The next day greeted Nannade sickly. Or better said, she felt sick. She had to run outside before even putting on her clothes. In her undergarments, she leaned over the railing. Only after she had lifted her head back above her shoulders, did she notice the leering looks of salacious seamen.

She had quickly returned to her berth to get dressed. When she got back outside, whistles and cheers celebrated her return to the light of day. Some laughs were had and she accepted her mishap. A crolachan man came up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He could have easily been twice as old as her. His stinking mouth blew obnoxious words her way and she feared lice and other parasites might jump from his arm into her fur any moment now.

“Girl, are you going to grace us with your morning ritual every day? I dearly hope so;we don’t get such a sight to behold at sea.”

She carefully removed his arm from her shoulders and went onto the stern deck. She found Alivor and the captain, discussing the course of actions.

“What am I supposed to do? Can I help somehow?”

Alivor turned to her. “Just find a place where you’re out of the way and do not interfere. The crew is highly trained and needs to go about their duty without interruptions or distractions.” He said that last word with a stern tone. Apparently, he had seen what had happened earlier.

“Can’t I help out in any non-distracting way? I want to be of use.”

“Since you’re not a trained sailor, I highly doubt you’d be of adequate use, this is not training voyage, this is a real mission!”

The captain put his hand on the professor’s shoulder. “Actually, if she is a witch, she can sing a tune to the wind once we set sail. Fair weathers are always welcome.”

Nannade looked to the professor. He shrugged. “I guess you can do that once we set sail.”

“I’ll get to seeking some contact to the spirits as soon as possible.”

Nannade turned around and looked at the vessel, how sailors were hurrying along to fulfil their duties and stow the last bits of cargo. Then she looked up the two masts. Against the vista of the sky and the bridge above them, she saw them sway from left to right, not unlike the trees in the forest on a windy day.

She knew where she could find some quiet and got to climbing up on one of the masts to be further away from the people below and closer to the winds. The mast had wrappings of rough rope that offered perfect hold for her claws, making her climb much faster than over the rigging for the non-crolachan crew members. She sat down on a horizontal yard and started to listen to the songs of wind and sea.

She felt its tune and hummed along. It blew from the salt river, the breath of the day. The land itself was breathing at this hotspot of wild energies. She could feel the uplifting winds carrying her to further shores, she could feel the fire river taking her along further north. But that was not where she needed the winds to blow. East, that’s where their voyage would take them.

She felt many a sprite and spirit blown out of the salt river and over the ocean. They beckoned Nannade to come with them. “Soon” she thought. “But not today.” And she sang them farewell songs.

She was deep in her trance when she suddenly heard someone creep up to her. She opened her eyes and saw to her terror, that a smiling face had come up to her. It was a crolachan man, but not that stinking slob from earlier. A bit more hygienic and a bit less old. He held on to the mast just below her, having her hips at eye-level.

“What’s that tune ye’re singing?”

Nannade inched a bit away and turned her butt out of his sight. “It’s not for you. It’s for the spirits.”

“Oh, ye're a shaman then?”

“Yes. Captain Christopherus told me I should summon some favourable winds when we set out. I’m just getting acquainted for now.”

He seemed to be not very intrested in what she had said. “I’m Gregorus, but you can just call me Gregg! What’s your name?”

“Well, Gregorus, my name is Nannade, and before you ask where it’s from, I don’t know.”

“Oh, it’s a fine name.” He widened his smile. “And can I ask where ye’re from? Never seen one like ya.”

“I’m from Sturreland, and you’ll never see one like me again!”

“Aye, I'll believe that! But don’t worry, I still think you’re beautiful!” He gave her a cheeky wink.

Nannade raised an eyebrow, somehow she couldn’t shake the feeling he was poking fun at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Ya know, because...” he gesticulated up and down her body. “...ya know!”

She leaned closer to him. “WHAT?”

“Because... Ye’re so... lanky and sinewy. But don’t worry, put on a pretty dress and ya'll look just adorable!”

She decided it was enough and put her boot gently on his face. “I think YA should get down and leave me be before YAfall.”

“MISS NANNADE!” Captain Christopherus' voice startled her nearly enough to lose balance. “Get down from there now and leave my men alone!”

She looked down to the captain standing at the bottom of the mast. “He’s a total creep and it needs to stop!”

“Get down. From there. To here. Now!” he pointed to the ground in front of him.

She took her boot from Gregorus' face and started her descend.

“Bye Nannade.”

She had problems keeping her shoulders up after she arrived in front of the captain. “I was just getting in tune with the spi-“

“I don’t care, Miss Nannade! While you’re on my ship, you’ll ask me for permission for such things. You’ll make sure that you do not get in the way of my crew’s important duties. That means you’ll stay out of their workplace, you’ll not respond to their advances, it only encourages them, and you’ll keep yourself properly covered up outside of your berth, do you understand?!”

Nannade sighed and then inhaled deeply. “Yes, Captain.”

“Well then. If you want to remain undisturbed either sit in your berth or on the stern deck.”

She ended up sitting on the stern deck’s floor, leaned against the railing, and worked on her project. Her mood was too downed to properly attune to the spirits now anyway.Her project took on shape, but she still got a lot of embroidery to do until it could finally be called finished. All the important runes had been stitched with sinew, all that remained was covering the cloth in patterns, stitched with thread twisted from her own hair.

Around late noon, she noticed a group of people boarding the ship. Six men, all wearing some odd mix between a short robe and a gambeson, in the colours of Northbridge university. She assumed them to be the university’s mages trained for battle. The last in the line was the young man that had welcomed Nannade the day before. She stood up to observe them go below deck, each with a seabag in one hand, their staff in the other.

They had apparently settled in below deck, but a few came back up. The young man, by far the youngest of the group with merely one metal ring on his staff, was among them. He noticed Nannade and waved with a friendly smile. He came up to the stern deck.

“I had the feeling I’d see you again, Miss Nannade.” He said with a friendly smile. He seemed much less distant and cold than in the faculty building. “I guess it would be best to exchange names, we might have to work together, I am Olybrius.”

Nannade didn’t quite know what to do. She got up and shook his hand. “Well then,… is it Mister Olybrius then?”

“Oh no.” He chuckled. “Magister! But please, let’s just agree to drop these honorifics.”

Nannade felt weird and awkward, she had to readjust her pose. “I am sorry, but is this not proper tone?”

“Oh, in front of professor Alivor certainly, but I don’t insist so much on it for myself. People just call me Olybrius anyway.”

“I suppose people call me Nannade anyway. But...” She looked around for the captain. “Captain Christopherus has told me to not... get in his crew’s way anymore.”

“Oh, that’s alright, we’re not part of the ship’s crew. There is a board-mage here, but we’re under the command of colonel Alivor.”

Nannade did not see herself learning all of this anytime soon. “Colonel? Not his spectability or professor?”

Olybrius laughed. “Oh no. I think I did it now! Just call him professor. I am sure you are under no obligation. "his spectability” is for when he’s acting as dean of the faculty of evocation. But this is a mission, so he is either addressed by his rank in the university’s armed forces or just professor. You can’t go wrong with that last one.”

Nannade sighed. “I don’t know if I can jump through all these hoops in time.”

“You’ll manage. So, what will you do?”

“I’ll be attached to the Ordo Militaris’ scouts and make sure the streams of twisted life force don’t mess anything up. Or demons. I have almost no previous information on this undertaking, I have no idea if I’m to the job.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s my first deployment, too.” She just now noticed his eyes, a smooth reddish brown, like finest clay. “I barely graduated and was lucky to be allowed to serve under professor Alivor, I am nervous as well.”

“Is that why you work as his... umm, I don’t know what it was you did yesterday.”

“Secretary? No, I’ve been doing that since before I graduated. I guess it’s the other way around. Because I am his secretary, I managed to land a place here so early.”

“Well I’m sure we’ll do well enough.” She tried to smile without it coming off as nervous.

Just then she noticed something on his hip, like a palm book, but much larger and tightly shut in wooden boards with metal inlays and a strong clasp. “What are those?” She asked, more than happy to change the topic.

“Oh, these are our printed spells.” He held the book up. The papers were held by several metal rings, not just one, and they were separated by index cards.

“I heard of printed spells, isn’t it dangerous?”

“Oh, only during printing, but these days the printing facilities are properly shielded and warded. And these iron nets also act as a shield.” He pointed to the metal inlays in the wood. Then he opened it up and showed a plethora of printed spells with exact curvatures and geometries.

“How do you adapt them? It looks like there’s no more space left for adjustments.”

“Oh, we’re not allowed to make adjustments. We’re soldiers that need to work in unison and harmony. Just casting freehand is dangerous. Only higher ranks and special agents are allowed to do that.”

Nannade furrowed her brow. “That seems artless and stiff.”

“Well... it’s a job that lives depend on.”

“I’ll stick to my palm book.” She flipped hers open and when he saw what was inside, Olybrius furrowed his brow.

“Those constructions are all over the place. You surely have been taught by a free spirit.” And amusement flashed over his face.

“Well, yes. There are no professors for miles in the forests of Sturreland.”

“I guess I’ll see some wild things from you then, young witch.” He waved a short goodbye and got back to his comrades. Nannade waved back. She was glad to have someone who looked her in the eye from a common level, instead of down on her or ogling her lecherously.

Then, finally at evening, just before supper was served, the last member arrived, a tall blonde woman named Ionna, scout lieutenant of the Ordo Militaris. Ser Andronicus introduced her and Nannade formally. They would have to work together in the field once they reached Stakkarun. Departure was set for the next morning’s tide.

As Nannade looked out the harbour from the bow deck, she felt its beckoning winds bolster her up. She would have to deal with an entire land’s twisted life force. It was fitting that this would be her last test. Just thinking “last test” made the scents of home rise up in her memory. The wet forest soil, the rosiny pine trees, the water mint at the fresh pool. Then the salty winds called her back.