[Ship] The Narwhale

In all her life, Ti'el had lived in the desert. There were two things she knew for certain: that the open desert was dangerous, and that her family's rock den was the only safe place in Arridia. There was also something she declared:

She was not staying there for the rest of her life.

Thus, she had ventured far from her rock den, holding onto precious little trinkets that had been given to her by the explorer who had taught her than a world existed outside the endless sands. Some were made from wood and heated clay, things she had never once in her life seen. The explorer spoke of trees that were taller than orcs! Than ogres! He spoke of a place that resembled the sands but was the same color as the sky, ever moving, and either as patient as a viper or as feisty as a swarm of scorpions. It hid thousands of more secrets than the sands in its depths, some beautiful, some... frightening.

It wasn't until now that the tiny vulx woman could imagine what that explorer was saying. It had mounds, yes, just like the sands did, but they rose and vanished endlessly beneath them. It was blue and the sky was blue, but the sea was so much darker in a way that reminded Ti'el of mysterious burrows in the sands. The explorer was absolutely right about one thing, however:

Ti'el was terrified of it.

Dipping down on her knees, she focused on the wooden infrastructure of this... boat, as they called it. It was similar to the little trinkets but on a scale that she did not think possible. Her eyes traced the lines of the boat, further, further, until it took her up to a tall stranger covered in a billowing cloth. The vulx only wore a rough white frock and found herself immediately envious of this woman's regal appearance.

As she stood, she took a moment to stare. One glance back in her direction would cause her to shrink slightly, ears pinning to her head.

"Ah! Hello," she blurted. "My name is Ti'el. I was... I was admiring this thing you have on." She pointed to the cloth.

The vulx did not catch the tenseness coming from Cealene, as those in her family wore their hearts on their sleeves as openly as any wild animal. Hidden intentions were as foreign to her as the sea they were now surrounded by.

As soon as the woman complimented her, Ti'el's ears popped back up, motioning toward her. The tiniest smile came to her face as she shyly patted down the pale shift.

"That I am, but it would be my first time," she admitted, taking a glance out at the waves. "I was born in Arridia, among the sands. It is all I had ever known. This is... scary, but also fun. I never knew that I could be so happy, yet so upset equally." Her deep blues locked back onto Celeane. "What about you? Have you traveled before? What was your home like?"

Though oblivious to subtle actions that meant someone would harm her, Ti'el could read sadness in Cealane's eyes. Her chirpy demeanor dampened, eyes dropping down to the deck.

This, the vulx would discover, was a wholly terrible idea. The movement of the boat churned her tiny stomach into mush and spun her head around like a dust devil. She snapped her head back up to look at the woman before her and trained on her eyes. She steeled herself and attempted to keep learning about this woman.

"... then we are kindred spirits," she told her, twisting her frock in her hands. "I also believe I will not be welcomed if I try to return. Is it... is it fine that I take comfort in learning this between us?"

Ti'el's ears perked as Cealene answered yes, then drooped considerably when she was asked why. She twisted and grabbed at the frock for a moment, eyebrows knitting as she put together an answer.

"... I am of a people called vulx, or so we were named. We are born in dens scattered around the desert and stray only for food... and to create our own families. Our language is not like how you and I are speaking now. It is much more simple, conveyed more with our bodies than our words. One day, travelers came to learn about us, bribed us with food. I was the only one to spend time with them, enough to learn. I know how to speak the common language now, to read, and... I am still trying to write, but it is coming along!" Her embarrassment brought a light shade of pink to her cheeks, hands clasping over her nose.

"But I also learned to see my family in a very different way. They... began to fear me, as they feared the travelers. I am not like them any longer. If I am gone for a long time, I do not believe they will understand who I am. Even my parents will not know their own daughter. When I was like them, my mind worked the same way, so I cannot be angry at them."

Her gaze carried out towards the sea, the waves rolling in her eyes. Though a frown dwelled for a time, it flipped suddenly into a smile.

"But now, I have a much bigger world to explore. My mind is open. This does not sadden me." She looked brightly up to Cealene.

"And what of you?"

As Cealene recollected her own tale, Ti'el's eyes trained on her. What she had to say was a bit more cryptic, leaving the vulx with more questions than answers, but a sense of melancholy swept across her, pushing her to reach a hand out to the woman, grabbing her wrist gently. She did not say anything to comfort her, letting the woman know only that she was there, that she was trying to understand, that she felt for her.

Eventually, her hand dropped, cheeks pinking again as she realized her hasty reaction. She apologized under her breath and kept her hands to herself.

"... I, um, I would like that a lot," she told Cealene. "I-if that is not trouble for you. I was told being able to write was important out in the world."

The rest of the evening was focused on writing and attempting to keep the vulx's seasickness at bay while she did it. This provided quite the task for them both and eventually resulted in Ti'el staring skyward while pressing parchment onto the underside of a table to keep her stomach from tossing while she wrote wobbly letters with ink dropping onto her cheeks.

In the days following, the two women learned little, inconsequential things about one another through casual chatter. The voyage, despite small heaves and wobbles, was going rather smoothly.

All changed suddenly during the second week out at sea. Ti'el woke up with a start, flung her out of her cot into the opposite wall as the boat violently turned its nose upward. A high whine came from her crumpled body as she rubbed her back and attempted to rise to her feet. Her brain was scrambled with grogginess and the force of the impact, throwing her balance left and right in wild strides as she adjusted to the sway of the boat.

As soon as she gained even half of her senses, her ears popped up, alert. "Cealene!" she cried out, looking for the woman. She could hear the heavy thumping of boots outside, of crewmembers yelling, though she could not make out the words through the drum of rain on the deck.

Rushing below deck on petite little paw feet that scrabbled for purchase on the wooden ship was no easy task normally. During a storm, it was a nightmare. Ti'el braced herself against a wall where she was able, hung onto railings or went down on all fours to give herself some semblance of balance. At last, she found the place that had all the ruckus in the cargo bay. The animal intimidated her, especially in such a state as it was, but she could have sworn she heard her friend down here.

Though the room was nearly pitch black, Ti'el's eyes could pierce through the darkness. Her vision wasn't perfect, but as her pupils dilated she picked out a familiar form that had been treated as unruly as the vulx had been earlier.

"Cealene!" she cried again, rushing to her. "Are you alright?! Do you need my help? Are you awake?" The questions blurbed out as she held a hand out, mildly hesitant in memory of their first meeting.

Cealene's confidence in taking her hand surprised Ti'el, but in a pleasant, exciting way. She helped her up and chuckled at her question. "The waves did not discriminate between us this night," she answered. "But perhaps we should go to the deck to make sure things are alright. We will come back for your steed if things seem to be alright. Does that sound smart?"

The vulx was worrying about the racket upstairs. The waves were battling her stomach below deck, as well, where it was hot and stuffy and filled with more animal smells that existed even in the dens back home. There was also that... drumming. Ti'el wasn't sure if she had ever heard anything like it in her life.

"Did you listen to it, before you came down here?" the young girl asked. "Like drums. Many tiny drums on the wood. And the sky roared!"

"It would be a shame to not find out what is happening," the vulx replied. With such big ears, it would have been difficult not to hear Cealene, even with all the racket around them. She raised up onto her feet along with her new friend and lead the way through the pervasive darkness until the outline of a door was just barely known to them.

There, as they opened it up, was a scene completely new to little Ti'el.

Water was pouring down in droves... not just from the waves lapping over the deck, but from the sky. She stood there, motionless in pure astonishment at the wonder before her. No moon gleamed down from the sky, which was now as black as the room they had just left... but oh! What was that? A flash of light! So bright for a moment it was daytime across the entire sea! A sharp breath filled the girl's lungs as she lunged forward, hand outstretched to feel the sky's tears as it cried out at them again, shaking them to the bone.

She did not see the frantic scuttling or the gruff yelling of the shipmates on deck, nor the mountains of waves that surrounded them, taller than any palace Cealene had been able to witness in her lifetime, even as it tossed them about, left and right. Her eyes were reserved for the miracle above.