How to Proceed

                                    

                                          
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Chapter Seventeen | How to Proceed
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It was an arduous process, but I was slowly but surely making my way through the documents. After Steele's polite decline and after the Captain's insistence as well as the insistence of his friend, he seemed to be thinking about their request for his return and counsel. Knowing Steele, that meant that he was going to sit and stare at the horizon for a few hours weighing his options and, ultimately, go with his gut feeling about the whole situation in the first place. 
For this, it meant that he was not going to go. 
Still, he decided to humor me and let me read through the documents the Captain and Wofur provided. The ride back on the dinghy was tense, but I couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement at the same time. I was eager to know what was going on in the world beyond the horizon, and I soon found out. 
After spending hours combing through the documents, I felt completely and utterly blindsided. 
This was a bigger deal than I thought. 
First, Keonune and Laryuen had some tense history with the mainland, mostly because of where they were located. Steele told me a bit about the different territories, and so I knew that the Orion living in Keonune were high in the mountains and the Orion living in Laryuen was practically a marshy swamp land. 
While teaming with life in their own way, it was hardly pleasant living conditions for those in Laryuen. The documents stated they were requesting more supplies for trade, but other documents and correspondence stated that there was hardly enough on the mainland to go around and that everyone received approximately the same amount of rations. 
For the inhabitants of Keonune and Laryuen, it wasn't enough. 
I kept my oil lamp close, walking along the text that was scrolled and scratched in letters as long as my arm, as I continued to read. 
Evidently, this treatment and various hostilities had been going on for quite some time – and now they were all at a breaking point. 
The more I read, the more I felt for the Orion and the people of these territories. It was true that everyone was receiving proper trade and equal amounts, but it was because the living conditions were so harsh that they were asking to adjust the boarder lines, which would give both the inhabitants of Keonune and Laryuen more territory than the other districts. 
This was the primary crux of the issue and why they were willing to go to war. 
The entire time I read, I continued to update Steele about what I was discovering. I informed him of the details and facts without him having to deal with the minutiae of the situation. 
"Steele, did you know that the Orion from Keonune have pushed down from the mountains into two of the towns. They're not occupying it, based on their claims. They're 'co-habitating' according to their leader. Do you know someone by the name of Imvyr Masatar?"  
Sometimes, Steele would recognize the names and give me a summarized history of this person or that person, telling me how he knew them or some of the tactics he heard they used. While all of the information was useful, it was nowhere near some of the questions I wanted to ask him. I wanted to know about Steele's military history. I wanted to know about the respect he commanded among the ranks of a crew of strangers. Still, those questions could wait for after he made his decision. 
For now, this was the priority. 
I combed through more documents, describing all of the events leading up to the most recent ones. It wasn't until I reached one point where there was a skirmish that I noticed the name of our continent, Rascya, pop up. I shook in my shoes in disbelief and surprise as I read how the Orion of Keonune and Laryuen were now pushing into our homeland.