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'm going with you," Brigit announced, striding jauntily up the gangplank as Morisedd finished negotiations with the pilot of the Golden Swan.
"Sywno will be furious!" Teleri protested, "He expressly forbade anyone else to go with us."
"Did he? I must not have been paying attention I guess," Brigit shrugged.
"Why on earth did you bring Nandao with you?"
"The usual reasons. We'll need a monk and he was bored."
Nandao let his staff fall into the crook of his elbow so that he could proffer a friendly steepled-palm greeting as he smiled broadly. Red tattoos blazed upon his pale flesh from his waist to the top of his freshly shorn head. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief.
"Works for me," said Morisedd, "and once we're at sea there won't be much Sywno can say about it."
"Excellent," Brigit crowed, "I've never been to Cantha and I want to find out if it's half as exciting as Nandao makes it out to be."
"I could do without the excitement, thank you very much," Teleri grumbled as Morisedd counted out the coin to pay for their passage. She sighed as Geetha howled mournfully at the base of the ramp, her deep throaty cries putting Morisedd in mind of a squalling child, "Honestly, Geetha, stay or go. I can't stand around waiting for you to make up your mind."
The pilot waited impatiently, variously holding out his palm or withdrawing it as the cat started up the gangplank then leaped back to shore several times. Finally Morisedd dropped the payment into the man's calloused hand and stormed down the ramp, briskly gathering the heavy cat unceremoniously into his arms and bearing it clawing and hissing onto the deck. It continued to shred his leather jacket as one of the sailors guided them anxiously below to their cramped cabin near the stern. Only when Teleri had closed the door behind the two of them did Morisedd release the angry feline and it moved in a brown blur into the lower berth where it emitted a long nasal growl of rage and fear.
"Geetha, it's alright," Teleri soothed jumping back as a clawed paw swiped the empty air outside the bunk. Morisedd investigated his wounds and shrugged, turning to leave. He did not fancy staying in the dim little chamber with its tiny slit of a window and pervasive damp. Fortunately, they were above the waterline, but barely. The caravel was heavily laden and rolled slowly at her moorings putting him in mind of a wallowing pig.
Above deck Nandao and Brigit were standing at the prow watching the sailors prepare to cast off now that the last of the passengers were aboard and the tide was turned, making it easier for them to drift under light sail toward the open sea.
"Isn't this exciting," Nandao said with an enormous grin.
"A little," Brigit sighed, noticing for the first time that the deck had an alarming tendency to move in a way that perfectly tickled her stomach and unsettled her head, "It won't get any worse than this, right?"
"Worse? This is fun!" Nandao cackled.
"You think everything is fun. I should never have listened to you," Brigit grumbled. Morisedd clasped the railing and stared out to sea, watching as little by little the land passed them by and the shimmering line of the horizon rolled before them unimpeded. He closed his eyes to savor the feel of the wind through his long hair, smiling to himself as the ship bounced slowly through the swells that dwelt where the harbor and estuary melded with the sea. Brigit was noisily sick beside him and he was grateful the wind did not blow his way.
"Oh my," said the monk, leaping aside and barely avoiding getting sprayed, "There's always one puker on any voyage and I had my money on Teleri."
"I hate you," Brigit moaned.
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