A day without the Captain

Dear Diary,
Some days are very calm....and some just aren't. Let's start from the day we were supposed to leave the Elf city. So, I woke up in the morning as usual and I was having a wonderful morning. I heard Nixie came back from the cursed forest so I met up with her. She seemed a bit tired. After a short story about what happened, we decided to go have breakfast with the others. Before we left, she gave me a small "friendship bracelet". I was very happy for it, i'll keep wearing it as a good luck charm. I won't admit it but I missed Nixie a lot this week. Life on the boat was too quiet without her and elves weren't very fun either. And now we have matching jewelry! And I knew she has good taste. I must say that i like it just a little bit more than the necklace I got from Xebec because it is matching with Nixie’s. She is always paying attention to details, even made it red.
 
On the deck, everyone was doing fine and was ready to leave. I was about to go train with Xebec, as I did the whole week, when sneaky snake Dillen told Nixie, who just came back, that we should clean up the boat.(As if he didn't have the whole week to ask us to help him with that). Not a bad idea at all though, especially because the whole boat was smelling like dead fishes. Even Pullius's room was a mess.
 
The cleaning was going great. We divided in teams, and each one of us had to do some tasks. The last one to finish would have to clean the toilets. Of course, Orman and me had no problem. Bart with Brunek and Vadrek had to fix the holes in the boat, while Pullius and Heron had to clean the deck. It took us some time, but it was going well. I don't remember who lost but it doesn't matter anyways.
 
As we were all tired, we gathered on the deck, to rest for a bit and hear Nixie's story. The mood was very funny. Most of the people there were more focusing on the part of Nixie being naked, than the story. That's when I realized that it was the perfect timing to find out if anyone on this ship, had a crush on Nixie. After all, she wanted to do the same for me, right? I was very interested in one sneaky person because I had a feeling Nixie would want to know. So I looked at Heron and asked for a bit of help with that. Since we have been staying in the same room, we get along very well, so I think he understood what I wanted. He later confirmed what I already thought. It seems I was right, Dillen is interested in Nixie, but I am sure, dear diary, even you knew that already. The rest of the had short conversations in the meantime, that were more or less amusing for some and very annoying for the others. For example, I remember Eve telling Brunek to let Nixie talk, but he simply replied with: "Sorry, who are you?". I'm sorry Eve, but I couldn't stop laughing. I mean, how can you not laugh at that? I hope Nixie is feeling fine, she seemed to be having fun, but the scar on her belly tells me otherwise. I mean, I don’t think the others know how it is, but I fought a night gaunt before. If she really killed one, she had gotten pretty strong.
 
Eve seemed to be upset at something that day, so after the conversation was done, I went to talk with her for a bit. When I arrived, she was talking with Drenizek. I joined in as much as I could. Seems that Eve was upset at Bart for teasing her, that he is curious about naked elf girls. I tried to give her my opinion, but I am no better at this thing than her. But I mean, after what Heron told me, I was sure that every man of the ship had thought the same thing. Probably Xebec too. I don’t mind it but seems that Eve did. But she needs to talk with Bart about it, I mean probably them talking is the best way to fix the problem. I think?
Vadrek and Brunek were having a very good mood. I never heard Brunek talk that much before, so I always thought that Vadrek is the one with a brain, but I guess I was wrong. They have a very funny way to annoy everyone. I can't be mad at them for anything they do. They are just funny. That night, I remember that i was talking with Nixie (Telling her what I found out from Herron), when Xebec knocked on her door. It seems that the people that were fixing the holes in the boat, did a not that good job. And that he needed help to deal with Vadrek, Brunek and the sinking ship. I mean Xebec asking for help with something like this. I couldn't help but smile a bit. Seems like Brunek is more dangerous than I thought. We all gathered to see what was happening. I noticed a bit that Xebec is still sometimes acting like the captain of the ship, giving orders around. I wonder if he would want to be captain again. Then, I turned my head around and saw Vadrek and Brunek, just laughing there, while the others were working. I think they were planning something but couldn’t really hear what. After a few hours of hard work, we all went back to sleep.
 
The next day was busy. I started by helping Vadrek and Brunek with their training. Since they had a very peaceful night, I figured they would love a hard training. Then, Lafk’u invited me to train with him and the others fastodans. They are my favorite people from the crew and their stories about war are always fun. I was very happy to train with them, because I really wanted to know what they think when they fight. I learned to fight from my grandpa, and he said there aren’t really any rules when you fight, but I don’t think that is true. Lafk’u seems agree with me as well. He taught me how, everything is a fight in a way, “like the boat fights the sea” he said. And he said that it is important to respect the fight, no matter who your opponent is (weak or strong). To see if I understood what he meant, he made me fight Menn’e. Poor boy, I beat him a bit too much. Vas had to take care of him after. But Lafk’u seemed happy with the result. Then we talked a bit more about how you never have to fight because you must, but because it is your choice to do so,and that you have to choose to do one thing in order to do it. In the next days, we trained and talked even more. He explained me about how the fastodans don’t wear armor because they are protected by their 12 gods, and that the fastodans have and will always fight for their gods. I felt a bit weird talking about this. I can’t explain it in words very well, but I didn’t feel like I have the same feeling. After all we have seen, I find it hard to believe these gods. But I do understand that the main idea behind what Lafk’u said is that you have to fight with faith and that you need to believe in what you fight for. I don’t know how to explain it better than this. A few days later, after a long story I still need to say, I asked Lafk’u what he would do, would he listen to his feelings in a fight or not. He simply replied that, if they helped, he would use them, but not in any other case. Xebec also said later that day, that it feels a bit more human if you don’t kill someone, while listening to your feelings. But how do you do that? What if you have to kill someone you like, how exactly do you not feel anything? I still don’t understand it well. I will talk with Lafk’u about it another day.
 
After this long training session, I went back to Nixie’s room to rest for a bit. She came to tell me that she is going to be gone with Miremis tonight, so she will leave me in charge. But I was a bit tired so I told her to talk with Dillen instead. We saw Miremis today. She seems a very strict teacher and she hits Nixie a lot. I wanted to interfere at some point, but I am a bit scared of Miremis. It looks like she could bum-bum be just by acting like a stone. I’m sorry, Nixie, but this time you’re on your own.
After Nixie was gone, we gathered on the deck so we can have some fun. Of course, Vadrek was, as always, asking for alcohol. He heard me telling Menn’e that I will give him alcohol LATER and started asking for him. I will never use this word again. It seems to transform everyone into monsters. Of course, the brainless brother thought that we have some hidden alcohol hidden on the boat. Apparently this was true. Drenizek had two small barrels hidden somewhere here. Everyone hurried to make him give the alcohol away. Sneaky snake Dillen seemed to be the most excited for this out of all. I didn’t find not even at least surprising. I felt sorry for Drenizek, because I thought that is probably the wine he got from us, that he couldn’t drink because he was still sick. Of course, Drenizek refused, saying that he only listens to Captain Nixie, and that he is keeping the wine for someone else. As a “snake in charge”, Dillen ordered Drenizek to bring one of the bottles, not before, making sure he makes it very clear in front of everyone how grateful Drenizek should be to everyone for saving them. ( Yeah, like Dillen moved a finger more than what he usually does). I was a bit annoyed, so I tried to divert the subject, but nothing is more fun than alcohol on this apparently. They kept insisting that the all the drinks and food on the boat are equally equal to everyone. I didn’t want to get into this fight, because I wanted to spend some time with Xebec while the others stay on the deck. But at some point Dillen said “Don’t you agree with me, Verfys?” ( Now you’re asking for my opinion, you sneaky snake?).
 
Of course, I didn’t agree with what he was saying, and I promised Xebec I would take care of Dillen, didn’t I? So, I stepped in and took Drenizek’s side. I did have a very intense exchange of words with Dillen, most of them being very sassy. But since I knew it was not really going to go anywhere, and I wanted to go, I suggested that we can fight. It is the fastest way to solve the problem. If one of them would beat me, they could take some alcohol. They suggested Pullius as their champion, but our boy didn’t agree. (I think it would have been an interesting fight). I was so amused to see their face then. I asked if anybody wanted to fight me instead, but everyone was just quiet. Of course, poor babies, they cry for alcohol, but they wouldn’t fight for it? I guess that they could survive without it then. Sneaky snake Dillen tried to use his “snake in charge” advantages to make Drenizek bring alcohol again. Of course, he would, after all, losing in front of everyone isn’t really an option. I guess the only things he is able to fight are his tears that Nixie didn’t spent more time with him. He, then, had the courage to tell us that we favoritise Drenizek and that he is a liability for us all. When I heard that, I got very annoyed. HOW DARE HE INSULT SOMEONE LIKE THIS, AND ACT LIKE AN ARROGANT SNEAKY SNAKE WHO CAN SAY WHATEVER HE WANTS. Yes, Drenizek didn’t do much recently, with that I could have agreed, and finding him a job would have been fine, but you don’t say it like that, and definitely not humiliating him like that in front of everyone. Very well, Sneaky snake Dillen, You like to play games, let’s play one or two. The game was simple, will you manage to stop me from making Nixie realize how much of a snake you are?
 
 
The fight got very heated at this point. While Lafk’u and the fastodans stood by Drenizek, the others agreed with Dillen. I realized that this was not was going to end well. So I tried talking to Drenizek, and in the end, convinced him to bring some alcohol. We all toasted for the sake of this boat, but I saw that fastondans were not really in the mood for drinking, neither did I. So I went to them, and I remember Lafk’u saying “I’m starting to have enough of so many Dillens leading all the time”. I couldn’t have said it better.
 
I do not hate sneaky snake Dillen but I do not necessarily like him either, I have said it before. He intends the best for the crew AND himself. But as I said before, I can accept that as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. If that happens, I can’t agree with it anymore. Yes, you can take the alcohol, and order around, and make Drenizek work. But making him guilty for being sick, is something that neither Nixie or me would overlook. Why now, after all the moments, he decided to say this? Why has he not say it before, when Drenizek was not recovering from a deadly diseas?
 
I took him aside to talk with him. It wasn’t much more that wasn’t said before. He told me that “ wE ShOuLDn’t LEt OuR fEeLinGS GeT iN tHe WAy Of PRoffEssioNal MaTTerS”. Dear diary, I do not think that he has the right to talk. After all, this whole thing happened because he couldn’t control his jealousy for Drenizek. I never said I didn’t get my feelings involved after all. Of course, I would have one extra motivation to fight with him, knowing that Dillen was, to a small amount, one of the reasons Xebec was not a captain anymore.
 
Next day was so tiring. In the morning, Nixie came back from where she was gone, so we gathered together to update her on everything. But, she had even more news than us. Apparently, she didn’t meet Miremis on the shore, but mouthless Marcel. At first, I wanted to ask that “are you sure it isn’t better like that?” but then I realized it was not time for jokes. Nixie told us that she went close to it, thinking it was Miremis, but then mouthless Marcel turned around. Then she explained, how she saw, Pullius who was sleeping, then she saw the Royal Big Tree falling in two and the end of the elves. When she said that, Pullius also started to say that he had a dream as well. It was a dream about Cato (one of his late crewmates), who came to him, and threw the heads of all the party, at his feet saying that “I promised to kill them all, didn’t I?”. We then talked about what these dreams meant for them. Slowly, we reached the conclusion that these might be fears that they would need to work with, or a thing that they still need to solve. Eve had a great idea to help Nixie. She said that maybe, it would be the best for her to try and understand how she would feel in that situation and work to make sure she knows how to keep herself calm is something like that were to happen. With Pullius it was a bit more complicated. We talked for a long time about his party and what happened to them. Their relationship seems very weird to me and I don’t fully understand, but since Pullius is afraid of losing them, they must care for each other a lot. We reached that there are some unfinished businesses that maybe they should talk about it whenever they can. But Pullius should make sure that in the meantime he thinks about what he should say and to try to understand them as well. Also I don’t really know what is wrong with Eve recently. She seems to not like girls with long ears and yellow eyes. Is she mad about something and not saying it?
 
After we talked about this for a few hours, it was my time to report the incident last night. I wanted to call Dillen in, so he doesn’t say that I am saying something behind his back, but since Nixie insisted, I told her beforehand. Then, she gathered everyone, and started to talk about what happened. Everyone wanted to see the fight so they all gathered there. Nixie told us that we are some crybabies ad that next time when there is something like that to wait for her. But then Dillen came and said that what is the point of a “snake in charge” if we need to come to her to any small things. Yes, dear diary, it was my fault for disrespecting his authority, and yes, he is right about this. Which is why I was not surprised when Bart took his side. (Also Bart seems quite busy recently, I barely see him around) Of course, the problem was easily solved, and we agreed that we could make Drenizek work. Nothing too much to worry about. But then that wasn’t the point of my goal. I wanted to make him say with his own words that “Drenizek is a liability and that he is doing nothing”. Which, well, it wasn’t too hard. I knew Nixie would get upset about it, because no matter how rational Nixie is, she cares more for her babies. Drenizek also added that he will do his best to help everyone and that he and Dillen don’t like each other. And then, he confessed to Nixie?! We all knew more or less about this, but I did not expect him to do it in front of everyone. Then Dillen said “People stay with other people out of pity. And I responded with “ that’s why you’re on the boat Dillen”. Then Dillen came to me and said “ haha 1-0”. I was a bit confused, but since he also liked Nixie, I considered that I should tell her that in front of everyone. Not that Nixie didn’t know already. He just ruined his chances with Nixie, for a while at least. Well, I didn’t aim for that, but he insisted when he was a sneaky snake again. Yeahh, probably people will think I am a snitch, but dear diary, I do not mind that much. I would rather be a snitch than a snake. Or maybe sometimes I am a bit of both. I was also mean and fiery and have no excuse for it. There is one thing that does bother me though. It was one of those fights that Lafk’u said we should never have. The “remember those weaklings? Don’t be like them” kind of a fight and not because I didn’t use my sword but because it was like we were backstabbing each other with words. I was taught that being snake is something to praise, but I do not wish to live like that. It made me think that I have a long way to become a good fighter and that I am “still a child”, as grandpa use to say.
Xebec seemed to enjoy it quite a bit though. I went to him and the first thing he did was to hug me. He said he didn’t have so much fun in some time. I think he was also a bit relieved that someone finally fought Dillien like that. We spent some time talking. He talked a bit about ever since he isn’t captain anymore, he feels like a bit weird, and that somehow, he still orders around but isn’t captain anymore. He also wants to help but is afraid of what might happen if he does oversteps. What really can happen? But I think it’s more because, no matter how much he doesn’t want to admit, he still wants to be captain and somehow regrets he lost it. I felt a bit sad seeing him upset, but for now, the only think I can do is stay with him and help him find something that can fill the missing piece. We then talked about our Captain Nixie. He said that he isn’t very convinced by her. And I agree, her progress is slow, but she is making progress. I do not want to put more pressure on her than she already needs. With the support of the party, she will be fine, since she is not alone
.
The next day, we got to a place where some elves lived and we stopped there to get more food. When we got there we were of course welcomed by elves. After a good meal, it was time for us to rest when some people from a place called Marv came to ask for our help. No,dear diary, our Marv is no king, but the place and the lizard have the same name. It was probably even more confusing for them. They asked us to help them with some kind of weird creature that lived in a weird temple. I named it the Sword Eater.
Of course, we accepted and then, started our way there. We knew that until a few months ago, this temple used to be the home of necromancer. Now, however, all that was left behind was nothing but this thing that we were told about. When we got there, we saw the temple on a hill that had nothing on it. Of curse it was very weird but I have seen worse. We went ahead and looked in the temple for a bit. It all looked like a normal Almightyist temple, in the shape of a circle. Above us, there was a huge dome, very nicely decorated. In the middle of the room, you could see a small place for prayer, I think? It was all destroyed, cut in half by some dark arcane. It seems that whatever was living inside had a very big mouth. At the entrance of the temple we saw a dead person, who had a very big bite on the shoulder. All over the walls, I saw the marks of some swords.
While we were looking around, Pullius was suddenly attacked but a weird black tentacle, which stucked to him, giving him damage everytime one of us would attack it. After Nixie managed to make some light, we managed to see that it was a huge creature with a lot of tentacles. It threw more of those tentacles at us, and they stuck to Bart and Heron. It was not an easy fight because every time we would hit the Sword Monster, those three would get damaged. Also, for each hit someone make, they would get some of it back. I wasn’t much of a help. The fight took a long time. It would damage us, then we would need to heal somehow so we don’t die, and then we would also need to attack. To be honest, I did enjoy this fight. Since I am used to attacking a few smaller attacks, this time I had to find a way to hit it more powerful and only a few times. I hope I was helpful to the others but as usual, no one is better in a fight than Pullius and Nixie. This time, they made they smart spells and healed us each turn, so we could attack the Sword Eater.
 
I don’t know what I was doing but at some point, I wanted to hit the Sword Eater, and it just got my sword. I had to continue the fight without it, which was not a problem. However, for moment in the fight, I had the memory of Flavia dying. And the sword, being taken away from me, reminded me how painful it was to lose my dear friend. I am happy I got it back. I will keep it safe until I can repair it. But don’t worry, dear diary, now I am fine and happy.
But I have wonderful news. We managed to get alcohol for the crew that will last us until we will probably get to the Vaneolin elves. Thank you, Marv people, you really helped us a lot!
 
May the Almighty protect us, and keep us safe.