When Tanden returned to the Wanderlust late the next morning, he wasn't surprised to see Soren up on deck. The sailors on deck were working slowly that morning, knowing that they had plenty of time to get their tasks done. Being docked was always like this. The first day or two, there was a lot to do with the cargo. Then came days when the crew on duty were really only there for show, and did odd jobs around the ship like cleaning or small repairs. That was the kind of work they were doing on their third day in Till.

Tanden walked up the gangway without announcing himself, but didn't catch Soren off guard. Soren was leaning against the bulwark nearby, his arms crossed, as he watched the crew work. He glanced over at the sound of Tanden's boots hitting the deck.

"Morning, Captain. Trading went well yesterday. Did you find us a guide?"

"I did." Tanden leaned against the bulwark beside him. "A woman, named Jale. She's supposed to stop by sometime today with more information. I learned a lot. The country is call—"

"Tallen Tiya," Soren interrupted. "And I think Till might be part of it."

Tanden's jaw dropped. "What? How did you figure that out?"

Soren smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "I was working all day. I picked up some information here and there."

"Yes, well, I also learned that," Tanden said. He was caught entirely off guard and had to take a moment to collect his thoughts. "Tiya is their main god," he continued. "They call him King Summer. That's why Edarius thought they worshiped the sun. Each province is named after a season. Till is... spring, I believe. Queen Spring. I don't remember the other two."

Soren nodded. "That makes sense. Have you eaten?"

"Are you going to be like this the whole time we're on our trip?"

"Aye, if I have to be."

"Yes, I did," Tanden said. He and Arastarow had shared a lovely breakfast at the Violet House. "Did you take the lads out last night?"

Soren nodded again. "I did. And we bought something for you. Well... I did, but they helped."

Tanden's interest was piqued. The last time Soren had bought him something, it was a lovely hand carved replica of the Wanderlust, in Co. "You did?"

Soren didn't move. "Are you going to tell me where you were last night?"

"When the time is right," Tanden replied. "Come on, mate. What did you buy me?"

"Come on." Soren started towards the captain's quarters. Once inside, he walked straight over to the map on the wall. Curiously, Tanden joined him, and stared up at it.

"I'll have to fix that, won't I? Sunland," he scoffed. "And I'll have to draw—" He realized that Soren was holding a piece of parchment towards him. Tanden took it and flipped it over. "What's..." he paused, his eyes wide, as he realized what he was looking at. "This is a huge country."

"I thought you would like a map to take with us," Soren explained. He was still looking at the large map on the wall. "And I thought if it was the right size, we could pin it up when we get back."

"It's perfect," Tanden agreed. His eyes roamed across the map, taking in the four different provinces he had learned about the day before. "Eventually I'll have to commission a new full-size map for the wall." He glanced up to see Soren shrug.

"I don't know. I sort of like the idea of just adding to this one."

Tanden smiled. "Actually, I sort of like that idea as well. Come here." He stepped closer to Soren for a kiss. Then another one. He put the map aside, and slipped one hand under Soren's tunic. Then—

There was a knock on the door. Tanden pulled away from Soren with a sigh. "Come in!"

"It's just me, sir." Ivern pushed open the door, noticed how close Tanden and Soren were standing, and moved on. He'd gotten used to walking in on them in close proximity. "There's a woman here looking for you."

"Already?" Tanden picked up his new map and folded it carefully before tucking it into his shirt. He motioned for Soren to follow him outside.

Jale was standing in the middle of the deck, her arms crossed, looking around with mild curiosity. She was dressed differently, still in dark pants, but now she wore boots and a jacket with a furry hood. Her hair stuck out from under a knitted hat. When Tanden appeared on deck, her gaze immediately landed on him. She pulled a folded piece of parchment from her pocket and held it out to him.

Tanden crossed the deck to take it from her. It was a list of supplies and costs, written in messy Morcean. He read it over, and noticed something when he reached the bottom of the list. "What about your fee?"

She shrugged. "My fee is a little more flexible. Paying me a lump sum is hard, since we don't know how long we'll be travelling. I think agreeing on a weekly fee would make the most sense." She held up a hand to stop him from replying. "I know you don't want to carry that much money around. So if we agree on a fee, and you cover any expenses we come across, you can pay me when we're back in Till." She scanned the ship again. "You own this? You, personally. Not your family or your kingdom."

"Me, personally," Tanden agreed, filled with pride, as he always was when he talked about the Wanderlust. "She was built for me."

"She?"

"It's a Crelan thing," Tanden gestured at Soren as he said it, who was just watching the conversation blankly. "They have a legend about a woman turning into a figurehead, and becoming one with the ship. So all ships are women."

Jale's intense gaze turned on Soren. "He's not Teltish?"

"He's Crelan. It's an island owned by Zianna, but they're different people. Somewhat."

Jale nodded. "Interesting. I take it he can't speak Morcean."

Tanden shook his head. "No, that's just me. It's fine, I'll translate for him on our trip."

"Who else is coming?"

"Just us," Tanden said. "Soren and I."

"Just you two? Don't you have servants you have to bring along to take care of you?" Jale asked.

"I'm not that kind of captain."

She looked skeptical, but shrugged. "All right."

"Is that a problem?" Tanden asked, as it occurred to him that maybe she was expecting other people along to help. "I can bring more men if I have to, that just wasn't my original idea."

"It isn't a problem, as long as you two pull your weight." She paused to take the piece of parchment back from Tanden's hand. "So this looks good? You can afford this?"

Tanden nodded. "Yes, that looks good. How long will it take you to get everything together?"

"Hmm... I can go around and order supplies today, but they probably won't be ready until tomorrow, and I'd prefer to leave in the morning. So the day after tomorrow?"

"That sounds perfect! Is there anything I need to prepare?"

"Actually, yes." She looked at her piece of parchment and carefully ripped it in half, then gave the bottom half back to Tanden. "This is clothing you'll need. Proper boots, warm coats, hats. Find a tailor and get all of this properly sized for both of you. Then I can manage everything else."

"We can do this today." He turned to Soren and switched to Teltish. "This is a list of clothing we need to buy today. But she says we should be ready to go in two days."

"Two days is enough time to get Ivern ready." Soren took the bit of parchment from him. "So, we just buy these clothes and then meet up with her?"

"I believe so, yes."

"All right."

Tanden turned back to Jale. "We'll be ready the day after tomorrow."

"Good." She smiled for the first time, and held out a hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, Captain Tanden of the West Draulin Navy Wanderlust."

Tanden shook it. "Tanden is fine."

"I assumed so." Next, she held out her hand to Soren. "Soren," she said.

"Jale," he replied, shaking her hand.

She seemed about to turn around and leave, but paused and looked at Tanden again. "Did you enjoy your time at the Violet House?"

"I found exactly what I was looking for, thank you."

Her smile turned into more of a knowing smirk, and she nodded at them both, before finally turning to walk away. Everyone on deck had watched the whole exchange, but Tanden didn't realize it until he noticed his crew watching Jale walk across the deck. She was certainly an interesting woman.

"Gentlemen," he spoke up, and the crew turned to him. "Get back to work." Sheepishly, they did, and Tanden sought out Ivern, who was standing up on the quarter deck. "Ivern!"

He joined them after a moment. "Yes, captain?"

"It seems like Soren and I will be leaving the day after tomorrow. That'll give you another day before you have to sail out. Do you need anything from us this afternoon? We need to go buy some warm clothing for our trip."

Ivern shook his head. "No, I can handle things here."

"Good. Soren, mate, let's go get some clothes."

They spent the rest of their morning and a good part of their afternoon buying the clothes Jale had listed for them. It wasn't that finding the clothing was hard, but Tanden wanted to best quality and that involved proper tailoring. They each bought a pair of thick boots like Jale had been wearing, as well as a handful of wool pants and tunics for both of them. The furry jackets took the longest. Tanden and Soren were both taller than the average man in Tallen Tiya, apparently, and the jackets needs to be altered. They ate lunch at a nearby tavern while they waited.

Soren was the first one to bring up Jale. "So is it normal here for a woman to do this kind of work?'

Tanden shrugged. Gender roles changed so much from country to country, he'd learned to take it all in stride. Back home in Zianna, women enjoyed plenty of freedoms. They could own land, have money, be the heads of their households and families. Ladies often ruled cities. Men would marry into their wife's family, if she held more pollical power than he did. Intellectually, women were considered equal. But when it came to physical and dangerous professions, women's involvement was frowned upon. Navire was different, as a matriarchal society, plenty of women joined the army or worked as sailors. Deorun again was different, and very patriarchal. Woman were rarely involved in politics. And those were three kingdoms whose history and cultures were very similar, with the exception of Teltans taking over Zianna four hundred years earlier.

Tallen Tiya was a completely different culture. The man who had pointed him in Jale's direction didn't seem concerned that she was a woman. And at the brothel, Tanden had seen some very wealthy women lounging in the main room with the courtesans.

"I think," he began slowly, sort of coming to the conclusion as he said it, "they're sort of like Zianna. Maybe Jale being a guide is unusual, but not so unheard of that people give her much thought."

"Maybe," Soren agreed. "Does she know about us?"

"No, but I don't plan on hiding it," Tanden said. "I don't expect she'll care."

Like the gender roles, every country had a different way of thinking about relationships like theirs. It was something else Tanden had learned to take in stride, and to gauge as soon as possible when they landed somewhere new. Most Teltans thought it was odd, and wrong. Navirians and Deorans believed that the love goddess, Lovi, knew best, and so if she brought two men together then that was the way it was meant to be. Crelan sailors had a saying—things happen at sea—which essentially meant physical relations at sea were acceptable, since sailors saw women so infrequently.

Tanden didn't really care what people thought of him, but he did care about respecting other cultures' beliefs. And he cared about what people thought of Soren. His whole life, his status had protecting him from the worst of the insults that might have been thrown his way. Soren didn't have a name to protect him, so Tanden protected him. That meant figuring out what the local culture thought of them.

Tanden had found that port cities tended to be less proper than inland cities. With the steady flow of people, different cultures mixed the most in the ports. And sailors of every country liked taverns and brothels. So ports were a relatively safe place to experiment and figure out what people thought of two men being together. It didn't seem like Till was an exception. The Violet House certainly hadn't batted an eye when he asked for a male courtesan, or mentioned that his partner was a man.

"Are you done eating?" Soren asked, pulling Tanden from his thoughts. "We should go pick up our jackets. And then is there anything else on the list?"

"A couple things." Tanden stood, and picked up the rest of his food—a flat piece of bread with a savoury sauce drizzled over it. "I'll walk and eat. Let's go."

Soren dropped some siyas on the table, and got to his feet.