Though they knew how difficult his request was, being turned down so many times was still starting to take its toll on their spirits. With the adults from his trade company locked in negotiations, Kent was left with nowhere to vent his frustrations, finding himself glaring at the ships resting in port.
“There’s so many ships, and Misha needs that medicine so badly...” he started to grumble, but then a hand plopped down on top of his head.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. Sometimes things just don’t go our way.”
Looking up, he saw the hooded man offering him sympathy. It was the same man from the People of the Forest he had promised to help that day.
His name was Toma. He was a young and a rather quiet person. He’d be the first to admit that he was not very skilled when it came to negotiations. Normally he never left his home village, but at the request of one of their elders, he had left on a journey to gather some herbs close to their village and send them down to Redford. Being so poor at negotiating, he had struggled to even make it this far. From Kent’s perspective, it was clear that this elder had picked the wrong man for the job.
But despite knowing how ill-suited he was to the task, Toma had still thrown himself into the breach, unwilling to leave all of the negotiating to Kent. Kent had to like that about him.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s really important, right? Misha’s probably in a really tough spot.” Kent’s frustration leaked out in his voice.
Just as tears started to blur his vision, someone suddenly called out from behind him. “Hey, kid. Were you just talking about Misha? That wouldn’t happen to be the young apothecary girl, would it?” The heavy, coarse voice traveled easily over the sound of the waves, spinning Kent right around. Standing behind him was a middle-aged man, well tanned and staring straight at him. “And that cloak... Apothecaries wear those all the time, don’t they? Are you one of Misha’s friends?”
“Yeah, Misha is an apothecary. Do you know her?” Kent nodded, entranced by the man’s arms twice as thick as his own.
“You bet. Light blonde hair, green eyes, and cute as all heck, right? She saved my daughter’s life.” The man spoke with a bright smile. It was hard to believe this was any attempt at deception. “You guys in trouble? If you’re friends of hers, I’ll help.”
At the man’s insistence, Kent explained the situation. They had cargo that was desperately needed in Redford. It was too dangerous to travel over land, so they were looking for a ship to take them by sea, but with it being summer, they couldn’t find anyone to take them.
“Oh, is that all? I’ll take you.” The man listened with arms crossed until Kent finished his story, then threw that out without a second thought.
“Huh?” Kent was agape. It was way too convenient. He had to wonder if he had just been hallucinating.
“I have a fishing boat, not a merchant ship. It’ll smell of fish, and it won’t be very steady, but if you’re okay with that, I can take you. I was just planning on relaxing for a bit before heading home, so I don’t have any particular plans to worry about. I can leave whenever you like.”
“That would be amazing.” That answer came with a bright smile, not from Kent, but from Toma standing behind him. Stepping forward, Toma pulled back his hood and then bowed his head. Blond hair spilled out of his hood down to his shoulders.
“Oh, you’ve got that same hair and eyes as Misha. You two related?” the man observed happily, peering into Toma’s face. “Misha saved my daughter when she was kidnapped by a bunch of freaks about to kill her. My daughter’s the priestess of the dragon god, you see. So we don’t need to worry about any storms. You can rest easy with me!” the man declared proudly, taking Toma’s outstretched hand and giving it a hearty shake.
“What have you been doing, Misha? Just going around saving people all over the place?” Kent murmured to himself as he watched the two adults happily start discussing the arrangements.
It turned out the man’s fishing boat was much larger than they had anticipated, having space for twenty people on board. The holds normally reserved for fish were totally empty, so once they drained the water, they had plenty of space to carry Toma’s cargo.
“Are you sure about this? You were planning on fishing during your trip back, right?” Kent whispered to the fisherman, who regarded him with surprise, but that soon gave way to a hearty laugh.
“Come on, meeting friends of someone I owe so much to all the way out here has to be some kind of fate. We’ve both had our fair share of trouble! Besides, after all Misha did for me, if I gave her friends the cold shoulder, who knows what the dragon god would do to me?” the fisherman said, ruffling Kent’s hair. He then set off to make the final preparations for his departure.
That should have been when the two of them said goodbye, but Kent couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he asked the fisherman to bring him along for the voyage. The other members of the company saw Kent off with a mixture of amazement and exasperation.
As the fishing vessel pulled out of port, a strong wind kicked up behind them, almost as if on cue, catapulting them across the water at an incredible pace. Seasoned sailors would think that kind of speed was totally bizarre and begin to wonder if their ship was possessed or something, but Kent, totally lacking in sailing experience, found himself confined to his bed by seasickness at the violent rising and falling of the ship that speed created.
He was so sick that he couldn’t even keep water down, leading the fishermen to joke about how difficult he was finding the calmest seas they’d seen. But even as they laughed, they gave him plenty of their precious water, insisting he’d feel better if he at least washed the taste of vomit from his mouth.
Seeing how he struggled, Toma also made some medicine to ease his nausea and prepared some food that would be easy on his stomach. It had been so awful that if it hadn’t been for his help, Kent might have given up and just thrown himself into the sea.
By the third day, he started to adjust, and he was finally able to step out on deck and watch the sea go by. As he was enjoying the sensation of the wind blowing through his hair, he noticed someone stepping up beside him. Having grown so used to his presence, he didn’t need to look to know it was Toma.
“They say we’ll make it to port tomorrow. Even without any detours or diversions, they said this kind of speed is practically a miracle,” Kent murmured.
“Yeah. Thanks to this bit of luck, I’ve been able to make up for a lot of the time I lost previously. I couldn’t be more grateful,” Toma replied gently. Though he barely raised his voice, it strangely managed to carry over the sound of the wind with ease.
“Are all People of the Forest like you guys? You and Misha are both the same. Whenever you’re around, it always makes me relax,” Kent said without thinking, earning a chuckle from Toma.
“I’m happy to hear that, but no, we’re not all like this. There are some pretty intense people, and plenty of mean-spirited people in our village too. We’re just human, after all,” Toma replied, amused.
“Yeah. Sorry, that was weird of me to say, wasn’t it?” Kent couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, propping his head up with an arm on the guard rail to hide the way his face was starting to flush.
“It’s a strange coincidence, isn’t it? One of our people far away had compassion for someone, and it came around to help me all the way up here. I wonder if people’s fates are always so connected.” Toma gently patted Kent on the head as he spoke.
He really is a lot like Misha, Kent thought as he nodded. “That means now we’re connected too, right?”
“I guess so. If that’s what you’d like.” Toma’s voice was low, quiet enough that no one else on the ship could pick it up over the wind.
But it was loud enough for Kent, who gave a small, relieved smile in response. “Yeah. I would like that.”