The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 26 - Rebirth

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            Vinie was home. The realization didn't strike Vinie until she found herself standing, panting with exhaustion and adrenaline, out on the docks which she had grown up diving from. She was not that carefree girl though, running and laughing with sand between her toes and sunlight in her eyes. The crystal clear blue of Utunma's harbor had changed too. Tendrils of red seeped into the azure waters, staining them wherever the king's men had fallen in.

All of the fish which usually schooled beneath the wharf had fled, as well as the gulls. There was only the lapping of the waves and the distant howl of wind, fading along with the sail of hers and Zaneo's dhow as the poor little boat was unwillingly made to bear Mahir away. Some of the Factionists had tried to jump into the remaining canoes to give chase. An unnatural gale carried Mahir away like an arrow shot from a bow; straight and fast out past the rip tide into the arms of the northward current.

            So let him go...Vinie was done with fighting for today. She was among the first to turn her back on Mahir's vanishing sail, back toward Utunma. For the first time in two years she looked full upon her hometown in the light of day.

            As ragged and worn out as Utunma looked to her, with fishmonger's stalls overturned all along the wharf, their wares left out in the sun to rot for days and the chaotic mess of fighting scattered all about, the sea folk looked just as rough. They were a motley crew, her people. Blood-spattered, bruised and in some cases, broken, Factionists and Moaanese Guards alike gathered around the docks. Many still clutched their weapons with white knuckles, not quite certain if the battle was really over.

            A stab of terror lanced through Vinie, threatening to break what remained of her heart and her mind. Where was Gideo? She didn't see him, so distinctive with his halo of curls towering head and shoulders above everyone else. If retaking Utunma had come at the cost of losing Gideo...

            "Vinie?"

            A hand on her shoulder just about made Vinie leap right out of her skin. Gideo was there, at her side, just as he'd always been. Even through the worst kind of chaos, even when she didn't always realize it, he'd been there. Completely beyond caring, in front of the eyes of all, Vinie walked straight into Gideo and laid her brow, now bare without the black pearl, on his chest.

            Gideo's hand held the back of her head, resting comfortingly in her frizzy hair. All Vinie wanted from life right now was to stand there between the sun and the sea and listen to Gideo's heart beat. They were home, after so long, with no need to hide anymore. Gideo murmured into the top of her head, reminding her of their audience.

            "We did it Vinie; we won. They're waiting for you to tell them it's over...for now."

            Reluctantly Vinie parted from Gideo. Hundreds of sea folk watched and waited. With Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu nowhere to be seen, the responsibility of claiming victory fell upon the Factionists' BlackPearl. Was this the moment Vinie had dreamed of, a lifetime ago in her little cell? Sahar was dead, among so many others. Somehow Vinie didn't feel the elation and pride she had been imaging. The people of the south were waiting for her to speak though.

            "You can be sad and happy at the same time, my pearl," whispered Zaneo's voice in her inner ear. "Grief is not incompatible with joy."

              Sahar affirmed as much. "There'll be more than enough sadness to go around. Today is worth celebrating, for everyone and for the days ahead."

            "Will you stay with me now, Sahar, Zaneo? Are you not at rest among the waves, or the stars, or whichever place it is that the dead go?"