I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update, I was faced with a few distractions this summer (namely hiking trips, mini-adventures, re-doing my room, get-togethers, drama, several new Star Wars games that promptly had me hooked for weeks, and a lack of inspiration for my several existing stories but a truckload of ideas for NEW ones...) Plus I wanted to give the chapter time to "set in" then go back and revise it several times cause what sounds like literary genius when I write it often turns out to actually look like the makings of a crapfic the next day. Anyway, to make up for the delay this chapter's almost twice as long. I appreciate any and all reviews!
Chapter 3 – Morning Breaks
Playlist: Pressing On by Relient K, The Show by Sanctus Real, When in Doubt by Thousand Foot Krutch, any Bob Marley song
The ship's lurching finally came to a stop as dock workers, clad in immaculate royal blue uniforms, tethered the vessel to a very worn and rickety post. Aurora tried to hold in the exuberance that was threatening to practically burst out of her, though it was by no means an easy task. She was already bouncing up and down slightly on the heels of her leather boots, but she contained herself further, at least for Cade's sake.
As soon as the ship was secured, Aurora bounded down the gangplank, breathing in the warm, humid tropical air. Exotic smells wafted in the breeze and the chirping of brightly colored birds punctuated the soft din arising from the small, sleepy town. Children played freely in the streets or splashed in the warm ocean. Older children and adults in simple, colorful garments picked fruits and vegetables in small, fenced orchards, carrying baskets in the crook of their arms and chatting and laughing amiably. Straw-and-adobe huts of all shapes and sizes dotted the shoreline, and Aurora could see a merchant here and there making their way down the street or disappearing into the general store or tavern.
It was most definitely a welcome change from Varrock. Aurora darted forward to the edge of the dock, light, graceful footsteps making the barest of taps on the faded wood as she soaked in the cultural epiphany. She bent down to run her hand through the water, and little fish of every color congregated near her outstretched palm as she held it there.
A heavier, slower set of footfalls proceeding down the deck prompted Aurora to stand again and present Cade with the widest, happiest grin she'd been able to manage since she was just a small child with nary a care in the world nor any responsibilities or norms to hold her back. That was how she felt now – oh how she had missed it! - and he could see it shining through.
Cade smiled back gently before quipping, "So I take it you like Karamja then?"
"Are you kidding? I love it! I'm so glad we came – where are we going to go first?"
"That, Aurora, would be up to you. What do you want to do first?"
Aurora tilted her head up slightly to catch the cool breeze coming in from the ocean, then thought a bit. She really wanted to explore the village, but then again there was the matter of the treasure. I suppose I can have fun gallivanting across the island when my obligations are taken care of...not going to have money forever, after all. Her eyes scanned the village until they rested on a hut with a banana supply company sign on the front. There were crates in front next to the docks.
Hm – bananas, crates – I think I might know one way to get that rum to Port Sarim. "I want to see that store first", she said, pointing to the hut. Cade shrugged his shoulders and followed behind her as she tentatively pushed the bamboo door open.
"Excuse me sir, where do these bananas get shipped to?"
"A food store in Port Sarim, why would you be wanting to know?"
"Oh, no reason, just curious is all. Might you have a job opening?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. Tell you what, if you can go out to those fields and pick bananas, then fill that crate out by the door for next week's shipment, then I'll pay you about 30 gold pieces. Fair enough?"
"Aye sir. Thank you."
Gesturing to Aurora's archery armor, he added, "You'll probably not be wanting to pick bananas in those...you can use the back room to change if you like. Sun gets powerful hot out here, especially during this time of day."
Aurora nodded and headed toward a door on the other side of the hut, sparing a "just trust me" expression for Cade. He only raised his eyebrows and leaned against the door frame, staring out the window at the idyllic seascape. It was probably prudent for him to quit trying to figure Aurora out – even in the brief amount of time he had gotten to spend with her, it was already apparent that it would take nothing short of a lifetime to try and explain some of the things she did.
Aurora emerged a few minutes later, dressed in the brown sleeveless shirt she had worn back in Varrock, and a long blue skirt. Her armor was tucked securely in her bag, and she said nothing, just beckoned Cade to follow her out the door. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she then strode in the direction of the general store, curious to see what a place such as this had to sell.
The open store was a tad bit cooler. Ocean breezes came in through the windows and set off seashell wind-chimes hanging from the ceiling. The hem of Aurora's skirt brushed away stray lines of sand on the roughly paneled driftwood floor as she walked from shelf to shelf, examining items from field gear to delicately carved wooden sculptures and shell jewelry. Cade shadowed her movements (minus the skirt-brushing-away-sand factor of course), explaining to her the uses and histories of items whenever he could, and Aurora drank in the information as always.
He beckoned Aurora over to the counter and proceeded to haggle for sheets of canvas and straw mats. The merchants, clearly used to having to deal with the occasional passing wayfarer, quickly settled on a price acceptable for both parties. Aurora furrowed her brow and asked, "Why do we even need canvas and straw mats in the first place?"
"Probably the same reason you're now a banana picker.", replied Cade teasingly as the looked over the back shelves, though he immediately sobered up as soon as Aurora assumed a defiant pose and leveled her gaze at him.
"No really, Cade. Enlighten me."
"All right, we'll probably be spending the night in the jungle and I doubt either of us wants to sleep out on the open ground, what with the spiders, lava scorpions, large jungle snakes..."
"Excuse me, clerk? Do you have those canvas sheets in extra-durable? And preferably critter-proof?"
The clerk smiled toothily and replied in a Jamaican accent, "No mam, 'dis be all we got. But don't you be worrying now, explorers like yourself come through here all the time and rarely come to harm."
"You see? We'll be perfectly safe.", intoned Cade as he brought out his money-purse and began to lay gold pieces on the wooden counter. Aurora took out hers as well and as Cade moved to stop her, she hastily stated, "No Cade, I'm paying my way through this. I've provided completely for myself long before I joined you and don't intend to stop anytime soon."
Coins counted, the pair collected their bundle and exited the shop. "Where to now, miss?", asked Cade with a dramatic flourish. Aurora rolled her eyes playfully and gestured toward the ramshackle tavern nearest the dock. "There."
Don't question her judgment...you'll never get an answer, man, just don't question it.
Aurora slipped on the "seasoned visitor" facade she often wore when she was in the more run down areas of Varrock. As expected, she blended rather well with the rather rough and scanty crowd as she swaggered her way to the counter. Ever playing her role, she slammed a tiny, yet rough hand down on the counter and demanded, "Karamja rum."
The bartender looked dubious at best but met her gaze with one containing a healthy amount of respect and gingerly produced an amber-colored bottle. "Sixty gold pieces." Sixty? That's gonna burn through half of my funds right there! That 'pirate map' better be well worth what I'm doing to get it. Begrudgingly she produced the payment and tucked the bottle snugly in her bag.
"All right, that does it. Now a quick stop into the banana fields and we can be on our way." Aurora strode briskly out into the midday sun, leaving Cade to simply follow in her wake. The fields were nearly empty, most of the workers having already gone to take their noon meal or just stay out of the oppressive heat. Waves shimmered over the tall grasses and the skinny trees did little in the way of shade.
Aurora looked up at the trees, completely at an impasse as to what to do. The trunks were impossible to climb, the fruit too high to reach or throw her dagger at. So she drew her bow and a sturdy bronze arrow, took aim right at the point where the stalk met the tree, and released. The arrow shot straight and smooth, piercing the target almost effortlessly. It looked almost like art or an exotic dance of elements to the two onlookers, but they had little time to gawk.
Aurora dropped the bow and held out her arms to catch the clump of bananas, holding it up like a trophy for Cade to admire once it was safely in her arms. She repeated the process four times and walked – more like waddled actually – back to the foreman's house with her arms full, despite Cade's ardent offers to lighten the burden.
She knelt by the crate, loosing the bananas then arranging them just so there was a small, unnoticeable cavity, looking around to see if there was anyone watching, then roughly shoving the bottle into the banana crate before anyone could see. She quickly nailed the box shut and reported to her employer, who promptly paid her thirty gold pieces and offered a future job if ever she should need money again.
Now all they had to do was bide their time in the jungle for a week and when she got back to Sarim there would practically be a treasure trove waiting for her. It was almost too easy. Aurora turned back to Cade and motioned him forth, jogging in the general direction of the outlying jungle.
Soon the underbrush became thick as the worn path thinned out, and Cade produced an adamant scimitar to help clear the way. On and on they continued, occasionally coming across a jungle snake or spider. Aurora had never seen those creatures at such large sizes before but attempted to take a few swipes at them anyway. Cade ignored it at first but when a snake snapped at her dangerously close, he reached into the large bundle he was carrying on his back, produced a steel kiteshield, and handed it to her.
"Fight if you must, but I'll handle the tougher creatures, if you don't mind."
"And why should I stand back behind this shield while you get to do all the fighting?", she intoned rebelliously, "If you haven't noticed, I have a weapon and I've been doing all right with it if I do say so myself."
"Yes but these are deep jungle creatures. More poisonous and ferocious. I have a longer blade, you're wielding a dagger. I'm wearing armor, you're not. I've built up a constitution against these types of creatures, this is your first time seeing them. It won't do for you to get seriously injured or fall ill in the middle of the jungle, Aurora."
Aurora was touched and momentarily swayed by his concern but... she wasn't going to buy it. "Thanks for the concern, but really, how am I doing to 'build up a constitution' against these things if I don't fight them? I'm still fighting but...I'll use the shield, okay?"
Cade sighed in frustration then nodded. More deep jungle creatures and the occasional scorpion came across their path and he attempted to distract the creatures to himself for the most part, unbeknown to Aurora. He had to admit, though, Aurora did know how to deal some pretty devastating blows with her simple weapon.
Hours passed and the unforgiving heat and humidity gave way to pleasant, cool afternoon breezes ruffling past the thick foliage. Both travelers' arms and legs ached from their journey and they fell into silence, too out of breath to consider a conversation.
The winds intensified ever-so-slightly, but it was nothing short of a merciful blessing to Aurora. She closed her eyes to savor the cold air in her face, and Cade piped up, "You feel that wind? Means we're getting close." He broke into a run as soon as the underbrush thinned out and Aurora followed suit. Suddenly, they broke through a final curtain of leaves and bushes, and found themselves in a lush clearing on the other side of the island.
Sticky, damp jungle dirt transitioned into soft yellow sand and shells littered the large alcove. A ramshackle dock was located to their far right, and all around the horizon was nothing but idyllic blue seas and the looming, rich green outlines of the neighboring islands. Little rivulets of light poked through a slowly gathering cloud cover and made all the vegetation seem to sparkle.
Exhaustion temporarily forgotten, Aurora dropped her pack, made her way to the water's edge, and plopped down in the sand, busy memorizing every detail. She wanted to keep this memory in her mind her whole life long, it was so breathtaking. Cade unstrapped his share of survival gear and let it drop to the ground before joining Aurora.
His eyes raked over the landscape before he turned to observe his companion's reaction. Starry-eyed and practically radiating wonderment. He smiled gently to himself – he had almost forgotten what it was like to be a new adventurer, to have every new mile trekked be a massive leap of discovery, to see every new sight as a hidden treasure for his eyes only, to simply sit and marvel at what a beautiful place the world could be rather than numbly glancing at it then moving on to the next payload.
"This is what makes it all worth the effort, all the risk, isn't it Cade?" Aurora's soft and unusually somber tone startled him out of his reverie and made him jerk back his gaze to the ocean softly thrashing before them.
"Yes...to be honest I almost lost my perspective..." He lowered his head, suddenly finding the grains of sand very interesting.
"Of what?" She turned to look at him. When his blue eyes met her twinkling green ones, she didn't turn away, just kept staring with avid curiosity written all over those azure depths.
"What it meant to do what I do. After it became obvious that I had a profound talent for melee fighting, navigation, and exploration, I began to earn larger and larger sums of money. My quests soon brought me into the untamed wilds hardly at all, and I accepted work based not on what I would discover or see on the journey, but what I would receive in return. It's an easy and tempting path far too many adventurers succumb to."
"I see. And if you don't mind me asking, just how far did you 'succumb', for you to know this?"
"Not very. I'd realized it a while back and have been battling with it for a long time, but it always seems as if the human tendency for greed and wanting comfort, and my own love for true adventure..."
"Wages a war deep inside you so that you don't know which way to go."
"Why, yes. How did you-"
"It was the same thing that kept me from leaving Varrock all those years. Every time I'd have things comparatively good, I'd still be too scared to up and go because of the chance I'd lose what I gained. So I'd wait to earn more and soon enough something would come up and I'd lose it all anyway."
"What made you finally decide to go?"
"Well, there were a few things. First off, when I left I had more money and skill than ever before, so I'd at least have a little something to fall back on if it didn't work out. Second, I'd always been afraid that I wouldn't be able to defend myself well enough out there, so I'd always put it off to work on my archery some more but when I felled that hill giant I knew I was ready. Third, I realized my little pattern of bravery and retreat had gone on far too long and was determined to end it. And last of all..."
Here she paused and seemed unwilling to say anything further, so Cade prompted her after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Last of all what?"
"Nothing.", she replied shyly. "It's kinda stupid, really." Now it was her turn to stare down at the sand.
He nodded and decided to let it go. "Cmon, we should probably get camp set up."
Aurora brightened considerably and got back onto her feet, energy and vigor renewed. She hadn't planned to have a conversation so deep, especially not with a person she had only met a couple days before. Even if they didn't know or trust each other well quite yet, it had been nice to get some of the thoughts swimming around her head for the past few years out into the open. "So what do we do?", she asked brightly.
"Well", Cade replied, shaking out one of the canvas rolls until it was unfolded completely, "you take these canvas sheets and fling them over a nearby branch like so, then smooth it out so there's no folds or snags, then it won't tear." He walked back to his pack quickly and drew out a handful of large wooden stakes.
"Now the edges are going to flap around and upset your tent if they're not anchored, so you see these loops here in the fabric? You have to drive these stakes through them with a rock or even your foot if need be, though a rock definitely works better. These smaller bits of cloth here are meant to tie onto the front and back and serve as tent flaps." He finished with his tent then stood back to watch Aurora assemble hers.
She picked up her own tent materials without another word, quickly located a low-lying branch near Cade's, and randomly flung the fabric so as to send it hurtling over the top just as he did. It missed by several inches and crumpled to the ground, accompanied by a few snickers from Cade. Aurora glared at him and tried again.
This time it secured itself and she smoothed it out haphazardly, as the branch was about six inches above her head and the canvas had been positioned almost diagonally. She soon got it in decent order and received the stakes for her tent from Cade, then finished securing her tent with a nearby rock. Finally, they both took out their sleeping mats from their bags and rolled them out under their respective tents.
A thought suddenly struck Aurora as her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten all day and was just about starving. "Uh, Cade? Did we bring any food?"
"Nope. And we don't need to. You've got a tinderbox, I presume, and I've got a small hatchet. So we'll catch what we eat and roast it over an open fire." After having trekked a quarter-way across the whole island and setting up camp, the last thing she wanted to do was fish but she wasn't going to have Cade feed her because she was too tired to keep working. So she dug out a small, crumpled fishing net from the depths of her pack as Cade assembled a makeshift fishing pole with a branch and some twine.
The two walked over to the dock and assumed their fishing spots, Aurora swishing her net around from the shore and Cade casting his line out into the shallow ocean. After catching about twenty shrimps, she looked up to see Cade hauling in a rather large trout. She padded up onto the dock, which she found to her astonishment wasn't even nailed down but rather tied together with vines, and helped him wrestle the fish down.
They presented their catches of the day to each other, grinning, before complimenting the other on their fishing and heading back to camp amiably. Cade felled a few nearby trees, leaving Aurora to build the fire with a surplus of wood. Surprisingly, she had it blazing within minutes – it had always taken him nothing short of a half-hour to build one. Without missing a beat, she skewered the shrimp and filleted the fish, leaving them to roast over two upturned sticks.
He gathered a few more pieces of wood before throwing the hatchet aside and taking a seat across the fire from Aurora. The sun was already setting and amber tones were cast over the scene, making it even more comforting when combined with the smell of their roasting dinner wafting through the air.
They sat in companionable silence, Aurora concentrating on cooking the seafood little by little, and Cade contemplating and occasionally getting up to fetch a wild herb or two, which was promptly used to season their dinner. When it was done, they both dug into the small pile of food with their bare hands, both silent in their intense gratefulness of the delicious meal and intent to savor it without the distraction of conversation.
As dusk transitioned into evening, the last yellow and red lines on the horizon fading into a dark blue expanse of sky, Cade sat up and declared that he was going to bed, punctuating the end of his sentence with a yawn. Right before he entered his tent, he stopped, glancing back at Aurora, and said softly, "Thank you for cooking, I can honestly say I've not had a meal that good in a long time."
He was rewarded with another of Aurora's beaming smiles and an equally soft reply of, "Well, thank you for catching the fish and, um, well, your company at dinner. I haven't had company to share my cooking in who knows how long."
"Well, now that fact right there is as plain a travesty as ever was.", he joked, the firelight dancing in his eyes as he chuckled slightly. "Goodnight, Aurora."
" 'Night, Cade."
Aurora heard the soft rustle of canvas as he crawled into his tent and settled in for the night. She turned around, picked up a handful of water from the ocean, and extinguished the fire with it before packing up the remnants of their food. She stopped to lay back for a few moments and admire the mosaic of stars twinkling above her. There was usually never a chance to stop and look at the stars in Varrock. It if wasn't the city lights blotting them out, it was the fact that there simply wasn't time to do so.
Silently she crawled into the warmth and shelter of her own tent, secured the flap, and delicately curled onto her sleeping mat. Fingering the soft sand only a few inches from where she lay, she listened to Cade's soft snoring emanating from the tent in front of hers and smiled in the darkness. This is where she wanted to be, for now and forever. Going to exotic locations, seeing things she'd only dreamed of before, winning countless fortunes, having more adventure than she'd ever hoped, and maybe even with a future friend by her side. She finally...finally...belonged.