Into the Void

She was speaking now, brushing shoulder-length curls of honey-blond hair back from her face. "My name is Ria

Aelfred gave a half-smile and shook his head as though to dismiss the thanks. "What happened to your ship?" he asked.

"I was inward bound from Garden," Ria

"For Toril?" Sylvie put in.

"For Dragon Rock, in the Tears of Selune. I live on Tori], but I keep my ship-the Ghost-on the Rock."

"Toril to Garden's a long flight in a mosquito," Sylvie remarked.

"Not really," Ria

"You were telling us what happened," Aelfred reminded her.

Ria

"I'd delivered my message to the party in question," Ria

Aelfred cursed. "Neogi again."

Ria

"I didn't notice any damage," Sylvie pointed out.

"Take a look at the starboard wing root," Ria

"Go on," Aelfred prompted.

"They followed me down," the woman continued, "right on my tail, until they had to break off or slam full into one of the rocks. I went on through. They had to reverse course, then take the long way around, so I had a good head start, enough to get away."

"What were the neogi doing there?" The question slipped out before Teldin could stop it.

Ria

"I don't know," she replied with a smile, "I didn't stop to ask them."

"And then?" Aelfred prompted.

"Then I headed for Toril. I pushed the Ghost as hard as I could, for as long as I could keep my mind clear. I was well away from Garden, and I couldn't see the neogi anymore. That's when my helm died. No warning. One moment I'm tearing along at full spelljamming speed, the next, I'm moving at a crawl with no control over the ship at all."

Teldin felt a current of sympathy around the table. He could understand why. Vallus Leafbower's comments about distance in wildspace were still with him. The idea of being stranded in that vastness was terrifying.

"Bad," Sylvie commiserated, echoing the feelings of everyone else in the saloon. "What was wrong with the helm?"

Ria

"And then?" Aelfred prompted again.

"Then I drifted. What else could I do? I was too far from Garden for its gravity to affect me, but I did still have some speed-though not much-and I was heading toward the sun. I figured the best thing-the only thing-was to conserve the air I had. No work, no movement that I could avoid. Just hope that some ship would find me before I suffocated." She bathed everyone at the table with a warm smile. "I slept a lot, but I didn't enjoy the dreams."

"The air was foul aboard your ship," Julia noted. "How long were you adrift?"

"Twenty-three days."

The female officer looked at her uncertainly. "You had food and water for twenty-three days? On a mosquito?"

"Water, yes," Ria

"We're almost finished," Aelfred said briskly, "then you can get something to eat. Your destination is Toril?"

"Dragon Rock," Ria

"Our destination is Toril," the first mate told her.

She shrugged. "Close enough."

"About your ship," Aelfred pressed on. "We can't take her aboard."

"Tow her?" Ria

The first mate shook his head. "Not practical. If the keel is cracked, she'll break up. Plus, we can't land with a ship in tow."

Ria

Sylvie reacted to the woman's sadness. "We'll post a salvage claim on the hull," she said reassuringly. "That way maybe you'll recover something from her."

The newcomer nodded her thanks, then she turned back co Aelfred. "What port on Toril?" she asked.

"Rauthaven. Naturally, we'll give you passage to there."

"Nimbral?" She looked somber for a moment, then brightened. "Well, it could be worse. I should be able to get passage to Dragon Rock from Rauthaven, then maybe another ship, and I'm back in business." She smiled at Aelfred. "If we're through here, maybe we could do something about that meal… ?"

*****

As the Probe drew closer to Toril, Teldin came to realize that Ria

The crew knew that Ria

It was easy to learn just where Ria