Chapter 160: Chapter 146 – An Ocean Breeze

"Efficiency is one of the most beneficial aspects of travel by water in general. Whereas travel by ground would necessitate mounts to pull carriages or ride upon, and the logistics involved, one only needed the wind to travel by the waters.

 

With the aid of wind and water mages, travel by sea also greatly improved in speed, a distance that would have taken a week by land, easily doable in half the time by sea. Such a thing is somewhat of an extravagance, however, and generally reserved only for important people or objects." - Hildegard Svensdatter, Sea Captain and daughter to the Jarl of Vozren.

The family departed that weekend, on sixthday, as the ship prepared for their trip was ready for them. The governor and his family all came to bid them a fond farewell and a good journey, and waved by the pier until the ship sailed out of sight.

 

Aideen had joined the family by the railings as she waved back fondly. The governor had been a good host to them, which was no surprise since he was a longtime friend of the family to begin with. Their few days of stay at Quelos was nothing but pleasant.

 

Compared to the small caravel she had been on when she worked together with the Death's Hands, the galleon the Veros family had was far grander. The ship was their property, and generally just parked in Quelos until the family wanted to take a trip by sea, or even just to have a relaxing cruise to nowhere.

 

At around fifty meters in length and maybe one third as wide, it was by far one of the largest ships Aideen had seen in her life so far. Ptolodecca doesn't have that much of a conventional navy themselves. Most of their navy was composed of smaller ships like the caravel she was on. Even the merchant galleons were only like two-thirds the size of the Veros family's ship.

 

Of course, any who took that as a weakness of the lichdom would be sorely disappointed, as the majority of the Ptolodeccan navy was in the form of undead. Massive skeletons of sea monsters were reanimated and used as weapons by the necromancers, and their presence alone ensured that any attempt to strike at Ptolodecca from the sea would be met with a judicious response.

 

The trip by ship was estimated to take five days to reach Danevos, the military port south of Sabaya where nearly half of Elmaiya's navy gathered. From there, the plan was to head upstream the Korzas river, which passed right next to Sabaya, a trip estimated to take another three days.

 

It was overall a much faster trip than the month of time Aideen spent on the road on her way to the Veros duchy with Zoya, and the time estimates already included a day of relaxation while they were along the way too at that.

 

Aideen was quite surprised when the ship dropped anchors a couple days into the trip, near a small atoll that encircled a lagoon that had pristine, crystal clear water. The family disembarked on small boats, along with some sailors who had been serving them on the trip.

 

As they drew closer to the ring-shaped coral islands, Aideen saw that there were some rudimentary shelters built on one of them, the island they headed to, in fact. Clearly the family visited this atoll somewhat regularly, since they bothered to have a permanent structure built there despite the difficulty and expenses.

 

The atoll itself was literally a tropical paradise, as the family brought her along to enjoy themselves by the lagoon. The servants who came along had headed for the structure nearby, and she saw that it was less a shelter and more like a small kitchen built under some awnings.

 

They enjoyed themselves at the pristine beaches and the lagoon itself while the servants prepared food for the feast planned that evening. It was rare to see waters so clear one could see all the way to the bottom, but the water in the lagoon definitely qualified.

 

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Aideen enjoyed a dip in the brackish waters along with the rest of the family, a smile on her face as she watched the young children play and swim in the crystal clear waters with their parents nearby.

 

She herself just floated around lazily, as she relaxed her body and mind and just enjoyed the cool waters around her. The sun shone upon them from its perch high in the sky, but it was not too warm, as they approached winter and the temperature dropped and became more comfortable.

 

They ate around a simple low table set by the lagoon that evening, seated right on the sands. Aideen thought that this was quite a pleasant life indeed, as she ate along with the family, munching on a roasted fish while her bare toes played around with the fine grains of the beach's sand.

 

Sadly, it was just a short vacation after all, as they were on a trip, and that night they returned to the ship. Aideen looked at the atoll as it faded from view, Artair's arm around her shoulders as she leaned on his large frame.

 

"You like it there?" he asked softly to her after a while.

 

"It was a beautiful place," she replied with a sigh. "Made me wish I could just forget about the rest and enjoy myself there instead."

 

"We can visit for longer on the way back," he said in return with a smile on his face. "Should have time for a week of vacation or so at the time. Moms also loved that lagoon, so they'll likely love the idea."

 

She gave him a kiss right there, not really caring that a couple sailors were in the vicinity. One of the watching sailors blushed, while the other just shook his head as he walked away.

 

"You just keep reminding me why I love you," said Aideen with a smile after their lips finally parted. "Think the soundproofing enchantments on our room's as good as the one at your house?"

 

"Eh. It'll do, I'm sure."

 

 

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