“Few people who lived in an area knew what it truly meant to live with the land.” - Old druidic saying.

“There to our left you’d be seeing the lands under the Jarldom of Levonnar, or as many of us call them, the wierdos who lived right at the most desolate corner of the bloody continent,” said Arquivaldo as he pointed towards the ship’s starboard side with a flourish of his hand. The performance was mostly for Celia’s benefit, as Aideen had been on these lands in the past, even if they might not be under the same name back then. “Further west from there would be the Kriggaris Jarldom, which has one of the largest ports on the north-east of Ur-Teros. We’re not headed that way, though.”

“Right, our destination is further south? I take it there’s extra profits in bringing your goods further down on your own compared to offloading at the nearest port to make up for the longer trip, right, captain?” asked Celia in return as Arquivaldo explained the region to her. “Around how many days of extra travel is it to our destination compared to if we were to offload in say… Kriggaris?”

“That’d be about an extra five to ten days, depending on the seas and the weather, lass,” answered Arquivaldo with an approving nod at Celia’s inquisitiveness. “Further south from here is Gunadrevun Jarldom, which is a smaller one kind of pinched on the east end of the continent. Then further south from there would be the Gulski Jarldom, our destination. We’re headed straight for the port closest to the capital itself, so it’s an extra couple days’ trip from where we enter their waters.”

The Jarldom of Gulski to the south-eastern end of Ur-Teros inadvertently brought memories to Aideen’s mind. She couldn’t help it, as Artair’s little sister was descended from the Jarldom’s nobility, and her descendants had married back into said nobility in turn. At least, that was the situation when she was last in the area, which was over a century ago by now. Many things could have changed in that period of time.

Around that time the climate had changed into one that the locals affectionately termed as a “pleasant autumn breeze”, which translated to “horrifying freezing cold” to most anyone else. The crew had already woken up from the long night to find thin layers of ice freezing over the deck and the sails twice already, which took some effort to clean up properly, to say the least.

The first time watching a thin, nearly transparent sheet of ice fall and crumble on the head of an unexpecting sailor was quite amusing, Aideen had to admit, though she helped take care of the nasty bruise that incident left behind.

As for the coastline itself, Celia spent most of the following days watching the at times mesmerizing sight of the landscape, of great plains all dyed white under the snowfall, or of towering trees that each supported nearly its own weight in snow and ice on its many branches and needle-like leaves, all forming a pristine white layer over its shape.

Despite the cold weather though, they also spotted some smaller coastal villages, where the villagers at times braved the icy winter seas in search of sustenance in tiny boats often with only a single occupant on board. The crew even got to watch how the local fishermen hunted down a massive sea creature that was easily at least ten meters from snout to tail by working together and wearing it down with thrown spears from their little boats.

The sea beast was not the sort that commonly showed up in shallow waters, so that one probably wandered near the coast by mistake. Either way, its presence proved to be a boon for the villagers, even if the hunt to subdue the beast was not one without cost, or normally, would’ve been one. Since their ship was nearby, Arquivaldo had the lifeboats lowered to help rescue several fishermen who had fallen into the sea from the beast’s resistance. A fate that would have normally resulted in the cold waters swiftly claiming their lives.

Instead they were brought on board Le Faucon Noir and allowed to dry themselves while clad in warm blankets and sipping on some hot soup and grog before they were sent back to their village via lifeboat later that evening. The loss of their boats might be a painful one for those fishermen, but at least they kept their lives and would be able to build another one.

Unexpectedly, the lifeboat returned with gifts. The other fishermen who already dragged their catch to the village showed their appreciation of the kindness shown by the passing ship, and insisted that the sailors who sent the rescued fishermen home bring back some fresh meat and blubber from their catch as a token of gratitude from them.

Together with the crew, Aideen and Celia partook in a feast featuring the beast’s meat and fat later that night. Both the meat and fat had strong, gamey tastes to them, which was somewhat diminished by cooking them into a stew with plenty of spices. They noted however, that the cooking had not removed all the gaminess from the flesh and fatty tissues, and apparently that was on purpose.

When Arquivaldo told them to have a taste of the thick stew – the liquids it was cooked with had boiled down so much that all that was left was a thickened sauce, the whole thing served over a good portion of rehydrated rice grains – Celia looked a bit skeptical, though Aideen just went and enjoyed the food right away, being more used to foodstuff with at times unpleasant scents or appearances from the culture of the Lichdom.

That hint of gaminess to the meat actually helped elevate the whole meal, and made it rather unique compared to other foods Celia had tasted in her life so far. The meat itself tasted more like that of a land animal rather than a fish, while the thick cuts of blubber still retained some solidity and gushed out with plenty of hot, fatty juices when she bit into them, the spices accentuating the flavors further while the plain rice balanced it out.

As for the rest of the journey southwards, it passed by uneventfully, the weather being cooperative for a change and remaining calm throughout their passage. Arquivaldo delivered Aideen and Celia to the Gulski port – built as an extension of the capital city of the Jarldom itself – within seven days of their entering the waters of the southern continent, relatively fast, considering their estimated travel time.