The clatter of wheels behind her caught her ears, and she turned to see a tall figure pulling a cart with her trunk on it. "Oh, thank you! But I'm afraid I'll have to-" she began, but she froze when he lifted his face to hers.

It was Himchan! He held the handle of the cart and grinned in amusement at the horror on her face, then tipped his head in her direction as a greeting. "Come now, Lady Chorong. You couldn't think you would be able to leave me behind, did you?"

Of course she did, but she wouldn't say it. She merely raised her chin and looked him in the eyes, though she had to fight not to shiver at the cold she saw there. "Of course not. As you see, I'm going nowhere." She moved to brush past him, intent on taking her trunk cart away from him. He caught her arm in a firm grip and turned her around, his sword brushing against her legs as he yanked her close.

"Not so soon," he said, his voice still pleasant but his eyes anything but. "I thought you wanted passage off Trinia. So you could follow a map, maybe? Regardless, I booked passage for the both of us. Come." Well, she didn't have a choice in that, as the man set off, pulling her cart with one hand and her arm in the other. She considered trying to fight him but his grip was like a vice, and she knew she wouldn't be able to escape, no matter how it hurt.

He took them to one of the ships left in the port, a small, fat thing that she could only surmise was used as a cargo ship. She couldn't say that she knew anything about sailing, though, and so kept shut on that opinion. All she knew for sure was that it wasn't anything like the beautiful ships she had watched sail away. Himchan motioned for her to move up the gangplank ahead of him, finally letting her go with a slight shove so he could manhandle the cart up behind her. The thought to run flashed throuh her mind, but the dark look her gave her told her that he knew it and expected her to, and so she didn't. Likely he would enjoy it and she very much would not.

And so, Chorong straightened her dress and moved up the long plank, stepping out onto a deck full of sailors just beginnning to make preparations to leave. She had wondered why she hadn't noticed this ship, and now she knew: they were only now getting ready, and had seemed dormant when she had passed earlier. A short, stocky man came toward her, his pace an odd rolling walk that made him seem rounder than he really was. His face was pinched in a frown and his sun-tanned skin reminded her of leather, but she wasn't about to make him angry with her. And yet as she was settling herself and about to bow to him, he passed right by her as if she were invisible and greeted Himchan.

"It's about time you arrived!" he grouched, giving the tall, slender man a bow of his own before calling a sailor to come take the trunk. "Store this below in the, uh, guest quarters," he ordered, and Chorong could only watch uneasily as her belongings were taken inside of the yawning mouth of the ship.

She turned back to Himchan, intent on catching the rest of his conversation with the apparent captain, but a new arrival caught her eyes. Tall and slender like Himchan, that was where the resemblence ended. While Himchan was pale and everything about him was thin, the newcomer's skin was dark like someone from Obarsan. His features were more rounded and his lips much more full and he had a sword strapped to his back with the hilt looming over his right shoulder. His hazel eyes flickered over to Chorong as he came to a stop behind Himchan, and as their eyes met for a brief moment she realized that this was the same man who had pulled her out of the way of the wagon the previous day. Maybe he could help her!

But even as she took a step toward him, intending to ask for his protection against Himchan, the newcomer turned toward the dark-eyed man and bowed. "All is in order, sir," he said, his melodious voice devoid of emotion, and Chorong's heart sank. He wouldn't save her: he worked for her captor.

She must have made a sound, because all three men turned to look at her: the captain frowned in thought, Himchan's face stayed perfectly blank, and the newcomer looked down