WHERE THE RIVER MEETS THE SEA

"Lux's Sister," said I, to her.

And she answered, "Yes, my dear, DuchessKenobi?"

"How do you think it would be if we introduced these fine readers to yet another couple of couples?"

"I think it would be a fine idea, DuchessKenobi."

And, I added with a wink, "And didn't we promise that this story might contain the further misadventures of those wiley Bralykburns?"

"I believe we did at that."

"Then let us invite our readers to enjoy the next chapter of our continuing saga."

"Yes, let's."

…

Kayla watched from the tower window of Bralyk Keep until her father's ship was out of sight over the waves. Then she turned and ran down the steps to the room she shared with her twin sister. "Come on, Kora, we'll miss the tide!" She picked up the bag that she had already packed with her sketchbooks and paints and charcoal and pop-up easel.

"And why are we doing this again?" Kora paused the holo she'd been watching and rolled over on her bed.

Kayla grabbed her arm and yanked her sister up to stand. "Because it's a spot I've always wanted to paint and if we hurry we can get there when the light is just perfect and then we can get back before anyone misses us!"

Kora sighed. She'd been looking forward to their father's absence so that she could lounge around the Keep and do nothing at all. An impromptu voyage to some hunk of rock her sister thought was pretty was not in her itinerary. "Alright, but after we get back I want to binge this entire season without interruption till Talia comes to pick us up for her visit."

"I promise!" Kayla squealed. "I thought we could go out the kitchen door and grab some snacks on the way for the journey."

…

"Kayla!"

It was more of a shriek then a yell but the artist, totally focused on the piece on her easel, didn't know what the fuss could possibly be about. "Did we grab the wrong kind of crackers?"

"It doesn't matter what we grabbed now, Kay!" her sister steamed, marching back up the beach. "The food is all gone!"

"Gone? How could it be gone?" Finally Kayla looked away from the landscape she was capturing. At first she didn't notice anything amiss. "Gulls get into it or something?" She wiped off her brush on a cloth.

"Well, I have no way to tell." Kora huffed. "The skiff is gone! You didn't tie it up properly!"

That got Kayla's attention and no mistake. "But I did!" Kayla dropped her brush and ran down to the water's edge. "I'm sure I did! We both got out and you said you were going to go ahead up the path to find a spot in the shade and I stayed back to gather my supplies and…" and she was only going to set up the easel and come right back to tie up the boat but she'd wanted to start on her sketch right away and she got distracted. "Kora, I am so sorry."

"Sorry?" The older twin was pacing now. "Sorry doesn't make up for it! That boat was our way home! We're stuck here, Kayla, with no way back to the Keep, and no food!"

"I'm sorry." Kayla said again, now nearly in tears. "Salt gods, I'm so sorry!"

Kora sighed and drew her frightened twin into her arms for a hug. "It's... grr" It was Kayla's fault, and it wasn't okay, but what else was she supposed to say. "Someone will sail by. We'll flag them down. I'll get us out of this."

"Okay." Kayla sniffed and wiped her tears on her sleeve. "The best view of the surrounding sea is up where I've got my things set up." She hurried there herself, determined to be the first to sight their rescuers. Even though she hadn't seen another craft all day. It was one of the reasons she liked this spot. It was so secluded. Another ship might not come by for weeks. They hadn't told anyone where they were going! And Papa was on his way to Iziz!

The glare of the sun on the waves made Kora's head ache and Kayla had taken to sketching distractedly between sweeping scans of the sea. It seemed like hours but it had probably only been about twenty standard minutes when Kora perked up. "There! Is that something or are my eyes playing tricks?"

Kayla's gaze shot up from her sketch guiltily. She squinted in the direction Kora was pointing. "Aye! It's a sail! Maybe it's Papa! Maybe he came this way to get a catch before he headed south!"

Kora rolled her eyes before she began jumping up and down and waving her arms to alert the still distant vessel. "You really want Papa to catch us out here after we sailed without his permission?"

"Maybe he'd just take us on south with him rather than going back to the Keep." Kayla was always fishing for an excuse to go to the city. She stepped up her own signaling efforts, trying to make up for her previous failure and yelled at the ship that seemed to be turning in their direction even though they couldn't possibly hear her from that distance.

Then she noticed the color of the banners flying over the white sails, blue with a black ship at the center. "Oh my salt gods! Kora, it's the Blackwells! Papa's going to kill us!"

Kora was so angry, and relieved that someone had sighted them, she didn't care. "Beggars can't be choosers, Kay. And Papa's going to kill you is what you mean. None of this was my idea." The ship was now definitely moving closer but she continued to flag it down.

…

The Beast's Ride had already come across the skiff. The red banner with the blue stream atop the single short mast made it obvious who's house the craft belonged to but Captain Cade Blackwell was fairly sure the Lord of the Keep didn't generally make voyages in such a modest vessel. Nor would Hugo Bralykburn have been quite so lax about letting such a thing just float away.

Cade and his crew weren't technically supposed to be fishing in waters this close to the Keep but they'd heard rumors over the comm that the Lord's flagship was sighted heading south on one of his regular trading voyages and while they were in the neighborhood Double Trouble couldn't resist the temptation not to cause a little mayhem. It was just supposed to be a little prank: get close enough for Comm Officer Emoth Blackwell, hacker extraordinaire, to scramble their comms a little and then then they'd light out.

But that was before they'd found this skiff adrift and the young captain decided to do the decent thing and tie it alongside. From the looks of the contents it wasn't meant to be a long voyage. There was a picnic lunch but not much else. Someone out on a day trip? There was no sign of a struggle.

"I'd wager whoever it was wasn't a very good sea scout." Emoth held up the mooring rope that had been left dangling in the water when they found the boat.

"You think somebody might be stranded on one of these islands then?" Cade started to grin. He and his cousin could practically read each other's minds.

"Maybe a couple of damsels in distress just waiting around to be rescued." Emoth suggested with a shrug.

Of course old Hugo never sent a Salt and Light card to Blackhold anymore like he did when he was married to his second wife who had been a friend of Aunt Shara, but Talia Harkon did like to send pictures of the twins occasionally just so Emoth's mother could see how they were getting along. And they did seem to be getting along quite well.

Cade nodded. He wouldn't mind at all running into the reportedly lovely Bralykburn twins. "If it's not them it could still be a chance to stick it to old Hugo for allowing such stupidity in his ranks."

"Or…" Emoth smirked. "A chance to prove to the ladies of the Keep what noble characters we are for returning members of their house to their very docks without a scratch on their miserable hides."

"I'm sure they'd be eternally grateful either way."

…

It wasn't long before they saw signs of life on a little outcropping of stone that was hardly an island but a beautiful spot nonetheless. Emoth handed the quadnocks to Cade after he had gotten a look at the castaways for himself. "Well, it's them alright."

"Would you care to join me for the landing party, Cousin?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

...

Kora's sight zeroed in on the captain's insignia as the two officers jumped out of their row boat and pulled it far enough onshore so that it wouldn't be in danger of following the path of the wayward skiff. Kayla hung back, a bit guiltily. Of course the girls had heard of the double trouble Blackwell boys but they had never thought they would chance to meet them, especially not like this.

The four young people did nothing but stare at each other for some time until one of the gentlemen broke out in a laugh. "Hello, I'm Captain Cade Blackwell. This is my cousin, Comm Officer Emoth Blackwell. We'll be your rescuers on this fine afternoon."

"I don't know how we can ever thank you." Kora impulsively stepped forward, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Cade on the cheek.

"Well, that's a start I suppose." The captain looked back at his cousin and winked. "Can I ask who it is we might be rescuing?"

Kora rolled her eyes. "Oh, aye, of course. I'm Kora Bralykburn and this is my sister Kayla."

Kayla nodded but didn't speak and the other boy, Emoth gave her a bashful grin. She wondered if he expected a kiss as well, but he also stayed silent.

"How did you come to be in this predicament, the two of you young ladies out here all alone?" Cade inquired, roguishly.

"We're old enough to be sailing on our own, if that's what your getting around to." Kora answered him just as brash. "We turned 16 last month. It's just my younger sister had a little problem with getting our boat tied up correctly."

Kayla dropped her gaze to the rocks at her feet. "Just got a little distracted, is all."

"Not your fault." A new voice, deep and friendly, made her look up again. "Could have happened to anyone."

"I wanted to get right to my painting as soon as we got here. I… paint." She explained, finishing rather lamely.

"It's a nice spot." Cade spoke up again, grinning at Kora. "Beautiful view."

"There's a sort of interesting cavern I found, if you'd like me to show you." Kora beaconed to him. "It's back here."

"Please, lead the way." He followed her eagerly.

They made small talk as they walked, leaving the other two alone on the beach. But soon the sounds of their speech faded into the sounds of kissing.

Emoth tried to ignore it. "So you paint?"

"Aye." Kayla nodded.

He wondered if he should ask to see her work or if she would offer. What if it was bad? Should he lie and say it was good? What if it was good but he said the wrong thing? He wasn't really a connoisseur of art. He knew an artist had come to the Hold before he was born and painted his parents and Kase and Uncle Marl and Aunt Lana and their kids, but that had been before his Momma found out she was pregnant with him.

Still he should say something. He opened his mouth to ask about her hobby.

"Don't you want to kiss me, Emoth?" Kayla Bralykburn asked shyly, making him lose his entire tram of thought.

He almost couldn't hear her over the sound of his cousin and her sister making out deeper in the sea cave. "Aye, I suppose I do." He replied nervously. His fingers fidgeted as if he had a datapad or a game controller in his hands. Did she mean she wanted him to kiss her? Wires and circuits were so much easier to figure out than girls or women. She had said she was 16 now. She could captain her own ship, get a drink at the pub… He could get her a drink at the pub. He wondered if she would like that.

"I'm glad." She said. "I thought maybe you'd like my sister better, her being blonde like your Lady mother. Most boys do. Your cousin certainly seems to."

She was rambling and then she seemed to be waiting for him to respond again. "No." He let out a frustrated breath and wished Cade and Kora weren't quite so loud. He wished he were better with girls. Maybe that came along with his cousin's beast mastering skills. "I like you better." He attempted a grin like his father's. Everyone said he looked like Jamos, more than any of his brothers. At 18 he was the tallest of all of them but Momma thought Arkon might catch him up in another year or two.

That reminded him. "Are you coming to my brother's wedding? I mean would you like to go… with me… as my date?"

She smiled at him and he thought his heart would burst. "It's to be a double wedding isn't it? Your cousin Thias is also getting married?"

"Aye." His grin really did resemble his father's cheeky expression now. "Cousins marrying sisters, how about that?"

She laughed and a little more of his resolve melted. He moved closer to her and decided to throw his sheets to the wind. "Do you want me to kiss you, Kayla?"

"Salt gods, Aye!" She closed the last few centimeters between them and as soon as their lips met, he was lost forever.