lady_mab | Mutiny - Letters

The Right Honorable

The Earl of Carneath, Clarence Temple

Dear Lord Temple,

By now, your birthday has most certainly passed at the writing of this letter (although this and the last will be posted at the same time, so you’ll receive them together), so I shall again wish you a splendid one. I wonder if I should get you something at our next port of call, but it is hard to get something that feels meaningful when I have been all these places numerous times, and you have not. Would you appreciate a tourist-y statuette? A clip, perhaps, for your hair?

I’ve learned not to tease about a ring, so that is out.

All the same, I should ask you next I see you. It has been years and I never thought to ask before, but I generally can stall our departure long enough that I do not miss your birthday, or it was before we were together. This year was not favorable to either of us, I’m afraid. Or you can tell me in your next letter, and I shall pick something up before my return home.

I think by the time of reading this letter, you have read the reports from Adi in regards to what they found on the cliff-face. The emblem I have sketched for you here, as it is harder to describe it in words than it is to see it. I would like to know the court’s thoughts on the group, but I do not trust it enough to send it in a letter or via telegraph. But I hope that His Majesty is as concerned as I am, though I do not express as much to my crew.

We are designed to keep the peace and to investigate. We do not have authority to engage in something that could escalate. There are many new faces on board, and I don’t want the worst to happen to them because I unduly alerted them to trouble.

All the same, our crew made it back to us safe and sound, and we set off once again.

As I write this, we have just recently pulled out of ‘port’ at an abandoned island that housed the ruins of Fort Stofiss. I would have loved to see it, as we have never stopped by here in all the years of my rotation. But, from what the others said, there wasn’t much to see.

Except, perhaps, some frogs, but I will get to that in a moment.

We thought it wise to dock and take on fresh water instead of risk running through to Aelem with the storms looming so close on the horizon. Even with Grissa calling down Ydir’s favor, we all agreed it the best course of action to stop by the island. It is one of several on the far end of Nibiru’s coast, one of the larger that managed to hold a fort at one point. Many of the others only would have served as food stores, or hide-outs for pirates in the space between Nibiru and Braesail.

However, since the storms became more constant and wards began to fail, a lot of the presence here faded off to somewhere safer. But there were still notes of a freshwater spring from when forces came through here to see if a foothold would need to be secured (thank goodness one did not -- while they are close to Gwaelod here, they are closer still to Nibiru).

And indeed, the island is largely uninhabited, save for a tribe of sentient frogs. I sent Grissa along with Adi, Pasha, Ulutka, and Natalya to fetch the water, and there was a small mishap involving some poisonous flora -- luckily, Grissa was there to tend to their wounds, or else I would be more alarmed at the state of them.

As they were preparing to leave, they were confronted by these frogs, who stood on two legs almost about as tall as a human. They wore leathers, carried crude spears, and while they did not speak a common tongue, seemed to maintain their own conversation between themselves and smaller frog-sized frogs in croaks and grunts.

Ulutka, somehow, managed to convince the frogs to let them go, as they were only there to collect water. But, as Grissa helped them load the barrels back into the skiff to return to the ship, the others expressed interest in wanting to investigate the rest of the island and the fort.

Pasha did not want to go, and, I am hesitant to say, he was not given a choice in the matter.

I have let a lot of Natalya’s tricks slide without comment, for they have been small and unobtrusive. Things easily passed off as something else, and so I have not drawn attention to them. But what she did to Pasha -- used a few words to change his state of mind so completely… That is something altogether more alarming. I do not know if she is even aware of it, more than just honeyed words and suggestions against weak minds.

I do not think that it has occurred to anyone else that it might be something more than what she passes it off to be, and I wonder if that is because somehow her own obliviousness is influencing the minds of everyone, or if because they do not know what to look for. I know what to look for.

Rhea, too, but I do not think she interacts with Natalya enough to form an opinion on the matter. Nat spends a lot of time below deck with the engines, and I do not want to say that that is a good place to keep her away from influencing the crew, but… I worry. When I agreed to keep an eye on her as a request from her father, I did not think…

Pasha was very upset when he got back, and rightly so. I did not have the chance to talk to him properly about it, but I hate to think about the lingering conflict between them. More than just what that conflict means for Pasha, but for Natalya as well. If she doesn’t learn how to control these abilities, and continues to push people without their consent, it could go very wrong for her in the future.

All the same.

They went back to Fort Stofiss, and there they found a large frog who proclaimed itself a king. And this they learned because the frog could speak in common. I do not even know how to quantify this information. A large frog, dressing itself like a monarch of a ruined fort, and demanding a tribute from the four who investigated at the cost of 50 gold per head (a steep price for ‘trespassing’, but otherwise violence would have been pressed upon them).

They returned with nary a hair harmed upon their head, but as the influence began to wear off of Pasha. Grissa confessed to me later that it made for an awkward ride back.

My largest concern is that Natalya did not seem overly concerned when she and Ulutka reported what happened. I learned of Pasha’s frustration through Adi and Grissa. It has been a few hours since they returned to the ship, and he has not left his workshop. I wonder if I should go to him, or wait for him to open up to me.

Either way. It is late, and the clouds are closing in quickly. Grissa assures me that it is not the storm and no cause for concern, but I still cannot help but worry. Lately, things have felt increasingly off. Ever since we left the docks. (I do not think that it is because it took us so long to get started, though the engines not starting were some cause for concern.) I think that since our last night on shore, I began to worry.

Do you remember? You woke up to find me sitting at the desk. You said something to me, but I did not hear it. And when you repeated it, I still could not understand.

Perhaps that never happened. I did not think to ask you the next morning what you had said. Perhaps it was just a dream, and there was something in the distance that I watched. And despite the way you called for me, and asked me to return to bed, I did not.

I worry, Clarence. And it increases as the days tick on, and as the miles pass as ocean waves beneath us.

I cannot wait for your letter when we reach Aelem, when you tell me to not worry, and you will give me evidence from past trips where I have expressed the same concerns to you and nothing has happened.

“You are being silly, Love,” you will tell me, and your handwriting will convey that fond smile.

I hope that that is the case. I would rather be silly than to worry.

All my love,

Ean