The world is full of strange sightings, but few can match the sight of the Captain walking through a Polish forest alongside a Polish Pan and his retinue. It was a small, determined group that moved through the thick undergrowth and the treacherous edges of the swampland, far from any established harbor.

We were not hunting beasts, nor were we searching for buried gold. Our mission was far more delicate and, some might say, far more dangerous. We were after the Hexenröhrlinge.

The Polish Pan, a man with a booming laugh and a deep respect for the "old ways," led us with a sharpened knife and a wicker basket. Every time he found a dark-capped mushroom, he would slice it, and we would watch the yellow flesh turn a ghostly, indigo blue. "Look, Captain!" he would shout. "The forest is painting for us!"

It was during one of these moments, as I was carefully measuring the diameter of a particularly large specimen, that the Pan chuckled. "Don't be a Chiński Aptekarz, Captain! It is a mushroom, not a scientific specimen for the Tsar's laboratory!"

I had much to learn about the Polish tongue that day. From the sharp, heavy impact of the Polish curses that rang out whenever someone's boot sank too deep into the mud, to the delicate idioms that described my own precise nature.

By nightfall, the retinue had returned to the village, their baskets heavy with the "witch's treasure." But the Captain did not follow. I returned to my tent, pitched near the edge of the woods where the mist begins to rise. I did not visit the Ship's crew, nor did I seek the warmth of a tavern. Strange, perhaps, to some—but after a day spent watching the forest "bleed" indigo at the touch of a hand, I found that I had much to reflect upon in the silence of the night.

The stars above Poland are the same as those above the open sea, yet they feel different when framed by the reaching branches of a spruce. There is a deep, ancient peace in these woods, even when punctuated by a well-placed "Kurwa!" from a sinking traveler.

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The Captain's logs continue...