Setting Sail - Nearly There
Characters: Aikuen, William, Terian, Kentar, Seb
Location: Golden Pike
Galley
Ahhh. The galley. The wondrous smell of cooking fish and cheese. Why cheese? Cause it does. Don't ask too many questions about that. Anyway. Its a great place to be if your hungry. Or trying to get a bit of quiet. If you get in between meals that is. That's exactly what Aik is doing. He sits at the captains booth. And there is a bunch of documents spread across the table. And with a few amulet looking coins. Similar to the one that Aik wears around the neck all the time. He looks at the documents then at the amulets. Humming to himself.
William comes up behind the otter, hardtack in paw, and peers over Aik's shoulder. "Need any help?" he asks, "How are th new maps coming along?"
Aikuen jumps a bit at the rat, "OH Will! You startled me!" he chuckles weakly before putting things down, "Ummm. Maybe. Could you look at these coins. Then look at this picture. Just off the bat. Can you see any difference in the lettering? Shape? Things like that?" he asks. Motioning for the rat to sit down, "The maps? Oh. They are alright. I mean. There is only two islands that weren't on the map we already had. So i guess its alright" he shrugs a bit.
The rat takes a big bite of his hardtack and takes a seat next to the otter. He looks over and coins and then the picture and back again. "I can't see much difference tween em. But I'd think Mum would be able t tell better than most with all the odd stuff she likes t read."
Aikuen nods a bit has he takes the coins back, "Okay. Good. These are me and Kentar's Fake ID tags for when we land on Ashurah. And normally i would. But. She is overdue... again. And every little thing sets her off. So..." he chuckles weakly, "I thought i would get an impartial answer. SO! What have you been up too, eh?"
"Trying to get arrested again?" the rat asks jokingly. "I've been around. And away from the heat when I can be," he adds to answer the otter's question.
Aikuen winks, "Perhaps. The dungeons are lovely." he chuckles and nods, "Ah. Well. Cant do much about that. Though it should be getting cooler now. Its almost fall, eh?" he grins, "Then soon. We will be back in Mossflower. Back to Moledeepy. With a few more now." he laughs.
William nods, "If they all follow us that far. If any of them do I think Terian should since she's your sister now."
Aikuen nods, "Well. Terian for sure. Cant get rid of her, even if we wanted too" he laughs, "Star im thinking. Syla of course...." he hums, "Dont know about Renard and Oclan. I know about boomer. He made it very clear. that he is NOT returning to Mossflower..." he thinks about it some more, "Thats all i can think of right now."
William says, "And the newest otter is going but they wont have much choice weather to or not."
Aikuen shakes his head, "No... It wont." he laughs, "The twins made sure of it. They already been fighting on who gets to hold it first." he chuckles.
Will chuckles, "That'll probably be Mum or you unless some other beast delivers im. Hope they know t be careful with im. I'm know you've told em but they aren't that good at being gentle yet."
Aikuen nods and sighs, "I know. And we are going to wait a little bit after it's born. Before passing them around." he snorts, "Sides. Besides me and Fi. You. Will be the first to hold your new brother or Sister." he chuckles.
"Oh thank you," the rat grins, "Maybe this one wont be a bitey as El was. Is."
Aikuen shrugs a bit, "I have no idea. And she is getting better... Somewhat" he laughs, "She gets that from Fi. Venei never really got into biting. More of... Rudder smacking" he chuckles.
William hmms, "Really? I always thought she took after you more. Guess it's more of both then I thought. Wonder who th new one will be more like. ....," he frowns a little, "You think Fira's deafness could get pasted on t im?"
Aikuen chuckles, "There is a bit of both of us in each." Though its obvious who takes after who in the long run, "And... We don't like to think about it like that... It kills Fira when she thinks about it... She absolutely falls apart. But. I am ready in case it does happen... She was born like that... And. We will just have to pass it on like that." he sighs and shakes his head.
William chews his lip a little and says, "Well it might not happen and even if it does. .... Mum's done all kinds of stuff without any problems so the baby should be fine."
Aikuen nods as he fiddles with his paws, "Maybe. Im prepared for it. I think Even Fira is as well... We just. Don't want it to happen in the first place." he sighs, "Its alright. The twins were fine... So... Yeah" he nods, "Maybe not happen at all..." he chuckles.
William nods, "True. When will we get to your ol' island?"
Aikuen hums and strokes his chin, "I don't know. Within the next few hours i suppose. Not many realize how big Ashurah really is. We spotted it this morning.... We have been traveling toward it for about... 3 hours now. That's why im double checking everything." he looks at the table and laughs.
William wanders off into the crew's quarters to leave the otter to himself.
Crew's Quarters
Terian walks into the area, looking sick still, but not as much as she was the other day. The jill rubs her head as she coughs, but then notices the rat. "W-William?" she asks
Turn about's fair play an all that. Will all the appearing out of nowhere the rat had been doing to the otters during the trip sooner or later some beast was just going to sneak up on the rat. Will turns around to look at the ferret. "Hello. Need somethin'?" he asks. "Sickbay's that way," he points in case that's what she's looking for.
William nods, "Yeah I heard you up on deck th other day talkin' t Pa an Mum. Uh that is Aik an Fira."
Terian smiles and nods before taking a step forward and saying, "Well, if it's alright um, Aik adopted me as his sister so....." she chuckles and looks down to her footpaws. "I guess that makes me your aunt."
William nods again, "Yeah mine, th twins and any other little otters that come along. I heard that too. Hope you don't regret joining us. You aren't allowed t unjoin even if you do."
Terian chuckles and shakes her head quickly, smiling once more to the rat. "You're the only family I have," she says. "You can't unjoin a family, and I wouldn't want to. Thank you for accepting me."
William shrugs, "Oh could if you tried hard enough but you aren't allowed to. Kentar's threatened to often enough but he's a sissy sometimes. .... A lot of the time really. Crazy stoat nearlly as bad as Aik sometimes. They're both crazy and stupid but they're better than they used to be. I've rarely regretted adopting them. And it's good t see Ol' Aik learning from my example," he chuckles.
Terian smiles to the rat nodding as she does, looking to the side for a moment before looking back to you, her paws resting at her sides. "Alot better than most otters I've met," she says with a light shrug. "Most otters see me and either ignore me, try to kill me, beat me up or treat me like I ate a dibbun or something." Then she smirks almost saddly. "Everybeast here seems to love each other. Where I'm from.... woodlanders just didn't like my kind."
William says, "We aren't what you'd call normal in this family. There are woodlanders just like that back in Mossflower but most aren't too bad. We have both good and bad. Those at Redwall are mostly good but some of their guests not so much. There was some mouse I think he was that didn't like me much but he didn't like most beasts. And once a hare stopped by and well he said he was a hare but I think he maybe have been a big rabbit or something. He was going on about me not being allowed in th Abbey and of course Pa was stupid an tried t fight im nearly got his head tore off. Otters don't listen very well. But most of the hares other than that one and one other have been nice. On of em patched Aik back up after th fight and a few other times too. Trouble tends to follow us but we do alright."
Terian smiles to the rat as he talks about the Abbey and asks, "Do you think we're really not allowed there? This family is perfect, William, not strange to me at all. But...." the ferret leans against a wall as she says, "I always heard of the Abbey but never went there. I was a slave before being brought here."
William smiles, "The Abbey isn't too bad. I lived there a little while when I was a dibbun. I met Aik there. He was a mess back then. the Abbey's a very nice place and the order beasts are rarely mean. We live somewhat near it. And somewhat near th river. Our home is a hidden place. I found it seasons back and was the first to live in it in ages. Oh and we have a swan in our pond so hope you aren't scared of big birds."
Terian chuckles and shakes her head, still smiling. "Not at all I love swans. They eat plants anyway. So, when we go back to Mossflower, may I visit you sometime nephew?" She smiles and reaches a paw over, gently ruffling his headfur.
William tolerates the headfur ruffling. Even though they are both adults and about the same age hight-wise he probably is child sized to her. "That all depends where were you thinking of staying when we got back?" he asks.
"You could stay with us, if you'd like." says a voice from behind a pile of walking books. Its Kentar. "Afternoon!" he greets as he sets the pile down with a huff. Lots of books.
"I was about to say the same thing. You beat me to it. Darn stoat," Will laughs. "That would be your other nephew I guess. My brother anyway. Kentar," Will says by way of introduction, "Kentar, this is Terian. Aik's adopted her t be his sister."
Terian chuckles and nods to William. "Yeah, I met him already," she says smiling walking to the stoat and giving him a gentle hug. "Thank you Kentar," she says before walking over to William and hugging the rat gentle also. "And you too William. I suppose having me as an aunt is weird but, I'd like to be a part of this family, and I'll try to be somebeast you both don't mind having in your family." She smiles at them both now. "Does Aikuen have somewhere to live in Mossflower?"
Kentar chuckles. "Already met her." he nods. "Apparently she's my sister too." he chuckles with a smile before nodding. "He does. He lives with us. We all live together! Even one of the badgers here." he nods.
William nods, "I said we were odd. We all live in Moledeep. It used to have moles I think but we live there now."
Terian's eyes widen somewhat as she looks to the stoat. "There's a badger here?" she asks. "Is... is he nice?" The ferret seems a bit scared now, looking shaken. "I umm..... had a run-in with a badger." She shudders. "A horrible creature. For a brief time, I had escaped the horde, only to end up his prisoner." Slowly, the ferret gently rubs the back of her neck, wincing, but looking more sad.
"He wouldn't be with us if he was," Will assures her, "He's nice. Kinda quiet but nice. Right Kentar?"
Kentar hums a little bit. "Yeah. He's really nice. Saved my life once." he nods. "Don't worry, he wouldn't hurt a fly! Only...only if he were to sit on it." he nods with a chuckle. "But don't worry! He'll like you, I'm sure." he nods then nods again at William. "Very quiet. Actually, I don't think he's been on deck in a while." he hums.
Terian smiles to the two, but her eyes are filled with tears. She nods though, acknowledging that she understands the badger isn't a threat. "I'd like to meet him," she says gently. "I was afraid of Aiken for the first day I was here too, but...." she smiles. "I was also about to be eaten by an eagle before he told her not to."
"Really? I hadn't heard about that. I figured you came aboard when we were a port or were shipwrecked or something. How'd you get in that mess with an eagle?" the rat asks.
Kentar hums a little bit and nods. "Alright." he nods. "I'll see what I can do about getting him out to meet you." he smiles. "He shouldn't mind too much." he nods.
Terian smiles at the stoat, nodding to him, before looking to the rat. "I guess she thought I was a member of the horde who inslaved me," she says.
William says, "That would do it. Guess she wasn't very bright."
Kentar nods a little. "Probably not." he shrugs. "But I've never met an eagle who was smart." he pauses. "I've never even met an eagle, period." he chuckles a little bit.
"If you did you'd probably faint," Will teases the stoat.
Terian smirks a little at William before looking down to her dress, shrugging. "Look at me now," she says softly, "just rags for clothes, I was dirty. Same as all the others." Then she looks back to the rat. "When she picked me out, I was wondering off on my own. Then as she was flying me over the ocean, she wouldn't believe me when I told her I wasn't in the horde." Then she looks to Kentar. "This one was smart, she was in a army, I think."
The stoat blinks a little bit and frowns. "I wouldn't faint! Well. Okay, maybe. I'm scared of things that fly." he nods. He then looks towards Terian and then hums. "I've never met a smart bird either. So..." he shrugs.
William says, "Sounds like the bird saw you as a good target since you were alone. If a group hates another enough they don't care about what's right that much just about hurting the others as much as they can."
Terian looks to the stoat again, chuckling lightly as she says, "Oh, I think I did faint," before looking to the rat once more. "That's the thing though.... she didn't eat me. Somehow, she knew this ship was here, and she brought me all the way here, across the ocean, and offered me to Aikuen, just to give me a chance." Slowly, she shakes her head. "I think she just wanted me away from the horde, just incase I was a member of it, and was willing to let me live if somebeast far away would take me."
William hmms, "That's odd. Maybe she was faking and was on your side? I don't know. It doesn't make sense. What did Aik say about it?"
Kentar shrugs. "Or she just didn't care where a ferret would die out." he hums. "Whatever it was. I'm glad it was here you were dropped off." he smiles.
Terian chuckles to them both before nodding to Kentar, saying, "Me too my brother. But she did say something akward to me. She said, before we left Mossflower, that I was in the RAS. I don't know how she came to think that, I have no idea what that is." Then she turns to William, and when she does, her back faces Kentar, and her back collar slides down slightly, just enough to show a burn mark there, like somebeast had branded her, showing two letters: RS. "She came back to make sure Aikuen wanted me, and when she did, she said she wasn't going to eat me. By how she talked, I think the RAS use to be a fleet that was formed by past members of Redwall Abbey. That's what the R and A stood for, and S stood for ship. It's now called the JFM, or Joint Fleets of Mossflower.
William is puzzled, "Huh? Never heard of either of them. That's odd. Maybe Mum has. She reads a lot."
Terian smiles, then says, "She reads alot? Maybe I can ask her. Well, I think I'm going to go up on deck for a bit." She smiles and walks up on deck.
The stoat waves at Terian and then hums a little, shrugging to himself. "All that talk about badgers has made me wonder about Seb. I haven't seen him in a while." he hums a little.
William says, "Me neither. Want t go look for him?"
The stoat looks around and hums and shrugs. "Sure, I guess." he nods. "Doesn't matter. I'm sure he'll find his way up sometime." he chuckles a bit.
William nods, "I guess so."
Kentar hums. "We could find the twins and play a rousing game of find the badger..." he laughs a little and smiles.
William grins, "We could but do you think he's done anything worth suffering for lately?"
Kentar laughs and then nods. "I don't think so! So maybe we should just find him ourselves and save him the torture of the twins." he smirks.
William nods, "Where do you think he'd be?"
Kentar shrugs a little bit and hums as he looks around. "Not sure. Maybe down in one of the awful decks. You know the bowls of the ship! Lets go look." he nods
Middle Hold
"Why would he be down here?" Will asks climbing down to the lower decks, "Unless he needs the extra room."
Kentar shrugs. "Same reason why Robin and Syla sleep down here. Privacy." he nods, motioning towards the bow. "Rob and Syla's spot is up there. Soooo..." he heads towards the stern part. "Maybe he's got the stern!"
William gives the stoat a funny look. "They sleep down here with all this water?" he asks pointing down at a shallow pool that's formed at the lowest point of the deck. "Unless there's a leak somewhere. Hope there's not a leak," he mutters to himself.
Kentar nods. "They do! But they made a nice cozy spot at really the only dry spot of the deck." he nods. "They wanted a room of their own but since its a ship, they made one!" he laughs. And he looks around. No badger! "Hmm. Wonder where he is." he hums.
"Check the stern like you said?" the rat asks.
Kentar huhs and ohs. "Yeah! Right." he chuckles as he heads towards the stern. "Follow me, minion!" he laughs.
William dips a paw down in the murky sea water and tries to splash the stoat, "I am not your minion!" he yells grinning.
William dips a paw down in the murky sea water and tries to splash the stoat, "I am not your minion!" he yells grinning.
The stoat ews as he's splashed, and then chuckles. When they get to the stern...its dry! Its...oddly dry. Why is it dry?! Because there's been some work done here recently. By a badger! Sitting in a corner, on a bed that he put there, is Sebastian. Reading a book by candle light, not spotting the two.
Well it was dry before these two mucky mucksKentar chuckles a bit and spots the badger. "Of course I was right. I'm always right!" Sebastian huhs and looks up. "Good evening." he greets, looking quite surprised. "Can I help you?" he asks.
Kentar chuckles a bit and spots the badger. "Of course I was right. I'm always right!"
Sebastian huhs and looks up. "Good evening." he greets, looking quite surprised. "Can I help you?" he asks.
William smacks the stoat on the back with his wet paw a gives him a rough shove for good measure, "You are not."
William smacks the stoat on the back with his wet paw a gives him a rough shove for good measure, "You are not."
Kentar oofs and smirks. "Am too!" he chuckles a little. "Oh! Nothing! We were just looking for you. We've got a new crewmember who wants to meet you." he nods. Seb blinks. "Me? Why me?" Kentar shrugs.
"She wants to meet everyone and you're part of everyone," Will says then adds motioning to both the badger and the stoat, "Also we'll be stopping at Aik's old island very soon by Morning if not tonight. I don't know how long we'll be there or when exactly we're heading back t Mossflower but I thought this island was the last on th list. Unless someone's added more."
Sebastian ahs and nods. "Ah. I see. Well. You can send her down here if you'd like." he nods. "I'll be here a while." he then ohs. "Well then. I guess I'll have to come up to see the island when we get there." he chuckles a little bit
"Well I'm heading back up t see if we're there yet. Can't tell from down here. Pa said it'd be soon."
"Pa said, what would be soon?" An ottery voice comes from the middle hold. Carrying with him said coins from ealier. He smiles at everyone.
The stoat hums a little and looks towards the otter. "Oh! That you were going to hand the ship over to me. I totally understand your choice." he nod
William swats the stoat lightly. "That we'd be reaching Ashturah," he answers.
Aikuen looks over to the stoat and gives him an odd look. Then fake lauggs, hitting a side beam, "Oh mate! That was..." he then goes all serious, "That was Almost funny" he smirks and snorts. Then looking at Will, "Aye. Ashurah... A few more hours. You can start to see the outlines of the island now..." he nods.
"Aww! Why not!?" Kentar chuckles a little bit and then shrugs. "Drat! I tried." he grins.
William asks, "What do we do when we get there?"
Aikuen hums and rubs at his chin, "Well. First. We dock. Take on supplies and the like. Then... Whatever. Just stay within the harbor. And for corns sake. Do what the reds tell you to do. Dont fight back. You will lose..." he then smiles, "While me and the nerf herder" he points at the stoat, "Will go to the castle to get my pardon!" he smiles.
The stoat blinks. "Nerf herder?!" he makes a sad face, and tries to get his eye all watery. "What...what a mean thing to say..." he holds his paws to his face and fake cries.
William pats the stoats back hard. "Poor Kentar." He nods to the otter, "I think we can do that. Hope th reds don't ask us t do much."
Aikuen shakes his head at the stoat, "Oh boowho. You." he snorts at him before saying, "Here. Catch!" tossing one of the large amulets at him then looking back at Will, "They don't handle much law in the harbor. Its when you get OUT. Thats when they get suspicious." he nods, "Im sure it will be fine."
Kentar huhs and catches the amulet, blinking as he looks down. "What's this?" he asks with a tilt of his head, the stoat staring at it like an idiot.
William says, "Your 'get into Ashurah pass', silly. I don't think they're that big on tourist with both side of the island fighting each other for all of it all the time."
Aikuen holds up his necklace, showing a similar amulet to the one Kentar's got, "Your fake ID tag mate. Your name. Your occupation. Things like that. So you can get on the island. And pass checkpoints and the like!" he snorts. He then looks to Will, "According to my old friend. He said the war was over. Still. Have to be careful." he nods.
Kentar blinks. "Isn't this a bad idea, Aik?" he asks, tilting his head. "I mean...if you're going up to the castle to get your pardon, do you really need a fake ID tag?" he asks. "You've got your letter thing." he nods.
William shrugs,"Letter must not be enough. Don't know why else he'd be doing it this way."
Aikuen chuckles and points, "That pass is for me. Not for you mate." He holds up his necklace and reads the letting around the side, "Aikuen Tazan. Captain" he puts it back down against his chest, "Mines not fake. I got these when i was still here... And the pass only had my name on it... That tag is for you. Sides. Not like... Im lying or anything. It says. Kentar Cruz. Trader. Sorry couldn't put your real last name. But i cant spell it. Plus it would be a dead give away." he chuckles.
Kentar hums and then laughs. "What? That you cant spell Grodenchik?" he asks with a laugh, the stoat shaking his head slowly. "Weirdo." he smirks.
Aikuen shakes his head, "No. That your not from here, dingdong!" he chuckles, "Yeah. I cant spell it. So. Cruz it is." he eyes the weirdo part.
William ahs and heads upward anyway.
Kentar laughs. "I know what you meant! I was making fun of the fact you cant spell it!" he grins. "G-R-O-D-E-N-C-H-I-K" he smiles proudly.
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