Ykril arranged a passage by ship to Luskan this morning, while I sent Sanise with her lax fingers to get me the book in which the old man had updated the information about my staff a few days ago. On the other hand, I packed up our stuff and got some more rations from the market.

Sanise and Nimri seemed to enjoy the rocking of the ship more. Despite the bad weather, they ran from bow to stern and back again while I lay in bed with dizziness, nausea, and headaches in the cabin. Once again, Ykril showed his most loving nature and stayed with me the whole time. He even held my hair to the side while I was vomiting.
»Next time, we'll walk!« I protested, to which Ykril chuckled gently.
The wind blew through the boards as the storm lashed the waves against the hull, rocking the ship and only making me feel worse.
Suddenly, a firm shake went through the wood and shifted the entire ship sideways for a short time. A frightened sailor rushed into the cabin and told us to take a lifeboat, but he was off again before we could even ask what was going on.
»You have to help me.« I asked Ykril, as I was still feeling fragile.
He wanted to carry me at first, but I refused, as I didn't want to weaken him, and leaned on his shoulder instead.
»There's a lifeboat to port side at the bow. Hurry!« came an alarming voice from one of the sailors as we came out the deck door before he left again.
The activity on deck was intense, but between the chaos, we could make out a precise structure of commanded sailors, through which Ykril was trying to lead me. The waves that were splashing over the railing, in addition to the heavy rain, made it difficult for us to move forward.
»Kraken« someone shouted in panic on deck.
With a loud, deep roar, a massive tentacle of the giant Kraken rose into the air next to us. Surprised, we paused for a moment and didn't realize until it was too late that another smaller tentacle was approaching us from behind, knocking us to the ground. The Kraken shook the ship firmly, causing Ykril and me to slip across the floor.
In a brief moment, I looked toward the lifeboat and was relieved to see that the others had made it by then and seemed to be protesting against being lowered into the water.
The ship bent with the crackling of the planks, and I hit the railing. Painfully, I managed to get a grip and searched for Ykril in despair. I found him wrapped in a tentacle, trying to fight it as the ship's wood collapsed under the pressure of the Kraken's tentacles and cracked in two.
As I was sinking together with the stern, I was hoping that Miara, Sanise, and Nimri made it out of range in time with the boat. I looked to where I saw Ykril at last and noticed how he was thrown to the open sea by the Kraken.
»Shit. I hate the fucking sea!« I angrily screamed as the tentacles wrapped around the stern, broke it into pieces, and dropped me into the cold water. I barely managed to summon my staff back to me and grab onto a piece of rubble.
»I'll never set foot on one of these damn things again!« I cursed to myself before a tentacle caught me and catapulted me away from the wreck.

I regained consciousness in a small bay. Apart from individual parts of the wreck, no one was to be seen for miles and miles. Trembling from the cold, I stood up and searched the beach but only found useless stuff. I looked up into the sky, hoping to spot Ykril, but got disappointed.
»What would my Yki do now?« I asked aloud to myself, but also knew at the same time that he is in the process of turning over every damn stone in Faerûn, or else, which was more in line with his analytical mind, that he first searches in Luskan and waits there few days, before starting to turn over the stones.
I didn't know why, but I could always feel how Ykril was doing, even though we were separated so far, and my feeling told me that he was doing well, even if his worries were predominant. I wondered if the others were doing well too.
While I hoped, I looked for firewood in the nearby forest and thought of a little trick I had trained with Arishonna. I was knocking with the heel, and if she was close enough and hadn't forgotten the exercises, I would have her near me again, at least.
»One« I began to count and stomped the verses on the floor with all my strength. »Three«, »one«, »one«, »two« I continued.

My clothes hardly dried with the sparse fire, and they weren't even close to dry when Arishonna was approaching.
»You're a treasure!« I smiled happily and immediately rummaged in her side pockets for replacement clothes. Pulling out the hard-shell corset of the dress from the soirée, I couldn't resist trying it again while my clothes were hanging out to dry next to the fire.
I was surprised to notice that it was tighter on my stomach and breasts than I remembered. Thoughtlessly, I shook my head briefly and stowed the corset back with the rest of the dress. Before I sat again in front of the fire, wrapped in a blanket, I smiled and gently stroked my fingers over the skirt. I was still amazed that the dress meant so much to him that he trusted it only to Arishonna.