I really enjoyed spending several hours straight on the deck, just watching and listening to the sea. After all that I had been through back in Tanaris, I also felt a strong urge to dive in and have a bath for a change, but once again, it was the wrong time and place for that.
Valen returned to me some two or three hours later.
"How's it sound like?"
I opened my eyes to look at him.
"It reminds me of something."
For a moment, he looked like he wanted to continue on the subject, but then changed his mind.
"Look...I wanted to ask you something."
"Hmm?"
"After what happened...where are you going to sleep? It's gonna be two nights before we reach Menethil Harbor on the other side of the sea."
I thought for a moment.
"I've never been on a ship before. Where are you two going to rest?"
"In the cabins down below. Thoraim is feeling sick enough without coming on the deck and watching it go back and forth."
"So he did get seasick, then?"
"Yeah. And he's not being very good company at the moment, either. Anyway, how about my question?"
"Well...", I looked over the railing, "I really like it up here. You think they would mind if I sleep outside?"
"They generally don't care where their passengers are, so long as they don't get in their way. You think you'll wake up if we hit a storm?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well if you've never been on a ship before, I guess you haven't seen one of them, either. Let's just say that a sleeping elf ain't gonna stay onboard for long unless they're chained to something."
Of course I knew what a storm was, but I didn't really have a practical idea of exactly what would happen if we ran into one. I got a rather odd idea from imagining a giant wave sweeping across the deck.
"How about...", I put my staff next to the railing, then focused. Several strong vines began to grow from it at my command, entangling themselves around the railing, then around my legs, tying me, my weapon and the ship together. Valen seemed a little surprised to see me using my powers for such a purpose.
"Will that do?", I asked him.
He looked almost like he was holding back a laugh.
"I think so."
Eventually night arrived and Valen headed inside. I had to re-adjust my safety vines to get a nice, half-seated resting position on the deck.
The sound of the sea helped me fall asleep faster, too. But as I was closing my eyes, I couldn't help thinking of how the splashing of the waves would probably turn my dreams into nightmares about my hometown - the last place where I'd spent a night at a seashore.
Fortunately, I turned out to be wrong about it. No nightmares came to trouble me that night.
At some point, I woke up to a feeling of something cold stinging my face. It turned out to be raindrops. The ship was at a halt, tied to a dock nearby. The sky was illuminated by a pale morning shine, only to have large rainclouds cover it all. It was the sort of weather that I suppose most people would've called a gray, depressing morning. But for me, it was quite pleasant and homelike.
I hoisted myself into a better seated position and looked around to see what was going on.
On the right, there was nothing but the sea and it's endless waves, but on the left opened a view towards what looked like a very large island. There were massive stone walls all around it, with a sturdy-looking open gate leading inside the fortress from the docks where the ship was. Armored humans were watching every move that the sailors made while carrying their crates off the ship, and then some others back on it.
I remembered how Valen had said that the boat was due to make a stop somewhere on the coast of Kalimdor before crossing the great sea. Theramore.
I recognized the name as the humans' first foothold on Kalimdor, established sometime during the Third War or so, but had I not known that we would stop there, I would have had no idea what the place was by pure eyesight.
Even though we were still, as stated, on the coast of Kalimdor, the abundance of human soldiers, war machines and architecture made this island feel like an entirely different land. It didn't seem possible that I could reach Ashenvale on foot through this fortress.
That thought reminded me of the fact that I was effectively looking at my last chance to follow my companion's original advice by quitting the journey and heading back home, while we were still on this side of the sea. That's when Valen came out on the deck through a door. As soon as I laid eyes on him, that unbearable feeling of letting the world sail away without me started creeping back the more I thought of leaving. His thoughts turned at to be on the subject when he approached me.
"Nice weather, huh?"
"You like it too?", I responded without thinking twice.
"Um...no. I was being sarcastic there."
Feeling a little embarrassed by my dumb answer, I didn't say anything.
"Anyway, you do know where we are, right?"
"This is Theramore, isn't it?"
"Yep. I don't suppose you've changed your mind?"
"I still owe you, remember?"
"If you wanna return the favour that bad, I can always come find you after I've seen Thoraim's wife about the curse. Besides, it could take me a while to get back on the enemy's trail."
"It's just...", I started, but then this sudden feeling of not being able to look him in the eyes came over me. At the same time, I forgot all about what I was going to say. An odd warmth rose from inside me.
"At any rate", he interrupted, "if you're going to be onboard after this stop and it's your first time crossing the sea, I suggest you get down under the deck in a few hours.
"Huh? Why?"
"You know what The Maelstrom is, right?"
"I've heard of it, yes."
"Well, sometimes these crazy old sea dogs like to gamble it with their friends, who's got the nuts to sail closest to it along the way. If this captain here has got money to lose on it, the ride could get pretty rough sometime this evening."
"I'll keep that in mind", I told him, despite the fact that running into a storm still made me more curious than careful.
Valen wandered off again, leaving me to observe for about an hour more as the crew loaded the boat, then finally detached the ropes and let the boat drift off the shore and back on course. My last chance to back off had passed before my eyes, and I was feeling more confident than ever about where I was headed. Even though I had passed the point of no return, I felt like I was actually taking one step closer to where I was supposed to be. A few more, and the road behind me might just take me back home again.
A few hours later, I headed indoors as per Valen's advice, even though there was no danger in sight. It was hunger that was driving me there, but as soon as the door closed behind me, I started to feel uncomfortable. The boat was full of small, damp spaces rocking gently as the vessel sailed forward. The perfect thing to make me struggle with my claustrophobia.
Luckily for me, it appeared to be feeding time in the slightly larger dining cabin that I eventually found my way into. Valen spotted me as soon as I entered the room and got me a portion from the fat human behind the counter at the back of the room. There were a few others eating their food with us, but the typical happy chatter of a public dining and drinking room was nowhere to be heard. It was also odd not to see Thoraim joining us for a meal, as he was usually the first one of us to get hungry and would often eat the most, too.
However, as soon as I laid eyes on what Valen had gotten for me, all of my observations began to seem a little less unlikely. I didn't recognize the dish, assuming it even had a name. It seemed to me like some sort of grain, cooked along with water into a sticky lump. Even so, I found the appearance to be pretty much the best part of it once I had a taste. Valen looked at me with amusement.
"You'd think that they'd have something better on a boat that ferries paying customers across the great sea, eh?"
"Is it always like this?", I asked while playing with the food, not really sure if I could bring myself to eat it, but also wondering what he would say if I refused the meal he had offered me.
"Nope, some of them actually have some pretty good food. This just happens to be the cheapest ride to the Eastern Kingdoms that I could hitch for us."
I didn't really have much of an understanding on the value of gold and the things it could buy, as I had rarely had to deal with such things myself, so I didn't say anything.
After watching me for a few minutes, he finally caught onto what was going through my mind.
"I know it stinks, but that's all they have here. Not blaming you if you can't handle it, though. It was practically free anyway, and I think Thoraim could use some more if you don't feel like eating it", he referred to my meal.
"I thought he was seasick."
"He is. That's why I reckon he might appreciate another go at trying to eat something."
As if having received permission, I got up from the table.
"You sure you won't starve?", he asked me.
"Don't worry. I have a few tricks to feed myself", I truthfully responded and got a rather curious look from him. "I'm going back up on the deck", I continued and returned to said location.
It was funny how the same boat could contain such an uncomfortable place inside it, and still make me feel almost at home when standing outside in the wind.
I quickly retreated back to my favorite spot at the back of the ship to catch one final glimpse of the shrinking Kalimdor, while having my staff grow some fruit off it's tip to provide myself with a meal that I could stomach.