The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

You're as Loud as Thunder

"Okay, according to this book, his pirate name is Edward Teach," Amaruq said to his friends. They were on La Concorde, which they technically stole after the French confiscated it from a group of pirates, working under Captain Blackfur. "'Pirate name'?" Taggak asked. It was him who tasked Amaruq to find the pirate's information in one of the books his erudite friend owned. "Yeah. Apparently, pirates create fake names so that people couldn't trace them back. Quite effective, really," the alien praised. "Isn't 'Blackfur' his fake name?" "Nah, that's more of a sobriquet. This is a pseudonym." What he said didn't really digest well with the other two, but they felt that they understood what he meant.

"Sorry, man. I guess we'll never find out who your family really were," he apologised to his black friend. He really wanted to find them, but it seemed they were just out of luck. Taggak paused for a long time. "It's fine. Just forget about it," he finally said, before leaving to check on the ship. The other two just shared a glance at each other's faces before joining the other in returning topside. After the defeat of the pirates yesterday, they haven't really found much on the ship. Besides food, the only other things on it were a beautiful feathered cape, which Amaruq recognised as the ʻAhu ʻula of the Hawaiian ali'i, and a mute man kept prisoner on the ship.

The quiet man wore tattered clothing and had dirty tawny-agouti fur. His irises were hazel, enchanting even as they stared emptily into space, blinking occasionally. When the trio first found him in the ship's holding cell, they didn't know what to do. Here was an unknown wolf captured by pirates for who know what? Once they figured out he was harmless (he literally did not move once or anything), they tried to talk to him. Well, at least, Amaruq did. No dice. So all he could do was bring some food and water to the man and feed him by hand. The man ate by autopilot, his mouth chewing and swallowing with the guidance of Amaruq, but his face showed no awareness of his actions.

It was a good thing they were heading to Hawaii, as that meant that they could return the feathered cape to its rightful owner there. It belonged to the first king of the kingdom of Hawaii, but that was a hundred years ago. Now, they just had to give it to the reigning royal, whoever they may be. It wouldn't be too difficult. Meet with the very important people there and tell them about their circumstance and then give the cape back. Easy, right? Well it was, except for one part. It was the night after. Taggak and Atsuguk were in the captain's quarters, probably asleep while Amaruq was outside, on deck, enjoying the midnight breeze.

Seeing as the biggest bedroom on the ship had one king-sized bed and one single-sized bed, they decided that the black wolf would stay in the single one as he had been doing so for the past few days, and the other two would share the king-sized bed, as they didn't mind sharing. As Tukkuttok always said, 'sharing is caring'. He looked upon the dark waters, full of waves. The inky blackness only barely illuminated by the waning crescent moon floating hundreds of thousands of kilometres above his head. Could it even be considered as floating? It had its own gravitational field and wasn't supposed to be on the Earth anyway. He didn't know the answer to that.

Sometimes he wondered about planetary bodies like the moon. He came from an alien planet. But where? The Solar System had 8 planets and only Earth was inhabitable. So, clearly he came from a planet outside of this system. He wished he could find out where. Maybe when they went back, he could study the spaceship and see where that would take him. Metaphorically speaking. Rocket science was very difficult work. He enjoyed the breeze until it gradually became stronger. It was getting quite windy now, the cold air blowing his hair back. The waves had gotten bigger too. Did the air pressure change?

He looked up and sure enough, a storm was brewing. The dark ashy clouds swirling in the night sky, obscuring the stars and the moon. Then he saw a flash far off in the distance, accompanied by a loud clap a few seconds later. A lightning storm, on the ocean? This didn't look good. He was about to enter the cabin when his watch lit up. "Warning: Imminent lamniform attack detected," the watch said. "Wait, what?" Amaruq managed to ask before he saw a giant shark leap above the waters. "Amaruq Ice!" He said as he diverted the ship away from the fish's trajectory by manipulating the waves with his hands.

The 60-foot long fish crashed into the waters again, creating bigger waves that rocked the boat heavily. How could the other two still sleep at a time like this? A shrill cry reverberated through the air, along with the sounds of thunder. What could that be now? He looked up and saw a huge avian shape flying in the storm clouds. What kind of bird was that big?! It had to be as long as this ship! It was getting closer and closer, each clap of its wings sending gusts of gales howling towards him. The wind grew stronger and louder. Every now and then, a bolt of lightning would strike the sea, the bolt coming straight from the giant bird. What kind of bird was it?

Then it clicked in Solar's mind. It was a thunderbird! A North American bird that created storms. But what would a thunderbird be doing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? He'd read that some people believed the thunderbird attacked evil beings or creatures. Could it be doing so now? But what could it be attacking? He was given an answer when the mackerel shark resurfaced, lunging for the kill again. This time, it was struck by lightning that came from the bird's beak, causing it to fall back into the water in pain. After a few moments of the drone of the rain bouncing off the ship filling Solar's ears, the shark jumped out of the water a third time.

It aimed for the bird, its jaws snapping shut just below the avian's throat, the bird managing to swerve its neck away in time. The angry bird shrieked and fired another bolt of electricity at the fish, which hit it spot on. The shocked shark fell into the sea, presumably never to be seen again. Well, that was one threat gone. But, what about the other? He looked back to the sky. The thunderbird didn't let up with the storm. What else was it after? He didn't have time to think as the bird let out lightning after lightning through the sky and into the sea. He needed to stop it either way.
He aimed his gloved fingers at the legend, preparing.

His fingertips glowed as he shot beams of pure solar energy at the bird, the hot rays hitting their marks. The bird screamed in pain and created more lightning and thunder. This wasn't the plan. He had to push it away. Somehow. Then he had an idea! He formed a ball of light in his hands and exploded it, blinding the bird and anyone else who saw it, if there were any one. He quickly changed. "Amaruq Tempest!" He said as he transformed into a stronger and more menacing form of the wind elemental. He flew up into the clouds and hovered in front of the avian. Then he altered the air pressure around him, creating a cocoon of gale-force winds.

He concentrated the zephyr surrounding him until the breaking point, at which he released all the kinetic energy, the wind detonating and releasing a huge burst of air. The burst was extremely powerful, blowing away not only the mythical bird, but also the cumulonimbus and all the other clouds in a kilometre radius. The shriek of the bird being blown into the distance satisfied Tempest, thus making him cease his attack and return back to La Concorde. On the ship, he became normal and went back to enjoying the night atmosphere. That was interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open.

He looked back and saw Taggak at the doorway of the captain's quarters. His eyes were barely open and his face had tired written all over it. "Can you please keep it down out there? We're trying... to sleep. Thanks," he said almost unintelligibly before closing the door again. He must've still been drowsy from the sleep. Wait. Did they sleep through all that?! What the heck? How??? Maybe they thought it was just a normal storm? Amaruq sighed. Well, good for them, he guessed. With the mood ruined, he decided to just call it a day.

He opened the door to their shared bedroom and joined Atsuguk on the double bed. His friends were already snoring, probably deep in their dreams. Atsuguk's leg even twitched in his sleep as he whined. Maybe he was dreaming of chasing a rabbit or something. Amaruq pulled the covers over himself and his white friend and snuggled up. It was always nice to be encased in warm blankets on a chilly night.