The Dragon's Talon pulled in to dock at Fort Sea Hold, and Tiernan shouted off some quick orders to members of his crew before departing the ship. "You all can go ashore, but be back here at nightfall," he commanded. He was to get in touch with the Seacraft Hall, who had sent several masters out to assess the condition of the Seawing. Their preliminary reports indicated that Tiernan shouldn't expect to have her back for at least a month. That would be the amount of time that it took to find and prepare a replacement mast, and to get it installed on the ship. While those replacements were being done, the ship would be drydocked, and would have maintenance done. That would consist of replacing weak boards, rotted areas, or anything else that would cause trouble at sea. Hopefully, within a month she'd be good as new.
In the meanwhile, several members of his crew would likely be given leave, while others would be assigned to other ships on either a temporary or permanent basis. And of course, Tiernan would need to find replacements for both Galliet and Fievan. That wasn't something that he was looking forward to.
The Captain of the Dragon's Talon had loaned him something nice to wear while he spoke to the Masters. It didn't fit quite as well as he would have liked, and there was no hiding the effects of the wind and the water hitting him in the face. As a result, he still looked tired and disheveled, regardless of the clothes he wore.
Taking a deep breath, he headed over to where he was to meet the Masters. His mind was whirling. Would they take away his ship? Would his crew get reassigned? What would become of Galliet?
A few candlemarks later, Tiernan was leaving his meeting with the Masters. He felt drained, almost as much as he had when the storm had first ended. There'd been endless questions - what he'd done, why he'd done it, and what he was thinking when he did it. Then there were questions about what his crew had done, and why they'd done it, and what he thought they were thinking when they did it.
In the end, they'd left him alone for nearly a candlemark while they debated it amongst themselves. By the time they finally emerged, Tiernan was certain that they'd take his ship and his knots over the whole debacle. He'd paced in circles 'til he was convinced that there was a path worn into the floor.
They'd given their decision, he'd thanked them for his time, and he had left, his head still spinning.
His first stop was to visit Galliet at the healer's. He'd been told that the man was awake, and was mostly lucid for the first time in days. He owed him an apology.
When he entered, the man was awake, and was staring off into space. "Galliet?" Tiernan said to get his attention.
"Hallo, Cap'n," Galliet responded, although not with his typical gusto.
"How are you feeling? Is the pain bad?" Tiernan asked.
Galliet shrugged. "Pain's alright, not sure what I'll do from now, though," he responded shaking his head.
"I've spoken to some Masters at the Hall already, they say when you feel up to it, you can go back and teach carpentry. I know you've wanted to for some time now," Tiernan said, taking a seat next to the older man's bed.
"You've spoken to them? I would really like to teach at the Hall, I appreciate you looking out for me," Galliet said, grinning broadly. "What else did they say? I see you've still got your shoulder knots so it couldn't have gone too bad?"
"Aye, they determined that I did the best that I could given the circumstances. I didn't go above and beyond by any means, but they found nothing to reprimand me over. I'll get the Seawing back when she's fixed, until then I'm on leave. They said I deserved if given that I haven't taken any since becoming a Captain," Tiernan said. "So all in all, I think things went ok. But I don't feel too good about it."
"My arm isn't your fault," Galliet said quickly. "I know you're blaming yourself for it, and you need to stop. It was the storm's fault, and my own fault for not paying more attention."
"I should have went around the storm..." Tiernan said.
"Is that what the Masters said? How upset would they have been if you'd taken us out of our way to go around the storm, and had the shipment be late?" Galliet said.
"They would have been mad, but you'd still have your arm, and Fievan would be alive!" Tiernan thundered, raising his voice in a fashion that was quite uncommon for the Sea Captain.
"Quit feeling sorry for yourself, because I don't feel sorry for myself," Galliet responded. "Fievan's loss is unfortunate, but if he'd been following orders he wouldn't have went over. Honestly, Captain, there are enough real things in your life to worry over, don't lose sleep over the things that are past us," Galliet said.
Tiernan took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "I guess you're right..."
"Of course I am. Now stop yammering away at me and get down to the Hold so you can see your family," Galliet said.
