"We can't just wait for Tomas's condition to worsen. I can't just sit by and do nothing."
"I can't either," Amber said, "but I have to. I have to stay here while you go. I have to stay here in case Tomas needs me. But what if you need me?"
"I always need you," Miro said, attempting a smile. "Look, I promise I'll return. Nothing will stop me. I promise. Now go."
"I don't want to."
"Go, Amber. Please. It's hard enough saying goodbye."
Amber looked down. When she looked up again her eyes shone with tears. "Goodbye."
"Don't say it like that. I'll be back before you know it. Now go."
They kissed, and then Miro squeezed Amber's hand and sent her away with a gentle push.
As he watched her departing back he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. By the time his wife was gone from sight, Miro was once more in control.
Looking on the busy ship, Miro decided it was time to meet the captain.
As he approached the galleon, feeling the wooden planks of the dock move gently beneath his feet, some of the sailors carrying barrels and sacks looked at him curiously. Many bore the stocky look of the free cities but there were also those with the curly locks of the Halrana and even the darker skin of the southern nations. One of the sailors touched a finger to his forehead, but he did it in a way that made Miro unsure if the man was mocking him.
The galleon soon dominated his vision, with brawny sailors swarming the decks and rigging like birds on a tree. The vessel's name was attached to her side, the big brass letters screwed to the wood tarnished by her many voyages. The Delphin, she was called.
Miro stood at the foot of the gangway, wondering how he would find the captain, when he heard a throat clear behind him.
Two men stood side by side. One was slim and well-dressed, if slightly shabbily, in a white shirt, black vest, and tight crimson trousers. He had long greying hair tied back in a ponytail and red eyes, as if he hadn't slept well.
"Lord Marshal?" the slim man said, in a voice clearly refined. "My apologies if that's not correct, I can never get my head around Alturan titles." He smiled and shook Miro's hand. "I'm Captain Roslen Meredith."
"Thank you for agreeing to the voyage, Captain," Miro said.
"Wait until we get there," Captain Meredith said with a smile and a deprecating shrug. He turned to the man at his side. "And allow me to introduce my first mate, Julian Carver."
The second man held a small chest in his arms, obviously heavy, for he leaned back, the muscles in his arms tensed. First-mate Carver had small eyes and a rat-like face, with scraggly whiskers and a balding pate. Yet his shoulders were broad, and when he spoke his voice was authoritative. Miro took an almost instant disliking to him.
"A pleasure," Carver grunted. "Cap'n, I'll just go put this in your cabin."
"Yes, of course," Captain Meredith said.
"A man of few words," Miro said as Carver ascended the gangway.
"Don't mind Carver," Captain Meredith said. "He does his job well. There will be others for you to meet: our helmsman, quartermaster and second mate to name a few. However that can wait until you're aboard ship." He turned serious. "I don't need to tell you this is a major expedition, with only Toro Marossa's notes to tell us our destination is even there. It will take us the best part of the day to load supplies and fit the ship while we await full tide. Please, the Port Royal is one of the finest inns around and has been made available for your use. I will send one of my men to fetch you when we're ready to go."
~
AMBER was nearly on the outskirts of Castlemere when she decided to turn around. She kept tossing her parting words with Miro over in her mind. She loved Miro and Tomas more than anything in the world, and with months of caring for her comatose son awaiting her, she decided she wanted to see Miro one last time. She hadn't even told her husband she loved him.
Retracing her footsteps, she made it back to the dock pleased to see the galleon still being loaded though it was late in the day. She encountered a rat-faced man on the gangway.
"Excuse me?" Amber said. "I'm the Lord Marshal's wife. Can you direct me to his cabin?"
The rat-faced man grunted a series of directions, and Amber boarded the ship, even as sailors called to one another and she was forced to dodge out of their way. It still took Amber several minutes to find Miro's cabin; the vessel was even larger from the inside than it appeared.
She mistakenly entered a hatch in the main deck before realising her mistake, turning back when open doors revealed scores of hammocks where the sailors obviously slept. Resurfacing to the open she found a ladder leading upwards from the main deck to the aft quarter deck. Climbing up the ladder she crossed the quarter deck and then descended another companionway. Finally in a corridor of cabins Amber saw Miro's familiar travel bag holding a door propped open. Peeking inside she saw a thick book sitting on a cot: Toro Marossa's Explorations.