Gideon shifted nervously. She, Seymore, and Empresswere sat together at the docks, waiting for a ship to take them to Rekes. The two Scholars had agrees to help Seymore ferry stuff over for trades, but now, looking at the stormy sea ahead, both of the scholars had some doubts.

 

"It'll be safe." Seymore smiled at them, happy to provide some reassurance. "If it weren't, the boats wouldn't be setting out today, I promise."

 

Gideon frowned even more. While she mad no ill wishes towards the merchant ship that usually ferries the colony to where they needed to go, she also knew that their reputation was clear; their motto was "time is money" after all. She wasn't so sure her opinion of "safe" matched that of the sailors. Still she offered Seymore a gentle smile back as the three watched their stuff be loaded onto the ship.

 

Eventually Seymore was called over by the ship's captain. He talked for a bit, giving the scholars some time to express their doubts. "Do you trust-" Gideon started, but was cut off by Empress quickly "No further than I can throw him." The two continued to chat to each other for a bit until Seymore came back, smiling.

 

"Captain said we're good to go." Gideon chuckled, nervously. "Guess we'll be fine." to which Seymore gave her a pat on the back. "That's the spirit! No need to be afraid, these guys know what they're doing!"

 

---

 

The storm had, somehow, gotten worse. Even the ships crew seemed surprised, and had been very insistent on the three colonists staying relatively safe inside the small hut on the ship. Even that, however, had started leaking. Some crewmembers had taken the time in the panic to reassure especially Empress and Gideon that the rest of the boat was fine. Gideon, however, wasn't quite feeling it and would be more than happy to be on dry land again soon. Seymore had been trying to comfort the increasingly panicked Tsab for a while now.

 

Seymore's reassurance did very little though, as Gideon could only focus on the creaking of metal surrounding her, and the loud shouting coming from outside of the ship's crew desperately trying to secure the crates on board of the ship- occasionally failing, leading to a huge SPLASH as another one hit the water. At some point, Seymore had decided that what Gideon needed reassuring on was their crates, which had been loaded first and would therefore be the last to fall into the water. Gideon had snapped at him that that wasn't what she was concerned about.

 

After that, Seymore, and a much braver Empress had left to find some supplies to keep the three warm and dry, with the roof seemingly letting more and more of the rain pass trough. This left Gideon alone, trying to calm herself down.

 

It didn't help that the crew seemingly got more and more panicked, and the walls started creaking louder, the walls letting trough more and more rain and wind, which cut into her skin like blades. When she opened her eyes, she realized the cabin around her was entirely gone. She couldn't see Empress or Seymore anymore either- just the crew trying their best to keep the ship from being swallowed by the waves- not even caring about their cargo anymore.

 

Gideon stood up, startled, looking for her friends, but as she did a big wave knocked into the ship's side, sending the entire thing rocking violently and throwing Gideon flying to the side of the ship. She tried to scramble up, find a safe place to hide, but the ship was hit again seemingly instantly and she was sent flying- over the railing and into the cold ocean water. 

 

As she sunk down, she saw her friend's concerned faces looking over the railing of the boat, and felt something oddly warm below her before passing out.

 

---

 

She woke up on a clear day, soaking wet, on the beach of L'hatzif with no clue how she got there. Looking around, she realized quickly that she recognized this beach, it being very close to the colony. She stood up, feeling awfully weak, and started the hike back home.