Wanderlust (mxm)

And so the Adventure Begins...

Six years earlier

It was a perfect day for sailing. Warm and sunny with just the right amount of wind. The port was, as always, a busy place. Cargo was being loaded and unloaded, little fishing boats were heading out for the morning, and passengers were climbing up gangways. Moored a little way out, a huge warship gently swayed in the waves and watched over the comings and goings.

Tanden loved every part of it. He stood on one of the larger piers, watching sailors prepare a beautiful barquentine with three masts. His beautiful barquentine, one he'd commissioned from the finest shipbuilders in Crele. He'd helped with her design, picking out rich dark wood for her keel and masts. Her sails were dyed light blue. The spanker, the largest sail on the third mast, even had the black helm symbol to represent West Draulin. In case flying his home city's flag wasn't enough of an indication of where they were from.

There were two flags already fluttering at the top of the mainmast. West Draulin's, blue and white with the black helm, was on top. Zianna's yellow, white and blue flag flew just underneath it. Most cities would put the kingdom's flag higher, but West Draulin had a longstanding tradition of putting theirs first. After all, they did control the largest navy in the kingdom.

Tanden's favourite part of the ship was the figurehead. He'd designed it himself. It was a beautiful woman, representing the Crelan's mythical Ocean Queen. That much was common, most ships had women or mermaids as their figureheads, even if they didn't understand the origin. But Tanden's was a little more complicated. His Ocean Queen was wearing a necklace with two pendants, carved with the symbols of the Native Ziannan gods Roe and Tolle. It was an old Ziannan tradition to carve the symbols, a stylized fish and a circle with waves, into the hull of ships for good luck. Most people didn't remember it, but Tanden had done quite a bit of research. The last thing that made his Ocean Queen different was what she was holding. Instead of the common sword or trident or shell, she was holding a map that had been carefully carved to be as accurate as possible.

Tanden's brothers arrived with surprisingly little fanfare. Suddenly they were standing on either side of him, staring at his ship. Tandrael stood on his right. As always, Tanden's eldest brother, Lord West Draulin, looked impeccable. His clothing was clean and crisp, his long blue cloak fluttered majestically in the wind. Tandrael's beard was trimmed neatly, his hair was cut short. He wore an elaborate, decorative sword on his belt.

By comparison, Tandar looked a little rough around the edges. He was taller and broader than either of his brothers. For once he wasn't wearing his armour, and instead was dressed casually in a dark tunic and pants. The sword hanging from his belt was anything but decorative. He was a knight, part of King Zianna's personal guard. It was pure luck that he had been visiting West Draulin the same time Tanden was starting his voyage.

At nineteen, Tanden was quite a bit younger than his brothers, who were thirty-two and twenty-nine respectively. He didn't mind the age difference. Their parents had always had big plans for his older brothers. Tanden had managed to slip through the cracks. He'd gone to the Order, just as every young lord who wasn't inheriting a city did, but then he'd been free to do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was a ship.

It was something to rival his brothers, at least in some small way. A ship for Tandrael's city and a crew for Tandar's soldiers. A different title – Captain, instead of Lord or Sir. Tanden wanted to be different. To have something entirely his own for the first time in his life.

Tandar broke the silence, his voice gruff. "What's it called?"

"She's called the WDN Wanderlust," Tanden replied. "Don't pretend you don't know ships are women. I know you've been living in Zianna for years now but you're from a port city."