The rain was swirling down from the skies, being blown in torrents
and circles. At one point my hood flew back away from my face and
the mask that was disguising me as a Thoom upon the tradeship nearly
blew off into the seas. We had been riding the edge of the storm for
several days now and the rain had been almost non-stop since we
boarded; at one point the hail beat upon the deck and shattered a
pinning rod.
Yazza and Kor'gah seem to handle all this fairly well, since they
have made this trip before, but Koriel and I were relatively new at
this. I hadn't eaten for days and had no desire to; Koriel was in
slightly worse shape and remained below decks most of the time.
I had only been out to sea a few times and Koriel tells me little of
his life before coming to Puddleby. Yazza seems to take this as old
hat and Kor'gah seems to proud or concerned to display any sign of
his discomfort.
At this point we had started beating against the wind trying to
cross the front of the storm before we were blown too far off
course. Yazza had to tell me this since all I could tell was that we
started sailing away from the grey skies and into the black. All
this was in pursuit of a old sea song that we had heard about in a
port just south of R'lin.
It seems an old man had pulled a young sylvan woman from a leaky
boat out from amongst the Far Isles. I had noticed the poor
weathered Thoom running a rigging shop in Ad'hemere, that small town
out on a point just before we entered the chain that become the Far
Isles. He recognized the woman and asked if she was doing better and
had found her way back to her home. I was a bit startled to realize
that it was Yazza he was speaking to. I think Yazza was too.
He was a bit certain that it was Yazza that he had pulled from the
little fishing boat those 15 years ago. He was glad to see her again
and well. He mentioned that he was sorry that she was taken into
exhile by the Ascendency, but since she had no memory nor any
reasonable skills, they couldn't allow her to become a beggar. When
we questioned him on these facts, he wouldn't give out anymore
information; he seemed a bit surprised that she wouldn't recognize
him either.
As we tried to learn more about why they had taken her to the
Lok'Groton Isles for exhile, we started to find he would speak about
the time he had found her, but nothing of once they had reached the
port. Yazza had no memory of any of these events and was blindly
asking the same questions all the rest of us were. That was when he
told us that they had written a song about her on the southern
coasts. He told us that we would probably hear it with the common
verse that would be similar to this:
Oh sweet, my gentle lass
I've traded off your home
My rogue's heart gave me up
And left you all alone.
With these words all held in our minds (though Kor'gah wrote them
out for Yazza so she wouldn't forget them), we sought passage upon
the next ship sailing south. We were lucky to find one that would
take all of us as passengers so we needn't work out passage to the
south. And honestly, I am not sure that either Koriel nor I would
have added much to the handling of the ship during the stormy race
south.
Lighting struck the high mast on the ship and I left the deck. I
don't think Koriel liked my sitting at the stern after that bolt
since he had managed to carry me below decks to keep the burnt
timber from falling on me. I however, have always loved watching a
good storm and was disappointed to miss that one. But I never argue
with Koriel ... well, almost never.
Well, once we made port in Myr D'syl the mast needed to be repaired
and that was going to delay our trip any farther down the coast. So
we started looking for someone who knew the song with the lyrics
Yazza had been reading to herself every day. Actually, they left to
start looking for the bards, I was just looking. I hadn't been to
any city on the mainland before, so I was just absorbing the
atmosphere.
I never realized that a town of such size would smell so bad, but
Yazza inhaled deeply and told me to get used to it. It was the smell
of a fishing village, which she seemed to state as if she were
comfortable with the air. I was wishing for a good breeze to send the
smell away, but when each breeze came, it seemed to intensify the
stench. I think I have decided to never get a fishing rod while in
Puddleby.
Anyway, we had made it through the storms and were only bruised
slightly by the rough seas. Yazza seemed comfortable with the travel
on the seas. Once she even helped lash two ships together at sea
when they transferred over some supplies. It seems that a Thoomish
ship carries a 'bowing' line that is fired by bow from one ship to
another. The second ship will use that line to pull a sturdy rope
across and then fire it back attached to a rope of their own. Our
young bowing mate had been injured in the storm and had difficulty
drawing the bow far enough to get the shot to the other bow. Yazza
stepped forward, drew the bow and fired the bow-laying arrow right
through the lacing beam on the other ship. Kor'gah tried not to look
overly proud at her display, but I think Koriel was as stunned as I
was. Part of the surprise was simply that there are no bows allowed
in Puddleby. But also, the heaving of the two ships on the open seas
made hitting such a target difficult even on dry land. All Yazza
would say about the shot was, "I've done it before." She just
wouldn't say where or when; I'm not sure even she knows.
We have just learned that it will take up to seven days to complete
the repairs on the lighting-struck mast. Kor'gah has been sharing
some of the songs he has written with the bards here hoping that one
might share with us the song we have been looking for. It seems that
there is some sort of policy amongst bards here that one may only
request a song from another bard that he already knows how to play.
I guess it keeps bards from stealing each others songs. But we have
heard a good range of music from the many bards we have met and
Kor'gah seems to be getting a bit of recognition in town over the
last four days. However, we didn't get to hear the song we had come
searching for.
I had started asking if they knew any 'lost at sea' songs. Most of
the bards would just smile and wink at Kor'gah as if there was some
joke being made about me for asking - a sort of silly girl, you
can't ask for something if you don't know what you want-type of
look. Kor'gah seemed to understand, but wouldn't explain what that
the look meant. He would just smile and told me that I might learn
about it at some later time. However, it finally worked with one
older bard. He offered in exchange for a kiss, which I immediately
gave him, which seemed to surprise Koriel a little, but he has
gotten used to my hugging and kissing all around Puddleby. I gave
him a much better one to keep him from complaining though.
Unfortunately, because of Koriel's kiss, I missed the beginning of
the song that we were searching for and only got to write down about
half of it. I couldn't get him to play it again and didn't even
offer a kiss in exchange, since I would have expected the price to
be much higher to hear the same song twice. However, Yazza seemed
happy and sad at the same time to have heard the song that is
supposedly about her life before she was put into exhile. Well, the
song as I have written down is as follows. It is a story about a
father and daughter that had lived as fishermen, until her father
was caught stealing one night. He was jailed and placed in stocks
after that, while she tried to provide for herself. Then, once he
was released, he returned home and found her gone. The song is the
story of his lament of her becoming lost at sea. And though the song
is about Yazza, or so we believe, her rescue seems to never have
reached the poet, nor her father apparently; but it may also be an
overly melancholy rendering of the story. Unfortunately, the delay
with the mast means we will have to return to Puddleby rather than
continue our journey.
(Refrain)
Oh sweet, my gentle lass
I've traded off your home
My rogue's heart gave me up
And left you all alone
[This begins about 8 verses in, I having missed the beginning kissing Koriel]
Without a crumb, without a coin
Without a father dear
With only a wooden boat
A single oar to steer
By hook, by line, by woven net
You fest without a fee
You made a life where I had none
A servant to the sea
(Refrain)
The lantern light was all 'twas seen
Once that autumn morn
Across each wave the bow did break
The keel so roughly worn
The spray and mist around you rose
A tear was in your eye
The stormy gale would force you deep
No matter how you try
(Refrain)
In tumbled seas the craft did roll
Worn fingers grasp the keel
In ice and rain you held on dear
But nothing you did feel
The thunder raced above the clouds
Alone in darken'd night
And slowly lost your waning grip
And sank away from sight
(Refrain)
The gulls and terns, in crying calls
Unsettled upon the breeze
On wing they spin into the surf
A captive to the seas
We gather here to mourn our loss
A child lost of mine
And to the sea I curse at thee
Tortured by the brine
(Refrain)
Oh lost my dear I miss you so
Without you can't I live
In sorrow, outlawed and alone
I've nothing left to give
I come to you beaneath the waves
No rescue but to die
Your fallen family gathers 'round
In wat'ry grave to lie
(Refrain)