The journey seemed to be quiet and peaceful until a few days before they would reach land. A strom just had to come.
Michel didn't sleep well a few nights before and already predicted the waters were turning. A storm would come.
Most of the crew members weren't pleased hearing the news but they trusted Michel's judgement.
Feyra went out for a short time and was almost immediately drenched by the rain. The water was rough and the ship was moving up and down. One could easily get seasick like this. Buck joined her for a bit outside.
"It's rough out here. Better be careful. It can also be slippery given the ground is wood.", Buck yelled as a warning before making his way back inside. He was careful to not slip as he was also getting on in age.
Feyra didn't mind most of those things as she was more robust than normal humans anyway. Yet after a while she felt uncomfortable being drenched from the rain.
"Do you have something I could dry myself with or a warm place?", she asked Buck who was also inside wringing out his clothes.
"I do have a little oven in my room. We can dry your clothes there and you can also warm up a bit.", he said and led the way.
The room he had on the ship was far bigger than that of others and also had a big mirror.
Feyra saw herself for the first time in a while in a mirror again.
Her hair was blondish-white with black ends that made it look like her hair got tainted or ink got spilled on it. It was parted in the middle and some front parts were a bit shorter. Her skin was light as expected of someone who was born in the kingdom and also a Fallen Angel. As for her clothes she wore the brown leather armour she had bought some days ago with black boots.
She looked away as Buck shoved some coal inside the heater and started a fire. After that he took off all his clothes besides his linen undergarments.
"Best you do this too. Else you'll need days to dry fully.", he said half jokingly. Feyra knew it wouldn't take that long to dry but it would still take longer if she left her leather armour on.
She did the same as Buck and only left on the linen clothes that had also gotten drenched. After having done so she went over to the heater and sat beside it. The heat slowly started to dry her clothes.
Buck came back with a blanket and gave it to her before also taking a chair and moving it to the heater too.
"Such weather right before land is always a little annoying. We can't even see how far away we are. Let's hope we won't collide with anything on the way."
"I don't think this will happen. Though... Fate can sometimes be cruel. You never know what comes next. I guess this is also what makes life interesting sometimes but also so unpredictable.", Feyra said looking as the fire in the heater continued to move. The flames looked like they were dancing. It was mesmerizing to Feyra who liked to try and see what next move the fire would do.
"Indeed. Life is unpredictable. Diseases can come, accidents can happen and sometimes life just lets you drift to a completely different place than you imagined. Most people of the crew were once normal workers on land who may have never imagined they would end up sailing from place to place one day.", Buck added also looking at the fire. The way it moved had something calming, emitting just enough heat to warm one up and dry the wet clothes.
"The path of life can also be influenced by other people and one's own choices. It's quite interesting. What if I had chosen to board a different ship? I would've likely had a completely different journey and would also go to a different place. To imagine that some have theories of multiple timelines or universe's existing is interesting too."
Buck nodded listening to Feyra talking about philosophy and the way of life. He had hardly been able to speak of such things with anyone else given most hadn't read a lot of books or just simply came from families that didn't have the means to learn reading. They mostly had no time to think of anything else than survival and work.
"How do you know about these theories? I've heard a few of them too and also read a book on some of them. That work was called blasphemous in the eyes of the Lord. Pah! Anything that doesn't add up to the Lord's view of the world is called blasphemous. Even other gods are blasphemous in his eyes.", Buck said until he remembered something and suddenly stood up to get two mugs.
"Want a tea or coffee?"
"What is coffee?", Feyra asked being confused. She knew about tea but had no idea what coffee was.
"How do I best explain this? It's a warm drink too but it is different from tea. Let me show you.", he said and went over to retrieve even more materials. He got a kettle with some water, a small white bag the size of a human head, another mug and a weird device that Feyra had never seen.
"Let me show you. First you take this bag. There are coffee beans inside that have been roasted.", he opened the bag and took some out and showed them to Feyra. She took some of these coffee beans and looked at them before smelling it and lastly tasting it.
"Hmmm... It tastes different from what I know. It's hard to describe."
"Alright. Then the next step is to grind the beans. Therefore you take this device known as a grinder and put the coffee beans inside. Then you just turn this handle and what remains of the beans is a powder.", Buck showed the whole process to Feyra who seemed to be very interested in how all of these things worked.
She had never before heard of anything like coffee or even knew how to make it. Seeing Buck explain it step by step made understanding the process easier and she could follow it very easily.
"What do you do after that?", she asked with curiosity.
"After that I warm up the water in the kettle.", Buck said and placed the kettle on the heater.
While the water was heating up they talked a bit more on various tea sorts and where some of them came from. Feyra was surprised hearing that Buck often shipped tea from one place to another.
"But enough on tea for now. The water is ready. Now I need a piece of cloth still and then... First I take my mug and some coffee powder. I place the cloth on the mug and some powder on it. Then I take the kettle and pour the water carefully over the powder. The cloth acts as a filter so the powder doesn't stay behind in the coffee. When there are more people drinking we often have one kettle with warm water and the other we then use for the coffee. However it's only me and you right now.", he explained as he did as he said. He carefully poured water over the powder until it all looked wet. He took away the cloth with the remaining powder and tasted the coffee.
"Perhaps not my best attempt but it's fine.", he said and also poured Feyra a mug of coffee.
She carefully took the mug and blew a few times on the hot drink before tasting it.
"It's bitter.", she said and looked at Buck.
"Well some people drink it with milk or sugar. Some even use both. There is a whole art and craft dedicated merely to coffee. It's basically like tea but a bit more complicated I guess. For tea the quality of the leaves have a lot to say. Ah there are so many things one has to be careful about. Perhaps the beans weren't as good either...", Buck took the bag with beans and looked at them.
"Oh if you want some milk I can get some from the cantine.", he said while still examining the beans. Feyra looked at him while tasting a few more times how the coffee tasted.
"I'd like some milk.", she answered and Buck stood up and shortly after returned with the milk.
"Take as much as you want. We need to get some milk anyway once we are in the harbour again."
Feyra took that offer and poured some milk in her coffee. It reminded her that her old friend had once told her that some people also liked to drink their tea with milk or sugar. It seemed the drinks weren't that far off in how people liked to drink them but they were still different in taste and making.
After Feyra had finished her cup of coffee she took some of the milk and drank it.
"You like milk?", Buck asked pouring himself another cup of coffee and also taking some milk.
"I like it. It's different from water every day. I also like the taste.", she answered simply. There wasn't really a big reason for her liking milk. It was mostly that she had barely gotten any milk as a child given most times it was reserved for others.
Sometimes some offerings were made and Feyra was able to drink some milk. That only happened if there was a bit left over though, so sometimes the milk was also a bit sour already.
Feyra and Buck chatted a little more until their clothes had dried. Putting on their clothes again Feyra went back to her room and lay on the bed. The sea was rough and it could be felt even inside. The storm was still raging on and now that the sound from the chatter was gone she even heard thunder.
I don't like this weather. Especially hearing thunder... I don't like it...
One time in the past when she had been near the forest near the shrine there was a lightning that had struck a tree. Feyra was curling together near the ground when she heard the thunder and didn't even notice that the tree that had been struck previously was about to fall on her. A nun who just happened to check on her came and saved her before the burning tree would hurt her. Since then Feyra would always hide in a corner when she heard thunder.
Michel knocked on her door to check on her but as she didn't answer he looked inside and saw Feyra had curled up under the blanket.
"Are you afraid of the storm?", he asked pointing his light towards her.
"I don't like thunder... It's loud... Too loud...", she said in a slightly shivering voice. Feyra didn't emerge from the blanket at any time.
Michel put his hand under the blanket. "Hold my hand. The thunder will be gone at some point and perhaps you may sleep after a while.", he said.
Feyra emerged with her head and took his hand. "Thank you."
After that Michel began singing some lullabys that his mother had always sung to him as well as some songs about the sea Buck and old Zott had sung when he was afraid the ship would sink with how the storm moved it around.
"No need to be afraid~ We will make it out alive~", he sang an old song that was common under seafarers and in only a short time Feyra had started sleeping.
The next day the storm had already subsided and land came into sight.
"Land in sight! Land in sight!", a guy who had climbed the mast earlier called out. He was waving his hand showing towards the land.
Feyra went over to the front of the ship and saw a city coming into sight before her. Buck walked slowly after her with old Zott and Michel by his side.
This would be their next stop.