The Rusty Anchor.
It was a bright, clear day in Matori. A light cool wind frolicked about flirting with the laundry hanging about to finally coil around him, where he sat staring out to sea,counting waves. He had been doing a lot of thinking lately about his future and where exactly he was going in life. Soon he would be forced to choose a path one way or another, but he was still quite conflicted. It was an important decision, able to shape the entire form of his future. He was not so good at making really important decisions. Sadly the waves whispered no answers to him. They just murmured comfortingly as they brushed the sand, and his feet.
Well, he was finding no answers to his question here, no matter how long he meditated on it, perhaps a bit of travel would jar him enough for him to decide on the path that he was meant for sometime in the outback would relieve him from the monotony of quiet village life change seemed to occur dreadfully slow here, glacial even, making Oba the obvious choice to choose his preferred profession, would be a trip to one of the great markets of Oba, he wondered what it would look like there.
It was a place that he had heard described many times, but had not yet been there, he resented Oba for the wrongs that had been done to his parents. But one couldn't deny that Oba had some of the best professionals around concentrated in its larger cities.
Nothing distressed him more than the thought of so many people living in the same place, especially Obans, but he also adored being hyper efficient at everything he did. And this obsession was enough to override the dislike, he had also heard that you could get almost anything in those mega markets and he secretly like shopping. Well, it was decided he was going to Oba, it was the most logical course of action. He didn't have to like it.
He spent some time looking at the stars of home for a while before going to bed, who knew how long he would be gone. If he was really lucky he would find a clue about his parents only Oba was so far from his home that he thought it unlikely.
He packed swiftly and left quite early in the morning, just after sunrise. Overall the journey to Oba was boring and uneventful. he hunted and trapped on his way to augment the travel friendly foods he had packed. It was rather fun this way and delicious. When he finally entered the first large urban city quite some time later he went in search of a likely looking inn. He walked into the first one that really called to him. It was made in a distinct local mud hut fashion. He had been drawn to the place from the start stepping through the doors in holding fascination at the place that seemed to be a seamless blend of Matori and Oban culture, finding the person in charge of the place he quickly found out why. The proprietor turned out to be a gloriously tattooed Matorian woman, sea serpents and eels adorned her skin in an hypnotic pattern that drew the eye to all of her best features, no doubt to aid in drawing in the clientele. She looked like she could handle herself judging on the lean muscly frame. He was pleased to find out the place served all of his favorite foods, along with a selection of local dishes to round out the menu. It was called the Rusty Anchor, and that alone made him feel more at ease, more at home.
"If I may Miss, might I ask why set up shop in the middle of the desert, don't you miss home?"
The woman gave him a pleasant smile on replied gently in soothing tones.
"This is home for me now, you see my husband is a noble of open blood. We chose to raise our family here, where we both could keep our livelihoods. It's our hope that our kids take a shine to at least one of our professions. Well, enough about me, what brings you here see when child."
Whoa, she had given him a nickname quite quickly, how fascinating.
"I'm trying to figure out what I want to do, choose a path and all, but I'm struggling with my choice. I figured an urban city would have good examples of each profession, conveniently concentrated in one place." He felt a little weird because he was talking so much.
" I see." She replied, "You have chosen to find city pursue your destiny. I found mine here." She smiled and got a slightly dreamy look on her face.
"I will see that you are set up for the night, free of charge, just this once a boost for your noble cause."
The woman who called herself Zandrika had indeed spoiled him the night before with fine delicacies and a type of rice fermented fish that he begged her to give him the recipe for. It was a life changing dish to say the least. Apparently it had originated in Matori, a staple in her village that had been wiped out when an Oban raid had captured the entire small coastal village a long time ago. The culture of this village now living on in fragments scattered about Oba.
"You don't want to gather the fragments and have that home again?" he inquired.
"Why? We are already at least a generation or two away from the original people that had lived on the island. This is the world we know. After the war we accepted our freedom and moved on with our lives, and built upon them wherever we chose to. Besides the island is in a dangerous place between reefs it is hard to even land there without having a map. But I have a copy of one such map if you are interested youngster. If you do happen to go, please bring back some seaberries, they are the best from there apparently. "
Umen sighed, it seemed like such a shame that there was a whole village out there with no people in it. I'll take the map, I want to go see if it would be possible to revive it."
His mind went into curiousity overdrive at the thought of an abandoned village where he could tinker and pick whichever house he wanted to live in. the more he thought about it the more he wanted to go.
Zandrika's eyes crinkled at the look of shear delight in the curious eyes of the Matorian male before her.
"Better to take someone with you for the first two times you go, who knows if the buildings can still support themselves.
"True I hadn't thought of the battering they would have recieved by the coastal storms over the years, like as not any and all will need a great amount of work performed on them. Good thing I have endless amounts of time." The lost and forgotten had always called to him, doubly so after his parents had gone missing. You haven't heard about two Matorians who were taken from around White Island around here have you, I lost my parents a year or two ago, my mother looks like a female version of me where dad has hair that's more blue."
The barkeep studied him intently, her eyes seeming to pierce his soul and weigh and measure his heart. He felt deep down that she knew something and promptly as she leaned forward, his whole body felt charged with electricity.
"I had heard something along those lines, a while back, There is still of course and underground in every city, apparently to people matching your descriptions were mistakenly taken due to unpaid debts. The thieves were ashamed to admit their air."
She scratched out some info for him on a piece of paper, along with the map of the island in question with thick black line marking where to go to avoid the worst of the reefs.
Umen could hardly believe it. It had been so simple. How long had he waited and they were within reach, potentially though it could also be a trap. He would have to be careful, but this was the first promising lead he'd had for months. They were alive after all. He had not been remiss in his passion to hold on to them, to search tirelessly until you had nothing left. Once recuperated he would sit out again, searching. Umen all but trembled at the thought of finally being able to see his parents again. He took the secret village map in his pocket for later and became consumed with his mission.
He didn't necessarily want anyone hurt, or there may be further retribution. If he could get his parents out he would do it in a heartbeat. They were his everything without them he was nothing but a bum, an orphan, a cast off. He hated not having someone to share his day to interact with, only this hurt worse than most flesh wounds in his opinion. Soon enough, he had the dastardly place in his sights. It looked at first assuming in a more industrial area of town but still befitting the surrounding vibe, he saw no guards but knew they would be there. Why keep them. Slavery was now illegal. What shame was worth the ulitmate fall of a house? His parents had nothing particularly special about them. It might even be more shameful to them if word got out they had lost their prisoners.
He could hope anyway, Umen used his considerable stealth to sneak all the way around the perimeter and study all approaches and the escape routes. Luckily for him, the family that belonged to the house was out and only a few servants were left behind, he mustered the courage and snuck through one of the stone garden gates. He was backing through an area watchful for guards that may have noticed him when he bumped into the sun warmed, broad back of a familiar figure, both parties spun around and regarded each other silently for a moment. Umen's eyes met the gorgeous light yellow gaze of his father, close cropped blue hair shone with health in the sun. He inhaled sharply and grasping his father's shoulders embrace the male with a silent ragged sob. He had finally found them.
"I'm getting you out where's mom?" Umen whispered quickly after they had ceased their embrace in the kitchen.
" She is a cook. "Unfortunate, they had to get her such a mundane job his mother was very crafty and they were quite stupid to not see her true talents. He flashed past one of the kitchen window is when he saw that his mother was occupied there and doing the dishes, she was too smart not to take the hint he and his mother had always had a close, unwavering connection with each other.
" Let's go quick back out at the garden gate before they all wake up from their noon naps. Most of Oba slept during the hottest part of the day, it got cracking hot during the day but it would mean less eyes on them. If he could get to the nearest xaraan stable ASAP, they stood a relatively good chance of making out of there in good time.
He would take them as close to the ghost village as he could, they wouldn't be able to get there direct, it would be too dangerous, but he would make sure that place was safe for them as soon as he could.
He grasped his mother's hand tightly.
Everything was going swimmingly, nobody alert yet, the gods had seen fit to bless his actions today and he murmured constant prayer for continued favor.The stable master was a little perplexed when he dumped twice what the birds were worth if he got them ready at double time. But it would mean a nice bonus for him so we did he was told and then Umen was off of this family on a breakneck course, traveling swiftly through the high desert.
They stopped as soon as Umen deemed it safe to rest the birds at a handy oasis and to get some shade themselves. Fortunately it was part of the desert culture to equip each stede with adequate water, they drank then refilled and rested. The next day they would continue on. For the nigh, the copse would provide them with water and dates. He couldn't stop staring at them, they were here. He slept for the first time in years, in his mother's arms, and he wept.
When they reached the coast that bordered the islands, his parents felt like maybe even a long forgotten deserted island might not be far enough away. He contemplated hiring them a bodyguard or two while he would be out scouting the old island. In the days that followed they remained on guard during the setup of their small temporary fort, it seemed as though everyone involved wanted the whole messy, highly illegal mess forgotten. His parents confirmed that they had been taken by mistake and held forcibly to prevent retribution and further shame from falling on a formerly powerful house.
His mother froliced daily down the beach while his father fished for them. For the first time in long time he felt complete and happy. If only he didn't have to worry about them so much. "I can't leave you guys here, he will have to come to me to the island we will relocate our shack out there, only then can I be confident that you will be safe or at least as safe as I can make you. We will learn the safest path in through the reefs together."
His parents had gone through quite enough in the short time they had been alive, he would do absolutely anything in his power to prevent them from suffering, unnecessarily again.
"I'm sure we'll be fine there you should see if anyone else would be willing to give it a go." his mother said. It would be hard on them but better to live on a dibilatated island than risk recapture. It was the fools own fault, anyhow for capturing the wrong people. What idiots.
He rented a sturdy boat and they arrived at the island, he couldn't contain his excitement, though he had to admit to extreme exhaustion. Swiftly he found the most occuppiable house and they slept camp and slept deep in the old structure.
They relaxed, much of the next day recuperating and eating a fortifying onion broth soup to regain some spirit back. In the meantime they talked for hours and caught up on all the things he had missed in the last year and a half, he never wanted to be separated from them again. Life had been too hard, too lonely, too empty.
Umen finally rustled up the strength to return the next day to the mainland to get some of the supplies they would require. He felt great discomfort at leaving so he planned to hurry back as soon as possible before he had left them his mother had said that he should see if anyone from town fancy on joining them on their town creating adventure. He knew exactly who he hoped to bump into. Arriving in town, he headed straight for the market and bought fish salt dried fish, vegetables, fruit grains herbs and all kinds of seeds, dried meat and eggs. They would be well fed at the very least. He hauled his massive kit of food back to the boat and set off, the perishables would not last in the heat. He was greeted by the delighted tears of his family. It felt good to be coming home, even to an extremely new one.
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