Disclaimer I don't own much. Of course this means Inuyasha and his crew.
Of Fates Unknown
Chapter Four
"Maybe you're bringing us luck," Morvath grinned as he settled down beside her on the deck, where she was busy sewing a new tunic for Shippou, who was off somewhere with both the captain and Souta.
"What do you mean?" Kagome asked. It was the first opportunity she'd had to exchange more than a few words with him since they'd set sail two days ago.
He gestured to the blue-gray sea and the brighter blue-sky overhead. "The weather. It can be rough at this time of year, but Cap'n says he thinks it'll be an easy crossing."
She smiled. "I doubt that I had anything to do with it- but I am glad for it." The ship that had seemed so huge in port had begun to seem small indeed in the unnerving vastness out here.
"I just thought that being as you're from Domna, you might have a bit of Ceadda blood in you. They're supposed to have been able to make the weather, weren't they?"
"That's what the tales say," she replied in a voice far calmer than her thoughts.
"Do you think the stories about them were true- that they really were sorcerers?" Morvath asked.
Kagome was grateful for the fact that he couldn't see her face at the moment as they sat side by side. Sorcerers? Her people? A chill swept through her as she recalled her grandfather's words that time about "Ceadda magic."
"I don't know," she replied. "I've head the stories, of course, but- " She let her voice trail off.
"Well, I guess we'll never know, will we?" Morvath went on. "Since old Inutashio killed them all. And they couldn't have been that powerful if they let themselves get killed. Could they?"
Kagome decided to take a risk. "There were stories that some of them escaped," she said casually.
He looked at her in surprise. "I never heard that. Well, if they did, they'd better stay way from Domna, or Lord Inuyasha 'll finish what his father started."
Then he got up reluctantly as someone called his name. "Never a minute's rest," he said ruefully as he left her to join some of his mates.
Kagome's fingers continued to stitch nimbly but her mind was totally confused. Sorcerers? Was in possible? She was both repulsed by the idea and yet strangely attracted to it. She let herself consider it for a few moments, then thrust it aside. What difference did it make now? Even if her people had been sorcerers, she certainly wasn't.
But that chill returned as she thought about Morvath's parting remark about this Lord Inuyasha, the current ruler of Domna. What did it mean, really, to be a lord? She knew that the Vali had rulers, but her own people had none. Decisions affection them all were made at meetings where anyone could speak his or her mind freely. There had sometimes been arguments, but eventually, they'd all agreed.
It frightened her to think that she was now irrevocably bound for a place where one-man ruled- especially since that man was the descendant of the one who had killed her people.
)O(
Two weeks after they set sail, the ship entered the wide harbor of Tiamat. The Captain said they'd made record time, thanks to fair weather and favorable winds. Kagome had learned nothing more from Morvath, since she feared asking too many questions. Instead, she occupied herself with listening carefully to his pronunciations and then imitating them. In the evenings in their small cabin, she taught Souta to change his speech as well. Shippou on the other hand took it as a great game and decide to learn it as well.
She told them nothing of what she's learned from Morvath, but cautioned him regularly about not mentioning that they were Ceadda. He accepted this as children are wont to do, no doubt believing it to be just another one of those incomprehensible adult behaviors. And in any event, he and Shippou were far too busy becoming sailors, having decided on the first day of their voyage that that's what they wanted to be.
Like Aegir, Tiamat was a teeming throng of humanity. But unlike Aegir, the dominant tongue here was Rhea and most of the people were, like Souta and Kagome, dark of hair and skin.
She wanted to feel at home in this place but Morvath's revelations were weighing heavily upon her even though they were not yet in Domna. Still, it was a homecoming, and she refused to let her fears completely destroy that pleasure.
As they made their way through the crowds in search of an inn, Kagome saw from time to time a particular set of features that instantly reminded her of someone from her village. A boy about Souta's age scampered past them and she heard his sharply indrawn breath. The child reminded them both of one of Souta's playmates. She hugged him.
"There will be new friends when we get to Domna. I know it will never take the place of the friends you lost, but look at Shippou and think of this as a journey towards new friends."
He nodded solemnly, but she knew her words were inadequate. It seemed to her that neither of them had as yet faced up to the true magnitude of their loss- and their aloneness.
She chose another small inn and this time was grateful that the innkeeper wasn't quite so friendly, since she didn't want to have to answer questions. She'd been unable to ask either the captain or Morvath to recommend a place, since she'd told them she'd lived here with her nonexistent husband.
They stayed in Tiamat for three days. The weather had become much colder, with the hint of winter to come. On her first day in the port city, she found a dressmaker who could quickly outfit all three of them with winter clothing, and she purchased good boots as well. Then she went to a stable to inquire about purchasing horses.
When she told the proprietor that they were going north to Domna, he immediately recommended that they join a caravan rather than attempt the journey on their own.
"Is the trip dangerous?" she asked, recalling Morvath and the captain's statements about Lord Inuyasha and his wars.
"The first part could be, miss," the man nodded. "There's groups of highwaymen on the road and the soldiers who're supposed to keep them away are naught but thieves themselves. You should find a caravan to Gednay at least. After that, you could travel alone well enough. Then you'll be in Lord Inuyasha's lands and he don't let them get away with it. When his men catch them, they string them up alongside the road as a warning to others. A right good man, that Lord Inuyasha, there's lots of us would like to see him King."
The man promised to make some inquires about a caravan to Gednay. Kagome thanked him and left, mulling over this latest bit of news about Lord Inuyasha. Hanging robbers seemed a bit drastic to her, but it was clear that the stableman approved. Crime had been almost nonexistent in her village, though and when it had occurred, the culprit was dealt with by family.
)O(
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