21. Old Friends

The trio boards the Molrovan whaler Suepka Buryey under a gray sky and calm sea. Captain Yevar Boltch gives them little notice, while First Mate Korkala, a scarred disciplinarian with a bronze-fisted baton, handles business with the Seafarers Guild and asserts her control of the ship.

As Pigdenay fades, Korkala warns them in rough Holtish to keep off the dangerous decks and remain below with the others once the harbor is behind them. Galva responds diplomatically, and the captain engages briefly, asking Kinch where in Galtia he is from. Kinch answers “Platha Glurris,” and the captain moves on, indifferent.

Below, the passengers are assigned a cramped stall with hammocks and a small table near empty barrels awaiting whale renderings. The arrangement suggests a tolerable month-long passage if seas and hunting permit, and Kinch allows himself a tentative hope despite a growing sense of dwindling luck.

That hope collapses when a crewman overhears “Platha Glurris.” A strong, scarred harpooner with a goblin-bite mark and missing fingers approaches, revealing a Galtish black tongue and a smile that reads as predatory. He clearly knows Kinch from long ago—and hates him—turning the voyage into a perilous confinement with an old enemy.