(Bevan performed this song for the first time before the commune of the Lysard of Celiwyn.  As well as being written for me-- an honor I am deeply aware of-- it was also written in tribute to the soul of Lady Wanton, lost years now to all Elanthia and all worlds beyond.  --Tanager)

She rode the winds on scarlet wings, bright magic given form
A ship of peerless elegance, that braved both wave and storm
The Tanager, they called that ship, a vessel stout and true
And this - her final voyage - is the lay I have for you.

My ship was the White Crystal then, a full-rigged brigantine
I sailed her over oceans fair, to shorelines seldom seen
For magic was for me the sea, enchantment in the foam
Of all the wind-roads borne to me.  The water was my home.

The captain of the Tanager was Nora Dalamar.
A daughter of the waves was she, who sailed by sun and star
Through all the trade routes of the sea and each far-reaching realm
And feared not peril nor the Gods while she was at the helm.

The two of us set sail that day, agreed in company
To travel to a distant land - the Tanager and we -
A place of crystal waterfalls, of silvered sand and light
Where lilac filled the skies at dawn and music filled the night.

For six long weeks we sailed as one, through oceans calm as glass
For six long days thereafter, our wyrd had come to pass
For the hurricanes of the Eastern Sea no mariner may ward
By prayer or hopeful wishes, nor yet by shield or sword.

The seas were full of anger, the waves were white with wrath,
The Ocean's pinioned majesty lay twixt the vessel's path
We sought Wavedancer's mercy then, we begged the Gods for aid
But storm and wind cascaded down like doom from Charl's drawn blade.

Yet three points off the starboard bow!  Our lookout cried "Deck, there!"
"I see a light!  The storm has passed!  The winds for home are fair!"
But only for a moment brief - like amber, caught in time -
A misted gleam, an eerie blue, shone cyan through the brine.

This was no light of mortal ken - who knew what it might be?
Deliverance from wind and wave or doom upon the sea?
But Nora did not hesitate, she put her helm about
The scarlet ship shot for the light, with neither fear nor doubt.

We saw her tiering canvas in sheeted scarlet spread
We heard the long-drawn thunder beneath her soaring figurehead
We saw as from a misted mile her silvered lanterns shine
We heard the sailors sing their songs like chanters in a shrine

By paths no gaze could follow, a course set for the stars
A ship touched by enchantment, beyond the reefs and bars
She left the drakes upon the moons, the demons down below
And vanished into future seas where mortals cannot go.

I do not know what Nora saw, or where her vessel went
For in that instant passed the storm, its strength and passion spent
And in the twilit darkness of that calm and peaceful night
Rode one ship only on the sea, with sails of gleaming white.

I wonder at her sacrifice, and sometimes wish it mine.
But also do I wonder, beyond the meres of Time,
Where Nora sailed, with ship and crew?  What visions did she find -
In pearl-swept realms beyond the bourne, to which our sight is blind?

I honor Nora's deed and life, her daring and her crew
Remembrances and melodies, the shanteys sweet and true.
But most do I remember her, the scarlet sails unfurled
On her last mortal voyage, the gallant Tanager.