A Lesson on Triremes

From FiranMUX

Anarinuell: Palace District -- Temple of Zin

Marsalos is in the pool, having finished praying a while ago. His empty flask is on the pool edge, cap lying nearby. He's sitting on the pool steps, three lightweight wooden triremes floating about idly on the ripples that his hands make. A cloth sail marks each one, a red, a blue, and a black.

Kasi returns, having left to bring his ferret back home where it belongs. Only, now that he's scampering back into the temple, it's apparent that he'd forgotten, as the creature creeps out of his backpack and onto his shoulder. Oh no! So he tries to coax it back down, only the ferret emits a SQUEAK! The boy tries to hush him, then pads over beside the pool, bowing to Marsalos. "Hullo Lord Marsalos..." Upon catching sight of the triremes, the kid is thoroughly distracted from the ferret. *Firan*

Head not moving, the Iberik's sharp green eyes flicker up from the adventurous toy boats. Marsalos watches Kasi from under his eyebrows a moment before his chin comes up slightly. About to say something, but instead his nose makes a slight wrinkle of concentration. "What was your name, again?"

Kasi blinks quickly a few times and shifts his gaze to Marsalos from the ships. "I'm Kasi, m'Lord." He chews on his lower lip briefly and scritches his cheek. *Firan*

"Kasi." Marsalos snaps his wet fingers. The blip over Kasi's name doesn't seem to concern the Eagle, and he leans forward to snap his fingers into the back of the red-sailed trireme. His dark hair is wet and plastered to his head, his entire tunic wet instead of just up to the waist. He looks at the red sail as it drifts, then at its two cousins floating. "Which do you like best, Kasi?"

"Eheh... ehm..." Creeping over to the edge of the pool, Kasi kneels beside it and leans forward to look. He taps his lips with one finger briefly before pointing to the red-sailed one. "The red one." A pause. "M'parents, before they died, used t'tell me that ifn you were havin' red things, it were good luck."

The one in Marsalos' hand. The corner of his mouth pulls in a slight smirk and he glances over the trireme in his hand before setting it on the water again. A small push with his fingers sends it towards Kasi. The other two bob and wiggle on the ripples that Marsalos' hand makes with the push. "Pick it up and look at it." He reclins comfortably against the steps, moving his feet in the water. "Look at how detailed it is. Nearly perfect, every little thing."

In an action that is both hesitant and reverent, Kasi reaches down and /carefully/ lifts the toy boat out of the water. Don't want to break it! The boy keeps it in both hands as he twists it around to look at. "Is this th'sort of ship you took from th'shammis? I haven't been able t'go t'the dock t'look yet..."

Marsalos snorts a laugh, sinking down into the water to his chin as his eyes stay on Kasi. "No. What you have in your hands is a trireme. The kind of ship we use in our navy, to take us to Ellish. They are lightweight, and can ram a pursuing ship with great force." He nods to the carved toy. "Did you know that usually they have a female's name? What would you name that one?" *Firan*

"Female's name?" Of course, girls are the last thing Kasi would want to talk about - but at least this is a ship! He purses his lips and lowers his eyelids as he tries to think of a name. "Ehm... perhaps after Clan Leader Zeysani? Or is there a ship named after her already?"

The corner of Marsalos' eye tenses momentarily, but the familiar smirk comes across his face. "Sounds like a fine name. 'Zeysani' she shall be." He lifts his chin out of the water, wiping the back of his hand against it. "You will hold onto her, and make sure nothing happens to her. She is going to help me teach you."

Green eyes lighting up, Kasi looks pleasantly surprised. He gets to hold onto the ship? A small smile creeps across his face as he examines the toy. "Thank you Lord Marsalos... oh!" The Chimeran raises his chin and looks up. "Do th'priests of Zin do anything? I mean...when you're namin' th'ships."

Marsalos purses his lips for a moment, looking at 'Zeysani' in the boy's hands. "The High Priest can bless her." He draws in a breath through his nose, his chin making a slight tilt up. "And when she departs on a voyage, a priest can ask for a traveller's blessing upon her, as well as on her crew." *Firan*

Kasi gives a slow nod. "Oh." A pause. He tilts the trireme to one side to get a view of the bottom. "Eheh... I don't really know what all priests do. But it were making me wonder ifn it'd be a ceremony, like when I get my soul some day." The smile on his face grows a bit sheepish and he offers a small shrug. *Firan*

Marsalos smirks, letting his head rest back against the pool edge. "Usually, yes. All priests of Zin must be skilled at travelling by sea, and so our-..." His lip twitches as he corrects himself. "...their...blessings are imparting that spirit of Lord Zin onto a craft and her crew. It's a ritual, same as when travellers are blessed before a journey, or food purified before a gathering. Getting your soul is just more well-known. Because everyone gets a soul. But not everyone has the imagination and spirit to travel by sea." *Firan*

Kasi nods a few times and runs a finger over an oar of 'Zeysani'. "Alright. That makes sense." His tongue runs over his lips. He can't help himself; he wants to learn about the ship. "So, th'ships are given female names, an' this is th'sort of ships you use. But... ifn th'shamis don't have ships, who would you be rammin'?" *Firan*

Marsalos pauses a moment. "We have used them against each other." He talks as he looks at the trireme, then his eyes switch to Kasi's face. He sits up a bit, his shoulders coming out of the water as he sits more firmly on the low step. He reaches out to snag the black ship, which is trying to make a daring escape towards the deeper waters. A index finger touches the left, then the right side of the ship, and he quirks a brow a Kasi in challenge. "Left and right, Kasi. Which side is port and which is starboard?" *Firan*

Ziya comes into the Temple of Zin from another area. Ziya has arrived.

Phillida comes into the Temple of Zin from another area.

Phillida has arrived. Phillida enters followed by 1 body guards.

Ziya gives a delighted laugh when she catches sight of the child, Lord and little carved boats. "Oh those are wonderful." she goes over to crouch besides where Kasi is. "They even float." *Firan*

Kasi chews on his lower lip, faltering, but taps the left side of the red-sailed trireme. "This is port." After passing the toy ship from one hand to the other, he taps the right. "An' this is starboard." His eyes drift back up as he asks, "Right?" He glances at Ziya and offers a small smile. "Hullo Mes Ziya." *Firan*

Marsalos raises his chin, the quirked proud becoming more of a proud look. "Very good. Now-..." He opens his mouth to ask another question, then his eyes flicker up to Ziya. Boys and toys, yes yes. "Of course they float." He smirks, moving his hands in the water to make it ripple under the two boats still in the pool. "What good is a fleet that sinks?" *Firan*

Phillida steps into the temple, albeit not quite as quickly as she usually might. Her usually healthy ivory complexion is not so healthy, right now; she looks rather pallid and wraith-like as she drifts into the temple. She draws to a halt, silently watching the others without interrupting, resting both hands on the lip of an amphora.

Ziya gives the Lord an amused look. "Just because it looks like a boat don't make it one Lord. I used to have a little boat carving but it wouldn't float unless I tried to sail it in mom's olive oil. Most stuff floats in that." she gives Kasi a quick grin. "It makes the owner of the kitchen real mad." *Firan*

Kasi brightens considerably! The nobleman said he did good! A small laugh escapes him at the question of a sinking fleet, but he tries to surpress it and put on an innocent face for Ziya's grin. "Eheh...that's silly... I'd never do that..." Unless nobody knew, and now he's been given the idea! He does venture to offer, "Maybe ifn Lord Zin wanted th'fleet, it'd be good t'sink so he doesn't get angry?" *Firan*

"You didn't answer my question." Marsalos points out to Ziya. He raises a dripping hand from the water, indicating the ships in the water plus the one Kasi holds. "These are not toys. They are...a great armada." He looks back at Ziya, his eyes flashing with amusement. A sliver of teeth shows as his lips pull back with with the quickest hint of a grin that immediately vanishes again. "Mer Kasi here is training to be its Commander, you see." He looks at kasi, then at the boats. "Should Lord Zin wish to have them, he may take them, as always. As they continue to float I shall assume he's getting his amused kicks out of it all."

Phillida speaks up from by the amphora. "Port is always the left side of the boat when facing the bow. Starboard is the right. Port and starboard of the boat are fixed and immutable; as such, when you face the stern, or rear of the boat, the port side remains as if you were facing the bow." She goes right on holding the amphora, however, offering a tiny smile to the others. *Firan*

"Oh." Ziya answers easily. "You expected an answer? Well I suppose you could sink them to make a bridge or block a harbor or make the Shami's think they make decent sailors and accidently put a flaw in the bottom of their flagship." she grins and adds a playful. "oops." before shifting to a somewhat more serious line. "Damn waste of a ship though." she gives Kasi's hair a teasing ruffle. "Bad news kiddo. You don't fit." Phillida she nods to.

Kasi wrinkles his nose and ducks away from Ziya, though it's a bit awkward because he's trying so hard not to let anything happen to his trireme! What's with women and ruffling hair anyway? "Ifn I'm commandin' 'em, I can be on a bigger ship. A person can't be on three ships at once anyway." However, he does look towards the amphora, as Phillida spoke up. "Hullo Mes Phillida! Are you alright? An'..." He takes a moment to work it out. "It doesn't matter which way you're facin' which side is which, an' th'bow is the front." *Firan*

"If the Shamibelians try to bring a navy, then we should begin building our own ships with glass bottoms," Marsalos says to Ziya, levelly. "So that we may see their fleet after we destroy them." He smirks, eyes switching to Phillida as she speaks up. She gets a nod as he reaches up to get wet hair off his forehead, then he looks back at Kasi. "Yes." He reaches over, tapping the back of the gifted red boat. "And what is the back called, Kasi, do you know?"

Phillida explains to Kasi calmly, "I'm just a little tired and weak, dear. I'll heal in time," She doesn't seem inclined to make a fuss over it; but neither is she moving more than she has to. "Someone I - knew, was a fisherman. I grew up around him. So I know something about that." She takes a careful breath, then lets it out slowly, looking to Kasi and falling silent. *Firan*

Ziya lets Kasi escape the hair ruffling although he does end up with her hand on his shoulder instead. "She's right. Stuff doesn't change just because you turn around." Marsalos she smirks at. "I can't imagine a ship would float with such a heavy base and I bet it would leak terribly. Thats even assuming you can get glass you can see through." *Firan*

Kasi answers, with confidence, "It's the stern." If he hadn't known before, he probably picked it up from Phillida's saying it before, but it's difficult to tell which it is. Concern creeps into his expression as his green eyes flit back to Phillida on occasion. *Firan*

Marsalos grunts softly, with a slight roll of his eyes. "You have -no- imagination, Ziya." He says, in a faintly teasing tone. His attention moves back to Ziya, his head not moving. "If you're weak, then don't stand there, Phillida. There are plenty of places to sit." He moves his arms in the water, reaching over to catch the blue-sailed trireme as it tries to get away. With a flick of his wrist he sends towards the edge, sailing cleanly past its black-sailed cousin. To Kasi he quirks a brow. "Very good. I can see this part is far too easy for a bright boy. Very well, then..." He glances over the trireme, his head tilting slightly as he poses the next challenge. "Why is it called a trireme?" *Firan*

Phillida nods agreement with Ziya. "It's almost impossible to get glass clear enough that you can see through at all, let alone clearly, and for it to be strong enough, well, there's a lot of problems with that." She's a glassmaker by trade, after all. "Prince Zaridos wanted to do something like that, and the difficulties... let's just say the project didn't go anywhere, not really. There are, of course, other possibilities, but glass just won't work." She bobs slightly to Marsalos, moving obediently if very slowly to go curl up, back to a pillar. *Firan*

Ziya chuckles. "Yeah I've been told that about my imagination before." she shrugs. "Can't say it's been that much of a problem though." she smiles at Phillida. "You tried it?" before looking back to Marsalos. She doesn't speak again just yet but her focus is on the Lord. *Firan*

Kasi furrows his brow and runs a finger over the ship as he turns it about. This is probably the first time he's ever heard it called anything other than 'a ship' and his Firan isn't exactly advanced. "Eheh...ehm... because..." The Chimeran boy flounders but manages to get out: "Something t'do with three?" *Firan*

Marsalos' lips quirk at Kasi's answer. "Good. I'm not going to tell you right away. I want you to look at your ship and try to figure it out. What do you see on there that comes in threes?" He doesn't interrupt the pragmatic discussion of glass in boats, having said his own words for the spirit of the notion, not the practice. *Firan*

Phillida explains to Ziya, thus, "It's impossible to get the sand /clean/ enough. The glass will just always be grainy, and have some bubbles in it. We try to keep bubbles out of the glass as much as possible, but those bubbles represent potential weak points in the glass. And, well, the more pressure the glass is under..." *Firan*

Ziya doesn't seem even remotely interested in the details of cleaning sand either although she does give Phillida a nod and a smile and offers. "Sounds awfully complicated." *Firan*

Kasi turns the ship about in his hands, lips silently forming numbers on occasions he begins counting various things. Not enough sails. Way too many oars. He furrows his brow and continues studying the toy boat quietly, jaw set.

Marsalos slides off the step he was sitting on, cutting sideways the few inches in the water until he can rest his arms on the edge right by Kasi's leg. With a finger, he traces the bottom row of oars, saying just a single word to help Kasi along. "One..." He looks at the boy's face, quirking a brow. *Firan*

Phillida doesn't say anything, this time. After all, while helping Kasi might help in the short term, in the long run, he's got to learn! ...Right?

Ziya gives Kasi a pat and then straightens up properly and says, "Well. I need to go train and stuff." she walks over to where Phillida is and gives her a light pat on the shoulder too. "I'm not gonna tell you to go to bed. You probably already got sick to death of that but remember that you really need to rest right?" *Firan*

Although he waves to Ziya, Kasi is quite distracted. His green eyes follow Marsalos' finger, and he considers the hint for a few moments before they light up. He taps the sides of the rows as he mouths 'One... two... three.' "Oh! Three o'these rows, right?"

Ziya enters the Malachite Path. Ziya has left.

Marsalos straightens his arms on the pool edge, ducking down into the water. His expression is never quite a grin, though he does look rather proud. "Correct, excellent. Three rows of oars. This particular model has an outrigger." He reaches over to indicate the ship section, the part outside the hull to give room to extra rowers. "Older models did not, you see." He looks up as Ziya says she's off, giving her a quick nod before hs pushes off the pool edge a little bit, ripples spinning the floating boats playfully towards the stairs. *Firan*

Phillida smiles a little, then pushes up to her feet with a sigh. "Ziya's right, I should go rest. Sorry, m'lord, Kasi - I'll see you two later, hm? Good night." She's definitely under the weather, moving as if very frail.

Kasi nods quickly and traces the outrigger with his finger. "Does it make th'ship faster?" His expression has brightened and his pride only seems to grow from seeing the Iberik's, smile growing. He looks back and waves to the Eagle woman. "G'bye Mes Phillida. You have th'scrolls still, right?"

"Mmm." The sound seems to be an affirmative from Marsalos, as he nods. "It makes the positioning of the rowers far easier." He looks up as Phillida announces her departure now. The question from Kasi makes him quirk a brow. "Ah, yes. Those scrolls."

Phillida nods calmly. "I can fetch them next time if you like, yes. I put them in a safe place not long before my baby decided it was time to come. Good evening, then. If you need anything, you know how to reach me!"

"Thank you Mes Phillida, an' rest well." Kasi offers her another smile before returning his attention to 'Zeysani'. After considering the sail, he wonders, "Do they row all th'time? 'cause ifn the wind is blowin', would it help?"

"If you like. Or you can simply send them to Mer Kasi by messenger," Marsalos replies to Phillida. "To avoid the walking, as it does not appear to be particularly good for you." He ducks his shoulders under the water, taking his feet up from the bottom. A nod to Kasi. "The wind can carry a trireme by itself, if it is strong enough. The rowers are for when there is no wind, or if extra power is needed. For example, if they are carrying a load of cargo in the hold."

Phillida enters the Malachite Path. Phillida has left.

After leaning back to take the weight off his knees and leaning forward again, Kasi sets the red-sailed trireme back in the water near him. "But, look at all th'oars. I'm not sure I can count 'em all!" He scritches his cheek and eyes just the side near him. "You must need at least a hundred rowers! An' then th'other people for th'ship, for steerin' an' protecting an' all."

Marsalos smirks. "One hundred seventy, at the least." He nods slightly. "They're swift ships, but they aren't made for open seas. Generally, as I said, 170 are rowers, fourteen or so spearman or swordsmen, and five to ten are archers. That's the permanent crew. Then whatever crew the ship may be transporting, as when we go to Ellish each year." *Firan*

Kasi 's eyes bug out at the number! 170!? The little boy gapes! "Eheh... well, it's good I'm learnin' t'use my bow... an' Mer Yacen were wantin' t'teach me t'use a sword, but he's been busy." But back to ships! "Ifn they're not made for th'sea, what are they for? An' there must be another what /is/ made for th'sea." *Firan*

"Swift travel on the rivers, and close to the shore. They're mainly potent transport vessels between our cities and to Ellish, unless they must be used in combat," Marsalos explains. "That battleship is the prototype for sea-faring ships." His chin tilts up proudly. "Should we manage to copy her, which we will. And the sword is an excellent weapon to learn. It is my chosen as well." He stretches his arms out, exhaling through pursed lips as he glances at the sun's position through the exit. "Well, young mer. I must be getting back to business for now." He sets his hands on the edge of the pool, hoisting himself out with ease.

"I'm sure we'll be able to... it would be real interestin'." Kasi flashes a grin and collects 'Zeysani' from the pool beside him. He carefully gets to his feet, trying not to crush or drop the toy trireme, only to dip into a bow once he's gotten to his feet. "Thank you, Lord Marsalos, for teachin' me. I should probably be gettin' back t'the orphanage anyway."

Marsalos shakes his hands off, flicking water gently back into the pool. His feet leave wet prints as he heads over to get a cloth to dry himself off. Too cold these days to walk around soaking wet, sadly. "Bring Zeysani with you when you come to temple. We have a lot of work to do." With that as a dismissal, he leans down to run the cloth over his legs. *Firan*

Medium Wood Carving of a Red-Sailed Trireme has left.

"Alright! I will! Have a good night, Lord Marsalos." Another bow and Kasi is out, cradling the toy boat in his arms, probably to go brag to the other kids when he gets home.

Marsalos says nothing more to the boy, his attention now on what he's doing.