“Thank you for letting us use your ship, you have been a great help.” Braydon thanked Lani as Gerald and Roan helped the crew move their things from the ship. Though there was not much, most of it had been food that was already eaten on the journey, that did not stop the small grumbles from Gerald. He had not signed up for manual labour when he was training to be a knight.

“It’s not a problem, I should be at least this generous with friends. Though, I see you managed to gain a new friend on your travels.” Lani mentioned Father Odom, who was having an animated conversation with Nela. Braydon did not have to guess what it was about, planning their project was all that they had been talking about on the return.

“That was something that was long in the making, it just happened that we could act on a prior plan with our journey. Two birds with one stone. Though I should mention it, we were attacked by pirates and a few crew members were lost, I am more than happy to pay for the recruiting of new crew members. They were only lost due to our trip, after all.” Braydon knew that Captain would mention it, it was part of his job. So he decided that he would offer compensation before it was even brought up. He did not want to cause any misunderstandings that he was trying to hide the fact to not have to compensate her.

“Thank you, I’m sure that it’s not much. If I’m right, those guys probably left far more casualties on the enemy than the other way around. Just ask Macy who much it will cost and give it to him, he should know better than me how much it will take to refill the crew.” Lani thanked his sincerity, but he drew a blank on the name.

“Macy..?”

“Oh, he probably never told you his name, that’s the captain. He doesn’t like his name being spread around, sounds too feminine to him. I think it’s cute.” That would explain a lot, though Braydon wondered what was cute about a man being called Macy.

“Has anything eventful happened since we left?” Braydon did not expect that any big news could have happened in the week or so that they had been away. Big events were not all that common after all, and Nela’s engagement being annulled was pretty big news. At least the way it was done and the results were.

“Nothing that should be of immediate concern to you, but there have been a few pieces of news that you might want to hear.” Lani’s words sounded comforting but Braydon knew that was just her way of speaking. Anything that counted as newsworthy would eventually have repercussions for most people. He and Lani had roughly similar definitions of newsworthy, so that would already exclude meaningless gossip or big trends among the nobles.

“Hit me with it, I’m sure that it’s not Shuluk invading again.” Braydon made a joke but he was not far off the mark.

“Not quite an invasion and not Shuluk, no. Instead it was raiding from the north, and it is too numerous and all at once to be bandits.” Lani was right, this was definitely newsworthy alright. Casburland and Fiveria had been rivals for as long as they had shared a border, they had not quite spent more time at war than at peace but it was not far off. That both sides had managed to spend the past decade with no conflict had been the biggest miracle that Ezaes had seen until the Barakhil Empire managed to piece itself together again.

“I sure hope that it won’t trouble me anytime soon. If it did that would bode poorly for the existence of the kingdom.” Braydon knew that she did not mean it like that but what he said was not wrong either. If Casburland troops made it all the way down to his fiefs in a short time, it would not be long before the entirety of Fiveria fell.

“But you are with the king’s faction, for better or worse. If he gets involved it is likely that you will be called upon” Lani did make a valid point, If Duke Oakley’s faction called for help, it would not be one of the southern dukes who sent aid. The title of King brought responsibility with it, one that Aled would have to fulfil was defending his realm.

“Aight, that should be everything, ship’s fine can’t say the same for some of the boys. I hope we kept you entertained on the journey.” Captain, or Macy, came up to them after most of the work had been sorted out. As Braydon and Lani turned to look at him, he was confused by the amused look that Braydon was giving him.

“So how much would it cost to hire more crew members, Macy?” When Braydon asked that, Captain’s face fell. Now he knew why he had been given an amused look.

“Shouldn’t be that much, a few hundred silver at most.” Captain let out a long suffering sigh.

“Then that settles it, you owe me a few hundred silver. And I keep telling you, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I think it’s cute.” Lani smiled, though Braydon was unsure how genuine she was being. Her expression gave nothing away, not that that pleased Captain any.

“Just make sure that the boys don’t hear this.” Apparently this had happened before, if this was the starting bargain. He didn’t even try to argue on principle, it would not gain a different outcome.

“But, of course.” Lani had enough experience with Captain’s tolerance to know what buttons she could push. Though that meant that she could push the safe ones relentlessly. ‘She really is like an older version of Nela.’ Braydon though as he watched their interaction. That would explain part of why they got along so well, at least in his mind.