favonian
[fuh-voh-nee-uhn]
adjective
of or relating to the west wind.
mild or favorable; propitious.
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Marcus felt his head begin to pound. Why were these damn sailors not doing anything? Well, they were, but not what he wanted them to. He was telling them to get the blasted ship moving faster, and they were practically laughing at him. Did they have any idea how much money was at stake here? More than the ship was worth, for sure.
And yet the sailors were moving like nothing was wrong. They may as well have been completely idle! Marcus would put a stop to that. He pulled out the small stone that would serve to call the ship’s captain. Sure, he could go find the man, but why would he do that? He was footing the bill for this voyage. The captain would come to him.
A few minutes later, the ship’s captain did appear, holding an identical stone to the one Marcus had used.
“What’dya want now?” The captain asked. His voice was just as large as the rest of him was, and even speaking quietly was loud enough to be heard by other members of the crew. Not that any of them seemed to care.
“Captain, I demand you increase this ship’s speed immediately.” Marcus replied, loud enough for the same crew members to hear.
The captain looked at him and blinked a few times. “Yer serious right now?”
“Of course I am. I know this ship is capable to greater speeds. I want it moving as fast as it can go.” He had paid a hefty sum for a ship that had been rune touched for speed. He could see the markings all over the place. The fact that nobody was using them was infuriating.
“No.”
“No?”
“No. We will not be going any faster than we are now. This is a good, fine speed, and quicker than most other ships this size will be going. We’ve got a solid wind at our backs and the water’s as calm as we can hope for. This is the best speed for us.”
“I don’t care. I want it faster.”
“Look, man. Even if I was inclined to speed up, which I’m not, I couldn’t. That wind at our backs? That’ll only let us go so fast. And don’t even try to bring up the runes. Those aren’t what you think they are. They’re for quick bursts of speed. Good for emergencies, not for crossing the ocean. You want us going faster, you need to take it up with the wind.”
“Fine. Where’s the wind speaker? I know you have one somewhere.”
“Vik? He’s up on the masthead.”
Marcus looked up at the top of the large mast. There was no way he was going to go up there. With a few choice words, he had the captain call the man down. And a few minutes later, Marcus and the captain were joined by the wind speaker, Vik.
“Aye, captain? What can I do for you?”
“Our...client wants us to go faster. Says you should ask the wind to blow harder.”
Marcus crossed his arms and nodded.
“Oh, I see. Hm, no, I don’t think I’ll be doing that.”
Marcus sputtered. “Wh-what? I’m telling you to you damn layabout!”
“Well it’s a good thing I don’t answer to you, now isn’t it?” Vik replied. “If that’s all captain, I’ll go back up.”
“No, it’s not okay!” Marcus shouted. “You control the wind. You get the wind to blow more. That’s it. That’s all you should be doing now.”
Ever crew member within earshot was paying attention now. They seemed more amused than anything.
“First of all, I don’t control the wind. I speak to it. You should know that. It’s part of the name. Second, the wind is already blowing as quick as it’s willing to. Or did you think getting a wind like this, in the direction we want at this fair clip is just a coincidence? We’re moving at all because I’ve asked the wind to favor us for this trip. I could just as easily stop that, and then we’d be as likely to be dead in the water as anything else. If I push the wind too hard, it’ll just ignore me. So no, I will not be asking the wind to blow faster unless I absolutely need to. And right now, I don’t absolutely need to.”
“And there you have it, sir.” The captain said. “We’re moving as fast as we’re going to. And that means you can sit back, relax and enjoy the trip. And if not? We’ll, we’ll just have to find out how a good a swimmer you are, won’t we?”
Marcus heard the listening sailors chuckle. He looked around and saw wide, unpleasant grins on all their faces. He growled, but held his tongue.
“Fine. But don’t think I’ll have anything favorable to say about this ship and crew when we get back to port.” He turned on his heels and stormed off to the bunk he had been provided, stewing on his own anger over the incompetence of the crew he had paid so much for.
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Did I need to add magic and stuff to a story like this? No. No I did not. But I wanted to, so that's what I did.
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