A Phoenix's Heart

🌅Chapter 13 continued

🪼  November 27th: A Walk Under the Sea

Estella's point-of-view

The seaweed brushed against my legs as I was through the kelp forest east of the temple. The smell of salt, fish, and flowers was almost all-consuming but was reminiscent of that sunkissed beachy smell that is everyone's favorite candle. Despite being under the ocean the sound of waves breaking along the beach can be heard in all directions. I eventually came across a coral garden in the middle of the forest.

Everything looked so similar and different at the same time. It has been at least 14 years since I last visited here. So much has changed since then. Gifso especially was shocked by how much I had grown. I can use attack spells now. Last time I failed miserably at his temple games because of it and even tho I didn't participate this time he acknowledged that I improved. I even surprised myself when I succeeded at casting not only spirit dive but saint stage magic with Scorpio yesterday. I never tried before and yet I succeeded. My spirit friends say it's because we have been together for so long. Our years of friendship likely led t...

"Lost in thought I see," says Fuegoleon walking up from behind me. I could try my eyes away from his well-sculpted and defined abdomen. He was only wearing a pair of swim trunks low around his hips. Nothing was left to my imagination. I knew his body very well. Even with a missing arm and a large portion of his body being covered in intense scars, he was still the hottest sexyest man I knew. Before I could stop I reached out and ran my fingers down his body.

"Careful now," Fueggy warns grabbing my hand and kissing my fingers. "You wouldn't want to seduce me while we are out in public. You never know how long or short I can restrain myself. I might just decide to take you right here."

I get hit with a fit of lightheadedness from all the blood in my body rushing to my face. I playfully smack his chest and say, "And to think the kids admire you for being serious and having control of your Emotions. If only they could see you now. Your horny ass can barely keep your hand to yourself. Shame on you!"

"I'm sure they can't expect me to control myself around my fiance. If they do that's a them-problem for not understanding adult relationships. No one is perfect and I have a right to be in love with my wife."

"Wife or not such words spoken in public are very inappropriate. Keep it for the bedroom."

"Fine but won't you atleast permit me to walk around this beautiful forest and garden with you?"

"Of course" I reply intertwining my arm with his. "I would love that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🐠  November 28th: A Thankful Feast

Noelle's point-of-view

I am dressed in the best dress Kahono led me and joined my sibling and all the others at one of the large dining tables the sea folks had set up. It was the evening of our last day here as we would be leaving in the morning the next day. To celebrate, the sea folks were throwing a grand feast. They called it a feast of Thankfulness. Thankful for the help they received a few years ago, thankful for the visitors, and thankful for their loving friends and family. I guess we all have a lot to be thankful for.

Their town square was decorated to the nines. It was beautiful and the smell of the delicious food made my mouth water. Crabs, sushi, clam chowder, shrimp pasta, garlic sourdough bread, tuna, squid, and lobster all line the table masterfully cooked and prepared to perfection.

"Before we started" announced Gifso. "We will go around the table and everyone must state one thing they were thankful for this year. I'll go first. I am thankful to be surrounded by family and new and old friends. Thank you for filling every day of my life with wonder and adventure."

"I'll go next," says Kahono. "I'm Thankful for being surrounded by people who love me enough to support me and my dreams."

"I'm thankful for good food."

"I'm thankful for the beauty of music."

"I'm thankful for the Sea God for always looking out for us."

"I'm thankful for..."

"I'm thank..."

"I'm ..."

One by one, everyone took turns sharing what they were thankful for. I said I was thankful for my amazing boyfriend Asta. We may have only been dating for 28 days but I owe a lot to Asta even before then. Out of all the things listed people were thankful for Nebra and Solid's speeches brought me to tears.

Nebra said "Most of you don't know me or my family but for a very long time my family...my relationship with my siblings was fractured and broken and up until a year or so ago it was at a very real risk of disappearing completely. I'm thankful for change. I'm eternally grateful that our eyes were open to our situation and were able to change to start to rebuild and fix our family. I am thankful that I am here with my loving siblings and that we still have one another."

Solid spoke after her. "I am thankful for having a family who is forgiving. Most of you don't know me. But I wasn't always a good person and I'm still probably not the best but my family still loves me and cares for me. They are here for me and support me in becoming a better Me. I'm not perfect and I probably never will be but I will always have a great family who will support me improve. Thank you, Noelle. Thank you, Nebra. And Thank you, Nozel."

After I stopped crying we all ate food and were merry. We were all exhausted from the past few days of constant training. The Sea folks and the Zodiac spirits worked to whip us into shape. Much to my shock Nebra seemed to be focused on learning healing spells and Solid tried to practice his people skills. He wanted to improve his ability to cast combination spells with his teammates. My sibling and I talked about having more feasts of thankfulness together back home. We have so much to be thankful for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~