My curiosity has always been greater than my wisdom. But largest of all is my own loneliness. Because I am a long way from home and family, not just in distance but in years.”

His gentle tone took her in. She gave a quiet laugh. “I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t curious. Whence comes the wood that can turn to life? What sort of a tree produces it, and where do such trees grow? Are they rare? No, they must be rare. Families go into debt for generations to possess one. Why?”

Paragon,

sybaritic

Within, he found it clean but almost austere. There were only two tables and four benches, all sanded clean as a good ship’s deck. The floors were covered with raked white sand.

They were clean, though smelling a bit musty. He hung out his striped shirt and stockings and good woolen trousers to air near the fireplace.

For every liveship we chase, we go after the next slaver we smell. And we board them, and throw the crew to the serpents, and see the slaves safe back to a town. No offense to your judgment, Cap’n, but I think that if we stop enough slavers and do away with the crews, we’ll gain the respect of the others a lot faster than by capturing a liveship.”

True, also, that they can sense a serpent long before a man can spot him, and cry it out to the archers to be ready.

They’re too fleet. I’ve heard tell that the ship herself can scent a passage through a channel, and cry it to her steersman. And that they can feel the luff of the wind, and catch and use a breath of air that wouldn’t budge another ship.