The Gate

Chapter Seven: Fading, Fading, Gone

   My arms are out as I attempt to wobble my way across the thick ship rope Mother had been practicing on just half an hour ago. I've decided this is the only way to learn, as every time I ask her to teach me, all she does is talk about falling. I tried to tell her I'd be careful, that I wouldn't fall, but she just shakes her head and says: "Before you can walk the rope, you must learn the correct way to fall." I wasn't very interested, to say the least.

   You can see the whole of the ship from up here, the ocean glitters under the cloudless sky for miles. A gust of wind pulls me to the right and my upper body jerks in the opposite direction to try and correct the imbalance, but the wind disappears and I fall. Down, down, and into the arms of my trusted babysitter, Jesper Fahey. He grins down at me, his dark skin shining in the setting sun, and places me back on my feet.

   "I thought we were playing hide-and-go-seek?" He says. That was the only way I could think to get rid of him. I suppose he knows me better than that. "You better hope your dad didn't see that, or we are both in trouble." He ruffles my hair a bit before I hear a familiar voice behind me.

   "Hope I didn't see what?" I turn to run straight into the arms of my father, praying that maybe if I'm nice he won't tell mother I went on the ropes again. He kneels to catch me, laying his cane on the deck. His arms embrace me as his glove-cloaked hands attempt to move the stray ginger pieces of hair away from my face. I smile up at him and he smiles his slight grin before his dark eyes move to look at Jesper, waiting for an answer. "Well?" Jesper scratches the back of his head before motioning to me.

   "Little Miss over here was on the ropes again, took a bit of a fall." Father's face falls into one of worry before Jesper rushes to explain. "But not to worry! I caught her just in time." Father rolls his eyes and glares daggers back at Jesper.

   "You were supposed to be watching her."

   "I was! She wanted to play hide and seek, so I did, then she ditched me." Jesper points back at me. "She's a sly one, I tell you, where do you think she got that from?"

   "Her mother." Father replies blankly. Jesper laughs his hearty laugh.

   "Or maybe her demjin of a father." A female voice rings out. Father and I turn back only to be faced with my aunt Nina. She offers a small smile as she walks over, taking her place beside Jesper. Father gives them a pointed look before continuing.

   "Nina, since Jesper has proven himself incapable of keeping an eye on a single small child, would you mind taking over?" Nina laughs and Jesper exaggerates an offended look.

   "I'm not incapable," he defends, "that daughter of yours is just exceptionally hard to keep an eye on." Father ignores him and continues to stare at Nina, waiting for her to agree. She rolls her eyes and pats Jesper on the shoulder.

   "I would love to." She smiles at me. "C'mere, Little Miss. I'll even braid your hair." She offers her hand, and my father releases me. I struggle to my feet and take her hand, looking back at my father as she leads me away. To my right I see mother as she ascends the stairs leading from below deck to above. She smiles at me before approaching father, lacing her left hand in his right. His expression softens the slightest bit as he raises her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. And that there is the most affection he can ever show. The most I've ever seen, anyway. Father doesn't like being touched, mother and I are the only ones he even hugs. Which reminds me of a certain story I haven't heard in a little while. I skip along beside Nina, and look up at her.

   "Will you tell me a story while you braid my hair?" I ask. She smiles down at me, already knowing what I want to hear.

   "I suppose you have a specific one in mind, Little Miss?" I nod excitedly.

   "Tell me about the Angel with my name." She sighs.

   "Let's just get you situated first, then I'll tell you." I smile, happy to have my way. She points to a stray chair near the table Uncle Wylan normally sits. "Go ahead, then." She says with a smile. I smile my biggest smile at her, sparing the front tooth I had lost just a few days earlier, before running over and taking my seat. Luckily, there was already a brush on the table. Last time there wasn't, that was a very long braiding session. I kicked my feet a bit, bouncing in my chair as I waited for her to make her way over. She sighs again as she reaches the table and picks up the brush.

   "It all started a little while after Kaz, your father, bought this little ship for Inej, your mother." She begins. "They got married in the Ketterdam harbor, and for months they tried for a baby." She pulls out the loose hair tie currently holding my hair in a low ponytail to the side of my head. "They tried, and they prayed, and they tried some more," the brush goes softly through my long, red hair. "But for months nothing happened. Until," my favorite part, "Someone finally heard their prayers. They were just west of The Ravkan shore when a sort of-" She struggles for the right word, even though this must've been the thousandth time she's told this story. "-hole, I guess, opened up in the sky. And appeared a man. No, an Angel."she parts my hair, putting the right side in a loose bun to easier work with the left. "Yes, an Angel. He appeared in the sky, wearing a long, ruddy trench coat." Her expert fingers worked through my hair, braiding it quickly. I was always so impressed with how easily she could do that. "And in his arms was you, Little Miss." She pokes my nose with her free hand, making me giggle. "Just a newborn, you were. He offered you to them, your parents, saying how he was 'an angel of the lord' and their 'prayers have been heard'" She finishes off the first braid and pulls out the bun on the right, taking her fingers through my hair once again before beginning the second braid. "They were skeptical at first, of course, as anyone would be." They would be. "But when they saw he was serious, they could do nothing but thank him. Even after he left, they thanked him by naming you, their little miracle from a far away land, after him.

   "And his name, your name, was Castiel."