Elyre was finally on board, thanks to her sister's help. She hid in a small cabin before deciding what to do. When the ship set sail, she felt a sense of relief.
She thought it would be best if she disguised as a dancer. She'd passed by a dressing room full of women's clothing. She had seen a group of dancers earlier. They often wore wigs, a lot of make up and masks, so it would be easy to hide her identity completely... In this way, she wouldn't meet any people who knew her... especially *one* person who could recognize her...
She just had to choose a convenient moment to sneak into the dressing room. Preferably when there were no dancers there or when all of them were there and she could mingle with them. She also had to have a look at their costumes to make sure hers would not be very different.
The dressing room was full of colorful satin and silk garments, wide variety of jewelry and exotic accessories. In the evening there was live entertainment on board.
She put on a silver mask that hid her face well.
She went to the restaurant. There were many people in the restaurant, pleasant music and a well-laden buffet.
She was glad to see nobody noticed her. As she was a bit hungry, she went straight for the buffet. Buffet supper! It smelled nice and there were so many delicious meals. She didn't plan to eat too much. Just enough not to starve.
She wondered which of these meals would be the most delicious? All smelled wonderful. Maybe she had to take some and go away. And while she busied herself with these pleasant thoughts, somebody touched her back.
She shuddered. Who could it be? She had a sense of foreboding...
"Good evening," she heard a voice. A familiar voice. The mage she'd met earlier, of course.
In fact, when she had arrived, she'd looked around especially to make sure he was not there. And she hadn't seen him. She frowned under her mask. She slowly turned around to look at him, yet trying to avoid meeting his gaze.
There was still a ray of hope. Just saying "Good evening" did not mean he'd recognized her, right? So she mustered up some courage and instinctively answered,
"Calee shi kw'eem?" She obviously pretended to be a foreigner. Even if he suspected who she was, he would leave her alone once he understood they spoke different languages, right? After all, they had no way to communicate!
But he was not leaving, so she shook her head and added in order to sound more believable,
"Eerhar kwochehdaam."
He was still silent, but not leaving. In a moment, he snorted,
"There is no such language."
She whispered back,
"How can you be so sure? There are so many languages in the world!"
"I took a wild guess," he said.
Ah, it turned out she could speak Allyrian.
She was still holding a plate in one of her hands, and honestly she was hungry and wanted to have dinner. As the music was loud and there were many people around, nobody seemed to notice them... at least, not yet.
"So, you indeed managed to get on board on your own. Amazing," he declared. She felt he'd almost shake a finger at her to scold her.
Elyre was a bit angry with herself because she had begun to speak Allyrian so easily. She did not reply.
"So here's my offer," he said absent-mindedly. "I investigate ancient artifacts. I am not going to reveal that you're traveling illegally, but in return I want to investigate your amulet..." She seemed unhappy. He said, "...What? You don't think I should keep my mouth shut every time I see you breach the law, do you?"
"My mouth is full, I can't give you an answer right now," she said as she put a big chunk of warm bread into her mouth.
But, as it seems, he decided to demonstrate precisely how he could reveal her identity. Suddenly, he started speaking loudly and he spread his arms as he said,
"May I have the next dance, my lady?"
His loud voice immediately attracted the attention of more than one person nearby.
She almost choked and quickly and quietly answered,
"No, thank you."
Now because of her weirdly short answer people still kept looking at them. She thought she had to be more polite.
She saw another dancer behind the mage who was making a certain sign at her. It was indeed a stupid sign, and unfortunately, the firine totally failed to get its meaning. Then she realized... dancers were here to entertain the guests, maybe it was inappropriate of her to refuse.
"I am afraid," she said, "that I ate something bad. As much as I would like to keep you company, I am really unable to dance right now. I really hope you would not be offended."
"Mm, these delicious meals here... how could they really be poisonous?!" he exclaimed. Well, if he wanted to get people's attention (which he obviously wanted), this indeed worked out great...
"It was not one of these meals," she remained calm. "There's nothing poisonous here. It was... another meal... elsewhere."
"Another meal you ate at another place," he spoke quite loudly again. "I see. Then maybe you should return to your cabin and relax until you feel better. Let's call the server and help you there. Se...!"
She interrupted him with a nervous laugh. Oh, alright, she understood. He could really betray her and reveal she was on board illegally. Yes, he could betray her and they could throw her off board. But what could she do?! This was the only ship bound for Vahara Arta!
The gentle cool breeze didn't calm her down. It rather gave her a start. What could a single fire creature do on a ship in the middle of the dark, deep sea, its waves raging as if they were telling a sad story about cold foam and unfriendly whirlpools?… What could she do now, surrounded on all sides by turquoise blue infinity throwing billows of panic at her heart?
"May I have the next dance?" she said.
The people who observed them till now decided perhaps they were just a weird couple. So they ignored them. Some of the other dancers though thought it was quite entertaining and kept watching.
"Why, of course," he replied. He bowed slightly and it seemed he was waiting for something.
Elyre observed him wondering what he was doing.
He seemed to be expecting something.
Finally, he decided she needed a hint and asked,
"Will you offer your hand?"
"Why?"
Puzzled by the question, he had to remind himself she was from [the uncivilized] Wild Wood...
He explained quietly,
"It is a manner of courtesy that before a dance the woman should offer her hand for the man to kiss."
"Really?... And who has invented this?" she replied.
"I don't know," he admitted in a level voice, narrowing his eyes.
"Alright, alright. Here's my hand. I didn't mean to annoy you!"