NOVPUB"It's time we talked about next steps."
Thorn flopped onto one of the beds. "Please tell me it involves sleep. And food. Maybe a bath."
"Soon." Ren said. "But first, we need a Tidecaller. A guide."
Elias nodded. "We shouldn't have a problem with it here. Before, we were on a ship with a handful of Tidecallers. But here, there should be at least a thousand Tidecallers."
Lilith crossed her arms. "And how do we plan to convince one to go with us?"
"Simple." Ren said, folding his arms. "We find someone reckless. Someone with something to prove. Someone hungry for a legend."
"Sounds like we need a younger Tidecaller." Elias said thoughtfully. "Someone not yet jaded."
Ren nodded. "Exactly. The elders won't help. They'll drag their feet like they're walking to their doom. But someone young enough, desperate enough... they might just chase the storm."
"And if we can't find someone like that?" Thorn asked.
"Then we make one." Ren said simply. "We turn the idea into a story too tempting to resist."
Lilith raised an eyebrow. "You want to bait them."
"I want to inspire them." Ren corrected. "This isn't just a quest. It's a chance to become the Tidecaller who faced the Hungering Deep and returned. If that doesn't light a fire in someone, nothing will."
Elias leaned back. "So, where do we start?"
Ren stood, stretching his arms over his head.
"We start with stories." He said. "A bar, a market, anywhere. We stir the pot. And then we see who answers the call."
"And of course, our best storyteller will start it for us today."
"Our best storyteller?" Thorn frowned from his spot on the bed. "Who?"
Then his eyes widened as he realized just who it was. "No!"
Ren smirked. "Yes."
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The morning sun rose over Seta like a crying toddler, glinting off the rooftops and turning the sea to liquid gold.
The cries of gulls filled the air over the harbor, mingling with the sound of hammers and the soft creak of tide warped wood.
Ever since dawn, the island had already started moving. There was always something to do. Ships to fix. Things to build.
Inside the inn, Ren stood by the window, watching the streets come to life. He hadn't slept much. Rest came in waves these days, like the tide itself. Short, rhythmic, and never enough.
They'd spent the previous day spreading stories of their time at sea, and from what they could tell, Hook's crew hadn't been quiet either.
At this point, most of the island should know about the Hungering Deep. And at least half should know that he had a space open for an adventurer.
There was a knock at the door, pulling him away from his thoughts.
Thorn opened it, and standing there was the fruit of their labours. A visitor.
The man who stepped in was young, not much older than Ren, with a broad-shouldered build and skin tanned deep by the sea.
Tattoos of waves spiraled down his arms, and his hair was braided with strands of kelp. He nodded to them, eyes wary but curious.
"You the ones who came back from the Deep?"
Ren stared at the man. They hadn't exactly gone into the Deep, but it was much more important to him to get a Tidecaller than for their stories to be accurate.
He nodded, a smile coming to his face. "We are."
The Tidecaller stepped inside. "Heard you were looking for someone to go back."
"That's right." He said, gesturing to the chairs around the table. "You're welcome to sit."
The young man didn't hesitate. He lowered himself into a chair, his expression unreadable. "Name's Vana. Apprentice second tier. Been studying flow under Tideguide Rellu."
Lilith raised an eyebrow from where she sat. "That name supposed to impress us?"
"It's supposed to tell you I know how to read a current and survive in a vortex." Vana replied coolly.
Ren leaned forward. "Then you might be exactly who we need. We plan to return to the Hungering Deep. We need someone who can guide us in. Someone who can read the water's moods and help us find its heart."
Vana looked at each of them, eyes lingering on Lilith. "You really fought one of its beasts?"
"She tore it apart." Thorn said, a wide grin on his face. "A sea dragon. I heard the sea still smells like burnt meat."
Vana nodded slowly, considering. "Tempting. But I can't go. Not yet. Word has reached us that the Command is assembling an official host. Warriors, navigators, battle shapers. I've been told to wait."
Ren's smile faltered. "Wait? For what?"
"For orders. The Council wants a proper expedition. With clearance. With sanction."
He stood. "I had to see you for myself, but I'm not stepping out of line. Not for a story."
Ren watched him leave without another word.
"What the heck was that?"
There was no way the council would have made a decision that fast based on just Hook's words. Which meant just one thing.
In the process of telling the story, someone had made up a rumor of the council mobilizing to give themselves credibility, and the rumor had somehow become fact.
That was the one thing he didn't like about rumors and gossip. It was incredibly hard to control.
And so, they settled down to wait. Maybe, just maybe, someone would show up and take them on their offer.
Minutes later, another arrived.
This one was older. Grizzled and scarred, his right arm missing from the elbow down. A jagged shark tattoo ran across his throat, disappearing under his collar. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
He didn't give them a name. Just a grunt and a nod.
Ren gave the same pitch. The man listened. Asked questions. Stared long at the drawings Ren had made of the rift and its flow.
Then he stood, shaking his head.
"If the Command's building a fleet, that's where I belong. Orders come from the trees, not the lips of strangers."
And then he, too, was gone.
The pattern repeated.
One by one, Tidecallers arrived. Some were wide eyed apprentices, eager to hear the story and see Lilith for themselves. Others just for the heck of it.
But none stayed. None committed.
Each one gave a variation of the same excuse. The host is forming. The Council will decide. You should wait.
By midday, Ren was pacing the room, his jaw tight, clenching and unclenching his fists.
"They're all afraid." He snapped. "Afraid to move without a leash around their neck."
Elias, seated with arms folded, nodded. "It's not fear. It's training. They're part of a system. Systems don't like outliers."
Thorn sat by the open window, a toothpick between his teeth. "From their point of view, they're not wrong though. If the Council's already planning something big, most won't risk pissing off their superiors by jumping ahead."
Ren rounded on him. "And how long do you think that big plan will take? A week? A month? Months?"
Thorn shrugged. "Hey, I didn't say I liked it. Just that I get it."
Ren ran a hand through his hair. "We don't have that kind of time. The Deep is growing. Every day it festers, it gains strength. We need to move. Now."
Lilith, silent until now, rose from her place by the wall.
"Then we need someone who doesn't care about their place in the system. Someone who wants to matter more than they want to be safe."
Ren looked at her. "Exactly."
He turned to Elias. "Any suggestions?"
Elias shrugged. "You've seen what we're dealing with. We'll need someone reckless. A misfit. Or someone disgraced."
Thorn nodded. "Or desperate. Desperate works too."
Ren glanced toward the door, where their last visitor had departed not fifteen minutes before.
"Then we stop waiting for them to come to us. We go out there. We find someone willing to dive headfirst into madness."
Lilith grinned. "Sounds like fun."
Thorn sighed. "I was hoping for another nap."
Ren moved toward the door. "Take your nap. Hold down the fort. We'll go find our Tidecaller."
