The Return
by: Me

It was a strange feeling, to be so close to home after so many years. To know that just beyond the horizon, everything you knew and loved, everything that was familiar to you was waiting for your return. Friends and family whose faces and voices were as well known as your own. Old haunts and childhood friends long faded into memory but never quite forgotten. Lives you'd touched and those that had touched you, shaped you, into what you had become. All of it was waiting there beyond the edge of the sky. As unreachable as the moon.

Heart ache and home sickness weighed down the crew of the Radiant Dawn as she swept across the water toward Ibevur. The city rose above them in all its sun-bleached enormity, clinging to the cliffs on either side of the Shallow Channel. Rope and stone bridges spanned the yawning chasm in their hundreds, connecting the two halves of the Twin City. Even more disconcerting to those afraid of heights, were the four colossal staircases leading up from the docks to the city above. Wind worn and ancient, these marvels of engineering moaned piteously as the wind threw itself against the cliffs. Their keening didn't quite drown out the roar of the Channel itself.

Except for the occasional chaining of orders, the crew was silent. Seven years had come and gone since the last time they'd set foot on Aelyca, and the pain of that departure was still as fresh as a day-old wound. None felt it as sharply as their captain.

Senieth Rone could still remember every word of the official ban laid against him. If he closed his eyes, he could see in exquisitely painful detail the face of every man and woman who had spoken against him that day. He could still remember the fear in the eyes of those who'd been bullied or threatened into laying false claims against him. Even the collective gasp that had passed through the gathered audience as his unnaturally harsh sentence had been read aloud was as fresh as yesterdays wind.

...that for the span of 7 years he may not set foot on these shores, nor will he be welcome at any port. Thereafter he may not tread beyond the sound of the sea for as long as he may live. So have we spoken.

The motivations behind his trial and banishment were still unclear to Senieth. At the height of his career, he'd been First Captain of the Order, Commander of the Honored Fleet, second only to the Grand Admiral in Silquine. Yet his position was a military one. Unlike the Admiral, he had no political ties or allegiances. He followed orders and did his duty. He'd only been to the capitol in Myrantias one time, on the day that he'd been raised to First Captain. And in all his years after that he could not imagine a single person of power who might have a grudge against him.

Yet in the end, it didn't matter. Only his crew had stood by him, taking an equal part of the sentence even when it had only been intended for him. And when he'd been set adrift in a leaky boat with a weeks ration of food, they had come for him and insisted that he continue to be their captain, though the position had rightfully fallen to the first mate Aniath.

Senieth could not imagine having spent the last seven years without his crew. And now, at long last, the wait was over. They could once again return home, in some small measure.

As they passed between the two huge arms of the sea wall, a huge construction of stone and wood which floated on the surface and kept the worst ocean swells at bay, a call rang out from one of its watch towers. Someone had spotted their figurehead. Someone who obviously had a good memory.

A messenger pigeon took wing from the peak of the watch tower and began climbing through the air toward the city, bearing the no doubt shocking news of the Radiant Dawn's return. Sen cared nothing for the reaction of the cities governor, so long as he and his crew were allowed to dock. The crossing from Celendri had drained their supplies, leaving them in great need of just about everything. Especially time on dry land.

As the ship crawled across the water toward the first of the free docks, Senieth kept a careful eye out for soldiers. Even as they slid alongside the dock and began tying off... even when the dock hands began taking orders for supplies and money started changing hands for docking fees and taxes... Sen remained watchful. He would not allow himself to relax until they'd reached the open sea. If luck were on his side, he'd be able to take on some travelers, perhaps a trading contract to earn them some coin, before they set out once again for the West.