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12th Day in the 4th of Ründ’s Months, Dry Season, in the 29th Year of King Bornidin the Young’s Reign
‘From where does the cold wind blow?’, asked the sea to the sky.
But the sky did not reply.
‘Where does the sun's warmth go?’, asked the depths to the sea.
But the sea did not reply.
‘To where do all whale songs flow?’, asked the sailor to the depths.
But the depths did not reply.
‘Will you go where all sailors go?’, asked Death of the sailor.
But the sailor did not die.
From ‘Sayings of Saint Wōde’, Order of Loss, Written by Saint Wōde in the Unreckoned Years
Petsune sits in the captain’s quarters, gazing blindly at the wall. His entire understanding of the world, and of himself, has dissolved into a swirling pool of questions. He scrutinizes what Chapel told him and finds himself trusting the Captain and what he said, despite still having unanswered questions. There is something honest and trustworthy about Chapel, and yet he seems not to trust himself or his leadership. Petsune stands, rubbing the back of his neck and sort of ambling about the cabin, lost in thought. The ship rocks gently on its keel, swaying the hanging bits of cargo and personal effects in a hypnotizing pendulum. Toward the back of the cabin, Petsune finds a map of Yath on the wall, and he marvels at how much of the world he has never seen, consigned to his speck in the sea. Thune Mass is a mere thumb print in the sprawling blue ocean. Petsune covers it with his finger, then traces a line north-east, through the Bay of Rays, and into the Green Sea where Ginders Mass sits. He looks at the map closer and realizes a good bit of it has been added by a careful hand, as the writing is vastly different.
His eye wanders across the map and finds the Coldor Cleave in the North West. He slowly runs his finger across the soft canvas, from Ginders on the mid-right side, across to the icebergs of Coldor in the top left. It seems a whole world away to him, and yet he has somehow never felt closer than on this ship. He decides now, though it feels more like acknowledging a decision made long ago, that he will stay on this ship. Petsune gazes for some time at the deftly made map, with its faraway locations and strange names. He hears a soft knock on the door frame. He assumes it is the Captain and so he says, “Captain, I would like-” but when he looks it isn’t Chapel, but rather the Filkish man. Petsune cannot recall the man's name and says with consternation, “Hello, Mister… um…”
“Shushilah, but the crew, they are calling me Shush.”
“Ah, that’s right, I’m sorry. My head is in a hundred places at the moment.”
“Is okay, Pet! Is okay, no worries. Is a good time for distraction, I’m thinking? We are about to begin a new game of the Runnykit. You want to play, yes?”
Before Petsune has time to protest, he is being pulled forward and herded out of the cabin door like a lost garpus. Petsune can’t help but notice the intricately embossed vambraces that Shush is wearing as they push and pull him out of the cabin toward the rest of the crew. He comments,
“Those are beautiful — your arm guards. The leatherwork must have taken quite a while.”
Shushilah glances at his arm and brightens, “Oh, yes? You are liking them? Is a common thing in the Oullman - uh, where I am from.”
“Might I ask, what is the design on it?”
“Of course, Petsune! Of course! A tower whale, here — see? And she is swimming through the tower vines, there.”
The two of them reach the group of crew members that are playing Runnykit and Shush gestures for Petsune to sit in the place vacated by General Tar. Petsune obliges, sitting on a sturdy barrel filled with some type of sloshing liquid.
Once seated, Shushilah speaks,
“The Big Man, he will be better explaining this, I’m thinking.”
Taking his cue, The Big Man begins espousing passionately,
“Okay, Pet. This is a game of skill and luck both. Three words to know, Aye? Wager, call, and take. Now, each player gets a die — you can have more than one, but we will not get into that just now. You roll the dice in the cup, like this, and when all the cups are upside down on the board, then each player makes a wager and a call. With me so far, little Pet?”
Petsune looks up from the cup engulfed in The Big Man’s hand and blinks rapidly before Benafield continues,
“Aye. The call is what you think your die will read when you lift your cup. So for a one die game, it is any number between one and six — same for wagers. Now, if you are right, you count whatever number you wagered as your take plus 6. But if you are wrong! Aye, if you are wrong, your take is 6 minus whatever your wager was.”
He holds up his other huge hand, “Let me explain: if nobody calls their roll right, everyone gets 6, minus the wager they made, Aye? With me still?”
Petsune is listening carefully, but his head is still caught up in the revelations of earlier. The Big Man heedlessly plows forward into the final aspect of the game,
“Lastly. If any dice show the same roll, the first to yell Runny! earns their wager, and! - the wager of the duplicate roller. The winner is whoever has the biggest take at the end. Okay, little Pet, ready?”
The Big Man lifts his cup with two hands over his shoulder and prepares to play immediately, but Cheese cuts him off, “You forgot the drownin’ pot, ya millie!”
Benafield looks horrified at having missed a part of the game in his exposition, “Aye! Sorry, Pet... I do enjoy this game, hah!” His laugh nearly rattles the cups. “Right, lastly: if you call your roll three times in a row, that is a Saint’s roll, and you win the game straight out.” Confused, Petsune makes some type of sound that everyone else seems to take as agreement. A wooden cup is thrust into his hands by Cheese, the ivory die rattling in the bottom. Suddenly everyone raises their cup and Petsune follows suit, slamming it down a moment later.
Shushilah calls out, “Wager 1, call 3.”
The Big Man rumbles, “Aye. Wager 2, call 2.”
Cheese confidently says, “Wager 5, call 4.”
Then all three look expectantly at Petsune, who suddenly realizes he has no idea what he’s wagering, “Um. I don’t have any money?”
Shushilah sort of waves a hand at him, as if swatting buzzets, saying, “Is okay. We don’t play for money; Mavis says no money. Just make a wager.”
“Um, alright… Wager 6, call 4…?”
The crew's eyes widen slightly at his wager, which does not ease Petsune’s mind. The Big Man tempers his surprise by saying, “Aye, and… cups!”
At this pronouncement, everyone lifts their cups, Pet following a moment behind. Shushilah’s die shows 3 pips, Benafield’s has 6, and Cheese shows 3. Petsune’s die displays 1 black dot. Cheese quickly sees Shush’s die and cries out “Runny!” causing the Big Man to grumble and hit the ship railing he’s sitting on. Shushilah makes a tsk sound and pushes his cup away in disappointment.
Cheese is looking very pleased with herself when Petsune asks, “Uhhh, what just happened?”
Cheese replies in a very smug tone, “ya lost.”
“Right, but lost what? I don’t have anything.”
“Depends. First winner picks the pot,” Suddenly a rather devious smirk emerges on Cheese’s face, “and the pot’ll be… prattlebeak feathers!”
Groans and complaints erupt from Shush and The Big Man, But Petsune is somehow even more confused. He looks at each of them and asks,
“Prattlebeak feathers? Why…”
The Big Man rolls his eyes and points at Cheese with an immense finger, “She is always doing this, thinks it funny. She picks something crazy, aye? And then we all look like fools trying to get it. Last time was wigmoss off the side of the hull!”
Cheese makes a face at the Big Man and says, “Least I pick somethin’ new each time. You just pick everyone’s dessert rations.”
The Big Man scoffs and says, “Bah!” while shooing away Cheese’s words with his large hand.
Petsune is still, not quite, but almost entirely lost. “Do we need to, um, pay up now? … or when do I do that? I’m just a little bit confused about what’s happening. I owe her… a feather? …”
Cheese, still smiling mischievously, says, “Yeah, ‘splain it bennie.”
The Big Man says in a low voice, “Do not start with that Bennie nonsense.” then he turns to Petsune,
“Right. The pot is decided for the remainder of the game by the winner of the first roll, aye? But the game can only stop when the losers of the round agree - meaning they have to pay up, as you say.”
Shushilah stands up and says amusedly, “We are ready to be done now, I’m thinking…”
Petsune, finally thinking he understands, says, “So if we are done now, we being the losers this round, then we all owe her a prattlebeak feather?”
Shushilah answers, “Right. This is why I’m thinking we are done, maybe. The pot cannot change now.”
The Big Man huffs and stands then grumbles quietly, “I hate when she wins first roll…”
But before either man can stomp off, Petsune speaks up, “Wait, I didn’t agree to end yet. I would actually like to keep playing, at least a few more times. If that’s alright?”
The Big Man has a pleasantly surprised look on his face and says, “Hah! Yes, very good, little Pet. We’ll make a Runny player out of you yet.” Shushilah sighs lightly, but he appears content to continue playing.
Once everyone is seated again, The Big Man’s zeal for the game seems to return. He lifts his cup high, the die rattling away like a trapped insect, and he says, “Down!”
As all four cups meet the surface of the crate, Cheese loudly proclaims, “Wager 4, call… 5.”
Then Benafield, “Aye. Wager 5, call 2.”
Followed by Petsune, “Wager 1, call 3.”
And lastly, Shushilah speaks, “Wager 6, call 4.”
Looks are exchanged around the table, then Cheese says, “Cups!”
And everyone raises their cup. Petsune gets his call right, but no one else does. Shush has a 2, Cheese has a 6, and The Big Man has a 4. Petsune is looking pleased, until Cheese speaks, “Well look at you, priesty. Not bad, but you ain’t wagered hardly nothing at all. I still got the biggest take.” This time no one seeks to end the game, and so another round begins.
Cups are raised into the air like some sort of toast or salute. The Big Man has a very intense look as he says, “Down!”
All the cups come slamming down, then all three look to Pet to make the first wager. He hesitates and then says, “Wager 6, call 1.”
Next, Benafield, “Aye… Wager 6, call 6.”
And then Cheese takes her turn, “Wager 5, call… 6.”
At this, The Big Man shoots a glare her way, then Shush speaks, “Wager 3, call 5.”
Everyone looks at each other, and The Big Man says, “Cups!”
Before Petsune even has time to look at the dice, The Big Man’s booming voice yells out, “Runny!” as he stands up, nearly toppling the crate and falling backward over the rail. Irritated, Cheese pushes The Big Man the final inch he needs, and he goes back over the railing, splashing loudly into the water below. Petsune is backing away quickly, afraid some hidden tensions are surfacing.
All three of them rush to the railing to see the hulking form of Benafield floating lazily on his back, and he calls up in a taunt, “Guess you owe me a prattlebeak feather! Hah!”
Then he spits water up into the air in a playful fountain. Cheese tries to look angry with him down there, but she and Shushilah quickly begin laughing. Petsune is relieved to see it is all a jest and not malicious. Suddenly, Mavis is there speaking, “Why in the depths is The Big Man in the water?”
Shushilah tries to say through his laughter, “Is okay, Mavis, is okay. He won and Cheese, she pushed him. Ahhh, it was very funny.”
Mavis rolls his eyes and says in his grumbling voice, “Drown these two, always up to something…” then he yells down to the floating Big Man, “Get up here, Benafield! And you, Cheese. You two need to stop with all this taunting and rivalry.”
The Big Man grabs ahold of one of the roots that extend from the railing down to the water, and he climbs back up to the deck. Petsune is surprised to find himself laughing slightly as The Big Man climbs back up onto the ship. Mavis, Shushilah, Cheese, and Petsune all watch as the Big Man pulls himself over the railing and folds an unwilling Cheese into a soaking wet embrace, then pats the top of her head, saying, “I will be expecting my feather then. Same goes for you two.” As he points thick fingers toward Shush and Pet.
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