Starter Quest ~ Zephy has come to Desnind in order to look for her father, with only a written note and a rough sketch. If she decides to ask around, a sympathetic Sev’ryn will eventually point her to Karshe’s. Nae’ila, the innkeeper, they tell her, knows almost everyone in the city and might be able to help – and she might also help her find work, in case she is looking to make some money …
Here is the City in the Trees. Desnind, home of the Immortal Moseke and much more! All IC writings in Desnind go here.
Coastal birds squawked and quacked. The rush of waves upon the bow of the ship and creak of the wood upon the pressure of the sea as the ferry inched closer to the vast land, was over run by the chatter of the busy docks not a hundred feet ahead.
The salty air stung Zephy's weather beaten face as she leaned anxiously on the banister of the starboard side. Stray strands of her pastel hair flicked her eyes in the breeze, despite being tied back in a bushy tail. Regardless of the warm Ymiden air, Zephy adorned her thick grey coat, her green scarf handing loosely about her neck, ready to disembark at a moments notice. All her belongings stuffed into the worn, leather satchel slung across her body.
Zephy's stomach now churned in terror, instead of seasickness. The last nine trials at sea, Zephy had worked her share upon the decks of the ship, she hadn't had much time to think, or rather she had forced the thoughts of her mother out of mind. Now, as the shores of Desnind lay waiting for her, her heart fluttered so fast she thought she might vomit.
Zephy's heart sunk into the dark pits of her stomach, her eyes brimmed with tears as she bit her lower lip to keep them at bay. She felt ashamed that she had pushed the worry for her mother from her mind, but every time she thought about what her mother might be going through, what torture those brutes might be inflicting upon her, Zephy couldn't help but wail.
She felt so useless and worthless, she had abandoned her mother to suffer. No! Zephy shook her head and pushed herself away from the banister defiantly. Sniffing away her tears she reaffirmed. No, she had not abandoned her mother, she had come for reinforcements, for support. Zephy was tiny, weak. She didn't have a clue how to track, or where to search Athart for her mother and the bandits who took her. There was nothing Zephy could do. Desnind was her only hope. Finding her father was her only hope.
Zephy pulled her mother's old field journal from the weathered satchel at her waist and slid out the scrap piece of paper sticking out of the top of the pages. Gazing upon the faded sketch of a man, Zephy clenched her jaw in resolution. She had memorised every feature and curve of the image, if her father was here, she was going to find him. She didn't care how slim her chances were. She had to find him. For her mother.
A hand touching her shoulder jarred Zephy from her deep thoughts and she started almost losing grip of the scrap paper in her hand. Her heart stopped as she regained a firm grip upon it. Sighing in relief Zephy turned her cerulean gaze upon the butch Captain beside her. She hadn't even heard his boots upon the deck as he had approached.
"The men are ready to set off m'lady." His hardened features seemed solemn. His usual perky moustache almost sunken as a reflection of his inner feelings.
Zephy forced a small smile and bowed her head, clutching the field journal tightly to her chest, "Thank you for everything Captain. I will always be in your debt." Despite being only 14 arcs old, the last 10 trials had aged Zephy beyond her years.
The sailor gave her an empathetic pat on the shoulder. He was the only ship Captain she could find that would accept her without an adult and he had watched out for her since taking her in his charge. He gestured to the rope ladder slightly aft and the row boat bobbing in the water below.
Zephy made sure the journal was secure in her satchel before she went to climb over the railings. Just as she threw a leg over, she looked back at the burly Captain. In his soft eyes she knew the tic she turned her back on him, was the tic she turned her back on her childhood. A twang of fear clutched at her chest and panic halted her. The sailor seemed to almost read her mind at that exact moment and rushed forward, embracing her warmly. Zephy sunk into his broad arms and couldn't hold back a small trickle of tears.
Separating, the Captain grinned and wiped away her grief, "Now you go and find that father of yours." Sucking in a steadying breath Zephy nodded and gave him a small farewell smile. Closing her eyes she threw her second leg over the ships railings and resisting the urge to see the captain one last time, she nervously, slowly, inched her way down the swaying rope ladder.
Last edited by Zephy' on Tue Sep 29, 2020 12:38 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 812
The rope was coarse and gravely in her soft hands, but she ignored the rough burn and concentrated her gaze on her feet. The rope ladder swayed with each of her movements, despite the sailors at the bottom holding it tight. Zephy's arms burned and shook and her knuckles grew whiter than death as she gripped with all her strength. Carefully lowering herself down onto the next rung, only when her foot was secure did she shakily move one hand at a time downwards.
She was sure the sailors at the bottom thought her silly, but she wasn't apt at climbing and she definitely couldn't swim! Better to go slow and careful - the way her mother had always traversed life. That thought brought a sorrowful smile to her cracked lips. The sea air had not been kind to Zephy's young, smooth skin during her travels, but her dishevelled appearance didn't bother her.
Finally Zephy reached the bottom and thankfully a sailor grabbed her waist and helped her step into the bobbing rowboat. There were only five of them, a few sailors were heading to land ahead of the bigger party to discuss their wares with the customs manager, so they had mentioned. The Captain had been kind enough to allow her a place to make port with them to begin her arduous task of searching for a single man in the vast city of trees.
As the sailors heaved and hoed the oars, spurring the boat through the waves towards the two piers, Zephy's gaze widened as her blue orbs soaked in the wonderous sights before her. Upon the docks hundreds of bodies busied about, crates and all sorts of wares were being hauled too and froe. Dozens of voices could already be heard across the waters, shouting orders and screaming for attention to their stalls. However, despite all the noise and crazy movement of people, what grabbed her attention the most was the vast expanse of ginormous, plush trees soaring to the skies.
For as far as she could see, the forest enveloped the horizons. The tree tops almost touching the clouds, she thought the slightest breeze would blow the leaves into the Sun. It was a jungle of greens and browns, birds floating on the light Ymiden breeze.
Clutching her satchel close to her chest, it was everything Zephy owned, she wrapped a hand around her churning middle. Bracing herself as the rowboat knocked and bounced off the pier. Shooting a hand out to steady herself, Zephy peered up at the hands reaching down to her.
Hand shaking, she accepted the help to jump the great leap from the row boat to the wooden planks of the pier. Luckily Zephy was slim and little and the sailors easily pulled her up. Stumbling forward to make room for the others to disembark, Zephy shuffled further into the madness. She stood surrounded by strangers, ignored and feeling very tiny indeed. Thankfully one of the sailors she had spent the better part of a week getting to know, reached past several shoulders to find her. She gratefully accepted his hand as he lead her through the masses onto land.
Over all the noise and shouts and crates knocking together, Zephy couldn't hear what the sailor was attempting to communicate in her ear, but he pointed past a large warehouse to a road that lead deep into the vast jungle of trees. Zephy nodded her understanding and as he grinned, feeling he had set her right, the sailor saluted and vanished into the flurry of bodies pushing and shoving past the young Zephy.
Clutching her only belongings defensively, Zephy shuffled as fast as she could in the mayhem towards the road. She yelped as she fell sideways, the half-naked body of a pier worker shoving past her. Her feet came from under her but before she lost balance another body bumped into her from behind altering the course of her fall forward. She scrunched her face tightly and inhaled through the sharp stinging in her hands which had whipped out to brace her fall.
In a sea of wiggling legs coming at her from every angle, finding a lucky break in the mass of bodies by a large pile of crates and barrels, Zephy scrambled her limbs awkwardly as fast as she could to the protection from the fray. Grabbing onto a barrel for support she dragged herself to her feet and blew her frustrations out on the strands of hair sticking to her sweating forehead.
She desperately wanted to escape this madness, but then as she leaned on the wooden support, a thought struck her. There were dozens of folks here. Dozens of folks that might know if her father had come through here any time recently. Exhilarated, Zephy scrambled for the scrap piece of paper with the drawing of her father and with it firmly in hand, her determined gaze scanned the ensemble before her.
Chewing the inside of her cheek she knew she was too small to face the fray, she would only be knocked down again and the fuzzy stinging in her palms reminded her that it was not pleasant. Fingertips idly tapping the rough wood of the barrel, her gaze suddenly flicked to the flat surface. Yes, that would do! Testing the weight in the barrel to make sure it wouldn't topple, she stretched her hands out and grasped firmly on the rim before jumping up.
With her ribcage digging into the wood, she flopped herself forward like a fish stuck on dry land and shuffled until she had enough room to bring her knees up. Shakily, Zephy pushed herself onto her palms and knees and heart racing, braced herself and slowly rose to her feet. Arms out wide to balance, she found sure footing and only when she felt stable, then did she spin round to the hectic docks.
Holding out the image of her father to the crowd, Zephy waved her other arm furiously and shouted as loud as her lungs would afford her, "Please! Someone! Has anyone seen this man! Please! Someone! Help!"
Everyone seemed too busy in their own world to even notice her. Not to mention she only spoke common, her knowledge of Xanthean was not adequate to ask the questions she needed. Desperation began to creep into her heart and Zephy began to reach out to any that passed close enough to her. Her grip caught on the shoulder of an older man and she begged, "Please! Have you seen this man?!" Shaking the piece of paper in the man's face, considerably closer than what would be considered politely.
The gentleman simply grunted at her, before shrugging her hand away and moving on, dusting off his shirt as if a leaper had left germs on him. Refusing to give up Zephy continued to grasp at anyone and everyone near, pleading and thrusting the image of her father in the eyes of any who glanced her way. Each and every time the passerbys glanced away, moved on, avoided her intense gaze. Each and every shun only provided fuel for Zephy's frustrations which powered her voice even firmer, even louder.
Swallowing painfully against her coarse throat Zephy sighed. Shoulders slumped, Zephy sat atop the wooden barrel fingering the sketch of her father mindfully. She had cast her scarf and thick coat aside a break ago, the sweat soaking her tank top into unsightly stains. The unyielding glare of Faldrun's sun grew higher in the sky.
Taking time to recover her voice, Zephy watched as the crowd of the docks dwindled enough that she should be safe walking among them. Swallowing harshly once more, she took one last sip of the small water pouch from her satchel before swiftly gathering her belongings over her arm and hopped off her sanctuary. Drawing in a long breath and steeling her resolve, she eyed her next target.
Scanning the docks carefully she searched the faces of the strangers that passed by, looking for some sort of emotion or empathy in their eyes. Throwing herself into the path of a woman dawdling away from the merchant stalls, Zephy thrust the sketch of her father into the woman's face and racked her brain for the simple word in Xanthean, "Please! Please!"
The woman would not stop but Zephy would not let her go.
Staggering backwards and dodging left, following the woman's attempts at escape, Zephy begged, her eyes teary yet determined, "Please!" Touching her eye with her laden arm full of her belongings, she shook the picture uncomfortably close in the woman's face, "Please!" She tapped her eye again and shook the paper. Finally the woman threw her arms up and barked some horrid phrase at Zephy before charging away too swift for Zephy's little legs to follow.
Without even a tic of thought, Zephy turned her attentions onto another man passing by the other direction, again pleading in Xanthean and patting her eye and shaking the drawing. She felt more proactive being able to chase down people on the docks, running after them and shoving her page in their faces, but as another break dawned, it was clear her method was not working.
Her hearting sinking, Zephy grew more determined. Stubborn until the end, as her mother always said. Despite her throat burning as if it had been cut by a thousand daggers, she called out louder from deep within her diaphragm and moved quicker from person to person. Though, soon the crowd seemed to learn to avoid the crazy little girl crying out on the docks and Zephy noticed that the flock of people seemed to disperse well and truly away from her.
Tears brimming, the threat of giving up edging into her mind, Zephy groaned in frustration. Okay, maybe the docks aren't the right place. Shielding her eyes from Faldrun's sun high in the sky, it must be noon if not passed, already. She looked to the road, darkened in shadow beneath the canopy of vast trees and winding away into the thick jungle of mystery. To Desnind then.
Shuffling her satchel onto her shoulder more comfortably, she hooked her coat and scarf over her bag to free up her hands and marched on passed the merchant stalls towards the city of trees in the distance.
Loot: - Wealth: - Injuries: Slight grazes on the palms of her hands. Renown: - Magic XP: - Skill Review: Appropriate to level. Points: 10
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Comments: I appreciate that you decided to write a thread about the starter quest that I gave you. I liked the way that you set the scene and described Zephy’s arrival in Desnind. All those details that you added to the narrative made it very easy for me to visualize things. Zephy’s worry about her mother was well described. Once again, I found myself empathizing with your young Yludih. I also liked the scene with the captain. He seems like a kind man and even a bit worried about her. My heart went out to her when she asked people if they had seen her father, and they were so rude to her. I hope that she’ll eventually find him …
Anyway, enjoy your rewards!
P.S.: I would have added “Discipline” to the list of skills used as Zephy seemed to be scared and was trying not to give up, and maybe “Investigation” as she was looking for her father.
P.P.S.: I already made a note regarding location knowledges in my last review. If you want to, you can replace the two “Desnind” knowledges with something else, such as “Discipline” or “Investigation”, for example. Just let me know, and I'll edit this review.
