Private So Say the Stars

[Mahsain Roshan]

The cool wind from the port ruffled Mahsain's curly blue hair and the white cloth of her dress. Sandaled feet shuffle down the cobble stone streets as her eyes take in the sites of the bustling city. Having taking a temporary contract as a navigator for a merchant vessel between Cindersend and the White Port. She'd done her end of the deal, or at least half of it, in getting the ship from a port near Cindersend to White Port. The desert city was always in desperate need for supplies thanks to the those who drained the region of the shroud. So such a trip that would carry much needed supplies were always lucrative business.

The trip had taken a bit longer than normal, but she'd been sure to follow the stars. As they looped back north at one point, they had come across the broken splinters of another ship among the waters. Blood and a dark vicious liquid stuck to the boards. Another ship had been not so lucky, some creature of the deep choosing it for a meal. Something that could have perhaps been their fate had she'd not taken the route that the stars had given. No one questioned her methods after that. Had the ship been of a Kharsagan crew there would have been no question anyways, but that's something she risked by taking on the navigation of vessels outside the community. A price she was willing to pay for now as she went on her own personal journey.

Now in White Port, she would have a few days rest as the Captain went about purchasing and securing the cargo before she would need to lead the return trip. In the mean time, she would take the opportunity to explore the city perhaps even go see the temples or learn about this nation's religions. Mahsain was on the hunt for understanding. Her family had always said that she was moon blessed, but she never understood why. She hoped that by exploring the world's religions, understanding their views of the moons of the world.

Footsteps coming down the wooden ramp of the ship had her turning to see which of her shipmates also had a similar idea.
"Planning on taking a look about the city?" She asked as he drew up beside her. She'd come to form a bit of trust in the Deva, the lead pilot of the vessel. They had worked closely together as pilot and navigator. He translated her readings of the stars into the motion of the vessel and he'd done it well. One of the best she'd worked with, which made since as he was native Kharsagan too. He'd grown up on the flotilla and understood better than most the traditions of the Navigators and she from the School of Stars. "Perhaps we could explore a bit together?"​

 

[Param]

Steps down the plank, Param stuffed a folded bit of parchment underneath his robes.

"Was planning on it, aye," he said with a smile that seemed second nature to him. "Have to find a Gull's Nest," he added as he passed on her left and went on down toward the dock. "Wouldn't happen to know of one, here in white port, would ya, Navigator?" he added with a wink.

Gull's Nests were Flotilla post stations. Places where Kharsagan sailors far from home could entrust a thing to be delivered, sure as gull could fly, the saying went.

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

Mahsain stepped up alongside Param as they moved down the dock. "Nests are always found in the direction of the rising sun." She said pointing to the east side of the docks. Kharsagan Navigator's were if anything a superstitious. The rising sun and the moons were often featured in old Kharsagan sayings as well as in such traditions. Red sun-kissed skies in the morning warned the seafaring people of incoming storms.

She led the way down the wooden planks, sandaled feet weaving easily through the crowds. The Deva walked with a slight wave, evidence of years spent on the sea as she felt the rock of the waves while on land. "How long have you been a pilot?" She asked as they walked. She had only been a contract Navigator for the last few years, previously having served only one ship, one Captain, one crew as was the normal for the Navigators from the School of Stars. ​

 

[Param]

That first step on land was always the harshest. Bones so used to the sea, felt the ungive of the stone and earth beneath them.

It always made Param stop in his tracks. If only for a beat. His tail swat left then right. Before it made a small S and settled its sway low and easy.

A hop step and a quick stride saw him back beside the Navigator. "A pilot proper?" he grinned wide as he settled into his step. "Give or take a year," he said easy. "Proper like, I mean," he smiled the wider and gave a nod.

Assuring as assuring could be.

He looked her up and down. "When'd you go and graduate the Nav school?" he asked. Lips pursed and brow cocked with a genuine curiosity.

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

She nodded as they walked side by side. A year wasn't really all that long, but he had proven to be quite skilled as they had navigated to White Port. They had worked together cleaning, which was always a pleasure. If she hadn't been on a journey of her own, she might have considered a formal partnership as might happen between Navigators and Pilots. "Six years ago." She answered, tapping at the tattoo that wound it's way around her wrist and up her right arm. The tattoo shimmered slightly, like the sun off the ocean when it was calm. "I signed on with a ship for several years at first, but something called me from that ship."

A strange thing for a Navigator to leave their crew. Often seen as a spiritual leader of the ship, she couldn't help but feel a small level of guilt that she'd left, but the stars had urged her onward. As a graduate of the School of Stars, she could never ignore the messages that she read among them.

It wasn't too long of a walk before they stopped in front of a building. Brightly colored flags and cloths hung from the eaves of the roof, decorations reminiscent of the flotilla city. It felt like home. "The Nest." She said with a wave of her hand and bright smile on her face.​

 

[Param]

"Ha! So it is!" He said bright as he hop stepped forward, his tail tall with a happy crook behind him. Without a thought, his hand dipped into his robe, and grabbed up the fold of parchment he had secreted away.

Half ready to run. His mind remembered something as he passed by a few locals who gave him the eye.

Can't leave a Navigator behind. Worth their weight in rubies and gold.

Sides. Word got out he lost a Navigator, he could kiss any Sanctioned Contracts goodbye.

He slowed his pace. "Sure is nice ain't it?" He warmed. "Colors high in the breeze," he jut his chin up at a red scar of lightning across a black sea. "Even the Slagann flag almost looks welcoming, so far from the Float,"

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

The navigator continued off toward the building her eyes catching on the flags that Param had pointed out, the happy colors flowing in the gentle harbor breeze. She swayed from side to side, Mahsain had never been one to be able to get her sea legs easily. Not that she cared too much. She much preferred to be on the waves than not.

"So it is. A home away from home really." Said as she walked while look up at the sky. The stars hidden behind the bright sun, a star in it's own right but much harder to read. The night sky was easier as all the stars talked to each other and shared their secrets so it was harder to be led astray. The sun. The sun on the other hand was not always truthful in the stories it told or perhaps it was more than she didn't understand them as well.

Her path was suddenly blocked as she bumped into something, or rather someone. "Pardon!" She said with a bright smile while trying to cut around the person and to the Nest. Not thinking anything of the mistake as she continued on and into the darken space of the Kharsagan building, as close to an embassy as it got for their floating nation.​

 

[Param]

Param cocked a brow as the walkers-by bumped against his Navigator. His chest puffed full with breath, and his shoulders widened their span as he lift his chin sharp at them.

A barb on his tongue, ready to loose, but they had already grumbled on their way.

"Pfft," the Kharsagan blew through his lips. "You'd think we were on a damn Slagaan ship, with lot like that strutting about, bold as a bird looking for scraps they are," head still shaking as they walked. He looked over Mahsain. Looked to the Nest, and smirked. "Never-we-mind them then," he said to himself as the door came open, and the sweet sound of coins jingled over the door.

Three pieces of silver strung over the door chimed pretty come the pair's entering.

"Ay, welcome to the White Port Gull's Nest," a tired voice called out. Lines all too practiced from behind the counter. A tired young woman stood, slouched over the wood, a cheek propped up by her palm, as she thumbed through a set of illustrations. "What can I do ya for?"

Param smiled wide and true, teeth shown through as he stepped to, his hand halfway down his robe, his fingers snatched about his letter.

Along the floor of the establishment, a salt-grey cat strolled quietly up to Mahsain. Its olive green eyes looked up at her, and a tiny sound mewed out of its mouth.

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

Mahsain had already forgotten the about the shoulder that she'd taken, or given depending on the point of view, as she and Param moved toward the colorful building. The soft tinkling sound of the coins chiming announcing the opening of the door echoed in the building drawing the attention of someone behind the counter who gave them a lazy welcome. The navigator looked toward the floor as something brushed against her pant leg. Crouching down, the deva stroked the creature's fur as it purred happily.

After getting it's fill, the cat bounded off behind some of the shelves that sat around the floor. A few tables in the back held other Kharsagan's sharing a pint of ale and chatting. A back entrance led out onto a smaller dock with a few boats tied too it. Smaller vessels that likely served crews no bigger than three or four, a vast difference from the larger merchant ship that she and Param had arrived on.

A spiral wooden staircase ran up a corner to a second level and then even further out to an open crow's nest, likely where they released the carrier gulls with the post. The navigator's feet carried her up the worn steps and out into the sea breeze. The sun was setting now. It wouldn't be long before it was well and truly dark. Then the stars would come out. She leaned against the railing that went around the crow's nest and waited. The journey between White Port and Cindersend was never and easy one, so Mahsain was keeping a close eye on the heavens.​

 

[Param]

Steps sounded up the spiral way. Soft and careful like, though the subtle click of claw tapped along each plank on the climb.

"Seeing any familiar faces up there?" the young sailor said with an easy smile. "Always did like lookin for the Jumper and the Flyer," he stopped beside her, and leaned his elbows against the rails. Eyes cast up at the twinkling mantle of stars scattered above them.

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

Her finger moved to point out the constellations in question as Param named them. "As a navigator, I learned them all, but it is the Ika that guides the truest." She points out the stars that make up the fish constellation. Eyes moved across the sky taking note of the other constellations, noticing the slight changes to the stars. The blue moon was the brightest tonight.

"See how the Serpent is brighter tonight." She pointed out the set of stars in the sky. "The Serpent is the keeper of the currents, so he will ensure that our path is smooth." Her eyes searched about further, looking for the next piece in the story of the sky. "The Flyer tells us of the winds, brighter stars means heavier winds. Yet the Flyer is dark tonight, it would be well to make use of a weaver to keep our sails full."

It was just a few pieces of the story that she picked out from the sky's story tonight. Yet something bugged her, something tugged at her vision, but still remained elusive. Like a child hiding just in the corner, giggling enough that you know where they were, but still hidden from your vision. The perpetual smile that seemed to grace her face fell as she concentrated, trying to find the thing that she was missing from the starry expanse.​

 

[Param]

He did see how the serpent glowed clear, and how the flyer looked all the more distant through the cosmic haze above them. The light of the moons scattered across the sky. Only three of the sisters clear in the aubergine soup of the firmament. Still tickled pink on the the distant horizon where the sun had set.

"A good bit of knowing, that," he said brightly, his tail a happy flick, left and right behind him.

The gulls cried as they sailed across the winds in the quick fading light of the coming night, and the waves lapped easy against the piers below them, raced by and washed across the shore where little crabs and mudfish hopped and skipped, scuttled and skittered across rocks and drift suck in the muck.

"Tides coming in fast," he said idly, as he watched the surf swell with each sure surge. "Always a wonder that," he said easy as he lounged.

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

"We'll just keep an eye on the stars over the next few days and hopefully our luck won't change." She smiled herself as she gazed at the stars still. A favorite activity in the evening, whether something she'd developed during her time learning as a navigator of the school of stars or something that she'd done even as a child was hard to remember anymore. Yet she often found herself staring off into the vast deepness of the sky. There was a particular crow's nest in Kharsaga, and old one that had been part of the flotilla for more generations than could be remembered that was a particularly favored spot.

The pilot's next words, drew her attention away from the twinkling and back down to the planet as she looked at the tide rising up the piers and shore. She had been taught that all things on Khurun were influenced by the moons, perhaps the tides as well. Though such things were not what she often found herself focusing on. Her stomach let out a soft rumble.

"Let's go find something for dinner!" Mahsain said, taking off quickly down the stairs not waiting to see if Param followed her and out the door of the Nest. Sure they could have grabbed food from the little tavern that was a part of the building, but where was the fun in eating that when there were delicious foods all throughout the ports that were different to what they would eat at sea anyways.

 

[Param]

He peeped over his shoulder to spy on the Navigator, when she took off quick as a bolt. He blinked, looked about as if some ghost there about the outlook would give him an answer to this too casual mystery.

Instead, he settled on a laugh and followed after, down the steps and out the door quick like. Taking pace beside her, his grinned. "All navigator's so storm swept?" he teased, his tail swish this way and that with playful excitement. "Or ye just tired of Mr. Gurnie's cookin?" his eyes narrowed conspiratorially.

About the streets, as they walked by, many a food stand still sizzled and steamed as the night sky grew the darker. The crisp winter air, only helping the sound of the cookery and the company near to such commotions carry all the clearer.

Something tickled Param's nose. "Oh," he said with some excitement. His narrow pupils growing wide as he showed mischievous teeth. "I smell dumplings,"

 

[Mahsain Roshan]

She tilted her head to the side at his question. "Hmmm . . . no. I think it depends on the school with which they choose." Mahsain responds, giving serious consideration to the question clearly meant in jest. The mention of cooking turns her attention from that train of thought and it's lost like a leaf on the water. "He does have a very set menu, that repeats . . . every three days." The deva gives a laugh, turning around and walking backward while looking at the pilot."We travel the world, why not sample the various foods. It would be a terrible waste to let opportunity pass us by!"

With a half jump, half twist the navigator turns back to walking the right way as they move through the different booth and stalls along the street market. The smell of cooking food drifted here and there, but nothing had yet to grab her attention. Grilled fish, skewers of chicken or lamb, browned meats wrapped in leafy greens, so many options.

Something seemed to have caught the pilot's nose as he suddenly focused in on a smell. "Dumplings sounds perfect!" Mahsain agreed following after Param through the crowds as they followed his nose to a stall that was not as busy as she thought it should be from the wonderful smells coming from the steaming bamboo baskets. She could feel her mouth watering already. As they approached the friendly catkin woman looked over at them.

"Welcome dears! Can I entice you into some dumplings this fine evening?" The Beastkin asked as she lifted one of the basket's lids showing the dumplings steaming inside.​