Skeena Solo 1
A Meditative Morning
Skeena stretched and yawned as the first rays of dawn trickled in though her window. She had been here for quite some time, the sounds of the house were now extremely familiar and she was comfortable. Almost too comfortable... since she aught to be out stopping at nothing to find her family again. She had been rather small for rather a long time, she had the sneaking suspicion that she might not get all that tall, probably staying on the petite size forever.
The only question was did she have enough courage to go as far as she needed to in an unknown world?
The incident had scared her and understandably so. Slowly her memories had trickled back and she felt like she could find her home again if she passed it.
She sighed, she was not overly fond of boats and she had a love/hate relationship with the ocean that had taken her Father.
She would forever be grateful to the woman who had taken her in. She would not abandon her adoptive Mother if she found her family again. Wherever her home was, it couldn't be too far from here. She was positive that she could make it work. She wanted so badly to see her real Mother again.
She got up and ate bread, butter and honey. She went outside to comb the beach as was her morning habit, just in case her father would wash up and enfold her in his arms. So far it have not worked but one couldn't blame a girl from trying. She plopped down in the sand on a sand dune. Her family history made her wonder if she should ever get married. It seemed like the moment one made a strong bond, fate tried to rip it away from you.
Maybe she would be better off alone as a hermit. If and when she got him she would seek out the swamp lady and have a consultation. At least it wasn't snaptrotter breeding season. She would have to talk to Masika, she didn't want to but it had to be done. She couldn't just run away and abandon her, without an explanation. She owed the woman her life, and she had always been so kind. Even giving her a new name before she had remembered hers. Skeena hadn't told Masika when she had remembered her real name, because now she was "Shui" too.
She was pretty young for an identity crisis. She just needed to be back home, like a compulsion that would eventually make her sick she longed to return. She was quite often restless, burning her energy off whenever she could by training.
Something ancient in her had been triggered and she felt like she might have inherited the hyper disorder that affected her mother and to a greater extent her grandmother.
It wasn't a bad thing, once you learned how to deal with it. She would become stronger quicker because of it, but she might drive her teachers a little bit batty in the process. They would learn to deal thought, she knew that no matter which path she chose she would excel. Well if she wasn't meant to be a shaman then she could do one of the physical combats or test out her aptitude for elemental magic. If she could control the water then it would never be able to get an upper hand on her again.
She had even remembered that her grand mother had worn tattoos, and that she had been the bravest warrior ever and that had come from her Mother who was terrifying in her own right. She needed to channel her inner granny, she decided her tattoos would be black and blue to represent her heritage (her grandmother's tattoos had been black. As well as the ocean that had changed her forever. Make your weakness, your strength.
She could do this, she just had to believe enough, she had so many awesome people in her family, that there was no way her blood would be weaker than theirs. And so she ran and trained there on the shores of the sea.
She grew stronger, smarter and more beautiful. As her confidence grew so did her roaming range, until she had to stop and wait for her body to catch up. Time seemed to pass so slowly. It was frustrating to wait but she needed to be sage.
Eventually she was able to enter the water again without having a complete panic attack. It had taken longer than she would have lived but at least she had conquered one of her demons. She was able to follow creatures around again in the water and slowly built her swimming skills to a respectable level once again. She was as physically prepared as she would ever be and yet mentally there was still a wall that told her she was not ready yet.
It wasn't safe to go out alone. Her Father couldn't save himself but she remembered that he made sure she had had something large enough to float safely on, before he made a swim for the limping and listing ship. SHe hoped he had made it on because that was the last time she had seen him.
The same nightmare haunted her every night.
"Not ready." she muttered as she worked, not yet, but she would be.
She felt like it might be her Father's spirit saying "Not yet."
If only the stupid captain had seen the rocks that had ripped open the proud prow of their ship like it had been a fresh coconut. They had all lived with the consequences..well those that survived anyway.
She tended to trail the local sharks around for hours, watching them hunt, bumping them away if they got a little too rambunctious. She gave them names, eventually being able to tell who they were based on markings and general behavior.
Xenathor liked her the most and let her hold his dorsal fin for long stretches. Luulu liked to check absolutely every crack in the reef and patrolled at least twice a day.
Navee was smallest and lowest on the totem pole having circular marks on the bottom of his caudal fin.
Noko had a fetching hook lip piercing. So far he had not let her get close enough to help him with it.
She had learned a lot about their behavior over time. She especially liked to watch them hunt and tried to pick out which prey in a school they would chose which was a lot harder than she had thought at first. She wondered how they just knew that whatever fish was the right fish.
Soon it felt like she had never been afraid of the ocean. She sang and danced on the shore and over time became herself again. Loss was a weapon she would not want her worse enemy to face. Good show she wasn't alone or full recovery might have taken a lot longer than it had and be more arduous to boot.
She made some friends and enjoyed her childhood always coming back to swim with the sharks.
Eventually her nightmares became a dream in which her Father turned into a shark during a shipwreck and led her home while she rode a sea turtle. She took it as a sign that it was time. That now she was ready to find her home.
She couldn't believe the time had finally come, after waiting for what felt like forever. Now she could have that long put off talk with Masika and go forth to finally chase her destiny.
It was heading into a good weather season with few storms along the coast, good for searching for her small town, which she was positive was a coastal town of smallish size.
She remembered that it had a stone pier that the sea over time had eaten holed through, it was these holes that were used to tie up the boats, worn smooth with time, use and sea water.
She remembered that there was a market somewhat inland , the colorful tents barely glimpsed from the shore, large trees providing shade and perches for the racous chorus of visiting sailscales who thought those trees were nearly as good as their natal cliffs what with the nice view of all the food carts that they got. Bottomless pits that they were. She had always wanted one of the clever creatures.
That's what she would do one she finally got home, as soon a possible, she would go find a sailscale. She would spoil it and name it Kailan. Then she would always have someone to look out for her. What a great plan! Even more motivation to further her goals. She was so darn ready for this adventure. She was so close that she could smell it. The distinct and beautiful aroma of home and victory combined.
She was embarking on a whole new chapter in order to find all of her missing pages. She wondered how her brothers had changed over time. They must have been so devastated at her absence.
She could remember their voices still but it felt like their faces were getting somewhat blurry. She was afraid she would forget even that, she tried her best not to think about it or she risked crying. It was always so embarrassing to start crying for no obvious reason that she took great lengths to avoid it. Soon all of this would be so far in the past as to be a faint but awful memory.
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