Up She Rises (Frelance x CognacLilacFumes)

[CognacLilacFumes]

When I was a lad in a fishing town
My old man said to me:
"You can spend your life, your jolly life
Sailing on the sea.
You can search the world for pretty girls
Til your eyes grow weak and dim,
But don't go fishing for a mermaid, son
If you don't know how to swim"​

Three days had passed since they had left Serkonos; leaving behind the white sands, cool air and a sun that seemed to be entirely different than the one that shined in Dunwall. The sun in Serkonos was bright and beamed with such invigorating warmth that it almost renewed the soul – melting away exhaustion and turmoil and, for a moment, rousing a sense of peace in the heart that made the world seem right again.

There was no sun here – and if there was it was well hidden; behind the thick gray clouds that dipped down from the sky, they mingled with the black water, forming a hazy wall that the massive whaling ships slowly drudged through.

Was this what the In Between was like?; a disorienting fog that spanned for miles and gave way to no semblance of hope.

Emily was beginning to think they would be stuck on that ship forever...but time had slowed down significantly since her mother’s death. She had lost track of the days, they bled together and left little impression on her wounded heart. At first she had felt despondent, but now frustration had begun to fester in sorrow’s stead. She had forgotten what it was like to laugh until her sides ached, or to smile simply because she could. Was there even such a thing as happiness anymore?

Yes, perhaps.

She had Corvo. She always had Corvo. Her beloved Corvo.

Even when he was gone from her side she still had him in her heart.

He had promised, after all, and Emily believed him.

She always had.

Yet obedience and love often briefly sour in the hearts of girls Emily’s age, even without the turmoil of being a deposed heir to a throne surrounded by plague rats and conspiracy. The defense is not maliciously intended, but derives from a desperate need to find one’s place and decide how best to stand on one’s own feet. Corvo had always held her hand and steadied her pace – and while part of her longed to squeeze his hand and hold him closer, a growing part of her yearned to untangle their fingers even slightly, to step around the corners where he forbade her to go.

She had been told to stay within their cabin – a small space with no windows intended for storage, which had enough room for a decent sized mattress and a few luggage trunks. Being sea-sick the first two days, she hadn’t protested – welcoming the chance to sleep after what seemed like weeks of moving one place to another. But her sleep was restless and on the third day, Emily had slipped a black cloak around herself and snuck out the door. She had hoped to have a break from the stagnant air of their room, but it was no fresher outside. The winds smelled of salt and fish and everything she touched needed to be scrubbed down decades earlier. The daughter of an Empress, Emily Kaldwin was not so prideful as to look down on her surroundings or those who inhabited them – on the contrary, it made her long for Dunwall all the more desperately.

There had always been a gritty underbelly to the city – outside of the posh districts of the nobles. Corvo and her mother had taught her to respect even the poorest citizen, and as she grew into her teens young Emily had made her plights for the unfortunates of the Empire. This had amounted to a few visits to the orphanages in Dunwall and charity events – she had even snuck out on her own beyond the protective walls to search the city and had only been caught a few times. She had always yearned for adventure – her imagination as a child was limitless as to all the places she wanted to explore and to see.

She approached the rail of the ship cautiously, extending her pale fingers out to grip around the cold metal.

As the gulls screeched overhead, the young girl crossed her arms and leaned forward, peering down into the murky water – searching for a sign that they were on the right path.

 

[Evo Var]

Arm flashing out to impale the a large rat that had just snuck through the wall. Sighing he blinked as he pulled the rat off the blade of his knife and stood from his sitting position. Walking out of the room he dropped the dead rat into a bucket joining the other rats he had found. After cleaning the blade of his knife he rubbed the back of his left hand through the glove were he could feel the outsiders mark heating the skin under his glove. He walked up one deck and set the bucket down beside one of the crew. "Thats all of them for now at least, now do you have them?" The man took a quick look into the bucket then nodded and handed Corvo a small leather case saying. "One tablet should last a day unless the sickness is severer." He eyed Corvo doubting that the man had sea sickness at all but didn't say anything else as Corvo left him alone below decks.

Stepping out of the stairway he frowned wondering not for the first time if he should have kept Emily in Serkonos with Samuel. This Journey to Pandyssian he knew had not been his idea he suspected as it had been the outsider speaking through the heart that he kept locked away in his trunk in there cabin. It had spoken to him as he watched the whaling ships leave the harbor going west in search of whales. The beat sped up each time a ship would go by accompanied by voices muttering of the trading towns and expeditions to the land in the west. Later came stories of heretics that he remembered hearing about while in the company of the late High Overseer. He was pulled from his thoughts as he saw a figure standing at the rail twenty feet away from him. It only took him a second to recognize the stature of the cloaked figure. His eyes narrowed as his frustration started to push its way to the surface but he took the time to calm himself down as he walked over to Emily and leaned against the rail adjusting sword he wore at his side. He had locked his favored sword away with his other things before boarding the ship and even though he had years of experience with all kinds of swords it still felt awkward every once in a while when he stood wrong he had to adjust the sword.

He stood there silently for a few minutes not saying anything before he turned towards her. "Should I presume you are feeling better." He toyed with the leather bag for a few more moments before holding it out to her. "These should help if you feel sick again." He watched her knowing that he should not be surprised that she was curious even now with everything that had happened to her. He could remember finding her exploring her home as soon as she could walk, later her imagination had her asking about witches that road aboard pirate ships to call down storms. Corvo had always enjoyed his time with her when she was free of worry. "Have you seen any of the flying fish yet? Apparently a single sting from one of their quivers is enough to kill. They are supposed to be able to get onto the decks of ship." Pausing he muttered to himself and after a pause everything went black and white apart from the yellow color that the living beings around him took. He avoided looking over at Emily as it still felt wrong to him to be using his gifts around her. Instead he looked out through the fog until he spotted a school of fish just at the edge of his vision. Blinking the vision away he squinted into the fog then as it cleared for a few moments he pointed out a school of fish that appeared to be flying as they jumped over the waves. "I believe those of the fish in question. A sure sign that we are on the right path." He turned away from the rail and called over a sailor asking. "Those fish out there are they edible or is the meat just as poisonous as the quivers?"