Rannok held his hand to his forehead and sat curled on the ground below deck, his wings pressed to the wall behind him. His stomach heaved. Sea voyages had never been his favorite, and it was clear that river travel wasn't much better. He took a deep breath in through his nose. The smell of damp wood and supplies filtered up his nose. Rannok kept his eyes shut. 

His mind got quiet, and Rannok sat up a little straighter. It was too much of a risk to try to sleep in such small quarters. They'd find out how broken he was, and then they'd ask questions that he didn't want to answer. He didn't want to imagine the consequences if he woke up screaming, or worse, by grabbing someone. His hands squeezed around the edge of his tunic.

It was a relief when he felt the ship's wooden body shudder against the dock. Rannok let out a deep sigh. No more ships, no more moving, no more water, no more feeling like he was about to vomit any time he didn't sit in one spot without moving. He hugged his wings around his body and waited for the ship to stop bobbling.

The thudding of footsteps down the stairwell was less of a relief.Rannok forced his eyes open again. Pirya peered at him from the stairwell through narrowed eyes. She wrinkled her nose and pointed a bony finger in his direction.

"Get up, we're here. Try not to vomit on yourself before you get outside." Her voice was a demanding bark, less shrill like a hawk's and more like a guard dog. Rannok struggled to his feet, bracing himself against one of the ship's beams as a wave of nausea crashed over him. 

"I hate boats," he muttered, more to himself than her, which was fine because Pirya ignored him and disappeared up the stairwell. He followed behind her, squinting as the bright lights assaulted his eyes. He could feel a headache forming behind his forehead, and he rubbed one hand across it, but it didn't help any.

Outside he could hear the rushing of water and the lapping of waves by the dock. The tang of saltwater permeated the air. Rannok coughed and held a hand over his eyes. The island's dock was nothing but a little spit of wood coming out of a cliff. There was no other land in sight, no matter where he turned his head toward. He wondered how anyone managed to actually get here to begin with. 

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Mantu laid a too-heavy hand on Rannok's shoulder for a moment before removing it. Rannok nodded his head, but didn't respond. It would have been nicer if he hadn't been forced to come here by Mantu and his wife, but he doubted the man would understand that even if Rannok tried to make him. 

"Missing home?" Mantu looked at Rannok out of the corner of his eye. His gaze was non-judgmental, but there was the hint of a question in his drawn brows. Rannok shrugged his shoulders and fluffed his feathers out. 

He watched as the deckhands undid the wheels of the carriage from their bindings and began to wind down the gangplank. Pirya watched over them, arms folded, not speaking except to occasionally bark an order. At least Mantu was quiet, even if he wasn't any better than his wife. 

"I haven't been home in years," Rannok said. He didn't look back for Mantu's expression as he stepped toward the gangplank and onto ground that didn't shift under his feet. An explosion of air left his lungs as they made contact with solid ground. He turned his head and looked back one last time at the ocean.

No land. They'd come off a river delta, but he couldn't see it. That meant they were far enough from the river they'd come from that Sasha would need a boat to get here. His stomach dropped. She had no money, and he knew exactly how much sea voyages tended to cost. 

He would need to figure this out himself, then. Another wave of nausea come rushing back. Rannok leaned over the dock and retched. His throat scraped together as his stomach tried to force its way up, but nothing came out. There was nothing left in there for him to purge. He coughed again and wiped his mouth. 

Mantu watched him from the end of the dock. Rannok turned away to roll his eyes, then stood up straight and raised his eyebrows at the man. 

"Not a fan of boats, I take it."

"No," Rannok said, trying hard not to sound as angry as he felt. If Mantu gave a shit he would have found a way for him to not be kidnapped in the first place. They just made the fake attempts at camaraderie sting all the more. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and folded his feathers down flat. The least he could do was try not to look like as much of a wreck as he felt.

"Where was home for you, originally?" The folds of fat on Mantu's neck became clearer as he drew closer. Rannok resisted the urge to turn and walk away fast enough that the man couldn't catch him.

"Terres," he said instead. 

"Terres is a big place." Mantu picked at a cuticle. The edge of it was raw and angry, and bit into the flesh of his finger. Rannok looked away and forced himself to meet Mantu's eyes. 

"Not big enough for people to not know where you came from," Rannok said. His mouth pressed into a line, and his eyes narrowed. Maybe Mantu would get the hint and stop pushing for answers, but he doubted it.

"Agatine, then?"

Rannok thought of Wren and of noodles eaten in the light of a gaslamp and of a man punching his face. He thought of ships and salt air and a tiny apartment with too many people inside, the walls pressed so close that sometimes it was hard to breathe. He remembered the scent of alcohol and piss wafting down the alleyway outside and wished, for a moment, that he'd stayed.

It wasn't the right answer, but it was as good as any. 

"Yeah, Agatine." He nodded and turned his head away, to look out at the ocean. When he looked back Mantu's expression shifted, like he intended to ask Rannok a question. Rannok braced, then relaxed when none came.

"I heard it is a toughed place to be...as you are. I suppose that's why you left. Was the girl from there?" Mantu's eyes flickered to Rannok's butchered wings.

Rannok resisted the urge to shove his hands in his pockets and admit he was uncomfortable. But that would be capitulating. That would be admitting defeat. It would mean giving Mantu something he could use later.

If he hadn't left, he never would have found her. Maybe that wouldn't have been a bad thing.

"No. She's not from Agatine."

He turned and walked down the dock without waiting to see if Mantu would follow him. His stomach twisted again. He remembered the look on the face when she'd told him it would be easier to talk about it than not. But Mantu wasn't her. He was a stranger trying to take advantage. 

Rannok missed irritating questions.

He needed a nap.