smirked and arched an eyebrow at me.

“See something you like?”

Blushing furiously I stammered out a reply.

“Yeah— I mean, Yeah, I’m the warder.”

Smooth, Ray.

Her face brightened and she grinned at me.

“Perfect! Come with me.” She grabbed my hand with lightly calloused fingers and promptly started dragging me out of the galley. “We have monsters to slay!”

“What??” I asked, shooting Leigh a half-panicked look. He (the traitor) gave me a wide smile and waved, quickly mouthing ‘good luck’ to me before I was pulled out of the room.

“Yeah, usually Teadran says I’m too valuable to risk during the heavy fighting so I have to stay below. But with you here…” She gave me a wicked grin. “I can finally cut loose and really burn some stuff.”

“Uh, that’s… good?” I said, confusedly. “Sooo… who are you?”

Her head whipped around at me and her lips made a surprised ‘o’.

“Oh sorry! I’m Esshani Zaraiah, you can call me Shani. I tried to meet you by the mage quarters, but you were already gone when I got there.”

Beaming at me, she made to shake my hand before realizing with a laugh that she hadn’t let go of it in the first place. I couldn’t help smiling back.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ray.” I said, introducing myself for the second time today. The smile on my face died as I made several key connections. “Wait, did you say your last name was Zaraiah?”

She looked at me with faux haughtiness and nodded imperiously.

“That’s right. Pyromancer extraordinaire and caretaker of this fiery beast!” The girl slapped the metal hull of the ship around us with pride. “I’ll sign your autograph later, come on— we’re gonna miss all the good fighting!”

Oh god, she’s another hundred-plus-year-old scary lady, isn’t she?

Having never released her iron grip on my hand, she resumed pulling me upwards through the ship until we reached another platform similar to the forward observation deck I’d been on earlier, but higher up and more centrally located on the ship. Based on the angle, I had to assume this is where she’d sent out the death-beam from earlier and incinerated the Urrken hunting party. It wasn’t until we reached this deck that Shani let go of my hand so she could lean out uncomfortably far over the railing, searching the misty swamps below us with an odd mix of bubbly exuberance and chilling bloodthirst. Right up until she apparently found something that needed incinerating.

Taking a wide stance, she held her arms forward and crossed her hands with the palms facing outwards. Furrowing her brow with concentration, a tiny little candle flame sparked into being in front of her hands. I eyed it warily as the feeling of wrongness returned, my internal hackles raising in alarm at the seemingly innocuous flame. The light quickly grew in intensity until with a shout she unleashed it on the mist below, and a beam of white-hot flame obliterated a growing swathe of the ground beneath us— along with whatever had been unfortunate enough to be her target.

The beam of burning death cut out as quickly as it formed, but the girl seemed to misjudge her footing, pushing back against a force that was no longer there while leaning well over the railing. I saw her eyes widen as she started to tip, and without thinking I shot forwards and grabbed her around the waist to pull her back.

Now, I know that as an [Outer Kindred] I’m a fair bit stronger than the average person. However, I’ve had some time to adjust to that new strength and I’m pretty sure I know how much to use in most situations. So I was totally caught off guard when Shani launched into my chest— and directly into my bruises— with an impact that sent us both stumbling back with an *oof* and nearly sent us tumbling off the opposite rail.

I caught my breath after a moment of internal screaming at the fresh pain blossoming across my chest before looking down at Shani.

“You ok?” I asked, trying (and failing) to hide the strain in my voice.

She nodded breathlessly.

“I’m fine. Thanks for the catch, I almost fell!” She said with an innocent, wide-eyed look that made me immediately suspicious. Coupled with the fact that she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to disentangle herself from me had several alarm bells ringing in my head— along with a creeping blush on my face.

That was totally a setup. Is she…

Sensing the jig was up, the girl laughed and pushed off me with a mischievous smile while I smothered a wince at the renewed pain the motion caused.

"Well, you have good reflexes at least." She said with a wink as she walked back to the other railing.

Ok. Chill, Ray. Remember the creepy fire. She's probably ten times your age. Focus. Say something!

"Thanks. So… how long have you been a 'core tender'? And what exactly is a core tender?" I tried, fishing for more info.

"I took over for my papa two years ago, but this ship has been home for most of my life. My great, great… ah, a few more ‘greats’— grandfather invented the Elemental Core that runs these ships and they've been in my family ever since." She said proudly. Her smile dimmed a bit and a cloud crossed her expression. "Though the forges to actually make them were lost during the Silent Kingdoms. Not many left like this old girl."

Shani ran her hand fondly along the handrail as she spoke, and I could suddenly understand her enthusiasm for violence if this is how she grew up. Also…

Two years? That… doesn’t sound like she’s that old.

“Mostly I just maintain the runes and enchantments on the core.” She continued. “The Elemental Core gets… rowdy if you don’t keep a close eye on it. It can’t really think per se, but you can’t cram that much magic in one spot without some emotive etheric resonance showing up. You know?”

“Totally.” I said, having no idea what she was talking about.

“It’s all pretty boring stuff, really.” She demurred with uncharacteristic shyness. “Hey, I saw your wards earlier when you blocked all those spears. Where’d you learn that spell? I’ve never actually seen a ward like that before.”

It was a fairly abrupt change of topic, but I ultimately chose the path of discretion by not pushing the fiery-death-beam girl on something she didn’t want to talk about. Besides, it wasn’t exactly a secret where I’d learned the little I did about magic. I summoned a dinner plate sized hexagon— with minimal discomfort— that Shani quickly started poking at while I explained.

“I learned it from Veris Haethram, down in the Deep Hollows. He’s got a whole speech about ‘the inherent superiority of the hexagon’ and made this to prove it.”

“Lord Haethram? You trained under an Archmage??” She asked excitedly, stepping close to me again.

“Only for a little while, he got pulled back up here not long after I met him. I’m actually going to try and see him now, that’s why I’m on the ship.” I said, trying to downplay things while struggling with the desire to be more ‘impressive’.

“But still! I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to have a teacher like that, and in the Deep Hollows?? What were you doing there? You have to tell me!” Almost vibrating with excitement, she grabbed my hands and gave me a pleading look.

There was a gleam hidden in her eyes that I couldn’t decipher, but I couldn’t detect anything malicious about it. I just had the sneaking suspicion that I was walking into some kind of trap. Ultimately though, I decided there wasn’t any harm in giving a heavily sanitized version of my first days on Haven. Shani was fun to talk to, and didn’t seem to mind when I avoided some things. She conveniently forgot to let go of my hand again while we talked, and I found myself more and more distracted by the warmth of her fingers around mine.

Ok, calm down Ray. It’s just a hand. Chill.

My story was interrupted by the return of the ship’s buzzing alarm behind us. Disappointment flashed across Shani’s features before she let go of my hand and stepped back to the railing— with some of her earlier bloodthirst creeping back on her face.

“Looks like we have some monsters to kill. Watch my back?”

I snapped my fingers and summoned a dozen more hex shields around us, hastily burying the twinge in my nerves from doing so. It was a little concerning at this point, but I thought I could handle it as long as things didn’t get too crazy.

“Absolutely.”

How bad can it be?