Chapter 36: Distrust

At the behest of his captain, Harrisson descended the Raven at a speed he was less than comfortable with before nestling the vessel between a couple of outcroppings outside Hoelbrak. As his captain, crew, and passengers gathered on the bridge, he shifted her into idle so the air would cycle through the balloons and ballonet and keep the Raven from crashing. The last thing she needed was another collision. He couldn’t bear to see her any more banged up than she already was.

After moving past the gathering group, Harrisson pulled the red lever next to the door and extended the gangplank. Captain Morgan politely let everyone else exit until she was the only one left. Once they were alone, she turned toward Harrisson with her hands clasped behind her back. He could tell she was nervous about something. She only held her hands behind her back like that when she was picking at the cuticles on her thumbs and didn’t want anyone to see.

“We’ll be back with supplies as soon as we can. A few of our passengers are staying on board. The asura scientist, the female sylvari, Nienna, and the frozen. The kodan and that group are out for a quick hunt and gather to see if they can bring us back some extra food. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious while we’re gone,” she said.

The old charr took note and nodded. “Don’t forget your gloves.”

Captain Morgan pulled them from her belt and held them up as she disembarked. Once she was clear of the gangplank, Harrisson pushed the red lever back up, waited for the gangplank to retract, and then closed the door.

While they were gone, Harrisson kept to his routine and began his rounds on the ship to make sure there was nothing that would render the Raven grounded again. He wondered what had gotten the captain all wound up. Even the passengers seemed on edge, but no one was talking about what caused it. He was usually informed of all happenings on the Raven, but a part of him was fine letting the rest of the crew deal with whatever was going on. He would rather focus on the ship. It had a logical function, and each part had its role. If any of them malfunctioned, he knew how to fix them. If he didn’t, there was usually a manual. There weren’t any manuals for living beings.

He descended the stairs into the Raven’s hold to check on how well their limited cargo was secured. Markus had repaired some of the brackets on their journey north, and he wanted to make sure they were still holding. A few of their new frozen passengers were huddled together on the far side. Harrisson snorted. The ship felt crowded these days with the extra passengers they took on, and he wasn’t so keen on that. He liked being a part of the Raven’s small crew. He missed the old days with just him, Markus, the captain, and…it hurt to think of her name. Harrisson wouldn’t admit it outright, but he missed the precocious asura. She was infuriating at times; she always had to be right about everything, but he put up with it because they were his warband. Now that was fractured, and it didn’t feel the same. Markus tried to convince him the pain would mend over time, but the old charr wasn’t so sure.

Each of the frozen slowly raised their heads and watched Harrisson as he neared them. Their pale blue eyes gave him the shivers. They barely looked alive. One of them, a hulking mass of ice and fur, looked particularly pitiful. It was a shame to see a fellow charr so diminished. He considered doing them a solid and putting them out of their misery, but the captain would not approve. Instead, he turned away and avoided their gazes while going around to each of the bundles to pull on the straps. Out of sight, out of mind, he silently repeated to himself until he was done. Satisfied with the straps’ tensile strength, he quickly left the hold and moved on to inspect the private quarters.

All seemed quiet, but Harrisson kept on his guard. There was a strange feeling crawling up his spine and making the golden fur on his tail stick up on end. He wondered if it was the same thing that had his captain stressed out. The frozen passengers already had him on alert, and these other strange individuals didn’t exactly make him feel at ease. They were strangers he knew nothing about. He wasn’t confident they could be trusted.

Soft murmurings came from the last door on the left. Harrisson rapped his knuckles on the metal doorframe, and as he peered inside, the voices immediately ceased. The red-haired woman was curled up on the cot with a blanket draped over her body. The charr’s eyes drifted over to the frozen man and woman sitting on the floor next to the cot. The woman’s hand rested protectively on the cot’s edge. He was vaguely familiar with this comforting gesture. His captain had done the same for him when they had lost Blake in Lion’s Arch. Decades of conditioning in the Blood legion had made him turn away from the comfort at the time, but reflection made him appreciate her attempt to be there for him.

The frozen woman looked up at Harrisson, her pale eyes meeting his. He had expected to find a wicked glint in her eye, something that would satisfy the odd feeling he had about these creatures, but instead he saw only sadness. She was no threat, but rather a mother worried about her child.

“All good in here?” Harrisson asked.

“Yes, we’re fine,” the frozen woman said quietly. The frozen man next to her simply nodded.

The red-haired one stirred beneath her blanket and rolled over toward Harrisson. She muttered something under her breath, but the old charr couldn’t make it out. She pulled the blanket over her head until he was unable to see her face. Not seeing an issue, he was about to leave when a low growl suddenly filled the room. He spun back around. The fur on his tail and his spine stood up on end upon hearing the beastly sound.

“What was that?” Harrisson asked as he reached for the blade on his hip. He would have much rather preferred his riffle, but he had left it back on the bridge. Besides, it was probably better that way. He didn’t want to be responsible for another hole in the Raven.

The frozen woman, whom Harrisson assumed was her mother, reached for the blanket’s edge and started to pull it back. “Nienna?”

Harrisson felt himself flinch as an inky black hand snatched the material away from the frozen woman and pulled it back over herself. A heavy uneasiness filled the room. The old charr didn’t like anything out of the ordinary on his ship, let alone something as creepy as this situation was turning out to be.

“What’s going on with her?” he asked, thrusting out a claw toward the cot.

The frozen man quickly got to his feet, his joints cracking and creaking. “It’s all right. She’s just not feeling well and needs rest,” Nienna’s father tried to assure Harrisson. He leaned over and tucked the edge of the blanket under his daughter like he used to do all those years ago.

An unnatural growl emanated from underneath the blanket again. Harrisson drew his blade and held it at the ready. He was starting to think there was something sinister going on here. “That doesn’t sound like someone under the weather.”

The frozen man straightened himself in front of Harrisson. His large, jagged frame nearly matched Harrisson’s. He had placed himself between the charr and the cot, his pale eyes pleading. “She’ll be fine. Please, just let her rest.”

***

“What’s happening to Nienna?” Tuborg quietly asked Dee as they crossed the central promenade in Hoelbrak. He pulled his cloak tight around his slender frame as a north wind blew through. “She’ll be all right, won’t she?”

The norn shrugged, trying to remain stoic so he wouldn’t worry more than he already was. Some of his otherwise verdant leaves were already starting to wilt. She couldn’t bear to see them in such a state. “She’s a tough one, hard to kill. I’m sure she’ll be okay,” she tried to assure him, but the words were also for herself. She had never seen her friend like that. It scared her—though she wouldn’t outrightly admit it. The norn had a legend to grow, and she was determined not to let it be one of fear and cowardness.

“I’ll meet you back at the ship. The Raven needs a few parts for her engine and guns,” Markus said as he gestured toward the Trade Commons. “I’ll be quick as I can.”

“I’ll go with,” Clarkus offered. “You’ll need help carrying all those parts.”

“Maybe Quint can help you too,” Tuborg offered. He looked around their group to find the man missing. “Wait, where did he go?”

“Who knows,” Dee scoffed. “That man has a talent for disappearing when he wants to.”

“Well, I was just going to rent a sled, but I won’t turn down help. Come on.” Markus motioned for Clarkus to follow.

Dee and Tuborg veered off from the others and made their way through the commons and up to Hoelbrak’s storage branch. The expansive rotunda was filled with travelers needing to access their personal storage, so they had to wait. Dee tapped her boot impatiently against the stone floor until a tall, norn woman dressed in furs was able to assist them. After a brief greeting, Dee handed her a folded piece of parchment. The norn woman flashed Dee a curious look from under her fur hat but read the note with Nienna’s instructions hastily scrawled on it. After quick examination, the agent then opened a large tome on the podium next to her. She quickly scanned the last names on the pages until she came to Nienna’s account information.

“Ah yes, here you are. I see Miss Valar has already granted you access to the account.”

Dee furrowed her brow. “Oh? When was this?”

The Xunlai agent looked back down at the tome and ran her finger along a row at the bottom of Nienna’s page. “Almost two weeks ago.”

“That was before we left Lion’s Arch,” Tuborg pointed out quietly.

“I see,” Dee replied. “Can we please have the items on the list?”

“Of course. One moment.” The agent closed the large tome and went to the back wall to an enormous, round, vault door. She reached up and pulled on a lever which was larger than her own arm. The great door opened, and the agent slipped inside. She soon re-emerged pushing a small cart with the requested items. One by one, she placed them on the counter top in front of Dee and Tuborg: a large tome and two woven bags. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Koninck?”

Dee started to correct her, but stopped and fought back a smirk. Nienna had used her modified surname to protect her identity. “No, that’s all. Thank you.” She removed her pack from her back and started loading the items into it with Tuborg’s help. The agent bid them a good day as the two left the storage facility.

“What do you make of this new group?” Dee asked as they made their way back to the ship. The topic had been one living in the back of her mind, and she was curious what Tuborg thought on the matter.

“Which group? The captain and her crew or the ones with the not-so-dangerous frozen creatures in tow?”

The norn smirked. “The ones with the frozen and the little girl that’s constantly cheerful.”

“Ah, yes. They are an odd group, but they seem harmless for the most part.”

Dee raised a dark eyebrow. “Harmless?”

“They just want to find their kodan friends.”

The norn made a low noise to voice her disagreement. “I suppose, but I’m not entirely sure about them.”

"What would ease your distrust?" Tuborg asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe something. Maybe nothing,” Dee admitted. “There’s so much going on, and it’s thrown my head around. Just…just put something in front of me and let me hit it. I do better that way. I can handle that. This—everything happening right now—it feels like it’s too much sometimes.” Realizing she had just verbalized a moment of weakness, she stopped in her tracks and shot a warning glare down at the sylvari. “Don’t you dare tell them I said that.”

Tuborg looked up and flashed her a warm smile as he patted her arm. “I never do.”