After weeks of watching Master Kelren warily, Tali had seen nothing suspicious. She did not doubt the strange occurrence that Vaniya had explained, but she found nothing to add to it. The most notable thing that Kelren did was to meet with the rebels—when they were finally found by one of the East Storm “patrols.” The meeting confirmed—at last!—that Ghomal’s son, Anero, lived. He had last been seen heading for a rebel camp in some fishing villages north of Tav Rock.
With the rendezvous drawing nearer, Kelren dispatched a few mercenaries—including Harek—to stall the Boundless. The rest of the troop in Tav Rock set out north, along the coast.
Tali felt of little use scouring villages—she wasn’t confident enough to coyly hint at the rebels they sought, while speaking with clueless townsfolk. She was better at asking for general news and tidings from those they encountered, and piecing together what she could from that.
After spending a day each in two different coastal villages, they moved on to the third. It didn’t take long before someone approached the troop outside of the inn—they had nearly filled all the rooms within—and said that they had confirmed Councillor Ghomal’s appearance with his son. Anero was nearby, alive and well.
The rebel camp lay inland, secluded by the rocky banks of a river gorge and overgrown by the wide-leafed canopy. The moss-eaten rainforest felt far older than those of Tali’s youth—this land had been unaffected by the Orrish, all those centuries ago. Some of these gnarled, wizened trees were thousands of years old.
As they approached the guards of the camp, they were asked to stop. A discussion began to determine if the mercenaries had been tracked by bandits from Tav Rock, but soon a younger man appeared, and the debate was forgotten. Anero eagerly embraced his father.
“I worried you would be gone, another son forgotten in the war,” Ghomal lamented, refusing to let go of his adult son. “Thank the gods. We came all this way to find you—and now we can take you back to safety with us.”
Anero then separated from his father’s arms. “Back to safety? My place is here, father. That hasn’t changed on the war’s account.”
Rel gave Tali a grim glance. He had warned her that this mission might not end how Ghomal had wished, though he would still have to pay. Tali couldn’t believe her ears—if someone had come this far for her, spending who knows how much of a fortune, she would have gone with them at once. But she had not been raised by a wealthy Councillor.
Ghomal and Anero headed to the latter’s tent to speak in private, and to catch up with one another. The mercenaries gathered near one of the campfires as designated by the rebels. Their hosts were edgy and tense, but not without hospitality.
Later, Tali watched a distressed Ghomal emerge from his son’s tent and enter another with Master Kelren, to discuss how to proceed. Trying to act nonchalant, Tali wandered nearer that tent—it was on the way to the latrine, after all. She idled near the canvas, pretending to rub her callouses behind the lip of her boots.
“Well, then…” Master Kelren’s voice was saying, “if there’s no other way, the best you can do is send help from home. What good are you going to do here, on your own? A Councillor used to life in a study?”
Ghomal’s urgent reply muffled through the tent: “Not me—you. And your ship. There’s what? Fifty mercenaries? I can easily afford a reasonable fee for your efforts here. Protecting my son and—”
“We’re not going to do that, Councillor,” Kelren said, his tone stern and his words assertive. “The contract was to find your son and we have. The Commanders await my return—it is wartime, after all. Upon our return, you can hire all the manpower you want, and we can send it here with magic just the same. Manpower, supplies, you name it.”
For a few moments, the tent seemed quiet and Tali paced onward, toward the back of the tent, farther in the direction of the latrine.
Kelren spoke again, a little quieter. Tali strained to hear it. “I’m not a father, but I can understand how impossible your decision is. We can spend the night. You can have some time with Anero, but you’ll need to choose to stay or to join us, by morning. Maybe you can still win him over?”
“I will try…” Ghomal mumbled.
More silence followed, and then Tali heard the tent flaps on the other end of the shelter. She hurried off to the outhouses before anyone noticed her loitering.
Tali moped around the campfires later, spending her time partly with Rel and partly with Vaniya. She couldn’t believe they had come all this way and would return empty-handed. She felt for Ghomal, too—so she decided to try changing Anero’s mind. She spent a while sitting in the campfire circle where Ghomal and Anero sat, but did not interrupt them.
When Ghomal took a turn to relieve himself, Tali sat closer to Anero and started chatting with him about her voyages and how far they both had come from their roots. Finally, she spoke about her nostalgia for home, and how much she missed her mother. She shared that she had never met her father—an absent sailor, lost at sea.
Anero countered her persuasions in a way Tali had not expected. “And leave my friends to fight, maybe to die, for my city? Without me?” he asked. He looked into the fire and shook his head. “No matter my love for my father, I cannot abandon them.”
Tali might have had better luck trying to persuade him to save his men by playing on a brothers-in-arms mentality, but even after her time on the Boundless, that perspective did not come naturally for her. Of course, Anero did not single-handedly command the rebels, so he might not have had that power either.
The next morning, a somber Ghomal joined the mercenaries as they departed the rebel camp. He assured Anero he would send arms and supplies in the very least, and urged him to stay safe until the war was won. Tali again felt disbelief—they had set off on such a grand adventure, but it was just a job. They went from point A to point B and kept their charge alive. That was it. It felt like a waste.
The East Storm mercenaries followed the coast south, eager to find the safety of their ship. They took an early camp on the 1st of 1482, to celebrate the new year. Kelren even permitted them to drink a little more than usual, provided they kept the noise down. Tali missed spending such occasions with her mother, and again thought of Anero. Ghomal observed the celebration with quiet reflection.
After a few days, Rel finally approached Tali to ask about the secret she was keeping. “Tali,” he said, “it’s been an unusual year to be sure, but I feel like something’s up. I don’t want to be pushy or anything—but are you and Vaniya actually getting along? Didn’t think I’d see the day until the seas boiled up and the sun turned away.” He smirked.
Tali laughed awkwardly. Then she glanced Vaniya’s way, but the mercenary walked along in the procession without looking back. “I dunno if I’d call it ‘getting along’, Rel,” Tali said. “We just…have a common interest.”
She hated lying to him, but Vaniya had seniority in this. Tali’d be a fool to cross her now.
Rel shrugged. “Lady business, we’ll call it?” He smiled and kept walking. Tali could tell he was sad to not have her trust on the subject, but he took it in stride. He knew she wouldn’t do anything if it might harm him.
The next day, on the 7th of the 1st Moon, they watched a small cluster of ships sail past along the coast. That afternoon, they encountered the ships docked in the small harbour-town that serviced Tav Rock itself—reinforcements for War-lady Zanaria? Master Kelren decided they hadn’t the time to investigate, and Tali couldn’t agree more. They snuck past the trade road that ran up to the city and hurried south.
Tali had handled herself well on this mission, she thought—spying on Master Kelren aside. She looked forward to reaching the ship and proving herself to Captain Guthon yet again. In the next couple days, they would reach Boundless and the waiting crew—and be on their way home to Eastpoint.