Valen opens his eyes to the sight of stone. The stone structures, a favorite of the residents of Sandstorm, greatly lack artistic presence. Smoothly cut stone is interesting the first time you see it, but It quickly gets boring, and even annoying, as the lack of windows lets in a continuous warm breeze. Lin apparently appears not to mind.

Valen sits at the side of his bed, one he summoned, far better than the stone beds he had been provided. Looking towards the other summoned bed, he sees Lin sleeping soundlessly in one of the strangest positions Valen has seen. Her upper body is completely hanging off the side of the bed, one hand is touching the floor, the other holding a stuffed kitten to her chest, while her tail rests lazily on her face.

Valen’s stares at Lin, the first person he had met here, and probably the first true family he ever had. At Lin’s age his own family was killed in a driving accident forcing Valen into an orphanage, where he grew up.

“Alright Lin, its time to wake up,” Valen says watching Lin slowly attempt to position herself back into the warm embrace of bed. A smile forms on his face.

"AHHHHHHHH," Lin squeals as her body slips quickly to the floor. She strikes the floor softly and scampers up, legs bent, eyes ready, ears twitching, and tail flailing dangerously in the air. Only the sound of Valen's outright laughter changes her stance, a pout coming to her lips as she finally notices her surroundings.

“Don’t glare at me Lin,” Valen says between laughter,”this is all on you,” he continues, her cute pouting face all too adorable to pass. A glaring blush answers Valen, causing him to laugh harder as her face seems to morph into something more and more adorable.

“I’m hungry Valyyyy” Lin says, trying to diffuse his laughter, her arms around her stomach.

Valen nods, laughter slowly subsiding. In his hand forms a box of donuts, which he sets to the side of his bed."Alright, Lin, make your bed, put some clothes on, brush your teeth, and whatever amazing food is in this box is yours. The moment he finishes his deal, Lin quickly takes off her sleeping wear, running towards a closet, nudity not much of an issue with her kind. Quickly she starts to put on her clothes, Valen slowly making his bed, keeping one eye on the frantic Lin, a pleased smile on his face.

______________________________________________________________________

Entering the main eating area, he finds all the dwarves awake, though not so much alive. They sit morbidly on their seats, the smallest of sounds sending waves of pain through their heads. Lin watches the moaning dwarfs, a happy smile dons her powdered sugary face. In her hands she holds Valen's box of Donut holes, slowly putting each one in her mouth, the powdered chocolate ones her favorite.

Looking around, Valen finds David sitting with his crew, apparently nursing his head as well. Valen slowly approaches, noting the interesting faces around his table, including the sole female who’s eating food and drinking beer like yesterday, was just a normal day.

When Valen approaches the table"David!" he yells, a chorus of groans escape the dwarves, their heads slamming painfully inside their heads. "You seem to have had a good night's sleep, though you should really not drink so much, it isn't good for your health," Valen spouts, a cheeky smile radiant on his face.

"Damn, I remember you," David says, his eyes closed, nursing his head slowly," but I don't remember what we talked about. You merely spouted something and ran off, leaving that devil of a little girl to torture me with her incessant questions."

"David!" Jessica interrupts, a powdered smile on her lips."Don't fucking talk shit about this child," she glares as another of Lin's Donuts enter her mouth. "You should be happy someone is willing to talk to a boring drunk like yourself," she continues, Lin smiling next to her, the two best of friends already.

"This be unfair captain," Alfred interjects, sipping water,"You get to talk to a cute little girl yesterday night, while I was making out with a goddamn stool," a sad sigh escaping his lips. "She was so pretty but a lousy kisser," he admits, the listening dwarfs quickly rise up with laughter, only to stop immediately as the loud noise causes them to wince in pain.

"Now then, young man, what was the deal yesterday, I seem to have forgotten most of what happened last night," David says, one eye looking up at Valen.

Valen smiles as he nods towards the dwarf,"Well, I have a ship in port right now that is quite barren. I need a captain with a crew, and you seem to be in need of a ship." Immediately, silence permeates the hall, all ears listening and eyes staring at Valen and David, intrigue spread across their faces.

"Fucking hell Captain, you already got us a ship!" Jessica exclaims, wiping cream from her mouth.

"There was no ship at port," David interjects,"I checked thoroughly yesterday."

“Well yea, I brought it in last night, after we made that deal,” Valen explains, a smile on his lips.

Turning towards the room, Valen smiles confidently"I am going to go check on my ship, you're free to come along," he waves, walking outside of the Inn, Lin running after, Jessica following quickly behind, the box of donuts now in her hands.

The dwarven sailors looks to their captain, eagerness present on their face.

"Go,you fucking lousy shits," David waves, the sailor's as one get up and run out, their hangovers all but forgot.

"Alfred, go wake up your brother, we're going to need a carpenter if there really is a ship," David says, slowly getting out of his chair.

“He isn’t going to like getting woken up so early.” Alfred answers.

"If he doesn't want to get up, drag him towards the goddamn pier," David answers, cracking his neck. "Then you can throw him in the fucking water. I'm sure he needs a bath anyway."

A smile forms on Alfred’s face “This will be fun, captain.”

__________________________________________________________________________

As David walks towards the pier, he finds a veritable mob of Dwarves, Snake-kin, and Scorpion-kin looking towards the ocean. When David finally gets to the pier, his eyes widen with interest. A massive ship floats over a thousand meters from the pier, its sheer size dwarfing the orkin galley that sunk his own. Four massive sails strapped atop the ship, folded ever so gently. Looking towards the broadside, David's eyes widen at the realization, three stories on a ship of such size would require a great deal of metal and some very powerful enchantments.

Looking around, he finds Valen, a smug smile on his lips.

“Valen, what in god’s name is that?” David yells as he approaches the young man.

Turning towards the short dwarf, Valen smiles and gestures towards the ship."That is a replica of a Spanish galleon class ship." A proud smile gazes at the dwarf, "A friend of mine told me I wasted my mon-coin buying something of such size," Valen explains, the sailors listening with rapt attention, their eyes still glued to the sea.

“I have never heard of such a ship, and until today, I would never have believed one existed,” David answers, his mouth growing wet with hidden joy.

The two stare at the ship, neither wanting to ruin each other's mood.

"Holy mother of god," Jeeves yells, his beard scraggly and uncombed, the bed hair version for a dwarf.

"Is that ours? How in the hell is it floating? Why in the world is it in the middle of the sea?" The carpenter asks quickly, his eyes gazing voraciously at the ship.

David turns to Valen, raising an eyebrow at the young man."Yes, why is that ship almost a mile from the port?" he asks, looking up to Valen,"Were you not able to get permission to dock?" he asks again, awaiting Valens answer.

A blush sprouts on Valens face as he turns his head towards the ship.”I uh….got the ship to port…..but I didn’t think to tie it down,” Valen explains, a forced smile can be seen from the side of his face.

"I…...am not even going to ask how you got this ship here in the first place, especially without a crew," David says, turning towards his sailors.

"Alright, you starstruck idiots, that ship needs to get to port before the wind blows it further away!" he yells, the sailor's as one cheer and run towards the water, jumping in, swimming as fast as their short stature will allow.

A confused look spreads on Valen’s face as he turns to the captain.”Why didn’t they just take a boat?” he asks, staring at a pile of bodies fighting to get towards the ship.

"When some new, never before seen ship, sprouts on the sea, do you actually believe that a dwarven sailor will act like anything but a child?" He answers, a smile forming as he watches his men fight the waves.

“I think children are a lot smarter than that,” Valen answers as he points at a boat, Jessica rowing quickly towards the ship, Lin sitting in front of her, feeding the Dwarf donuts.

The two erupt in laughter, the absurdity of the situation breaking any tensions between the two. As the laughter slowly dies down, Alfred interrupts with a question.

"What be the ships name?"

Valen looks towards the first mate, the dwarf stands relaxed, even though his arms are crossed around his chest, an axe hangs diligently from his hip.

“The name of the ship is the Wiseman,” Valen answers, reading the English words on the side of the ship.

"That….is actually a pretty good name captain," Alfred says, looking towards David. "Captain David Wiseman," He tests, the words sounding melodic in common.

“Now hang on, we still don’t know what our contract will even be,” David interjects, his eyes moving from his first mate, towards Valen.

“Simple enough. I rent the ship to you, and you give me a percent of the profits,” Valen exclaims, simplifying the idea of outright giving a ship to someone.

David just looks at Valen, realizing more and more that this man has no common sense whatsoever. Throwing out deals that could very well screw him over. Heck, most captains would attempt to steal the ship outright, especially since he is only one man. But David is an honorable dwarf, just like his father. Honor is something their kind live by, and David will make sure to die with honor when his time comes.

David turns to Valen, thinking through the expenses that would be required, and the profits such a large ship would provide."Valen, the normal renting price of a ship is 60% percent to the owner, while 40% to the crew," David pauses,"but you came in my time of need and put your trust in someone that you just met, so I am willing to offer you 65% of the profits instead." David exclaims, Alfred, nodding with a smile in the background.

Valen looks towards the dwarf, a soft gaze stares back at him, almost sexual if not for the grateful look on David's face."Nah, I have a better deal," Valen says, looking towards the dwarfs confused expression."Here is my deal, you and your crew get 60% of the profits, you will use 20% of it to improve the ship, and the last 20% will be saved for me." Valen promptly throws out his hand, ready to shake David's.

With a trembling hand and wide eyes, David takes Valens arm, forcing him into a tight hug. Valen looks down at the hugging dwarf, thoughts that his new Captain may very well be interested in men.

____________________________________________________________________________

An orc watches his men work, their veins visible as they lift pieces of wood. His musing is disrupted by his quartermaster."Captain, we lost most of the men that were rowing, and we have had to catalyze some of the wood to repair the front hull. It might be best to go towards one of our bases" the quartermaster exclaims, his size only dwarfed by the captain.

"No!" The captain growls, his face turns towards the men, his tusks ever so present on his face. We cannot go to base with such damage and defeat. Grab the slaves in our hold and put them to use as rowers. The next ship we see, we will board." he exclaims, steam starting to release from his skin.

With a quick nod, the quartermaster goes to direct the orc’s, happy to escape the Captain’s presence.