Into the Deep

Part 2

It's been a long time since Marina and Daffie began their 'expedition' at the coastal market. The duo's quest almost came to an end as they waited for the recently bought bargains to be loaded onto their carriage. The midday sun began its descent into the horizon, while the two young females rested by a grove of trees located on a cluster of velvet hills, that surrounded the ocean bay, giving them a perfect view of the port tucked by the side of the market.

This was Marina's favourite spot, observing the tense bustle caused by the eager travellers and stubborn merchants, relieved the mental restlessness that occupied her head. While she and her family lived at a farm cottage, she would often venture to the same spot, to admire the flow of brigantine ships that weaved through the azure waters of the Mediterranean. She would often imagine how it felt to explore the faraway, being a free-spirited girl Marina loved the idea of adventure, witnessing the lands beyond the familiar horizon was a desire in Marina's heart only held back by her loving family.

The daydreaming escapes to the port became an impossible privilege to Marina when her entire family got sick with typhus. The disease was unforgivable to her mother and younger siblings, and even though Marina and her father managed to escape the disease's clutches, a heavy price was paid. The farm was burned, in order to prevent a further spread of disease, leaving a father and a daughter with barely enough crops to support their daily lives. Additionally, the gangrene caused by the disease forced Marina's father an amputation of his leg and left him severely weak, making him unable to tend the remaining crops. This gave Marina a cumbersome duty of taming a once fertile land. The daughter begged her father for a new beginning, perhaps boarding one of the ships would lead them to forget the horrid show orchestrated by Death itself. Yet her father rejected her pleas, vague in expressions and scanty in explanations he stated that the soils below the burnt land were the only hope they had, assuming her father simply couldn't leave the memories of a once loving family. Marina, a girl longing for freedom and adventure became imprisoned by the ashen farm fields, exerting herself in hopes of a fertile land.

Since then, to Marina every day was the same, sawing, ploughing, seeding and watering, a continues loop of agony that wasted Marina physically and mentally. However, on a stormy night, her fate ought to change. A nobleman by the name of Ayers von Kassmeyer had stepped foot on the fields of the barren farm, to seek refuge from an October rainstorm. After that night von Kassmeyers had visited the desolate farm three times, with a company of two other men, who Marina assumed to be his entourage. Every time the group arrived, her father would accompany them on long rides to an unknown destination. Upon questioning her father, Marina had never received an answer regarding the purpose of these rides, until a cold November morning had begun its reign over the farm. On that morning Death visited Marina's house one last time, by the time a milky fog had settled in the atmosphere, Marina's father was gone. Nothing would remain as it once was. On the same day of her father's death, von Kassmeyer visited the young woman with a proposal that by the end of January changed Marina from peasantry to nobility. Soon the horrid memories were numbed by the comfort of luxurious garments and striking jewels. However as Marina grew accustomed to the luxury, the pressure of etiquette and her husband's coldness brought Marina to a sense of longing for something else again.

After observing yet another merchant ship disappear into the horizon Marina broke the silence.

"Daffie, am I a bad person?" 

"What do you mean Mrs?", a puzzled look appeared on a woman's face as she addressed Marina's question.

" Well, Daffie you know who I was in the past and who I am in the present, everything I have now I could barely wish for in my wildest dreams, and how is it that I catch myself being so dissatisfied regardless all the luxurious I am now presented with?"

"Oh, Mrs...", a soft chuckle slipped through Marina's rounded lips as she spoke again, "...it is of human nature to be restless and ignorant of our privileges, it doesn't make you bad, it makes you human.", Daffie finished her sentence with a comforting smile and a gentle pat on Marina's shoulder.

" Oh Daffie, you are the sweetest human I have ever met." even though the young maid's words always comforted Marina, she could no longer bare the torturous memories that lingered in her head. Desperate for a change of topic, she asked,

"Do you think my husband will like the surprise we are organizing, what if this "date" will turn out a disaster?"

"I am sure he'll love it, as much as he loves you,  and with the gorgeous dress you bought he won't be able to resist you."

"Then why hasn't he approached me nor barely conversed with me, all these months? What if he thinks I am unmannered and unfit for a life with a man of status like him? What if he changed his mind?" Marina's question raced after one another as a look of concern settled on her face.

" Mrs, your husband knows of your past better than me, he witnessed how shattered you were, I believe he is being respectful of your grief, he must be waiting for a sign that your emotions are healed, and this evening's rendezvous is the perfect opportunity to acknowledge him that you are ready"

Marina's face was illuminated by a crescent-like smile stretched across her face.

"Then what are we waiting for, we must leave to prepare for tonight...", continuing her sentence, a canny tone began to emerge in Marina's voice, "... after all its not too often I get to woo my husband...yet."

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And that's a........wrap! Anyway sorry for the lack of major events in this one, but I just had to finish off with all the boring bits as soon as possible, the next chapter is going to be much more.....uhm..eventful ;)))) So get your seatbelts ready because we're about to go for a ride.