Nightfall came soon.
It came without incident.
The crew worked as they had been told. Papers were gathered, rewritten to correct them, and checked again. Cargo was counted twice. Supplies were listed in careful hands that tried not to shake to betray any notion of fear.
A few men were sent back and forth with the dock, carrying documents, returning with questions, clarifications, and delays.
Everything moved as it should have, but slowly.
No one from the island came aboard, and none from the ship went to land.
That alone was enough to keep the tension from breaking.
When the shadows deepened and the water turned into a dark, shifting surface, Sonder moved.
She didn't tell anybody, nor did she look for the captain again.
Carefully, she climbed down from one side of the ship with her belongings and into the water and dove.
Sireacht couldn't swim or refused to go underwater, so she floated along the water's surface where Sonder was.
As she was so small and inconspicuous in the darkness, Sonder didn't fear that she'd be seen.
Lanterns were lit along the pier. It was warm, soft light. Welcoming.
Sonder moved beneath the surface without a sound.
The weight of her pack, staff, and sword dragged her down, but the ocean's floor was shallow so close to the port.
Sand shifted in soft clouds where her boots brushed it, swirling upwards and disappearing as quickly as they formed.
Her movements were slow and steady. Keeping herself low, just above the seabed, past strands of long, dark weed and pilings of rocks.
Sireacht drifted ahead and to the side, a faint shape on the water. Small. Easy to miss.
Sonder surfaced only when she reached a dark shadow beneath the pier.
Wooden beams stretched down into the water, thick with age and growth, the tide pulling gently against them. The sounds of the dock above were muted here.
She held on there for a moment. Listening.
When she thought the time was right, she pulled herself up slowly onto the edge of the pier.
She tried to send out her senses, but very carefully. Not more than a cold night's wind for everyone who felt it.
If anyone here were more capable than the man in the ship's cell, then Sonder could be in trouble.
After a moment, she couldn't say that she felt anything too different from the usual.
The captain had said that these people here were the same as the man, but how did he know?
Was his remaining eye so sharp to discern just by looking?
She thought that she could trust his judgment.
There were many people on the pier and dock. Sonder didn't know how many should be there usually, but it was suspicious that so many were here in the middle of the night, and it didn't seem like they were in their beds.
It wasn't crowded, nor were they gathered. There was no idle wandering or anyone being drunk, and that didn't fit from what she knew of sailors.
No one was truly at rest.
It all seemed... conspiratorial to her.