Leora - hidden light

Chapter seventeen

I have kept count of the minutes passing by since we got on the surface of the white creature. It moves at a constant speed and slows down at times to catch it's prey. The sky is still grey ish, looks like it might rain. Right as I was thinking, a small drop plops on my face and I wipe it away. My head hurts, my stomach's empty and I might hit the water if I keep swaying. I squint to look ahead, the lake is absolutely enormous. Endless scenery of water, countless small fishes and an okay weather.

My life hasn't changed a lot. Yes I met a bunch of people from a whole different land, but going to war to conquer Monter was inevitable. There was no way avoiding it. I can spot Lucian, left of me and just a step behind me on this make shift creature boat. His head is down and but he looka just fine.

"No seriously." Just a meter from me, Wyn and Adonis are seated. All the passengers sit with their criss-crossed legs on the surface. The rest of their conversation is whispery. Adonis brings his hand to his chin and starts stroking his jaw.
His sharp nose and strong jaw does give an edge to how he looks.

If you get to know him, he seems exactly how he looks. Distant at times, yet can be soft when he needs to. A tease to me, but a talented son to his mother.

"What a sight huh?" Laylea says as she dreamily looks at them.

I look at her and give her a small smile.

"What're you two talking about?" Mayi was seated right behind Laylea and she pops her head in.

"Surely about those 'dreamy guys' right?"

"I see M'tiiti Curio has also joined the conversation" Laylea turns right to face the owner of the voice.

"How much longer do we have to sit here?" His tone clearly suggests he wants to get off and do some serious killing. His head of full braids are tied up in a ponytail. There's a little more than a rubble on the sides of his face, making him look much older than he actually is.

"It should take till tomorrow morning atleast. If they keep stopping for fishes, then.. Lords save us..." Mayi says as she too might feel the need to get off.

"I'm curious to know Mayi, are you a gifted?" I slightly turn and ask Mayi.

"Yeah you got it. With wisdom and awareness of the enemy." She says.

Oh so same as mine. She seems very smart and carefree.

"I used to be part of my clan, Ghoru . Mayi Ghoru, that's who I was, " she pauses before continuing, "but then, I was involved in a scandal." During this pause, I had fully believed she stopped talking. But no, she continues.

"I had some friends who were sort of, best way to put it, rebels. They were much more than just bratty rebels. They attacked, killed and stole from the poor, just for fun. When I realised who they were exactly, I cut them off." She says and then inhales before saying,

"That pissed them off. They came in storming, through the temples, destroyed everything. Not a single thing was left behind. If they did leave something, they destroyed it. All the hardwork,"

she pauses yet again and wipes something off her face,

"in vain. And I was blamed for it. Because I had told them about the temples. How we had the gold and jewels. How we had hundreds of expensive statues..." She had her head hung low all this time. She finally tilts it up to look at my face.

"Not so smart after all, huh?" I can see that her eyes have gone blurry and are filled with water that are on the verge of falling. I'm sure she feels the burden and an unexplainable twist in her heart, the sting that she felt when they abandoned her. I can see all of that. I can read her.

Laylea has reached out and touched her hand.

"And then what?" M'tiiti asks Mayi.

"Is the Curio boy finally curious?" The joke is so terrible that we all collectively laugh loudly.

Wyn and Adonis have turned their bodies to face us. All of us sitting in an almost circle now.
Wyn's joke gets a laugh out of everyone except Adonis.

"Wyn, how can you be my best friend and be so bad at making jokes?" He asks Wyn, fully smiling.

"What? I've never heard your jokes before. And you know what, I think you don't actually know how to joke." He slaps back which provokes a gasp out of everyone.

"Leora made one the other day. Better than yours." He tells him. That reminds me of last night. And how intensely he looked into my eyes. How unusually warm his hands felt, and how he wanted to tell me something.

"Started the party without me?" Lucian scoots into our almost circle and completes it.

Laughter fills our little circle as Wyn whips out another bad joke. This group brings me joy for the time I spend with them. This heals me in so many ways that I didn't know I needed.