What Is Done

Chapter 40 - Return

On our way back to the Islands of Elderon, we tried to locate Wangji again. We failed, spending too much time drifting in the snow. I didn't bother to ask Sellion to use tracking magic on him. If he wasn't close to where we had originally met him, he was too far out of reach. Our resources were running out with an extra person in tow. We needed to get back to civilization before we croaked.

I would have liked to introduce Sangrell to Wangji, but nothing came of it.

We spent about three more weeks in No Man's Land before giving up on Wangji, finding our row boat tied to the pillar of ice we'd left it tied to, and rowing back to where there were seasons. Sellion nearly threw Sangrell overboard a few times due to some miscommunications. I have no doubt he would have loved to see Sangrell drown in the freezing waters.

When we arrived in Trench, we asked the couple we'd purchased the boat from if they would like it back. The old man wasn't present. He had perished while we were away, and the poor wife did not want it anymore. I asked Sellion to scour the docks to see if anyone was looking to buy a slightly used boat because we had no need for it anymore. We weren't going to waste our time and energy hauling it over land to use it on the next ocean we came across. I figured Sellion might have been able to scare someone into giving some of the money we spent on it back.

After Sellion's return, we needed to figure out what to do with Sangrell. As he was deciding on what he wanted to do, we bought him some fresh garments, food and a small blade from local shops. He thanked us thoroughly, even bowing as a sign of thankfulness.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me," Sangrell said while in his bowing position. "You saved my life, King Laverne, Essaerae and Sellion."

"You are very much welcome." I was generally unaware that I had been genuinely smiling at that moment. "If you need anything, please come to Arün. You will always be welcome."

Sangrell thanked me once more.

"Are you sure you do not want to travel with us before finding a good town to split?" Essaerae probably wondered why he was leaving in Trench of all places. I did tell them that that was as far as I really wanted to bring him. He didn't need to follow us anywhere else. 

"I'm sure, Essaerae," Sangrell smiled while his messy hair flopped into his face, free of his helmet.

Sellion whispered to Sangrell something before we exchanged our final goodbyes. Sangrell happily exclaimed: "I knew it!" It left me wondering what Sellion had told him. I had forgotten the better part of the conversation when we had actually met Sangrell. Sangrell shook Sellion's hand in an act of politeness and mutual acquaintanceship. Sellion immediately wiped his hand on the bottom of his pants. 

Essaerae and Sangrell exchanged a hug before Sangrell pulled the hood of the cloak we bought for him over his face and disappeared into the crowd. A little part of me was sad to see him leave just like that.

"What do we do now?" Sellion contemplated our options.

"I say we find a hot meal," I replied, missing the warmth of just cooked meals. Sellion using his magic to cook our frozen blocks of food in No Man's Land wasn't the greatest source of nutrition. The food would nearly immediately freeze again if you didn't eat it quickly enough.

"I can second that," Essaerae said.

Looking at a chalkboard menu outside of a shop that had been nearby, I had said: "Fifteen gold pieces for salmon on a bagel? It had better be some life changing salmon," in a burst of sarcasm. The pricing for something like that was ridiculous, no matter where in the world someone was.

"If you think about it from the salmon's point of view, it was," Sellion chuckled.

We wandered around Trench some more, in search of a reasonably priced restaurant to fill our bellies. We found many that were mostly fish based. Sellion and I weren't really overjoyed to eat fish. It was all Trench had after we continued searching. So we settled. We found a shop on the cheaper side to eat at. Then we went to get our horses. That cost us a hefty sum of money for how long we were gone.