The Companion

The strangest of the wandering stars is the Companion. This appears at different angles in the sky across different parts of Heris. Therefore it must be close, and it is very bright. Its very name confirms its special status. It must be some object, surely not large enough to be called a world itself, travelling around our world. Bollonen’s Ship of Silver, as it is called in the same legends that describe Aromanthen’s Ship of Gold, may be the best explanation we can get.

Though it is known by every child, here, for the sake of completeness, is its cycle:

Each night, it appears an hour later until its arrival is lost in the dawn. Then after ten days, on average, depending on the time of year, it appears again chasing the sun just after sunset, starting its cycle all over again.

This gives a time to travel around the world for 23 hours.

The convention of our world being an orb helps to understand this mystery too. Far from Bollonen allowing his oarsmen a rest from their hardships, the Companion’s disappearance is caused by it being on the other side of the world during our nighttime. It is with us during our daytime too, though no matter how hard anyone looks, they will never see it. The sun is too bright.

The Companion travels north to south for half the year, then south to north for the other half of the year. Its travels around our world explain this too.