The light of the next morning did not shine on better circumstances for the small airship.  In every direction, nothing but a vast expanse of ocean could be seen.
    "What do we do now?" Garn addressed the group.
    "Well, sitting here won't accomplish anything," Drakon responded, "let's pick a direction and head in it."
    "Captain," Garalt called up to the forecastle, "do you have any idea where we could be?"
    The elf looked over his instruments carefully, rubbing his chin.
    "Well, by the stars last night, and by my compass heading here, I'd say we're due west of Kahlan.  North is..." The Captain pointed off the left side of the ship, "that way, so east is there.  I say we head east to Kahlan and regain our bearings."
    "'Tis a sound plan, lads," Tundrock added.
    "I agree, we can't just go wandering around the world hoping to find what we're looking for," Drakon replied.
    The Captain nodded and began to order his elven crew to man the ship.  Two of the elves each took the controls of one of the Dire Hawk's legs, and a third manned the leg in the front.  Slowly, the elves began to paddled the ship around and pushed it into an eastwardly direction.
    A few days passed with little hope.  There were enough supplies to go around, the elves had made sure of that, but the passengers had resigned themselves to finding a corner of the boat out of the sun and staying still.  Garalt slowly found his way over to where Demonclaw and Greylen were lounging.
    "How goes it?" Garalt awkwardly smiled at them.
    "As good as can be expected," Demonclaw replied, Greylen nodded in agreement.
    "Demonclaw," Garalt said slowly, "I'm curious about something."
    "What is it?" Demonclaw's eyebrows raised in his own curiosity.
    "Well, I know it's a rather sensitive subject, but..." Garalt felt a little uneasy, "Who is this Vione?"   Greylen hung his head slowly.
    "I never have told you about her, have I?" Demonclaw replied, Garalt shook his head, "Well, she was...  Vione was my mate.  We never married, but it never seemed like it was necessary.  We went adventuring together, oh the fun times we had.  On one adventure through some city, we met up with Greylen.  Vione thought he was cute, being all embarrassed around women like he is."
    Garalt could see Greylen's face turning as red as a beet.
    "I thought Greylen was going to be a third wheel, but his quest to find out who he was intrigued me.  And after I saw him take down five angry Muldrucks with a single spell, I KNEW I had to find out for myself who he was.  Vione wanted to help him too, though she never told me her reasons."
    "She really liked me!" Greylen grinned.
    "Not in that way," Demonclaw smirked.
    "So YOU say," Greylen chuckled.
    "Anyway, six months later, my life ended.  It was late, and the three of us and Scythe had been gathering in this bar.  Vione stepped out to get some air, and I stepped out the back to answer nature's call.  While I was out there, I heard a scream, and I ran around to the front to find...." Demonclaw was fighting tears.
    "Vione was murdered there, Garalt," Greylen finished, "Scythe and I decided to go out for a breath of fresh air too, but we couldn't find Vione, so we split up to find her.  I ran to Demonclaw's cries when he found her.  It was too graphic to tell you how she died."
    "I will get my revenge on the monster that killed her!" Demonclaw bit his lip.  Garalt could see a faint trace of blood forming around Demonclaw's teeth where he was biting.  Garalt patted Demonclaw's shoulder softly and stood up to stretch his legs.