[Veltzeh]: 39.NaNoWriMo.2007: Tales from Kyerrion.17

Availon and Tegafel spent two and a half weeks getting to the Great Lake-like Forest Ocean. They were not in a hurry and Availon wanted to teach Tegafel how to survive in the wilderness. Ey noticed that Tegafel did know how to survive, but the problem was that ey did not trust emself, gave up too easily and usually did not want to try anything new that might be unconventional but save eir life. Availon then tried to help Tegafel overcome eir psychic barriers. The vague feeling of discomfort that Availon had been suffering lately lingered, but seemed to lessen.

When they reached the ocean, Tegafel was speechless. Ey had never seen such a large body of water and had a hard time wrapping eir mind around the fact that it over two thousand kilometers long. They arrived at a large port city whose name was Lookialeini. It was a femehan city, but a lot of toppenrans and toppendas lived there. There were a lot of tiffs between the races in the city, but somehow they still managed to get along profitably enough without completely splitting the city into three parts.

Availon and Tegafel spent a few days in the city just sightseeing and grew a bit closer again as they had some fun with each other.

One day, they were sitting outside an inn, drinking some juice and Availon was explaining something about how galanfetzcans' drinks were always cold and enjoyable—even though people usually wanted their drinks warm in the winter. The weather was again depressively warm for Availon who was sweating so much that ey seemed shiny all over.

A femehan nicod was listening in on them and staring at both Availon and Tegafel, mostly out of curiosity. Tegafel did not notice em, but Availon said eventually: "Well, hello there, persistent bywatcher."

Tegafel looked confused and turned eir eyes to where Availon was looking. "What?" Seeing the nicod, ey started looking inconvenienced.

The nicod was taken by surprise a bit. "Oh... Uh, sorry, didn't mean t' stare. But... y'know... a galanfetzcan an' a wacod!" Ey smiled sillily in eir astonishment. "Uh... I'm Gertkeret Halliener. Nice to meet ya."

"I'm called Availon."

"Tegafel Darrelter."

The nicod seemed excited and moved eir chair to their table. Availon was curious, but Tegafel did not seem very approving. "Really sorry about the staring. Uh, what're you doing in here? Or never mind, that was a stupid question. Umm, so, you're not from around here, right? Where from?"

"Well, I'm obviously from the south. So far in south that the longest winter night lasts a frindo there. It was also so far in the east that when it was noon there, here would only be morning."

"Wow! Amazing!" The nicod did not really believe Availon, but pretty much anything galanfetzcans said should be awed anyway. "You speak Femen great."

"I've been in your lands for some time now. And Tegafel has helped me too." Tegafel glared at Availon a bit for lying, but did not say anything.

"Um, how about you, Tegafel? Where ya from?"

"Ailanihi."

"Where's that?"

"East of here. In the middle of Kervanela."

"So you're not from Malaana? Cool." Gertkeret eyed Tegafel's wounds a little, wondering whether ey should ask where ey had gotten them.

Availon did not let em ask. "I take it that you're from Malaana, then?"

"Yeah. I was born in a village bit to the west but I came here when I hit teenage. Didn't wanna spend my whole life in that backwater place, heh. Umm, so, are you jus' passing through or are ya planning to stay?"

"We're just passing through."

"Really? Where ya heading?"

"I was thinking of sailing the Great Ocean to the north and get ashore in ...Trarikkola."

"Trarikkola, really? That's cool. Can I ask why you're heading there?"

"Just for the sake of it. I like traveling. Technically speaking I'm a diplomat but I have not felt like working lately."

"Well, you're a far-walker, there's always a job for you." Gertkeret glanced at Tegafel and smiled. "And you too..." Tegafel gave Gertkeret a look, but missed the nicod's point.

Availon knew well what Gertkeret had meant. "Indeed. Here in your lands I can always get money by doing something that is worth no money in my home, and yet priceless. Has anyone ever talked to you in your mind?"

"Uh, no." Gertkeret looked alertedly curious.

"Would you like me to speak to you in your mind?"

"Yeah, I would!"

"Alright then. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah! Wow!"

"Try to reply to me with your mind."

"How I do that can't don't know how just like this how can possible ey hears it anyway so what is it how... Um, how?"

"I almost made sense of your thinking just now." Availon grinned a bit. "Try to concentrate on a single sentence."

Gertkeret grinned back. "Like this? Like this? Like this? Like this? Like this? Like this? Like this? Like this?"

"Um, yes, like that... But not so much."

"Heh, concentrate and don't concentrate! Interesting! Interesting! Interesting! Interesting! Interesting!"

"You have a one-track-mind!"

"Oh, I do? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I?"

"Yeees." Availon was very amused and covered eir mouth with eir hand. Eir cheeks hurt from grinning. "You'll probably be better at it if the conversation goes faster."

"I see! I see!"

"So let's quicken it. I would like to tell you that I knew what you were thinking about when you said that there would always be a job for Tegafel as well."

"Ah. ...But then what? Don't you know that wacods are usually common whores?"

"I do. Tegafel is not like that, however. Ey did not understand your suggestiveness, and be glad that ey didn't, because otherwise ey would be very mad at you."

"What? What? What?"

"Tegafel doesn't like to have sex with anyone and everyone. I ask that you do not suggest that to em."

"That's strange. Weird. Weird. Weird."

"Will you respect my wish and eir choice?"

"Sure. I did wish that I would get to have sex with em though. Sex sex sex..."

"You might, if you act very gently and respectfully toward em."

"Oh? But weren't you leaving..."

"You thought about your ship as soon as I said 'sail'." Availon grinned somewhat triumphantly.

"Ah-ha! Tricky thing ya! You're right, I do have a ship, or I'm a sailor on one. I'm the navigator." Gertkeret was proud of emself.

Tegafel had been watching the docks while Availon and Gertkeret had practiced mind-speaking and now turned eir head to look at the nicod. "And you just happen to be going to north and to Trarikkola in a few days?" ey said unenthusiastically, in an unfriendly manner even.

"Well... we're fishers, not running a passenger boat. But since ya asked so nicely..."

Availon was not very happy at Tegafel's remark. "Do passenger boats travel there often?"

"Not really. Maybe once in a frindo. I think one left less than a week ago."

"And are you going there?"

"Well, we go pretty much wherever we want to! That's the great part of being a fisher, we can go wherever we want to, we're jus' running after the fishes! Heh, running, get it?"

Availon let out a laugh, insincere though it was. "If it's possible, we would like it if you took us to Trarikkola."

"Well, I can ask my ship captain about it but I can't promise it..."

"We would like that."

"Alright! So, shall I meet ya here tomorrow at the same time, then? I'm sure we've made a some sort of decision by then."

"Yes."

"Goody! Bye then!" Gertkeret waved and walked away.

"Have a nice day."

Tegafel sat quietly for another moment. "Do we have to go with em? I don't like em. Ey was suspicious."

"Ey seemed honest to me."

"An' we have to trust your judgment over mine because you're a far-walker?"

"Well, it does give me an edge in 'judging' people."

"Yeah... but... I don't like em. An' besides, ey an' eir crew'll probably be all over me an' ask me to have sex with them."

"If they think about doing that, I'll make them quiet then."

"It doesn't change the fact that I know they want to do it anyway." Availon thought then that Tegafel should move to live with galanfetzcans or garandals and was not too far from suggesting it. Ey restrained emself and instead just looked sympathetic. "I hate that it bothers me so much."



The next day, Gertkeret was waiting for the two in front of the inn.

"Hi!" There was another nicod in eir company. "This is my ship captain, Dasdenu Guilttin." Gertkeret eyed Tegafel's walking stick a bit; ey had not noticed it or eir limping yesterday.

"Nice ta meet ya," greeted the ship captain.

Availon performed a greeting gesture. "Greetings. I am Availon Gandeleihei."

Tegafel was still not feeling very friendly toward the sailors. Ey made a military greeting gesture without standing to attention. "Tegafel."

The two nicods could not help but stare at Tegafel for a moment. Tegafel ignored them and stared at the docks.

Availon drew their attention away from the social awkwardness. "I asked Gertkeret yesterday if you could take us to Trarikkola."

"Yah. I just wanted to see ya myself." Dasdenu eyed the two for a moment. "We have no problem going to Trarikkola, so I don't really have a reason to say no. What can you pay for tha trip?"

"I have some money and you can ask me to use my far-walker abilities at any time you wish."

Dasdenu looked at Tegafel inquiringly. Tegafel was busy ignoring them and did not notice.

Gertkeret tapped eir ship captain shoulder and waved eir head fairly frantically. "That's plenty enough, isn't it? I mean, a personal far-walker, that's just awesome! Right?"

"Hm, well, yah. I suppose it sounds alright."

"I can also assist in improving your ship a little."

"Hmh, were ya once a sailor or what?"

"I have common galanfetzcan knowledge about engineering and can contact a friend who knows more. I'm unsure of whether the knowledge is very useful, though, so I would rather not use it as payment for the trip."

"Well well, it doesn't sound bad." Dasdenu looked at Tegafel again. "Hey kid, Tegafel, is somethin' wrong?"

Tegafel turned to look at the ship captain. "Um... well... I've never been at sea before an' I'm... I'm just suspicious."

"Hah, it'll be fine. You'll just have to learn to sleep in a hammock."

Tegafel's expression lightened up a little and ey grinned. "Oh, I have experience of that."

"Well, goody then! We thought of leaving today at evenin'. Much less traffic at that time. Is that fine with ya?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Tha ship's docked in front of Leirrel's clothes shop. Be there by afternoon. Bye." Dasdenu left with Gertkeret behind em. Gertkeret waved.

"I really don't like this..." mumbled Tegafel.

"I'm sorry. Would you rather travel on a packed passenger ship?"

"I don't know."



Tegafel and Availon went to the docks in the afternoon. People were busy as some ships were coming in. People unloaded stuff, loaded stuff, moved stuff and just ran around in general. Tegafel did not like that either; ey wanted it done like in the army: in an efficient and orderly manner.

"All that scuttling around makes me sick." Availon did not even bother answering anymore. They walked to the ship parked in front of the clothes shop. Availon waved at the people onboard.

Gertkeret noticed them. "Hey!" ey yelled. "Come aboard!" Availon was fairly excited and quickly moved to the ship along the plank, Tegafel following em. The rest of the crew turned to them. On the ship there were seven people besides Gertkeret. They all pretty much stared at the two.

"Greetings to all of you." Availon greeted the crew. Tegafel mumbled something resembling "hi" and gazed off into the sky. Ey thought that there was something wrong with them if they stared at a member of their own race more intently than a beautiful galanfetzcan. However, the crew did not stare at Tegafel in particular. "I'm Availon, and this is Tegafel."

"Sure you know my name!" stated Gertkeret with a big smile and then pointed to the crew one at a time: one geniwacod, one nigecod and five nicods. "Here are Nackadeni, Serrel, Fentrun, Sawinun, Ederpel, Bennaet and Trentro. Dasdenu is still taking care of business with Daffinil and Tylhenon. Daffinil is eir amige, and Serrel here is Tylhenon's aminige."

Availon smiled. "Good to meet you all."

Tegafel just mumbled: "Yeah."

"So, come on under th' deck, I'll show you where you can sleep." The ship captain's cabin was reserved for Dasdenu and Daffinil while another personal room was for Serrel and Tylhenon. The rest of the crew slept together in a common sleeping space, and Availon and Tegafel would sleep there as well. They set up their hammock beds and went to the deck to idle.

"Have ya ever sailed on a ship before?" asked Gertkeret.

"I've been on an icebreaker twice."

"Oh, icebreakers. They're nothing... well, actually they are something compared to this ship, but this ship goes much faster with good winds. Icebreakers move slowly an' carefully an' crash all th' time. How about you, Tegafel?"

"I rowed a little rowboat at a small lake once."

Gertkeret laughed. "Heh! That can't really compare to this."

Dasdenu, Daffenil and Tylhenon arrived eventually and toward the evening, they detached from the port and sailed north. Tegafel and Availon were not expected to do anything, so they spent their time sitting at the bow of the ship, watching the water. Tegafel found that ey enjoyed the motion of the ship and watching the bow split the water was surprisingly exciting. Availon, then again, was quiet and sat still, looking at the sky. They had something to eat at sunset.

When it was almost too dark to continue sailing, Gertkeret came to Tegafel and Availon again. "How ya feeling? Not too nauseous I hope?"

"I'm good!" replied Tegafel. "You know, I really liked watching the water go, an' I like how the ship sways an' goes up an' down..." Hearing that, Availon started shuffling around, poked eir head between the safety fence and vomited fairly violently. Gertkeret snickered and Tegafel stared at the galanfetzcan with eir mouth open in surprise. Though being sick enough to throw up was not exactly a positive thing, Tegafel was happy—Availon was not a perfect creature after all.

"Was it the food? Or have ya been feeling fishy for a longer time now already?" asked Gertkeret light-heartedly.

"Fishy? Ah-karthorsna!" Availon convulsed again and tried to calm eir sickened body. "Sii miag tohga! My stomach! Aaah! Tohga!"

Tegafel started looking less happy and more worried. "Um, Availon? Are you going to be okay?"

"Uh-urrh... mhm..."

"Don't worry, seasickness doesn't last forever!" said Gertkeret. "At th' most until we reach Trarikkola, heh. An' if it was the food, well, ey's rid of it now." Availon looked miserable; eir small body twitched a bit and ey looked like ey might throw up again. The sickness showed on eir face. "Availon? Here, have some water." Then ey vomited again. "Uh, sorry. Here." Availon sat up onerously and used most of the water to rinse eir mouth.

When ey seemed to be done, Tegafel put eir hand on eir shoulder. "Are you ready? Maybe we should go sleep."

"Uh. Yes." Tegafel helped Availon down on the main deck. "I hope I don't faint or start retching. Uhghm..." They walked under the deck to find two crewmembers laying there. Tegafel prepared Availon's bed and then lifted em into it.

"You're really lightweight."

"Mhm."

Gertkeret came down with a vat. "Here. Come on, lean a bit over th' hammock so I can place this properly... Okay, right. Let's hope you won't need that." Availon lay on eir back, looking quite nauseated. Gertkeret went back up.

"Good night," said Tegafel. Availon did not reply.

After sixteen minutes, Tegafel was fast asleep while Availon grew more and more squeamish. "Tegafel? Tegafel? Please... Tegafel, wake up! Tegafel, wake up! Wake up! Please!" Availon turned in eir hammock, convulsed again and fell with a thud.

The three femehans woke up to Availon's shouting and dropping.

"Availon? Are you all right?" asked Tegafel. Ey heard the galanfetzcan gagging.

"Could you please take me back outside? I think it was better there..."

"Sure..." Tegafel knelt down and gathered Availon from the floor.

One of the crewmembers asked: "Is ey okay?"

"I think so. I'm gonna take em back outside, it was better there."

"Right."

Tegafel carried Availon back to the main deck. Gertkeret turned to look at them. "Hey! Huh, is ey sicker?" ey sounded more worried now as well.

"It is this gasted motion of the ship! It makes my stomach turn around! Even the wind strikes at my stomach with intentions of churning it!" yelled Availon.

Gertkeret came next to Tegafel and smiled. "That doesn't sound too bad! If ey was really sick, ey wouldn't be yelling around." Ey grinned at Availon and shuffled eir hair. "How ya feeling?"

"I'm going to die!"

Even Tegafel sensed that Availon was being less than honest, though ey obviously felt terrible. Ey held Availon like ey would a child, and for once it did not disgust em. "Do you want to go back to the bow? Or somewhere else?"

"Well, if ey's at the bow, ey won't be in the way. We'll be quitting for the day soon though, ey can't stay here too long."

"Ey can't sleep there?"

"It gets cold at night —"

"Cold!" shouted Availon and convulsed again but managed to not retch on Tegafel. "You have not felt cold."

"Um, I think ey'll be fine. Galanfetzcan, you know. They eat ice an' stuff." Tegafel snickered and Gertkeret did too.

"Well, I guess ey can sleep there then, if ey can. Th' safety fence's not that wide-holed, but ey might still drop. We're gonna need to tie em to somethin'."

"Right. Well um, you can get the stuff for that, right? I don't even know where stuff is kept..."

"Heh, yeah. Ya take em to the bow." Gertkeret went off and Tegafel took Availon to the bow.

"I don't remember when I last would have felt this bad..." Availon sat now, dangling eir legs and leaning on the banister.

Tegafel pulled eir hand across Availon's back. "Sorry... You seemed so excited about it..."

"I really am not now."

"I started liking it, though."

"Well, great."

"I think you said something in Galan when you first threw up, what was that?"

"Mh."

Tegafel waited for a moment. "Oh..."

A short moment went and Availon convulsed. "Tohga!" This time Tegafel did not ask what it meant, though ey wanted to know. Gertkeret arrived with some stuff.

"Okay, rope is hard an uncomfortable, so I'm gonna tie you with these rags and then tie th' rags with th' rope to th' pole, okay? Where ya want it? Around yer belly?"

"Agh! NO! Tohga!"

Gertkeret laughed. "I'll tie it around yer chest, okay. Tegafel, could ya move a bit?" Gertkeret climbed behind Availon, tightened the rags around Availon's ribcage and then tied the rope to them. "I also brought you a blanket, jus' in case it does get cold for ya. Gonna tie that up too..." Ey spent a few moments attaching the blanket and Availon to the mastpole. "The rope isn't long enough for you to come down th' deck, but you're a far-walker anyway, you can just wake us up an' call us to untie you. Here's some water." Gertkeret smiled. "Is that fine?" Availon nodded.

They were quiet for a moment while Availon settled into a lying position. Tegafel stuffed some of the blanket under and over Availon's bare legs. "Will you be fine?"

"If I really think I'm going to die, I will tell you."

"Alright... I'll go back inside." Tegafel returned to eir hammock and though it was not a good thing that Availon was suffering, ey could not help but be relieved. The other crewmembers came in before Tegafel fell asleep, and Tegafel was reminded of the barracks. They slept.



In the morning, the two crewmembers who had been sleeping before Tegafel had went in got up and started preparing the ship for sailing again. Availon had not slept at all at night and was fairly passive now.

Tegafel climbed to where Availon was and petted em for a short moment. "Are you all right now?"

"No. I still feel awful and now I'm dead tired as well." Availon's face did not look so pretty anymore; ey looked ill and old, even. Tegafel stroked em for some time as the crewmembers got the ship ready.

They ate breakfast and Availon was given something to drink, but not to eat. Ey managed to not throw up while the liquid was being processed and moved along to eir intestines. Tegafel asked if ey could help with the ship or the fishing and the others then taught em to handle the ship and the fishing equipment. The winds blew quite favorably so they sailed far and set up a weir to catch fish before night.

"You're not feeling queasy at all, are ya?" asked Gertkeret from Tegafel.

"No. Two days ago I was sure I would be sick... as sick as Availon is, but then it didn't happen." Tegafel grinned. "I like it here. Sailing is nice."

"Well, I don't think people could stop you from becoming a sailor if ya wanted!"

"Hmm... oh. Yeah... I guess."

"You could maybe even join us. We have enough people now but maybe eventually we could get another ship an' start doing some serious fishin'."

"Hmm." Tegafel smiled and wanted to think about taking up the profession but ey had already told Availon that ey would travel with em. Tegafel did not like breaking promises and ey could not know for sure how it would be like to be a sailor for weeks, for months, for years. Then again, ey could probably stop any time and begin any time. There would be plenty of time to try it after ey was done with Availon. "Maybe I'll try it one day. Now I need to help Availon... I mean, I do have a lot of time an' all."

Gertkeret smiled a little. "Yeah..." Ey eyed Tegafel's arm, wondering again where all the scars had come from, but still refrained from asking.

Tegafel suddenly sensed a vague feeling of happiness in eir mind, and since Availon was the only far-walker ey knew, ey turned eir head quickly toward the galanfetzcan. "Uhh?"

"What?"

"I felt something..."

Gertkeret glanced at Availon. "Oh, some far-walker thing, right?"

Tegafel walked to Availon who was sitting up up and dangling eir legs over the edge of the deck. Ey still looked really sick but ey was smiling. "Availon, I just felt something, was that you, or...?"

Availon smiled quietly for a moment before saying: "Yes. I was following... a friend of mine. I impregnated em about two hundred and sixty days ago and ey gave birth just now. The children are alive and in good condition..." Tegafel looked surprised, and Gertkeret, who had heard the words, was fairly elated.

"That's great!" the nicod exclaimed. "Good luck to them then! Hey, I hear you people are immortal, is that true?"

"No."

"Oh? How long DO ya live?"

"They say the oldest galanfetzcan lived to see three hundred years... but most of us die around two hundred and forty."

"Wooow! Most of us don't live to be a hundred, or even seventy... Say, how old are you?"

"A hundred and ten."

Both the femehans looked fairly surprised; the child-sized Availon was now older than either of them would probably ever be, still looked almost as young as they did and would live long after they had died. That thought was morbid. Availon ignored them and instead shared some thoughts with Gaoveel, who was very happy despite being in pain.

Tegafel finally managed to say something: "Congratulations... yes... uh, good night." Ey and Gertkeret left and went down to the sleeping space.

"You got that morbid idea of em still being all young an' careless long after we've passed, too, didn't ya?" said Gertkeret.

"Yeah... Makes me wonder a bit about what's the point in any of it anyway." Ey immediately thought that the purpose was to have children and leave the world to them, hoping that they will do better, but ey immediately rejected it. Ey was not just a birthing machine. Ey was not just a slave to children. Ey decided that everyone made eir own purpose or goal, be it the eternal cycle of life and death or something else entirely.

"Uh, thinking about that makes me depressed," mumbled Gertkeret from eir hammock eventually.

"Make yourself your own point or be without. I don't think it really matters..."

"You sounded just as unsure as my thoughts did."

"Uncertainty makes it possible."

Gertkeret was quiet for a moment. "...I guess. That kinda makes sense, ya know..."

Tegafel smiled, not that Gertkeret could really have seen it. "Well, good night."

"Sleep well." They slept.



Availon had managed to sleep during the night and was not so tired anymore. However, now ey was both hungry and feeling ill, which was a very bad combination. Ey managed to eat a tiny portion of food without vomiting but felt very sick until the food advanced from eir stomach.

The day was very warm—the night had been cloudy and now Werden shone radiantly above the people aboard the ship. Availon stripped all eir clothing and stayed at the bow either resting or pulling up water to splash on emself. The femehans walked around in shorts, though Daffinil and Serrel kept their shirts on. Tegafel was a bit shy and would probably have kept eir long trousers and shirt on if Gertkeret had not talked em over it.

Tegafel was holding a rope attached to a net they were using to catch some fish and sweating so much that ey would have needed a constant supply of water. Ey was near of having a sunstroke.

Gertkeret walked to Tegafel with Ederpel in eir company. "Hey, Tegafel, ya look really um... dizzy, would you let em handle that rope for a bit?"

"Uh, sure." Tegafel handed the rope to Ederpel and noticed that Gertkeret was carrying a bucket of water.

"Want some water?"

"Uh... okay." Gertkeret grinned, lifted the bucket on eir shoulder and emptied it over Tegafel's head before Tegafel could say anything to decline.

"Agh! Gerte!"

"Ya did need it!" Gertkeret put down the bucket and spread eir arms. "People in better condition than ya are have died 'cause of sunstrokes." Ey smiled and Tegafel eyed em for a moment but said nothing. "Come on, sit in th' shade for a while an' drink somethin'." Ey gave Tegafel a bottle of water.

"Mh. Thanks, I suppose. Now my underwear is wet."

"As if it wasn't before th' bucketful! I bet you're too sweaty to know th' difference?" Tegafel was too busy drinking to answer. "Listen, why don't you take off yer clothes? It would help..."

Tegafel eyed Gertkeret and then turned eir eyes away. "Wouldn't that read like an open invitation to rape me?"

"Bah, they all know by now that you're not like that. An' Tylhenon goes around without a shirt, ya can too."

Tegafel was still negative. "Mh."

"Well do ya have a lighter shirt then?"

"No."

"Take that off then! We won't attack you."

"I don't like the glaring either."

"C'mon, we won't GLARE at ya! Sure, we might glance or look, but so what? People tend to do that. An' you are pretty, ya know that right? People usually like looking at somethin' or someone that is pretty."

"I didn't really ask for that, either."

"An' then th' scars, they are a little of an eye-catcher."

"Really... I don't care what in me you're looking at, I care about that you are looking at me."

"An' I guess it's too much to ask of you to stop caring?"

"How can anyone just stop doing something like that?"

Gertkeret could not really answer that, so instead ey went on after a while: "C'mon, jus' wear shorts an' know that even though we might look at ya, we won't be doing that with thoughts about raping or anythin'. Please?"

Tegafel sat quietly for a minute. "Well, fine then. I bet I'll have to put my clothes back on after half an hour."

"Oh? What'll you bet?"

Tegafel just walked away inside the ship and emerged approximately two minutes later, now wearing only shorts. Gertkeret could now see why Tegafel was limping. The other crewmembers just glanced at Tegafel if even that, since they had other things to do, but Gertkeret, then again, kept on staring Tegafel's badly healed wound on eir thigh. Tegafel's umbrage piled up in eir mind and ey turned on eir heels and walked back down. Gertkeret noticed then what ey had done and ran after Tegafel. Ey caught the wacod in the sleeping room.

"I stared at that wound. I'm sorry."

"Stared nevertheless! That's exactly what I DON'T want!"

"Tegafel, please. It was just 'cause... I... I wondered so much why you limped but I wasn't sure if I should ask ya. An' then I saw that wound..."

Tegafel knew ey was being fairly touchy and irritable, but ey also could not know whether Gertkeret was being honest. However, now ey could find out. "Availon? Could you tell me... if Gertkeret is lying."

"Uh... ey... seems honest."

Tegafel almost smiled a bit and decided to give Gertkeret another chance. "Well, uh."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen many people with that much wounds, really. Would ya come back up, please?" Gertkeret smiled.

"Mh, fine, this time."

Gertkeret seemed fairly delighted and opened the door of the room for Tegafel. Tegafel walked back up, Gertkeret after em. The only time ey heard about the way ey looked was when Daffinil became a bit alarmed about the condition of eir wounds and then complimented eir face.



When night came and the others went to sleep, Gertkeret asked Tegafel to lay with em on the deck since the air was still warm but the clouds were gone and the stars could be seen.

"You know, I've been quite far to th' north once. There it was rather hard to see th' stars because the sky was colored green-blue... that same color Chrimd is."

"Isn't it hot there?"

"That too. At least I made it. But it's not nice not seeing th' stars when lookin' up..."

"I agree... Though, I have always seen them if I looked up on a cloudless night."

"Good. There's no point in going so far north that you couldn't see them anymore."

They lay there for a moment and started identifying stars that people had given names to—stars that were unusually bright or colored or in a strange pattern. They realized that they called them by slightly different names and had even some different constellations. Then again, neither of them was really into astronomy and they did not know much about the stars.

"Say, Tegafel... Would you mind it if I asked about yer scars?"

"Mh... uh. I don't know."

"Why would ya mind, if I may ask?"

"Well... I guess... Well, one thing is that I don't like it if you ridicule me because of them or... or if you ask something else bad related to them."

"What bad I could ask?"

"Trying to get ideas now or what?"

"Well, yeah, but only so that I can avoid those ones... because I really don't want to offend ya or anythin'."

"Mh. Well, one question I don't want to hear is 'how does it feel like to have them?' at least."

"Ah. Um, well, could ya tell me where ya got them?"

"Only if you promise not to ridicule me or belittle me because of it."

"I'll promise."

Tegafel exhaled and held a small pause. "Well, I don't know how closely you noticed but when you brought Dasdenu to see me and Availon, I made a military greeting gesture."

"Oh yeah, we noticed. We were kinda surprised even but I don't think ya noticed that."

"Yeah well, I did that because I'm in the army. That's where I got the scars."

"Really? Wow. So you've been in real fights too? Or even war?"

"Well, not war. We fought some rebels and homehans..."

"Wow. But you look so young... are ya —"

"I just joined this spring."

"Ah, right. Wow, you've probably taken part in more fighting than I ever will... well, unless I go sign up, heh. Maybe." Gertkeret happened to not think about what Tegafel was doing here with a galanfetzcan if ey was supposed to be in the army.

"Yeah, probably... But I don't know, if you have no reason to go to the army, I think you probably shouldn't."

"Why did you go?"

"Mh." Tegafel closed up again.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to get that nosy..."

"Well, it's no big thing, I guess. As long as you don't make fun of it... I just, you know, wanted to get away from my family, they were such proshts..."

"Ah... yeah, I can understand that. Well, my family wasn't jus' a pile of proshts but I can imagine well enough so... yeah."

They stopped talking and after lying there for a few more moments, got up and went to sleep.



The next day the sailors went to get their weir, sailed to the eastern shore and went to a town to sell their game. Availon ran straight to the docks, then to the ground and fell face down, holding on to the grass and shouted something in Galan. A few townspeople were a bit freaked out, but Tegafel and Gertkeret's laughing relieved them. Tegafel knelt down beside Availon and stroked the little body.

"Stable ground!" exclaimed Availon. "I'll never go on a ship anymore! Except maybe an icebreaker, those are nice..."

Tegafel grinned a bit, but grew a bit more worried when ey realized that Availon might actually be meaning it, which meant that they would not be sailing with the fishers anymore. "Oh... really? Do you want to continue on foot?"

"Yes."

"But... you just got into it!" went Gertkeret. "We were supposed to take you all th' way to Trarikkola..."

"I can't possibly sail on that ship again. I have never felt so bad."

Tegafel looked depressed. "But... I was just starting to like it..." Ey went quiet and started wondering if eir having fun was really more important than Availon's health. Availon was quiet as well. "I... well, I suppose that if you do feel —"

"No, never mind, Tegafel. We can continue sailing. It's time that you had some fun too."

"But... how about your sickness?"

"I will live." Availon smiled a little from eir lying position in the grass.

"Great!" said Gertkeret. "By the way, I've heard they might have some medicine to prevent seasickness or something. I'll look into that. Ya should eat a bunch as soon as ya stop feeling bad, then we'll wait until ya can't throw up anymore an' then we'll leave again, is that okay?"

"Yes." Gertkeret smiled and walked away.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Availon was quiet. "Well, will you go eat soon?"

"I need to lie down here for a moment. You can go back to the ship if you like, I'll be fine."

"Okay..."

Tegafel walked away, leaving Availon lying in the grass. Ey bought a lighter shirt and went back to the ship, only to find Daffinil and Tylhenon stark-naked, lying on the deck in the sun. Tegafel blushed a little and stared at them.

Tylhenon noticed Tegafel. "Hi." Ey grinned. Daffinil twitched a little, glanced at Tegafel and settled again.

"Um... What are you doing?"

"Lying in the sun. It feels comfortably warm an' makes it sort of tickle under the skin."

"I think it also makes yer skin darker." Daffinil spoke to Tylhenon and grinned. Eir own, black skin could not really get any darker—in fact, it was probably getting lighter, since Tegafel thought ey was the grayest gecod ey had seen. "D'you want to give it a try?"

"Uh... I-I don't know."

"Well, do then. Won't hurt."

"Do I have to take off my clothes?"

"Well, no, but you should. But I guess it doesn't matter much if you don't take your pants off. An' you can go to the helm if you don't want people to see you."

Tegafel smiled a bit uneasily but said: "Hm, well, I guess I could give it a try..." Ey took a few hesitant steps and climbed to the helm then. Ey took off eir shirt, lay down, put the shirt over eir eyes and managed to fall asleep in the warmth and fresh sea-air.

Eventually the others returned to the ship and Gertkeret came to wake up Tegafel. However, before ey did that, ey took some time to stare at Tegafel—eir face, eir wounds, eir proportions, eir breasts, eir legs. Gertkeret then picked up the shirt that had fallen from Tegafel's face and dropped it on eir chest. "Hey, Tegafel, wake up."

"Uhm... uh."

"Was almost a pity to wake ya up... you looked comfortable." Gertkeret smiled.

Tegafel grinned a bit. "Oh, really. My back disagrees a bit..." Ey rubbed some spots that had become benumbed and pulled on the shirt.

"That's a nice shirt, did ya just buy it?"

"Yeah."

"I like it, it fits you really well." Tegafel gave a smile as an answer.



They spent another two days at the sea hauling nets and setting and unsetting weirs before going back, this time to a town that was again a little more to the north. Availon became seasick again, but this time just did not eat anything extra and managed the whole trip without vomiting or even retching.

The night after they had left the second town, Gertkeret asked Tegafel with em outside to look at the stars again. This time they went to the aft to watch Frindwed which was nicely visible.

"Do ya know what they say about Frindwed?"

"Hm? That it's a huge lump of rock circling us? And that we can see it now because Werden shines on it but not on us."

"Yeah. Do ya think that's true?"

"I don't know. I guess it makes sense, but other explanations make as much sense."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

"I guess not, really." Gertkeret smiled a bit.

"Hey, I saw a falling star."

"Oh? Where?"

"Over there."

"Where did it fall?"

"To the umm... left. But it disappeared way before it even got near the horizon."

"Has anyone ever found a fallen star?"

"I don't know. They sure tell stories about those though."

"Like what?"

"Well, I heard that Tarakiila's monarch has an amulet made out of a fallen star."

"Cool. I heard a thing once that jinhaliares use a fallen star to make rebelling far-walkers really sick."

"That's not so cool."

"Yeah..." They were quiet for a moment. Gertkeret shuffled around a bit. "Listen... um... I have a gift for you."

"...What?"

"Ya know, a gift." Gertkeret smiled at Tegafel's surprised confusion. "Here." Ey held out a short sword in its scabbard. Tegafel's eyes went quite wide and ey could not help but stare. "You know, 'cause... 'cause I saw yer stuff an' I noticed you only have two small knives... an' since you've been in the army, ya know how to use these an' I just got this impression that wherever you an' Availon are going, it's gonna be a bit dangerous. So I bought this for you."

Tegafel was still speechless for a moment, but eventually ey took the sword, holding it carefully and examining it superficially. "Uh... I... Th-thank you, but um... don't... don't swords cost a lot? How could you —"

"I had enough money saved anyway. I didn't know what I was gonna use it for anyway." Gertkeret smiled.

"Oh. Uh. Thank you... a lot. Very much."

"You're welcome." Tegafel lay back and examined the short sword meticulously, slowly and finally repeatedly. It was not any cheap souvenir or a standard basic weapon that army units usually had. However, it was not much better than the army's weapons—it was shinier, sure, and tastefully decorated, but not any sharper or better balanced. "Do ya like it?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. It's great."

They lay there for a few moments, not speaking. Then Gertkeret got up and offered Tegafel eir hand.

"Shall we go sleep?"

"Yeah." Tegafel took eir hand and they went under the deck.



The sailors spent a few more days hauling weirs and taking fish to a few port towns. Gertkeret spent some more time with Tegafel, getting to know em and asking all kinds of things about em and eir family, making sure that ey never went overboard or if ey did, ey apologized and shut up immediately. Tegafel eventually could not help but wonder whether it was just a very complex and patient way to get into eir pants.

It was night again and Tegafel was sitting at the bow with Availon. Ey was rubbing the galanfetzcan's shoulders. "Availon, I keep wondering this thing..."

"What?"

"You know, Gertkeret. Ey gave me that sword and is acting so friendly... an' I just wonder if... if ey's just doing it so ey can get to have sex with me."

"Oh."

"Is ey?"

"I've invaded eir privacy enough. I'm not going to dig eir mind for that."

"But you have to know, it'd have been in eir surface thoughts because ey's been with me so much an'..."

"Sorry, Tegafel, but no. You can decide for yourself."

"Uh." Tegafel felt a little helpless. "What would you have done?"

"What?" Availon was a little surprised by the question, but replied nevertheless: "If these people were galanfetzcans or maybe even garandals, I would have had sex with at least a couple of them already."

"Garandals?"

"Yes—wait, you have heard of them. They are slightly smaller than I am, I can easily have sex with them. It's not a big thing."

"But... across races like that?"

Availon shrugged. "Half-breeds are not possible. What does it matter even if you had sex with an animal, as long as it's enjoyable for all parties involved?"

"Animal?!" Availon was quiet. "That is sick! Have you—?!"

"I'm sorry I mentioned it."

"Have you done it —"

"Do you understand that I would just lie to you?"

"Then please do!"

"Yes."

"Koimel! How could y— I can't b— ...What?" Availon was quiet. "You said you'd lie and then you said you had done it?"

"Go away."

"But..." Tegafel got up and took a few steps but returned then. "Availon, please tell me the truth and don't lie. You swore you would."

"...No, I have not had sex with an animal." Tegafel stared at Availon for a moment and walked away.

Under the deck, Gertkeret and the other sailors had just settled to sleep, but as soon as Tegafel came in, Gertkeret got up again.

"Hey, Tegafel. Are ya going to sleep or would ya like to go outside for a moment again? I..."

"I don't know."

"...Well, could you come with me, then?"

"I guess."

"Okay. Wait, I'll visit th' hold first..."

After a moment, the two went to the aft of the ship once again. Gertkeret had a bottle of some drink in eir hand and two mugs in the other. Ey poured some of the liquid into the other mug.

"Would you like a drink?"

"What is that? Condlo?"

"Well, yeah, but there's so little of it in there that you can barely taste it. This is jus' wine. I thought that you wouldn't like strong condlo, but I don't know..." Tegafel took the mug a bit hesitantly and sniffed it while Gertkeret poured emself a mugful too. "Um, would ya have liked it strong?"

"I don't know, the last time I drank any was when I was seven or something, because I nagged my parents about it. Then I didn't like it an' then I realized that people could use it to manipulate me..."

"...Oh. Um, I jus' wanna say that I'm not trying to manipulate ya or anythin'. Besides, that small an amount of condlo won't affect ya anyway, I doubt it would even affect a kid, or a toppenran." Ey made an effort to smile carefreely.

"Mh. Okay..." Tegafel took a few sips of the drink. Ey did not taste any condlo in it, nor had ey smelled it. The liquid did not taste like juice, but had a similar tint to it—it was just older, more adult.

Gertkeret drank as well. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad."

They sat there quietly and drank about half of the bottle.

"Gerte..."

"Yeah?"

"You know... I... asked Availon earlier to find out whether you were being so nice to me just because you wanted to have sex with me. But ey wouldn't do it." Gertkeret was quiet, which was somewhat unlike em. "So I'm just asking you."

"I... uh. I'm not doing this just to get into yer pants." Ey paused for a moment. "But I... I wouldn't decline if you... if you." Ey pulled eir hair back with eir hand, smiled uncontrollably and let go, the hair falling back to eir face. "Uhh. I suck at explaining, don't I?"

"Why are you doing it then?"

Gertkeret was quiet again. "Why does anyone do anythin' for another person? We're pretty social things an' we need to rely on each other... an'... uh."

"A person does something for another person when ey can benefit from it."

Gertkeret spent another moment being quiet. "I... I didn't, don't. I just wanted to, I mean, you to be happy."

Tegafel spent a moment trying to figure out how Gertkeret could benefit from making em happy and came to the conclusion that seeing and making other people happy was the benefit: ey wanted to see that, ey wanted to achieve that. Eir was the ideal of a perfect social creature. Tegafel imagined em fulfilling every desire ey could think up and ended up getting sexually excited. Then ey grew embarrassed and tried to get rid of the excitement.

"Do ya want to go back down?"

"Sure."

Gertkeret was a little quiet around Tegafel the next day.



The night after the next, when the sailors were going to sleep, Tegafel spoke to Gertkeret:

"Do you have the rest of that wine?"

"Oh, yeah I do."

"Can we go outside?"

"Yeah." Gertkeret smiled, fetched the wine and they went out.

This time Tegafel decided the spot and they went to the bow. Availon was asleep on the left side of the equipment box behind the small front mast, so the two femehans went to the right side. They sat on a pile of looped rope and drank the bottle empty. Tegafel thought about Gertkeret being eir personal pleasure slave again and got excited. This time Gertkeret noticed it, but ey did not say anything. After they were done with the bottle, they half laid and half sat inside a coil of rope right next to each other.

Tegafel turned eir face at Gertkeret and looked at em until the nicod did the same, after which they kissed. Gertkeret was very quiet. "We can have sex if you want to," said Tegafel quietly and added: "If you have a condom."

Gertkeret ran a finger across Tegafel's thigh quickly—ey did not want to seem overeager by starting to grope right away. "Yes... I'll go get one. Ya know, Dasdenu an' Tylhenon have some... they won't mind. Please wait." Gertkeret ran off and returned soon, carrying a blanket as well. They settled on the pile of rope and under the blanket and tarpaulin. Tegafel held Gertkeret rather mechanically while they kissed and worked up an excited state. Gertkeret was slightly unsure of how ey should touch Tegafel. "Mhh. Could you... tell me what you'd like me to do?"

"I... uh. Well, I like light touching... stroking..."

"Alright." Gertkeret smiled and got to work, brushing Tegafel's body in all the right and sensitive places. "Won't Availon notice this? I mean, we're right next to em an' ey's a far-walker."

"Ey can't not notice it, so it's the same where we are..."

"Oh. Well."

Eventually the two femehans got out of their clothes, continued stroking each other and pushing each other's buttons. They performed intercourse, were satisfied and fell asleep in a bundle under the covers.

They woke up some time before sunrise because Tegafel's leg had poked outside the covers and was cramping. After a few painful moments and trying to rub it warmer, Gertkeret suggested another method to get it warm, and so they had sex again. They managed to still fall asleep and only woke up when the other sailors got up.

Tylhenon, Dasdenu and Availon were looking at them and smiling. Availon seemed rather sickly, but there was no sign of it in eir voice when ey said: "Score, Tegafel."

"Oh, I'd call that even," went the ship captain, grinning. Availon waved eir arms and laughed.