In the end it was hardly a trip we had planned to make, and things might have been very different, had my father not insisted on the heinous and restrictive rules we would have been forced to live by. But from the outset it was obvious that Duncan would not have agreed to show him the obsequiousness he craved... for he was his own man, plainspoken and proud. With our wedding forbidden and the Watchmen seeking out my beloved Duncan due to the lies my father had told; I am afraid we had no other choice but to leave our comfortable lives in Centralia, and seek another path... but this time one which we might take together.

The ship on which we would leave was a twin-masted brig sailing out of Rysel; its captain was a swarthy fellow named Isar Banuka... whom I did not trust for one second. There was something in the way he regarded me... with looks which should have forewarned me of events to come. But Duncan was desperate for us to be together, happy and far away from the rules and restrictions which so-called 'proper' society demanded. It was for that reason alone that Duncan had paid him the last of his savings so that he would take us as far away from Centralia as we could go.

During the uneasy weeks we spent aboard we kept mostly to ourselves, for the crew appeared to be a shady and untrustworthy group of men, and Duncan feared constantly for my safety. We spent much of the time in our small damp cabin, hiding away from their prying eyes to listen to the scrabbling of the rats within the timbers. But for me, I preferred to believe that it was a journey filled with hope for us. On the few occasions where the weather was calm enough, and our spirits brave enough to venture up on deck, we would stand on the foc'stle and look out across the ocean-- feeling uplifted by the fresh wind and occasional spray on our skin, as we watched the narwhals leap and frolic in the waters as they followed us. I couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of beginning a new life together, and I always returned to our cabin feeling refreshed, and wondering exactly what the future might hold for us.

I did my best to lift up Duncan's mood at such times, for surely the discomforts and doubts we faced during the trip would only be temporary, and there would soon be a fresh new world for us to share and explore. But how naive could I have been? Looking back on it now I should have realised the danger we were facing and talked Duncan into settling at home. For even the perpetual misery of living in servitude to my father would not be comparable to what we found waiting for us in the Pit of Gehenna.