Journeys-2 (Patreon)

"There's no wind anymore, so why are there waves?" Trix asked curiously, looking out across the glistening reflections of the moon and stars that lay upon the open ocean as she hung up her sodden shift on the railing of the ship. "Even if I can't see them I can feel them. They're there, under the surface."

We'd spent much of these last two days sitting on the prow of the ship, experiencing the waves – more literally for Trix, as she was less adept at diverting them from splashing her – as they broke upon the hull. All to learn the rhythm of wind and wave, to feel the ocean itself and find a connection there like those we had gained with the spirits of our home.

To some success, but the ocean was far, far different than the streams and rivers of Gilneas. The elemental spirits of water that I'd come to know were like Tricks compared to Lord Renard when I placed them beside what I felt, but even so there was a feeling of something greater, hidden, that lurked in the unfathomable depths. I couldn't even tell if what we'd touched was a single elemental or one of thousands making up a larger whole; nor did I even know if that mattered.

Elementals weren't mortals, no matter that they had feelings and whims of their own.

In either case there would be no ordering, no demanding, that the ocean did as I bid. I asked and, so long as the task was not so onerous, it might oblige or make a request of me in turn.

Feeling the ocean let me discern the answer to Trix's question easily, though I wanted to see if she could notice it too even if I didn't give her the answer. "It doesn't have to be windy here for the waves to be driven by the wind." I replied after a moment, dredging through my memories to check some of my thoughts. I remembered enough about the Gulf Stream to be confident; I didn't want to tell her anything that was wrong, just not correct for this moment. "If it's windy a hundred miles from here, driving the water onward, it has to go somewhere, and then the water in its way has to move too..."

"So we get waves even if there's no wind." Trix frowned, staring at the water more. Her eyes narrowed and she looked more irritated by the moment. "But that's wrong! It's not a push, it's a pull. Something is pulling the entire ocean along with it."

Now she was practically glaring at the White Lady in the distance, the rough direction the tides were flowing. I grinned, humming my agreement with her, and waiting for her to realise what she was missing.

"Water doesn't just move." She grumbled, slumping over the railing and glaring at the ocean as if it was hiding the answer from here. "Is it being pulled down? But it's already all the way down!"

Ah. I'd forgotten that this was pretty much her first time on the ocean, or even near it. "The tide." I explained simply, changing how I was going to teach this lesson on the fly. Doing my best to mimic the pull of the tides I reached out to the water below, making it crawl up the ship's hull. "The ocean rises with the tides, higher and higher until it reaches it peak. " I pressed it down, just enough to be noticeable in the dark. "Until it stops and starts rising again. High and low tide, a cycle that keeps going on and on."

"Okay." She said slowly, turning to look at me once the demonstration was over. "But. How?!"

The sheer frustration in her voice almost got a laugh out of me before I fought it down. "The same way rivers flow to the ocean, and for the same reason if not the same source – gravity." I cocked my head, looking up at the White Lady above us. "Everything in the world pulls on everything else, the more of something there is the more it pulls."

I drew more water up the side of the ship, this time into the air between us. "There are a great many things that can counteract it, but everything–" I let the water go, falling to the deck of the ship. "–is drawn to everything else. There's just a lot of planet under our feet to pull us down, which is why rivers flow downhill. 'Down' is simply the centre of our world."

Even if magic made a mess of a great number of physical laws, playing with and laughing at them at times, they still existed here. The ordered universe we lived in was not so different from the one I knew; gravity could be manipulated, created wholesale, or negated, but that didn't stop it existing.

Nor did it stop the tides themselves. Though, the way just up and left sometimes had to cause merry hell with keeping track of them.

"You don't feel it because you've always felt it, from the moment you were born Azeroth has been pulling on you. Holding you, me, all of us, to her surface." I continued, answering her next question before she could ask it. "But it isn't just Azeroth that pulls on us. The ocean being so vast, water being so malleable, lets it act on the pull of others as well as our world."

Trix wasn't stupid. It took her less than a minute of staring out across the ocean, her eyes following the pull until she was looking straight at the White Lady. "Oh. The moons."

"Yep!" I chirped happily, reaching out to pat her on the back. "Even–"

"Ah!" Trix screamed and jumped back from the railing, kicking something off her leg. "Not fair! I already had to wash my clothes, Gwen!" She complained at me, but I was staring at where she'd been. A mass of water crawling its way up the side of the ship and burbling at us.

Some of the night watch had to have been keeping an eye on us, as one immediately rang a bell and shouted. "Elemental on deck! Elemental on deck!"

"Someone get the mage!" Another yelled, spurring one to sprint below decks as they grabbed a rifle.

A frothing foam covered the elemental's surface, coating the deck as it drew itself up on a column of churning water into what could charitably called a humanoid form. A torso, two arms, an angular head with dark depressions for eyes.

"Hello," I said politely, offering a curtsy. Surprised or not from seeing a fully formed elemental just show up, there was little reason to be rude. Not that I was going to rule out it attacking at any moment, so I was infusing myself with magic and ready to retaliate with a spell on a moment's notice. "I was providing a demonstration for my apprentice, teaching them about the ebb and flow of the tides. I apologise if I disturbed you, scion of the Tidehunter."

It surged higher for a moment, burbling ever more curiously, and a breeze whistled over my ears. Neptulon, it was curious how I knew Neptulon.

"Miss, stand back!" The sailor taking charge ordered, coming up with a rifle. "They're trouble–"

"No. Keep away while I handle this." I countered, throwing a few sparkling star-lights in his path – not a physical impediment at all, but suspicion stopped him all the same. "I know of the Tidehunter, but I do not know him personally."

Still burbling curiously the elemental raised an arm towards me and I stepped back, but it followed forward. Slowly it brushed along my arm – and then abruptly fell into little more than sea spray on the deck.

Looking down at my now soaked shoes, I sighed. "Well, that was enlightening." Not. Yes, I had a blessing, from two Wild Gods at that, but why was it so interested in that?

"What's all the fuss?!" Lord Candren's voice echoed over the deck, the sea lord still shrugging on his coat as he rushed out to confront the issue. He scanned the deck quickly, but found nothing amiss. "Where's the elemental? There'll be a lashing if this was a prank, Davis! You don't call up bad luck like that!"

"It weren't, sir. It weren't, I swear!" The man at his side babbled. "It were by the witches, sir."

I nodded back to him. "It was curious," I took a step and winced at the squelching of my socks, "and possibly inconsiderate, but not aggressive. The matter is handled."

"The thing came 'cause they were practising their magic, sir." The deckhand who'd sounded the alarm said. "Drew up water from the sea, she did, and it followed. Even made the whole ship list when she showed something off to her girl. Got to have attracted the thing, they don't come up for nothing."

Lord Candren's face remained expressionless, but as he turned to stare at me in the dim light there was annoyance there. "Right then. I'm not about to tell you not to use your magic," he tilted his head at the puddles on the deck, "but try to make it useful rather than making a mess of my ship." He adjusted his coat before turning around. "Andrew, assign a watch for Lady Arevin. Someone to advise and warn her if she does something to threaten the ship."

It took a moment, but as I thought back over what I'd done – sinking the water level on one side of the ship – my cheeks burned with embarrassment. That'd been... a little stupid of me, even if it'd not been much. "Understood, Admiral." I said as he left. I'd been considering starting to part the waves in front of us and closing them up behind, using the force to push us along. A way to practice on a large scale.

That was seeming rather a lot less sensible now, with me not knowing how it'd interact with the hull... "I'll Stick to filling the sails until I have a better feel of things." I let out a yawn. "And even that after sleeping."

-oOoOo-

As the days of sailing wore on I was ever more glad I'd packed as many books as I had. Outside of teaching Trix and trying to get a feel for the oceans there was precious little productive I could do on the ship; Darius was deep in planning our various meetings, but he had quickly exhausted my knowledge of the politics of other nations. For Kul Tiras especially, I knew next to nothing.

Frazzle spent most of her time down in the engine room, playing fuel supply with fire magic in between detailing deficiencies and possible improvements. I'd helped her retrofit part of the assembly already, but while interesting for a time, there wasn't much to do down there beyond stoking the fire and watching the pressure gauges.

"Damnit!" Vivi cursed as Lord Candren slipped through her guard to strike her arm, exploiting the rolling of the ship and VIvi's momentary imbalance to his advantage. "Point to you."

"indeed." He replied with a smile, flicking his sabre to the side as if to remove blood from it. "You are adapting swiftly, but fighting aboard ship is far different from fighting on land. At least you need not learn to fight unarmoured, many men have gone to their deaths thinking themselves protected when they are not."

"Why not?" Trix asked from beside me. "Armour's important, isn't it? If you aren't magic."

"Armour's a death sentence at sea." Andrew replied, still keeping an eye on both of us as ordered. There'd been no more elemental incidents but once was enough. "Can't swim for shit in armour."

I wasn't paying them much attention, watching Vivi's fight carefully with my latest book – one of two I hadn't already read – lying in my lap. Watching her dance around Lord Candren's sabre, bending into a lunge below his blade to strike at his leg was mesmerising. Even with her left arm hanging limp at her side she moved with purpose at every moment.

Her clothes dripped with sea spray and sweat, her hair plastered to her head while she grinned victoriously.

"Hmm." Lord Candren stepped back, the ship rocking just enough that Vivi overextended – and he brought his free hand down onto her back, gripping her shirt and pulling her forward stumbling. She tumbled over, crashing into the deck and sliding along it until a sailor caught her. "Point to each of us, I believe?" He grinned at her as she stood.

"Bloody ship!" She grumbled, readjusting her shirt to the jeers of some of the men. "Five to two. It's your win."

"Hell of a girl. Figure she'll be beating the old admiral by the time we're to Kul Tiras."

"No chance, canny bastard. Two silver she doesn't get one over him."

"Five she does!"

Someone nudged my side, distracting me from watching Vivi as she fixed her clothes and making me jump. "What?!"

"You want in on the bet? She's your girl, ain't she?" A boy who couldn't be much older than me asked, a grin on his face. "C'mon, ye've got a load o' silver dontcha? All that witch work o' yours."

"What?" I blinked up at him. A bet? On Vivi?

"She weren't paying a bit of attention to us Dan, only got eyes for 'er girl." Another laughed. "Figure I would to if I had a girl like 'er."

I huffed as my face heated up. "Ten silver on Vivi." I said, pulling the coins out of my pocket. I didn't much care what the bet was, Vivi would win it. If she didn't... whatever, ten silver didn't matter, I was betting on Vivi.

-oOoOo-

"The biggest problem is that we're just wasting so much heat!" Frazzle exclaimed, underlining her point by forming a fireball in her hands and tossing it into the raging inferno of the boiler's firebox. "The steam we make is too hot, it expands in the chamber instantly, then we just... let it go! It's so inefficient, wasting the heat, the steam, and the energy."

The engine room was, as it ever was during operation, something of a furnace. The copper coating the walls, floor, and ceiling all warm to the touch no-matter the efforts to restrain the heat of the boiler in the boiler.

And if it wasn't for the sound dampening Frazzle had thrown up for this conversation we'd all be yelling. Even with it present the dull thump, thump, thump of the pistons driving the propeller shaft could still be heard. It'd be outright deafening under normal circumstances.

Lord Candren nodded his head to her explanation. "Boiling already heated water is easier than boiling it from cold. If we turn the steam back to water, it would save on coal, which aids in both reducing expense and needed cargo space."

"No!" Frazzle snapped, then paused. "Well, yes. But also no! I mean that the steam has more energy we could get out of it, because it's so hot. Let it expand once," she put her hands together and opened them a little, "then again," she moved them over and expanded them wider. "There's so much energy we could do it two, no three times, off the same steam. And then recapture the cold steam and turn it back into water, saving on our freshwater problems all at the same time."

"High-pressure to low-pressure?" I said, working through her logic. "And water recapture beats my idea of desalination to resolve the water problems we were having."

"We might need that too." Frazzle nodded excitedly. "The waterstone helps, but even if it makes enough water for the whole crew each day, the engine can boil that off in just a couple of hours! It takes days to refill the tanks all the way. It would take up a lot of space though... and need a full rebuild."

It'd probably be easiest to dump the heat into the ocean, but that'd need conduction outside the ship. Which wasn't about to happen with a wooden hull.

"Too much of one." Jennifer said, the sooty engineer wiping off her brow. "Have to be a whole new ship, Captain. Even then the plans look to need double the engine space for no extra power."

Frazzle whirled on her. "The expansion system is more space efficient for the power it provides!"

"Yeah," she replied with a raised brow, "but the condenser ain't. Got no problem with the expansion stuff. I worked on it with you, didn't I? Got my name on the plans and everything." She grinned, dropping a hand on Frazzle's head and ruffling her hair. "Been fun you little blighter."

"But the condenser is the logical procession from the expansion, we're taking steps in that direction anyway!"

"It'd be more practical in a metal hulled ship." I said idly, drawing attention back to me. "I mean, then you could run the condensation pipes along the hull, dumping the heat into the hull, which is kept cool by the ocean? No running them halfway down the ship and back to cool the steam down. It just needs to conduct away."

Jennifer stared at me for a moment. "Right," she shrugged, "sometimes forget you're an inventor too with all your witchy stuff. An all-metal ship could do it, but it ain't happening for the Indefatigable."

Yanking the hand off her head Frazzle pointed up at Jennifer. "There are plenty of ways to retrofit cooling solutions to the ship! A pipe–"

"Admiral!" Davis shouted down the hatch. "Ships on the horizon!"

"We shall have to cut this short." Lord Candren said, nodding to the engineers. "Thank you for you for the discussion. I ask that you provide a report on possible improvements that could be made to the Indefatigable," he met Frazzle's eyes, "and make clear what would be better suited to a new line of ship to replace her. Gwyneth, with me."

"We could make the stuffing box better, we're losing efficiency due to friction..." Frazzle mumbled, sounding oddly inconsolable as I made my way up the ladder after the admiral.

-oOoOo-

"About turn, bring us alongside their formation." Lord Candren ordered as the ships came within spitting distance of ours. A simple scrying spell was all that it had taken to confirm that they were Kul Tiran, the anchor flag of the admiralty flying proudly atop their masts.

They'd spotted us at much the same time we spotted them and were already sailing in our direction when we'd gotten onto the deck. In turn, Lord Candren ordered we turn towards them. We weren't about to run away from what was, most likely, going to be our escort into Kul Tiras and to Admiral Proudmoore.

I felt the wind cut out, the sails going slack above our heads as my working to keep them full was disrupted. There was an almost apologetic note in the air as I moved to right the situation.

"Leave it. Let them play their games." Lord Candren ordered me with a grim smile. "They like to play that trick on anyone who sails into their waters, but we are not at their mercy." He turned to the tiller. "Bring us alongside the flanking vessel. Move so that they cannot surround us."

"Aye, Admiral!"

"It is not something that Kul Tiras does to its allies." Darius said, letting a small frown of displeasure form. "A warm welcome we will not be receiving this day."

Lord Candren snorted. "As if we expected any such thing."

"Well, it'd have been nice?" I sighed and shook my head. "I'd like to think I'm friends with Jaina at least."

We waited in silence, save the occasional order from Lord Candren, until the Kul Tirans were satisfied with their manoeuvring and finally came up alongside us. It had taken almost an hour, and them swapping the lead vessel of their formation for the one on the flank, for it to happen.

They'd really wanted to surround us entirely, seeming frustrated that we weren't dead in the water like they'd intended.

"Prepare to be boarded!" Came a shout from the Kul Tiran ship as planks slammed down between us. A dozen uniformed sailors marched across, walking the makeshift bridges as easily as I would walk down a forest path. The captain, or at least who I presumed was the captain by his hat, followed behind with a severe glower.

He looked about the ship, eyes lingering on the chimney of the ship's engine as in blew out grey smoke. "What business does a Gilnean warship have in the seas of Kul Tiras?" He demanded. "We've enough of your refuse in our waters as is."

Darius put on a smile and stepped down the castle towards our guest. "Under the orders of King Liam Greymane, Lord of all Gilneans, we come to treat with Admiral Daelin Proudmoore of Kul Tiras." Reaching into his coat he withdrew a missive. "For the Admiral's eyes, from King Liam himself. There is more to be said in person, of course."

"Genn's got himself killed, has he?" The captain barked out a laugh. "Captain Berkley of the Tidewatcher, and you are?"

"Lord Darius Crowley, appointed diplomat of Gilneas." Darius answered calmly. "With me are Sea Lord Candren, who is captaining our ship, and Gwyneth Arevin as a representative of Gilneas Order of Amber."

The captain looked Darius up and down. "Crowley is it? Think I've heard of you." He gave Lord Candren a respectful nod. "And I've certainly heard of the esteemed Sea Lord himself, shame you had a bloody minded fool for a king." The tension on the deck ratcheted up at his words, sailors spitting a few curses and reaching for their weapons before they were ordered back into line.

He didn't seem perturbed by it, if anything he was amused. And then he turned his gaze to me, some spark of recognition in his eyes. "And... Gwyneth. Lady Jaina's little prophet." He stared at me intently before sniffing. "Very well, the Lord Admiral will wish to speak with you. I give you my word as Captain of the Tidewatcher that I will convey your missive to him."

"My thanks." Darius smiled, one empty of any real emotion. Please convey to the Lord Admiral my personal respect for taking in so many refugees in this time of crisis, and my word to see as many of them home as I am able."

"It is my duty." Captain Burkley shook his head. "Sea Lord, I return your ship to you. We will provide escort to the Anglepoint Seagate, where you will berth until the Lord Admiral has decided what is to be done."

"As if you took it in the first place!" Someone hissed.

Lord Candren returned the nod, but his hand was tight around the sword at his belt. "We will follow in your wake to the Seagate, Captain."

"Marines! Back to the ship." He ordered, jumping onto the boarding plank. It didn't take long for all of them to file away back to their ship, but the tension in the air didn't depart even after they had gone.

"Bloody Kul Tirans." Someone hissed.

"Disrespectful bastards."

"Should show them up, make them follow our wake to the port."

Darius remained stoic, standing calmly against the insult we had been offered. I knew he was doing it because his presence and composure was helping the men stay calm as well. My efforts to emulate him, however, were not the best.

"That could've gone better." I muttered irritably. "And, apparently, I'm famous." Daelin Proudmoore knowing about me wouldn't have been a surprise, but a random captain? And he didn't look happy to see me.

"An expected occurrence." Lord Candren said drily. "Kul Tirans look down on our naval ambitions, and after Genn's.... Disposal of our navy, I have no doubt their arrogance has only grown. We can hardly contest their power on the seas any longer." He glanced at the smoke billowing from the chimney and smiled. "Though that is a temporary situation."

"His actions spoke of his unease." Darius added, taking my arm and leading me towards his cabin. "An attempt to push boundaries and regain control that he had lost when their Tidesage's gambit failed. Now, a rehearsal before we arrive in Kul Tiras is on the agenda..."

-oOoOo-

Anglepoint Wharf was an interesting town. Beyond the massive Seagate that protected the Tiraguard Sound from invasion it was just so different from what I was used to that I couldn't help but enjoy exploring ti. The green tinted roofs, the accents, even the smells of food in the air were all things I was unfamiliar with.

Well, not the ever present stink of fish down by the docks. I was familiar enough with that from visiting Keel Harbour; if you've visited one fish-monger, you've learned the smell of all fish-mongers.

But despite my interest in the town and its environs, the people and the culture here, I wasn't terribly welcome. Any attempt to get close to the Seagate, or anywhere near where our escorting ships had docked was blocked immediately. I suspect only my small stature and generally soft appearance stopped them getting rough with me when they threatened me back to the Indefatigable.

We also weren't given berths in the town itself, instead made to stay on the ship in our cabins while we waited for word from the Lord Admiral. I was getting a little sick of the cramped quarters of the ship; sharing a room with Trix, Vivi, and Tricks wasn't the worst but the fact there was barely room for a single cot kind of was.

As I was walking down the street someone barged past me, nearly knocking the smoked salmon I was nibbling on out of my hand.

"Ge'ou' the way, fucking Gilnean!" He snapped back at me, before continuing on the way as if he hadn't tried to run over someone literally half his size.

"Watch where you're going!" I shouted back at him, huffing and tearing off a chunk of salmon. "Bigoted prick."

The locals weren't much appreciative of our presence, which had made my attempts to learn about the Wicker Men a lot less successful than I would've liked. Even beyond the people who were messing with me, twisting it around to be an allegory about Gilneans being terrible sailors, I didn't get much more than 'those weird people from Drustvar' and 'them who think trees talk to them'.

I really hoped it wouldn't take too much longer before we moved on. I couldn't go looking properly until we'd met with the Lord Admiral, and if he took too long to summon us there'd barely be any time between that meeting and when we needed to leave for Ironforge.

Sighing I started walking again, keeping an eye and ear out for anyone receiving more trouble than they deserved. It was hardly just me on the receiving end of the local bigots, there were more than enough refugees who'd fled here with their ships for them to never run out of targets. I'd already healed a few of a plethora of bruises and, in one case, a hamstringing. At least Lord Candren was making sure they all knew they could head home again.

-oOoOo-

"Lord Darius Crowley and Gwyneth Arevin?" A heavyset man in full plate, towering over even Darius at what must be seven foot – he wasn't the first I'd seen, Kul Tirans had a lot of near-giants for some reason – asked. We both nodded as we clambered out of the carriage. "Good. Cyrus Crestfall, I'm here to escort you to the Lord Admiral."

"Hurrah." I yawned, trying to stretch after being crammed into a too-small carriage for the last day and a half. It had no suspension, barely any room, and stored the luggage inside instead of on the roof. "Do we at least get a chance to change?"

As soon as word came that the Admiral Proudmoore wanted us for an audience we'd been bundled into the carriage and taken overland. It was nondescript, not a single bit of fanfare about our presence had been made even as we rode through the capital itself. I'd hardly had a chance to enjoy the sights on the way, let alone see the city with the escorting marines covering the windows to hide us.

"Afraid not." He shook his head. "The Lord Admiral and the other nobles are waiting."

"Peculiar." Darius said flatly, his tone making clear his disapproval of the situation we'd been put in. "But if Daelin Proudmoore wishes not to delay, then we shall oblige him."

Vivi fell in beside me as we were led through a side door into the keep. From the glimpse I got of the place it was impressive, a castle trying to be a mountain – though compared to the sheer scale of the Greymane Wall it wasn't that impressive.

We walked past paintings and statues depicting Proudmoores of old, of famous battles – including one of the battle against the Horde in Baradin Bay – but few servants or guards. All was quiet around us, though I could feel plenty of people moving in the background, on other floors, and even some shadowing us from behind. The few guards we'd been allowed were woefully insufficient if this was some kind of ambush, but what would be the point? Bringing us into the heart of the keep to betray us? Yet the whole thing felt more than a diplomatic mission.

Eventually we came to large hall. Inside four banners were displayed prominently: The anchor of House Proudmoore, the scales of House Ashvane, the ember hawk of House Waycrest, and the kraken's eye of House Stormsong.

"My Lord Admiral, Scion Stormsong, Lord Waycrest, and Lady Ashvane." Cyrus saluted his commander and his wife, along with the others in the hall. "I bring you Lord Darius Crowley, veteran of the Second War, and Gwyneth Arevin along with their escorts." He pivoted, with grace belied by his bulk. "Lord Crowley, may I introduce Scion Brennan Stormsong, who stands in his uncle's stead, the noble Lord James and Lady Priscilla Ashvane, Lord Arthur Waycrest, and my Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore and his wife, Katherine Proudmoore."

Darius tipped his head to Cyrus, then bowed slightly to the assembled nobility of Kul Tiras. "My thanks to the Lord Admiral for this audience." I curtsied alongside him.

"Save your thanks." Daelin ground out. "I will hear what business Gilneas have with my family now, what they will demand and beg from Kul Tiras. What you wish to take from us this time." It had taken me time to notice as I'd been looking across the room, but Daelin Proudmoore wasn't looking at Darius. He was staring at me, and his gaze wasn't kind; he wore a deeply frustrated frown and his eyes all but glowered with resentment.