Author's Note: I literally have got nothing better to do with this story than put it on here. It was written for National Novel Writing Month 2004, but it's basically redundant because it's fanfiction. So here it is. All Forgotten Realms trademarks are owned by Wizards of the Coast. Tomoko Aiher is owned by Vincent Stone and is used with permission. Kyran, Braden, Erelvayas etc. are my characters and aren't to be used without permission.


The boat cut almost silently through the dark water. The moon shone upon the deck and the solitary figure thereupon, leaning on the polished wooden railing and staring out to sea with thoughtful black eyes. The wind changed slightly, making the sails creak and blowing his long white hair into his face.

The whole romantic image was somewhat damaged when he swore loudly and dragged the errant strands back with long, black skinned fingers.

The Drow was rapidly discovering how much he hated the sea.

It wasn't so much the fact it went up and down, he reflected as he rested his chin upon his crossed forearms and leaned on the rail. It was more the side to side action that was making his stomach protest so violently. The way his cloak pressed against his slim neck didn't help matters much either, but it was cold on deck in the small hours of the morning. He had no need to wear the hood up any more; one crew member had discovered a few weeks ago that one of their mysterious traveller guests was a Drow. Now the entire crew knew of his existence.

They did not appear to mind so much as he had thought they might. He suspected that it was in part due to the fact he was a bard. Also no doubt it helped that he spent almost the entire daylight hours below deck.

It wasn't so much that the sunlight hurt his eyes - he had become almost used to it a few years ago - but it was more that Tomoko had decided at the very beginning of their voyage that she would not share a room with him at all. It would 'hurt her reputation', she claimed, although Kyran believed that what would really damage it would be the way she was making her way around the ship's crew in order to gain better treatment. So instead, during the daytime she remained above deck and he below, and then at night she came and threw him, sometimes forcibly, out onto deck.

Kyran sighed and stared out at the moonlight waves moodily. It worked out well. It meant he didn't have to spend much time in her company. He sat down upon the boards and dangled his legs over the sea, one each side of a thick wooden pillar that held the railings in place and began to sing to himself. A slow, sad and haunting song, his voice drifted out over the boat and surrounding water. It was a song of deep loss, pain and sadness.

It was also interrupted by a door slamming outwards loudly. A pale elfin face appeared in the doorway, framed by strands of red hair from her badly tied back ponytail. "Will you just shut up!"

Kyran stopped singing, but didn't look around. "You're supposed to be asleep, aren't you?"

"How can I sleep with you sounding like a cat strung up by the neck!" Her voice was technically pretty to listen to. It had all the traditional elven lilts and tones to it. However, the fact the female was shouting like some dockyard fishwife didn't do much to convey the beauty of her speech. "Can't you at least sing something a little more... I don't know... A little more perky or something? Less of the doom and gloom!"

Kyran's sigh made his shoulders rise and fall visibly. "So, people expect a stirring anthem at some time past midnight usually? Perhaps some roaring sea shanty? That would be a good way to get me drowned for singing it, and you following for suggesting it." He turned around and looked at her, his expression blank in the moonlight. "Don't you think?"

The elf made a sound of intense annoyance. She turned around and for a moment Kyran thought she was simply going to close the door. He wasn't entirely expecting her to turn again and hurl a shoe at his head. Bringing up his arm sharply, he managed to stop it from hitting him directly between the eyes, and it skittered off across the deck, coming to a halt a foot or so from the other side of the boat.

Tomoko glared at him, then glanced to her shoe with a worried expression. She looked back to Kyran, then to the shoe again, then back. The Drow didn't move. Finally she caved in and ran across the deck to it, her bare feet making soft padding sounds as she sped lightly across the wooden panels. She grabbed it, clutched it to her ample chest and ran back on tiptoes, the floor being slightly too cold for her liking, shooting nasty looks at him all the while. "The chivalrous thing to do would have been to fetch it for me," she snapped, once safely back in the comfort of her door.

Kyran shrugged. "As you so often point out, I am little more than your lower-than-the-worms occasional serf. Why would you expect me to be chivalrous? Now, will you let me get on with my singing?" And before she could answer, he turned from her again and stared out at the sea with his usual impassive expression and resumed the song she had previously taken such exception to.

Tomoko snarled some unusually imaginative elvish insults at him before stalking back into her room and slamming the door again.

The night continued uneventfully, much to Kyran's relief.