Tide Soul

Ristarnt's Storm (3)

The wind tore through Port William, rain firing down from the heavens as though it were some sort of biblical punishment. Trevor strained his eyes ahead, trying to keep his focus on the girl several paces ahead of him. Every few paces, she'd turn around, cast him a look of mingled disappointment and pity then resume her pace. He couldn't help but suspect that his inability to weather a fairly awful storm somehow made him a lesser person in her eyes. However, considering he'd just spent a good deal of time and, considering the debris tearing around them, literally his neck in order to make sure she was alright, he wasn't exactly appreciative of the hubris he felt from every glance. 

He sped up his pace, drawing even with her. "Just where are we going?" he called out, over the angry roar of wind projected for miles around. 

She sighed, shook her head and turned her eyes forward as though he'd just asked a stupid question with an answer so obvious that even the most simplistic person should grasp it. She replied, finally, but the wind carried away her words and he couldn't make out more then a bare mumble. That was something he was quickly beginning to notice about Ellie;

She never really allowed her voice to raise, no matter what level of frustration she felt. Though he figured it was just a lack of nerves on her part, he couldn't help but feel as though she was used to dealing with people as though they were small children.

"Didn't catch that" he yelled back, impatiently "Louder, please?"

She repeated it, shooting him a frustrated look as though talking was wasting time she felt could be more productively spent other ways.

"One more time?" Trevor yelled, allowing the irritation to creep into his voice.

Ellie stopped dead in the middle of the road, raised a hand in the air, made three gestures which Trevor presumed to be sign language, then snapped her fingers. Suddenly, though he could still see the storm raging, and feel the rain pelting him, he couldn't hear it. "I said," she repeated, clearly not concerned with hiding the acrimony in her voice at that point "Don't worry about it. Do you have any more questions or would you object to walking quietly?"

Trevor took a second to process this, which his companion seemed to have misunderstood as some sort of submissive silence. Before he could open his mouth, the roar of the wind filled his ears again. He sighed, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He was beginning to suspect that having a pleasant conversation with Ellie fell somewhere between mining for coal with his bare hands and squeezing water from a stone in the middle of a heat wave in terms of difficulty.

Suddenly, she turned sharply onto the docks. However as he moved to follow her, the look on her face stopped him. She repeated whatever it is she'd done earlier, and silence once again washed over them. "You go back to the Inn," she commanded "I don't need an escort."

"Why?" Trevor asked "What difference does it make if I go?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you strike me as sort of useless," Elle replied, flatly "I'd really rather just sort things out myself without pointless bloodshed caused."

"I'm guessing you're pretty positive I've never been in a tight spot in my life?" Trevor asked, pointedly.

Ellie nodded, annoyed with the time she felt he was wasting.

"Well, I have. Fairly often in fact, and you can pretty much take that to the--" Trevor began, before looking over at her and trailing off.

Ellie narrowed her eyes, and he felt as though actual sparks were shooting in his direction as she glared at him. Trevor opened his mouth to continue arguing the point, but the wind roared back to life and drowned out his unspoken argument. 

He stood there, watching her go before rolling his eyes, turning around and heading back toward the direction of the Inn. However, as he began to walk, he got to thinking...

He'd never have gotten into this situation, indirectly, if he hadn't chosen to run away from some conflicts in Gagliardi. In fact, even coming to Gagliardi had represented running away from problems in Towriss. He'd never been huge on conflict, and he'd spent a lot of his teenage years running away from demons and monsters under the bed. He'd decided that he'd make a real run at hanging his hat in this area, hadn't he?

Maybe not Port William, but he'd certainly had plans to settle down a while in one of the towns nearby, and maybe try and carve out a nice life for himself. As he well knew, the tendency to run away from bad situations was a learned habit, and a pattern that was difficult to be rid of once he started. He'd been looking for the chance to prove to himself that things would be different this time, hadn't he?

Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. 

He spun around, and took off on a dead sprint down the dock toward the Skyship Ellie had just boarded. He jumped off the dock, and barely managed to hang onto the side of the ship as it began rising. He scampered up the side of the ship, and threw himself head and shoulders over the side of the ship onto the deck. He quickly pulled himself up, and took stock of his surroundings. Surreptitiously, he managed to climb into an empty crate nearby. He figured that if Ellie happened to see him, she would just turn the ship around and go back to the dock. He wasn't exactly sure what was transpiring, but he knew more was at stake there then foolish pride.

Still, he watched as they navigated the skies, seemingly looking for something yet with no obvious destination in mind. He couldn't help but wonder exactly what her thought process was. Ritsarnt was obviously some sort of vengeful weather deity. It almost seemed comically stupid to consider trying to find him, let alone talk him into just sort of calling off what seemed like the kind of storm that would take some effort to produce.

He simply couldn't conceive of anything blessed with the ability to affect the weather being that petty.