That’s the thing about us, Zy. We are useful to the Court, but aside from how we serve the Court, we are nothing but fakers, dolls who told where to go. If there is only one thing decent from these fools are that they don’t allow us to open our legs. Spread them wide for some bastard who wants his dick wet!

Zyra thought back to what a friend of hers said a long time ago. She was a senior to Zyra, a friend that had passed when she thought she could finally pay her debts. She would be jealous to see that she somehow made it out of the Court. Zyra had been staying in her cabin for the past days. Even the Captain didn’t want them up the deck with how thick the mist had become.

She didn’t want to stay up all the time so she thought of walking to her desk. Reading was not possible with how misty the cabin was. The mist obscures the vision and even she could not see the iron lamps on the side. As she twists on her chair, she heard a knock coming from her door. Standing in front of the door, she pulled the door’s handle inside and saw a man who was a head taller than her. He wore a cloak draped on his shoulder. His piercing eyes seemed to pierce her soul.

“Caldor Ando,” Zyra said hissing. “Why are you here?”

“I was right,” he grabbed hold of her left hand and lifted it. Zyra drew her pistol and placed it on Caldor's stomach.

“What’s a Courter doing in this Galleon?”

Zyra stabbed the tip of the barrel on his stomach. “What are you carrying blue blood here for? Want to take lands and make a new kingdom?”

He stared. She could feel the smile on her face creeping up.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Going to kill me, Caldor Ando? Like how you butchered in the seventh day of the third cycle, of 1496? Where you slaughtered MY people? Hah, you shouldn’t be here. Playing the protector does not suit you, fool.”

He stared. This close and he’d take my head out. Doesn’t matter. She can at least take a shot. She wouldn't miss it.

“Are you planning to kill her?”

“The blue blood? Again, are you a fool, Caldor Ando? Do you think a Dai Khan, a landlubber would abandon the Court to kill the blue blood? Especially now that the Chancellor has taken control? Because as I remember, the mainland isn’t called the Monarchy of Aeron’s Right anymore. It is the United Continent of Aon now, the United Lands. Or are you still on about that? Missing the old ways, Butcher?”

He lets go of her hand. Zyra held her pistol with both hands, still pointing it at his face. She won’t miss from this distance. Still, Caldor Ando did not show fear.

“Do you have any plans of killing the Heir?”

“Why in the heavens would I do that?”

He eyed the dragon coiling Zyra's left arm. She sneered.

“Is this what this about? Why you called him instead of me?”

“I won’t trust any Courter near that cabin.”

“Good. I rather not go there.”

“I will ask again, Courter. Are you here for the Heir’s life?”

“You are a fool, Caldor Ando. Don’t drag me into whatever it is that your crew is planning. I will have none of it.”

“Do you mean that, Courter?”

“Yes,” Zyra bared her teeth. “By the Dragon’s Hand, I am not planning to kill your precious heir.”

Caldor Ando’s steel gaze loosened. She holstered her pistol and sneered. Even in this boat, this idiot would find her. She should have this dragon scraped from her arm.

“Good,” Caldor Ando said. “I see no reason why this would benefit you. I made sure that none of the Dai’s are in this fleet.”

“That is great to hear, Caldor Ando. Now would you kindly get out of my face?”

He stared. Then he looked at me as if he understood something.

“You heard of it. The Call.”

“I do not know what you are saying.”

“That look on your face. There are hundreds of people in this boat. This isn’t a coincidence, Courter.”

“I am a Surgeon,” Zyra refuted. “I need to know the faces of my patients. And you aren’t hiding the bondless with how you people looked. Especially that bonded of yours. Do you fools even thought of hiding your identities? Or is that why Captain Malfor accepted your group?”

“You know things.”

“This is a small world we are living in. And we are floating in a wooden tub in the middle of the Dread Line, Caldor Ando. Word travels fast and you shouldn’t be sparring with that apprentice of yours in the deck. The age of swords and spears is nearing its end, Caldor Ando. Move on.”

He blew his nose and held the sword on his waist, his palm on top of the hilt.

“So you knew.”

“Find something to hide that Serpent. I want none of it.”

He looked at me. “You can’t run away.”

“I'll try my best, thank you very much. I’ 'm free from this. I will not have whatever writing you study in this evening pull me in back to trouble.”

“The Heart of the World.”

“Stop.”

“The heartbeat will gather those who near it.”

“I will shoot you in the head, Caldor Ando. I am done.”

He stopped. She stared at him with her heart burning. Her hand was already on her pistol as she told him to stop. He blinked. He nodded his head and took a step in the hallway, his figure drowned in the mist.

“The Writings of the Hearth has a strange way of pulling people into this mess. You’ll come and play your role, Courter. I know you will. Running from it will not benefit you. The Serpent Coils and those who possessed the blue blood will gather you into the heart of the world.”

“I’ll try to escape then.”

“But you will find your way back to the hearth.”

She slammed the door. Zyra could hear herself seething as the sound of Caldor's footsteps vanished.

A few hours after his encounter with Caldor Ando. Zyra went to the Clinic. Inside the clinic was a sailor whose arm was stabbed by one of the grappling hooks. She didn’t even hear Gabrio enter the clinic despite it being next door. He was already cleaning the wound using a sponge soaked with alcohol.

“You called?”

“Puncture wound, I can’t get it right myself.”

“Not with this lighting,” Zyra gestured for Millie to take the iron lamp. Wiles held his lamp close to the wound of the sailor. She took out one of her surgical knives and started cutting the man’s arm. He started to wrestle his arm in pain. Wiles locked the man with his arms while Gabrio injected a sedative to calm the man down.

After sawing the hooks and slicing the parts where the hook buried. She had Gabrio wrapped gauze around the man’s arm and had him lie down on one of the clinic beds. The blood on the table seeped on the sand that was placed under the table.

Zyra seated herself on the stool and watched Millie and Wiles clean the tools. Gabrio was beside the patient, calming him down, and telling him how damaged his arm was. The mist was getting thicker as time passes. She checked her pocket watch and noted that it was already early in the morning.

Leaving the patient’s side, Gabrio went to the room next to the operating table. Opening the door, inside was the crates of supplies that they had not used. He took the chart hanging by a nail and started checking the recording.

“Keeping a detailed record?”

“The Surgeon should do this, you know?”

“I’ll have Millie do it.”

“Millie, are you literate?”

She looked at Millie. She nodded at him.

“Looks like she is. How about you give the duties to her?”

“Does she know the medicines we are using? The difference between them?”

“Good point.”

He continued writing on the chart on one knee. Zyra took out her smoking pipe. But then thought that it was already hard to see so she placed it back In the pouch Where she usually placed her smoking pipe. She then thought that she had to start teaching Millie the different medicines we have here.

“Looks like we still have a lot,” Gabrio said. “We’ll have to watch out for our supplies.”

“You know that we won’t run out.”

“It’s better if we keep it detailed. The smallest things are useful.”

“We still have cargoes worth of medicine, Gabrio.”

“I stand by what I said. You know, I expected you to worry about this.”

“Does it keep you from thinking about our situation?”

“Yes, it does.”

He said, placing the chart back on the nail it was hanging on. He closed the door and leaned on the beam.

“It has been days and nothing is happening.”

“Do you want something to happen?” Zyra asked.

“No, it makes you wonder. The silence has been rather eerie. Even the sailors on topside have stopped singing their shanties at the Captain’s orders. The Apprentices had been convinced to stay on the first and second deck in case the monsters attacked. They've been drying the Lady with her constant use of her power. Even she could not keep on telling the spirits to blow a wind for the fleet..”

“I thought they blessed??”

“Blessed, yes, but doesn’t mean they don’t tire like us.”

“You sure know a lot about the elven, Gabrio.”

“I know what I know.”

“Is that so? Do you admire her?”

He looked her in the eyes. “I can’t help but appreciate beautiful things.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s true. If you look at the flower, then you’d think wow that’s beautiful! That is what I fee for the Lady.”

“She’s not a flower, Gabrio.”

“I am comparing them. She is like a flower.”

“So you admire her.”

“Yes, I admire her.”

“I see. Do you still have your burnt wine? You should empty that and move on.”

“Look, I am not the only one who thinks so. Again, there is a difference between admiration and like.”

Zyra shrugged. She folded his arms and zipped her mouth. While Gabrio's eyes were on the surgical tools. Then to the patient lying on the clinic bed. There was a strange groaning coming outside the ship. The mist thickened again and he could only see the lamps that hang on the side.

“Mist seems to be thicker. We are sailing blind.”

“Torches are lit on the roundhouse.”

“We’ve been heading the same direction for the past few days. Must be raining somewhere or the weather is getting colder.”

“That would be too easy.”

“Agree. We wouldn’t have brought so much firepower because it would be too easy. They could clear the mist by firing rounds on the path we are sailing.”

“A waste of ammunition.”

He tapped his forearm, “Not to mention that it would optional to lure one of the black-scaled beasts. It would be wise if we don’t make a noise.”

As hours passed inside the clinic of the Galleon. The mist inside the ship became too thick. None of them wanted to go back to their cabins, knowing that it was getting too silent. They gathered outside of the cabin. The silence continued. She thought back to the conversation that she had with Caldor Ando.

If the Writing of the Hearth is being played out. And if the Serpent and the Blue Blood is heading for the Heart of the World. Then it seemed like all that she did was for nothing.

Did they expect this? Did they foresee where her path will take her? If so, then what was the point of escaping? She didn't know what to do. Heck, she doesn’t even know what to think about this.

The Hearth…Why now of all times? And why her?