Thread: Here Be Dragons [ Forsaken Dreamer and Terucin ]

Tessa paced restlessly, her bare feet beginning to tap a little more loudly against the wooden floor as she moved. Nearly ten minutes had passed since she had woken, and despite her knowledge that she was, in fact safe from the ocean that had claimed the rest of the passengers and crew on her sunken ship, the distinct absence of anyone else or the indication that anyone else was even nearby was distinctly unsettling. Perhaps whoever had put her here had forgotten about her and wouldn't remember her until they returned for the night, or perhaps they simply hadn't had the time to check on her. Neither possible reason was particularly comforting to her. The girl stopped pacing after another minute had passed, turning her attention instead to the sketches lining the walls. The drawings were skillfully done, and she even recognized one or two of the depictions as some of the more distinct landmarks that were known to be trademarks of her own country. She inspected a sketch the unnamed artist had done of the mountain range her village lay at the foot of a little more closely, scanning every detail of the drawing with the faintest hint of a frown. No doubt when the ship she had been on failed to arrive at port in the next three weeks at most, word would be sent of the missing vessel, and if she failed to report at the academy she had accepted her offered place at, her place would almost certainly be filled with another. Her hand moved up to grasp at the small wolf's tooth she always wore around her neck, a small keepsake her childhood best friend had given her years ago as a good luck charm. When her fingers closed on nothing but her own skin she glanced down to see the necklace missing. A quick survey of the bed yielded nothing, as did a brief search of the floor she had covered since recovering consciousness. The small tooth was nowhere to be found. If her fall from the ship's failing had not torn it from her, it had slipped off at some point between waking in the middle of the storm and being recovered from the wreckage and been lost among the waves. More likely than not it was drifting along the seabed by now or resting in some fish's stomach, she decided with a grimace. She returned to her pacing, her feet returning to their rhythm. Several more minutes passed before she heard a voice from the direction of the door. Tessa spun to face the source of the voice, not having heard the door open or the man standing before her enter. Suddenly she was painfully conscious of the state she was in. She was wearing nothing more than a small dress that hardly counted as proper clothing and didn't count at all as anything she should have been seen in by anyone who wasn't family. Her hair was tousled almost beyond recognition, and she still smelled of salt water. She glanced over her visitor briefly, taking in everything from missing ear to the grimy clothing. Something didn't quite add up. There was little to no possibility that this could be the man that lived in the cabin she had been placed in, and something about the way he smiled at her made her more than a little uneasy. I feel fine. The words came out sounding a good deal more shaken than she would have liked, and Tessa mentally kicked herself for sounding so ridiculously like some helpless child. She moved back as the man took a step forward, tensing instinctively. Her eyes flicked from him to the balcony door, then settled on the door behind him briefly before returning back to him, a hint of wariness in her look. If you would be so good as to bring me to your captain, I would be quite grateful. Good, that was a little better. Now she sounded a good deal more confident, as it should be. And, after all, why shouldn't he oblige? If he had been set to watch her until she woke, there must be someone who wanted to see her when she did wake.