A month later, together, they enrolled for the count of House Merantis, at Nelis’s own bitterness, and travelled south through the Coniuntasien Sea with 50 other sellswords to retake control over a gemstone mine in the continent of Axatôze. As they crossed the sea, a storm raged and sank their ship.

The remains of their wrecked ship drifted away and landed on the southern coast. Lanaya woke up first to witness the disaster. She searched for Nelis and found him unconscious, yet alive. The sea salt had dried their skin. She shook Nelis until he woke up. He was in pain but immediately began looking for his mother’s book, which he had brought with him. The water and the salt had left their mark. More than half of the incomplete runes were now unreadable.

As Lanaya was scavenging the remains of the shipwreck, she found a man agonizing under the sun with a wood fragment stuck in his left leg. He was breathing, but his skin was pale. Examining his wound, she saw that the salt had reduced the blood loss.

Lanaya –“NELIS! I found someone!”

Nelis –“What happened?”

Lanaya –“I found our next comrade!”

Nelis –“He’s about to die, you know. He might be beyond saving.”

Lanaya crossed her hands and placed them on the man’s heart.

Nelis –“What are you doing? Didn’t you say you lost your power?”

Lanaya –“I won’t use my own power; I’ll borrow Aya’s will.”

She stared at the wounded man and exhaled to calm herself.

Lanaya –“Luceat!”

She stood in silence.

Nelis –“Nothing’s happening.”

Lanaya –“So, even Aya disowned me . . .”

Nelis –“Well, you want to heal him? Borrow my skill. I’m no miracle, but I know a couple of things.”

Lanaya –“Sure . . .”

Nelis took a rag and made a garrotte around the injured leg before taking out the wood fragment. The inside was full of fresh blood, so he added more salt before pressing the flesh together for a quarter-hour. Once the flesh was sticking together again, he took a piece of cloth from a dead body and soaked it in the water before stretching it and wrapping it around the man’s leg. The salt of the water tightened the cloth together around the leg as it dried out.

Lanaya –“You think it’ll be enough?”

Nelis –“I don’t know; it will depend on his own constitution. If his body is strong enough, the flesh will fuse back together, and he will live. If not, he will have a fever and die in a couple of days.”

Nelis then used the ship’s sail to create a temporary shack over the man, hiding him from the sunlight. He searched around the many bodies and found some white willow bark. These leaves of a common tree had analgesic properties. He took some water from his gourd and added it to infuse the bark. When the man finally woke up, Nelis told him to drink some of the mixture.

The wounded man –“What is it?”

Nelis –“It’s to help you fight a potential fever by lowering your pain.”

The man drank the whole bottle and thanked Nelis for his help before falling back to sleep. The next day, the man woke up. He didn’t have a fever, but he was still weak.

Nelis –“I’m Nelis; a storm wrecked our ship. Do you remember who you are?”

The wounded man –“I do. I’m Jurren. I should be dead . . .”

Nelis –“Then be glad you aren’t.”

Jurren –“My words may not mean much, but I promise I will repay my debt one day. Let me join you until the gods allow me to repay what I owe you.”

Nelis –“If she didn’t insist, I would have left you for dead, so you’re indebted to her, not me.”

As Jurren turned his eyes toward Lanaya, he was bewitched by the sight. Her silver hairs were flowing through the wind like the banner of a kingdom. The sunlight was shimmering on her skin like a sunset on a clear sea.

Lanaya –“I am Lanaya. Welcome to the Silver Lining.”