The Azure Rising drifted away from the docks into the deep water, her blue sails billowing taut in the breeze as the crew rushed around to adjust the rigging to take advantage of the wind. Seagulls screeched overhead, trailing after the ship, bobbing in and out of the fluttering tail of the long black Ebonfort penant. It didn't take long for Azure Strand's waterfront to shrink and fade, though the ship kept close to the coast for a while. Captain Blaine steered the ship himself, calling his orders to Darshane from the helm, the huge darfellan repeating them up and down the deck to the rest of the crew.

During the cast off, most of the passengers hovered along the decks, either watching the landscape fade into obscurity behind them or look out into the infinite expanse of the ocean ahead, their hearts full of adventure. After an hour or so, it was the waving grasslands of the Valley of Screamers sliding by that earned a bit of attention, for crowded along the sandy shore was an entire tribe of Screamers, their customary tents rising up along the dunes.

But those too passed by, and once Blaine laid their course in and turned the helm over to the helmsman, who appeared to be some kind of were-creature, though for now it was impossible to say what species, he was free to walk along the deck and speak with the crew and passangers. Some of the crew were sailors he had worked with before, but most were new faces, and not all the eyes who watched him pass by were friendly.

At last, Blaine came upon Kira Kodera and grinned charmingly as she saluted, giving her a nod as he reached for her hand, [color=00a99d]"Well blow me down..."[/color] he muttered, whistling through his teeth as he was confronted with a whole lot of woman. His squeezed her palm firmly, glad to feel the tough skin on her fingertips. [color=00a99d]"They told me you were right for the job but I haven't the damndest idea what you just said."[/color]

Hooking a thumb through the belt holding his scabbard around his hips, mainly to keep from resting his palm on the hilt of his rapier, Blaine motioned with his other hand for Kira to accompany him as he moved along the railing, his sharp eyes flicking alternately between the buxom woman before him and the rest of the crew.

[color=00a99d]"You'll be in charge of the defense of this vessel until we're back in Azure Strand. You answer only to me, but I suggest taking advantage of Darshane as the man has been sailing longer than you and I combined. You'll have the only key to the armoury. None of the crew should have any weapons on deck, so if you come across so much as a knife that looks a bit too sharp for carving potatoes I want you to confiscate it. I suspect the passengers likely have their own blades or whatnot stashed in their rooms, but so long as they stay there..."[/color] He let that trail off, producing a bronze key from inside his vest and handing it to the swashbuckler in front of him. [color=00a99d]"It's been a terrible long number of years since anyone sailed out past Sharkfin Island and I don't rightly know what to expect. Fortunately, our good Master Cavendish has seen fit to stock us up. Ye'll see what I mean when you take stock of the Armoury later."[/color]

While he was talking, they had squeezed through the open doors down into the lower decks of the galleon, passing the crew's quarters where hammocks swung empty in the poor light. For now, even the lower decks were clean and orderly, but that would change as the days went by. The wooden grate in the floor revealed little except that the cargo hold in the bottom of the ship was very full indeed. They moved then through to the nicer but still cramped passenger cabins. [color=00a99d]"This one's yers."[/color] Lifting an arm casually against the doorjam, the Captain lifted a blonde brow and grinned a little. [color=00a99d]"The scuttlebutt is you're good with a crossbow and a fiddle. I expect there'll be plenty of time to find out if it's true."[/color] There was a hint of suggestion in his eye before he moved on. [color=00a99d]"Be sure you talk with Jharnia. You'll find her on the bow, most like. She's a mage what hasn't been picked up by the Knights yet."[/color]

With that, he left Kira to her duties, humming a sailor's drinking song under his breath as he moved back out into the light.

--

By mid-day, the land behind the ship was lost beyond the horizon, nothing to see in any direction except a calm sea that gradually darkened as the sand beneath them slid down into the depths. It would take another day for the last of the seagulls to turn back, their presence in the sky replaced by the occasional glittering shoals of fish. And as the hours slipped by as if blown by the wind, a radiant sunset lit the deck, striking the blue sails until they looked nearly magical. Part of the crew went to bed, snoozing in their hammocks as the cycle of shifts began. The rest gambled around carefully watched cookstoves on the deck, occasionally breaking out in raucous laughter. Blaine had retired to his cabin, though the brown-skinned black-haired woman known as [url=http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n116/Drache04/defiance_by_louisagallie-d5zdv4t_zpsykgfumcq.jpg]Jharnia[/url] was still lingering on deck, as was Darshane.

Dain Crest in his human-sized cabin would find himself rudely awoken by a shrill loud scream as one of the ship's cats pounced on and rapidly dispatched a rat right outside his room.