[Faldrass] Stargazing and swashbuckling

[Faith Augustin]

32nd Ashan 717

"I'm not entirely sure I believe you." Faith was contently laying against him, the pair of them wrapped in a blanket leaning back and looking at the stars. They had hired a small boat and gone for a picnic whilst gazing at the stars. "Why would stars have names? Plus, grouping them together to make patterns seems rather silly." She looked up at him from her spot where she was nestled against his shoulder, half of the opinion that he was teasing her.

The idea of stars having names, to her mind, seemed odd. "Are they always in the same place from one night to another? How do you know that the star you think is Duane is not just Philip, but he moved?" She was teasing him, of course, mostly. What he had forgotten about the stars and the physics of such was more than she could comprehend so, if he said the stars had names and groups then she believed him. "What do the groups represent?" Were they Immortals or creatures or stories she wondered, content to just be in the moment with him.

It made her think though, as they talked about names for the stars. "You know, I've been thinking about names a lot lately, too." She tended not to, in truth, names had always been much more transitory for her, much more likely to change. "I'm going to have to give the charity and the restaurant a name. An identity." Faith knew that these things were important, but she had no idea where to start with such a thing. "And apparently, there's a guild of some kind I have to join, too." The Merchants' Guild, she explained and they all got to wear pins with different colours, showing different levels of membership. Faith didn't roll her eyes, but she came close.

Sighing with contentment, she pushed the ideas and concerns of running a business out of her head and instead concentrated on just enjoying the evening together. The people at the resort had offered to pack them a picnic, but Faith was of the opinion that she was much more able to make a decent meal for the pair of them for roughly one tenth of the price, so she had done that.

The dark of the evening, the beauty of the stars and the gentle lapping of the water all added to the ambience of the experience but it was the fact that they were here together, in a rare moment of quiet and wrapped together in a blanket, his arms around her which meant that she was entirely at peace. Glancing out to sea, Faith's vision was as good in the darkness as it was in the daylight, thanks to her Zuuda mark and she noticed the large ship which was anchored away from shore, but did not really pay it much heed. "This is nice. It's also my first romantic stargazing boat ride." She smiled as she felt his arms tighten, "So far, full marks."

[Padraig]

It was a romantic evening out for them, therefore Padraig had come armed and prepared for trouble, or at least more excitement than they were planning on. It paid, being prepared. But more importantly, this was them and it was just the way their luck tended to run. If there was trouble on the horizon, then he and Faith would find it. Or more likely, it would find them.

But was a simple enough thing to hire a boat, pack a picnic, some books, a blanket and whatever else struck her fancy or his. And an easy thing to find a place on deck where they could recline together and look up at the stars. The heavens at night fascinated Padraig. They were a wonder to behold and so there was a sort of magic to them. But as a scholar, there was an additional, scientific curiosity that he couldn't deny.

"Names make them easier to identify and study," he told Faith with a smile when she mentioned it. "If I identify a particular star that I'd like to study over time, then it make sense to label it. It could as easily be a number assigned to it. But names are better," he maintained. "Some stars simply are grouped together," he explained then as they gazed up at the dark night sky. "Some...loosely, since they might be worlds away from each other, because connected together they've struck someone as resembling some sort of creature, or even an Immortal."

But look there, he told her, almost straight overhead where the sky was at it's darkest. "You see that faint smudge? If you look through the telescope at the university, it's not a smudge at all. But countless stars grouped together. Maybe that's another world surrounded by stars like our own," he suggested. Or maybe it was just more stars and moons.

But they moved in predictable ways, Padraig added, night after night, rotating around the world. Or, he considered, it was Idalos that was moving, rotating, and it was that which caused the regular shifting of where the stars appeared in the sky. It was that second theory which he believed in most strongly, and continued to study and look for ways to know for sure.

"There seems to be an organized group for just about everything, doesn't there?" he said dryly when she mentioned the merchant's guild. He wondered somehow if it was more about money and control in some cases, than just a way to support members. But he didn't say so. Instead he smiled and shrugged. "A name will come to you when you least expect it to."

But she approved of his choices for their evening out, and smiling, he shifted more upright in order to look out over the water. And then Padraig frowned, ever so slightly when he spotted the large ship in the near distance. "That's strange, don't you think? You'd think they'd have made port for the night, being this close." Whether it was sensible or not, there was clearly activity on deck, visible by the points of light probably come of handheld lanterns, moving this way or that all at once.

[Faith Augustin]

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"Such importance is given to them, you know. Names. I don't understand it in many ways." It was, she supposed, a freeborn thing and that she could never comprehend as a way of being. "I understand the scientific sense in giving a label, as a means of identification. But they are just transitory, arbitrary things." Treated like they were permanent and meaningful. "It was always the name that did it when I was a slave. Which makes no sense, frankly. Not calling someone master or sir or mister doesn't change what is true for the slave, after all." It just made it easier for the free person, not to have to confront the truth they did not like or worse still, in some cases, what they claimed to stand against and yet encouraged. "I am about to get on my soap box, so I will just tell you that numbering them would make more sense. That way you are saving yourself the job of also having to count them."

Faith, as ever, felt rather more pragmatic than romantic. However, she looked with fascination at the 'smudge' he pointed and nodded. "That's interesting. How do you know that they're clustered together? I mean, could one of them be a lot closer, but small and the other be a lot further away but big?" He explained, though, that they moved in predictable ways, either them around Idalos, or Idalos around them. "I suppose if Idalos moves around them, sometimes one would get in front of another, like when there's the eclipse in Cylus?" That made sense, she supposed. "Unless they're moving at different speeds. Or, maybe it's a dance. A very slow, very intricate dance and we just don't know the steps they're making."

His arms tightened around her and Faith just enjoyed the moment. She'd think of a name, he was right. It would all come to her just when it should and that was fine. When he mentioned the vessel off to the side of them, though, she frowned and glanced over. "You make a fair point. Maybe they were too late and didn't want to navigate the water? Though.. they're getting into small boats, look." As they saw the first small boat leave, Faith asked, entirely seriously. "Is it a little suspicious that there's a lot of very armed people on a boat with no torches?" It didn't seem like it was the usual way to act, she had to admit.

"Padraig?" Faith narrowed her eyes, already knowing the answer. "Is it happening again?"

[Padraig]

"I disagree. Respectfully," Padraig told Faith with a smile, looking back to the stars and pulling her closer. "Sir, mister, master, slave," he added, "Those are titles, labels, they are in fact transitory. The stars are not."

So why not name them? Did they call Quattro, cat number 1. Or Cosmo, Dog two seventeen? "Besides, numbering stars on a chart certainly helps when studying them and mapping their positions in the night sky, trial after trial. But it's not very romantic is it?" he supposed with a grin, "To show your beloved a sky full of stars, point out just one that reminds you of her and say, look there, there's number one million, eight hundred thousand and three."

When she asked about clusters, he sat up, having already spotted the ship not so far away from them. "From here they look like a smudge, rather than singular points of light. Viewed through a telescope, they still are packed tightly together. But it's distance that seals the deal. Distance from us, distance from each other. Those things can be measured with the right equipment."

As for movement, whether it was them, the stars or both, he told her...Yes, just like the eclipse of Cylus. There was a more immediate question to answer, however, and an apparent problem. The nearby ship that had been crawling with activity just a few trills ago, was emptying its deck somewhat as men climbed into smaller boats. Many men, and well armed ones too.

He stood then, and frowned deeply at Faith's question. "I believe it is, yes," he said dryly. Because of course it was happening again, and he hadn't hired a fighting ship for their evening under the stars. He'd hired a touring one. Glancing about, he could see that the small crew aboard their own vessel had spotted the boats too, and were busy scampering around, calling the alarm and arming themselves.

Padraig drew his bow first, hoping he wouldn't need it, and if he did, hoping it was all that they'd need. It was probably too much to hope for, that the figures in the boats were just rowing over to say hello. Looking around for their own captain, he called out, "I don't suppose you've brought a cannon along?" Probably not, but it warranted asking all the same.

[Faith Augustin]

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He disagreed respectfully? Faith could not resist the beaming smile as she snuggled into him. "Well, if you point one out that reminds you of me, I will ask you why that one not another. Also," Faith twisted and kissed him to make sure that he knew she was teasing. "If you then tell me that the star which reminds you of me is number one million, eight hundred thousand and three then I will be happy and know that no other star is that number. Each number, after all, is unique. Names, well there are all sorts of bother with them." She pulled herself as close to him as she could and added, in case it needed saying, "pay no mind to me, I am enjoying being deliberately contrary." More than that? "And it is a very romantic evening. I feel as unique as star number one million, eight hundred thousand and three. Who is very much in love with star number seventy six million, two hundred and thirty four thousand, eight hundred and ninety seven, by the way." She grinned and felt quite content to just be there together.

Except, of course, they couldn't manage that.

Every time they tried to actually have a romantic time together someone fell down something, or got poisoned by something, an Immortal of death showed up or there were... whatever these folks were. Faith sighed. "Next time we see Kura, I'm going to tell her that if we ever get married, there'll be a thunderbolt or something. Minimum. Romance, Padraig. It is not too much to ask for." She gave him a sharp dig in the ribs with her elbow and narrowed her eyes as she gazed at the small boats.

As the captain replied that no, there was no canon aboard, Faith tugged at Padraig's arm, drawing his attention to the large boat of increasingly-obviously pirates. "They're going ashore, I think maybe they haven't noticed us, or don't think we're important. " She looked at him, then and her expression had changed from relaxed and calm to irritated and about to have as close to a hissy fit as the placid young woman ever got. "They're heading to shore. So are this lot." Faith was not impressed with that decision, but that was up to the boat crew. However, there was a small raft the two of them could get into. "It has oars. We can use oars. Whilst those people are off on the mainland, and these people are raising the alarm about those people, you and I can get over there and make sure that their escape route is cut off."

Was it a lunatic plan? Yes. Was it sensible? No. Was it better than sitting whilst someone else took this boat to the mainland? She thought so. So, she looked at him and she raised an eyebrow. Go back and raise the alarm with those who were already doing so, or make a decisive strike? There was no doubting which was her choice, after all.

[Padraig]

Why that one and not another? It had seemed obvious to Padraig, and he seemed surprised that she didn't see it too. "It's obvious isn't it? That one shines brighter than all the others, as if all those nearby are revolving around it. Almost as if in adulation," he'd told her. If it might've been called a sun instead of a star, then from this distance it shone brighter than even that which shone on Idalos itself.

A very romantic thought, more romantic than was his norm. And he would have said it, if not for the pirates ruining yet another romantic evening. In fact when she wondered if it was too much to ask for, as he nocked an arrow, just in case, he uttered dryly. "We may have to accept that this is our particular brand of romantic."

Others had candlelit dinners and fine wine. Roses and uninterrupted strolls in the moonlight. They had giant spiders, pirates and Immortals with grudges. Anyway she was right. They were headed towards shore. Just as well, if the pirates had nels in mind, he had all of a half dozen in his pocket. There'd be slim pickings aboard this small boat that the captain had decided already to pilot towards shore.

So when she suggested they take the small rowboat, he could only agree and put his bow away. He'd never rowed a boat in all of his life. However, "I'm a physicist. I think I can handle oars," he said, and once they'd lowered the thing and he'd helped her climb into it, he took up the rear and took a set of the oars in hand. And as they pointed the small boat towards shore, turned out, it wasn't as simple as he'd thought it would be. There was a learning curve to this, and not one that did his scientific ego any favors.

[Faith Augustin]

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"It's not shining brighter," Faith's voice was a whisper, just for him. "It's just that it reflects the light, you see, of seventy six million, two hundred and thirty four thousand, eight hundred and ninety seven. See how they revolve around each other and make each other shine brighter those two? I'm not quite sure I can tell where the light from one ends and the other begins, really." She smiled in those last moments of peace and had to admit that, when they managed romantic, they managed it well.

Just, never for long.

"Yes, marvellous," was her muttered response to this being their unique brand of romance. Faith knew that those things, extraneous to the two of them, made no difference at all to their thoughts or feelings but just once it might be nice to go a whole date without a calamity. "Maybe we should stop being romantic. Become pen pals." She wasn't serious, of course, but it did border on irksome, this. Still, it was what it was and so Faith reached into her Domain Bag and pulled out her gladius, which she belted around her waist and her crossbow which she hung on the same belt.

When he helped her into the small rowboat, though, Faith raised an eyebrow. He was a physicist and he could handle oars? She really wasn't convinced that it was going to be that easy, but she said nothing and simply nodded her head. If anyone could just pick up some oars and use them having considered the physics of the situation, her Padraig could she was sure.

It more or less turned out that, that being the case, it was probable that no one could.

The very last thing that he needed was helpful advice, so Faith sat and looked forward, keeping an eye out. However, after quite a few splashes and the slow circular motion of the boat, he might notice that her shoulders were shaking. Still, she said nothing and merely tried to keep the pirates in sight as he worked out how to do this.

Once they were moving in a more or less forward direction and so she knew that he had it, Faith whispered to him. "That was very clever. You've given yourself time to practice and now, all of them who were leaving the ship have left. It looks deserted. Can we try and go that way now?" It took all of her discipline not to laugh as she said it, but if he could actually row them in a forward direction, they could go around 'behind' the large vessel, she whispered, as hidden from land as possible and then they could get on the pirate ship and cut the string to the sails, or something.

It might not help his confidence when she asked, quite seriously, "Do sails have strings?"

[Padraig]

Probably better she didn't offer up any advice, or worse, critique regarding Padraig's rowing skills. Or lack of them. He was too busy rowing them in circles after all to protest too much. "Just getting the feel for it," he muttered, and with a slight frown, observed her trembling shoulders.

He could imagine the amused expression on her face too, which only encouraged him to work harder at getting them ashore by way of a relatively direct route. Finally he managed it and what did she want? A change in direction? "I thought so," Padraig responded, and couldn't help but grin. Very clever of him indeed.

The pirate's vessel did seem all but abandoned now. And if they could find their way on board as she suggested and cripple the thing, it meant that they'd be dead in the water, easily gotten at by any on shore that tried to pursue them. Strings. "Ropes, you mean? I think they're called lines and when combined with the sails, then its the rigging." Cut the ropes, the rigging, the sails would be useless.

"Good idea," he said, and having gotten the hang of working the oars, he turned their small boat and headed towards the abandoned ship. Even if there was someone on board, they probably wouldn't notice the small boat slicing through dark waters towards them. Still, he advised Faith to keep her bow ready, just in case. And as they drew nearer and looked for the ladder that the pirates had climbed down earlier, he asked her to look for the right spot to grab hold of so they could tie their boat off before climbing up and onto the ship.

[Faith Augustin]

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When he said that he was getting the feel for it, Faith nodded her head. Breathing in and utilising every ounce of discipline she had, she did not sound at all like she was laughing although she knew that he knew differently when she replied. For all that he was rowing them around in circles, Faith was entirely serious when she said, "You are doing better than I could, without a doubt."

She smiled at him as he agreed with her on his 'practice' being a clever idea. "I know I've changed my mind, but look, We could be a help, I believe. Thank you." It would be easy to focus on the fact that they were going around in circles, or had been, however the simple fact of it was that whilst it was undoubtedly funny, it was also a case of him doing his best.

He agreed and they made their way to the almost-abandoned ship. When he corrected what she meant Faith grinned and shrugged slightly, "Rope, string - surely the only difference is thickness? But yes, those." When he said that it was called the rigging, Faith grinned. "So, it was a good idea? Cut the strings." She reached for her crossbow and patted it. "I haven't got to spend any time rummaging for it, I promise. I learnt my lesson." If she hadn't messed around with her crossbow last time they were on Faldrass, Faith was fairly sure that Padraig wouldn't have been poisoned by the spider.

Her ability to see perfectly in the dark, as granted to her by Famula, allowed her to spot the ladder and she silently pointed to it. She looked for the spot where they could tie off and she spotted where the small boats had been tied before they had left. Once they'd got the boat tied off as quietly as they could, Faith took Padraig's hand and squeezed it, then waited for him to go up first which she was sure that he would want to do. It was not until they were climing up that she realised that her instinct had been to let him go first. How had that changed from the time she had jumped in front of him, or tried to, when a shadow beast had attacked.

Meanwhile, those who had remained behind on the ship, which she was sure there were, would not yet know they were there. An event which Faith prayed to Famula maintained and that they got on the ship, cut the ropes and then got off. As much as she hoped they got on and off without any bother, somehow Faith wouldn't be prepared to bet any money on it.

[Padraig]

While he was sometimes unnerved by her choice of worship, or rather those Immortals that she'd dedicated herself to serving, her ability to see perfectly in the dark was one that had proven its usefulness numerous times now. There was no moon that night and the stars were hardly enough to see by. But if they'd lit a lantern to find their way, they'd have been spotted the trill they'd climbed into the rowboat.

Stealth was all important, and silence. The latter had been tricky at first while he'd found his way with the oars. But after a little more practice as they finally headed in the right direction, barely a sound was heard when he dipped the oars into the water. And because of her sight, they found the ladder and a place to tie the boat off in record time.

And of course he wanted to go up the ladder first. He'd have insisted on it if she hadn't realized already. So that too required going slowly, carefully, so not to knock against the side of the hull and risk alerting anyone on board who'd been left behind. And once they were there, clearly there'd been a few. Ducking down behind a wooden crate, Padraig tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the shadowy figure of a man a handful of yards away, who seemed to be making his rounds.

A big man, so rough around the edges that they were jagged, and though he seemed to have only one eye, he'd spotted them as they'd ducked behind the crate, and was already charging their way while shouting out curses. "Cut what you can, if there's more than just him, we'll have to make a quick getaway," Padraig whispered and stood, drawing his sword.

He meant to attract all the man's attention while Faith did what they'd come to do. And if they were lucky, it was only the one man who'd been left behind. Judging by the fact that no one else came running when he shouted, it was likely the case. There was no time for firing off arrows, so it would need to be the blade. So Padraig met the man halfway through his charge and their swords met as both slashed out at the other.

Thrusting, blocking, slashing, Padraig was quicker and more nimble but the sailor was larger. It was no quick match, it dragged on, and therefore he was growing, well, more frustrated than tired. But so long as the man stood, he remained a threat to Faith. Padraig advanced then with new energy, thrusting, blocking, spinning away and driving the man back towards the ship's rail.

And when he got there and the pirate's back was to it, Padraig stepped forward, blocked the blade coming at him with one hand, leveraged it there and struck out with his spare fist, delivering a smart left hook to the jaw that took the pirate by surprise, stunned and unbalanced him, and sent him toppling backwards over the rail and down into the water below. Turned out, the pirate couldn't swim.

Spinning on his heel then, Padraig looked for Faith, hoping she'd done what was needed so they could make their escape. He'd help her do more if needed, but afterwards he'd nudge her towards the rail, back to their rowboat so they could make good their escape.