The crow’s nest was usually reserved for the spotters. Gabrio, who had been getting less patients lately, had climbed up the nest with a spyglass on him. He took a rest on the side of the nest, his journal had been filled with drawings, creatures, and records of what he had been doing.

On the Arkshelled Island, men were moving lumbers, columns, and were directing cattle to Swindmore Shoulder. Over the Tailbone Port, the ships were anchored, with most of the sailors cleaning the side of the ship, rolling barrels in and out of the ship. Beyond that, Gabrio couldn’t see what was happening so he sat down, opened his journal and recorded his thoughts.

“I have no recollection of the time,” he wrote. “But I can say that it has been long since the voyage has started. Months in the open seas, the ever changing seas does not surprise me. I was amazed of how wondrous the world was beyond the confines of the continent. Though I must admit that I have not seen it all in the mainland, the world was far too large. Who would have believed me if I said that one day I would witness a floating Island with a town mounted on top of it?”

He snapped the book close, raised his right arm to block the wind. He took a peek of the wind, then hid back on the crow’s neck to continue writing his thoughts down. Gabrio spent the time under the sun. The azure skies were blue and not a cloud could be found. It made him wonder if the climate had changed again, and yet despite the heat, he found the temperature of the sea to his liking. Then again, the wind here was far better than the Empty Seas and Rotten Sea of Reeds.

Usually, he would be stuck in the clinic, waiting patiently for anyone to come. But with how things are going, and how they had managed to passed the Sea of Reeds. The fleet had become stable and other than the longing for home, there were no troubles that needed for a Doctor. Of course, there are injuries that he needed to heal when dealing with the pugilists who found entertainment in mashing someone’s face. He had treated bruisers, and made a list of people who he wouldn’t treat unless they have a gaping wound that needed treatment.

It baffled Gabrio that he eight-seven people in that list. There are of course other hobbies that formed, and there were those who took up reading. Others were fond of drowning themselves in alcohol, the rest wanted to fool themselves in attending to their tasks. Gabrio also had to deal with men and women who were found in inappropriate places. Though most of that task he handed to the Inquisitors and Constables. He was a Doctor, not some Disciplinary Officer, and he had put his foot down.

Inquisitor Cooper Ackie was at least reasonable and had allowed him to take breaks. Even his efforts of making sure that patients get what they deserve was taking a toll on him. This was nothing compared to the years of toiling under the Butcher of Fort Rava. His teacher certainly wasn’t someone who wasted time in rest and had taught him.

Gabrio couldn’t forget the faces. The lifeless stares of the living and the dead who were opened up in front of him so that the Butcher of Fort Rava could teach him his ways.

“Observe, and then act. Remember, you must find the cause, and decide what needs to be done. Boy, you must think that you here to be taught to becoming a Surgeon? No, that would too be easy, you are going to be different. You’d a great sham. Don’t let me regret paying 100 coins for you.”

Open them up, pour the medicine, and see how it goes. He could remember seeing all of them stare him in the eye, begging, whimpering, asking for help and he stood. They were criminals, heinous degenerates that had done cruelty that deserved their fate.

But even dogs should be put down properly. The Butcher of Fort Rava wanted him to see and he did. He could do nothing while he was held in the shoulders. Maybe that’s why he wanted to be good at what he did. He wanted to survive and to do that he needed to learn and maybe helped them. But in the end, he couldn’t let go of that bit of that made him human. That selfishness and wanting to survive first.

When the years passed, and he had grown older alongside those who were trapped in that fort. He gutted the people that taught him to be who he was for the sake of testing a medicine for cough. He opened those he had grown respect to in order to see the color of their organs in hopes to find a better cure.

And he did it all for the sake of survival. He did it in hopes that one day he could gut his Teacher as well, and yet at the day where he was able to find himself in that operating table with his surgical knives and medicines. He found only this bitter emptiness as the Teacher who he hated, admired, and respected die so easily because of such strange disease.

Inside the butcher was nothing more than the same organs he found inside those that he opened up. They were all the same, and yet he found himself vomiting his guts out. The tough mask that he had placed on his face crumbling into many fragments, shattering on impact as the last whimper of that Butcher was last heard.

Gabrio widened his eyes and held his mouth. He forced down the urge to vomit in the crow’s neck and forced himself to calm down.

There were days where the memories flood in like a wave. He wanted it to stop and be gone and yet it still remains inside his head like a hateful reminder. Oh, how he hated to be still. He couldn’t stand the memories flooding and so he hide that thought away, focusing his eyes back to Arkshelled Island.

With the wind picking up and the spotter was back from his break. Gabrio didn’t dare to stay in the crow’s nest and went back to topside. After putting his foot down on the deck, he saw Wiles shouldering through the crowd that were gathered on topside.

“Doctor, I’ve checked the patients, recorded the diagnosis, and checked on the supplies.”

“Good, so what about your studies?”

“Ah, forgive me, Doctor. I am trying to understand the tomes you gave me, but it’s just impossible to understand it all.”

“I know. You would need practical experience, and so far you’re doing good identifying the needed treatment. As much as I like to teach you the other treatments that I know. Sadly, we don’t have luxury of having carcasses. And I rather not hope that we’d get corpses to experiment on.”

Wiles nodded. The two entered the hatchway where Gabrio was stationed most of the time. From the windows on the side of the wall was the people of the Galleon climbing to the deck or going back down. Arkshelled Island moved with the same speed as the fleet on full-sails. If it wasn’t for the stability of the Grand—Galleon, he doubts that there would be on top of the deck.

Sailors were using the rigging of the Galleon, and they were using the rigging to zip around their places. Wiles helped him arranged the sandboxes, the shelves, and the storage locks that were attached on the hatchway.

Time passed. The two went back to the clinic, did what they have usually do, and rested. Wiles went out while Gabrio found himself checking on the diagnosis that Wiles had presented. He corrected some of the mistakes, adjusted the information, and crossed-out the assumptions that were written on the paper.

After finishing the paperwork with a tap of his writing stick. He stored most of the papers in a cabinet, and it was then he realized that Wiles had done a good job. Leaning on his chair for a moment, he headed out of the clinic, went topside, and stared at the lights flickering in the distance. He waited for the ramp to go down and went down the ramp.

The Shoulder named Lundy have houses raised. Most of the civilians have started settling down. They gather on the middle of the town during the nights while the spotters watched this side of the Island. From the shadows, he saw the Elven-kin holding their tree-log sized rifles with both hands. If Gabrio didn’t know they were around, he was sure that he wouldn’t have noticed them at all. He travelled through the orchards, met some people who were coming from Swindmore Shoulder, and went to the right where he found tents and long tents that were situated around the flowing spring water coming from the elder tree.

He took a seat next to the flowing water that was flowing to the side. If it wasn’t for the lights produced by the bulbs and the leaves of the elder tree, he was sure that Island was going to be dark. Most of the time the light has been kept to keep the enemies away. It acted as a detriment for the creatures that are hiding in the shadows.

Sometimes the light made him feel uneasy. What would happen if they attract moth-like creatures that would surround the light? He didn’t know what to do with this thought so he just believed that they know what they were doing. Of course, he had no control over the situation and although usually he would be inside his clinic or room. Gabrio found out that he didn’t have that same drive.

“I guess there days like these as well.”

His voice was trembling. Gabrio hated it when the memories of his time with the butcher becomes clear in his head. He despised hearing that voice inside his head. Gabrio would rather have those odd dreams inside of his head. Metal planes, metal boats, and strange arrows that could produce such an explosion. So many things that were inside his head, and yet he had no idea how those things could even function. Gabrio had tried to recreate the simple things in his dreams, but it was impossible without the proper knowledge to use it.

Even with grand ‘dreams’ that are constantly bugging his dreams. What was the point if he didn’t know the principles behind them? He might have made use of ‘dreams’ to make the simpler ones and manifest them. But Gabrio understood that he lacked so much to create those things again and make them function.

So what if he knows what they look?

He had no idea on how those things would work. It was the same as looking at a body, then declaring that you know everything about that was inside this body by looking at the exterior. He had tried create some of these items, and he failed. He simply didn’t know what the complexity inside that makes them work.

“All I have is what I have.”

Gabrio wondered why he was thinking of the past. Although he had no desire to recall them, he could still picture the day where he hesitated outside of the Fort, wondering, if he could come out of alive of a war that changed the continent. Sometimes, he was still unsure on how he lived through that hell. The constant rumble of the artillery, the screams, and the poor men who begged for their mothers. And throughout those days, he found no use for his abilities as a Doctor. They needed a surgeon, and he had to work like one despite being a Doctor who specialized in internal medicine.

“I should take care of myself.”

He said firmly, as if warning that pitiful fool who watched butcher of Rava gut his patients to never make the same blunder of inaction ever again.