Joena

Joena is the captain of Cacophony, a schooner crewed by between 16-20 musicians. During the winter Joena plays cello in the La Vieille travelling symphony. Joena is also the younger sister of Grimassi.

Cacophony
Cacophony is a two-masted schooner with seven sails. The ship's hull is faded black, and each sail is a different faded hue. It flies a flag with an image of 16 squares in a circle, representing the circle of chairs the crew plays in during their sessions. The ship is throught to be one of the fastest to ever put into Lamplight, but is known for wandering the ocean at a rambling pace.

The crew consists of the following musicians, with guests joining from time to time:

- a cello

- three fiddles

- a concertina

- an accordion

- a hurdy-gurdy

- two flutes

- a tin whistle

- an uilleann pipe

- a guitar

- a bouzouki

- a banjo

- a bodhran

- a crumhorn

The majority of the crew practices podorythmie, taking turns to accompany the band.

Legend
Joena once sailed her schooner for six months with no crew. When asked to recount that time, she becomes distant and struggles to find words.

During those months, Joena was mostly absent, though she carried out her work with the comfortable and calm efficiency that comes with a role worn for years. She did not rush, though her tasks far outnumbered her capacities. When she grew tired, she would walk the deck with her cello, playing haunting tunes and singing hollow airs. These songs were prophetic, but no one recorded them, and Joena remembers very little of them.

She remembers that the wind always seemed to blow in her favor. She does not remember eating, sleeping, or putting into port. She did not fall ill or lose weight.

Storytellers recount their own versions of the tale, always embellished and gaudy: the Captain was accompanied by a ghost crew; the Captain was empowered by a diety; the Captain was cursed to sail endless seas. Sailors who hear these stories will sometimes exclaim, in breathless disbelief, that they once heard the low voice of a cello drifting from a drifting ship.