Theonis followed Myrova into the meeting room. Satiria was already there, looking down at the pile of maps and documents that they had to sort through. Lias was staring intently at a very old map, scratching his shaved head.

“Where to even begin?” he asked, before looking up at the newcomers. “Theonis, you know the gist of how to read navigational maps, correct?”

“A little,” Theonis replied. When he was briefly on the Mariki under Captain Valenvara, he worked with the navigator for a bit. Hopefully, some of what he’d learned had stuck with him.

“You’ll help me, then,” Lias said. “Start by noting down which islands are large enough to house at least one city.”

Theonis got to work, doing his best to avoid Lias. The two hadn’t interacted much since their falling out. Lias’ apology hadn’t been sufficient for Theonis, and he didn’t want to place his trust in someone who had already betrayed him once. But Theonis was still willing to act cordially around Lias; they were both part of the same team, after all.

“Alright,” Satiria said, placing one map on the top of the pile. “This is the most up-to-date map of the region. None of these islands have been explored, but there are three that supposedly have Apositan ruins visible from the ocean.”

“We can’t discount the possibility that it’s none of them,” Lias said, “but I think it’s likely that Agathula was a port city. They would need a strong navy to maintain control over the rest of the archipelago. Did any of the cities have landmarks that suck out to the explorers that we could use to narrow the possibilities down?”

“I’ll check,” Satiria replied, scanning through her notes. “The Chrysolaia tribe apparently used to make expeditions to this island”—She pointed at the northernmost of the three—“to leave tributes to the spirits of the island, believing it to be a sacred site. From how they described the ruins there, it was probably too small to be what we’re looking for.”

Myrova had sat down and placed her hands on the table. She closed her eyes, but Theonis could see soft blue light emanating from beneath her eyelids. Her hands were glowing as well. When the light faded, Myrova opened her eyes.

“I can tell a few things,” she said, then pointed at another of the three islands. “It’s not this one. Based on the reports and the weapons found there, it was probably a naval base. I’m not sure about the remaining island, but there are two others that may have settlements on them.”

“Are we sure that we can trust that?” Lias asked. “I don’t want us picking an island and then finding nothing on it.”

“I guess I didn’t need to take so many notes,” Satiria muttered quietly.

“Well, I trust her,” Theonis said, bristling.

Satiria nodded. “I trust her too,” she said. “Just a little frustrating.”

The four continued working, occasionally bouncing an idea off of each other. Slowly, they managed to knock off one lead, then another. But for every one they discarded, there was another possibility. As the first hour stretched into the second, everyone started to feel a little frustrated.

“Alright,” Lias finally said, rubbing his eyes, “we’re fairly confident it’s this particular island, right?” Everyone else nodded. “Then the next step is figuring out exactly where it is. All these charts have it located in a slightly different place. We need to narrow down the search area.”

“I don’t know if I can help with that,” Satiria said, standing up. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Satiria departed and the remaining three got to work. Lias did most of the work, drawing up a new map from the ones that they had. Theonis double-checked his work while Myrova used her blue magic to help fill in the details they weren’t entirely sure of.

“I think this is enough,” Lias said, rolling up the map. “I’ll take this to Captain Markis. Can the two of you begin cleaning this up before I get back?”

“Can do,” Myrova said, yawning.

While they organized the maps and notes left behind, Theonis and Myrova began to chat.

“We’re almost done, it seems,” Myrova said.

“Hopefully. This has been quite an experience and I look forward to things returning to normal. If we’re lucky, we’ll find the island without any more conflict.”

“If we’re lucky,” Myrova agreed. “But you know what that means, right?”

“Yes.” Theonis pursed his lips. “I’m going to have to tell everyone the truth. I’m nervous, Myrova. I’m worried more about how they’ll react than the possibility that we won’t find any treasure in Agathula.”

“Everyone is going to accept you, Theonis,” Myrova said. “By the way, have you settled on a name yet? I know that’s something we said we were going to do together.

“Not yet,” he admitted.

“Do you want to get Polithea in on it, too?”

Theonis smiled softly, replying, “I’d like that.”

Once the Polaia had a course, it was simply a matter of collecting enough supplies for the trip. According to Lias, there was one last port where they’d be able to get the supplies they’d need. Both the island and the only settlement on it were named Mihasso. It was, according to Satiria, originally an independent tribe that had been incorporated into Pelakevi only a few generations prior. Being so far out of the way and having only recently joined, it still carried a lot of its prior culture.

“According to Satiria,” Kosgoris was telling Theonis as they walked down the gangplank, “men typically aren’t allowed to speak to unmarried women. So, if you don’t stay close to me, you’ll probably end up only talking to other women.” He paused, before correcting himself, “Only talking to women, because of the way you look.”

“Got it,” Theonis said, adjusting his hat to protect him from the rain.

As they walked through the town, Theonis spent a lot of time observing the building designs. Mihasso mostly consisted of wood buildings based on Ancient Apositan architecture: a lot of wood columns and triangular roofs. But these buildings tended to be very long and branched out in multiple directions.

“How can these buildings be so long?” Theonis asked as they finally rounded a corner.

“According to Satiria, no building is used for a single purpose. Each one houses at least one family and is usually where a lot of business takes place. The market stalls should all be centered around the forum, though, so we won’t be scouring the city trying to find everything.”

The forum was bustling with activity, but it wasn’t as large as Theonis had seen in other towns. He stayed close to Kosgoris, unsure if he’d be able to find him again if they got separated. Kosgoris approached a stall and started talking to the person working there, trying to make arrangements for supplies to be brought to the Polaia.

The man tending the stall spoke with an unusual dialect. Theonis couldn’t follow it, and it seemed like Kosgoris was having difficulty too. Eventually, money exchanged hands and Kosgoris led Theonis away.

Despite the older aesthetic, it was clear that Mihasso was part of the modern world. The streets were paved and they were using the same paper money as the rest of Pelakevi. Theonis could see objects made of brass or clear glass at some of the stalls. The island clearly wasn’t very wealthy by any means, but it felt familiar enough even if the people had managed to hold onto their way of life.

While they worked, Theonis kept the list of things that they needed, occasionally crossing an item or two off after each stall. He and Kosgoris slowly pieced together how the local dialect worked over the course of a couple of hours, and things went smoother after that. By the time they sat down in a courtyard where lunch was being prepared over an open fire pit, they had gotten a good chunk of their work done.

“Theonis,” Kosgoris said as soon as he was done paying for their meal—some kind of pork dish that Theonis didn’t recognize. “I feel like you’ve retreated into yourself a bit recently. Is there something going on that you want to talk about?”

“Nothing I want to talk about,” Theonis replied, poking at his food. “I’ve just been going through a lot lately. It’s not important.”

“I don’t believe that it’s not important if it’s weighing on you so much.”

“I’m just not ready to talk about it yet,” Theonis insisted.

“Talking with someone will probably help.”

“I’ve got Myrova, and Polithea, and even Kateni if I need her.”

He started eating, keenly aware of Kosgoris’ eyes on him.

Then Kosgoris nodded and said, “Alright. But if there’s anything you need to say, I’ll support you.”

“…Thank you,” Theonis replied. “I’m… just not ready yet, if that’s okay.”

“It’s perfectly fine.”

The two ate mostly in silence. Theonis savored his meal. He was familiar with some of these spices and vegetables, but some were clearly local. And since they were also buying food from the island before they left, he’d probably get to taste quite a bit more of them before the adventure was through.

After lunch, Kosgoris gave Theonis half of the list and the two separated to cover more ground. Theonis thought that he had enough of a grasp of the local dialect that he’d be able to make the arrangements himself. Kosgoris’ warning that he’d have difficulty interacting with people wasn’t unwarranted, however. Most of the stalls were staffed exclusively by men.

“Hello?!” Theonis asked, waving his hand in front of someone who simply refused to acknowledge his assistance. “I know I’m a girl, but I really need help! You can’t just ignore me like this!”

Eventually, he gave up and moved to the next one.

“I’m beginning to think,” he muttered bitterly to himself, “that the rule about not interacting with women is meant to keep women from getting anything done instead of to protect them.”

Maybe he could pretend to be married. How did that work? What signified that a woman was married around here? He glanced around the forum, trying to spot any significant difference between the women he saw. There were only a few women about his age that men were talking to; most of the rest of them were older. What seemed to set them apart from the women who weren’t being interacted with was…

A bracelet. All the married women were wearing a large band on their lower arms. Each one looked a little different, most made of copper or brass, but similar enough in design to be easily identifiable. That was unfortunate; Theonis didn’t think he’d be able to find one of those.

“You’d think that they’d make an exception for outsiders,” he lamented, sitting down on a grassy patch next to a building.

Theonis let his attention wander. All these people looked like they had lived here all their lives. That was astounding to Theonis. If he’d had a way off of Stemini when he was younger, he absolutely would have taken it. The outside world was just too vast, too tantalizing, to ever want to stay in one place for too long.

There was a group of young men standing not too far away. Because of the local dialect, it took Theonis a little bit to realize that they were talking about… him? “The outsider girl.” That was him, wasn’t it? Wait, they thought he was cute?

Theonis squirmed. How was he supposed to feel about that? He wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of men talking about him. He wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of men at all. Theonis’ feelings about Aylmer were complicated and they were making things difficult to figure out.

Before long, Theonis got back to work. He was, eventually, able to make arrangements for everything on his list just by talking to women working at the different stalls. Theonis was sure that some of them had overcharged him. After all, it wasn’t like he had much choice in where to shop in this town.

On the way back to port, Theonis glanced inside some of the open doorways of the buildings he passed. It looked like a lot of them were shops where people could just walk in and look around. One of them seemed to be selling bowls. It was getting late, but Theonis decided to step inside and look around.

The shop was just one room in the building, packed with shelves full of ceramic and metal bowls. Theonis looked around until he found one small enough for his needs. He brought it up to the woman attending the shop. From the band on her arm, Theonis could tell that she was married.

“What do you have there?” Kosgoris asked when they met up on the docks.

“Just something to remember the experience,” he replied.

Once he was back in his room, Theonis opened the drawer to his bedside table and placed the bowl inside. He filled it up with the smaller objects he’d gotten on this journey: the small marble rabbit, his silver hair clip, and the necklace with interlocking arrows. They’d stop shifting around so much now that they had a container.

Theonis sat on the bed and took a long look at his little collection. The rabbit had come from the Academy of Magic, the hair clip from that disaster of a party, the aphrovia necklace from that Arelian woman, and the compass he’d bought at Yialleta. He’d taken a piece of every place he’d visited since this all began; it was amazing how much bigger his world seemed to be now.

Also in there was the sealed envelope from Aylmer. Theonis closed the drawer. It wasn’t time to deal with that just yet.

QuillRabbit

I forgot this wasn't already in the update queue. Thank goodness I checked.

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