“I always enjoyed listening to other people's life stories. There were always things you could learn from them, always.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“See those islands far to our port side, miladies?” asked the captain as he pointed out with one of his index fingers. The ship sailed eastwards at the moment, and kept relatively close to the continent, so it was easy to see the chain of islands he pointed out on their north side. They loomed large on the horizon, even backdropped by the larger continent behind them.

Aideen knew from what she learned that the island chain in question housed at least a couple small island nations. She had not included a visit to those islands in her schedule since she was mostly interested in the powers that could greatly affect the continent’s situation, as well as those regions around her chosen spot.

The island nations were not only far away, but also far too small to be able to affect the situation of the continent, hence why she had not even bothered to include them in her itinerary.

“Yes, Verona, Aspelucca, and Olundria, if I remember their names correctly, no?” said Aideen as she named the largest three of the island nations that often fought for dominance over the island chain as a whole. “Might you be from there as well, Captain?”

“That is so, milady,” said the Captain as he spat into the sea with some disgust. “As much as it pained me to admit, I was born in Verona, roughly… seven decades ago or thereabouts?” he added as he continued his tale, his face scrounged up in concentration for a brief moment. “Hard to tell for sure, I’m afraid. I was born on the streets and they never really keep a proper list of us street urchins.”

“A problem shared by many in this world, yes,” replied Aideen with as she nodded in agreement. Given the prosperity and regulated nature of life in Ptolodecca, she couldn’t help but feel disappointment when she visited another country and saw little children abandoned to eke out a living on the streets, as was so often the case. “I wish we lived in a world where every child was at least cared for until they could care for themselves too, but alas, we live in no such world.”

“Sadly so, milady, sadly so,” repeated the captain with obvious feeling behind his words. “Anyway, I was a street urchin from Verona, then I was unlucky and got ‘drafted’ into a ship’s crew when I grew up a bit bigger,” he continued once more, with obvious distaste in some of his words. “Ah, you might not be familiar with the practice, but in my nation it was commonplace for ship captains to simply grab the homeless and the poor and force them to serve on their ships as crew.”

“For less than a proper wage, if I assume correctly?” asked Celia from the side with some fascination and distaste in her voice. The younger woman had no doubt that people would treat each other that badly given the chance, having lived as a peasant prior to her fortuitous meeting with Aideen. “Actually, would you get paid at all?”

“Good question, milady, but that is indeed the case. All we got ‘paid’ with are gruel and hardtack to fill our bellies with. Of course, they never gave a damn about those who had people that relied on them back home,” replied the good captain with some melancholy in his voice. “In fact, those people were often the first ones tossed overboard for being a ‘waste of rations’ in those times.”

“I was about to say that that’s horrible and how could any decent ruler allow the practice,” replied Celia with an understanding nod and a more solemn expression on her face. “But then I recalled that I happened to know a nobleman who allowed those under him to freely take whatever they liked off his own people, usually the poor peasants who only knew of their village… and I could not refute that at times people are indeed… horrible creatures to each other.”

“I apologize for having dredged up unpleasant memories, milady, but such was the way of the world at times, indeed,” said the Captain as he took off his broad hat and slightly bowed as a way of apology.

“It’s in the past… the distant past now… Sorry for the interruption, captain,” replied Celia in kind. “Please carry on with the tale, if it’s not too much of a bother?”

“Why, certainly, I would be happy to,” answered the captain with a slight smile. “Anyway, as I said, I was drafted aboard a ship as a youth. Can’t really tell how old I was at the time. Probably ten, maybe fifteen, or anything in between. It was hellish, hard living. We were put to ‘use’ all day long in every sort of hard labor, often with only a pittance of gruel and hardtack to fill our bellies at night,” said the captain as he continued his tale. “Out of the others I knew of in my first trip, less than half of us survived the trip at all.”

“I would have asked how that was even allowed but I fear I already know the answer too well,” commented Celia when the captain briefly paused on his narrative. “Nobody on the high seats gave a fuck, did they?”

“Aptly put,” replied the captain with a melancholic smile. “For them, we were just filth off the streets that they don’t even consider people. Gets even worse if you’re not fully human in blood,” he added, as he shifted his hair slightly to show his rather small, oddly shaped ears. “I got some tiny bit of merfolk blood in my veins, not enough to be of any true benefit, but enough to slightly alter my appearance, so being seen as less than trash had been a common thing since my youth.”

“Anyway, as I was saying, it was rare for more than half of us to survive those hellish trips, but it was during those times that I met the one person I’d be proud to call a friend all my life.”