Sooraya sighed. She had been spending the entire morning fishing at the docks of Mhaura and managed to get a decent haul to sell to Rycharde. She didn’t mind selling stuff as it meant that more gil was going into her savings for her inevitable dream-wedding. It was the long wait for the ferry’s departure to Al Zahbi that was bothering her. Tamtu had already used his warping “priviledges” to instantaneously travel to the Near Eastern capital early in the morning to make sure a Rent-a-room would be ready for them. Unfortunately, Sooraya wasn’t as advanced in the magic schools as he was, often restricting her transportation methods, but she enjoyed beating the crap out of any fiends attempting to hurt her beau more than casting magic anyway.

The weather had finally cleared up and she was well on her way to the port of Al Zahbi. It was a long boatride, but it was usually 6 hours of resting or studying. Night fell and she retreated to the lower deck to get some sleep. The ferry was nothing more than a freight ship that allowed whoever able to pay the fare to board. Occasionally, the passengers were merchants with wonderful deals. But they were usually adventurers, wanting to try their luck in the Near East. Because of the delayed departure, a number of adventurers had amassed by the port and as she expected, the lower deck was full with adventurers, sleeping, snoring, doing whatever. She didn’t mind people snoring, but there was a Galka in particular that had a most obnoxious wheezing sound paired with his unflattering sleeping habits. Obviously, the remarkable Adaman Cuirass armor misguided her initial impression of the Galka, turning it from a certain level respect, to that of utter disgust.

She shuddered and returned to the upper deck and sat down on the stairs to look at the stars high above. It reminded her of Tamtu, who had minor interest in the forbidden magic of summoning and told her about the legends of the avatars as they were written in books found in the Windurst. The constellations in the sky were named after the actual avatars.

“Excuse me, miss..”

Sooraya turned to look at a little mithra girl, dressed in rags, shivering in the cold seawinds. Her heart sank, but smiled for the child. “Hey sweetie. What’s up?” The girl perked up, happy she got a nice response from someone. Her tail wagged a bit as she approached Sooraya further. “Do you have snacks to sparrre, miss?”

It seemed like the girl was a stowaway trying to get by with hiding on the decks and coming out at night. Sooraya grabbed her pouch and took a fire crystal, some dried majoram and some hare meat she hunted from the Rarabs outside of Mhaura. The mithra girl looked confused. But Sooraya winked at her and started a synthesis. The ship lit up from the crystal and the little kitten stared in awe as the Hume in front of her finished up cooking. It was an easy recipe that her white mage partner often made for her.

“I hope you like grilled hare.” Sooraya said and handed the food to the girl. She nodded her head and enjoyed every bite. “Fhank yeww, mith Hume.”

The warrior giggled and sat back down. “I’m Sooraya. What’s your name?”

The mithra finished up her last bite and looked at the hume. “Aryana. Thank you again, Sooraya.” she said and stood up, waving. “I won’t forrrget this!” Sooraya tilted her head and watched the Mithra run off towards the crates and hid behind them, out of anyone’s sight. She followed Aryanna to the crates and peered over them. The girl was already fast asleep, much to the warrior’s surprise. She was still shivering, the meal obviously no longer keeping her warm.

Knowing the snorefest was still in full force below deck, Sooraya climbed over the crates and sat down next to the girl. “Aryanna, huh?” she whispered to herself and took off her cape. She carefully placed it on the sleeping Mithra.

“Goodnight, kid.”