The Princess and the Blood of Eternity

Chapter 20: Six Years Earlier

A thirteen-year-old Cleo finished his meal of plain rice. He held a wooden bowl against his lips to shovel the remaining contents into his mouth with a small wooden spoon. His focus rested on his uncle Marius, who was busy leaning over the thin counter built on the cabin's wall as he surveyed the village from the vantage of their dusty, glass window.

Cleo was happy that Marius had kept his cool. His uncle's frustrations were never pointed at anyone. He just seemed to stew with emotion to the point it could burst forth without a target. Marius's issue? He could never quite say, though if Cleo had to guess, his uncle was unhappy with where they had ended up—on some far-off island in the middle of nowhere.

In the early morning hours, on the edge of the Asa'ki coast, the vast majority of the island's two-dozen residents were already on the move with the sounds of life. Feet scurried up and down, the small array of rope bridges strung between the many stilted cabins that encompassed most of the village's architecture.

Built on the sandy coast, half of the structures sat amongst a forest of mangroves which encompassed the vast majority of the island's interior. The village sat on the only portion of coastline that wasn't covered with mangroves.

If Cleo wanted to, he could walk across the island's entire length in under an hour. Far from picturesque, sea trash like crushed shells and seaweed kept the beach perpetually looking like a tropical storm had whipped through.

As for the villagers, the men and women mirrored each other in their simple style of brown linens and long hair. The difference came from the men often having long beards, which they decorated with beads and circular shells they threaded through their hair. Most had the regional olive colored skin from an island-city to the south—the name of which Cleo could never remember.

Gathering his dirty dishes, Cleo downed his clay cup of water in one big gulp. Over his uncle's shoulder, he noticed the beach was still littered with boats. A surprising visual because the island's chief occupation was fishing. It meant a late start for the fishing crews, and they'd have the tide working against them on their return. The closest boat to their cabin was manned by their neighbors, the Tavancas.

Robert, the husband, was a burly man with more hair on his arms than on his wispy head. He was busy sharpening a large fishing hook. He had the barbed piece of steel resting on the rim of his boat's hull as he ran a stone across the point.

Next to him kneeled Sohra, his wife. She was mending a fishing net as she waited for her son Igrin to dig a groove in the beach for them to drag their boat to the water. The sealed barrels inside the craft said they had their food and water already packed for their midday meal. It looked like they were just about to set out for the day.

Their boat, like most craft on the island, had been built light enough to be carried over the barrier reefs, and sturdy enough to navigate the deeper waters of the open sea.

The craft utilized a mix of sweeps and sail for propulsion. The small mast was collapsible, and the overall design featured a long, narrow hull and tall keels that curved up on the bow and stern. Along the sides of the hull, they had painted depictions of fish, sharks, and stingrays. The simple design was ideal for island life. And like most residents, when they were done fishing for the day, they would pull their craft past the tide line, effectively beaching their boat for the night. It kept their craft safe, but it meant they had to drag the boat back to the water each time they wanted to go out. The dozen or more crews on the island followed a similar pattern. And anything caught, they dried and shipped to a large port somewhere in the east.

Connected to a long island chain, ocean reefs and thick mangroves that filled the interior island with its thick array of roots kept the small cove safe from the worst storms. The founders of the village had repurposed the wood from their ships to build the village's housing.