PARAGON

Darkness fell on the harbor, and Paragon watched as the last lights went out in the house. The lighthouse remained on, and the only movement came from the few guards who still patrolled the shipyard.

Her planks restlessly shifted as thoughts filled her mind. He's not going to come back; he's not going to be my captain. No one wants me; no one wants a broken ship. She released her magical fog and watched as it slowly crept along the surface of the water and began to consume the landscape. They won't remember me anyway.

She sighed and willed the ropes to untie themselves from her cleats, and they obeyed and collapsed lifelessly onto the dock. As the fog built and consumed more and more of the shipyard, she rode the outgoing tide and slowly inched out of her spot. I need to get to Havenus and speak to Horizon. I hope I can keep my sanity long enough to get there and not lose focus on my goal.

She froze as footsteps pounded against the pier. "Wait!" A male voice rang through the night. She could see the fog begin to haze his memories of her and why he was coming down the pier.

What is he doing? Why is he coming? The liveship watched with her magical sight as Travis blindly ran through the dense fog of her creation. He should forget about me. I'm going to try to die soon. She felt both scared and strengthened by the finality of her statement.

"Paragon!" His voice rang through the increasingly dense fog. "Para—!" He panted heavily from his sprint, and a brief flash of confusion washed across his face as he stepped and stumbled over the menagerie of ropes scattered across the boardwalk. "Wait!" His voice cracked as he ran harder.

The silver figurehead remained still and silent. The mist was already making his memories of her hazy, and he faltered slightly but continued through the white haze thicker than pea soup.

He screamed as he ran right off the edge of the pier, his legs flailing as they tried to connect with non-existent land.

Paragon quickly moved from her position on the bow and caught him just before he plummeted into the dark waves. His heavy breathing rang in her ears as she cradled him with all four of her arms. "You should just forget about me." She frowned as the contact granted him temporary immunity from the magical effects of the mist and cleared his memories of the haze. "I'm not worth anything to anyone anymore." She gently placed him back onto the pier.

"Paragon, wait," Travis grabbed one of her arms and stuttered a bit both from nervousness and his labored breathing, "I promised you some herbs." He offered her a small bag filled with many scents. "And... well...," his stammering became worse, but he manages to take a deep breath and find the words before they fluttered off of the tip of his tongue. "I will be your captain."

"What?" Paragon froze, "I thought you did not want to be with— be my captain." She eyed him suspiciously. "You said yourself, you are not a true sailor, and your heart refuses to believe you will ever be good at it." She felt his resolve falter and moved to escape his touch, but he managed to keep his grip on her form. Just let me go; the next person I try will probably attack me again. She shivered as she remembered the ax aimed at her face and the chainsaws the shipbuilders threatened to use on her to break the doors to get to her non-existent crew.

"I.... I know I said that, but— but—" Travis fumbled over his words as he struggled to comprehend the thoughts that boiled in his head.

Paragon couldn't stop herself from prying into the man's mind. It was so easy to see into his mind while he continued to hold one of her arms, and she was not going to get words from him.

"You just want to prove that you can do something right," Paragon stated as she finished sorting through the shipwright's son's jumbled thoughts. "Whom you are trying to convince, I'm not sure." Her sapphire eyes stared at him. "But I am no longer worth it. I'm a ship that needs to die. I've sailed long enough." She forced him to release her. "I'm just a useless waste of space."

Travis looked up to her, briefly stunned. "Paragon! Wait! You're not useless! I'm far more useless than you!" He paused, but the distance prevented Paragon from once again diving into the depths of his thoughts. After a second, he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Please, give me a chance. If it doesn't work out, you could always bring me back."

His determination seeped into her silver wooden hide. "Fine," she grabbed him with her three other arms and effortlessly hauled him up to her deck. "But I have two conditions." She tried to keep her crazed happiness contained. Slow down; he could change his mind in the morning. He already said no once. "You are going to live in the captain's quarters. I've cleaned it out; you don't have to worry about the belongings of my previous captain. If in the morning, you are still dead set on being my captain, then I have something for you to do."

Travis nodded, then marveled at the lack of for on the deck when the white wall of fog consumed everything around the ship. "Where did all this fog come from?" His mind was safe from the magical effects of the as long as he stood upon her deck. However, the protection only lasted as long as she kept the mist from seeping onto the deck.

"You will learn in the morning." The figurehead briefly dug her claws into the wood of the bowsprit as she settled into her proper place. I have to be sure. I have to be sure. "I've unlocked the doors, and when you wake, I will properly introduce you to the position of being my captain. I hope you sleep well."

The young human succumbed to the tiredness the animated wood forced upon him, then obediently walked towards the aftercastle. His feet gently pattered against the timbers of her deck and made the ship more alive.

Paragon felt whole again with a person living within her hull, but she tried to keep her mind away from hopeful thoughts. She looked through the fog as it finally consumed the entire shipyard. She added Travis's arrival to the memories to be consumed by the mist as well, then continued to back out of the port.

She cut through air and water as the wind filled her sails; she drifted away from the shipyard. In the morning, he'll want to go back; no one wants to stay with me. I'll hide from this port just over the horizon. Then it will be easy to return him, And I'll slip away in the dark of night again. None of the beings will remember me, not even Travis. They won't know I ever existed!

She mentally laughed, then calmed as she felt Travis move again. She tried to mentally haul the anchor of her sanity back onto her deck and succumb to the mercy of the currents in the sea formed by decades of loneliness.

No one can miss me if they don't remember I exist.

She looked up to the stars as they glittered more beautifully than bioluminescent algae amongst a swarm of fish.

Author Notes!

Paragon is a very interesting character to write, its very hard to balance her experience with her madness and doubt. This chapter, though short, is rather somber, but I think it came out well. What do you think?