Chapter 49

DAYS passed and the two Desanti not only acclimated to their new environment, but thrived, eagerly learning everything they could. One of the older sailors took Skyfire under his wing, teaching the young man how to climb rigging and handle the ropes. The speed he took to sea craft earned him the admiration of the seamen.

Storm, much more reclusive, kept more to herself. When she was not picking the brains of the captain or helmsman, she was often seen climbing the ropes, walking along the rails, or perched on one of the highest cross beams on the masts, staring out into the distance.

During the evening meal of the twelfth day at sea, Storm was missing from the gathered. When asked, Skyfire shrugged and pointed upwards. "She has been up there all day today. She’ll be back down when she’s ready." He grinned widely at Almek. "I learned better than to interrupt her when she gets in these moods."

"It would be helpful if she were here." Almek broke off a piece of bread to eat with his stew. "There is a great deal to prepare for after we make landfall. I would prefer we start making plans sooner rather than later."

Mureln offered a cup of mead to Taylin with a great deal of flourish, the woman accepting with all due solemnity before dissolving into quiet giggles. The bard looked over his shoulder at Almek. "I confess, Almek, I have to agree with Radisen—forgive me, Skyfire. Storm lives up to her name and I need all my fingers for my craft."

Looking bemused at all the deferment to Storm's temper, Ash pushed himself to his feet, firmly detaching Amelana from his arm. "I will inform her you wish to discuss plans for when we reach the mainland, Master Almek."

"But Ash- Master Ash," Amelana corrected herself when Ash leveled a dark, critical gaze on her, "you have barely eaten anything. Can't it wait? And you were going to give me lessons after—"

Ash replied distractedly, "I am not hungry, Journeyman. We’ll continue your lessons later this evening."

Almek reached out to catch Ash's arm, his grey eyes filled with concern. "Do not rush her too much," Almek told Ash in a low voice. "There is time enough for planning if she is too unready." The mage merely nodded, hurrying to leave before anyone delayed him further.

The mage emerged onto the deck, taking a deep breath of the clean sea air gratefully. Squinting, he looked up to see where the Desanti woman was this time. He spotted her sitting atop the furled top gallant's crossbeam. Removing his outer robe and boots so he wore only his tunic and trousers, he scaled the ropes with the ease of a lifetime of having lived in the high trees of Forenta.

Storm glanced over when he reached her, then turned her eyes back out to the horizon. "I can understand why you dislike the mess hall. It is unbearably close with so many people." He settled on the beam on the other side of the mast, looking at her. "Master Almek was seeking you." Still, she stared out into the distance, silent. "What are you doing up here?" His voice held only uncritical curiosity, which finally elicited a silent response. He followed her finger when she pointed to the distance. After a moment, he could see small figures rising and falling against the horizon. "What are they?"

"The Vodani call them whales." Her voice barely carried over the wind. "The captain says they are animals that are as big as this ship. Some bigger! And there are smaller ones like them they call dolphins." Her eyes never wavered from the animals, her expression impossible to read. "There is so much life in the Great Water. But the sailors say it can feel as lonely and desolate as the desert. I cannot believe the Vodani cannot see how filled with life it is."

Ash looked at the whales briefly before giving Storm his complete attention. He watched her as she spoke, not interrupting. He waited until her words finally trailed off. "There is nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed. There are many things you are not used to," he told her, finally drawing her attention away from the horizon. "I felt much the same when I came to your land."

"There isn’t anything in my land to be overwhelmed by." The acute bitterness in her voice surprised Ash. "Listening to Mureln and the Sevmanen talk, a tiny city in the north has as much life as all of Desantiva."

"There is more in Desantiva than you realize is there," he countered, surprising her. "And one day, Desantiva will heal from the wounds it has suffered with for so long."

Storm shook her head, raising a hand absently to brush a tendril of hair that the wind blew loose from its confines. "I will never see that day. Healing will take a very long time, and the scars will always remain." She looked at a very old scar on the back of her arm. "They always do."

Ash reached over, touching the scar lightly with his fingertips. "Taylin could probably heal that if you wished."

Storm merely smiled, and Ash would have sworn there was an almost innocent shyness in her smile. "You should return to your journeyman." At his consternated expression from the unexpected response, she asked simply, "Can’t you sense her glaring daggers up here? She has been pacing like a small thunder cloud down there since shortly after you climbed up here."

Ash glanced down and sure enough, the Forentan woman was walking circles below, occasionally yelling at sailors to get out of her way. He shrugged dismissively. "She can wait. I prefer your company over her incessant, brainless chatter."

"She is not very patient," Storm observed, not even bothering to look down. Looking back towards the horizon, she fell silent for a time. "Is she typical of Outlanders?"

Heaving a resigned sigh, Ash nodded. "Unfortunately, some of them, yes. Thankfully not all of them are like her. Most are content to ignore things so long as it does not interfere with their daily lives."

Nodding, Storm pondered for several more moments. "She seems to be an unusual choice for a student for you."

Ash frowned, asking in harsher tones than he intended, "What do you mean?"

Storm only smiled faintly at the man’s bristling. "She does not apply herself to her training. She does not give anyone the respect they deserve. She especially gives you little to no respect. She is petty and spiteful and has a completely unwarranted jealousy towards me. You do not think highly of her, I think. I would have believed you’d have chosen a higher caliber of student like you had with Terrence."

Ash blinked several times and made a face. "Amelana was assigned to me by the Edai Tredecima... the council of mages... as a journeyman because the second highest ranking Edai Magus is of the Avarian family. To get Terrence as my student, I had to agree to take her as well." He could sense the confusion from the Desanti woman. "Master mages do not have the complete freedom Swordanzen have, especially if they are lowborn, not highborn."

"Lowborn?" she echoed. "Highborn? I do not understand these terms." The whales forgotten, Storm gave her complete attention to Ash, a slight frown marring her features. "Explain to me, please. I want to understand so I do not embarrass Lord Almek."

Ash smiled a little ruefully at having to explain something often indirectly spoken of in his homeland, if discussed at all. "Family status in Forenta is based on how old the family is, how rich, how much power ancestors had before and how much now. If you are born into a well placed family, you are highborn. If you are born into a family not as strong or powerful, or you have no family at all, you are lowborn. Many lower born families try to marry their children into higher born families to raise their own statuses."

Storm looked insulted. "You are judged just by how you were born? You do not have to earn your place? Or prove you are worthy?" The mage did not bother to answer. "That makes no sense. How does that keep the blood strong?"

"It used to. When the highborn families had the best and most powerful mages among their numbers. Families would match their strongest children with the strongest of other houses, and that would produce even stronger children usually. Now..." his voice drifted off and he shrugged. "I am not sure."

Storm leveled a narrow eyed gaze on the Forentan man as she considered his words. He could tell the moment she understood the underlying facts behind his words. "She considers you lowborn. Despite your skills and power and her obvious lack of them." Storm snorted. "Stupid bitch. You would have better breeding with a lame drizzen."

Ash regarded the Desanti woman with a quiet admiration and asked quietly, "What do you mean Amelana's jealousy is ‘completely’ unwarranted?" Storm looked confused and had opened her mouth to speak when something distracted their attentions downwards at the same moment. The ship abruptly listed, forcing the two to grab onto the ropes on the mast to keep their seats.

Her reaction, a heartbeat before his own, was not lost on the mage. "You could sense that?" Ash looked down at the water around them. "There is something else here."

"There is something large near..." Storm clung white-knuckled to the mast. "There! See the dark shape in the water?" In the brief moment she took to try to point to the shadow underwater, the ship listed sharply to the other side and she lost her grip. Ash lunged to grab her wrist. His grip was secure, but before she could find purchase on the mast, something jolted the ship again and he lost his grip. She hit the water feet first and disappeared beneath the surface. Without hesitation, he dove after her near where she hit the water.

In the cold, silent underwater world, it took a moment for Ash to get his bearings, and then to locate Storm. He got behind her and put an arm around her waist. Holding her tightly, he pulled her upwards, the two gasping for air as they broke the surface.

Coughing water out of her lungs, Storm wheezed. "I thought... I thought you could not... could not s-swim."

"I can’t," he said in her ear, holding her against him tightly. "I can just about keep my head above water."

"Liar," she coughed, trying to laugh to hide her absolute fear. They both looked down as something snaked around the two of them, jerking them underwater.

The world oddly silent again, sunlight shimmered off the surface far above them. In the murky water, they could only dimly see the thing attacking the ship, a looming shape with a great beak and huge eyes. It pulled them towards that mouth.

At the same moment, Storm jabbed her two-edged blade into the nearest eye and Ash cast a spell that sent a shockwave into the thing. The water went black as the monster fled, wounded and completely unprepared for such dangerous prey that threatened its own survival. A flailing tentacle knocked the wind from both as it turned and swam away.

Finding his bearings, Ash kept his arm tightly around Storm and kicked back towards the surface. His lungs screamed for oxygen, but he focused on getting back to the air above. He gasped, coughing up black water.

Storm hung in his embrace, unmoving. He lifted her head up, patting her cheek. "Storm," he wheezed, desperate for a response. "Storm, wake up. Answer me!"

"Lord Ash!" Skyfire yelled from somewhere above them. "Mureln! Lord Almek! Over here!"

"Storm," Ash said intently to the woman who was not breathing. "Come on, don’t give up on me now." He grabbed the rope the sailors threw down to them, wrapping it around them both.

He would not release Storm when they were pulled aboard, laying her on the deck, touching her cheek. "She isn’t breathing," he said. "Storm!" He shoved someone trying to get near and felt his arm caught in a firm grip.

Mureln shook the mage a little to get his attention. "Turn her on her side. We need to get the water out of her lungs." The mage nodded, letting the bard help shift Storm. The change of position helped, the woman coughing up inky water. Unconscious, she still held the two-edged blade in her hand in a death grip. It took both Skyfire and Mureln to force her to release the blade. She relaxed minutely the moment Skyfire returned it to its snug sheath.

"Come on, let’s get you both down below," Mureln said. Skyfire carefully gathered Storm in his arms as Mureln put his shoulder under Ash to keep the man on his feet.

Taylin blocked Amelana from following. "You will stay away until they have recovered, Journeyman. They need rest and you will give neither any."

Amelana scowled, starting to shove past Taylin. "Get out of my way, Sevmanan b-" the Forentan woman began when she gasped in shock then screamed in pain, collapsing into a miserable, quivering ball.

"I said," Taylin stated coldly, her fingers curled like claws and haloed in shadow from the anti-healing magic she used, "stay away. Next time, I will do worse than just cause you pain." The healer turned away, leaving the woman collapsed on the deck. Neither Almek's students nor the Wave Dancer's sailors bothered to even look at the Forentan woman.