She takes her vulture form, leaving her robe to Hamish. "I assume my weight won't be a problem like this?"
Thadeus grins, with the salamander on his shoulder. "I am Thadeus. Pleased to meet you."
Manannàn cocks an eyebrow. «No,» he says, «it may still be cramped, but I suppose you can find a perch aft. Suit yourself.» Then he accepts the vis and calls everyone to climb on board.»
The boat drifts away from the beach, apparently without any action, before the ferryman raises a small sail. There is no sun, and the light mist means that you do not see more than one or two hundred paces ahead of you. If all the shads and mudbanks qualify as islets, there is way more than seven of them, and if they do not, you are not sure you have come to the first one.
It is longer than Cath'rinne would have guessed.
Does anyone want to speak or act? Or do you just wait patiently for the passage?
"My name is Sionag." she says, climbing on board.
"Is there something that we would better have to know before landing in the next place ? Some rumors or some things to avoid to do ? Or this kind of things ? "
«I don't know. I never stray from the sea, but to the best of my knowledge, the island is deserted, both the island in the Boiling Sea and the Island of the Eight beyond it. It has been a long time since I saw a traveller, so if there is somebody there, they have found a different route.»
"Good Manannán, I do apologize. I am Thom Myddleton. Happy to make your acquaintance," says Thom with his usual perky smile.
"How long does the journey take? And what is the island in the boiling sea? Sounds like there are two islands? The one in the sea and the Island of the Eight. Do you make a stop at the island in the sea? To relieve ourselves and stretch the legs a bit? Or do you avoid it? Is it inhabited by Sirens or Dark Fae?"
Thom's patter of questions may be just his normal curiosity or the anxiety of traveling in a cramped boat into the unknown.
«The journey takes a little while, and the island is just that, and the Boiling Sea is boiling, and the second island, do you mean the home of the Council of Eight? It is not by the sea, so I cannot go there, but it should be around the tree on the island in the Boiling Sea. I never went there, but so they say.»
"Oh interesting! So you drop us off on the island in the Boiling Sea. Is that the Island of the Island of the Eight? Where there home is? By that tree? Or is that tree kind of a doorway to their home?" asks Thom.
"And no travelers lately. I'm so sorry. Did you once have many travelers using your services?"
«It is more like a doorway.»
«Yes, there used to be travellers, once upon a time, not only the Eight, but others too, either visiting the Eight or travelling the Boiling Sea.»
"I bet that was a nice season having so many trips to take. What was the most common place to go? Or what was the strangest place someone asked you to take them?" asks Thom, not slowing down in his curiosity.
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«I am not sure. Heaven maybe, or Hell, but they are not by the sea either.»
"Oh... really," says Thom suddenly growing a quiet. He looks over at Thadeus and Cath'rinne then quickly to Janus, Betula, and Sionag before looking back to Manannán.
"Have you ever ferried others of the Order of Hermes? Did you take them to places of their Order?"
Having given over a pawn of Terram in the form of a mushroom Betula says, "a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Manannán. I am Betula of Criamon."
She is quiet as Thomas grills the ferryman for information.
«I don't know. Who is Hermes?»
"A messenger. Does the name Diedne ring a bell, perhaps?"
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"Interesting boat," says Thadeus to no one in particular when it starts to move mostly on its own. He checks it out with Comprehend Magic to pass the time. Only the boat, not the ferryman. He doesn't want his analyzing of the magic to be construed as an attack. (Total of 14 + aura)
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«Diedne came once or twice, but I think they cast her out,» says the ferryman indifferently.
Thadeus can see that the boat is magical, but it seems to be tied intrinsically to the magic regio, and does not look like a device in its own right.
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Hamish looks over at the ferryman for a moment, thoughtful, trying to remember. [Diedne Lore Roll: 8]
Was Hamish present at all?
Hamish turns away, looking off again ahead of them as far as he can see.