I woke slowly, my mind seeming to resist the process. At some point, I realized I was lying in a soft bed, covered in blankets. For two seconds, my fuzzy mind convinced me that I must have had a long day at the office and was sleeping in. Then a finger traced the curve of my leg, and my mind snapped fully awake. Right, I thought, blinking a few times before Eliandra's face was no longer a blur. She was leaning on an elbow, using her other hand to trace contours around my stomach and chest muscles.

My eyes wandered to her naked upper body, and as I drank in the sensual sight, I felt my body react.

"Finally awake?" Eliandra said with a grin. "Well, I can't blame you. You had a busy night!"

I made a grasping motion towards her, but she rolled away deftly, landing on her feet beside the bed. Looking at me, she shook her head, her loose hair dangling along the sides of her face.

"No more for now! You need to leave soon, and you're going to need all of your energy!"

"I've got plenty of energy," I complained.

Eliandra turned around and began moving through the massive room, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she was stark naked. My eyes remained glued to her body for a full minute before I felt myself heat up so much that I was afraid I might cause the bed to start catching fire. Closing my eyes, I lay back, enjoying the softness of the mattress. Memories of the previous night replayed through my mind, and a goofy grin came to my face.

"Four hands sure is handy…" I said, raising them while bursting out laughing.

"You will never hear me complain about that," Eliandra's voice came from the other side of the room.

I sighed contentedly and pushed myself up and out of the blankets. Our armors lay scattered across the floor close by, and the mushroom fireplace was still burning brightly. Eliandra had found a dark grey robe that just enhanced my desire to walk over and continue exploring her new body.

Not now. I forced myself to get up and move to my armor. Before I could even pick it up, I smelled the old sweat, dried up blood, and worse things on it, and I almost gagged.

"We need to wash this stuff," I muttered.

"How good of you to say so!" Eliandra said as if she had just the solution. I turned around, wondering what she had found, and saw her standing at the furthest side of the room. I noticed before that there was some low, square thing there, but now that I was fully awake, I recognized what it was.

Running forward, I stood beside her as I looked at the four-by-six swimming pool sunk deep in the floor. Sparkling water seemed to invite me to jump in. Without a care in the world, I did.

"Wai-" Eliandra's shout was cut short as freezing cold water wrapped around me, and I sank to the bottom.

My first reaction was to shoot up and out, but then I felt a soft warmth bubble up from deep inside my body. It battled the cold, and although I expected it would lose eventually, the biting water became bearable almost immediately. Staying at the bottom, I opened my eyes and looked around. Small, angular tiles on the walls and floor sparkled with their own azure light. Feeling my air slowly run out, I kicked up to the surface, realizing the pool was too deep to stand.

"Idiot! What if you had a heart attack!" Eliandra said as soon as my head popped up out of the water.

"That's just some old myth, don't you know that?" I spluttered, climbing out of the water and shaking myself like a dog. Seeing Eliandra standing nearby, I leered and stepped closer with my four arms stretched out. "Come give me a hug!"

Before I could react, something slammed into my chest, and I was knocked back into the pool, hearing a peal of laughter before I was submerged again. Climbing out, I saw Eliandra run away, cackling loudly.

"Come here, you!" I shouted.

For another half an hour, we played around like little children, just happy with each other's company. When we finally moved out of the room, we were wearing our armor again. It was wet from having rinsed it in the bath, whose water was now murky and disgusting. Hopefully, Rathica had installed some form of drainage, but Eliandra would have to figure that out herself.

The door from which the snoring had come last night was partially open now, and I snuck a peek inside as we passed. The room was empty, but we found Laurel inside the main temple hall, talking with Haltir.

"So, did you two finally decide to join us? It's almost noon!" Haltir said gruffly. Still, he was smiling as he said it, and when he looked at me, his eyes twinkled.

"There's some food for you," Laurel said, pointing at a small package on one of the stone benches that stood in front of Rathica's statue. "I also spoke with Iz. She wants to talk to you before you leave but has made sure we won't get into trouble for how we docked."

I nodded, having eyes only for the packages of steaming food.

After having eaten the roasted fish, still hot, and drunk the water, we moved outside together.

"So, what did I hear about you having to do something dangerous again, boy?" Haltir said as he hobbled after us.

I quickly explained what I had to do, leaving out some of the details I thought irrelevant.

"Back to the Harrowing Hills… crazy is what I call it," Haltir said. I expected him to say more, but he remained quiet, glaring at his leg.

"Right, let's go and see how Lark is doing," I said, raising an eyebrow at Laurel.

"I went and checked on him yesterday, and he was mostly bored. He asked if I could release the chains so he could look around a bit, but I told him that would get us into trouble," Laurel said.

Imagining Lark sailing around unsupervised, perhaps even below the surface, and doing whatever he wanted, I shook. The demon ship was like a child, and I had no idea what type of trouble he would get himself into.

"Alright, let's go and see. We can get some supplies from the harbor stores while we are there!"

"Shopping," I heard Eliandra whisper, but I ignored it.

The trip through the city reminded me of the day before. Many people were moving around, chatting happily about simple things like laundry, who did what with whose husband, and when some merchant would next arrive, and it made me realize how much I'd missed this sense of safety. Compared to all the other places I'd been in Kernstalion, it seemed Orlion was the most protected by far, and it showed in how the people acted.

When we got to the docks, we found that the water now reached just below the lowest, Midnight dock. From this high, the seabed was visible a few meters below the waves, but the water level was rising rapidly again. Within an hour, maybe less, the sea would have swallowed the Midnight dock again. Lark lay, bobbing gently in the waves that hadn't yet started smashing the middle dock.

There was a sharp intake of air from behind me, followed by Haltir's disbelieving words. "A sentient ship?" He stared at me and shook his head. "You've got the luck of Preyatar."

Thinking about it, I decided he was right. I wasn't dead yet, had found Eliandra and rejoined with her, had somehow managed to become the Prime of a new deity, and had a sentient ship. Taking a look at Lark, I corrected myself to that I had, perhaps, befriended a sentient ship. Calling him my own would be stretching it.

Walking from the start of the harbor to the part of the dock where Lark lay still took almost half an hour, as we had to circumvent dozens of laborers and sailors going to any of the other ships. When we reached him, a dozen sailors stood together, gazing at him as they softly whispered amongst themselves. They were unwashed and unkempt, with nasty scars, and each one gave me the feeling they could easily be dubbed pirates.

As we moved to Lark and readied ourselves to jump aboard, one of the sailors stepped forwards. "Hey, is this yer vessel?" His voice sounded oily, and he spoke with an accent I hadn't heard yet. Our group turned to him, but he only had eyes for Haltir, squinting at the older man.

"Yes," I said, wondering what the pirate wanted.

"Me'captain is willing to make an offer on er," he said, turning to me with a smile and without dropping a beat.

I shook my head. "He isn't for-"

"Dun be tah fast now, Sandfeet," the pirate interrupted me. The other pirates moved to stand behind him, and I saw they outnumbered us three to one.

"Y'all don't have what it takes to command this'ere vessel, and the offer be mor'an generous."

Feeling the pressure the man was emanating, any goodwill I might have had vanished, and I shut my mouth while I quietly stared at him. Slowly the fake smile faded from the pirate's face, turning into a dangerous glare.

"Mayhap, it'd be wise to speak with me'captain before you decide, no?" his accent deepened as his voice lowered to a threatening growl.

My hand rose to where my ax handle poked from behind my shoulder, and there was a rustling from Eliandra and the others as they spread out. The pirates began encircling us, and glittering daggers appeared in their hands. The squinty-eyed leader had his hands on two knives attached to his upper legs.

"Hey! What's going on there!"

A loud shout came back along the dock, and all of us turned to a group of armed guards heading our way. They had brandished swords, and immediately the pirates dispersed. Some moved towards a ship that lay at the far end of the pier, while the others vanished in the crowd of laborers and other people moving around.

I dropped my hand, waiting for the guards to arrive. An extravagantly armored young man was at the head of the group. With a slight scowl on his soft face, his sharp eyes and a well-maintained sword made for a contrasting image. I wasn't sure what to make of him and decided to let him speak first.

Eliandra didn't seem to agree. "You only just came in time! Those goons wanted to steal our ship!" she said as she stepped forward, her face turning into that of an anxious and distressed maiden. I'd not seen her act this part before and blinked in surprise.

"So you say," the guard said, seeming not impressed by her acting. Instead, he kept his sword at the ready as he examined us. His eyes narrowed when he saw my ax and even more when he saw a similar one in Haltir's hand. "All I saw was two groups of troublemakers, ready to disturb the peace of the dock on my watch!"

I was actually slightly impressed, and Eliandra seemed a bit taken aback. Haltir stepped forward, leaning on his ax. I wasn't sure if he was just trying to look cool or had to take some weight from his injured leg.

"A captain? Not bad for your age. Still, if you can't see what was going on just now, you need to clear the shit from your eyes."

The captain's face turned white, then red, and he seemed ready to explode. Before he could, one of the other guards tugged his arm and whispered something in his ear while staring at me. Glaring at Haltir for a second longer, the captain turned to me.

"You're that new prime?"

"I am," I said with a nod.

"Fine. Iz said to leave you alone, and I will… however! If you make any trouble whatsoever, you're going to find yourself inside of a jail before you can call your... deity for help." He said the last part with distaste.

I blinked, barely believing the guts of this guy. He must have some brass balls to speak about deities like this. That, or something else was going on. I nodded, and with a final sneering look at Haltir, the captain turned on his heel and marched off.

When he was out of earshot, Eliandra sniffed. "What a stuck-up little prick. He must have seen we weren't to blame here!"

Haltir laughed softly, shaking his head. "Oh, he knew that. Didn't you see the amulet around his neck?"

I frowned, thinking back at the captain, but all I remembered was his sword and sharp eyes.

Eliandra shook her head, then clacked her tongue. "Wait, you're right. He had a Preyatar symbol on a chain!"

Haltir nodded, and with it, I realized what might be going on. So that's why he didn't seem afraid?

Taking a last look around, I saw the squinty-eyed pirate stare at us from the ship at the end of the pier. It was twice as long as Lark, with three fully rigged masts and a dozen shapes climbing around. It didn't seem very magical, and I wondered how they even survived out on the demon-infested ocean.

"Unless you want to have a fight, I suggest you stop glaring at them," Haltir said, and turned around.

"You're right. Let's get aboard," I said, jumping towards Lark's bobbing deck. He was now exactly even with the dock, but that wouldn't last long.

Masster! You left me here! Do you have any idea how incredibly boring it was? I must've been alone for days! Lark immediately began shouting in my mind. I tried to talk back, but Lark continued whining about flying shit and hull-nibblers. It took a while for me to realize the birds had used him for target practice, and some barnacles had tried to stick to him. When he finally stopped, I had the beginnings of a headache. Eliandra was looking at me with gleaming eyes and a nasty grin. She was obviously enjoying the whole event.

Are we going to leave now? Lark asked, finally giving me room to reply.

"Not yet. But we will leave today. I need to get some supplies and other things," I replied, moving towards the cabin that was still empty. I'd need to get some cupboards and hammocks—places to attach them to as well.

What? Another day here? Lark whined, about to start another bout of complaining.

"No! Just a few hours!" I snapped before turning to the others. Haltir was looking at the wood below his feet with a look of wonder while Eliandra and Laurel were laughing at me. Looking at them, I had an idea and grabbed the bag with my quickly dwindling supply of soul-wood fragments. Taking a medium piece from it, I handed it to Eliandra, who raised an eyebrow.

"Can you two get some supplies, enough for a week, some hammocks, and anything else you can think of that we will need?"

Eliandra nodded but stuck out another hand. I blinked in surprise.

"Give me some more fragments, so I can buy other things!"

I groaned but decided that to deny her what she wanted probably wasn't in my immediate best interests. Opening the bag, I noticed I had already lost half of the bigger soul-fragments and had one more medium and a handful of smaller ones left. Taking everything but the bigger ones, I handed them to Eliandra.

"Thanks, cheapskate," she said, walking to the railing before smirking at me. "Don't think I don't know you've got large ones left!"

Before I could reply, she and Laurel jumped back to shore and walked back towards the city.

"You've got yourself a good one there. Better take care of her," Haltir said as he leaned against the railing.

How did you decide that based on this? I thought, but I just smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

"When are we leaving?" Haltir said, rubbing his leg.

"We?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, we. What'd you think? That I'd leave you to set out and possibly die? You're needed to prove the power of the ax. Remember?"

Seeing his serious look, I was surprised. I hadn't expected him to bring it up after I'd told him about what was at stake. Looking at his leg, I shrugged. It might be for the best, as it would give me the opportunity to fix his leg. Besides, Haltir was an impressive fighter, and any help I could get seemed like a good idea.

"When Lark's hull reaches the middle dock," I said.

"You're going to leave as you came? You must really enjoy angering the guards!" Haltir laughed before he climbed over the railing and practically dove to the dock. It was slightly higher than the railing now, but he made it.

"I'll get my stuff and be back here as soon as I can. Don't you dare leave without me, got it!"

"Make sure you're not late," I shot back. Then I was alone with Lark, wondering why I hadn't just gone with Eliandra or Haltir.

Looking around, I saw there were still small pieces of wood stuck in edges and nooks from when Lark had been below the sea. I also realized I'd never examined every nook and cranny yet.

Stretching myself, I placed my ax and upper armor in the cabin, together with my boots, before moving around the ship. I'd see what I could find until Eliandra and the others were back.