“Some years ago before the war with the pre-rain religionist, Hurmaz came to us and lived here with his wife for a while. We wanted to put an end to all the nonsense and lies told throughout the sea about the Saviour. Hurmaz didn’t cooperate with us back then and went to another ship. When the war broke out and he lost his family, he came to us again. He promised to help us if we helped him win the war. We sent around four hundred men and women to fight for him and if it wasn’t for our help, he couldn’t defeat his enemies. He became the leader after that and tried to make essential changes like banning the Book Burnings etc. But his hands were tight. He could lose his position and even his life if he went too far. We had to wait. But as we waited, the Circle grew stronger and gained more power and people believed the fake history to be absolutely true, forgetting about this ship and my true great grandparents. It got out of hand as to the point where they killed Hurmaz and set the Oxan refugees fire…” she says, shaking her head regretfully.

“I’m too old now and people seem too devoted to the fake beliefs…nothing can be done to wake them up anymore,” she finishes her explanations. Yet Tirad cannot believe this parallel and imaginary history. He knew Hurmaz had gained help to win the war from a ship that he had never revealed its name, but he always thought it was one of the border ships. He needs to ask his question and test the validity of Armina’s claims.

“How come the Saviour Ship has nothing to do with you? They have just erased your name?”

“Hurmaz had been protecting us so far… We have a peace treaty with him, we won’t act on our belief and they will just ignore us. But I doubt we would be safe anymore,” she says and looks down in regret.

“What about the other sea people? If they believed in you, how could they go through so much trouble every dry season to bring alms to the Saviour Ship?” Tirad asks again.

“The people of the sea don’t truly believe in anything! They just do whatever suits them most or is less troublesome. The truth is irrelevant to them,” Armina answers. But the truth is important to Tirad and the many children who were sent to be raised as disciples, devoting their lives to the Saviour Ship.

“Has anyone else ever come here except for Hurmaz?” he asks, and Armina approves.

“The missioners come here every once in a while. Especially the missioners from the border ships who are so sick and tired of trying to keep up with the Saviour Rules and feel unable to carry them out on the ships. They gradually lose faith and hear about us. We usually have one or two disciples per year that come seeking refuge…but…” she says and pauses. Tirad is waiting to hear what she has to say after the ‘but’.