Sage left the cabin hurridly, not letting himself look back at it. It wasn't his cabin anymore....it didn't really look like it either, with the candlelight gone and the life seemingly gone from it. The room seemed to visibly darken when he left it, and he knew it was due to the branch leaving. It really was the heart of the ship....his mother had crafted it, using the small amount of magic she had, to protect him from the sea. He wished she'd had to power to protect him from everything, but he knew that wasn't how life worked, even with magic. And...he'd learned important lessons through his struggles, so wasn't sure he regretted going through it all. At least, not fully.

He did heasitate for a moment, waiting for Jora to catch up, so when he turned the corner he didn't expect to nearly run into Jase. Both men froze, staring at each other, neither of them expecting to see the other one there. "You're alive," Jase noted, wonder lacing his voice. "It would have been easy for someone to keep you updated on that," Sage responded, voice having gone cold. Jase nodded slowly, letting out a breath of air, seeming to understand why he was upset.

"We lost three men after the initial deaths, but everyone else pulled through," he noted. "The ship is repaired and we're sailing for..." Sage held up a hand to stop him, his face softening. Jase was still acting like a first mate....but Sage was through with being his Captain. But there was no ill intent in Jase's voice. "You don't need to answer to me anymore," he noted softly, the demeanor of both men no longer so tense. "What will I tell the men," Jase asked after a moment, and Sage glanced at Jora for a moment, mind whirling. They still wanted him? He hadn't thought that was really an option.

"Tell them the sea has called me elsewhere," he noted simply. "And I must follow it." They knew his nymph nature...and they would understand this. Jase nodded, resting a sturdy hand on Sage's shoulder before turning and walking back up to the deck. Sage watched him go before taking a deep breath, for once feeling like he was making the right decision. "Let's go," he murmured to Jora after a moment, picking up the bags again and moving towards the room where they had the canoes.

Sage moved down to the canoes quickly, packing everything they needed in one of them, and then tying it to a second one which he and Jora would be in, with some water and food, maybe a few other essentials. He threw her a grateful glance as they worked, just very glad to have her there with him. He thought about that a lot...how lucky they were to have been brought together. How lucky he was he had her there to support him.

Soon enough, though, they were in the canoes and on their way. He had looked behind him, at the ship, resting a hand on the wood of her frame, whispering a few words to it. A light blueish green light etched a small pattern along the wood right where it met the water, and he smiled softly to himself, knowing they'd still be protected by magic that came from the sea itself. He pushed off then, turning to help row the canoes towards the islands he could see in the distance.

He looked back once, to see the entire crew standing to the edge, watching them, Jase having donned his old hat. He chuckled softly to himself, finding it rather amusing...he'd never liked that hat, but it was the captain's hat all the same. When they saw him turn, they all raised a hand in the symbol they used to say hello and goodbye. It was an old nymph gesture, meaning not hello or goodbye but 'we will meet again'. He returned the gesture before dipping his hand into the water and whispering a few words, speeding their canoe up. He'd said his goodbyes...now it was time to look forward, towards the island they were quickly nearing.

Sage hadn't expected to feel so light in the midst of all of this....sure leaving the boat that had held him for so long and the crew he'd gone through so much with hurt, but overall he was glad to be moving forward again. He was glad to be here with Jora, and he was exited to form a life on these islands. They could still sail....he could make a boat, or patch up the ones that were already there. Maybe there would be a full ship they could sail around together.

The island had been inhabited years ago, he could recall, but no one lived there anymore. They'd moved on, to other places. But that left the chain of islands open for he and Jora.

As they neared the islands, though, he slowed the currents, and moved to hop over the side of the boat once the water turned shallow enough to do so, guiding the canoes onto the bank. "Let's go scope out and see what cabin we might want to grab before bringing all of this out there," he noted. Their things would be fine here. They were on shore, the tide wouldn't go in or out for a while, and there was no one here to steal it. So, he wanted to go look around.

Sage grinned over at jora as she grinned over at him, and he held a hand out to help her out of the boat, expression mirroring her own. He would miss parts of his old life ....but he was very excited for this new one, with Jora. "Let's go then," he chirped lightly, taking her hand and tugging her towards the first cabin.

That one would need a lot of repairs....there were others in better conditions, but this one would make a pretty decent storage shed, once patched up. For firewood, or maybe an area to butcher prey they might catch. There was a nice table there already, and come cabinets. Nothing house worthy though .. it was really just one room with a big closet.

He moved into the next one, which was much more house like. It had a kitchen this time, and a bedroom and closet, along with an area for a living room sort of thing. "This one's nice," he mused, looking around for a moment before moving on again. He wanted to look at all their options before they picked one....they'd have to be strategic about where everything was. How many repairs they'd need to do. That sort of thing.

Sage glanced over at the girl with a grin when she mentioned that she liked the house. "I like it too," he hummed happily. "I do want to look at what else is here, but we can do that later," he noted. "For now, how about we fix this up so we have somewhere solid to live in. We can build up the rest of the buildings around us later," he suggested, waiting with a cocked head before she agreed. He figured she would have, but in all honesty he was excited to fix the place up. Paint the walls, decorate some things too.

That was one thing he enjoyed and didn't often have time to do - art. Drawing, painting, sculpting....whatever you could name, he'd done it, and done it well. So, he was excited to plan out the house, to say the least. He'd noticed plenty of plants and things to use for paints, but he had plenty of pigments and oils to make some as well in the meantime.

Once Jora had agreed, he gave her a grin and moved to drag up their things from the canoes, clearing out a space on the grass next to the front doors, proping it open with a large rock. They'd have to clean first....get the sand and leaves and dust all out of the area. It wasn't hard to whip a few brooms together and each take one, clearing the space out within an hour or so.

They started with the simple things then....food, water, bed sheets and blankets. Toiletries. That sort of thing. By then it was late, and they were both pretty tired, so he figured he'd do more of the actual decorating tomorrow. He found a nice clear lake to rinse off and bathe in nearby, which was good. There was plenty of fresh water on the island. It was a good sign.

For now though, once he'd cleaned himself up and changed into cleaner clothes, he'd flopped onto the bed, completely exhausted. A smile was lingering on his face though....and he could admit he was glad he'd come. Made that step away from his old life.