This story takes place aboard the Tall Sailing ship, "Sunshine Princess". The Bards are on their way to the city of Areluthriel, on a quest to recover a stolen Lyre. Typically, there are a few difficulties adjusting to shipboard life...

[Karyn]

Karyn Silversheen stood on the quarterdeck in the late afternoon breeze, looking down at the winged members of the Bards Hall.

"All right, let's go over the signals one more time, and then we'll try a few runs."

She picked up a pair of bright orange paddles and began demonstrating with them, quizzing her charges on what each meant. Sitting in a row before her, showing varying degrees of interest, were the first three Naval Aviators ever seen on the world of Ifreann. Faelarr, Ebony Rose, and Pyrra the Falcon (the last sitting in more for interest's sake than anything else), had never tried landing or taking off from a ship, with the exception of the little Dragon's crash landing the day before, but they were being prepared for such an adventure as best they could be. Each had been given a small pamphlet, prepared by Elwynn Evindem and packaged in an eye-grabbing yellow and black cover, entitled "Carrier Operations for Dummies." The first line of the pamphlet read, "Don't take the title too personally."

[Ebony Rose]

Ebony looked at the yellow and black book and looked plaintively at Karyn. This reminded him too much of school. He wanted to go and play. Then he rubbed his head. Those flags were an ugly colour, why couldn't she make them a pretty blue or turquoise.

Ebony was getting the urge to poke Faelarr in the rump. He was getting very bored. Turning back to his pamphlet. He started to breathe small bits of fire onto his pamphlet to see if he could singe just the corners. His pamphlet begins to smoke slightly as he slowly heats it up, completely oblivious to what Karyn was saying. Ebony was now totally engrossed in trying to burn/not burn his pamphlet (which he still had not read). He had placed it down on the deck and was leaning over it searing parts of it and watching it bubble and char in places. Ebony opened up his now almost unreadable pamphlet to work on the inside when he saw this cute little picture of a funny looking guy with glasses, beside it the text read "during day landing air speed should not be greater than (burn spot) knots. Furthermore the role and pitch of the landing target must be calculated prior to landing. These adjustments must be done in order for a safe landing." Ebony just sort of looked at it and, whoof, it was gone, just a smouldering little burn mark.

Ebony looked up, and there, right beside him, was Faelarr's rump. Ebony licked his lips in preparation for a poking, and a squeal from Faelarr.

[Orpheus]

In the forecastle at the bow, the remaining non-flying Bards were sitting around the cot of Quinn the Fox-man, doing their best to buoy his spirits. Quinn had been bedridden for most of the voyage, and Orpheus had sat by his bedside day and night.

"Do not be so hard on yourself, messire Quinn," Orpheus said from his perch on a stool by the fox's bed, "many a brave adventure has fallen to the sickness of the sea. Why, even Hercules himself, the strongest man of my homeland, suffered from the affliction during our travels with the Argonauts. He was depositing his breakfast into the Aegean sea every morning. I think he was secretly glad to have a reason to abandon us. His companion, Hylas, was captured by a water nymph."

[Rook]

"Besides that, there isn't much above that you'd want to see anyways. It would prolly just make you more sick than the turning waves!"

[Ebony Rose]

POKE (with claws extended and a big, toothy cheshire cat grin).

[Faelarr]

The dralcon steadied himself as the ship rocked again, and then leapt about a foot into the air and three forward as something jabbed into his rear. He whipped his head around and glared at Ebony, a quite fearsome sight with his eagle face and all.

[Ebony Rose]

Ebony tries (unsucessfully) to stifle his laughter as Faelarr leaps into the air. However, as the thingy lands and glares at Ebony he lowers his, all the while keeping his eyes on the thingy.. With a look of great remorse Ebony tries to convey (through expression only) his deep regret at poking Faelarr. Although, once he realizes that his head is not going to be bitten off by the ferocious looking thingy, the smile returns along with the guffaws.

[Pyrra]

Bored with the lesson and irritated by her comrades lack of attention span, Pyrra let out a delicate sqwak and ruffled her feathers in disdain.

[Karyn]

"Ebony, you seem all fired up." Karyn said, folding her arms. "Why don't you go first. Take off, circle us three times, and come in for a landing...." She stomped her foot on the deck. "Right here. Think you can do that?" She smiled sweetly at the little dragon. It was hard not to like the little fellow, but he needed a little discipline if he was ever going to grow up.

[Pyrra]

Picking up her pamplet in her beak, she flew up to the crow's nest on the maimast and began ripping the booklet to pieces. With a few more additions, the crow's nest would be a most comfortable FALCON nest.

[Ebony Rose]

Hearing his name come from the beautiful lips of Karyn, Ebony quickly forgets his bugging Faelarr to come over to Karyn. "What was that Karyn? You called? Sure I can do that! But why? Three times? not a problem consider it done. Would you like that with or without the pirouet. Without waiting for a reply the little dragon bgins to ascend vertically until he is clear of the railing then pitches to the side over the railing. As he leaves the deck his butt drops slightly as he begins an ascent of about 40 degrees. Going to a height of about 25 feet he begins to cirlce the ship counter-clockwise in large, lazy looping circles.

As he is finishing his second pass by the bow he suddenly stops circling to fly straight with the boat. His head pointed down, obviously looking at something in the water. Without a word he dives down out of view.

[Karyn]

She watched in frustration as Ebony veered off in search of something in the water. Dashing over to the side closest to the object, she began climbing the rope to the crow's nest. Halfway up a piece of paper that had once been part of a pamplet struck her full in the face. She shook it loose from her head and glared up at the falcon sitting near the topsail. Looking down, she tried to get a fix on what it was that Ebony was chasing.

[Ebony Rose]

As Karyn looks over the railing she can see Ebony Rose swimming with a group of about 7 or 8 dolphins. They are breaking the water together in time with the ship with Ebony doing a fairly good imitation. As she is watching the entire group stops to circle Ebony and what looks like an impromptu game of tag commences, with Ebony being "it", of course.

[Karyn]

"Well at least he can swim." Karyn said to herself. The dolphins seemed to be following the ship, more or less, so she decided to leave the dragon be for the time being. Returning to the quarterdeck, she sat down next to Faelarr. "Well it looks like your my last student, Faelarr." Karyn said. "Do you want to try a landing? Ebony is off playing with some dolphins."

[Faelarr]

"Gladly." Faelarr strode over to the railing and launched into the air. He executed the maneuver nearly perfectly, but since he didn't properly know how to do it, it wasn't as good as it would be with practice.

[Karyn]

"Well done, Faelarr!" Karyn shouted, patting the dralcon on his back, "You managed to get back aboard safely. Good for you!"

[Quinn] "Orpheus" Quinn said softly, "I appreciate your words, but quite frankly, I don't care if some Hercules was sick. The fact is I AM!" Quinn turned around on his side so he was facing the wall. His hand clutched his flute case tightly, the other hand idly stroking the slick case. A muffled moan escaped Quinn as his stomach turned violently, but he was able to hold his composure. Quinn momentarilly closed his eyes, then turned his head in a very weak attempt to look like he was turning to the others. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude Orpheus, Rook... I hope you understand... Some tutor I'm turning out to me, eh Rook?" Quinn said, trying (but failing) to be his normal jovial self.

[Rook]

"Don't worry about it, Quinn. I'm sure there will be much more to sing about once we're back on land. I myself don't really prefer the sea to the land. I guess I'll always be a landlubber."

[Tarrah]

Studying the fox-man sympathetically, Tarrah asked, "May I?", and reached out to him, indicating her desire to heal the sick Bard.

[Quinn]

Quinn looked up into Tarrah's eyes. A simple look conveyed so much about the fragile healer. The simpathy alone in her eyes eased Quinn's nerves slightly. "Please..." is all Quinn could respond with. With a sweep of his arm, Quinn folded the covers back, exposing the white fur that covered his stomach.

[Tarrah]

She gently reached out and placed one hand on Quinn's stomach, and the other on his forehead. A wave of nausea overcame her, and she crumpled on the floor, craddling the nearby bucket and retching into it.

[Quinn]

Slowly Quinn slid himself up in his bed. The sickly feeling in his stomach was still there he noticed. However, it wasn't as bad as it had been. "Tarrah?"

[Tarrah]

Clutching the bucket in one arm, she held up a single finger, imploring him to wait a moment. She bent over the bucket as another wave of nausea hit her. Her stomach settled a bit with evacuation of its remaining contents, and she leaned back against the side of the bed and closed her eyes. She had never reacted to a healing like that before, but then she had never tried to cure an illness of the stomach before either. A healer takes on the injury during healing, but it is not usually as severe as the injury itself - until now. She reached up and took Quinn's paw in her hand, and silently vowed she would never do that again unless someone's life depended on it - and she really liked that particular someone.

"Feeling better?"

[Quinn]

Quinn held Tarrah's hand gently, patting her hand with his other. "Thank you Tarrah. And yes, I do feel better, but the feeling is still there. But it's not as violent as it was just a few minutes ago." Quinn told the healer softly. Releasing Tarrah's hand, he wrapped his arm around her body and gave her a gentle hug, nuzzling his head against hers, his wet nose tickling the healers ear. "Thank you..."

[Dondael]

He saw Karyn working with Ebony and Faelarr on their takeoffs and landings. 'This might not be a good time,' he thought. 'But, then, a good time might never come.' He decided whether the time was right or not, he must talk to Karyn now.

He walked slowly toward her trying to keep his steps light and a smile on his face. His legs had grown accustomed to the sea and his gait was steady.

"Excuse me Karyn, when you have a moment, could we talk?"

[Karyn]

"Of course, Donadel." Karyn said. She patted Faelarr on the back again and led the elf to another part of the quarter deck. "What's on your mind?" she asked.

[Dondael]

I will be leaving the group when we reach port. Being out at sea has given me a lot of time to think about what I'm doing. I think it would be better for me to continue my journies as the same wandering minstrel I have always been.

I fear your trip may end in violencee Karyn. That is something I cannot face.

I will gladly pay the Bards for my passage. I can't pay you all at once but I will repay you. I'm sorry if I let you down.

[Karyn]

"I'm sorry to hear that, Donadel." Karyn said, "You're a good elf to have around. Don't worry about the passage, it's pretty much covered by Elwynn anyways. And your membership in the Guild is still valid. You'll always have a place with us."

[Fifth Officer Vauxhall]

"LAND HO!!!!"

[Narration]

The cry caught the attention of everyone on board. Karyn scaled the rope to the crow's nest, ignoring Pyrra's protestations all the way, and peered out into the haze before them. Sure enough, there was the shoreline on the horizon. Presently, an inlet became visible, and beyond it a tall elven city, larger even then Montfort had been. It's elegant spires rose high above the landscape, and soon the Sunshine Princess was surrounded by a multitude of sea-faring craft, the crews of which were mildly surprised to see a ship come in with a Faerie Dragon and a Dralcon circling around her. The Sunshine Princess made port at Areluthriel by six thirty that evening. The first part of her journey was over.

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