Calva Aurea

Ad Mare ~ Chapter 14

Once we reach the top of the ship, Elise calls for me from above. I look to the sky to see her dangling from some rope connected to the sail. On this side of the big sail, is the map Nova had talked about.

"Vienne!" I watch her climb back down, holding on to the ropes, and hopping from one to another until she reaches the ground. She stands far from me, on the opposite side of the main deck. "Do you know how a ship works?"

When she approaches me, Nova leaves my side to somewhere else. "I don't."

"Well, let me show you." With that, she pulls me to a wheel she called a helm.

More of the day is spent with her showing me the parts of ships, and what they're called. Thankfully, when she guides me through the bottom, and leads me to the room under the 'quarterdeck', she doesn't find the room behind the sized bookshelf. I swear at some point I started to get a migraine.

But finally, once the sun starts to disappear from the sky, Elise leaves my sight, along with everyone else, through a trapdoor leading to the bottom. Leaving me on my own, watching the sails flap with the ever so fast wind, brushing against the sky's cheek.

I can't help but let out a long-awaited sigh, attempting to release the tension from my body. Despite the sounds of the wind, and water–it's quiet, and the stars and shapes up above stare back down at me. Sometimes, I can swear they give me warnings and messages through the constellations.

Back to the water and river, from all sides of us, you could swear it was an ocean, yet still be reminded of the river from the speed of movement. Splashes were heard from the water, followed by rainbows of colors, reminding me of the mermaids living here. This was their home, and yet they allowed people to traverse across, signifying differences between them, and their tempered siblings, wanting food just like me. Just like Sueki.

I wonder—was this always because of want for food? Greed–sometimes you could understand those sins Humans used to make themselves better from us. A want for something, is it really that awful? Is being proud of yourself really worthy of eternal damnation?

Truly, I don't understand it. But then again; my knowledge of 'God' is limited, I could only exist for so long before dying. After death, you can't ever think of God the same again. Suddenly something drops.

Plank!

Towards the quarterdeck, feet ahead of the helm, a bird lies on the cold wood helplessly. I run up to it, picking up the bloodied one-eyed Red Jay. One wing has been brutally torn off, missing, the other dangling on from the half-attached other side. Quickly, I push the Red Jay to my chest, and stare up to the darkened sky, searching for the cause of its distress. Almost immediately, I spot a siren, the human head sticking out of a huge hawk-like body.

I utter swears under my breath, so it doesn't hear and attack me, and it flies off into the distance, followed by the spotlight of the silver moon. After it leaves, I rush to the trapdoor leading to the bottom and push it open, frantically whispering around Sueki. He'll heal it, it'll fly again.

A groan is heard from above me, and I find him hanging upside down, skin-felt wings popped out of his back, curling around his small chest.

"Sueki," Immediately, his eyes pop open, and he stares down at me. "I thought you needn't sleep."

The wings uncurl, and slowly form into his back. I'm sure if I watched it from the back, it would look disgusting. "I don't. Just taking silence with my eyelids." As he says this, he stands back on top of the pipe, and carefully slides down, not daring to make a sound.

"A siren stole his wing," When I hold the Red Jay up to the Vampire, I realize what I sound like. A child who just brought something to show their parent. But he doesn't notice this, and looks down to the bird, an unreadable expression stretching across his face.

When he reaches out, I let him take the animal from my hands, and he walks over to push books off of some empty barrel. They fall to the ground and I find a copy of 'Pirate History', surely something of Elise's. I watch him set the wounded creature down on its side, and raise his right hand above the wings bundled together.

Then, that light is shined again, not as bright as before, but enough to make my eye twitch. However I suppose any light could do that if shone in complete darkness. I stride up to Sueki's side, watching the light die down, and chirps escape from the bird's tiny mouth. I let out a sigh of relief, when the wings start to move on their own, being two in whole once again.

"Why did you want to help him so badly?" I hear him ask from my side, and I turn and look up at him.

"Why wouldn't I?" With that–I leave Sueki paralyzed in silence, and traverse my way back to the top of the stairs, and back to the deck of the ship.

Once I open the trapdoor, wind pushes at me, almost knocking me over whilst I close the door. I return back to my spot, to the right of the main mast, and slide against the railing to the cold ground.

Winds have picked up, and despite having short hair, bangs push past my face to the left, and right again in an unidentifiable pattern. With this, I close my eyes, cross my arms together, and move to a comfortable position to sleep for the rest of the night. Out in the river, and under the constellations, stars, and shapes that could one day go poof. Yet the thought of this doesn't terrify me the way it should, but it does scare me. Only I get scared because I saw the terror in Nova's eyes when she spoke about it. What she says scares me, but when I think about it—without her words—it's not as much.