Preparing to set sail took a long time, especially when the destination was Ocasuan. So Mevis and the others remained in Athkatla for the time being—partly to wait for the ships to be readied, and partly to wait for certain people to arrive.
Quite a few people in Athkatla knew the name Ocasuan. Countless legends about it even circulated among the common folk. After all, the fleet had traveled between Ocasuan and Athkatla so many times over the years that it was impossible for no information to leak out. Sailors, by the nature of their profession, were mostly heavy drinkers, and once they got drunk, they loved to brag. Over time, bits and pieces about Ocasuan inevitably slipped out. Fortunately, Nazel and her people understood the importance of secrecy and kept Ocasuan's true circumstances tightly guarded. Even when information did get out, they muddied the waters, turning those accidentally leaked details into nothing more than drunken boasts.
As a result, the tales of Ocasuan on the streets were a mix of truth and lies, and no one could tell which was which. Some legends claimed it was a golden land where cream and honey flowed. There were many variations of that tale, but they all described the place as overflowing with wealth, where anyone who reached it could strike it rich.
Others claimed it was the famous Land of Shipwrecks, an outlaw haven founded thousands of years ago by the pirate king Balduran, the holy land of pirates everywhere. They said the legendary Pirate Code could be found there, and that Nazel had only built her business into such a massive enterprise with the support of the Land of Shipwrecks. Of course, rumors of this sort were mostly spread to smear Nazel.
In short, the name Ocasuan had been mythologized