As A Stranger Or A Friend?: The Swallow And The Drowned Sailor

Axtapor - 11 Morning Star, 1246 A.D.

I tied off the schooner as Lord Haphrex helped my grandmother, cousin, and sisters onto the docks. They all clamored excitedly at finally being able to set foot on dry land, and while there was a part of me that was relieved to be docked too, another was just as apprehensive. This because Naren, and its closeness, were still in the back of my mind. I kept telling myself that I'd given her up, so there was no point in thinking about anything that might remind me of her, but every day I looked down at the chart to make sure we were on course, that little plot of land bored holes into my head. There was a part of me that wanted to believe it stuck out in my mind due to pure curiosity, but I knew it was no such thing.

I disembarked the schooner, picked up the luggage that the carriage drivers unloaded from the boat, and then strapped it onto the two coaches waiting to take us to Dalton. According to Lord Haphrex, the ride would be a few hours long as his estate was well tucked into the hillsides. While I wasn't fond of sitting in a coach that long, I was glad to hear that this place was difficult to access. It meant they would be that much harder to find should anyone come looking for them, and that let me breathe a little easier. I was about to climb into the second coach behind my sisters when I felt my grandmother's hand land on my arm.

"Come." She said softly, "I'd like to speak with you, hatchling."

"Aye, aye." I responded and let her pull me towards the first coach.

I expected that Lord Haphrex would join us, but he didn't; instead, he boarded the coach with my sisters and cousin. It seemed it would just be the two of us, which made me suspicious that she was going to lecture me about something. I helped her in, then sat beside her, clapping the door shut behind us. We lurched forward, and she was quiet for a moment before taking my hand in hers.

"Hatchling, you will stay for some time, won't you?" She asked with a hopeful twinge in her voice.

I gave her a tight-lipped smile. "If'n ye wish it to be so, aye, I will."

"And after? Where will you go?" She asked softly.

"Nay know. The sea be wide, have seen a grand deal of it. But there be parts of it that nay be known to me. 'Haps just where the wind takes me. Will send ye letters and such as 'fore, ey?" I replied, giving her a good-natured smile and small nudge.

She seemed troubled by my response."Is everything alright, hatchling? You seem...clouded."

"I nay be." I replied, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.

"You're my grandson. I can tell when something is bothering you." She replied with a small frown.

"Nary thin' be wrong. Ye be weary from the journey, that be all." I countered a little more sharply than I'd wanted to.

"Don't you get spikey with me. I'm worried about you." She said more belligerently this time, "Mumbling to yourself in your sleep, sometimes not sleeping at all. I rarely see you eat, and don't you think I haven't noticed how much you smoke. You're latched to that pipe at all hours of the day! I am yet so lucky that I have not seen you inebriated, and that is surely because there is no drink to be drunk."

"I be fine. That be how thin's always been. Ye be workin' yerself over nothin'." I said dismissively.

"Do you really think I am so blind? Perhaps I am not with you every hour of the day, but I can tell when someone is unwell. I know that you are one for adventure and overindulgence, but this— this lack of direction leads me to believe something is quite wrong. That you are simply seeking distraction from— from something, so tell me what it is that ails you, Axtapor. I would truly regret seeing you become hardened and hateful like my sons, especially if I knew there was something I could do to prevent it from happening." She said with a desperate look of concern on her features.