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 Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:14 pm
On the crest of dawn a singular ship cut through through the ocean separating Belrea from Tendaji. It's massive ivory sails fluttered and snapped in the crisp morning air before finally gaining the wind's favor. A swift change was happening amid it's crew where those who preferred long nights were preparing for a good, well earned rest and those who had slept were starting their daily work. Several passengers milled through their numbers, mainly tourists who had gone to Belrea for a fun little jaunt, and others who had business to attend.
And then, there was Zadia.
Standing atop the deck the hybrid watched the sails passively before turning her eyes back to the sea. Her thick, layered skirts kept the morning chill at bay, but it didn't stop the zephyr from tearing her hair out of it's bun. Not that she cared. By the time she made it to a perch near the bow Zadia couldn't think of anything other than the worries in her heart. She'd barely slept since news of the wreck and if it weren't for this latest tidbit about Isaia she may have lost hope completely.
She knew she should be checking in on her father, but...for now, Zadia was content to just sit there and absorb the dawn.
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:54 pm
(1/10) Uquin had always been good at compartmentalizing. As a healer, it was beneficial to shove certain feelings to the background to be sorted through and examined at a later date. For most of his very long life it had served him well, both professionally and personally. It had allowed him to carry on as a father for Padma after Ujana went missing, had carried him through the fatherhood with triplets with a broken and strained relationship with Maritza. And when news reached home about Maritza and Isaia's ship crashing... it allowed him to react accordingly. In the twilight hours, before he and Zadia took their trip south for the ship port, he'd efficiently moved his patients to other healers throughout the city. Marcella had been taken in by Asa's family for a short time, to help with the new babies, and had penned letters to the extended family to let them know where they were going, and he'd exchanged some words with Lioe before they left, which he hoped would reassure his son somewhat before he left.
There had been no hyperventilating, no sobs or widower's cries. With everyone he spoke to, they regarded him guardedly, careful and vague in their words, as if expecting him to fall apart at any moment. He wondered if they thought him a monster for his dry eyes, and lack of response.
Of course, after a day's travel and boarding the ship; followed by a night of sleep due to pure road weary exhaustion, Uquin awoke to the knowledge that there was nothing else to accomplish. They had a full day's trip laid out before them before they made port in Matori, and nothing but their feelings to accompany them as they went.
Well. Almost. Because Uquin was still a father, and upon waking, it was hard to ignore that Zadia was nowhere to be found among the cots they'd been given for the trip. He was less sure on his feet than he'd been when he was younger, had to hold onto the wall as he climbed up to deck. But once there, it wasn't difficult to find his daughter - her brightly dyed hair helped her to stand out, even amidst a crew of various backgrounds.
Approaching her, Uquin folded his shawl over his forearm, a silent question to his daughter on if she was chilly enough to want it draped over her shoulders. He rested his other hand on the railing, eye turning to watch the sky with her. "Did you sleep at all?" He asked, voice raised a bit to be heard over the waves.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:09 pm
When she'd informed Mr. Fowler about her departure the man was careful to meet Zadia on her level. Her hands shook when she went through her list of tinctures and processing projects, yet her tone never wavered. The underlying panic was as strong as a sermal's bite, but at the time Zadia had been careful to focus. How many times had she seen her parents push through when others would have broken? Even after booking passing with her father, traveling south with him to the port, laying down for bed the night before...Uquin was always so focused, so driven, and she...
Spirits it had been a long night.
Her semi-conscious state didn't allow for a heightened perception so when Uquin approached she gave no outward sign of acknowledgement. Only when he spoke did Zadia turn to look at him and the red rimmed, bloodshot eyes were answer enough without words. She hadn't cried; yet, but it was dangerously close.
Slowly, she raised her hand for the shawl. "I spoke with the ship's cartographer. We tracked trade routes and compared them to where the wreckage was found. Going off that, the amount of time that has passed since then, the tide...I was hoping we might be able to convince the Captain to pass through and maybe we might see something..."
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:31 pm
(2/10) ...Ah. Uquin pressed his lips together to keep from saying anything unnecessary. The bite of his typical bedside manner was ready to spill out, to nag at her to sleep, or to chastise her for pushing herself so hard. But he wasn't here as a healer, not right now - Uquin was here to be her father. With Ujana and Padma, Uquin had struggled to make that separation, had brought his typical brash and cold behavior to his child rearing, but ... he knew better now. If there was one benefit to having so many children, and having such a gap between the first few and the next ... it was that he'd learned better.
However, he did feel a flash of self admonishment, because he'd shut himself off so completely in the past few days that he hadn't stopped to properly look at his daughter to see how she was handling... everything.
He handed the shawl over, and took a moment to help her drape it over her shoulders. "I'll talk to them, see what can be done." Uquin assured softly, resting his hand in what he hoped was a reassuring touch between her shoulder blades. He... wasn't too confident the captain would want to go. There were one or two others on this trip who were going to Yael, to meet up with the rescuers who'd found the survivors, so it was possible. But... there were many more who were traveling to Matori for business, or returning home, and the captain may not be charitable enough to add time to their trip. "If there's time to gaze at the sunrise, there's time to get something warm in you first, child."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 12:08 pm
Zadia gave a pleased 'hmm' and pulled the shawl tight over her shoulders. The touch to her back wasn't expected, but not unwelcomed either. While she would've never outwardly asked for such a thing, having it was...comforting and allowed her to exhale the breath that had been keeping her upright. Zadia felt her body settle into it's exhaustion; though which was stronger, the pull in her heart or of her limbs, she couldn't say.
"I don't feel like eating," although, when she looked at him, a rueful smile tugged at her lips. "...But I know better than to think you'd let me get by with it." Tugging at the edges of the shawl to keep it in place, Zadia adjusted her legs over the edge of her perch and hopped down onto the deck. The heels of her prim boots gave a pleasing 'click' and for a moment a visual of the little pointed things was visible before her skirts covered them.
The act might have been fluid enough if she were on land, but when the ship popped over a wave Zadia's balance went with it. The hybrid shuffled to the side and grabbed onto her father for support.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:21 pm
(3/10) Sure enough, a thin brow had already lifted up by the time she looked at him, and when she finished her statement he responded with a tired, but amused smile. He stepped back, to give her room to dismount - only to then hold his arms out to catch her when she stumbled, his older frame briefly wobbling under the additional weight. He did, thankfully, stabilize after a brief, perilous moment, patting her on the shoulder with a slow sigh of relief.
He was - definitely getting up there in age, and he'd never been particularly strong to start with. It hurt, the realization that if she was to faint from exhaustion, he was no longer strong enough to pick her up and carry her to bed, like when she was a little girl.
Uquin opened his mouth, ready to make a playfully condescending statement, perhaps - 'Best you fall into me than the sea', but he caught himself at the last moment, and instead closed his mouth again with a strained expression. Ah. Perhaps... too soon.
"Come on, Zadia, I've got you." He said, instead, somewhat awkwardly helping her straighten up again, his arm draped around her shoulders until he was sure she wouldn't crumple to the ground. An assessing gaze flicked down, concerned she might have twisted her ankle in her stumble.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:51 pm
Had Uquin always been so small? When she was younger the age discrepancy between her parents was obvious, more so once she started attending classes, but it never effected the way she viewed him. He carried himself with pride and that made him a bigger man than the other fathers. It hadn't bothered Zadia that her parents couldn't sling her around like her older sister when she visited and even into her teen years Zadia didn't pay too much attention to it. It was only recently that she'd started to take a keen eye to Uquin and in moments like that, when just her wispy weight seemed to bear down on him, that she faltered.
"Mother would yell if she saw me," She sighed and shuffled her feet to get a better stance before starting to walk, just leaned up against him. "She hates these boots."
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 12:58 pm
(4/10) Unaware of his daughter's thoughts, Uquin simply nodded his head, satisfied when she put weight on her ankle without any issues. When she spoke though, he felt a spike of pain shoot through him, followed by an immediate chiding. Why was he so startled that she was speaking in the present tense? They didn't know if Maritza was dead, and to presume so was... insulting to her.
And yet - it was a surprise when he heard Isaia was alive. He had seen so many patients die after falling from a Tale tree house, or slipping down stairs in Belrea, or - how could anyone survive an airship crashing out of the air? He wanted to be optimistic, but Uquin had never been so a day in his life, and a part of him feared that by the time they got to his son, he'd have... succumbed.
"And of all the boots to bring along with you..." He mused, nudging at her with a soft chuckle. "I don't know which she will condem more, when we see her, your boots or those shadows under your eyes."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 1:13 pm
Zadia knocked her boney hip against his before giving her father a squeeze and pulling back to walk on her own. "They're fashionable and I've grown to like the way clients turn when they hear me approach." It was a power high that Zadia didn't often chase, but there was something in the way she could command the attention of those who otherwise wouldn't give the time of day. They came into Fowler's for her intel or the tinctures she produced. Her parents had always taught her to walk with authority and while Maritza would hate the shoe she wouldn't deny it's purpose.
She never thought she'd be in a position where she wanted to be scolded, but...it was just too quiet.
Zadia rolled her eyes with a little huff. "She has no room to talk about eye bags. Not with what she looks like when she comes back from leave." Or when she was woken up early. The woman could be an absolute beast.
"Do you think....do you think that Isaia knows? That she's still missing? Or do you think they've lied to him to keep him comfortable?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 1:26 pm
(5/10) Uquin shook his head fondly at the bump, but leaned briefly into her hug, patting her shoulder once before pulling away as well. They walked, shoulder to shoulder, towards the narrow stairwell that would bring them under the deck. "Hmm. Perhaps that's me I'm thinking of then." He corrected. Not that he had any room to talk, but as a healer he'd never hesitated to be a hypocrite when it came to sleep and well being.
Zadia was the first daughter in the family raised with the decorum and manners from Belrean schooling, and while it didn't make her any better than her older sisters, he couldn't deny that it did give her charisma. These days, Padma was more matronly, Ujana always authoritative from her strength and build.
He was lost, briefly, in wondering over how different his children had grown up to be... but Zadia gently tugged his mind back to present circumstances, and he felt his expression get serious once more.
"That boy has always been a mother's boy, no matter how much he tried to deny it the last few years." he said, reaching to steady himself a bit as he began to descend down the steps. "If she wasn't with him when he woke, I doubt anyone could convince him she wasn't missing."
It was the one reason he didn't chide Zadia for thinking of how to find Maritza. True, the purpose of their trip was to retrieve Isaia, but if Maritza wasn't recovered by then... he was sure his son would insist they set out on another voyage to look for her, instead of returning home.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 1:44 pm
"They bicker like perzi, but he grew up to be just like her." She knew her mother would be embarrassed to admit it, but she'd overheard Maritza talking to Rivyn about it once. About how proud she was that he'd taken an interest in her work and how happy it made her to watch Isaia advance.
If she really was gone...her loss would hurt would the family, but it would gut Isaia.
As they neared the doorway to the galley, a young Geian man stepped toward the opening, but upon seeing the pair immediately took a step back. He was a scarred lad with a handsome smile and a few missing teeth. In all honesty Zadia was unsure if he was a deckhand or a passenger, but she smiled toward him and gave a brief thank you, keen on making her way in.
Instead, he cleared his throat, "I wouldn't try the fish if I were you; it has a weird taste."
Zadia raised a brow. "...Thank you, for the warning."
"-and the biscuits are dry."
"Is there anything edible, then?"
"....The bone broth is quite nice."
Maybe it was her current mood or the lack of sleep, but Zadia's eyes turned from a polite smile to outright scathing in seconds.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 1:56 pm
(6/10) It was true. Uquin smiled, fondly, but felt his heart tug at the thought of it. His son, hurting somewhere, and Maritza - they had to find her. They must find her. His expression crumpled, but in that moment Zadia seemed just as saddened so he tried to pull himself back together.
How... fortuitous then that someone stepped in, for them to focus their feelings on. IT wasn't good or healthy, but Uquin had never been a kind, soothing sort of man. It was only the amount of people in Belrea that finally made him tone down his tongue lashings, lest he lose himself patients.
"And you are on your way out, yes? Good. Perhaps the company will be tolerable then." Uquin said sharply, narrowing his good eye at the youth. He waited for Zadia to step ahead of him, then followed after her, wrinkling his nose as if smelling something foul.
It was... of course, an overreaction, but it felt good to lash out a bit, and Uquin was far from mature despite his age.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:07 pm
The Geian's cheeks immediately darkened and Zadia saw the tentative smile disappear from his face. Instead of feeling embarrassed or putout by her father's tongue lashing on the poor boy Zadia felt vindicated. She didn't care for pointless conversations; much less when she was in a mood.
If anything she mirrored her father's repugnant look as the man made a hasty exit and gave a hearty 'harumph' afterward. That is, until she noticed his mark and cursed with a curl of her own lip. "I should have been kinder to him," She murmured, hopefully out of earshot of anyone other than her father. "The mark on his back? Same as the Captains." Even if he wasn't the Captain's son he was close enough to be a relative and Zadia could only hope they were on bad terms already.
"Think it's too late to...bat my eyes or something?" Even as she said it there was no hiding the disgust in her tone.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:17 pm
(7/10) Uquin wasn't quite as sharp as he used to be, or perhaps he wasn't caring to look closer, because he missed the detail his daughter picked up on. They were already partway into the galley when the words were murmured to him, and his expression shifted to annoyance. Of course. The captain, with whom they were hoping to ask a favor... and now he had made a bad impression on a relative. He sighed, trying to tamp down the flash of terror he felt. What if his insults had ruined their chance to find Maritza?
"Blast. And I had hoped to relieve you of needing to talk to the captain yourself." He closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed. "Scold me, loudly, for my rudeness, and order me the bone broth then. Hopefully, if he holds it against us you can say I am senile and mourning, and I can issue an appropriate apology."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:26 pm
Zadia reached over and pinched his arm.
"I'm not going to scold you for anything. You aren't a child, and you're not old enough for a keeper." Though at this rate he wasn't far from it. Spirits, if they'd just lost their chance to find Maritza then would that mean he would actually outlive her? Zadia had never honestly thought about it and now that it entered her mind she tried valiantly to push it away. As far as she was concerned her parents were immortal and that was that!
"Go sit and I'll get us some broth. We'll make our apologies together and I'll fake a few tears if I have to." Of course, they likely wouldn't be fake, but pretending they were helped to keep her in check. "Any special requests? They might have some ale if I ask."
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