Trixy jumped from Mort's 'Paltala's call. She looked around what to do.

"Well.... Should I teleport on? Or anything?"

Kyo called out Drayke, luckily she still had him with her. she increased his size and jumped on his back, flying above the ship deck and dropping down. She shrunk the winged skeletal serpent down to a small size, about the length of her arm, and looked around the deck.

"Alright, I'm ready to go."

Mort turned to the young mage, "There's a gangplank that you can walk up..." He sighed, wondering what he had got himself into. Especially when his last companions were more competent than this even after being starved and almost killed!

((I will progress the story now. Trixy/iFGrey, you may assume that you Character have went onboard the ship, and Paltala, too. To anyone else in the list that have missed out, please assume that you were inside the ship's quarters in the front portion of the ship. Thank you.))

The ship has began to depart from the ports of Bilgewater. It was dusk, and the orange horizon behind them showed the silhouette of the houses and the skull-like formation of rocks, along with palm trees that was spread on the cliffs of the dangerous island. Gabriella sat on the bench near the ship's wheel, next to her trusted Ionian. Her life in Bilgewater during the wars have taken her mind from Bilgewaters 'society' and rather, she sympathised for Ionia's loss during the war, where Ionia was but a victim attacked by three nations, including hers. She was glad to have a family that she had, able to serve and live amongst the pirates, muggers and drunkards, yet be able to somewhat isolate themselves. Her hair swayed behind her head like a slow, graceful comet of gold that slowly rhythmed with the wind's gentle blow. Her leg was over her other, covering her white shorts underneath her skirt. She smiled and spoke to the Shinobi, yet she did not bother to turn.

"My grandfather was trusting of you to lend you this ship. It was ours for decades, and I kindly ask you to take care of it." Gabriella said, "What is there in you that he finds to be worthy of being his friend?"

Without taking the words kindly, Kiang Li replied after a brief turn to the east. "I am a mercenary, and I have done something no man could do: I braved horrors that edge the imagination of humanity, yet I escaped. The word has spread around Northern Valoran, and Bilgewater, and he was one of the few who remembered." he calmly said.

The blonde took a long, soothing breathe of the sea air, narrowing her eyes gently, making them sparkle in the orange light of the dimming sun, tilting her head up slightly. She opened her eyes again, "I am not fond of strangers, but Grandpa is a good man, but his trust is difficult to earn. I have to admit: If he trusted you, then I trust that I can put my life in your hands... am I correct?"

"Yes."

She smiled and blinked slowly. "Thank you."

Mort had just finished securing the gangplank and the anchor when he overheard Li and Gabriella talking. Smiling, he carried on his work with keeping the ship going until he heard Li mention "horrors that edge the imagination of humanity," That wiped the smile of his face, thinking that Li had brought up the manor again, something they swore not to speak about.

Looking over at the two, he couldn't help but smile when he saw Gabriella, the way the wind moved and swayed her hair, the way she crossed her legs in that modest, womanly way. He just couldn't help but stop and stare, the rope in his hands slowly slipping out as one of the sails unfurled.

"Grandpa Johans knows about that. Bartelé Manor, was it?" Gabriella asked, "He knew someone who had been there before."

"Yes, he spoke to me regarding that when I came back. I have known your grandfather, Johans, before you were born. He was a good man to promise to take care of you, and delivering it." Li complimented.

"Thank you." Gabriella accepted the compliment. As the sail unfurled and feeling that she was being stared at, the blonde turned her eyes down to the auburn-haired angel, and a smile began to flower from her face. She turned her head and stared back, without blushing, yet she felt her heart beat louder and faster with every passing second.

((angel? I'm going to kill you one day Li :P))

Mort stared back at Gabriella for a few more moments, his cheeks blushing slightly, before looking away with a smile and tying off the sail to keep it in place. In that moment, he had completely missed any mention of...that...manor and couldn't remember if Li or Gabriella had mentioned it.
Trying to get absorbed in his work, he headed over to the other sail to get that one sorted, to make use of the winds before they died down.

Kyo walked around the deck, bored and trying to find something to do in the mean team. Drayke flew around above the ship, preforming aerial feats. Kyo walked over to Paltala/Mort.

"So, what's your story?"

Trixy was on the deck, looking out to the sea, she breathed in deeply and smiled.

"I could get used to this."

The Sail to Zaun

He walked down the stairs and to the front cabin of the ship, where there was a bar, tables, and a set of stairs that led down to a storage room where there were barrels of wine and water, and crates of fruit, meat and vegetables. It was a glut of food, but then the journey was also unmeasurable, and it could be insufficient, or it could be a glut after all. Li walked down the stairs and looked towards the back of the ship’s belly. It would have been sufficient enough to feed an entire crew of 40 for a month.

In his mind, Ruby would not go. She was the warden of Li’s mind, where she herself was also the prisoner, refusing freedom until she was rescued. It was a great deal of shame, yes, but a group of large, burly men with claymores, most likely from recognised City-States or underground blacksmiths, were far too much for him to face. He walked up the stairs, taking a goblet full of wine with him as he stood on the ship’s side, where there was no railing, but an edge where the gangplank would be when the ship docked. The sea at night was scary, and the fact that the only sources of light outside were the light posts in the middle of the deck gives him a slight intimidation. Ruby would have loved to sit here, he thought, and she will probably love to watch the sunrise here, too, where the dolphins would leap high up towards the skies in good grace of being family, the one thing Li felt missing.

He took off his masks and placed them under his belt and sipped from the goblet. This wine was aged well in those oak casks, he thought in compliment. But what was Graggy Ice? What did Johans speak about earlier? He supposed them to be another form of this bittersweet beverage. There was it again, the saddened look in his face, the hole in his emotion, and the rage in his teeth. His hand gripped the goblet, but he managed to gather himself before he could break it in his gloved hand.

Gabriella walked towards the grieving Shinobi and cocked her head slightly aside to look at the expression in his face, blinking once.

“It is hard to lose a loved one, is it?” she said, leaning on the railing just next to where the gangplank used to be.

“It is even difficult to discuss.” Li replied.

“I understand. But I will let you know of one thing: I will see this through, and stay by your side, but we shall stay friends, shall we?”

“Yes, and thank you.”

She nodded and walked up the ship’s forecastle, looking up to the moon when she had come behind the ship’s figurehead. The moon was starting to become faintly yellow, telling them that they are nearing polluted airs. Despite her loss of family, she would never allow anyone else especially a friend of her grandfather, to have the same loss. She will see this through despite the outcome, but she had hoped this to have a good outcome. She took a shallow breathe and looked slightly to the side, remembering what had happened during the war when she was a child: She was running as her parents were trapped in a pile of rubble. She heard her own childlike yell echo in her mind ‘MOTHER! FATHER’ and that was the last time she saw signs of them, right before she was seized by her grandfather, Johans, telling her that they needed to get away.