Waves

"Hold on everyone!"

Estelle rushes to the front of the ship (unbidden, her photographic memory tells her she has read somewhere that it's actually called "the bow") and she grips the railing tightly. Her heart is pounding, her hair is being whipped all over the place, her knuckles are white.

Above, Ba'ul lets out a brief warning call – impact is imminent.

"Estelle?! What are you doing?! Get back from there!" Karol yells, but she can barely hear through the roar of the wind. Her eyes are fixed on the huge, sparkling, blue mass as it rushes ever closer to meet the Fiertia.

As the boat drops, Yuri's heart lurches too, and he is frozen in place, forced to watch Estelle's tiny figure hunched over the railing, bracing herself for the collision.

Time seems to have slowed right down, for a second Estelle can make out the reflection of the boat in the water below, and then –

The enormous ice-cold wave that crashes and breaks over the prow hits Yuri full on in the face – even from his position way back by the cabin – and the shock almost brings him to his knees. There is water everywhere, in his eyes, mouth, ears – he is totally disorientated for a few panic-stricken seconds.

"Estelle!" his mind screams, but all he can do is cough up mouthfuls of salty sea water and blindly grope for a handhold, try to keep from sliding all over the place, as he pulls himself upright.

"Oops. Sorry about that everybody," calls Judith calmly from somewhere above their heads, "I guess Ba'ul needs a bit more practice with his landing technique."

"You got that right!" seethes Rita – "Damn it, my books! They're soaking! I'll never get them dry…" Her grumbles fade into the background as Yuri focuses his streaming and stinging eyes on the front of the deck, and stumbles drunkenly towards the crumpled, sodden heap that is Estelle.

As he nears her, she suddenly flops onto her back and takes a deep breath – and laughs. She is absolutely drenched; her pink hair is plastered to her cheeks in places, and splayed out wildly in knotted clumps on the slippery deck beneath her. And she laughs, and laughs, and laughs, even as Yuri mutely helps her to her feet and places her hands back on the railing to steady herself.

Now upright, the laughter subsides and descends into a spluttering cough, as her body finally catches up the reality. The coughing fit over, she finally wipes her salty hair away from her eyes, and looks out over the vast, shining miracle in front of her, behind her, all around her. And smiles.