Five days out from Faresia, Jace was finding out the limitations of his fish-catching abilities. Out on the open ocean, he could not simply dive overboard at will and bring back up a meal’s worth of food. While the Horizon Chaser displayed a remarkable ability to slow down or loop around him without losing its speed, her captain was not tolerant of the idea of treading water while the boy hunted around the dark depths for stray fish. Loki, whom Jace had gathered was the strange ship’s pilot, was even less patient.
There had to be a sizable shoal of fish around for it to be worthwhile. This was a new experience for him… back home, he could sit on the coastal rocks and see fish swimming out in the shallows. He could swim out to the reefs and have his pick from among a riot of colors and shapes. Sometimes there were more fish and sometimes there were less fish, but he was used to having landmarks to go by, used to knowing when and where to look for fish.
So in order to prove his worth and keep his boastful promise, Jace had taken to watching the waves for signs of life. The Horizon Chaser had no mast, so the highest point was on the stern deck, above Katryn’s cabin. Jace scanned the waves from there sometimes, and sometimes from the bow. When he spotted flashes of silver amid patches of choppy water, he called out and Loki turned the ship towards them.
He’d throw a line over the side, grab a net, and bag as many fish as he could in one go. The diet was monotonous, but Katryn had said they could make the passage to Montport in under two weeks.
The sun didn’t bother Jace very much, though it was monotonous to stare out over the waves. He’d had an idea that sea travel would be a grand adventure, that it would be exciting to leave behind the only land he’d known and see the rest of the world. The nocturnal escape from Faresia had been exciting enough even though he’d been below deck for it, because it had been an escape. The next morning he’d stood up leaning out over the prow as the sun came up, feeling the wind whipping the salt spray all around him and marveled at the sense of sheer freedom that came from leaving behind the drudgery of his old life for a chance to make his way out in the wide world.
The problem was, he’d had no idea just how wide that world was… or just how much of it was water, and how much one expanse of water stretching out as far as the eye could see was like another.
It was an education in boredom for the young man. His work for Prit had rarely been stimulating, but as tedious as it could be, it had been demanding and varied enough that he’d rarely had a chance to become bored. The tediousness of his labors had made his free time precious, and so he’d treasured it. If one part of his island domain ever proved to be of no immediate interest to him, he had simply left it for somewhere that did. On the Horizon Chaser, there were only two places he could go: above deck and below it.
Neither location was very large and neither had much to do. The ships he’d watched entering and leaving the harbor had been bustling with activity, but the Chaser seemed to take care of herself.
He went below for the hottest parts of the day, but he spent as much time as he could on deck. Part of that was a desire to watch for fish, which gave him at least the hope of something briefly exciting.
The other part was Sheiral. Five days at sea had not only disillusioned Jace about the excitement of ocean travel, it had gone a long ways towards dispelling his preconceived notions about princesses, as well.
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