“Of course,” the hovering spirit of the ship said to Katryn, “if you aren’t able to finish your translation soon, staying here may cease to be an option. Or rather, your options will be to leave or soon lose the option of ever leaving. Our stores are dwindling by the day.”
“Silly me and my habit of eating… these things take time,” Katryn said. She was a squat woman of broad shoulders and broad hips, with mackerel-striped fur. Mask-like black markings ringed her green ears, giving her a shifty, rogue-like appearance. She had a long, pink tail that flicked around idly on the deck behind her as she worked at her translation. “I’m not working with the best materials here. I have a single annotated almanac to use as a translation reference, an otherwise unreadable history of a war that may or may not have happened, and a map that’s three hundred years out of date for modern purposes but almost two hundred years too recent for us. What do you want me to do?”
“What do I want?” the spirit asked. “This is your treasure hunt, Kat. I just work here.”
“Some genius you are, Loki,” Katryn said, and she threw a chunk of glowing stone through him, to very little effect. “You once told me that you speak every language known to folk.”
“Yes, well, you might recall I never claimed to be able to read any of them,” Loki said. “If you could only just read the book out loud, then I might be able to help you.”
“It doesn’t come with a pronunciation guide,” Katryn said.
“Would you know a pronunciation guide if you saw it?” the ship’s spirit said.
“Probably not,” Katryn admitted. She sighed and rolled over onto her back. “I knew I should have bought the other book when I had the chance.”
“You didn’t have nearly enough money.”
“I knew I should have stolen the other book when I had the chance,” Katryn said. “Well, there’s nothing else for it… I’m going to have to figure out a way to get into the Cove and get some more supplies without attracting attention.”
“As I see it,” Loki said, “the choices are sailing in…”
“And hoping the news of a ship without sails at the island of Faresia doesn’t circulate back to any of the wrong ears on the Inner Sea,” Katryn said. “The Horizon Chaser is pretty distinctive-looking, you know.”
“…or walking in from the interior with a bag full of tetrae and no explanation,” Loki said.
“Or sneaking into town in the dead of night and walking back into the interior with a bag full of food,” Katryn said. “Why am I walking out of the interior, anyway?”
“Because if you walk up the coast, you invite the same sort of questions that sailing into port would,” Loki said. “The whole mountain is honeycombed with a whole network of caves. There’s actually one that would let you come out on the slope above the town.”
“You’ve been busy,” Katryn said.
“I’ve been bored,” Loki complained. “I’m an explorer by nature and there isn’t much to explore in a cave… except for other caves. There is just one, ah, wrinkle.”
“What’s that?”
“The exit tunnel’s a tad on the narrow side,” Loki said. “But if you wait long enough to resupply, that might not be as large a problem.”
“Har har,” Katryn said, putting her hands on her hips. “Bones don’t shrink from hunger, my incorporeal friend. If you had any, you might know that.”
“Then I guess that leaves us with me dropping you off somewhere and you trekking overland,” Loki said. “Or else slow starvation. I’m comfortable either way.”
“I hope you know that if I die in here, I’m pushing you out of the Chaser and going after the treasure myself,” Katryn said.
“Why would you want it then?” Loki asked.
“Why do I want it now?”
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