Journey of Flame

Chapter eight

"Ugh. Why is mapping the stars so difficult?" I groaned.

I lay on my back, the wood planks digging into my shoulder blades, and stared into the expanse of the darkened sky filled with those twinkling lights. They were beautiful, but I couldn't help but resent them.

"It's not that hard," Zai said. "You just have to pick out constellations."

"What constellations?" I said, flinging my hands out towards the stars.

She sighed. "I already told you, that one there looks like a boot. The Lost Boot, we call it." She pointed to a cluster of stars that seemed more akin to a pile of goop to me.

I said as much, and she laughed but said, "Here, sit up and let me see your hand."

I did as she asked, and she lifted my hand, her calluses scraping against my wrist, using it to block out some of the stars that had been within the cluster. She then tilted my hand slightly to the left and moved my thumb so that my hand made a right angle.

"Is that better?" she asked. "Is it more clear which stars make up the boot?"

"Yes, actually." I could make out the stars going down on either side, then converging together where the toes would be to make a point. It looked like a drawing I would've made when I was five, but it did resemble a boot.

"Great," she said. "So, if you follow that constellation, it'll take you to the west, which is the general direction we'll be going for most of tomorrow. After that, however, we're going to head south. And you can find which way that is by looking for that," she pointed to another cluster of stars to our left, "constellation."

I groaned.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

"It's not," I agreed. "But I'm tired. Look at Snowfall." I motioned to where she lay a few feet away, sleeping. "She gets to sleep."

"She does. And she's also a dragon who is not currently learning about navigation by ship."

I groaned again, rolling onto my side and giving her the finger behind my back.

She laughed softly but then sighed. "If you're that tired, we can stop for tonight. But tomorrow, you're learning these constellations. Unless you don't want to continue these lessons, which is okay as well."

"No, no, I still want to learn," I said, turning back to her. "Hopefully tomorrow, I'll be less exhausted, but today was kind of a big day. I mean, I almost died."

She nodded. "I understand. Are you not sleeping well? The crew isn't keeping you up with their snoring, are they?"

I chuckled. "I'm sleeping fine. And snoring doesn't bother me. My father used to snore so loud you could hear it from every room of the house, so I got used to it."

"And where is your father now?" she asked. "Why would he abandon his daughter to travel the country alone and without a place to call home?"

I turned away, clenching my hand to a fist. "It wasn't entirely his choice. Or my mother's," I added softly.

She was silent for a long time, but I didn't dare turn to look at her. Then, finally, she asked, "What happened to them?"

I shook my head. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Bedelia-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" I yelled, startling Snowfall awake.

I sighed, and Snowfall came over to me, nuzzling my arm. I idly ran a hand down her side. "I'm sorry," I murmured, speaking to both Snowfall and Zai. "I... I need to go to bed." Without another word, I stood and headed below deck, leaving them both staring after me.