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 Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:21 am
A fog had settled over the early morning sea. It rolled across the cresting waves like sun on Oban sands and lulled the mind into a false sense of security. What few voyagers that happened to be awake at the hour didn't seem to mind, only stopping to make casual commentary on the new hoary state of the world, but the sailors new better. Every sea farer was on high alert, easing their way through the fog as if a great leviathan might jump out at them at any moment.
Arden almost wished it would. He'd heard their noises from time to time; great, crooning calls that almost sounded like living nightmares reaching out for him from beneath the water. Despite being assured multiple times that the waters between Tendaji and Belrea were much safer than the voyage to Yael the young hybrid couldn't help imaging the worst. And yet, even the scariest of monsters couldn't worry him more than what laid below deck.
His father was dying. Mother wouldn't say it like that and she got mad at him for voicing it, but Arden wasn't stupid. The days of lucidity for Asa were coming less and less. It seemed for a brief moment before they made the trip that his father was doing better; at least, in the terms of staying awake and holding down food. Then the fever came back and now....now they had to move.
Grumbling, Arden settled himself atop a crate and crossed his arms above the nearby railing before settling his head atop them.
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:50 am
[1/10] It was probably accurate to say that Colm was a bundle of nervous energy, and had been ever since they embarked on this 'quest' to get their father better. Their mom had tried to downplay it - suggesting that once they got to Belrea, the wonderful doctors there would somehow fix their dad, and he'd be fine again. Colm tried to believe it, wholeheartedly, but some days... like today... he doubted. Mother had been so focused on their father that other than getting them breakfast, she hadn't really had much to say to them that day. So... Colm entertained himself by going around, looking at the other families being carried over to Belrea.
You know, until they got creeped out by the child silently watching them and shooed him off.
Now... he finally crept up to the deck, perking up when he saw his brother. He scurried over and clambered up onto the crate, silently taking his place next to him, peeking over the edge of the railing at the sea. "I don't like the water." He announced, uninvited, his expression bland and unimpressed.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:12 am
"Someone was talking about seeing a fish that could swallow the ship whole," Arden grumbled, barely lifting his head off his arms to acknowledge his brother. At first he'd been a little surprised as to who was getting so close, but there was really only one person it could have been so he settled back into his musings. "I wish it would; then we wouldn't have to go."
Arden purposefully had avoided watching any of the other families. What good would it do, watching father's carrying sons on their shoulders and pointing out all the sea creatures jumping out of the water? It just made his little face pinch and caused Arden to turn away rather abruptly, stamping his way across the deck every time.
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:50 am
[2/10] A fish that could swallow the ship? Colm's expression shifted to disbelief and a bit of nervousness as he peeked over the edge, frowning mightily for such a young boy. He was the oldest, though, so he forced himself to puff up a bit, tilting his head towards Arden consideringly as he continued to speak. "Do you really think a fish's belly would be better than a new city?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:12 pm
Arden turned toward Colm with the most droll expression a boy of his age could muster. "Yeah." Wasn't that much obvious? Sitting up a little straighter, he meant to let out a sigh, but the aggravation behind it made the act itself huffier than intended.
"I don't see why we couldn't just find another healer. Sulburi is huge; I'm sure they have tons! What makes Belrea so much better?" It was further away from their family, from all the friends he'd made and everything they knew...All Arden could remember was back in Oba and he didn't even like changing cities to live in let alone the thought of moving continents...
"What can they do that the others haven't?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:17 pm
[3/10]
"Aren't they... smarter? They have air ships." Colm pointed out with a vague shrug, shuffling so he could sit, cross-legged, facing his brother. His stomach felt squiffy because of the rocking of the boat, but it had since they boarded. "Uncle is a healer, if anyone over here could heal Father, he could. But he can't."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:21 pm
"If you tied enough kinfa to this ship I bet it could fly. They aren't special." Arden groused, turning a little so he could see Colm better. The salty spray that would occasionally ghost up around the edges of the ship kept flicking onto his hair, causing the edges to lose their curl.
"What about that old guy that's helping him? What if we went to Tale instead? That would have been easier."
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:27 pm
[4/10]
Yes? Well... No? Colm didn't know. He hummed gently, to show he wasn't sure. To him, Tale felt just as far as Belrea. Auntie Eema lived there, and she was nice but... not the same as their grandparents. And Mother and Father got so strange whenever they went north, like they thought the nearest people might jump out and randomly scoop one of the boys up or something.
The 'old man' in Tale had helped, yes. But then father got sick again.
"If they fix Father, maybe we can just go home when they're done?" He suggested, maybe a bit naively.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:37 pm
Arden slapped his hand against the crate and leaned forward. "They aren't going to 'fix' him, Colm! It's like when Quhar get sick; they go away and they don't come back." His fingers tightened on the railing of the ship as he sharply turned his eyes away from his elder brother.
He'd made friends with a stablehand back 'home', one who specialized in raising Quhar. There had been an older bull named Mars who liked to eat right from Arden's hand and one day he hadn't been around. When Arden naively asked where he'd gone the old man had bluntly told him the Quhar had been put down. And naturally, he'd asked what it meant...
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:46 pm
[5/10]
Other children might have jumped or flinched at the slap of a hand so close, but Colm didn't. He gazed at the spot where his brother's hand had landed, lips pressed together as he almost pointedly failed to meet Arden's gaze.
He was the eldest. So he knew, just as well as Arden did, about... those stories. Of the kindly old lady who used to watch them at that inn back in Sulburi, who taught them how to cook together. Who smiled patiently when they made a mess of things, or Arden got distracted and created chaos. Maybe Arden didn't remember as well as Colm did, how she just... was gone one day.
But Colm did. Because he WAS the oldest.
Even now, he remembered crying in the marketplace because he realized he couldn't refill his father's hourglass.
"Do you wish mother left us with our grandfathers?" He asked, seriously, finally meeting Arden's eyes. "What if they left and - father didn't come back after?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:02 pm
"I do." Arden answered honestly. It was no secret that he hadn't wanted to go to Belrea. He'd thrown enough tantrums to make his point obvious and even as they boarded the ship he'd thrown enough sass to the point where even his father had gotten tired of his lip.
"He's going to die anyway so we could have just stayed home." Colm may have been looking at him, but the feeling wasn't reciprocated. Arden's gaze was lost over the waves, his mind a million miles away in an ocean of sand. "Why do we have to drag him around if he's this sick? It isn't making it better! We're going to go all the way over there, mother's going to get her hopes up and they're just going to say the same thing they always do!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:11 pm
Ah. That made sense. Colm nodded a bit, and moved a bit closer so he could sit next to his brother, reaching up to brush some of the seawater off of his cheek and hair. "So you wish all of us stayed home. Me too. Maybe... father thinks the same." That was an admission that came out almost silently. One that he didn't know, for sure, but- he could almost see it.
"... But if father is going to let mother take him there, I'm... happy they brought me, at least. I don't think I could have stayed behind, and say goodbye. ... I'm sorry they dragged you into it."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:37 pm
Arden wasn't the most...constructive with his emotions. He wasn't shy about displaying them, but getting his thoughts out without simply shutting down halfway wasn't his style. He'd grump up, stamp his foot, scream at times or snap off with hurtful comments. In reality, he was just as worried and scared as any other member of his family it just came out differently.
That was why he let Colm get so close and why he didn't move when his brother touched him. At the end of the day, despite how protective he was of the other boy, this was his older brother and it was nice to remember that.
"...When he coughs so much that he can't breath it scares me." He admitted at last. "I don't want to be there when it happens."
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:48 pm
[7/10]
... That made sense. Colm nodded, just once, to show he'd heard his brother, but otherwise took a moment to just silently primp him. Fixed his hair, adjusted the lay of his shirt. Then he scooted until they were hip to hip, and slung his arm around his brother's shoulders. "When I was little I thought mother... just was used to it. She'd just smile at us and say it was okay. But now... I've never seen her so scared." He sighed, deeply, partly out of emotion and partly to subdue the churning in his gut from the sea sickness, which made his face feel weird.
"I miss father." Asa was still here, of course - here enough to get mad at Arden for throwing a fit. But he wasn't really here - not in the way he used to be. Not able to just play games, or talk, or help them cook (even if he was bad at it), or heal their scraped knees when they played too hard. The lessons he used to give them on everything he knew, because he was SO smart...
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:58 pm
Arden shifted his legs so that he could easily fit into the crook of his brother's arm and snuggled up close. "Do you really think they can help him?" This time when he asked there wasn't the fire in his voice that had been there before. Instead, Arden's tone was that of the young boy he actually was. One that was facing the reality of their situation and terrified of not having a father to tell him the monster at the foot of his bed was just a pile of dirty clothes.
Every time he'd hope that a healer could just touch Asa and make breathing easier he'd been disappointed. Time after time after time to the point that Arden just stopped hoping. He hated seeing the hope on his mother's face even though he knew she wanted to cry. She would pretend like things were okay around him, but she wasn't as good at hiding it these days as she was in the beginning.
"And what if they do help but it comes back?"
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