Sea-ing is Believing

In hindsight, it was incredible to Mia that despite having walked this world for seventeen years, she'd never been to the ocean.

Seventeen years of living in Imil. Six years of living in a world without her parents. Four years since Alex had left. Two months since leaving her home in the company of strangers. All that time, living in the shadow of Mercury Lighthouse, and she'd never thought to go beyond it to the Northern Sea. To actually gaze on the body of water that lay between Angara and whatever lay beyond. There was an explanation, true (she had to stay in Imil to treat the sick and injured), but after those seventeen years, she'd begun to reflect that it wasn't necessarily a good one.

Yet here she was, on the shores of the Karagol Sea. Not an ocean, in that it was just an inland body of water, but still large enough to count as far as she was concerned. Here she was, walking down the piers of Constanbul, in hot pursuit of Alex and the criminals he'd thrown his lot in with. A pursuit that wasn't so hot right now, as their ship had yet to set sail, but "hot pursuit" sounded a lot better than "waiting for a ship to cast off so we can get to the other side and continue tracking our foes." Maybe there was a snappier way of putting that, but...

She frowned, as seagull droppings landed in front of her. She looked at the birds up above, continuing their perpetual cawing and screeching. She'd never seen seagulls until today. And having seen more types of birds in the last two months than she'd seen her entire life, she wasn't that impressed. Especially when they seemed to be laughing at her for her lack of eloquence involving the pursuit of thieves and traitors.

That's right, continue laughing, she reflected, watching the seagulls circle over a stall selling fish. Soon I'll be on the other side of this sea and...and probably in the company of more seagulls.

It could be worse, she told herself. They could be birds mutated by psynergy stone, attacking her with murderous intent. Monsters that...she bit her lip, and cast her gaze back at the Wayfarer - the ship that would be taking her and her friends to the other side, along with a plethora of other travelers headed for Tolbi. Few ships were heading across the sea these days, and monsters were cited as the reason why. She'd fought such creatures for two months, but never on a moving boat. Never like this. But its bell was now ringing, which meant it would be casting off soon. So turning around, she saw-

"Garet?"

...the one whose name she'd just spoken. His spikey red hair remaining spikey, and his body remaining very big, very muscular, and for now, still very dry. He was sitting on the edge of the pier, and she hadn't noticed him until now. And given the way he was just sitting there, staring westward, she guessed that he hadn't seen her either. Let alone heard her.

"Garet?" She repeated his name, but he made no indication that he'd heard her this time either. Hence, she walked over and shook his shoulder. "Garet, it's time to go."

He made no motion bar turning his head to look at her. She frowned - he didn't look so good.

"Hey, Mia."

He didn't sound good either. Nevertheless, she gestured to the ship. "It's time to go," she said.

"Hmm?"

"The ship. It's ringing its bell. That means it's time to board."

The bell kept ringing, but Garet slowly turned his eyes to look at the water.

"Garet?" Mia sat down beside the Mars adept. "Garet, are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, fine."

"You don't sound fine." She removed one of her gloves and felt his forehead. "You don't feel fine either."

Garet's cheeks and throat moved in a strange manner, before he let out a burp. On his breath was the smell of fish. Rotten fish.

"Garet, did you eat something?"

"Oh yeah. Sure.." He rubbed his belly, which was making all sorts of noises. "It was...something."

He burped again.

"Sure smells like something," Mia murmured.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need...time." His cheeks heaved again, and he coughed. "Just got to..."

Mia had the sense to move aside as her friend threw up into the churning sea, moving in a manner that likely mimicked what was going on in his stomach. A wave of nausea washed over her as the smell of rotting fish mixed in with that of salt, followed by a wave of pity. There were more types of sickness in the world than there were people, and in her experience, none of them were pleasant to live through. Or die through, as the case so often was...

"You alright?" Mia rubbed his back, glancing at the ship. "Come on, let's get you aboard. I might be able to cook something up and-"

"No."

Mia blinked. "No?"

"No." Garet sat up straight and looked at her - he looked terrible, but at least his throat wasn't moving funny. "Might get the sea sickness."

"The what?"

"Sea sickness. Fishmonger said it was a disease on the sea, and I might get it, and…wait. Maybe I've already got it."

"Garet..."

"I mean..." He looked at Mia, his eyes wide, before he sprung to his feet, backing away from her. "Mia, stay back."

"Garet, calm down."

"Mia, I've got the sea sickness. If I give it to you then-"

"Garet!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet as well. "Sea sickness isn't a disease. It's a condition."

"I've got a condition?!"

"A condition that comes from the rocking of the ship," she said. "You haven't got anything except a funny stomach."

Garet coughed again.

And terrible breath, Mia reflected.

Garet looked slightly better, but only slightly. One didn't need to be a healer to recognize food poisoning when they saw it. One also didn't need to know that boarding the ship was the last thing he needed right now. Unfortunately, the bell was still ringing, people were heading up the gangplank, and Isaac and Ivan would be wondering where they were.

"Garet, come on," Mia said, extending her hand. "Ship's waiting."

Garet, after a moment's hesitation, took it, allowing Mia to walk him down the pier.

A moment after that, he threw up all over her.

##

"I'm gonna die…I'm gonna die…"

Mia grit her teeth as she poured the herbs into the boiled water. "No, Garet, you're not going to die," she murmured.

"I…I think I'm going to..."

"Garet, just drink this," she said. She handed him the potion she'd made. "And try and keep it down. Please?"

Garet looked at her from his position of leaning over the ship's aft side. Mia, standing there in naught but her tunic, tried to smile, but instead grimaced. Her tunic was in her cabin, and she'd spent more coin than she cared for purchasing an elixir to remove the stain. She'd spent even more to purchase the herbs from the ship's quartermaster. Ivan had laughed, Isaac had silently approved, but she was still the one playing healer. A role she'd played for as long as she could walk, but still...

But still what?

She watched as Garet took a sip. From the look on his face, she could tell it tasted terrible, but to his credit (and her gratitude), he kept drinking it. Her grimace, however, remained.

Come on, what is it? The voice in the back of her head asked. You've treated far worse patients.

That she had, but...

But that was before Alex came back. Before Mercury Lighthouse was reignited. Before you failed in your duty as the last of the Mercury Clan.

Garet finished drinking, and handed the empty mug back to Mia. "Sure hope that works."

"Yeah," Mia murmured, leaning over the side as well. "Me too."

She shivered in the wind. She'd grown up imagining everything south of Imil to be some kind of paradise, where the sun always shone and no-one needed fire, but seasons still existed, and coming into autumn, just because she was south of Imil, didn't mean that everything was automatically warm.

"Mia? You alright?"

Garet was leaning over the side as well, looking less ready to empty the contents of his stomach.

"Fine," she murmured. She glanced back at the deck - at the sailors doing their work. At Ivan performing psynergetic tricks for coin, and Isaac showing his sword to a hopeful competitor. "Absolutely fine."

Garet laughed. "And I thought I was the liar."

Mia looked back at him. "Excuse me?"

"Like, I said I was fine when I wasn't, now you're saying you're fine when you're not, so-"

"Garet, I assure you, I'm perfectly fine," Mia said. She went back to staring at the sea. "Little cold, and a little smelly, but...fine."

Garet cleared his throat. "Listen, about the cloak..."

"Fine," Mia repeated. "Absolutely fine."

It wasn't, but right now, the cloak was the least of her worries. They'd been on this boat for twenty minutes. It would take them at twenty hours to cross the Karagol, and even if they survived the trip, they still had to survive Saturos, Menardi, and…she clenched her fist. Alex, she reminded herself. Alex, with all his new tricks.

"Well, I can't stay the same Alex you knew forever."

The words of her former clansman echoed in her mind. Taunting her. Twisting a knife in her belly, far worse than any rotten fish. And Garet must have seen, because he was giving her a most funny look. In another life, in another time, she might have been happy to lay out her fears then and there, but in this life...

"So," she said. "How do you like the ocean?"

In this life, she knew how to change the subject to her own purposes.

"The ocean?" Garet asked. "Don't you mean the sea?"

"Same thing." She niffed the air, the scent of salt filling her nostrils. "Didn't you say that you always wanted to see the ocean?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." Garet leant over the side and smiled. "It's amazing."

"It is, isn't it?" In spite of everything, Mia was smiling as well. "I mean, the sea's amazing. And it's amazing that I never went to see it myself."

"Why didn't you?"

She shrugged. "Work. Duties. Life. Also it's cold up there. You were lucky you came to Imil when you did - if you'd come during winter, well..."

A shadow passed over Garet's face. "Not soon enough by some accounts."

Mia reached out for his hand, but stopped short. Not soon enough indeed, she reflected. But then again, what would have happened differently if Alex and his cronies had entered Imil? Saturos, even weakened by the Mercury Star, had held his own against all four of them. If Alex had led his new friends into Imil, if he'd wished her harm, then chances were she'd found herself on the receiving end of Saturos's sword. And if Saturos hadn't been alone up there, then...

We're not ready.

It was the unspoken truth within the group. Two months since Imil, since everything from talking trees to inhospitable deserts, two months of bonds formed in laughter and battle alike, there was still the truth that none dared utter. They were adepts. Powerful adepts at that. But even as their powers grew, who was to say it would be enough when the time came? Who was to say if the time to face Saturos again ever came at all? What if they remained one step ahead of them the entire time and lit the remaining lighthouses? Not to mention-

"Mia?"

She blinked, and looked at Garet.

"You okay?"

"I'm-"

"Yeah, you're not. You're paler than a suffocating fish."

"...have you seen a suffocating fish?"

"Yep. At Vale. We fished in the river for...fish." Garet looked embarrassed. "Point is, you look like one of them."

Mia laughed and threw her hair back. "Then I shall take that as a compliment for fish people everywhere."

"There's fish people?"

"According to some texts I've read, yes." She gestured towards Garet's sword. "How's that coming along?"

She was changing the subject, and she didn't know why. Because the truth was, she was enjoying the conversation. In spite of Garet's sickness, in spite of his ignorance on so many things, there was an honesty about him. A warmth that came from more than the fire psynergy he wielded. He was…he was the opposite of Alex, she reflected. An opposite that, for now at least, did her heart good. But what didn't do it good was seeing the shadow return to his face. Seeing the warmth subside.

"It's getting there," he murmured.

"After the Lamakan Desert, I think that's selling yourself short," Mia said. "Remember when you killed those orcs with a single stroke?"

Garet shrugged. "After the lighthouse, figured I needed to practice."

Mia put a hand on his shoulder. "We're far away from the Mercury Star," she said.

Garet didn't say anything.

"It affected Saturos as well."

"I know," Garet murmured. "But it stopped me from doing anything."

Mia remained silent, unsure of what to say. Bathed in the psynergy of the Mercury Star, Saturos had struggled to use his fire psynergy. Garet however, hadn't been able to use his, period. Thus, the two Mars adepts had relied on their swords more than anything else, and Saturos had shown that he was not only Garet's superior in psynergy, but swordsplay as well. Hence why Mia had to spend so much of her own psynergy healing him after the battle. Psynergy that, if not for the amplifying power of the Mercury Star on her abilities, she might not have been able to summon. Since then, Garet, even more than Isaac, had devoted himself to his sword as much as fire. A choice that had paid off numerous times, but still...

But still, Saturos's shadow hung over him, just as Alex's did over her. And while she was well versed in healing ailments of the body, ailments of the soul were something that she had far less experience in.

"Anyway," Garet said. He looked at Mia, then Isaac, then back to Mia. "I should go."

"Go? Go where?"

He gestured to Isaac, bathing in the applause of the crew, having disarmed one of the Colosso hopefuls. "Isaac isn't the only one who can wield a blade."

Mia blinked. "You're sword fighting? On a ship?"

Garet patted her on the shoulder. "It's a man's thing Mia. Stick to your staff, and you'll do fine."

In spite of everything, she smiled. "Have fun," she said. "And..."

"And?"

"Just remember the sea's still waiting for you."

The look on Garet's face suggested that she didn't get what she meant. Which was fine. She wasn't sure either.

But, she reflected, as she watched her two friends draw their blades and begin circling one another, at least she didn't feel so cold anymore.