I sat in a corner of the ship speeding towards the open sea. The white foam whipped my face as I tried to scratch my runes on wet vellum. If I had known what we were going to find, if I had heeded the omens and the rumours and the misgivings of my heart, not even my thirst for knowledge would have pushed me to sea. I had a family ashore, a roof to come back to: why turn my back on those sweet bonds of love to pursue a ghost fleeing on the foam, a voice from a land beyond the sea? Why, ah, why - because this is written in Ælfwine's destiny; that I shall never refuse the call of the unknown.