[RPG] [EC][Sirion] Alanna Anaris ~ To New Adventures

[Timothy Collett]

Alanna looks around the port in Trinbar with disgust, mentally taking in all
of Sirion, and, further, the East Continent.  "I can't believe I thought I
could take this place on, turn it upside down.  What a horrible mess..." she
growls.

She shakes her head.  "Well, I'm done with it.  The whole continent can go
to Aya in a teapot for all I care."  Turning to the messenger waiting
attentively a few paces behind her, she gives a small bundle of letters.
 "See that these are delivered," she says.  The messenger nods, and swiftly
disappears into the twilit fog.

She turns back toward the docks and hoists her pack onto her shoulders.
 "Now, I wonder which of these ships will take me somewhere...interesting
..."

She walks along the quay, looking at each of the ships in turn.  A
diplomatic courier is here from Wetham.  Never going back to that
place...too slow!  A refugee ship from the doomed South-East Island stands
empty now, its human cargo already mingling into the rest of the riffraff.
 A trader from Minas Ithil recognizes her Anaris emblem and waves to her;
she goes over to him to trade news of her cousin Anton, giving him some to
deliver to him for her.  ...but if he thinks I'm going there, he's crazy.
 That place is nearly as bad as here.

She reaches the end of the quay and looks down the fog-covered river,
imagining the sea some miles away down is length.  "Gods," she mutters.
 "None of these ships is going anywhere at all interesting..."

As she stands there wondering what to do, she hears the creaking of rigging
and a call of "Ahoy!" from the fog directly out in the river.  She peers
into the dimness and mist, and soon makes out a ship, appearing out of the
fog heading straight toward her.  Its sails are black, and the figurehead at
the prow is a mighty gryphon, its wings outspread as if to fly the ship into
the sky.

The ship pulls up to the dock right beside her, and a man hops up onto the
rail, leaning out, one hand holding the rigging.  "Well, are ye coming?"

Alanna stares, bewildered.  "Coming?"

"Aye," he replies.  "We've come for ye, to take ye away from this place.  Ye
do want to leave don't ye?"

Still puzzled, Alanna says cautiously, "Yes...but how did you know?  And how
did you find me?"

The man leans down a little closer and smiles mysteriously.  "The wind, she
tells us many things.  Now, we canna wait for long.  Will ye come with us?"

"But...where are you going?"

The man stands up, throws his head back, and laughs aloud: not a laugh of
mirth so much as a laugh of wild joy.  "Why, to adventure, o'course!"

At last, Alanna smiles.  "Then let me aboard, for that's what I seek."

She takes his hand and he swings her up onto the deck as easily as if she
were a child.  She has no time to marvel at his strength, though, for he is
immediately off moving about the deck, giving orders to the other sailors.
 At last, he calls out, "Captain, we be ready to sail!"

A deep voice booms, "Then hoist the anchor and let us be underway!"

The sailors all leap into action, and soon, the docks of Trinbar recede into
the mist.  Though the current of the river is not swift, and the wind is no
more than a breeze, the ship fairly flies forward, and before two hours are
gone, they pass the Bridge of Avamar.  Not long after that, they break out
from the fog and cloud, and the full moon, high in the sky, shines on the
coastline of Sirion.  Alanna watches it with a self-satisfied grin as it
recedes into the distance.

The first mate--the man who brought her aboard--appears at her side.  "Now,"
he says, "do ye want to be forever looking back at where ye've been, or do
ye want to come for'ard, and see where we're a-headed?"

"I think that is an excellent idea."

Alanna turns her back on Sirion and goes to the bow of the ship, where she
looks out over the gryphon's head as they sail into dawn.

-- 
"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart."
~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan
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