The three male lordlings followed Rezkin but kept their distance, whispering between themselves as he removed the saddle and tack and strapped the horse into the harnesses, readying him to be hoisted aboard the ship. The lords looked like children drooling over their new best friend’s amazing toy. Shiela’s eyes never left Rezkin, and every once in a while, he would bend or stoop, and her face would flush. Frisha had no idea what Rezkin was up to, but if he thought for one second that she was going to lose him to Shiela, then he had another thing coming.

Once everyone was aboard, they received their berth assignments. Rezkin already knew the assignments because he had made them himself. The young warrior assigned himself to share a room with Malcius, while Palis and Brandt shared a second. For strategic reasons, Rezkin would have preferred to place Tam with Brandt, but it would have been considered unseemly for the young lord to share a room with a commoner who was not his manservant. Frisha, Reaylin, Shiela, and Shiela’s maid, Tami, were assigned to share a four-person berth. Rezkin could get away with placing Reaylin in the room since she was the only other female onboard. As both officers and nobility, Captain Jimson and Lieutenant Drascon shared a berth; and Tam was left to bunk with Sergeant Millins as commoners. The four Jebai house guards shared another four-person room, while the other servants were placed with the crew.

The rooms were small and cramped since two or three of the berths could possibly fit into a single average room at an inn. When it came to the confines of a ship, it seemed the nobles preferred privacy over space. Malcius looked around and wondered, “Where are the rest of my belongings?”

Rezkin laughed, a sound that would have seemed unnatural to anyone who knew him but sounded genuine and effortless to the unsuspecting lord. “I do not know about you, but I would prefer not to sleep on a trunk.” Rezkin waved a dismissive hand at the two trunks that had been placed at the ends of their respective beds. “I believe we only need one in here at time. The rest are stored in the hold below. If you require something, I am sure one of those crewmen will be delighted to retrieve it for you.” In order to keep up appearances, Rezkin was also traveling with several trunks. It would have looked odd for a noble of his unspecified, but presumably high, standing to be traveling with nothing more than a single pack and saddlebags. So far, no one was willing to risk offending him by questioning his place within the ranks of the nobility.