"Don't judge me."
They had only made eye contact not more than a moment before. The sight of her made him start. He did not take his eyes off the girl on the other side of his bed chambers. She was perched on the open window sill like a little bird...
As much as this was not Terrance's ideal first visit to the mainland, he realized in hindsight he may have been eager for an excuse to escape the peace talks. Considering the fact that it had never particularly been Terrance's main ambition to directly interact with important people on political matters he did not personally know, especially when there is room for error on his part. He didn't think it mattered, though, the meetings were nearing an end. The only mistake left to be made would be losing Donovan's prized possession, which he had resolved would not be too difficult of a task to overturn.
Brenna's crow glided around the perimeter of the merchant ship. It occasionally dipped down towards the water when it saw something shiny, such as a fish's scales reflecting the intense sunlight, but never made a move to extract the fish. Ironically to Terrance, it also periodically rested by perching on the crow's nest.
Terrance had been reading a book he found lying around the ship titled The peculiar mysteries of Kolomeck. It wouldn't have been his first choice in light reading, being that Kolomeck was the island counterpart of Bek, as well as land owned by the Waynum. The mentioned practice of Te Fabula among the Waynum people left Terrance unsettled. It was a force beyond the knowledge or care of his kind of people, and he was raised that it was an unnatural thing to interact with. Nonetheless, Terrance was growing tired of just watching the rolling waves, and turned to the pages of the book in his hands to entertain him.
As time passed and the uneasiness in his stomach grew, both from the sway of the vessel as well as the information he was obtaining from the book in his hands, he attempted to find something else to remove his mind from the unwanted thoughts his mind conjured. He had a bad habit of escalating bad situations in his mind before they came to pass.
The ship was filled with an array of strange people, and none he was very eager to strike up conversation with. This was a Kalah ship, which was not uncommon for the Ipsa to encounter. They were only allowed to make port in one dock on the Ipsa's island capital for the sole purpose of trading, nothing more, and they were never permitted to venture further than the docks themselves. Terrance very rarely came into contact with Brenna's people, so he was left unsure which way to go about interacting with them.
The Kalah were not the least bit perturbed by Terrance's presence and moved about the ship as if he wasn't even there. Terrance couldn't help but notice, though, their almost habitual use of Skintiia as they worked. From his observations, the ship was designed for the practice, and some of the tasks that needed to be completed in order for the ship to operate required those who knew how to use Skintiia. The tasks ranged from securing ropes in otherwise unreachable places to unfurling the sails themselves. Terrance quickly identified those who used Skintiia in their work by those who had a special belt around their waist with a custom scabbard, inside holding a narrow piece of wood with a gem embedded into its base. He made sure to steer clear of those people.
Seeing no other option to pass the time, he found Brenna perched on the railing at the bow of the ship. Her perfect posture balanced her on the decorative banister as she watched flying fish leap out of the water that were being disturbed by the motion of the ship.
"Why do you keep that crow around?" he asked as he approached. He tucked his arms tightly around his chest as he carefully watched the jet black bird continue to observe its surroundings from above the rolling waves.
"I owe it to him," she replied, not removing her eyes from facing forward at the horizon. Her voice sounded half dazed, like she was recalling a memory. Terrance paused and waited for her to explain further.
"When I was a child, and the land was just starting to bloom with the first spring flowers, I couldn't help but climb the tallest tree I could find to take in the sights." As she began her story a small smile grew on her face. Her voice was nearly a melody of its own.
"I had never taken much consideration for my surroundings, being young and feeling invincible. I climbed that tree with reckless abandon, hopping from one branch to another, until..." She flinched ever so slightly. It wouldn't have been noticeable if Terrance wasn't listening as intently as he was. "I fell." She spoke in such a factual way, simple and to the point, but it left Terrance wanting to know the details.
Terrance leaned forward on the banister beside Brenna so that he could see her face more clearly. "What does that have to do with the bird, exactly?" "Oh," she sounded like she had just been brought out from a deep thought. "He fell with me."
Terrance looked up at the crow, impressed that it was able to fly at all after such an incident.
"He was just a chick at the time, and he was alone in the nest he fell from. I assumed his siblings had already left the nest and he was still too afraid to fly. The branch I broke under my small body weight was the same one he was nested on." As if on cue, the crow landed on the banister on Brenna's other side. If animals could be personified, he looked like he was watching Brenna fondly. "I couldn't just leave him there. So I took him home. My father wasn't too pleased, but he agreed not to leave the poor thing behind. So we both got patched up and I've been his home ever since."
It was a heartwarming story, but it only left Terrance with more questions. One of which became very apparent in his mind.
"If that happened when you were a child..." he pondered, "how long do crows live for?"
"Long enough," she answered simply. "With my help, at least."
Terrance had a general idea of what she was implying. There were external forces keeping that bird from aging, and it was caused by that gem embedded, wooden tool inside Brenna's scabbard.
Author's note: Another chapter at last! Life guests busy and writing gets harder. So I'm proud I wrote this out in one sitting. Be sure to let me know what you think! Do the details in the chapter make you want to learn more about Skintiia? Do you want to learn more about Brenna's story?
I also thought it was about time I shared a map of the world, haha! I forgot to add it, so here it is for reference.
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Thank you all for your patience as I try to flesh out this story!
