33. Adrian
Adrian
The few days it took to journey to the Tyrell forest passed relatively quickly, and thankfully, without any more mishaps.
Bramwell hadn’t had much luck with older maps.
It seemed that area never had anything in it, always just a vacant spot in the ocean.
It was pretty far out from the continent, almost bordering Quvill and Valcor if you tracked all the way back, but there didn’t seem to be any real connection to either of the kingdoms.
Sage did some looking with him as well, but when that was proving to be fruitless, she went back to doing clothing repairs.
I was sure she had to be through most of her queue at this point.
I thought about handing over a couple of shirts I’d damaged a while ago and never fixed, but wanted her to finish the crew’s first.
Every night, she spent in my bed. Her room had essentially turned into nothing more than a closet. Which was probably for the best, because with all the dresses she had, she needed the space. I had no idea how she traveled like this in the first place.
We were set to dock in Scorchcross in the next couple hours, the coastal town closest to the forest. It was condensed to the very outer reaches of Quvill, and luckily, Maralda wasn’t too far into it. At least not to my memory.
I couldn’t help but think about what Sage said, about trying to get used to the ocean. Now that she’d fallen right into it, I wasn’t sure if she felt the same way, but maybe some time on the deck while we were coasting could be good.
I fiddled with the new pocket watch Sage had given me.
I assumed it wasn’t on Coltar’s body because he’d been robbed, but it seemed he left it behind.
And I didn’t fault him for it. Though we were close, becoming captain over him did cause a rift in our relationship I was trying to repair before he passed.
But we hadn’t quite gotten there, and that was a regret I just had to live with.
When I snaked to the war room Bramwell was sitting with his maps across from him, and Sage was in the corner, stitching what looked like a pair of pants.
As soon as she noticed me, she set it down, her smile radiant. “Hello, Captain,” she said.
“Hello, flower,” I said, walking over and dropping down to kiss her.
Bramwell didn’t say anything. When the more casual touching started, no one said a word, though I could see the confused looks from some of the crew. Some of them minded their business better than others, but I understood the nosey ones.
“Are we docking soon?” he asked instead.
“Yes, the next couple hours.” I looked down at Sage. “Do you mind if I steal your company?”
“Go right ahead,” Bramwell said. “I’m not the most exciting sort.”
Sage gasped. “Don’t say that, we have the best time. Did you know Bramwell speaks six languages? We’ve been practicing together.”
I lifted a brow as Bramwell went on. “Sage learned Draconian in school, and we’re both very rusty.”
Sage said something in a language I very much didn’t understand, and Bramwell responded, both of them laughing. Though it was annoying to not understand them, seeing her blend in so seamlessly with my crew made me happy in a way that was hard to describe.
“How riveting,” I said sarcastically. Sage elbowed me in the ribs for the jab, and I pretended it was worse than it was, holding my side and howling.
“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” she said.
“But it’s my specialty,” I shot back.
She rolled her eyes but packed up her sewing kit. “Where are we going?” she asked as she took my hand and started down the hallway.
“Okay, so don’t call me crazy—”
“Too late,” she interrupted.
I rolled my eyes. “But I thought we could do just a bit more exposure therapy.”
She stopped quickly, as if she wasn’t in such impractical shoes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we should go to the deck.”
Her face blanched. “I don’t think I want to.”
“I know,” I said. “But you wanted more exposure, and we’re going pretty slow right now. Plus, the weather is great. Don’t you want to feel the sun?”
“There’s a window in the meeting room,” she said. “Plus, sun makes you wrinkle faster.”
I smiled, taking her biting attitude for the deflection that it was. “I’ll keep you safe,” I promised. “And if it’s too much, we can come right back down.”
She licked her lips nervously, then muttered something I didn’t quite catch.
“What?”
“What if I…” her mumble was too soft again.
Huh?”
“Fall off the ship,” she all but yelled. “What if the wind is so hard, I get swept off the deck?”
Though it might have been a funny thing to say coming from someone else, I’d seen this from her. She was going through every scenario that even felt possible to her, spiraling about it until she convinced herself out of doing it.
“You’re too heavy,” I said simply. “Especially for the nice weather. But if you’re still nervous, you can hang on to me.” I slapped my tail to the ground hard, for effect. “I’m certainly too heavy to fly off.”
She chewed her lip a bit more. I wanted nothing more than to pull it away and suck on it, but I controlled myself.
For now.
“F-fine,” she finally agreed. “But only for a few minutes. Five, tops.”
“Deal.”
We went up until we reached the set of stairs that led to the main deck. The light came shining down, casting a glow over Sage as she looked up at it. After a bit of mental warring, she took each stair up, and I was concerting right behind her.
From the main deck, the weather was just as beautiful as it was when I left.
Nice and warm with a light breeze. The sun shone bright with few clouds to mask it.
The water a deep blue now, only accented white where the edges of the ship created foam.
It was definitely easier to feel the rocking up here, and I could see her struggle with her sea legs a bit.
I kept her held tight to me, ensuring she felt secure.
Her eyes darted everywhere. She’d never been up here when the ship was sailing, and did everything in her power to ignore where she was until she left.
But now, her gaze danced everywhere, as if trying to absorb it all at once. “You were right,” she said. “The weather is nice.”
I nodded. “I couldn’t let you miss it.”
She smiled slightly at that, but still looked so wary.
That was okay, small steps and such.
“Come here,” I said, holding her hand. She took it and followed, though her steps slowed the closer and closer we got to the bow.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
I wanted to make a joke about pushing her off the plank, but right now that seemed to be in poor taste.
“Just letting you get a bit of a closer look,” I said.
“I am getting a perfectly good look from here,” she assured me.
I hummed. “Maybe, but it’s prettier over here.”
“I think it will all look the same,” she insisted.
“Just trust me.”
“You’ve been saying that a lot,” she pointed out.
“And I haven’t steered you wrong yet.”
She huffed, but didn’t disagree. I wrapped my tail around her, squeezing her just a bit to make sure she felt safe, and a bit comforted. It seemed to work, as part of her body seemed to relax.
We walked until we stood on the edge of the bow, the entire ocean spread out right in front of us.
“Why did we need to get this close again?” she asked, pressing as far back against me as she could.
“So you could see this,” I pointed a bit far out, as a reef fin jumped out of the water, before plunging back.
The movement obviously scared her at first, but once she realized what it was, there was nothing but interest.
“Woah,” she said, leaning forward a bit more.
Another one popped out of the water, only a short distance from the ship.
Its shifty blue colored fins shone in the sun.
They were giant round fish, who bobbed to the top every once in a while for air.
They had lines of greens and yellows that trailed down their back, and a giant fin that stuck up from their backs.
They traveled in packs, so when you saw one, you knew you would see them for a while.
“What are they?” she asked.
“Reef fins,” I told her. “They’ve been around since this morning. I thought you’d like them.”
“They are very pretty.”
We stood like that, my hands rested around her waist and my head propped on her chin as the marine life bounced in the waters around us.
Eventually they thinned out as we got towards the shore, and Connie yelled for everyone to get to their positions to get ready for port. I wasn’t exactly sure how long we’d been there, but longer than five minutes for sure.
I took her below deck to give the crew some room.
“Thanks for showing me that,” she said, standing on her toes to kiss me. “I liked it a lot.”
“Anytime, flower,” I said, kissing her again. And again. Until we were basically wrapped in each other in the middle of the hall.
A cleared throat had us each jumping back, like we’d been caught making out in primary school.
Anne was standing there, looking just as embarrassed. “Sorry,” she squeaked. “I just… couldn’t get around to the stairs.”
“It’s okay,” I said, slithering aside for her.
She went around us, but shot an excited smile at Sage before going up on deck herself.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “We’re just friends. It’s normal to be happy for your friends when they’re… happy.”
“Are you?” I asked. “Happy, I mean.”
She fell back into my arms. “Very.”
Good, that’s exactly what I wanted for her.
Happiness.
It felt like a new motivation to get this necklace off.
And an all new sort of dread.
I was confident Maralda could get this necklace off, but I wasn’t completely sure. She was the only magic user Tungesten really trusted. Though my stomach churned at the thought she couldn’t.
I shook my head. It would work out.
It had to.