The lovely Syrin boarded the Mercy of Dradinoor, her long flowing dress a stark contrast with the stark wood of the ship, accentuated even further with the blue embroidery around the edges. It was of a new fashion, fewer frills and ruffles than what most preferred, but the gown hugged her curvaceous figure as she climbed the gangplank, an incongruous sight of a beautiful woman like Syrin, all glamour and looks, climbing the gangplank of the Mercy of Dradinoor, a vessel of more rustic qualities.

  Ninia couldn’t help but watch her as she was greeted by Alinyaln, the Captain bowing to her far lower than he should have been able to for his age. Despite her dress being gray, the fabric seemed blue because of the color of her skin influencing Ninia’s eyes, enhanced by the embroidery likely added for this very purpose. It spoke of a woman proud of her differences and she was capable of flaunting them.

  Peeling her eyes away from Syrin, Ninia looked over at Tusana, the glittering candles and lanterns still lit from the midday passing of Syphys, the smaller of the two moons that signaled midday. Part of the sun was still hidden, this part of Wrinthim still shrouded in shadow, but the day was lightening up by the minute.

  Kiara approached Alinyaln and Syrin, the First Mate looking Syrin up and down disapprovingly. “Well, Captain, this is her?”

  “Syrin, First Mate Kiara.” Syrin said, curtsying to the woman. “Alinyaln’s fiancée.”

  “Captain, you got engaged while we were here?” Kiara said in bewilderment, looking between the two of them. Ninia hadn't realized that she had gone closer to overhear until her foot slid off of the top stair of the deck she was on, the handrail sloping downward. No one seemed to have noticed her intrusion, but her heart had been set racing from the near fall.

  “Oh, Lyn, you didn’t tell her about me?” Syrin said with a swat at the Captain. “One would think you were keeping me a secret.”

  “No secrets, Syrin, I just haven’t had the opportunity to.” Alinyaln said with a shrug, kissing Syrin on the cheek. “But yes, Kiara, though the wedding has been indefinitely postponed, Syrin is my betrothed. In another life, at least.” He added.

  “He only informed me that you were a Cloud Crafter,” Kiara said with a huff. “He didn’t say anything about an intimate relationship between the two of you.” Her arms crossed as she stood there, which only made her look more angry.

  Is she… Jealous? Ninia thought to herself, inspecting the shorter blue haired woman. She looked at Syrin with a controlled look of fury, posture vaguely hostile. Yes, certainly jealous. Ninia could understand that maybe Alinyaln had unintentionally led the woman on, or perhaps it was deliberate.

  “Where’s the rest of the crew?” Syrin asked, looking around herself. Upon seeing Ninia she smiled a full toothed smile, teeth perfect—of course—and gave a little wave. This signaled to Kiara and Captain Alinyaln that Ninia had been eavesdropping on their conversation, but nothing too important had been said.

  “I sent them out.” Alinyaln said. “Too many of them have been lazing aboard the ship so I sent them all to go do something enjoyable, even the Yishks.”

  “I chose to stay.” Ninia said, approaching the group now that she had been found out. “Just—just to see you settle on board comfortably, Syrin.” She added quickly.

  “Sweet girl,” Syrin said, touching her arm affectionately. Bumps rose up Ninia’s entire body at the gesture. “But I’m not planning on staying, unfortunately. I have about a day or two away from the store before I need to return.”

  “Speaking of.” Alinyaln said, nodding to his cabin. “Shall we?” He and Syrin, followed closely by Kiara, walked to his cabin. It was largely the same as it had been a few days prior, however now the table and chairs that had been in the middle of the room had been pushed over to one side, leaving a large open area in the center.

  “This will be perfect.” Syrin said, glancing at the ground. “And you have a chisel? Ah, yes, here it is.” She said, grabbing the tool that had been set on the table.

  “Go grab Letno, please, lass.” Alinyaln said to Ninia. “She should be sleeping, last I knew.”

  Ninia nodded, then left the cabin and walked down into the hold of the ship. Letno, as the ship's Cloud Crafter, had been given her own cabin alongside that of Drags and Kiara, a room for privacy. Ninia knocked but to no response, then she leaned forward and pressed her ear against the door. Nothing, not the soft sound of snoring or of pages turning, assuming Letno was reading something in there.

  Glancing around, Ninia tried the door handle to no avail. It didn’t have an actual lock on it, but perhaps Letno kept it closed some other, more mystical way. She rammed her shoulder into the door just to see if it would give way to her, but it remained solidly shut.

  Giving up, she made to approach the stairwell and was stopped by Letno herself, the Cloud Crafter jumping back as they came face to face. Letno held a hand to her chest, breathing deeply to regain her composure. “Ninia, hello.”

  “Captain wants you,” Ninia said, her heart beating wildly as well. “What were you doing down there?”

  “Oh, me?” Letno asked, her face flushed. “I was just, uh, I wanted to try and sneak a snack from Higlim.” She said, nodding to herself.

  Ninia shrugged. “No business of mine. They’re up in his cabin, let’s go.”

  “So, Syrin is here, then?” Letno asked, following her upwards.

  “You know about Syrin?”

  “Well, sort of.” Letno admitted. “I investigated a little when we got here, just so I knew who I was working with.”

  “How much do you know about her?” Ninia asked.

  “Aw, is the Grinia a little infatuated with the lovely Syrin?” Letno asked, uncharacteristically jovial in her tone. She smiled fondly at Ninia. “She’s a bit too old for you.”

  Ninia sneered at the Cloud Crafter. They emerged onto the deck of the ship then up to Alinyaln’s cabin where they found Syrin on her knees carving the wood from the deck into thin grooves, the Captain and Kiara talking quietly. “Hi everyone!” Letno said with a wave. She looked over to Alinyaln, “Captain, she knows the plan?”

  Alinyaln nodded. “She knows everything, yes.” He said to Letno.

  “I can do all of the carving myself,” Syrin noted from below, her eyes were unfocused as if she were looking through dirty glass. She traced, which amounted to scratching a line onto the floor, then with her eyes focused she used the sharp side of the chisel to remove a section of wood.

  “Nonsense, I’ll help!” Letno said with a small clap. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done a joint Crafting.” She pulled a chisel out from her robe and conversed quietly with Syrin, then began to carve branches from what Syrin had already done. In a matter of minutes it was starting to look like a proper Cloud Crafting Sigil, ornate and cloudlike in appearance.

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  “What are they doing, Captain?” Ninia asked once she got tired of watching Syrin, which took far longer than it should have.

  “The Sigil acts as a point of focus for the Cloud Crafter.” Alinyaln said, resting against the wall with his arms crossed. His eyes never left Syrin. “A second crafter can use the same Sigil as well, which makes joint Crafts easier.”

  “Joint Craft makes me sound like an old spinstress.” Syrin said from the floor, blowing sawdust away from the groove. “But he’s right.”

  Ninia crouched down to inspect the work herself. She had no way to tell if it was correct or not, but the carving itself was well done, smooth even with the imperfect tools. “How will joint Crafting help? Two people aren’t much stronger than one.” She asked.

  Syrin shrugged, scratching a curve into the floor right where Ninia’s foot was, causing the girl to stumble backward. “It’s not as simple as that. The Gifts from the Triplets compound in strength when more Crafters are involved.” She said. “Well, I guess it also applies for the other Gifts but I can’t say how that would work.”

  “They’re rare enough to not be important.” Alinyaln said quickly. “The chances of two people with the State Shift coming together is already unlikely.”

  “Cloud Crafters are the most common of the three, yes.” Syrin said, carving into the floor now, a forked design almost like lightning. “As I said, the strength of us will be multiplied, not just added together.”

  Ninia’s forehead creased at this. “I know I’m not very smart,” She started, “But I know that one multiplied by one is still one. If anything adding would be better.”

  This time it was Letno that spoke up. “You, Ninia, would have the strength of one in this situation. Not adding anything, but not taking away either. As it goes for all without a Gift.” She said, the same vacant look in her eyes as Syrin was adopting, as if focusing on something just out of sight. Ninia saw Letno poke her finger with the harsh edge of the chisel, the woman wincing and she waved her hand in pain. “Clumsy me.” She said sheepishly, a few drops of blood landing on the engraving as she put her finger in her mouth.

  “Letno and I,” Syrin waved vaguely. “Well, there’s not an established scale, but let’s say we are both at a ten in strength. Adding us together would equal twenty, correct?”

  Ninia nodded, but then realizing that Syrin wasn’t watching she said, “Yes, that makes sense to me.”

  “And what happens if you multiply ten by ten?” Syrin prompted.

  Ninia grew cold at the question, not knowing how to answer. “Fi—fifty?”

  Syrin took a moment to look up at Ninia, though her eyes were glassy, her face was exasperated. “Fifty?”

  “It’s not still twenty, is it?”

  “No.” Alinyaln said calmly, “It’s one hundred, lass.”

  “Oh.” Ninia shrugged. “It didn’t seem very important.”

  Syrin shook her head. “Math is very important, girl.”

  Ninia opened her mouth to respond, but Alinyaln placed a hand on her shoulder to silence her. “Syrin is very particular about advancing one’s knowledge.” He whispered in Ninia’s ear, breath smelling faintly of rum.

  “I heard that.” Syrin said, continuing her work.

  Taking a deep breath, Ninia processed everything that Syrin had said. “So, if it’s all multiplied, as you say, then it would be similar to having ten of you working on this…” She moved her hands in a circle before her. “This thing? This Craft?”

  “Sure!” Letno said with a smile. “I mean, no, because it could cause interference if ten Crafters were doing this independently, and if Tyrnarm is being shrouded for some reason by the Orsinum you will need more strength at one specific point to push through it, but for other tasks, that might be a fine comparison.”

  Very helpful, Ninia thought to herself, sighing as she resumed her place by Alinyaln, leaning against the wall. “Where did Kiara go?”

  “First Mate Kiara went into town to see if she could find Drags.” Alinyaln said, putting emphasis on Kiara’s title. Ninia blushed at the veiled reprimand for not addressing Kiara by her title to the Captain in front of others. That would have been more acceptable in private, but Alinyaln could be a stickler for propriety at seemingly arbitrary times.

  “It’s not smart to let a Dragonkin drink so much,” Letno mused as she set the chisel down. “They can be pretty aggressive when they're deep in their cups.”

  Alinyaln finally broke his eyes away from Syrin. “Drags has my complete trust, Letno.” He said firmly to the woman. “The man doesn’t even get surly, he gets tired when he drinks too much.”

  “Lyn,” Syrin broke in, and Ninia could see Alinyaln’s face turning red, the scar a stark patch of white on his face. “It’s ready.” She said, nodding down at the Sigil.

  The Captain looked down at the Sigil, and Ninia could see a beautiful piece of art. Curves and sharp points at odd angles, circles inside of harsh lines that weren’t quite squares. If Ninia had seen this cloud in the sky overhead, she wouldn’t have noticed anything strange about it, but the very essence of a cloud was portrayed so perfectly in an imperfect medium that Ninia was awestruck.

  “Do it.” Alinyaln said, inspecting the Sigil from a distance.

  Letno stood up and stepped into the middle of the Sigil, kicking her leather shoes off so her bare feet touched the artwork. Syrin did the same, her shoes were a blue fabric that matched her gown.

  The two women held both of each other’s hands. They stood face to face, eyes closed. Their faces turned into masks of concentration, and beneath them the Sigil, beginning at where their feet met the engraving, green energy seemed to flow out of them and through the grooves of the Sigil until rapidly the entire carving began to shine a vibrant green.

  Ninia’s eyes grew wide and she stepped forward to see the flow of light better. She couldn’t exactly see where the energy was coming from, out of the bottoms of the Cloud Crafters’ feet, but there was a distinct flow to the energy as it cycled around into all of the crevices and crannies. This itself wouldn’t have been visible if it hadn’t been for a vague contrast in the solid green coloring, flickering as it flowed, as if there were red sparks caught in the flow of energy.

  There was no sound to the event, only the breathing of the two women which began to grow ragged as if they were exerting themselves. Alinyaln stepped forward as if to reach for Syrin, but he stopped himself.

  Minutes passed and nothing happened, not until both women in unison gripped their heads in agony, screaming as the Sigil flashed from green to bright and both Cloud Crafters collapsed where they stood. Alinyaln stepped into the penumbra of light and gripped Syrin by the shoulders, “Rin!” He called to her, shaking her gently.

  “Captain!” A woman’s voice called from the doorway, Kiara entered pulling Drags into the cabin by the Dragonkin’s arm. The cursed man was asleep.

  “Syrin! Are you alright?” Alinyaln asked Syrin, still cradling her body in tender arms.

  “Captain!” Kiara demanded, dropping Drags’ arm in a huff.

  “What!” Alinyaln roared, glaring at Kiara.

  “Captain, there’s a mob coming this way.” Kiara said with a salute, not backing down to the Captain’s anger.

  As if to accentuate her words there was a gunshot in the distance. Alinyaln set Syrin down and then ran to the doorway. Ninia went over to Drags and looked over the Dragonkin. He seemed to be breathing, and when Ninia lifted his scaley eyelid his catlike pupil reacted to the light sluggishly. Drunk, no doubt about it with what the Captain had said.

  “All hands!” Alinyaln shouted. “All hands!”