Ishta Alamone had just retired from celebrating his great victory when Illai appeared before him.

"What have you found?" asked Ishta. Illai was always more thorough than any informant. The best there was.

"It is as I suspected, Master, Rassa Moonshadow is a Shadow Magician. Quite an apt one at that. He sensed my presence and prepared to respond the instant I touched the shadows in his vicinity," Illai stated.

"You were detected?" asked Ishta, his tone darkening.

"Not beyond him noticing my presence," Illai assured her master.

"Good, he is on the Token Vessel?" asked Ishta.

"Yes, Master," Illai nodded, "He has left his business to a few untrained street urchins and Falla Startree".

Ishta scoffed, "Ridiculous. It's practically asking for me to take it".

"However, Master, from my observations, I cannot confirm if there were many individuals that this Rassa Moonshadow taught in regards to the method of creating the charms. There is perhaps only one other, and I cannot be sure he was taught everything as he is still a child," Illai stated.

Ishta gritted his teeth. She was right, and Illai never dared to advise him unless she was sure he had missed something.

Ishta stood and looked out the window to the south, "Token is heading to the Southern Continent, yes?"

"Indeed, Master," Illai replied.

Ishta thought for a moment, then spoke in a pondering tone, "It is not a safe journey South...plenty of merfolk, dangerous storms...and plenty of those who prefer to work outside the law. If those who were so inclined were informed of a rich merchant vessel passing through...I doubt they could avoid the temptation".

Illai bowed her head in acknowledgment of the hidden order, "Your Servant shall obey".

Ishta turned and watched as Illai seemed to melt and then her pool of being flowed past him and over the railing of the balcony he was viewing.

"While I honestly couldn't care either way, Rassa Moonshadow, please do survive this. It'd be a shame to see my grand plan wasted because you decided to die in an unfortunate accident," Ishta grinned, then turned from the window to retire.

***

Facing the impending climb up the mast, Ebony resolved herself to a decent night's sleep. It turned out however, that it was not so easy. Perhaps she had subconsciously gotten used to the prospect of not climbing the mast in the month she had been on Rouke Island - not that the four days on the journey there had been enough for her to get over her fear of heights - but now, the thought of it alone was enough for 'decent' sleep to elude her. In the end, she had simply passed out from exhaustion and had at least 3 hours of rest, but when she arose just before dawn the next morning with the rest of the crew, none dared to step too close. Now that they had learned she was a woman, they knew it was best for their own safety if they didn't make a comment on the dark circles under her eyes.

At least, most knew except Isaac. He'd come down to greet her and retrieve breakfast, his night watch over. He handed her some bread and indicated towards the ratlines, to which Ebony reluctantly approached.

"Good sleep?" asked Isaac as she began to climb, Isaac just below her. He was needed in order to get them out of the busy port.

Ebony had stuffed the bread in her mouth so that she could climb with both hands, and hence did nothing but pause to glare down at Isaac. The young man grinned in amusement, "Come on, you did so well before".

Ebony turned back to the ratlines and gathered her courage. That look down had been a bad decision. They were already near the lower yardarm, she needed to get a grip.

Knowing that the longer she took to climb up the more impatient the Captain and Midas would get, Ebony resolved not to look down again until she reached the crow's nest at the top and it wouldn't matter then for at least an hour or so whilst Isaac instructed the helmsman in getting them out of the port.

Sure enough, just a short minute later, she reached the Crow's nest and huddled herself inside to eat. Isaac chuckled at her antics, "See, told you you'd be scaling it like a spider-monkey".

Ebony just continued chewing.

"The least you should know is that it wasn't your eating habits that gave it away," Isaac stated as he looked below to see if the crew were ready to cast off yet.

Ebony frowned, confused, "Huh?"

"That you're a woman," Isaac replied, "It wasn't the way you ate that gave it away".

Ebony's frown deepened, "Are you..."

"It was the embroidery," Isaac replied, "I've seen plenty of sailors take it up, but none are quite so neat or dainty when they do it".

Ebony's eyes widened, "You told the Captain?"

Isaac shrugged, "Figured that at least he had a right to know there was a woman on board his ship. I personally couldn't care less as long as you do your job, but I won't apologise for telling him".

Ebony turned away, "I thought it was Midas".

Isaac shook his head, "Midas is observant, sure. Perhaps he did work it out, but we were only on board for a few days and he didn't spend as much time around you as I did".

Ebony took another bite of her bread, chewing it awkwardly before she spoke again, "I'm sorry I lied to you".

Isaac shrugged, "There are those who've done plenty of worse things in their lives than pretend to be something they're not. Actually, that's pretty common".

Ebony sighed, "Yeah, I guess".

Isaac gave a small smile, then the conversation was broken by the call from deck.

"Prepare to cast off!"

"Here we go," Isaac smiled, "I think you'll like the Southern Continent. Many of the countries there are quite reserved but, they've also got some pretty neat stuff you can't find in Eldovia for sure".

Ebony appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood, and smiled in return, "I can't wait".