Ezili grinned as she felt the wind whip against her crimson face, allowing her tail to flow with the pace of the breeze as the smell of the ocean overcame her, humming to herself as her hands gripped onto the wheel, tapping her thumbs against it to hold the beat of the tune. She sang the lyrics in her head as her tail bounced happily with a mind of its own, stabbing the air with sharp jabs of its spade-shaped tip to join in the melody, although the whoosh it caused in the air was overpowered by the sound of the waves brushing against the hull of her ship.
With her left hand she held onto the wheel, while on the other she held onto her hat that fit a little big on her head, as it was once her dad's before he had given up the grandeur sailing for the simple life of fishing to keep a better eye on her grandmama and mom, rightfully proving that he had named the ship after his wife, Art's Paradise. Ironically deceiving many that it was some sort of smuggling ship, for they had been met with some authorities in certain docks to search the ship for the strange title, but in truth it was used for transportation. A cross-continental express, of sorts.
Many a traveler had ventured onto the Art's Paradise to get to locations all over the world, from Wildemount, to the Greenwald, to even the land of Krynn, and due to the strain that it can prove on an unskilled captain, their crew, and their ship, there are very few docks that offer such a wonderful service for adventurers, and not at an easy price, either. Ezili's ship was one of the smaller ones, but one of the more well-known, due to the fact that it had been running for about six generations of her family, several ships of the same model and different names, if one was perfectly honest.
Another renowned part of the Art's Paradise's reputation was the kindness of the crew, each man and woman having a smile on their face as they did their work, the bond between them strong and unbreakable, something Ezili was proud to boast of when they took their breaks at the taverns to get themselves some good food and drink and restock on their supplies. Was there ever a captain that didn't choose to brag of the competence and skill of their crew? Surely not!
It would be far more different if they were pirates, that Ezili was sure, although they had been accused of such a heinous thing only a few times due to certain rumors circulating about her and an accident that she had been exposed to when she had been sailing on a fishing boat with a family friend in the ocean. And whether or not they were true was something she chose to keep to herself, and allow some drama to circulate around the tight-knit community of her crew to add something to spice things up upon the waves. After all, that was where they found their homes, and who would not expect drama in a home?
As for the tale that was told, she was sixteen, only four years younger than how old she was at the present, and a storm had been brewing for some time, but a quick fishing venture was needed to feed the family, so they all took the risk. This was foolish, everyone knew this, but hunger makes you do brash things, and as such the storm foretold struck them, the waves becoming hard and rough, the rush was manageable until a wave of great volume had buried them beneath the water.
Ezili had been the only one who had emerged from the water alive and well, the two others who had joined her rotting in the bottom of the ocean, as well as the fishing boat they had taken. However, that was where the controversy had begun, for some said that she had been strong enough to swim against the storm to find salvation in a nearby cove the rest of the village knew very well, while others said that she had killed her uncle and elder cousin and threw both them and the boat beneath the surface.
However, neither were correct, for the tiefling had been met with something far different beneath the waves, and arguably much more mysterious, perhaps terrifying to some. For when Ezili expected to lose her last breath, she found herself cease movement and instead to be balanced by some form of bubble being balanced and moved by a school of minos that seemed to turn towards another smaller cave that was found in the water itself.
And emerging from it was a beautiful woman with a long fin where her feet would have been with skin that almost blended into the water around her figure, piercing red eyes that seemed to gaze directly into Ezili's own soul with both an intimidating and kind air about them. She introduced herself as the Siren Queen, and that she desired for her to live despite the wreck, and that, in exchange for the tiefling's loyalty, she would help her to the surface and allow Ezili to live again upon the surface.
This was how she not only received some magical talent that seemed somewhat catered to the life upon the waves, something she was not quite complaining about, but she also had become the proud owner of a little azure pseudodragon that she had named Harpoon, who flew above the ship by day, slept with her by night, and watched the people board the boat by noontime every month-and-a-half or so. He was a loyal little guy, who kept her company when she craved the feeling of home, wishing that summer would end sooner.
Ezili felt her grin rise higher on her face as she felt spray hit her face, wild pupiless green eyes closing as the water threatened to fly into them, and when her eyelids fluttered open, to her joy, she saw land nearby, as well as their docking station. Opening her mouth as she called to her crew, most who were below her, but nonetheless they could hear her, "Alrighty, guys, we're bound for Faerun! Fly the colors, and prepare your bellies for a square meal tonight!"
A cheer erupted through the deck, and Ezili saw one of her men running below deck to spread the news while the rest of the men and women on deck began to do their jobs. The lookouts swung themselves back onto the masts to supervise their apprentices, while the stronger crew members began to pull on the ropes on the sails to steer with the wind at their backs. Some stood on the polls that supported the sails as they brought up their own specific flags, something that surely displayed them as the Art's Paradise.
As they did their work, one of the half-orcs in the crew, Poggy, led them in a shanty familiar to them, his voice ringing through the entire ship as everyone worked to the beat with a grin on their face. Ezili smiled as she clapped and twirled to the beat, calling for Harpoon to hold onto the wheel for her as she slid down the banister of the steps leading up to her podium, joining the group of the crew that was flying the colors of the ship in tying the proper knots to keep them steady and flying against the sharp breeze.
"Thanks, boss!" The halfling in charge chirped, a smile on his face as he stomped his small foot to the beat of the shanty, hands on his hips, sweat trickling down his face.
Ezili took off her captain's hat to present it to him, bowing with her opposing hand folded behind her back, crossing her legs slightly as she stood, "My pleasure, Mick! You owe me a beer tonight, lad!" The two of them chuckled as she returned her hat to her head, winking as she climbed her way back up the stairs to the wheel, Harpoon mounting himself back onto her shoulder.
~
The tiefling rubbed her temples exasperatedly as she sat herself against the base of the mast, taking small bites out of an apple as she did so, her tail curling around it to find some form of material stability from her pounding hangover, something she knew would disperse by the time they set off for the Greenwald, but even with that reassurance, it didn't mean Ezili needed to like it. It was well known that each crew member should leave each other to their own business before they set sail on account for the shared effects of their action the night before.
Some saw their man or woman in the porttown's brothel, something the tiefling did every time they docked somewhere, because even she needed an activity to get her stress out besides partying just a bit with the people on her ship and the residents that saw her and her mates as nuisances. Ezili made sure to hire the same guy each time, and despite the reason that the two of them were together, they had become some form of friends over the past two years. Frankly, that happened with all the men she hired in other continents, too, it was just the kind of person she was.
Ezili took another bite out of her apple, closing her eyes as she leaned her head further back against the mast, before hearing Harpoon call to her with his strangely sophisticated voice with the use of their magical connection, the small dragon looking directly at her as he circled the boat with hawk-like eyes despite his draconic heritage.
"A woman just snuck in through the back of the ship using the ropes hanging off the hull– something you need to fix, I might add–," he began facetiously, "oh yeah, and now she's gone below deck. You might want to deal with that, who knows, she might be a smuggler?"
Ezili rolled her eyes as she stood up, taking the final bite out of her apple before she tossed it into the ocean from the side of the ship that was not facing the dock, rolling her eyes as she looked directly at her companion, "She better not be garbling our shit. Thanks, bud." Adjusting her hat on her head, she opened the door that led below deck, her steps light so as to catch the culprit without allowing her to escape.
Below deck, as usual, smelled like damp wood and ale, the slight creaking of the ship in the water was far more evident closer to the sea than it was above deck, a place that Ezili typically frequented more, and the stairs were small and steep despite the builder's best efforts to make it more accessible to large-footed men. For her, it wasn't much of an issue, but there had been many times that one of her crew had fallen down them, and she had to use a bit of magic to fix them up so as to keep things running smoothly.
It was something a bit humorous in her mind, the fact that almost every person that she found herself faced with would remark to the fabrications that surrounded her, for them to stop running their tongues when they realized the magic she held actually gave aid to those who needed it. Of course, even her crew began with their own mistrust of her due to the rumors, although their fears fizzled away the moment they found themselves well taken care of in the hands of a captain that was worth a damn thing.
Allegedly, some captains forbade drinking when some were off duty, and instead managed to get their hands on clear water to force the crew to drink, instead of allowing the people beneath them, and even themselves, a good time! Ezili thought this preposterous, as every mariner she had ever met had always managed to enjoy a tankard of beer when they were below deck, and, in fact, when those above deck just sat around on a windless day, she'd let them have at least one! Perhaps that was the wonders of youth, for that was all the nonsense she heard whenever she did something that was even a smidge out of the orthodox.
On the topic of beer, the small little room where they held their casks was the first place Ezili intended to search, as it was directly across from the end of the staircase in the narrow hallway that later opened up into a larger common room with a kitchen to the side. She had to be relatively fast so as to not worry the people of her crew, as well as to remain close to the schedule she had set for the journey itself, which was imperative when one was traveling across some of the largest seas in all of the world. If that trespasser caused her to get off of schedule, she'd personally call for her deep six.
Opening the door of the first room, she enjoyed the smell of the fresh casks they had brought in from some adventures the previous night, but only for a brief moment before she heard the unmistakable sound of labored breaths and disconnected sobs making themselves known despite the obvious effort the source made to keep them as conspicuous as humanly possible, to no avail. Ezili paused for a moment as she closed the door very quietly, for she heard a soft melody coming from her trespasser, only in a language she had never once heard before. And despite this, she was certain that it was the best music she had ever heard, even if she was only muttering the lyrics.
Treading carefully to the source of the song, Ezili called with a skeptical undertone in her voice to the trespasser, "Y'know, you've got a good voice but that doesn't mean you're excused from paying my fee!" She heard a brief rustle of clothes followed by the creak of the floorboards as she rounded the corner to face her interloper, and she almost felt herself jump back from surprise, perhaps even a bit of fear, for what she saw was not normal.
Not that any trespasser in general wasn't contrary to the norm, but this one was a drow, a drow woman no less! Ezili knew little of their culture, but all she knew was that their matriarchs were fearsome and as violent as the murderous underground race could be. And now one was on her ship.
Although, she didn't look like the average picturesque that any drow woman would pertain, for she had bloodshot eyes as violet as the sunset on a night before a storm, which were wide and glassy from tears, as if she felt mournful and daunted, something that seemed peculiar to her. Weren't drow women indomitable and unbreakable? Or perhaps was it an act to sway her from kicking her off of her ship? However, it seemed like her tears were genuine, either from the sun or from something that had occurred to her in getting to where she was now.
The woman curled herself further into the corner of the room, making herself seem far smaller than she actually was, her arms wrapped into each other as she turned her eyes away from the sailor. She muttered something in her strange language, undercommon, Ezili thought it was called, and it briefly occurred to her that perhaps she knew how to speak elvish, and as such would be able to communicate with her. Her father was a half-elf, after all.
Taking another hesitant step, she reached her hands out to represent her honest intentions, and in her very poor elvish accent, Ezili managed to rekindle the flame of knowledge she had for some of her heritage. "Elvish? Are you… can you speak this? I don't want to hurt you."
She was met with the same lavender eyes again, and, with a ghost of a smile lining her ashen face before she straightened her back out a bit to look at the tiefling, who decided to join her on the ground, "T-thank you. You're the first person to give me a chance since I got up here." she paused, rubbing her face with her sleeve, and for a split second, Ezili saw dried blood underneath her nails and on her fingertips, "I know it's a lot to ask, but can you take me to the Greenwald?"
Ezili furrowed her eyebrows in surprise as she brought her head back for a moment, scratching her head, her tail curing itself into her lap, "Er, what? I barely know you and you want me to take you to a different continent for free…?" She saw the drow wince, "I mean like, 'yay second chances,' but you've gotta be able to pay off what you're not paying for. No murdery drow things, either, if you please."
The woman chuckled to herself for a moment, "Of course. But can I know your name? I'm Arachne. Don't worry, I don't, uh, worship Lolth." She sighed, balling herself up again, "That didn't sound convincing. Please trust me."
She sounded defeated, perhaps even deflated, this Arachne, and, despite her race's morbidly infamous dealings with, well, everything, Ezili felt remorse for her, coupled by a sudden urge to offer her aid. It was a push of her morals, and she knew this, although she never strayed away from such things, for her very existence was the cause of a pull at her ideals, and it appeared as if such dilemmas were just thrown at her willy-nilly by fate's hands. Perhaps that of the Siren Queen's, if she was lucky, that is. The tiefling was not averse to letting her destiny lie on chance, and this drow elf's case seemed to be pulling at both ends of her body.
One end told her no, told her to kick the elf off her ship, while the other demanded her to show mercy to the pitiful woman curled up across from her on her own ship. She made the rules, right? Then why couldn't she breach this one tiny one that may or may not get her into deep trouble with her crew. However, it was then that she deducted a perfect plan.
"I'm Ezili. In fact, I'm in charge here, so I'll get to decide what you do to pay off your ticket debt!" She grinned, and she saw a smile teasing at Arachne's lips once again as well, something that seemed to make her smile even wider, "I heard you singing, so how about you sing for my crew during the journey? You've got a lovely voice, and I'm sure the rest of the world should hear it." Ezili paused for a moment before clapping her hands together excitedly as she suddenly felt another splendid idea crawl into her head, "I've got a shanty you can learn! That would be so much fun! A shanty in elvish! And I thought I'd seen it all!"
Arachne seemed to draw herself further into the corner from her energy, a small smile on her face even as Ezili continued to ramble about elvish sea shanties, so much so that the captain barely heard the drow elf squeak an affirming, "I don't see why not. Thank you, Ezili."