Quest The Brigantine Exploration [L'orlei, Aunalee]

[Traverse]

The Brigantine Exploration
20th of Spring, 513 A.V.

Echoing calls could be heard across the docks as forms still shadowed from Syna's early light made their way back and forth along the quay. Last minute preparations were made upon the ships that would be going out that morning to investigate the sunken vessel not far off shore.

The Svefra had been ready and waiting since the beginning of the season, but the Opal Order had made sure that every potential step had been taken, and that they had amassed the necessary amount of volunteers for the diving mission. The waters around the island were safe, but it never hurt anyone to be cautious, and Konti lived long enough to master this idea. Now a strange amalgamation of craft lay waiting in the White Isle Harbor. The very human wooden vessels of the Svefra, several small sailing ships ready to carry the Chillwater Pod swiftly out to their destination, mixed with the much more natural and synergistic craft of the Konti: beautiful vessels of painted wood shaped like swans, geese, elk, and fish. While strange to the Svefra, they had taken quite the fascination with the floating oddities during their short stay upon Mura, and wished to learn more of the holistic lifestyle the beautiful water women lived.

But these kinds of things would be left to another day. Now ropes were greased and planning took place between Tavans and Svefra, Opal Healers and the Lia of the Chillwater. Tools like hooks, nets, and other devices that could scrape away barnacles or any lifeforms coated upon the sunken vessel brought to the ready. A few medical kits were sent in case of accident, and provisions of fresh water and food were well stocked upon each vessel.

It was quite the scene, but one of good nature and excitment, perhaps just as much permeating from the Konti as the Svefra, curious about what secrets the ship so close to their shores could hold.

[L'orlei]

L'orlei was more than a little nervous, she was nearly petrified. She was so nervous that she almost did not get out of bed that morning. It wasn't so much the adventure itself that terrified her, though she certainly was a little nervous about that, it was that she was going to be working with so many strange people. She was terrible with new people. The only thing that broke the ice with her was her ability to know someone's name just by looking at them, but beyond that she could only get so far before closing up. But.. Indigo had convinced her to go, and she did not want to let him down. So, L'orlei reluctantly crawled out of bed after a short mental debate with herself, and began to gather her things. She wasn't really sure what all she should bring, besides her clothes. L'orlei did not own any weapons, though she did not think she would need those. Her remedies were all things that her gnosis could cure, really, and for anything worse the Opal Order would be able to take care of it. In the end, the only extra thing L'orlei brought was her dagger, in case she needed it to cut rope, or maybe some plant samples, or something of that nature. The rest of the stuff she left at home. After a quick breakfast of fruit and fish, L'orlei made her way down to the harbor. As soon as she arrived the names began to flood through her head, and L'orlei stood there for a moment until the mental noise subsided. She hated crowds, but luckily there weren't that many people there, so it wasn't too overwhelming. After the initial burst, the names would only come to mind if she needed them. It wasn't just a one time thing, her gift made sure she never forgot a person's name. L'orlei wasn't really sure what she should be doing, so after a moment she went up to the first person who looked like they knew what was going on, and asked. "Hi. Um.. I'm L'orlei. I'm here to help.. where do you want me?"

[Aunalee]

Since she was little, Aunalee had watched her sisters leave on boats and disappear in the distance to start an adventure, something she yearned for. So, this day could not have come any faster. She awoke an hour earlier then most and climbed down the vine wall, hitting the wet floor with a splash. She looked around the room and sighed. 'Still empty, maybe most students live in their own homes? Well I don't feel like making the journey.' She walked over to the wardrobe where she kept her clothes and dressed. She hand't been told to bring anything, so she left the dorms with nothing but her clothes on.

She headed down to the cafeteria and ate a good sized breakfast by herself. 'I wonder when the others will awake.' She cleaned up after herself and headed down the corridor towards the main lobby. Of course, no one was around but Merida and Aunalee nodded at her.

She walked out of the Opal Temple and headed down to the shore where the Svefra had been for the past few days, milling about. They all seemed full of energy with nearly everything ready for the big trip. She glanced around, wondering if she would see a familiar face. She smiled, noticing a bleach blonde head. 'L'orlei.' She walked up to the Konti who seemed to be talking to a Svefra. "I as well have no idea what I am to do. I am Aunalee." She said with a sweet smile on her pale face.

[Traverse]

The woman L'orlei had chosen to talk to was a slender thing, more Konti in stature than Svefra. The phrase Lyra echoed faintly in the Konti's mind, giving her the moniker of the individual she addressed.

At the sound of the voice Lyra turned slowly, and grey blue eyes lit with excitement assessed her as hands wound a rope nearly black with tar, her fingers sticky with the substance. "Well met L'orlei, I am Lyra...of the Chillwater pod...but perhaps you already knew that." The woman extended a blackened hand firmly towards the woman, either unaware of the presence of the sticky element, or simply too eager to care.

Once this gesture was complete, the Svefra looked to the other Konti. "Well met to you as well, Aunalee." Lyra lifted a finger to her chin, scraping a bit of tar off upon her tanned flesh before turning to look at the end of the dock. When she spoke it was loud enough to address both of the women, but contemplative as well, as if Lyra was really just thinking aloud. "We will be taking about 10 boats, 5 Konti, 5 Svefra. 2 will be left nearly empty for cargo...4 will be mostly filled with equipment, the others..."

She turned back to them and smiled. "Preparations are nearly complete, the remaining spots are on Makutsi's Skimmer." She gestured to the fishing vessel on the far end of the dock. The Svefra then bent and began coiling lengths of rope around limber arms, nodding at the pile, some of which was significantly cleaner than the stuff she had been working with. "If you'd like to grab a load and make your way to the ship, I'm sure Klye will set you up and we'll get shoved off."

The Svefra was practically bouncing with energy, and turned away to begin marching down the deck, stopped herself, then twirled back around, a more tempered expression in those stormy eyes. "And thank you...we really appreciate it."

With that the two Konti were left upon the swiftly emptying dock, calls, curses, and instructions being yelled from boat to boat as ropes were cast and the last pieces of equipment stowed for the voyage.

[L'orlei]

"Oh.. um.." L'orlei hesitated for a moment, staring at the hand, less concerned with the dirt than she was the actual contact. She hesitated only for a moment before biting her lip and reaching out to return the handshake, resisting the urge to close her eyes as the images and names flashed quickly through her mind. She broke contact perhaps a bit more quickly than most, but offered an apologetic smile to the woman in hopes that she would not notice or mind. "A pleasure to meet you, Lyra," she said, accidentally slipping into Kontinese without noticing. She did that sometimes, when she was nervous. L'orlei listened intently as Lyra told them about the boats and the equipment, making sure to remember everything as best as she could. She doubted she would need specific numbers, but it was always best to be safe. Their ship was called Makutsi's Skimmer, apparently. L'orlei smiled when she heard the name. Makutsi was a daughter of Laviku, and L'orlei knew the name well. Most konti, or at least those raised on Mura, probably did. "You're welcome," L'orlei replied as she bent to pick up a load of rope. "I'm very happy to help." The ropes were heavy, but thankfully not as dirty as the ones Lyra carried. Not that L'orlei was overly concerned with getting dirty, a quick dip in the ocean would solve that, but she didn't know how easily the black tar would come off. L'orlei waited for Aunalee to grab her load as well, then set of after the Svefra woman. "I'm glad you're here, Aunalee. I was afraid I wasn't going to know anybody on this trip.. that would have been awful."

[Aunalee]

'Lyra? Sounds like Lyrics.... I wonder if she sings?' She followed the Svefra's gesture towards the fishing boat which held the name Makutsi's Skimmer. She then glanced at the pile of items they were to bring to the ship. Many looked brand new unlike the ropes and such that had left tar on Lyra's hands. She hadn't been following the conversation between Lyra and L'orlei until she was told to get moving. She picked up a load of rope along with L'orlei and began walking towards the vessel with the two.

The ropes were heavy but due to the chores Aunalee had been doing at the order she was used to the heavy weight and carried it with ease. "Don't fret L'orlei, it's a beautiful day and we're meeting lovely people!" Aunalee exclaimed but couldn't help but try to shout it as the Svefra became louder. 'I swear I bet the people back in town can hear them.' She sighed and slung the rope over her shoulder trying to get better leverage since her short arms weren't helping. As she reached the skimmer, she looked around for a boy.

"Should we call for him?" Auanlee asked but her question was drowned out by the shouting. She sighed and put the ropes by her feet before cupping her hands around her mouth. "Kyle? Where's Kyle?" Aunalee shouted surprisingly loud. She let her hands fall and picked up the ropes again so she could be ready to move when Kyle appeared.

[Traverse]

As the two Konti approached Makutsi's Skimmer, they would notice a few Konti they were unfamiliar with, as well as a whole gaggle of Svefra packed upon board.

As Aunalee called out 'Kyle' a bright and cheery tanned face popped up from below decks and half jogged, half walked towards the two approaching females, strong tanned arms relieving them of the rope and guiding them on board with a wave of his hand. "Greetings beautiful women of Mura! I'm Klye Chillwater and I will be your Captain on our merry jaunt this morning." A few Svefra on board rolled their eyes good naturedly as Klye ruffled his bleach blonde hair, depositing the ropes in a large pile of tools off to one corner of the upper deck.

"Alright folks, lets get this girl moving!" He turned to L'orlei and Aunalee with a smile and a wink. "Sit tight and relax ladies, once we're out to sea I'll give the debrief we and Order came to and we'll get everyone sorted out." With that the young Svefra captain jumped up to help some of the crew pull in the massive ropes holding the ship to dock, and the two Konti were left rather abruptly in the middle of the boat.

A few Konti sat to themselves upon benches lining the side of the ship, and there were ample Svefra on board to allow more than a few to lounge in the sun upon decks as the others worked to get the ship out into sea. The noises of sailors lowering sails, pulling in lines and cleaning the decks echoed around the two Konti as the strange little fleet the two races had created prepared to take off.

oocThese next few posts will be establishing some of the characters upon the ship, you can hang out with some Svefra, some Konti, or both! Take your pick and enjoy your little cruise!

[L'orlei]

L'orlei had very little experience with boats. As an islander she had of course been on one before, but none like the svefra ship she found herself on at that moment. There was a lot going on around her, and L'orlei knew she would just get in the way, so she quickly moved over to one of the benches to join the other konti waiting. They were talking among themselves, and L'orlei was not familiar with any of them, though their names entered her mind as always. L'orlei was bad at being social, however, and so she didn't even try to join in on the conversation. Instead she just sat there awkwardly, watching the svefra run about and do their tasks. "So.. should we offer to help or something," she said aloud, though it was more to herself than to the other konti. L'orlei felt bad just sitting there, but she wasn't sure what she could do, so instead she turned away and peered over the edge of the ship, watching the small waves it made as it sailed along. That brought a smile to her lips, which widened even more when she saw a small group of dolphins swimming not far away. She had been told of the svefra's special connection to creatures of the sea, and she wondered if the dolphins belong to them. She could only watch them for so long, however, before her guilt got the best of her and she decided she should help. "Is there anything I can do to help," she asked nervously after standing and approaching one of the svefra who appeared to be taking a short break. "I feel bad just sitting here while you all do the hard work."

[Aunalee]

Aunalee loved everything going on. The energy was high with the Svefra and most seemed happy to set out to sea. She saw them going around the boat getting ready to set sail and it interested the young Konti. She was so distracted with what the Svefra were doing she didn't notice that L'orlei had slipped away. Though she had noticed the bench of Konti just sitting there not helping. 'Why aren't they helping the other Svefra?'She walked up to one of the Svefra who didn't seem to busy and tapped him on his shoulder.

"Can I help you with anything?" She asked in common but her Konti accent was seeping through each word. She wasn't sure how she could help though given her short stature and complete lack of muscle. She smiled a bit though and shook such bothersome thoughts away. 'I'm sure I can help with something!'

[Traverse]

L'orlei

Kiv'li, Tinia, Jin'sia the names whispered quietly in her head one by one as if going in a line from left to right. Two of the faces L'orlei might recognize from the Order, the third, Jin'sia, seemed significantly younger than the other two, giant lavender eyes drinking in everything that went on. At L'orlei's suggestion she smiled.

"When I asked they told me they didn't need any." She shrugged, clearly content to sit back and enjoy the show.

The name Saffron echoed into L'orlei's mind as she approached a tall and lanky Svefra female who took a long swig off of her water flask, grinning broadly at L'orlei's request. "Ye can help me bring in one of the mooring ropes if ye like."

She gestured with a lazy hand and walked swiftly across the deck, coming to a thickly corded rope attached both to the ship and the dock. on the other side was a male svefra working slowly to uncoil the heavy length that was easily as thick as his own head. "Common Clint, we haven't got all day!"

The male now identified as Clint gave a rude gesture and threw the last few coils of rope over the mooring, dashing across the deck to return to the ship. L'orlei could see the muscles pop in Saffron's arms as she began to heave the thick substance, and she glanced back with amusement towards the Konti as they heaved the rope. "Fun stuff, aye?"

Aunalee

The male that Aunalee approached had just finished pulling in one of the moored ropes, and let the coils fall to the deck, rotating and smirking at her. "Help? Well we gotta let down this sail, you any good at climbing?"

He gestured to the two masts where the sail of the fishing vessel was rolled up. Even as Aunalee looked up she could see shadowed forms of other Svefra working on the larger one. The Svefra male guided her to the smaller mast, pegged hand holds sticking out from the vast spire of wood. "Better with two people on either side so we can lower the sail simultaneously. Hope you aren't afraid of heights, Konti."

And with that he had leapt up a few pegs up and began ferociously climbing the mast, leaving Aunalee to follow.

He did glance down after a moment with a grin. "Names Eddy by the way. What should I be callin' you?"

The anchor was drawn, ropes brought in and boarding plank stowed. Shouts were traded between vessels to see who was the first to go out to Harbor, and Klye was already at the till, roaring to his crew and trading winks with the seated Konti. Departure was upon them.