Dan walked to the bridge after finally having his breakfast. They had said their goodbye to the girls, letting them enjoy their own company and their time together. After that, Jackie had gone back to the corridor cluster and section of the ship where the rescued natives were kept, saying that he might be needed there.

  Dan's reason for heading to the bridge was quite serious, it was concerning the beginning of the most dangerous part of their journey to the Dynasty.

  "Hello, everyone," he greeted.

  "Oh, Captain," Keith said as she turned to him, "You're back, I hope you're feeling better, you weren't gone for long after all."

  "I'm feeling great." Dan waved her concern off. "I would have been feeling just as well if you all didn't force me to take a rest."

  "Why didn't you say that to Fleta?" Freddie teased from the side, and Dan just shook his head with a weary smile.

  "Enough of that, so how is it? Are we close?"

  "Too close," Freddie answered seriously, looking at the screen linked to his skill, "Voyager's mad dash put us days ahead of schedule, we should reach it around tomorrow."

  Dan just nodded, a grave expression on his face as he looked at the screen. The next part of the trip was the hardest, they needed to be as prepared as possible, well, Voyager actually, she was the one under the most pressure after all.

  As they had realised before, they got sent to the world during what was known as the Calm. The season where the waters of the Empire were the most calm and the weather was the easiest to navigate and sail through. The Calm though, didn't extend into the Western Continent, the weather there was unpredictable and extremely hard to navigate, it could turn from sunny to extremely rainy in moments, leading unsuspecting and unprepared ships to their doom.

  If they had been on Earth, and just found out about some heavy stormy weather ahead of them, he wouldn't have been that worried about it, cruise ships were made to take quite the beating from such storms. Voyager herself could take all of that easily and the people on board wouldn't even feel most of the bad weather. They weren't on Earth anymore though, and Dan feared what might be awaiting them soon.

  Everything about this new world they had found themselves in was exaggerated to unimaginable degrees, what that could translate to for weather wasn't something he was looking forward to finding. Especially with how the stormy weather between the two continents was so strange and strong, some truly massive monsters hit it quite frequently.

  The routes between the two continents were so secretive and valuable because they showed points where the weather was more manageable for ships and easier to pass through. Which was something they didn't have, so they were going to have to force their way through the stormy barrier straight away.

  It wasn't all doom and gloom though, Voyager too wasn't the same ship she was on Earth, she was much stronger in all aspects, and that didn't even mention all the Titles they had and the different effects those carried. Dan was also hoping that having her Aura Appendages was going to be of great help in balancing, he wasn't sure of that one, but any little bit could help.

  "Look at the bright side though," Keith suddenly said, a cheer to her voice, "We are in the final stretch of the journey, the closer we get to the Dynasty, the calmer the weather will get and the easier it will be for us. We just need to survive this and we will be good to go."

  "That is true." Dan found himself smiling.

  In the end of it all, Dan just hoped that things would go well, they had been through a lot and probably too much bullshit was still waiting for them in the future, he just hoped that they could reach the Western Continent safely.

  ***

  Nulara knocked on the door to the cabin she had just been inside a few minutes ago, she had left to get the old man staying in it some new clothes.

  Due to how all the rescued natives, like how Dan and the others were calling them, were wearing rags that could barely be considered clothing, it was decided that they would be given clothes to wear. The Voyager had many shops for clothes and such, they were a bit weird looking, but their quality couldn't be disregarded. Nulara could still remember how Old Raily had said that it wouldn't do to have them walking around like tramps when they could help.

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  "Oh, you're back?" The thin smiling face of the old man occupying the room met her as the door was pulled open from the inside. "Look at you carrying all that, I told you that I could go and help you with them, yet you were stubborn."

  Nulara had a hard time believing his words. The old man looked like a bag of bones walking, his wrinkled skin hanging loose with barely any muscle mass under it. The definition of skin and bones.

  "You don't have to worry about it," Nulara said as she went in, "You should focus more on resting, you don't have to push yourself too hard."

  "I have been-" the old man started speaking before just shaking his head as he said, "Let's not sour the happy mood by talking about the past. Thank you for your help, I truly appreciate it."

  Nulara opened and closed her mouth. She could understand what the old man wanted to say, just a few days ago, he had been on that island working himself to the bone carrying heavy boxes and ores, she doubted a few changes of clothes would be much for him.

  "I gotta say though." Probably having sensed her change of emotion, the old man said, his voice a bit hurried, as if to change the subject. "This ship is unlike anything I've ever seen. I heard about it from Arkus, but seeing it yourself is something else entirely. Those lights, this bed and furniture, the running water and the clean environment. I can barely believe that we aren't in a noble's mansion, and that this is a ship. Is this what the world has become after all those years I've spent on the island?"

  "It's not all like this." Nulara went with the subject change gladly. "This ship and the people on it are just special. And yes, it is probably more luxurious than the accommodations of some nobles, it's truly miraculous."

  "From the way you talk about it," the old man said offhandedly as he checked the clothes she had put on the bed, "I take it that you weren't with them since the beginning?"

  "I wasn't." She shook her head, remembering the events that happened less than a month ago. "I too was saved by them, fished from the ocean from certain death."

  As she thought about that, Nulara couldn't help but lose herself in her thoughts, her mind going to the offer that Dan had given her and the young man. She still hadn't come to a choice and she doubted she was any closer to giving Dan one, it was just that big of a deal. Fortunately, no one was pressuring her or the young blacksmith for a decision, other than the first time Dan brought it up, it was never mentioned again.

  Nulara talked and helped the old man some more with getting used to the room, how to use the bathroom, the shower and the like. She even told him where they would be getting their food from, adding that they would most likely come back around lunch to lead them there, as they still weren't that familiar with the location of the restaurants that well.

  As she walked out of the cabin, aiming to find someone else to help, she suddenly felt as if eyes were on her. Guessing who it might have been even without looking, Nulara's guess was proven true once she met eyes with Ricky.

  The young man was someone she caught more than once looking at her, always averting his eyes once she met his gaze. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he was interested in her romantically. Fortunately, she understood her looks and worth well enough to avoid that misunderstanding. People like her weren't the type that someone would be interested in.

  She would be lying if she said that she had no interest in what all that was about. Crossing off the possibility that it might have been romantic interest, the next thing that had appeared in her mind was loathing or mistrust, after all, she and the young man were the only outsiders on the Voyager. That also didn't last though, Ricky didn't seem to hate her or anything like that.

  As she waited for Ricky to turn around and act as if he wasn't just looking at her, like always, she was surprised to see him clench his hands, take a deep breath and start walking her way.

  Caught unprepared by this turn of events, Nulara found herself freezing in place as Ricky stood in front of her.

  "Hello," he said, appearing a bit hesitant, "I'm called Ricky, I don't know if you know that?"

  "I do," she finally answered, feeling a bit awkward too.

  She didn't expect to find herself in such a conversation, and her mind started spiralling as all kinds of possibilities appeared in her head.

  "That's great!" he said as if that was an achievement of some kind, "I have been meaning to talk to you for a while now, I just never could bring myself to take that final step, glad that I finally did."

  "What is this about?" she asked, wincing inside, that had come out a bit more blunt than she would have preferred it to be.

  "Oh, sorry, I forgot myself," he said, "I've been meaning to talk to you for ages, ever since I knew about your Class, and that you were a mage of some kind. Do you think that we could maybe meet and talk about magic sometime? I would truly appreciate it!"

  Nulara opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say. Part of her wondered if the man was just using that as a way to get close to her, but the way he spoke and the expression on his face told her all she needed to know, he truly seemed to be the most interested in her Class and the fact that she was a mage.

  "I-I can see about that," she forced herself to say after staying silent for what felt like a long time, "We can talk later on?"

  "Thanks!" Ricky said excitedly, "I will contact you later."

  And just like that, with those words, he turned around and left in excitement, leaving Nulara with even more questions than she had at the beginning.

  "I hope you're not interested in him." She turned around at the sudden voice, seeing the old man standing at his door. "He seems denser than some of the metal ores we used to mine."

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