Sabine took in each word that Meesei had while she stared at the undulating sea. For a moment, Sabine was afraid that she should have learned the way forward already. It was insinuated, though, that even Meesei could not simply tell her that. It didn't put her mind completely at ease, but at least it helped to be reminded that Meesei was there to guide her. Sabine didn't know how she would cope without her counsel.

For the next minute, Sabine silently thought as far into the future as she could, wondering what she would possibly grow up to be like. From the outset, she wanted to be wise and brave, like Meesei. Sabine thought she had become quite brave since her ritual, but she still experienced fear at times. She didn't consider herself particularly wise, though. Meesei always knew what to do, and while Sabine had sharp eyes for people's reactions, she didn't really know how to approach them all the time. Even when she did, she often made mistakes, like asking Rukeewei about marrying Ariel. That seemed to upset Ariel. It was certainly awkward. Sabine wished she had a specific question about conversational skills, but she couldn't come up with one. Other than that, Sabine was curious to know what it was like to be drunk, to be in love, to know what it was like to lead, and a number of other things. At this stage she expected that she would just have to be patient for most of those opportunities to present themselves. She couldn't really ask many questions about what she knew little to nothing about, no matter how awkward they might turn out to be.

[i]Awkward.[/i] Sabine rolled the concept around in her head for a little while. She knew what it was, but not always where it would come up. There were some things that embarrassed her, though. One thing in particular cropped up in Sabine's mind. She breathed uneasily while building up the courage to ask Meesei about it. Meesei would understand, surely. "Meesei, there is one thing. I didn't tell Ariel because I didn't want to make her guilty about it." Sabine's head bobbed up and down while she talked, as she pushed it off her chin resting on her hands. Her voice softened with apprehension, "Every few weeks, something happens that I thought was caused by being locked up in the silver cage, but it didn't stop after the ritual." Sabine's eyes went down, thinking that something was wrong with her body, "There's one or two days each month where I...bleed. I wasn't hurt there or anything, and healing potions don't help. I don't know what to do about it."

Sabine had only known as much about human reproduction as was taught to her by her previous witch guardians. That was, conception, pregnancy, and birth, compounded by eyewitness experience of the latter two in Ahnasha. All answers had come from her direct questioning rather than a complete picture. As such, the other details of her developing body had not been addressed before she had turned. Sabine was red with humiliation over the matter; she had not had anyone to confide in about it for all this time, and those parts of her body were 'not to be touched', according to the witches of the coven. Unfortunately, the differences present in female Argonian biology meant that Meesei might not have been the most experienced in the process. However, Meesei's studious knowledge would probably suffice, given that she often played a pivotal part in Kaleeth and Ahnasha's contraception. At least, when Sabine did not have a remedy to do the job. Those kinds of potions were from recipe, giving Sabine no insight as to how they physically affected Ahnasha and Kaleeth beyond just...preventing pregnancy.

Janius' smile spread with Kaleeth's. "We might be here for a while, then," he said, sliding his arms around her in turn, "I wouldn't mind that." Janius brought his head forward to kiss Kaleeth and wondered exactly how much they could get away with in the hammock. There was no space to simply go off and be alone with Kaleeth, like in the wilderness, so they might have to restrain themselves during the voyage. Perhaps it would have to go even further than they could stand if even small public displays of affection were taboo in front of the ship's crew. [i]Blast it all,[/i] Janius thought, [i]Imperial culture can keep its clothes and etiquette if it means more of this here[/i]. Here, though, there wasn't any true harm. Janius let his fears go and relaxed for the moment.

Some footsteps passed occasionally, but a particular pair were accompanied by a head peeping through the opening of the couple's hammock. The face of the unenthused and gruff Imperial man startled Janius enough that he separated his lips from Kaleeth's and looked up at him with some fear. By the time the man moved on, Janius realised that unlike when his father caught him in similar acts, he didn't seem to need to escape, or explain himself to the man before he walked away. He only noticed then just how much the fear had caused his heart to race. Janius lifted his head up out of the hammock just to irrationally make sure that it [i]wasn't[/i] his father.