13 Cylus 720
Balthazar expected the voyage to be brief, it never took more than a trial to get from Almund to Scalvoris Town when the winds were good and when Balthazar was on the ship the winds were always good. Despite this Balthazar got to know the crew as best he could. They seemed like a fun but secretive bunch and so Balthazar pried for the first few breaks aboard the ship while he went about doing his duties. The winds were kind so his aid was not needed mystically, and rather than have him man the sails, Wadsworth had Balthazar scrubbing the deck with Cabin Boy Green. Green was a young lad who had joined up with the merchant ship to get a taste of adventure but he was exactly what his namesake implied, green. All the same Balthazar knew that aboard a ship, the Cabin Boy had the rub.
"So Boddy is the captain, but Wadsworth is in charge?" Balthazar asked Green as they really put their elbows into scrubbing the deck.
"Well not really. Captain Boddy still has final say in decisions and all. If he thinks Wadsworth was wrong or somethin he could say 'no go do this instead' or somethin." Cabin Boy Green replied as his hand slipped and he knocked over his bucket. The water began to spill out but before Wadsworth could see and unleash his furry on the kid, Balthazar stood brought his hands in a wide circle in front of him, and reached out to the water with his ether. The liquid stopped and rose into the air, collecting into a ball as Cabin Boy Green put his bucket upright. Balthazar lowered the water back into the bucket slowly and then returned to scrubbing. "Thanks." Green whispered as he too returned to scrubbing.
"So who are they?" Balthazar asked with a gesture towards the other crew members moving around the deck, performing their tasks. Cabin Boy Green looked around. There was a very attractive woman working the sails which Green pointed to first.
"That's Scarlett, she and the captain have a special agreement that gets her paid more than the rest of us. It involves a lot of night visits to-"
"I get the idea. What about him?" Balthazar gestured to the man inspecting the cannons and shouting harsh orders at the other crew members around him.
"That's Master Gunner Mustard, he is in charge of the cannons and is quite the cannon himself." Green said simply. "I don't think he's all that bright but he's good at his job. Used to be an Element before some disagreement." Balthazar nodded and stood up, having finished this section of the deck.
"That's fascinating. Is there anyone else I should know about? Think hard." Balthazar asked as he picked up Green's bucket for him. The kid could hardly lift the thing with the water in it.
"Well there's Carpenter Plum below deck, he's the newest one on the crew and it seems like he's fixing to replace Wadsworth but I don't think he'd ever be able to. He'd good with repairs and all but the quartermaster has to do a lot-"
"Anything else?" The two of them went down the stairs to clean below deck as well.
"You sure ask a lot of questions, mister?"
"And I'm gonna help you with a lot of your chores now spill it." Balthazar Black refused to give his name for the first time. He knew Cabin Boy Green was talkative.
"Well there's also Surgeon White, he seems to spend a little too long in his quarters after hours and then there's Swabbie Peacock-"
"Swabbie Peacock?"
"Eh that's just what we all call him. His name is Peacock and all he does is clean and swab cannons so, Swabbie Peacock. He seems to have sticky fingers. I know for a fact he stole my socks last season and he'd taken at least three pairs of Miss Scarlett's undergarments."
"How'd you know she was missing them?" Balthazar asked Green who seemed to freeze up. He began to stumble through a response when Balthazar whacked him on the arm. "Relax, pervert, I don't care."
*** *** ***
When the sun had set on the water Balthazar was relieved to go rest with the rest of the day crew... but he did not to his hammock. Instead he wandered the ship, curious to try and familiarize himself with the frequency of the vessel. Isabella had told him it would be possible but he had never done it before. It felt almost instinctive that he had to walk the length of the ship multiple times. No one seemed to mind him. It was a well built ship so the floorboards only creaked a little as he walked by and Balthazar did his best not to bump into things as he passed which was fairly easy with both his Rupture and Attunement spark to aid him. While he walked he let himself hear the resonate song of the ship. He let himself feel the notes singing in harmony with each other. It was a difficult task. Part of the song seemed clearer below the deck of the ship but by going there you lost the notes you could hear above deck.
Balthazar was fascinated by how every different part of the ship sang within the same frequency but held a plethora of different notes. He was glad, happy even, until he heard the song being sung from the Captain's Quarters. Balthazar didn't know what it was but every time he neared it, the notes grew longer and sadder. After a third pass Balthazar couldn't hold in his curiosity. He approached the door only to discover it was locked. If it was locked, he was not meant to go inside. That sated his curiosity for another lap of the ship before he gave in again. As he rounded the ship this time, Balthazar retrieved a hammer.This time the mage approached the lock with a plan.
Balthazar knelt down to the lock with no practical knowledge of how to pick it, but he didn't want to pick it. He wrapped his hand around it and closed his eyes. He focused on the heat in his blood, the fire within his spark. It was a difficult task but he knew the magic well. Deference would protect his hand while he called upon his kin to embrace the lock. It was not the wind this time, it was that heat that had always burned in his spark. The lock ignited in his hand but Balthazar held it still. The lock burned and Balthazar poured ether into heating the flame until the lock began to deform- then Balthazar released it, he took the hammer in his hand and broke away the lock then pushed the door open.
Captain Boddy sat in a large chair, face down on a table with a map of the islands that comprised Scalvoris- an ornate cup hanging from his hand. Balthazar's eyes widened in shock but not horror as he realized the cup was the instrument of the slow, sad notes. He realized what the note was and understood it.
Murder.
Balthazar slowly approached the cup as if in a trance and pulled it from Boddy's hand. If he could attune to it, perhaps-
A shrill scream tore through the air. Balthazar turned, it was Scarlett. She was in a night gown that didn't leave much to the imagination, dragging Cabin Boy Green by the ear to see the captain and instead they found Balthazar standing over his dead body with the cup that did the deed in hand. The scream drew that attention of the rest of the crew and before Balthazar knew it the door to the captain's quarter was blocked by Mustard, Peacock, White, Green, Scarlett, Plum and Wadsworth- all wide eyed and shouting accusations at the man holding the cup.
"I can explain."
