Sonder looked for the captain.
He wasn't a hard man to find.
He was by the quarterdeck, watching the sea as another sailor was steering the ship.
He was looking out at sea.
And she approached him.
The captain didn't look at her.
"Something's wrong," he said, focused on the sea. "I've gathered that much, but the sea's the same as always. How can it be that the lives of people're so insignificant that it doesn't even notice?"
The captain gave a short and dry cough. "What is it?" He asked and finally looked down at Sonder.
"I want to help."
"Help," he repeated, articulating the word carefully.
His gaze returned to sea.
"And what exactly are ye goin' to do?" he asked. "Stand on deck and listen harder than the rest of us?"
Sonder thought about it.
"…Maybe," she said honestly.
The captain didn't smile.
"You're a passenger," he said. "You stay where I say. That's how this works."
Sonder shook her head.
"I'm not just some helpless little girl."
The captain's eye narrowed slightly.
"Oh? What else are ye?"
"I'm a sorceress," she said.
The captain was quiet for a moment.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
He looked her up and down again.
The staff. The sword. Her stillness.
Then he gave a small shrug.
"Plenty o' folk say they're things," he said. "Doesn't mean it helps me."
Sonder frowned a little.
"It should count for something," she said.
"Does it help me find a man who vanishes without a sound?" the captain asked.
Sonder paused.
"…I don't know," she admitted.
"Does it stop whatever's takin' 'em?"
"…I don't know."
The captain nodded once.
"That's the problem."
Sonder looked down for a moment.
Then back up.
"I can still try," she said.
"An' what happens if ye get taken, same as the rest?"
"I won't," she said. It wasn't said proudly. Just simply.
The captain studied her for a moment.
Then gave a small grunt. "Everyone says that 'til they don't. I'm not liftin' the curfew."
Sonder nodded.
"I understand."
"But-"
She looked up.
The captain scratched at his beard.
"Anyone can say they're a sorceress," he said. "Heard that one before. Usually means tricks, or someone tryin' to sound more important than they are."
He shifted his stance slightly, the wood creaking under his weight.
"If that's what you are," he continued, "then show me somethin'. Nothin' fancy. Just enough that I know you're not talkin' out of your... hat."
She lifted one hand slightly.
A small shimmer of mana gathered at her fingertips, faint.
And then a thin stream of water formed in the air above her palm.
Clear and clean.
Sonder moved her fingers slightly, and the water followed.
It stretched into a narrow ribbon, circling her wrist once, then twice, moving slowly and smoothly.
She let it hover there for a moment.
Then, with a small motion, she split it.
The single stream divided into several smaller strands, each one drifting apart like threads before weaving back together again.
No splashing.
No spilling.
Sonder lowered her hand.
The water gathered into a single droplet again.
Then it fell.
But before it could hit the deck, it vanished.
Gone as if it had never been there.
"If ye hear somethin' again," he said, "ye come straight to the crew and stay out o' their way otherwise. No wanderin' off, no playin' hero."
"Okay."
He gave one last look at her.
"…Sorceress," he muttered.