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STORMY FELT ODDLY OUT of place with Erika crying, and Kairos and Arell hugging each other. He stepped backward up the castle stairs and nearly stumbled over the attractive dark-skinned young lady who had been watching everything.
“Oh! My apologies, Miss,” he said softly. He took his hat off and bowed. She blushed and smiled, wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. A wave of sympathy rushed through Stormy. He hated seeing women cry and had been overwhelmed with what was transpiring. A lost child with an entire tribe of people searching for him. He understood everyone’s passion for finding the little boy. No one wanted to lose a child.
“I’m sorry for what’s happening,” he stuttered, not knowing how one should approach the situation as an outsider. “If I could help?”
He reached out his hand, though knowing it inappropriate to shake hands with a lady. She touched his hand, and he kissed her fingers like he’d seen Barin do with ladies of the court. She drew back.
“The name’s Stormy,” he said.
“Serena,” she responded and then a sympathetic expression came across her face. “I’m sorry, forgive me for being inhospitable. Come inside and let me serve you something warm to drink. You must have been traveling for days.”
Stormy realized he looked ragged indeed for he smelled of sweat and sea. He brushed his hair with his hand and followed her inside the castle, glancing back at Kairos who was now deep in conversation with Arell. Rhea and Erika had disappeared entirely.
Serena motioned for him to sit in the common room. He brushed his pants off before he did, admiring the woven cushions and Cho Nisi tapestries depicting fishers, canoes, and sea life he had never dreamed existed. Tortoise shells, feathers, and drums decorated the large mantelpiece. His refreshment was served to him in a coconut shell.
“Thank you,” he said and sipped the warm, sweet liquid. He had no idea what it was but was too shy to ask.
“Stormy? You are named after the weather?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. Rumor has it I was a wild little rascal when I was young, stirring up a storm in everyone’s life.” He wanted to make her smile. She only gave him a slight turn of the lips and he could read sadness in it.
“You must forgive me, Stormy. I am as worried about Maurice as Erika. I’ve been his nanny ever since he was born. He is a treasure. It would destroy us all if...” she turned away and placed a kerchief to her eyes.
“I’m not much to brag, but I’m a darn good tracker. Maybe I could find the boy,” Stormy offered.
“There are many men looking,” she said, wiping her nose. “Many excellent trackers who know the island.”
“You’re right.”
After a moment of watching her bury her head in a handkerchief—her dark, silky hair falling forward—he added, “It was bold of me to think I could do a better job than your people. Forgive me.”
Good saints of Fairmistle, she’s pretty!
“No, don’t apologize. You have a good heart. You can look for Maurice. No one would stop you.”
Embarrassed that he was staring at her, he focused on the white liquid in his coconut shell cup, wondering if he should race outside and start combing the island. Or if he should join a group of people already looking. Then again, no one’d know who he was, or his intent. He knew nothing about the islanders, their behaviors. What if he should offend the elders? Maybe he should wait for Kairos’ instructions, but the wizard already offered to go with Arell to speak with the Seer.
“I’ve been in the palace serving Erika these last few days. I’ve tended to her needs after she comes home from searching. When she is gone, I wait and stare out the windows. Every bird I see, every rabbit, every person walking in the fields or on the road I think is him. I would search for him, myself, if I didn’t need to be here waiting for her.”
Stormy swallowed. He watched every movement of her graceful hands, her doe-like eyes so filled with sorrow and found himself enamored with her beauty.
“I have seen men die, and every time the pain is too heavy to take. I couldn’t bear to lose Maurice.”
“Now, don’t be feeling guilty about that. Maybe the lunch you made him saved his life.”
“You think he’s alive?” she asked.
“Weren’t no signs he wasn’t, was there? We just don’t know where he took off to. Doesn’t mean he died.”
She wiped her eyes.
“Wasn’t but the other day some folks went missing where I was. They were traveling in a wagon out of Tellwater. No sign of hide nor hair of them. I took some fellas from Fairmistle, and we went lookin’ for them. There was a big storm that night, one caused by magic, we think.”
Her eyes widened, glued to his.
“That’s right. We’re thinking it might be Cho Nisi magic. That’s why me and Kairos came here. To fetch Arell and Erika because the king is hunting the folks who are wielding that magic. He wants Cho Nisi people there as witnesses and to help get it back.”
“You bring good news, Stormy,” she said.
“Finding the thieves is a victory in itself. All is not lost. It wasn’t lost with these folks from Tellwater, either. The wagons were ripped apart by this storm. The landscape all strewn about like we’d never seen before. But we found some remnants. My friends went home to give the news to Lord Garion, but I went on and glory be, I found out what happened to the wagon master and his wife. They weren’t dead like we supposed. The man and his wife were still alive. The town they were in gave them a new wagon and they headed west to start a new life.”
“I’m impressed, Stormy,” she said. “You’re a good man to have continued on to find them.”
Sweet as sugar, her words went right to his heart.
“I tell you what, Serena, Erika’s sister is here now. There’s no reason for you to stay in the palace and feel helpless. We could look together,” he said. “I mean, you know the island. I’ve never laid eyes on this place before. But I can read tracks like a fox, and I’ve got eyes like an eagle.” He blushed, realizing he was boasting, “I’m not good for much else, but trackin’ and ridin’ horses. Maybe pruning a few grapevines—. I’m just sayin’ between the two of us—. I can’t promise you we’d find Maurice, but at least we’d be searchin’. And that’d make worrying a little lighter, knowin’ we did what we could.”
“Do you think so?” she asked, hesitant.
He wanted more than anything to give her hope. That’s what people in these circumstances needed. Serena needed hope, and Erika, Rhea, Arell—even Kairos needed faith. How else could they go on?