FFXIV Write 2024 || 1. Steer
Tuliyollal’s horizon was broken only by the glimmering, silvered shadow of a single ship as it pulled out of the harbor into the bright afternoon sunlight. Sails, brand new and bright white, lofted with the fair winds, billowing to fullness to send the ship dancing along the waves like the finest Thavnarian soft-stepper. At the helm, a hulking roegadyn held the ship’s wheel in a firm hand as beside him a silver-haired woman looked through a mariner’s astrolabe. Nodding to herself, she lifted a hand to rest it on the ship’s wheel, gently steering it in a more appropriate direction for their journey. The roegadyn grinned and returned the nod.
Life aboard The Silverwing Reborn had proceeded apace since Gospel had inherited the ship from its previous captain. While she knew most of what went on with such an endeavor, having been the same ship’s Tactician after Carteneau, there were still myriad things for her to learn about the finer details of a captaincy. Most of the men had been agreeable to her assignation as captain, having proven her worth to many of them in her prior career aboard, but there were other men unknown to her and she to them who had deigned to quit the roster and find different berths elsewhere. She couldn’t begrudge them that. Esmeralda had been a good captain and sometimes a good captain was impossible to replace to some.
Navigating the new waters of this sudden shift in the direction of her life took as much effort to steer as the ship as it skimmed along the vast expanse of the sea. It wasn’t just her own life, either, but the lives of all those around her. Especially, though, the stalwart Ishgardian Temple Knight who had called her side home for the past year.
Even now, he sat bent over a length of rope learning seaman’s knots from one of the older men in the crew. While the knight’s hands were well-acquainted to the wear and tear of battle, even his hands showed some rawness when constantly handling and working the rough hempen rope for bells on end. He would not be deterred, as she knew he wouldn’t. As he worked, he looked up and afforded her one of the rare smiles that crossed his otherwise hawkish features. Well, rare for anyone else, his smiles were common for her but never something to be taken for granted.
She returned his smile in kind before making her way up to the bow of the ship, the sea spray dancing around her and alighting droplets in her silver hair. Her gaze went to the distant horizon and all the adventure and mayhem that awaited them there. It would be for her to steer the course of their future now, but she wouldn’t do it alone. She had plenty of people around her to look to for support and for aid.
It was time for the Silverwing to spread its wings and fly.