"It was pure luck, really, that this hadn't happened sooner. Two years of keeping out of his reach had really been testing the limits of fate, and the sane voice inside her head kept telling her she would have to face him eventually. The world was b...
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Four Years And Eleven Months Ago.
Gentle beams of light reached down through the water around her, turned blue by the candescence of the surrounding ocean. The seabed was bright and colourful below her feet. The rainbow of fish had danced away when she'd initially swam closer in curiosity, but were now moving lazily and aimlessly in and around the plants that made their homes, sunlight shimmering off their backs as they moved, like the way sunlight would dance off shards of glass when you caught the angle just right.
Waves, the sound muffled under the water, fell against the sandy beach a short distance behind her. The lull of their movements made silent the moment she had immersed herself entirely. Her eyes blinking open and fighting off the sting of the saltwater, feeling her body held weightless as rays of warmth touched the skin along her shoulders and back. Her gaze following the slow path of the unfamiliar creature swimming beside her.
A turtle. Sanem had not seen one before, it was Can who had informed her of its name after she'd been watching from the deck of the ship, captivated like a child discovering a frog in a garden pond for the very first time. The turtle's arms trailed seamlessly through the water, twisting and turning in a kind of slow dance as it made its way around where Sanem was floating, still and silent, trying to store every movement in her mind for later. She'd never drawn reptiles before. But this one almost looked like it was flying, so maybe she would make an exception.
Her heartbeat slowed as it came closer, mirroring the beat of the calm tumble of waves, wanting to reach out and touch it; to know what the feel of the shell would be like under her fingertips, but not wanting to startle it after all the time she'd spent trying to coax the unfamiliar creature into accepting her presence.
It stayed for a few beautiful moments, hovering in curious circles around her before it departed, heading into deeper water and leaving Sanem to return to the surface with a gasped breath.
The sun was even warmer against her skin without the layer of water above to refract it, but it wasn't uncomfortable, just unfamiliar. She'd never been anywhere so warm. Never swam in oceans that didn't leave her cold and shivering afterwards. Not that it had ever stopped her.
Only a month had passed since she'd chosen to stay on the Kotu Kral, but more of the world had been shown to her than she'd had the opportunity to even dream about in the whole of her life before she'd joined them. She almost didn't believe Deren when she said there was still so much more to see.
Sanem glanced around, noticing for the first time that her attempts to follow the turtle had led her halfway around the little island the ship had set anchor beside. Uninhabited; far out of reach of crown's guard and navy vessels, the ocean stretching out for endless miles, any view of unfamiliar ships pleasantly lacking.
They'd endured no further ill-advised attempts at pillaging the Kotu Kral. It appeared that any wayfaring rumours that Can Divit was in possession of the key to Anaiga had died along with those who had tried to steal it from them. After commandeering their assailant's ship, they'd travelled south to sell it at a small pirate bay Sanem had never heard of. Restocking before setting off again under Can's continued efforts to follow the contumacious glass key. But attempts to work out where they were supposed to be going remained pitiful.
