25. 25 #2
Each subject gives what they can. One tidelet places a shell, with a white outer part and faint purple lines skimming the inside.
A female places a string of seaweed, with pearls securely tied every few inches.
Each gift is being given to Mother Ocean.
About halfway through the offerings, our aquatic friends join us in the distance from inside the channels.
Sea turtles of all kinds use the channels to migrate before the colder season and usually pass us every year during our Rite.
This year, I ensured my father’s original informant would be present.
Right on time, they pass us, and Sarah doesn't look away.
Her eyes brighten in awe as her expression softens into wonder.
This will be like nothing she has ever seen before.
Between the gifts and the hundreds of turtles passing us right now, she definitely will never forget this.
However, just when I think she cannot enjoy it anymore than her face already shows, Morin winks at us.
I immediately look away and toward Sarah. Smile gone, and eyes wide in disbelief, she turns to me.
“It’s him!” she says, a screaming whisper. Raising her voice enough for me to hear, but not for everyone else to tune in.
“Who?” I say, trying to hold in my knowledge.
“That turtle!”
“Snapdragon, there are tons of turtles.”
“No, that one.” She points directly to Morin. “That one was there the day I gained my powers. That one winked at me after the rift shot me out of that small space and into the open ocean, then just disappeared!”
“Oh, that turtle. Yes, I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes, how else do you think I found you so easily?” I say, finding this small revealed truth to be fun to unravel. “He was my father’s trusted informant for over fifty years. After you stole—”
I stop. Sarah’s smile falters, and her jaw tightens. Her gaze snaps up to mine. “Don’t say that.”
“Sorry, not stole, but acquired his powers, Morin came to find my father. Obviously, my father is no longer here, but Morin did not know this, as he was guarding my father’s magic, and instead found me.
He informed me of what happened and told me a rough guide on where I could locate you.
Once I reached the surface land, you were easy to locate.
I followed the lingering magic and found your scent. ”
Sarah doesn't respond. She looks away and back to the channel, but the turtles have disappeared, the speed of the channel moving at a faster rate than the waters surrounding us.
Nearly all citizens have given their gifts and drifted to the sides.
Nyx, Sarah, and I move up to the lines that were moving a moment before.
I place myself in the middle line, Nyx and Sarah placing themselves on either side of me, and we each grab our gifts.
Nyx pulls out what appears to be the fossil of a starfish.
When animals of the ocean die, they become fossilized—forgotten and lost over time.
However, in some cases, when found, they are brought to the Wave Rite and become a gift for Mother Ocean, while also releasing them from their never-ending loneliness.
Nyx releases the fossil, and it drifts along, its soul reawakened once again.
I shift my attention to the other side of me, watching Sarah release the trapped pearl from around her neck, it being no bigger than the size of her fingernail, raising her arms and placing it gently into the channel, while repeating Be blessed, Mother Ocean.
She never fails to amaze me with how much she notices and how quickly she is picking up on our ways here in Virellan.
To end the Rite, I pull my offering out and raise it above my head. The shell. Something simple, but holds meaning. This shell comes from the ocean, but has seen land. Being held captive in a jar full of other shells in all different shapes and sizes.
The night I kept guard for her, after she retreated to her room, I stationed myself in a chair in front of the sliding doors of death. Eventually, I scouted the place, or as others would call it, being nosey, and decided to snag a shell.
I have held onto it ever since. At the time, I believed the shell would serve as a reminder of the land-dweller who stole something from my kingdom. Later learning she was far more involved than I could have imagined—and yet I still chose to place the shell in the Rite as an offering.
I release the shell into the channel and recite the words, looking down at Sarah. Her jawline is tight, and she folds her arms across her chest.
I think she knows where the shell came from.
The Rite ends smoothly and all my subjects return home.
Since the festivity is held at the start of the sea day, when all should be resting, and typically can last for a few hours, it's not yet time for the guards to complete the morning shift change.
The entire day is to be celebrated and enjoyed.
No kingly duties. One of the few days through the year where I can be me.
After returning to the palace a couple of hours after the tide’s dawn, I'm wiped. I don't bother rinsing myself clean, and my tail twitches in restless protest of how long I have been awake. I curl into my chamber’s resting place and pass out before even getting fully comfortable.
The day is well over by the time I wake.
I collect myself and head for Sarah’s chamber. Knocking three times and waiting only a few seconds, I lean my ear up against the door. Hearing no movement, I wave the door open to see her bed empty. I check her cleansing room and find her nowhere.
I exit her chambers and make my way down to the corridor below.
Our security is minimal during this day, allowing our Neravyn to visit their families on this joyous day. The hallway consists of two Pearlguards and a sentinel, equally positioned throughout.
Listening and searching for Sarah, I come to find her in the sparring quarters. She's reverted back to her cool-toned sea-foam green tail and is decked out in full-scale armor across her entire body. And she is training. Again.
Nyx hovers outside the sparring ring, giving short commands on things Sarah could do to tighten her form, angle her dagger better, or maneuver her tail slightly to position a killing blow better.
What I don't notice right away is that she's not training alone, she's dueling . . . with Defymin.