An Ember's Tale

Chapter Sixteen

 The noise of seagulls and someone shaking her woke Ember up. She groggily turned her head as she heard shouting and bells ringing in the distance. Her hand gripped a railing when she looked up at the concerned sailor before her. He was crouching down as his hand gently grasped her arm.

"Did you fall asleep here?" Mark asked her.

Ember looked over to see she was sitting down on the steps leading up to the ship's wheel. Her blanket was against the railing as a make-shift pillow. A cold breeze blew as she gripped her shirt tightly around her skin, lined with goosebumps.

"I..." she said in a dry voice. "I must have. I sat here for a while, and then after that- I don't remember."

"Here." Mark handed her a more oversized, thicker blanket as he wrapped it around her shaking shoulders. He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead gently as she looked up into his violet eyes. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest when he brought his hand to her cheek. "You're pretty warm," he muttered.

"I am the Fire Element," she reminded him with a small smile.

"Right," he smiled softly as he took his hand off of her cheek and stood up.

She shakily got to her feet as she clutched the blanket tighter around her. Ember looked over to find cloudy skies and murky water. Giant seagulls flew over her as they all seemed to congregate someplace she couldn't see. She then noticed a large shadow over the water and the boat.

"What is that shadow?" she asked Mark as she pointed over the dark waters.

"That," he smiled. "That would be because of our next island."

Mark pointed up to the sky, and when Ember followed his finger, her heart stopped, and her mouth hung open. High in the sky was a giant island, floating by some means she wasn't sure of. Clouds formed around the bottom of it, and birds flew onto the large trees stretching over the island's edge.

She noticed two waterfalls coming from the island. One was going down on the far side, while the other was going up. Ember watched as a large ship approached the one going up before their boat went sideways and traveled up the falls. Sailors screamed, and some even fell off, but the boat kept going until they reached the top and returned upright.

Ember spun around to find Mark smiling at her reaction. Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

"No!" she told him as he chuckled. "We can't go up there!"

"Who says we can't, Red?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I don't know- every single sane person!"

Mark continued to chuckle as he began to make his way to the wheel of the ship. She closely followed him, protesting the whole way up, but Mark still spun the wheel and turned the boat in the waterfall direction.

"Look," Mark sighed as he gripped the wheel after her lecture consisting of everything that could go wrong by going up the island. "Do you want the Air Jewel or not?"

Ember pursed her lips. "I do, but-"

"But..." Mark pointed to the island. "That is the only way to get it. We could turn back now, but you wouldn't be able to save your brother."

Ember's gaze narrowed at the waterfall. "Fine," she huffed as she folded her arms across her chest.

She looked over at the island as her hands at her side shook, but she just blamed it on the cold. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she thought of what would happen if she fell off of the ship... would she die?

A hand gently gripped her shoulder, and when she turned around, she found Mark's comforting smile. She wasn't sure what had happened the previous night, but if she had offended him in some way, he didn't show it.