Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Water

Chapter 11 Grief

When Lilac told everything she saw to Ella, the two of them immediately booked it for the castle where their dad's room was. It wasn't so long ago that Ella was just in an old lodge with everyone else while Yvonne worked on making Krissy a new mechanical hand. Everyone else found it shocking that after so long, Lilac and Ella were finally able to find their father. Yvonne on the other hand was just more confused and frustrated.

To Yvonne, all of these different people just suddenly came in, people Yvonne had never met before and Brook just tells her to make one of them a hand as if she had already said yes. Although she also figured that if she didn't use this moment to strengthen her skills, that Duke would disapprove of the wasted opportunity he tried to give her. The one Yvonne was making the hand for; Krissy, started talking to the rest of the people that came in with her. "Lilac said that she just found her dad. What about her mom?" The orc asked everyone else as if they had any idea.

"I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see after Lilac and Ella get everything figured out themselves." Brook said. "If we were just with Lilac and Ella's dad, why did he feel the need to wear that mask?" William asked. "It was very brief, but she did mention something about one of his letters saying that his face was disfigured by a fire." Krissy said. "To think that happened over a year ago when he came to this kingdom. That's gotta be rough. He only came here to earn more gold." Don's input made Yvonne remember something. She instantly stopped tinkering with her new project but since she was particularly loud with her work, everyone noticed the sudden silence from her end of the room.

"What's up Yvonne?" Brook asked her. "The man you're all describing... was probably on the same ship as me when we arrived." Yvonne took her safety goggles off and looked at everyone else. "We both came to this kingdom over a year ago and almost everyone on that ship was promised to earn more gold for their talents. Fat chance that was ever going to happen. His wife is dead and isn't ever going to come back." Yvonne told them all how it actually was.

"Are you sure that Vincent was on the same ship as you?" William said to her, wanting to find hope that Lilac and Ella's mom were still alive. "I am sure. Everything you're all saying fits the puzzle. We both came to this kingdom over a year ago. I woke up on that ship in the middle of the night to see that a whole dresser had smashed into my leg and the ship itself had already crashed into a rocky cliff with the front end being raised into the air. Everything was basically sinking."

Yvonne looked down at the ground as if she didn't want to recall her own nightmare but she went on regardless. "The water was rising from where I was sitting and I noticed that my girlfriend was also stuck under something that kept her pinned down. I tried everything I could but in the end, I had to cut off my own leg to escape so I wouldn't drown. When I crawled over to her, I realized I couldn't do the same thing to help. A big metal container was stacked on her back torso. I tried to do everything I could but it was all hopeless. I struggled to get to the top deck and when I got there, there were a bunch of large feathers as if some massive bird had come and gone. To add insult to injury, a bunch of atheras decided it was a good idea to ransack the sinking ship. They had fun burning everything they could after getting what they needed. They didn't bother me and thought I would probably die from blood loss. The fire they started ruined that man's face. He was out cold but after those stupid atheras left, I was barely able to get me and that guy out of there."

The story that Yvonne gave them all almost left them speechless. William knew that even though she was rude about Lilac and Ella's mom being gone, it was all true. Yvonne and Vincent were the only survivors. But Yvonne had to experience losing her loved one in a more gruesome manner, whereas Vincent wasn't even awake to actually save his wife. In the end, they both lost someone that day and after hearing Yvonne's story, they all realized that she was just sharing her frustration. They knew there wasn't anyone else in that room that could sympathize with Lilac, Ella, and Vincent more.