Journey onto the Storm (BOOK 2)

Chapter 48

FENRER

Gulls crooned over the swaying boats at the harbour and landed on the masts to settle themselves on the ropes. Auras from the streets of cobbled limestone washed out into the foam lapping at the shore, where the gulf stretched its rocky arms to the ocean, where the statues of the two pillars stood with their hands out to hold the dawn. He grazed his finger across the last sting against his temple, then stopped when Adara eyed him. Silver mist overflowed her aura to spread a sense of firelit water. It shifted and thickened to hide the swells, and he frowned at her. "Is something the matter?"

Bubbles burst in the silver, and she raised her hands with a smile. "Nothing, I was just thinking about the card game you got roped into." Her steps fell in line with him while Yuven continued onwards without hesitation or waiting for them — or anything for that matter. "You didn't have to join, you know. I just..." Her hands went to the back of her head to ruffle her brown hair where it almost touched her shoulders. "I just needed a break from it all, especially after... what happened." Her arm dropped at her side, and she gazed out into the horizon.

"I apologise if we have not been good company as of late," he said and stopped at the center of Sivaport, where stalls and storefronts opened wide for the people who came and went to enjoy the fruits of Haneka. He waited for Yuven to be out of earshot, where Yuven followed the sunlit trails of a home across the sea. "It was no trouble, I'm afraid I meant to gather information, but I ended up getting distracted." Stars danced in the mist, but he traced the lilies back to her, then tried to relax the muscles in his back. "I have only met Gustul once or twice, and his reputation precedes him, but King Reyn trusts him, and I don't doubt that Gustul uses his... revelry spirit to keep tabs on the people." He forced himself across the defined walkways and led Adara through the crowds of people experiencing their life with the hanging darkness outside the walls, then sighed when his stiff exhaustion returned; the source, his own mind.

"Fenrer." Adara sucked in her lips, and her entire aura coiled from a sour texture, lilies furled underneath the pressure of the water. "Yuven told me — about the Corruption, why he's been rushing us so hard."

"He did?" Ancients-given miracle...

Her silver aura fluttered. "He was worried about you."

Fenrer turned his attention to the gentleness of the sea, so quick to anger at the turn of the tide in the maelstrom. "He has no need to concern himself with me. We're here, and he can relax," he said and stopped in front of a food stall, out of the way of the people gathering around it to stand in the shade of the goldtree on its own little platform, surrounded by benches. Its black bark glimmered with the golden sheen of its name from the light of the sun with the same colour spread across the canopy it provided for the immediate area, a spiderweb of soothing shadows from the high-point of the hot, humid noon, but with the morning mist of promise, he sighed and smiled at her. "Are you hungry?"

"I wasn't until we came here," Adara said and rested her elbows against the bench. "It smells fantastic whatever they're making."

Fenrer twisted to the cracking of bone when the fishmonger snapped the pin bones of the fresh caught ocean salmon with expert, firm but delicate precision to cut the steaks into even portions. It sizzled, pan-smeared with the fire runes along the rim. Adara licked her lips, then shuffled through the coin pouch she kept with her since their departure from Tebora. As she counted the coins, Fenrer sat beside her to wait for the crowd to disperse with their meals for the day. Simplicity in the waves. Adara held out her hand full of coins. "Is this enough?"

"More than enough." Fenrer stood up with her and the sun continued its ascent into the trail of the phoenix and bathed the tree's shadows in soft yellows. He guided the process of ordering her choice of steak or filet and what type of fish they had in stock, before letting her take the reins and observing the expert hands of the coastal ideals, with nothing gone to waste. Every part of the fish was used and never discarded. Her silver aura lit up everything around her when they cut off the head of the pollock from behind the eyes, then clipped the fins with respectful concentration for the abundance the world gave them. He frowned when Yuven stood at a corner, arms folded while he leaned against the signpost.