The moment of departure had finally arrived.

In my cowardice, I had been unable to ask Nev to accompany me on this journey. By convincing their captain friend to ship off from Thaxton almost immediately, my window to pop the question was growing smaller and smaller. As I stood on the dock with bags in hand, I ran through possible ways to ask them and calculated their answers.

Even in my past life, I wasn't great at making friends. I had one or two here or there, but working for my family's business had made it much more challenging to spare time for friendships. That's what I told myself, at least. I knew the crippling social anxiety didn't help much either.

"You packed and ready?" Nev asked as they approached me on the dock. "I didn't even see you sneak out this morning."

"Yeah, I wanted to see the sunrise." I lied.

Their pack was strapped across their back. I knew Nev was probably trying to leave town right after my departure. So this was the only moment I'd get to secure friendship.

"Listen, Nev..." I started, breaking eye contact to stare into the wooden boards of the dock.

"Yeah?"

"This might sound strange, but would you like to come to Dulcrois with me? I just feel like something brought us together for a reason. You can do a lot of the things I can't, and maybe I can do some things you can't as well. Plus, maybe someone in Dulcrois would know about your seed. I'd help you bring your friend back, its the least I could do after they helped save my life more than once. I just... honestly don't think I could make it there without your help. So please come with me!"

As I looked up, they were gone, and I couldn't blame them. A burden is all I would be, ignorant of the way this world functions. I'd be lucky if I made it halfway to Dulcrois before getting eaten by a bear, dragon, or even a telepathic sludge monster. Maybe if I had given them more time, they could have thought about it, but my cowardice forced me into this situation. Alone is all I would ever be.

"Mersault."

If I max out my running and cowering skills, maybe there would be a world where I could make it in one piece. Yeah, that could work, I told myself, and where running or cowering wouldn't, maybe I could buy or sleep my way to safety. Admittedly, it wasn't the most honorable path, but who needed honor when it came to survival?

"Mersault!"

Maybe there was a fabric out there that was so resilient I could wrap myself in a cloth ball and survive anything. Maybe layer in some fire-resistant material so they couldn't burn me out. Yeah, this was coming together. Who needed Nev anyway? I could definitely do this on my own.

"Hey, Mercy!" Nev shouted from aboard the Thirsty Sow. "Are you coming, or what?"

"Oh, thank God," I replied while scrambling to hoist myself onto the ship.

Nev's captain friend was introduced as one Sprin Portly. I tried to contain my excitement when discovering his entire body was covered in a thick mass of hair, long whiskers protruded from his face that were as long as his body was wide, and his eyes were slitted upwards.

"A pleasure to meet you, Captain." I shook his paw with both hands, attempting to cop a feel of his fur.

"Welcome aboard, Mersault." The cat-man replied, pulling his hand back in obvious discomfort.

The Thirsty Sow was a modest vessel. Only thirty feet long with a crew of three to support it, not counting the captain. Trade across the Prathein Sea came at a high cost, Sprin assured me. But I was more sure that the 'trade' the good captain shipped was something he didn't want to be advertised. However, I just kept my mouth shut like a good little passenger.

Out at sea, I got to know the rest of the crew better. Callin was a rough and tumble man in his mid-thirties. He kept primarily quiet, that is, until Nev brought up his family. Then you couldn't shut the man up, talking on and on about his loving wife and two daughters. It was sweet, despite how irritating it became after a while.

Reika was the captain's, first mate. A broad-shouldered beast of a woman who had been at captain Sprin's side for over a decade. She and Nev seemed to get along very well, despite all the times I would catch the two punching each other in the arms.

Last and definitely least was a man who decided to go by Lucky. Lucky had arguably the least fitting name of any person I had ever met. Blind in one eye and half-blind in the other, he sported a glass eye that never seemed to focus in the same direction as his better one. You could hear him clacking towards you from the other side of the ship as he possessed not one but two peg legs. His shirt was oversized and often revealed a massive scar that spanned his entire chest. If there was ever an accident on the ship, I told myself I'd stand as far as possible from Lucky.

All things considered, they were a reasonably competent crew. Captain Sprin, on the other hand, was a certified maniac. He would walk the railings of the ship while waves crashed against the sides of the boat, walking straight and unflinching. That is unless the water happened to hit him. Then, the tiniest splash would send him reeling in the opposite direction, splayed across the ground on all fours with his hackles evident through his coat. It was startling and comical, but neither the crew nor Nev seemed to acknowledge it. Instead, Sprin would go to his quarters for about five to fifteen minutes, then continue walking the ship's railing as if nothing had ever happened.

The sea seemed relatively identical to my previous life—just a large body of water with waves that rolled across its surface. Still, I had a hard time getting comfortable aboard the vessel. As night fell, Sprin showed me my quarters, a massive pile of stuffed blankets Lucky and Callin sprawled themselves over. I decided to sleep atop the deck, leaning against the mast and feeling the ocean's waves rolling over me.

As the sea rocked me to sleep, I felt a sense of peace with my decisions. I hadn't died yet; that was something. Of course, my abilities weren't the flashiest, but I hadn't met anyone else who could do anything similar. I even found myself a companion, at least until we reached Dulcrois. But, all and all, I knew that I could only go up from here.

"Rise and shine, crew! We've got company." Reika shouted out from the crow's nest.