Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I do not own - Tamora Pierce does.
A Gift of the Waves
It was a warm sunny day with only a hint of a breeze on the shores of Port Caynn, late in the spring. Gulls squawked at one another, conversing, as they picked up food for their young. The waves lapped calmly against the shore, creating a sense of peace and tranquility. A peace soon broken by the excited cries of a four-year-old boy on a picnic with his family.
Gareth the Younger of Naxen, more commonly known as Gary, ran down the beach waving his arms at the gulls flying overhead. He laughed delightedly when the birds, squawking angrily at him, flew farther away.
"Master Gary, slow down and wait for your parents!" gasped the servant who had come along to watch the mischievous four-year-old. "I can't see them anymore. Master Gary, slow down! Master Gary?" No longer hearing his charges shrieks of glee the servant stopped, looked around and threw his arms up in frustration. "Goodness, now where did the little scamp run off to?" Scanning the area once more, the servant noticed small footprints wandering off around the corner to where he knew there was a small cove. Following the footprints the servant came upon Gary crouched in the sand, staring quite intently at something behind a rock.
The servant gave a sigh of relief. "Master Gary come with me now, you're parents are sure to be worrying abou-"
"Shhhh!" said Gary gesturing for the man to be quiet. "The lady's trying to say somethin'."
"The lady? What lady? There's no one here but us-" The servant stopped talking as he moved to stand behind his young charge and finally saw what had captured the boy's attention.
A young woman, no more than eighteen years old, was lying with her upper body on the shore while her legs soaked in the ocean. Her once white clothes were dirty and tattered; her normally fine, black hair was straggly and clung to her face, which gaunt and covered in scratches indicated that she had seen harsh times lately. She clutched a bundle of rags tightly to her chest with her right hand, while she held onto a waterlogged piece of driftwood with her other hand. However, it was her eyes that caught the servant's attention. Almond shaped like a Yamani's and set in a pale skinned face that suggested Tortallan heritage, her dark brown eyes burned with such fierce determination that the servant backed away ever so slightly, wondering what could have happened to put one so young into such a position. Still wondering the servant suddenly remembered the urgency of the situation when the woman's voice rasped out a single word, "Water?"
"O-of course," said the servant fumbling for the skin of water he had with him. Making a quick decision, he handed it to Gary who was still crouched in the sand and instructed in a more steady voice, "Master Gary stay put and help this lady drink some water while I go fetch your parents. Understand?"
Gary nodded his head vigorously, his brown hair flopping against his forehead. Satisfied upon seeing this agreement the servant turned around and dashed out of the cove, running as fast as he could along the beach. After about five minutes of hard running the servant stopped, winded and clutching a stitch in his side, looked around for the Duke and Duchess of Naxen. At first the servant couldn't see anything, but after a minute or so he could make out the figures of two people coming around a small bluff in the distance. Taking a deep breath, he started to run again. When he reached them he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Gary's parents were shocked at first to see him in such a state and without their son, but quickly recovered and helped him sit up against a rock.
"What has gotten you into such a state Bren?" exclaimed the Duke. "Has something gone amiss?"
"Sort of, your Grace," said Bren, still gasping for air.
"Where is Gary?" asked the Duchess, looking around, concerned at the absence of her son.
As his breathing calmed down Bren replied, "Master Gary is fine milady. He – he found something rather startling, not something one would expect to find on a beach, and so I told him to stay there while I came back to find you. I came as fast as I could."
"Clearly," stated the Duke. "Bu–"
"You left Gary alone? On the beach? Near the water?" interrupted the Duchess, a slightly panicked tone entering he voice.
"My dear, hush. I'm sure Bren has a perfectly good reason for this," he said eyeing his servant sternly. "What is it exactly that you found so startling and urgent as to leave our four year old to run back and find us, Bren?"
Bren, who by now had recovered stood up, leaning against the rock for support. "A woman, your grace."
"A woman?" repeated the Duke.
"Yes your grace. A young woman, about eighteen or nineteen I'd say, lying completely soaked on the beach. Well half on the beach and half in the ocean. She looked battered and half drowned if I may say so, but her eyes shone in a fierce determination – it was almost frightening. I was drawn over there when Master Gary said that 'the lady was trying to say something'. She asked for water so I gave my water skin to Gary, told him to stay and help her drink some, then ran back here." Bren said this all slightly fast, as if to impart the urgency to his audience. The Duke and his wife had listened intently and with growing shock a Bren's story. When he finished the Duchess immediately exclaimed, "Oh the poor thing, we must go at once to help her!"
"Yes, so we should," said Duke Gareth thoughtfully. "Well done, Bren. Take a few more moments to rest and then catch up to us."
"As you wish your grace," said Bren bowing. "Although it looks to me, sir if I may say so, that you also may have to catch up." He gestured to the Duchess, who was already about fifty yards away and increasing the gap quite quickly.
"Rightly so," said the Duke as he turned around and rapidly strode after his wife.
*****
The duchess was the first one to reach the small cove where Bren had left Gary and the mysterious woman. As she stepped into the cove her eyes flicked immediately to her son, still crouched in the sand staring in the same direction he had been when Bren found him, as if he had not moved. Reassured, her gaze followed his and she gasped. Just as Bren had told them, a young woman lay on the sand with the ocean lapping around her legs, her clothes in a tattered condition and her body not much better off. A sharp intake of breath alerted the Duchess to her husband's arrival and the Duchess found her eyes widening as the woman's face turned slowly towards them, capturing their eyes with her almond shaped ones. The duke and duchess stood in shocked silence as the woman looked at them, observing. The silence was broken a few minutes later by the sound of the labored breathing of someone running as Bren made his way to the cove. As he joined the duke and duchess, the woman's eyes snapped back to him and her lips moved in an effort to speak. "Thank..you…kind sir..for the…water," she said in soft though still raspy voice.
"Oh!" said Bren cheeks reddening as he was momentarily startled. "Oh – you are most welcome." The waterskin lay forgotten at Gary's feet. Bren bent to retrieve it.
The break in the silence seemed to snap the duke and duchess out of their shocked reverie and into action. The duchess picked up her unusually quiet son and settled him on her hip, while the duke cleared his throat. "I am Duke Gareth of Naxen and this is my wife Mariella, is there anything we can do…" He trailed off not quite certain what to say, as the woman's eyes closed and her mouth twisted into something between a grimace and a wry smile.
"Oh you poor thing!!" cried out Mariella. "What in Mithros' name has happened to you?"
A grating sound that could have been a laugh, escaped from the woman's mouth. "What hasn't happened is more like it," replied the women bitterly.
"Please, do tell us so that we may help you –" started the duke.
"Help! Of course! How thoughtless of us – Bren help this poor woman out of the water and prop her up against that rock!" exclaimed the duchess cutting off her husband.
Bren moved forward to do what his mistress asked but was stopped, by feeble hand. "No, please, don't waste your energy –"
"W-What?" stuttered Bren, his eyes wide. "You aren't going to let yourself drown are you? We can help you!"
Duke Gareth shot his servant a curious look, to which Bren was oblivious, and turning his focus back to the young woman said, "Yes, please do explain what you mean. I assure you we aren't the type of people who would allow such a thing to happen if we can do something to prevent it."
The young woman looked up at him, her eyes so piercing, so determined that Duke Gareth gave a start. But that hadn't been all he'd seen. The woman's eyes had flashed a bright ocean blue for a moment, looking so intently at him he felt like she could see into his mind. Like she was searching for…something. The moment passed almost as quickly as it had started and he relaxed as he saw that her eyes had regained their natural brown color. A new depth of understanding could be seen in them and a barely audible sigh escaped her lips. "Very well," she whispered. "You shall have it..my story..from the beginning.."
Mariella handed Gary off to Bren and they went to sit down on a nearby rock. "Surely there is something we can do to make you more comfortable…" said Mariella a worried look creasing her forehead. "Are you sure we can't help you to sit up against the rock?"
The woman shifted slightly, clutching the bundle in her arm more tightly to her. "No, I thank you. I'm..I'm not sure I would have enough energy to stay up," she admitted.
"Well…alright then," said Mariella giving her husband a glance, unsure. The young woman looked at them to see if they were ready to listen. Gareth cleared his throat and said, "Well if you're sure there is nothing we can do…"
"Thank you, but no. All I ask is that you listen to what I have to tell."
The duke and his wife took a seat on another rock nodding solemnly, as did Bren and Gary from their rock as her eyes met each one of them in turn.
She sighed once more, closed her eyes briefly and then began to speak in a tired voice, as one who had endured much. "This shall be very important to you so please listen closely and remember." All four of the Naxen party seemed to lean in a bit closer in order to catch every word. "My father was a Yamani warrior and my mother was from Tortall. He met her when she was visiting the Islands once in her travels, for she was a Shang you see. The Shang Hawk. They fell in love and my father convinced my mother to stay, though I was told it didn't take him much. They married and had me shortly thereafter. Sinako noh Kujiko. My mother stayed in the Islands unusually long for a Shang to be in one place, but she had us and we were happy. When I was about ten she was called away and we never saw her again. My father was devastated at losing her and he dedicated to himself more, focused even more on his job, on being a warrior. Not long after I turned fifteen he was killed in a fight with bandits. Since I had no one left, my father had been an orphan as I now was and my mother had disappeared five years before, I decided to come to Tortall with the hopes that I might somehow be able to locate my mother. A somewhat foolhardy goal I came to realize, as it is extremely hard to find a Shang in a country where you know nothing. In fact, as I discovered it is extremely hard to find anything in a new country. Especially for a fifteen year old female foreigner. I had some knowledge of fighting – hand to hand and with the Yamani glaive – and geography, my parents had made sure I would not be defenseless in life.
I dressed as a man and traveled for several months with no news. Two winters ago I ended up in Corus terribly sick and half delirious. A kindly woman called Eleni Cooper found me and took me in. She cared for me all winter helping me recover and even let me stay a little longer. When I was well enough to travel I bid her and her son farewell, and started to make my way south. I had heard rumors of a group of Shangs somewhere in that direction. It was most news I'd had the entire time I was in Tortall, so I grabbed at it. When I reached the desert I went for many days without seeing a soul. One night as I was about to set up camp, I heard the sounds of fighting. I grabbed my glaive and went off to investigate…" she paused and took a deep breath as if to steady herself then continued. "It was a group of bandits fighting two Bazhir. Why they were out by themselves at night I had no idea, but as I took in the scene before me I saw one of the Bazhir fall. I tightened my grip on my weapon and walked forward to lend a hand to the remaining Bazhir – I had never been a part of an actual fight. I came up behind the bandits and engaged in fighting them. I took out quite a few and had no idea if the other Bazhir was still standing or not, I was very focused. So focused on the bandit I was fighting in fact, that I failed to see where my feet were going and I stumbled over a fallen bandit. My breath was knocked out of me and I was momentarily stunned, though I still had a grasp on my glaive." Sinako's eyes had taken on a faraway look as she got caught up in the memories. The duchess made a motion towards her, but the duke stilled her hand; it was as if the young woman had forgotten they were there entirely. They resumed their positions as her story continued.
" I looked up at the bandit standing over me grinning, his sword poised to strike the killing blow, my hand clenched my glaive automatically – but the next thing I knew the bandit had a spear in his belly. His eyes fixed on mine as he fell over backwards. I lay still for a moment, but hearing no sounds from around me, at least none of fighting, I used my glaive to stand up and surveyed the land before me. I saw bodies everywhere though I did not see the remaining Bazhir among them. Turning around I came face to face with him. The first thing I noticed was that he was extremely handsome," she said smiling slightly. "And that he seemed to be around nineteen or so, a few years older than I. I also noticed that his companion was still on the ground. When I glanced back at his face, I saw that his eyes had widened. This startled me, but then I realized that I must have looked a frightful mess. When he spoke however, I realized that my hair was falling in my face and despite my clothes, I was clearly not a man. 'A woman? He asked in strangely accented Common. 'Yes' I replied and introduced myself. 'Sinako noh Kujiko.' 'Mohnak Qamit.' He replied.
I helped him tend to his companion and we returned to his tribe, the Prowling Leopards. They were suspicious of me at first, especially the shaman – being foreign and a woman who can fight and travels alone didn't do much to help my case. But I was able to explain my background and Mohnak vouched for what I had done to help him. To cut a long story short, I became part of the tribe," at this she held up her left forearm to display the thin scar that ran up it. "It was a peaceful time and I truly enjoyed being there. Mohnak and I fell in love and were married. The shaman still distrusted me and had been the only one against making me a part of the tribe, though the chief overruled him. When I got pregnant, he decided that I was polluting the tribe and did all he could to get rid of me. One night he cast me out of the tribe and I was told never to return. Mohnak came with me and we traveled north to find a place to stay. In Corus we ran into Mrs. Cooper again, and seeing my state she offered us her hospitality once again. We stayed there for some time but about a week ago we heard that we were being tracked down by men hired by the shaman, who apparently wanted me dead. I was expecting the baby very soon, but we had to leave. We traveled quickly trying to put as much distance between us and Corus as possible. Three days after we left, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl." She shifted the bundle of rags slightly to reveal the dark brown hair of a sleeping baby. The duchess gasped quietly. "Her name is Mira," said Sinako proudly.
"She's beautiful," breathed Mariella. "But what, what happened to your husband?"
Sinako grimaced as she spoke again. "Yesterday I was separated from him. We were attacked by the men who had been hunting us. He yelled for me to go and get Mira away. I wanted to stay and help, but he kept yelling for me to run and get to safety. So I did. I have no idea if he is still alive or not," she finished softly.
There was complete silence in the cove, save for the crying of the gulls and crashing of the waves, as Sinako's audience digested her tale and registered everything she had told them. Mariella was the first to speak. "Oh you poor dear!," she exclaimed, standing up and moving towards Sinako. "You've been through so many trials, and all at once! Are you sure there is nothing we can do to help you?"
"Well actually, there is one thing," said Sinako slowly. "I would like to ask a favor of you."
Duke Gareth stood up as her eyes turned towards him. "Whatever you ask, we shall do all in our power to grant it."
Sinako's eyes closed slowly and she took a deep breath as if steeling herself and gathering up the strength to make her request. "I would ask that you would take Mira. Take her and care for her as your own child, for I cannot take care of her as she needs. Please," she entreated quietly. "You are the only ones who can truly help her."
Mariella shot a quick look at her husband and knelt swiftly by Sinako's side as the young woman struggled for a moment to pass the baby over to the duchess. Once she had given Mira to Mariella, she slumped to the ground as if that act had taken what precious little strength she had left. As Bren started to move forward to help Sinako, Gary walked over to where his mother knelt and peered down at the sleeping baby. She opened her tiny eyes to reveal bright blue-green orbs and quickly closed them again. Gary, with all the excitement of a young child exclaimed, "Oh! She's so tiny! Mother, can we keep her?"
Bren, who had been stopped by Duke Gareth, now walked over to his young Master and whispered, "Master Gary hush!"
"It's quite alright Bren," said Mariella. Turning to her son she said, "Yes Gary, she is going to be your sister."
The duke had crouched in front of Sinako, took her hand in his, and looked directly into her eyes. "You have my word that we shall look after Mira and treat her like our own."
"Thank you," said Sinako. "That is all I can ask."
"Oh," said Mariella, "but are you sure there is nothing we can do….for you?"
Sinako sighed. "No I'm afraid not. I…I will go out with the tide knowing that my patron goddess, the Wave Walker, will take care of me. That she will guide me until I reach land and a safe place to recover. When I am recovered I will search for my husband. And find him alive…or dead," she whispered. Mariella shook her head in sympathy. "Thank you, for what you are doing for my family – I will be eternally grateful to you," said Sinako. She made and effort to look towards Mira, the duchess leaned down so that the little girl was within her mother's reach. "Farewell, my little one," Sinako whispered kissing her daughter on the forehead. "I shall miss you." She reached for something around her neck and pulled off a beautiful necklace which she place in her daughter's hand. "Good fortune and gods bless you my child." She turned her head back to Duke Gareth, then looked out to the sea. "It is time."
The others started as a powerful breeze picked up, making the waves increase in size. Bren grabbed Gary's hand and retreated back away from the water. The duke jumped up and helped his wife, with their new daughter in her arms, up and they stepped back to join their son. All four watched silently as huge wave swept inshore and Sinako, praying to her goddess, was overcome by it and pulled under the water. She did not resurface. They stared at the ocean for awhile longer, not quite able to reconcile what they had just witnessed, when a dolphin leapt out of the water. It waved its fin at them and disappeared under the water.
The wind roared again and Mira let out a small cry. Mariella looked down at the tiny child in her arms and instinctively held her closer. "Why don't we get her out of the cold?" suggested Duke Gareth.
Mariella nodded. "Good idea," she said as they started to walk away. "Come along Gary."
Gary slowly turned around and started ambling after the three adults, when the wind picked up even more. It tugged at his clothes, pushing and pulling the four-year-old, making it hard for him to go anywhere. He was still among the rocks, so he made his way to stand behind one where the wind was less fierce. Gary waited a while for it to stop blowing quite so much then turned, ready to run after his parents receding figures, when he decided to look at the ocean one more time. The young boy stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened considerably. The cove was teeming with life; several dolphins cavorted about in the waves, otters floated around on their backs, seals flopped their way up on to rocks sticking out of the water, giant turtles swam slowly around, and there were even a couple of whales jumping around in the water creating huge splashes. As Gary watched all of this happening, the air above the water shimmered and a beautiful woman appeared. She wore dress the color of the ocean that flowed around her, much like water flows over sand. Her golden hair had a blue sheen to it that was visible as it whipped around her lovely face shimmering in the sun. But what Gary noticed most was her eyes, they were a deep, vibrant blue green – just like Mira's. His jaw dropped as he realized that this woman appeared to be standing on the water, and he knew without a doubt, young as he was, that she must be a goddess. Probably the one Sinako had talked about. The Wave Walker. As he watched a dolphin – the same one that had waved at them before – poked its head out of the water at the goddess's feet. She put her hand on its head and said something to it, but Gary couldn't hear what. The dolphin jumped out of the water, and re-entering without a splash took off out of the cove. Gary had fully stepped out from behind his rock at this point, and when the goddess looked up she saw the little boy standing there, completely awed. She smiled at him and waved, then turned and started to walk away from the shore, the sea creatures following her. When she was almost out of the cove, she stopped and looked back at Gary still standing there, watching her. And across all that distance he heard a voice speak, a voice that sounded like the rolling of the waves. "Take care of your new sister, young Gareth for she is a very special child."
"I will," Gary promised to the fading goddess. "Don't worry I will." She smiled once more and disappeared completely. A few moments passed and he looked about, realizing that he was alone. He dashed out of the cave and starting following his parents footprints to catch up to them, thinking about what had just happened. And knowing that young as he was, he would never ever forget that hour.
Hope you enjoyed it!