Quest: A Journey of the Heart [Finished]

[Nako]

Zuberi's eyes softened for the woman; she'd never met the one she loved, but her own ache was as sharp as if she had. To have known and loved, to have felt them as reality only to have the angry sea take them... she could only imagine the pain that the Priestess had felt.

At the next question, her eyes shifted to the side as she recalled what the map had said from memory; she'd been reciting the whole of its writings so many times that she felt she'd never be able to forget them. "Go to where the waters green, be ye quiet, make no sound. Dive down deep and find the round...." And then she looked back at the woman, ever hopeful, leaning forward on the balls of her quadrupedal heels.

"Does this sound familiar to you? Could you take me to where the water is green?"

[The Jenn]

Shiisha looked startled and stared at the girl for a moment. "Where the water's green an' you have to be quiet. You must have some sort of clue to know about that place. Yeh, I can show it to you after the storm blows over. Everything's going to be choppy and upset and it'll probably be a lot safer than when the water's still and the predators can sense your every movement. In the mean time, interested in something to eat?"

- - -

By the morning of the next day, the storm had come and gone, leaing debris and wreckage in its wake. The village survived, as it always did, but everything had been blown about. Shiisha took Zuberi to the spot she'd mentioned, the only place with 'green water' that she knew about due to a rather unique underwater formation of plants and rocks. There was one place in particular that the woman showed her, at the bottom of a short cliff, that the water practically glowed green with plantlife. She said it went deeper than it looked in that spot, part of underground caverns caved in on themselves long ago for a deep plunge.

There was a breed of octopus that made their home in that cavern and occasionally came up through the opening, a much more aggressive lot than your average slimy eight-legged sea creature. Zuberi got in just fine - the water was warm and temperate and comfortable, if still a little stirred up - but as she dove down, looking for who knew what, one of the critters got too close and started to tangle her up. They were about haif her side, large, and their suckers were painful. It was a good thing she had been hunting in the sea for all her life, leaving her nearly akin to an aquatic Chuck Norris squirrel, or it may have proved fatal. As it was, the creature just proved to be a tasty dinner for the two women. It was an early dinner, though, as the ship set sail that evening with Zuberi on board for the next island.

As for her dive, even after killing the octopus, she went down once more and came across a small, odd chest, no larger than your average mail parcel. Inside was a round stone piece, engraved with a word in the same handwriting as the letter on the back of her map, only rougher. 'Trove'.

[Nako]

Once more, Zuberi found herself on the ship, and once more sharing a room with the loud and boisterous Peggy. It was after the meal, and after the cleaning of the kitchen Zuberi made her way out to the deck of the ship. After being cooped up in the cramped hut of the Priestess and the suffocating darkness of the watery hiding place of her next clue. She needed open air, and time to think.

Grimacing, she padded the painful sucker marks that went along her forearm with a poultice. It was bruised and welted and in some places some hair had been pulled out... goodness only knows what would have happened had she been less adept at hunting underwater. With a sigh, she rested her head on the great mast she was leaning up against. Even Peggy wasn't as pushy as she could normally be; was she really acting so strangely today? Well, to be honest she certainly had a lot on her mind. Distractedly, she looked down at the smooth stone she held within her paws.

[The Jenn]

The stone was a blue-gray color, natural but unusual. Its edges were faintly smoothed from its watery grave, but it still retained the roughened texture of wherever it had been cut from. The middle was three separate holes at almost-but-not-quite even intervals. Around the edge were the letters previously described. It was about twice as large as her palm and heavy enough to make holding it with two hands a good idea, though not an absolute necessity.

Going to the second, smaller island took a bit longer, though only because they had to navigate waters close to the shore. The current in these parts was treacherous, Peggy explained, and it took a skilled navigator to chart a course this way rather than the more heavily-patrolled route on the other side of the islands. They were lucky in their crew and for some of their business associates not to become 'suspicious' that they weren't all that they claimed to be, whatever that meant, they took the more dangerous but ironically safer route. She just sounded happy to be away from the first island. Not a nice crowd that gathered there, and Zuberi had been lucky to shack up with Shiisha rather than having to find lodgings elsewhere.

Headed for the second 'sister' in the Two Sisters island group, the one affectionately nicknamed Lori by most of the sailors, they had clear weather as if to make up for the squall that had slammed them on the first isle. Several of the sailors were looking forward to their arrival for more than the usual reasons. When Peggy heard some of them gossiping and placing bets on 'who'd be there' and 'who won last round' and other such things, she snorted and shook her head. "Men an' their money," she groused, but she looked amused regardless. "They just can't wait to throw it at the first thing that looks like a brawl, even if it's all organized-like. I swear some o' them fights are rigged..."

[Nako]

Zuberi was admittedly a million leagues away in her mind when Peggy was talking; she had so much on her mind it was often hard to wonder. After all, she'd just found the first and most definite clue that she was in fact on the right track to finding some trace of Pinkbeard. It was as if it were proof that the map was genuine. Because of this, her morose attitude had quite lifted, and her mind was definitely set toward the task to come. It was when she heard something of fighting that her ears perked up, sliding the stone she still fiddled with in her hands into her carry sack.

"A fighting ring? I think I'll be looking for someone around a place like that... " She looked in the direction toward the sailor men before continuing. "Perhaps I should follow them when they go? Possibly smarter than wandering over there alone, I'd hope..." She squirmed almost uncomfortably. Her constant ambiguity had caused many odd looks her way, and had been most resistant to prying. Who in their right mind would admit they had what could be a map to what possibly was the greatest treasure of all time? Zuberi was admittedly skeptic that gold and jewels would last so long; but then again she wasn't really after such wealth.

[The Jenn]

Peggy rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "After some fool of a man who pursues the sport. Eh, whatever floats your boat. You'd probably be safer with our boys than making your own way, an' I think the Captain's a fan so you can just ask him to keep hands away from your tail while you're with 'im. He's an honorable enough sort to do that for ya. Boy, there are some characters down that way..."

Ferris had always liked the arena on Lori, ever since he'd been a pup and his father had sailed him there every few months to bet on the matches. It was a big sport for the area, especially with all the hype that surrounded it from generations of competitions. Things had evolved somewhat, but the arena grounds were upwards of four hundred years old and had been serving the area for even longer.

[Nako]

Zuberi's tail twitched behind her, as if knowing it was being spoke of. Embarrassed by the impulsive movement, she grabbed her tail and curled it back into the typical position. "The Captain? Well, I can't say that it surprises me. He seems to have salt water and nails running through his veins so it wouldn't be a far cry that he'd like such a sport. I personally don't mind it; many of the villages around mine still have rites of passage that can be quite brutal."

Slipping off her seat, she re-adjusted her pack and looked toward the men, who were still quite actively placing their bets. Hopefully none were set in stone, lest someone bet on a man they find is not in as good a shape as they were last time they came into port. "I suppose I should get ready; don't want to be left behind when the men start moving."

[The Jenn]

"Yeah, my home village was a lot like that too," Peggy agreed with a snort. "One of my brothers actually lost a leg to our ritual, the cocky bastard. The rest of us gave him hell for a while after that. He was just being a stupid dick at the time and we all thought he deserved it."

She reached under the counter to fish for something, then came up with half a loaf of crusty bread that she handed to the squirrel. "The food here's either crap or expensive if you don't catch it yourself, so don't eat too much if you don't have to. You don't look the type to gorge so I'm not too worried, but some of the boys always come back with the runs after stops here. You'd think they'd learn, the idjits."

The men were ready to go within half an hour and, when she expressed an interest in the arena, Ferris raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "You're welcome to come along, but don't expect anyone to spot you for any debts you end up with. I won't do that for my own crew, and I certainly won't do it for a passenger. Besides that danger, though, we'll help you out if you fall to trouble and you weren't being stupid to bring it on."

[Nako]

Zuberi couldn't help but grimace, but accepted the bread and wrapped it in cloth before putting it in her bag. From what it sounded like, Zuberi wouldn't want much of anything the local cuisine had to offer her; she rarely liked eating foods from other places anyhow unless they were the sort the locals could go to and afford. The best measure of a food establishment was how popular it was with the local population.

Ferris of course, was his general, dismissive self; any comment always holding a barbed edge to snag under her skin. Now though, she was able to let it run off her like water off of a duck's back. "I think I've made enough bets on this journey to tide me over, thank you very much." Zuberi said ambiguously enough as she followed them off the boat and onto land. The hard land still felt as if it swayed a bit beneath her, and marveled at how the seagoing folks who'd been doing it for years could compensate so quickly. Still though, they held the characteristic swagger of seagoing men.

Following the group closely, she couldn't help but let her eyes wander a the interesting sight around her. It seemed it was a busy place filled with sea hardened men... and a few women sporting attractive bipedal forms and garnished in accentuating outfits. Zuberi didn't have to guess what their profession was. The smells that rose up from kitchens were often unpleasant, but every now and then she caught whiff of a smell that made her realize why many of the men would be swayed to eat till they drop. She couldn't afford to be distracted though; the chanting within her head of the memorized words on the map wouldn't cease until her quest came to fruition.

[The Jenn]

The men continued on, a few of them breaking off to sample the local flavor, be it food or booze or whores or a combination of the three. A good half-dozen men stayed together and made their way straight through the unusually bustling streets to a large building that had been visible from the pier. It wasn't more than two stories, but its sheer size and the various flags flying from the top of the open arena made it more than visible. There were men all around hawking odds, which the crew eventually stopped to listen to.

"Uilliam versus Toughback in the first round, the second rather than the primary," one man roared to be heard over the others. "Tinman versus Yargo, Red Russell versus the Major, and Pinkbeard versus Montego! Hurry and place your bets now, cause everything starts in half an hour! After that, it's anybody's game!"

"Didn't think Yargo would be in this wave," Ferris muttered, disgruntled, and handed a few coins over to his smirking first mate.