Chapter 6: Thoughts and Dreams
Tyrell rolled out of his bed groggily and sloppily put on his boots and overcoat. It was early, far too early in Tyrell's opinion, but he had to help Eoleo, and since no one wanted to get up this early, Tyrell was elected to do it. Tyrell slowly made his way up to the top of the deck where he was handed a mop and bucket filled with soapy water. Drearily, and without being fully awake, the Mars Adept began cleaning the wooden deck. He was making slow progress, but Tyrell didn't care; it'd get done when it got done.
After two hours of swamping the deck, Tyrell had finally finished, and just in time for the sun to come up. Tyrell turned and smiled at the Radiant Dawn that escaped from the edge of Weyard. It was beautiful, and reminded Tyrell of the Dawns that he had seen during the Grave Eclipse. Though they had been few and far between, the Dawns had perfectly symbolized what the Children of Vale were fighting for.
Tyrell sighed and began walking down to the galley to grab some food only to be stopped by one of Eoleo's pirates.
"Not so fast Cabin Boy." The pirate had a patch over his right eye, and lacked hair of any sort; something quite rare for a man of Weyard. "The sails need to be released."
Tyrell knew that realized that Patch here was trying to shrug off his own work to Tyrell, but the Mars Adept didn't want to make enemies on his first day aboard.
"Yeah ok." Tyrell turned around and went to the side of the ship.
Tyrell had learned to set up the sails of the ship during the Grave Eclipse. Eoleo had been running a skeleton crew, so Tyrell, Amiti, Matthew and even Rief and the girls had learned how to set up sails, anchor the ship, and steer. But Patch didn't know that.
Tyrell grinned as he began to climb up the rope ladder. As the Mars Adept climbed up, powerful gusts of wind waded through his hair and cloths. If not for his natural warmth, Tyrell was sure that he would have been chilled by the air. When he reached the top of the rope ladder, Tyrell pulled himself up and onto the small platform at the top.
Before him was a ladder leading directly up into the Crow's Nest, but that wasn't where Tyrell needed to go. Instead, the Fire Adept carefully walked on the beam that supported the sails. Tyrell had to move slowly in order to avoid falling off, but it wasn't too bad, which was surprising, considering Tyrell's normal clumsiness.
Once Tyrell reached the first knot that secured the sail, he bent down and untied it, letting the sail begin its' way down. Then, he continued further down the beam and reached the next knot. Repeating the process, Tyrell untied the knot and let the sail down. With this sail done, Tyrell carefully climbed back and then went up further to release the second sail.
Once again repeating his early process, Tyrell eventually let down the sail. As he made his way down, Tyrell paused to admire the beauty of the Dawn, and feel the wind travel through his hair. It reminded him of Karis. Tyrell dropped his head and descended the rest of the way in sadness.
When Tyrell reached the deck, Patch was nowhere to be seen. Tyrell rolled his eyes and walked into the galley and got some breakfast biscuits. Tyrell went to grab three, but the cook hit Tyrell's hand.
"Newcomers get one." The Cook snapped quickly.
Tyrell sighed and took his one biscuit to a table near the back of the galley. Sitting down, Tyrell took a gorged himself on the biscuit, finishing it in a mere ten seconds; partly because it tasted like tree-bark mixed with mud, and partly because it was so small. The Mars Adept sighed again, highly disappointed in the quality and quantity of the food.
Once he had completed his breakfast, the Mars Adept stood and walked topside of the ship hoping to find something to do.
"Aye, you with the straight hair, come ere!" Shouted a grizzled old voice.
Tyrell looked to the voice and connected it with an older pirate with a long white ponytail and beard. The Adept jogged over to the pirate quickly, sense he had nothing better to do.
"What do you need?" Tyrell asked.
"The ole mermaid needs some cleaning, and you're going ta do it."
Tyrell sighed as he realized today would be a long, hard and frankly, terrible day. It made him wonder why he had even left Amiti's ship anyway…
-Amiti's Ship
Karis sighed as she watched the sun rise up over the edge of Weyard and slowly ascend into the sky in a Radiant Dawn. She had worried for Tyrell a bit; despite how angry she was with him. At least, she was sort of angry with him. Especially after he had punched and hurt Amiti. Karis should have been angry at him. But she wasn't. And she didn't understand why she wasn't angry.
Karis blinked as the sun fled behind the clouds, giving a glorious haze of light upon the ocean. After the Grave Eclipse, Karis had grown to appreciate the Dawn. Karis turned from her balcony and walked back into her room. Slipping out of her nightgown, Karis went to her dresser and selected her usual outfit.
Once she was dressed, the Jupiter Adept went topside in order to feel the wind flowing through her hair. It was pleasant, and Karis appreciated the solitude. After a few minutes of the wind-flow, Karis retreated back towards the galley in order to get some breakfast for the rest of the day.
Selecting two eggs and some bacon, Karis ate quickly at a table with Captain Maro. The man was fairly quiet, but Karis trusted and respected him. Apparently he was a journeyman of sailing, having been taught by the legendary Captain Piers. Karis didn't know how much of that was true though; Piers worked with almost the exact same crew for the past thirty years, only three had left his service. Three more had died and been replaced, but still; no one would leave the best of the best.
Karis didn't think the man was lying. After all, it was the crew that spread the rumors, and believing that Maro had been trained by the best would be comforting to say the least. Karis kept up pleasantries, and small talk, but soon enough the captain had to leave. Luckily, just as Maro left, Amiti showed up with his own tray of food.
He carried his personal favorites: Biscuits coated with gravy, several strips of bacon, and a southern Hesperian dish known as a 'taquito'; it was egg and sausage wrapped in a thin piece of bread, Karis hadn't heard of it before.
Since she wanted to be kind and polite, Karis stayed with Amiti as he ate. While he ate quickly, they talked. Mostly small talk, nothing relationship changing or anything close to that. They talked about the food, Captain Maro, even Matthew and Sveta a bit; but nothing major. It bothered Karis to some extent, but now wasn't the time or place for a relationship-talk conversation. Instead, she put her hand on top of Amiti's and smiled as she listened to him talk about a funny story involving Himi and Rief.
She laughed at the parts that were funny, and sighed when they weren't.
"Karis, are you alright? You don't seem like your usual self this morning." Amiti asked tenderly.
"I'm fine." Karis replied with a yawn. "I just feel a bit off, I'll get over it." Karis answered with a reassuring smile.
Amiti nodded. "Just remember, we're in a relationship now, you can tell me whatever you want."
In her head, Karis said That goes both ways Amiti. But instead of reply like that, she nodded. "I know." It was true. She knew that she could tell Amiti anything. It was just that… he didn't tell her anything, and that was bothering the Jupiter Adept. Normally she wouldn't be annoyed by that, and it was confounding her.
Amiti smiled at the beautiful Jupiter Adept. "Well, I need to go attend to the bridge. I'll see you later." Amiti leaned in and pecked Karis on the cheek. "Get some rest, you're bound to need it."
Karis smiled. "I will, see you later." She waved as he stood up and walked away.
Karis stood up from her seat at the table and decided to take Amiti's advice. A nice little cat-nap sounded, well for lack of a better word, nice. After reaching her room, Karis saw her balcony and thought of a wonderful idea. Grabbing a quilt from the closet, Karis walked out onto the balcony and curled up in one of the chairs. Soon enough, the Jupiter Adept fell into a pleasant little sleep.
It was nice, Karis reflected, as she smiled at the children before her. The boy, with his mothers' trademark green hair, was as fragile as he was cute; but he was a quick one. They had discovered that he was a Jupiter Adept shortly after he turned one. The boy began summoning powerful winds to flow throughout the house. It had frightened Karis for a bit. But that was primarily due to her daughter.
Her daughter, a sarcastic joker with infinite endurance now, had once been a fragile baby. The slightest fly on her leg would scare the poor little girl. But eventually, she learned to incinerate them, which ceased Karis' worries about her daughters' fragility. As her hair grew longer, the child grew stronger. Her hair was just like her fathers' a beautifully fierce red color now. Wait a second, Red? Shouldn't it be blue? Karis thought bewilderedly.
Karis sat up from her place on the couch and looked around the room. The father was nowhere to be scene.
"What are you doing mommy?" The boy asked. Despite instantly knowing their ages (6 and 5), Karis could not remember their names.
"Looking for your daddy." Karis replied sweetly. "Amiti?"
"Uncle Amiti isn't here mommy." The little girl said. "Dad is outside though."
Karis' eyes widened, and a terrible feeling entered her stomach. Karis slowly made her way through the door and into the backyard. Standing there, working on a treehouse was Garet, Tyrell, Matthew and Isaac.
"Hey Wife, What to lift me my axe?" Tyrell asked with a smile.
Karis fell back to the ground as the shock hit her. Her boyfriend, one of her closest friends ever wasn't her husband. Instead, the cocky brute who Karis refused to acknowledge was married to her! And the father of her children! Which meant that they had…
Karis screamed wildly, and Tyrell came running to her; jumping off of the tree he was on and at her side with ten seconds.
"What's wrong, are you hurt?" Tyrell asked worriedly.
Karis face simply got more confused as she realized that he didn't hate her. He didn't hate her. HE didn't hate her! Karis leaned forward into his shoulder, and felt tears escape her eyes.
This place was so perfect. She had had a future! A future with a loving man who cared for her. And children who were beautiful and kind! A community of friends! And she had thrown it away! Why? Because he had pushed her! She had torn apart the Warriors of Vale because Tyrell had pushed her! Karis cried into Tyrell's shoulder as the consequences of her mistake, her grave mistake, hit her full force.
Karis sat up in her bed, fresh tears still on her face. Karis sat there for a while, unmoving. She understood, no. She was beginning to understand what had happened. And it was her fault. She had escalated the argument. Played his anger. Set him up to hurt her. Karis felt a few new tears converge on her cheek.
After a long time of crying, Karis got up to see Matthew. He was always so wise. He always knew what to do. Probably why he's the leader the Jupiter Adept thought.Karis was surprised when she saw that it was dusk: she had slept most of the day away. Karis shrugged off the surprise and continued down to Matthew's cabin, knocking on his door and waiting for him to answer.
It didn't take long.
"Karis? I thought you were sick. What's going on?" He asked caringly.
Karis smiled faintly while pressing her fingers together lightly. "I was feeling a bit under the weather. I was hoping I could talk to you."
"Sure. Come on in." Matthew stepped back and gestured for Karis to enter.
Karis kept her faint smile up as she came inside and sat on his couch.
"So, what's going on?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"I… I messed up." Karis revealed, before plunging her face into her hands.
"And?" Matthew asked unflinching.
"And?" Karis asked, surprised at his curt response.
"I already knew you messed up Karis. Tyrell did too, but he's facing the consequences of it. You haven't." Matthew answered.
Karis was taken aback from Matthew's response. It hadn't occurred to her that Tyrell was paying for their fight that wasn't even entirely his fault.
"I-… I'm sorry Matthew. I was just so, so, so Mad! He pushed me, beat up Amiti and, and and, called me a monster. I was just angry. I don't know why I said that to him." Karis felt several tears stream down her face. "I wish I hadn't done that. If I could go back in time and change that, I would."
"I know you're sorry Karis. I know you're upset and I know that you're hurt. But I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to." Matthew said calmly. Slowly he walked over to Karis and sat next to her, reaching his arm over her shoulders and pulling her close. Karis stayed there like that for a while, not want to move at all.
"So you'll talk to him?" Matthew asked several minutes later.
Karis nodded. "I'll talk to him when we get to Yamata." A few minutes later she spoke again. "Matthew will you do me a favor and keep this between me and you?"
"Like, not telling Amiti?" Matthew asked.
Karis nodded in response.
"Ok, I won't tell him."
Karis smiled as Matthew slowly rubbed her back and held her.
-Eoleo's Ship
Tyrell groaned as he finished his last task: dumping out and then cleaning the bathroom. It had taken a couple hours. It had smelt terrible, and sucked. But Tyrell had done it. After all, Eoleo had said to help out.
Tyrell put the poop bucket back in its' place and then burned every germ off of his clothes and skin; utilizing his Mars Psynergy to do so. It went quickly, so Tyrell walked around to the dining room. Tyrell had heard a few of the pirates mentioning a party that was going to be happening; so Tyrell thought he'd drop by.
Tyrell entered the dining room and was surprised to see it filled with pirates. Ten were dancing while three women were up on a stage singing. Eoleo was at the bar with two scantily clad woman around his arms.
"Tyrell!" Eoleo shouted. "Glad you could make it, come on over ere." He said gesturing.
Tyrell obliged and walked over to Eoleo. The child of Vale smiled at his ally. "What's going on Eoleo?" Tyrell asked.
"Living it up! Ere, ave a drink!" Eoleo bellowed, sliding Tyrell a cup of… something. Eoleo laughed when Tyrell didn't drink it. "It's not poison boy, just tasty!"
Tyrell smiled and took a gulp of the – "Darn that's good stuff." Tyrell said before taking another huge gulp.
Maybe, just maybe, this boat-ride wouldn't be as bad as he had thought it would be.
Author's Notes: Well, this one came out faster than expected. I didn't think I'd have another chapter till June or July. But I'm mostly free of school, so I don't have anything keeping me from writing. As always, I heavily appreciate reviews and feedback. And I hope you enjoyed it.
Next time, on Sparks of Sacrifice: The last chapter before the Arrival. Tyrell is going to enter into an arm-wrestling match, which'll be interesting to say the least. Thanks for Reading, I hope you review!
