A Bright and Shiny Life

The dawn finds me standing on what I have been told is called the ‘poop deck’. Obviously, that is just someone trying to prank me by getting me to say something absurd and embarrass myself. Fortunately, someone has helped me and told me the correct name of the raised structure that it forms the top of, being the aftcastle.

Well, someone did call it the ‘arsecastle’, which would corroborate the ‘poop deck’ claim, but I think it was just their accent.

“What are ya doing up here?” Calls a perky young woman a bit older than me armed with a heavy sword while climbing the ladders to the ‘deck’.

“Weather divination.” I say tersely, trying to concentrate on refracting the sun’s light through the crystal pendulum and onto the… mizzen mast? I honestly think sailors named all the ship parts while drunk.

“So, you’re the mage, just like I thought. The crew said you’ve been holed up in your private cabin all yesterday, so no one’s seen ya. So, what’s the pretty light saying?”

“No clouds, rain or storms, with a steady wind…” I lower the pendulum and chant a direction divination, “eastwardly all day, just as the local diviners said.”

“You get a private cabin to say what’s already been said?” She asks, a little teasingly.

“That’s just for this location. In fact, this method is largely redundant with what I have in my cabin, though this does have a few advantages… I really should get back down to check on it now that I’m done here.”

“Oh, come on! We’re about to cast off, you’d miss all the excitement.” She gestures to the crew scurrying below and above on the masts.”

“…all right, squire.” I concede, leaning on the railing.

“Good guess. Was it the sword? Good thing you ran into me first then. The captain kept one of the guards he worked with before, and she’s a bit bitter about how much we’re getting paid ‘just cause we got a bit of magic.’ Probably wouldn’t like it if ya called her squire by mistake.”

“She thinks she’s as capable as you in a fight?” I ask.

“Oh, she might be. At least in a group fight. She has more experience directing others and has an intermediate boon from the blood mariner to hold her own. But she also thinks she’s more ‘skilled’ with sword technique. Which she probably is just cause of her age. Then again, a lot of mercenaries like her assume knights and squires never properly learn the fundamentals because we just rely on our powers. Like we’re not seeking every advantage against other knights, or that training sword technique isn’t a good way to train magic. I kinda want to spar her to see if she’s all talk, but I think she’ll read more into that than I mean, and I don’t want to humiliate her either way. Some of us has to share a cabin together.”

“Who else do you share the cabin with?”

“No one. There’s space for a few more, but the captain filled it with cargo… from your room if I understand.”

“Oh, that must be awkward, sorry.”

She laughs. “I’m joking kid. The captain was already going to fill the space. He doesn’t like regular crew mixing with the guards since a mutiny is a lot more likely if the crew has the guards on their side. It’s also why the captain doesn’t have his protection double as crew like others do.”

“Are mutinies that common that he spends extra to protect from them.”

“Not in my experience, though from what the crew told me it’s not that he spends extra, he just saves the money elsewhere because he thinks he can be cheap with us around. So maybe it’s more likely with this captain than most.”

“Well, my divination below should warn me if something is going to happen. I’ll let you know so you can decide which side you’ll take.”

She laughs. “Trust me kid, you won’t need magic to know a mutiny is brewing.”

I rankle at the repeated ‘kid’ given that she’s only a few years older than me, but choose to ignore it. “Have you been in one before?”

She shakes her head. “Not me personally. Just something my mentor told me.”

“I see, did they say which side you should take?”

“The crew’s always safer, since they need the captain less than the captain needs them. But she also said a mutiny is a great time to renegotiate your contract.”

“Well, let me know then. I don’t know much about this stuff, so I’ll follow your lead.”

She laughs. “Thanks kid, but maybe don’t go planning for trouble until it’s on its way. You might end up causing it, and the captain won’t appreciate the talk regardless.”

It’s a bit odd that she thinks the captain’s appreciation should affect my talk. Anyone could voice anything in the cell, and even the empire doesn’t punish talk not advocating action. The only place I’ve seen talk punished was the cult and that was to indoctrinate us to revere the patriarch.

Perhaps viewing a sailing ship as a cult is apt. It would at least explain all the strange jargon.

Speaking of the patriarch, the captain exits a door in the aftcastle’s bottom and starts shouting orders. A moment later sailors are climbing masts, unfurling sails and lifting anchors. The squire was right, this is exciting in a relaxing sort of way.

“I’m Malzad, you?” I ask the squire, after we clear the harbour, trying not to wince as I freely give a name.

“Sarah.”

“I should go back down, see if anything’s changed now that we’re going.”

“Cool. Maybe I’ll come over sometime when our colleague is being annoying.”

“It’s very cramped, especially with my setup.”

“Even better.” She smiles playfully.

I don’t really know what she means. There isn’t room to entertain her, and she might knock down a rod, especially with her sword. I’ll have to make her take it off. I hope she won’t be offended, some squires are particular about that.

Squeezing past my door opened only partially to avoid the rods, I see that the ones for wane, wind and south have fallen to intersect near an island we’ll likely reach near night fall. I carefully weave between the still standing rods and crouch down chanting with my compass directly over the intersection. A moment later the needle swivels towards the south mark, but not all the way, and stays there when I stand.

Not done, I roll up the map, reset the rods and stand in the centre holding the silver rod pointing to the rod perpendicular to the wax and wane, and chant. A moment later the rod flashes hot in my hand. I shift it to wane and it goes cold, then heats when I go back, becoming hottest about three fifths of the way to wax.

Intensity sorted, I move to duration, and sit in the centre pointing the silver rod to the north rod and slowly moving it left while chanting. It flashes hot at the start, then again four rods later. I point north again, do another chant going right this time and the rod flashes hot just south of the east paper. Then I point north one more time and go left again, but this time I reach all the way around the circle. Finally, I repeat the wax and wane reading and get a hot flash right before full sitwax.

Everything fully read, and the rods reset, I gingerly scoot out the room and find the navigator– a man in his mid-twenties named Martin– in the galley eating a piece of bread over a map with compass and protractor.

“Hey, I was just about to come find you. Thought you were supposed to be my apprentice or something.”

I take a piece of bread with some brown liquid on top and sit next to him. “I’m getting paid based on what your apprentice would make, my job is to check your route. Speaking of which, a divination came through.”

“I thought you needed me to tell you the route first.”

“I have it set up so you don’t need to, though I can do more if you do.” I don’t mention that I only learned how to do that yesterday. “Anyways, winds are going to shift south to this bearing and half our current speed at around here if we keep our course and speed.” I say, pointing to the island on his map, and showing him my compass that’s still pointing to the south mark without regard for movement.

“Neat. I figured that would happen since it normally does there. Though I guess it proves you’re good since you could figure out where we’re going on your own.”

“It will stay south for eight hours, then return east at our current speed for at least a full day after that.”

“Now that is useful. Can you go further?”

“Yes, but it’ll be more accurate if you make any course changes first.”

He whistles. “And here I thought you’d be a useless brat trying to take my job. I think we’ll make a good team. Are you really only being paid as my assistant?”

“A bit more, plus compensation for other roles and the private cabin.”

“I’d hardly call that closet a cabin. I’ll talk to the captain. I doubt he was expecting you to provide such detailed information. Maybe I can negotiate a bonus for the two of us if I can convince him you’ll save us time… He said you’ll warn us of danger? Do you think you can navigate a reef at night?”

“… I don’t know what a reef is, but maybe.”

“It’s like a maze of obstacles submerged just below the surface. We can normally go through it if we reach it at day, but have to go around it at night.”

“Then yes, I have a couple of techniques that should work.”

“Good, that might save us a few hours at least. Maybe I’ll arrange things so we reach it at the right time for a negotiation eh?” He smiles. “All right. I have some calculations to do with what you brought me. You can either stay and watch, or go about your other business.”

I was wanting to get back to my room to study while waiting for divinations, but the opportunity to learn from a professional in their craft is too good to pass. Divination can brute force most navigation problems on land, but the ocean seems a little more complicated since you have to compensate for future winds and plan for where you’ll be and when. I can probably set up a divination to do that for me, but that will take up my focus from other magic and the knowledge will help me out in other areas. Besides, proficient in navigation might look good on the exam.

Seeing that I’m staying he occasionally explains what he’s doing or asks me to figure out an aspect of the course. It takes me much longer than him, but I can usually figure it out eventually.

“Eh, you’re not too bad.” He says after a while. “Given a few months I could turn you into an employable navigator. It usually takes longer, but you already know about half the math, which is normally the hardest part.”

“I’m getting off in central.” I say, wanting to have at least some time to study magic.

“Pity, well I suppose if you sit through any course changes I make, then you might learn all the basics by then...” He pauses, as if suddenly embarrassed, but then forces through. “… do you… think you could teach me what you do?”

“To be a mage? Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?”

“… So, in theory, anyone can become a mage or knight, but in practice most can’t. Why that is the case is debated, but what I’ve been taught, which matches my experience, is that learning magic is like your soul negotiating with the world, and your first negotiation– to go from mundane to mage– is always the hardest. I can teach you how to initiate the negotiation and help guide you on the terms, but ultimately success is unlikely, and its easiest when you’re young.”

“Oh, I see.” He says disappointed.

“Though, that said, you may actually have an advantage at your age if you just want to learn divination to help with your job. Since success has to do with how you see the world, and having a focus already there can help. Also, success or failure doesn’t have a time limit. If I teach you the first step, then you can continue on your own for as long as you like.”

“You’d that for me?”

“… yeah.” I say eventually. I could haggle for some coin, but he already sad he’d try to get us a bonus, and I have an intuition that I’ll get more if I don’t charge him. I’m not talking about him being more motivated to get me the bonus, though that too. Rather, I have a feeling I’ll benefit in less tangible ways.

Technically speaking, each mage added to the world makes it harder to innovate magic, so some say that we should be selective when teaching– at least for the next couple thousands of years. Conversely though, each mage added makes it easier to learn established magic, and for mundanes to become mages. So, others say that the innovation difficulty is off set by increasing the number of people who can innovate, and so everyone should be taught.

Since the experts are divided, I might as well move with self-interest.

“Really? Wow, that’s awesome. Um, I’ll go report the course change to the captain, and maybe we could start after that?”

I shake my head. “It’s easiest to negotiate at certain times or circumstances– during sunrise and sunset being the standard. It’s not needed later on, but until you become a mage all your negotiations should be during those times, or during a short list that I’ll write for you. Storms and eclipses standing out.”

“Okay, I’ll trust you on that. See you later then!” He says, walking off to find the captain, chart in hand.

I turn to leave back to my room to perform more divinations based on his altered course and hopefully study some magic but stop when I see a rough woman in her early thirties armed with a sword and cudgel glaring at me with a scowl.

“Hey. You’re the other guard, right?” I say, walking up and ignoring her expression. “Nice to meet you.”

“And you’re the mage brat who lost my buddies their jobs.” She says, face still full of hostility.

I shrug. “The captain was looking for a bargain. Martin seems to think I’m worth the coin.”

Her scowl intensifies. “For now, maybe, but you’re getting off in a week, two at the most. My team have spent the last six months working together. We trusted each other and knew how to synergize. Now that’s all gone because Wallace wanted to make some extra coin with the space he saved.”

“If you liked working with those who left so much, why didn’t you join them?”

“Ha! You think any other boat’s willing to hire on five guards just to sit around? No, Wallace is two things bundled up: greed and fear. He’ll do anything to protect himself from a mutiny, except actually being a captain people like working under.”

“…You’re the third person to mention mutiny in association with the captain, him included. Do you know if he experienced one before?”

She hesitates briefly before glancing around, and her face softens before eagerly speaking in a soft whisper. “Well, I don’t know, but the rumour is that he became captain of this ship by way of mutiny himself. That he was the second in command until he led a revolt and took over, and now he’s scared of losing the position the same way. If so, that explains why he hires dedicated guards instead of having them perform crew jobs like any other captain. Since if we’re working like every other crew mate, then odds are we will mutiny with them.” By the time she’s done telling the rumour her face has softened almost completely.

“Well that certainly is an interesting rumour. Thanks for telling it. Sorry about your mates getting booted. Personally, I would have preferred they stayed just for my own safety, especially since Martin thinks I’m getting underpaid for my magic work anyways. But I’m sure we can work together. I’m Malzad.” I say, holding out my hand now that she doesn’t seem like she’ll bite it off.

“Kalen.” She says briefly shaking. “I guess you’re all right, if you’re doing other stuff for us. Not like that squire. I mean, at least you listen.”

“Well, I need to get back to my work.” I say, turning to leave.

I have the impression Kalen’s continued hostility towards Sarah is less about if she listens and more about jealousy. Kalen likely was jealous of me too, but never wanted to be a mage and so got over it. After all, she doesn’t have the knowledge to comment on my job– though I think mentioning Martin’s approval and getting her to gossip helped. However, a squire only does what she does but better. The fact that Sarah is so much younger while getting more pay can only make things worse.

As I’m about to enter my room a man with smooth skin and fine clothing exits a door down the hall and sees me.

“Oh! Another passenger?” He asks, looking at my better than sailor clothes and seeing me go to a room while everyone else is working.

“Ship mage.” I say.

“Oh really. So young… Wallace didn’t say he had a mage when we booked passage.”

“I only signed on two days ago. Be glad, he would have charged you more.”

“I see, well I’m travelling with my family from Salunt. We decided it’s time to take a trip, what with all the troubles in Caethlon boiling over.”

“Haven’t you heard? Caethlon has been pacified.” I use the term used by the criers.

“Oh yes, I’m sure. But that’s the problem. Now that it’s done with, all the malcontents who survived will flee the area, with a lot of them coming to Port Salunt. One hardly needs to think much to realize how dangerous it’s about to be. After all, Caethlon is full of killers, even if they’re pacified they’re bound to be some left, and they’re like to be the worse of the lot.”

“I see, well if you’ll excuse me.”

“Oh, I’m travelling with my son, you should meet him. Maybe show him some magic.”

“…Maybe later.” I say, seeing through his desire for me to ‘coincidentally’ feel like teaching his son for free once I get to know him. “I have some work to do.”

“Yes, later. Well, you know where I’m staying. Anytime.”

I nod, entering my room, relaxing when I see that none of the rods have fallen in the time I’ve been away. Shoving the memory of the annoying neighbour aside, I perform a quick divination to extend my weather forecast since Martin already showed me the altered route. Nothing major for the day after my prior divination, but a storm’s coming the day after that. I spend the next three hours plotting its course, spending a piece of paper to make notes of exact times and locations. Then I leave again to tell Martin who says it’ll take a while to figure out, and he’ll let me know the new route when it’s done. He offers to let me watch again, but I decide I shouldn’t be away from the array for too long.

Feeling drained from all the interactions and divinations, I retreat to my room again, get on my hammock, and practice my magic using the light from the tiny window to read the grimoire.