IT WAS ALMOST ten in the morning when we reached Porth Llaffan, a tiny fishing village on the southern end of Newid Isle. As we got closer, my heart began beating faster. Something had the villagers excited.
We slipped through the gate and found that they were all gathered down on the beach. I peered around a few villagers. In the very front of the crowd, closer to the ocean than the others, was a young girl with her pink hair pulled up in pigtails. She was facing the waves.
"Ohh!" exclaimed one of the villagers. "She's startin', she's startin'!"
The girl moved forwards slowly, walking into the water. Then she kneeled down, not seeming to care that her patched leather dress was getting soaked. "O mighty Lleviathan!" she said, hardly loud enough for me to hear over the noise of the water. "Rise up from the depths and bless us with Youer presence! Lend us Youer power, and shower the gifts of the oceans upon we, the humble folk of Porth Llaffan."
As she raised her head, I felt a rumbling beneath my feet. I inhaled sharply. "Earthquake," I hissed, grabbing Cristine's hand. I was somewhat accustomed to the things, but the only one Cristine had ever felt had been the one that had started everything.
Stella didn't seem to notice the earthquake – I supposed the wings were helpful. She was watching the scene with interest. "Ooo!" she said. "What's all this about? Sounds juicy!"
"Look!" yelled someone in the crowd of villagers. None of them seemed perturbed by the earthquake. "Over there! It's Lleviathan!"
I followed the villagers' gazes to see a huge, purplish-blue fish tail come up out of the waves. My eyes went wide. How big a fish would it have to be to have a tail that size?
Then it slapped down on the water, and I ducked as a spray of brine showered down on the beach. Everyone else had ducked, too – except the faerie. "Aaaaaagh!" she screeched. When the water drained into the sand, I glanced up. Stella was frozen mid-flutter, soaked through and spluttering.
"Wahoo!" cheered a villager. "Praise be! Fish! Buckets and buckets of fish! There's lovely!"
Stella obviously didn't agree. "Gah!" she spluttered. "I'm fl-fl-flapping soaked! Why not give the newcomers a word of warning before it starts raining sprats and cods, hm!?"
Erik snorted softly. I rolled my eyes. Stella ignored us.
"So what was that gimongous great big thing anyway?" she asked. "And what's it doing being bossed about by a little girl?"
"Something seems fishy about this," Cristine murmured, and then giggled.
I buried my face in my hands.
"Almighty, Cristine!" I moaned, but I was laughing too. "That was terrible!"
She laughed. "Doesn't stop you from thinking it's funny, though, does it?"
Nick rolled his eyes, smiling. "There's something inherently attractive about lame jokes."
"Lame!" Cristine exclaimed, hiding her smile. "That is an insult, Nicolas Graych!"
Erik was watching all of this with what was almost a smile. Before the conversation – if one could call it that – could escalate, though, he said, "I think we ought to speak with this girl."
I glanced over to see the pink-haired girl talking to an older woman over by a ripped fishing net. She wasn't quite as little as I'd first thought, I realised; she was muscular, like she was used to hard work, probably fishing. Still, she didn't look very old – probably not even a teenager yet.
She looked away from the woman she was talking to and spotted the four of us. Saying something quick to the woman, she left and hurried over.
"You're travellers, aren't you?" she asked.
We nodded.
A relieved smile spread across her face. "I couldn't trouble you to come by my house this evenin', could I? It's the tiny little place to the east of the dock. I'm shooer youell find it. There's somethin' I'd like to ask you."
"Sure," Nick said. "What –?"
But the girl had already turned and gone back to her conversation with the woman.
We looked at each other. I shrugged. "Well," I said, "I guess we have a little while to wander around town." I looked over my shoulder to the little stone church. Even though it was Sunday morning, it looked to be empty. Everyone was out gathering the fish. "I think I'm going to go to church."
"It doesn't look like there's a service going on," Cristine said.
I shrugged. "I'd still like to go. See you later."
And, waving, I headed off to the church.
Cristine had been right: there wasn't a service going on. The priest was up front, seeming bored. I slid into a pew near the back and sat down.
Then I sighed, folding my hands in front of me. I don't know what to do. This is too much, Almighty, I can't deal with it all. The Faerie and Cristine and Erik and these fyggs – I can hardly even keep them all in my head together, let alone think them through. I leaned forwards, resting my head on my hands. I can't do this. Help me, please. Show me what to do. What I need to do, how I need to act, whatever – I can't figure it out. And I can't do it alone.
I swallowed as that thought went through my head. The idea that I couldn't face things on my own wasn't one that had ever occurred to me. I'd grown up doing things alone. It was the way I'd learnt to work. The idea that I needed someone else kind of scared me.
Please.
I was still sitting like that when, a few minutes later, I heard the sound of feet against the rush floor of the church. I glanced up to see Erik. He moved to the pew in front of me and sat down. I thought about saying something to him, but his posture forbade conversation. It was honestly about the same as mine had been – hands folded, head down, back hunched. So I let him alone and started flipping through the nearest hymnal. I tried to fill my mind with that music instead of what I could hear from Erik. But it didn't work – the quiet concern of his prayer crowded out any music I could conjure up from the book.
So I sat back and sighed inaudibly. My powers were definitely getting stronger, I thought. Normally I wouldn't have been able to hear Erik as loudly as I did then; it should have been just background noise, something almost unnoticeable. It was still quiet, but not as quiet as it would have been even a week before. I wondered if it was being in such close quarters with Erik. He was a Celestrian, after all, even if I was the only one who could tell by looking at him; he was bound to have some effect on the people around him. Or maybe it was my encounter with the Faerie in my dream.
Thinking about that made me feel strangely empty. It was weird. Others' emotions usually left me full to bursting. Things like what I'd felt when I'd exited the Starflight, or from Catarrhina's ghost, or from the Faerie, though, didn't. I couldn't understand it, but even just thinking about it left me with a strange longing which I understood even less. I didn't even know what I was longing for. I just…was.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when Erik spoke. "Strange," he said. "I would have thought, ready as you are to air your opinion on everything, you would have asked me what was going on by this point."
I shrugged, letting my heart slow back down. "I dunno," I said. "I guess I just figured that if you wanted me to know, you'd tell me."
"Mm." Erik nodded and didn't look at me. I shifted in the pew, thinking about leaving but unsure about where I'd go. So I stayed.
After a few more minutes of perusing the hymnal, I heard Erik again. "It is my master."
I blinked. "The one you said was strange?" I asked. "Aqu…Aquila?"
He nodded, still not turning around. "I spoke with Apus Major while you slept," he said. "He told me that Aquila was among a number of Celestrians who descended to the Protectorate in search of those who fell in the quake. I am the only one to have returned."
"And you're worried about Aquila," I finished. Erik nodded slightly.
"He is strange," he said, "and rather strict, but he is a good master and a good Celestrian. He trained me for longer than you and most likely your parents as well have been alive. I am concerned for his welfare."
I nodded, not saying anything. It occurred to me then to wonder about just how old Erik was. He only looked about fifteen or sixteen, but that had to be misleading if he'd been training under Aquila for so long. And when I'd met Cygnus, he'd said something about being "so many years" my elder. Just how long did Celestrians live…?
"So what is it that you are concerned about?" Erik asked, rousing me from my random thought tangent. "Does it have to do with what occurred between you and Cristine?"
I blinked. "How did you –?"
Erik snorted. "I may have been absorbed in my own thoughts," he said, "but I am not blind. You have both been very quiet ever since we returned from the Observatory. What happened?"
I raised my eyebrows at him. "From listening to that, it almost sounds like you care about our inferior mortal lives."
"I do not. I am merely bored," he said, but he was smiling slightly. That on its own was enough to surprise me into smiling back.
"Well, if you're bored," I said. "I'd hate to leave you with nothing for that big Celestrian brain to think about."
Then I sighed. "I don't even know where to start."
"The beginning is generally a good place," Erik said mildly.
I wrinkled my nose. The beginning was a place I wasn't ready to go just then.
Finally, what I came up with was, "Well, I guess it's sort of...I can...hear, I suppose - hear emotions, other peoples', I mean. They're like songs, playing through my head."
Erik's brows knotted up. "Songs?"
I nodded. "Really beautiful, sometimes. Usually I can't hear them well, but ever since the earthquake I've been getting more sensitive. That's why I had to leave after Catarrhina's funeral - all the sadness was overwhelming. Most of what I did before you showed up was sit there crying. And at the Observatory - the first thing I heard when I stepped off was this...this incredible song. I don't even know how to describe it, but I'd have gone on listening to it forever if I could have. And it was so powerful."
Erik didn't seem to have any response to that. I couldn't blame him. It was a little much.
"So...you are empathic."
I blinked. "I'd never thought to use that word. But yeah, I guess that's it. I don't know why I can hear it, but..." I sighed. "It's caused some trouble with me and Cristine. Trying to deal with it around people is counterproductive. I've learnt how to deal alone. But Cristine...she knows I can see ghosts and understands when I'm emotional after I help one on, but I don't know how to tell her about the rest of this. I know it hurts her when I shut her out, but I don't know what else to do."
There was a moment while Erik digested that. Finally, he said, "I do not know what to tell you."
I laughed drily. "Yeah, well," I said. "I wasn't expecting advice. I don't think this is something where someone else can tell me what to do. Anyway, I doubt I'd take your advice."
"No," Erik agreed, shaking his head. "You would be more likely to strangle me with your whip for attempting to intercede in affairs that are not my own."
This time, my laugh had more humour in it. "Yes, that's exactly what would happen."
Erik snorted. "I do not yet truly understand mortals," he told me, rising. "But I suppose you are not quite as strange as your behaviour would suggest. Perhaps by the time this is all said and done I will understand why Aquila seemed so interested in your kind." He shrugged. "Either way, you are all strange beings. And you are the strangest of them all."
"I wouldn't say that too hastily if I were you," I said, but I didn't bother arguing any further.
Erik didn't seem too interested in pursuing the subject anyway. "Goodbye, Tammy."
And he left the church without another word.
We were at the girl's house by sundown. Cristine was arguing cheerfully with Nick about the merits of Swinedimples Academy, a prestigious school in Snowberia, far to the northeast of Porth Llaffan.
"Well, yeah, their training programmes are wonderful," she was saying, "but from all I've read it's not nearly as good with subjects outside of that and the core subjects - maths, English, the like. Their arts programme, for instance - it seems really quite bad."
Nick was shaking his head before she was even finished speaking. "Those books had it wrong," he said. "My mum and dad both went there, and they said it was all round a great school. D'you know anyone who went there?"
"No - "
The girl showed up before anything more could be said, which was a bit of a pity - I'd always heard Swindedimples was a great school, and I'd more than once thought about trying to earn the money to send myself there for a year. The weather was terrible, but I was sure the place was brilliant.
"Hello, travellers," she said, letting us into the house and starting a small fire. "I'm ever so glad to see you. I've been waitin' for someone who's not from by here to happen along, see. It's just that..."
As she worked to build up the little driftwood flames, the door opened and a black-haired man walking in. "Jona!" he called. "You in, dab?"
We all looked up, and the man blinked as he saw four unfamiliar faces. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know you had comp'ny, like. I've not seen your faces around here before, have I?"
Nick shook his head.
The man returned his attention to Jona. "Anyhow... Mayor Bryce wants a word with you, Jona," he told her. "You'd best come along now."
"Oh!" Jona said, scrambling up from beside the fire. "Yes, of course.."
The man nodded and left. Jona looked around at us sheepishly. "I... I'm sorry," she said. "I won't be long, I'm shooer. Could you wait for me 'til I get back?"
We didn't.
We hurried after her across the darkening village, staying out of sight. When she went into what was without a doubt the biggest house in the place, I jerked my head towards a window. We certainly couldn't go inside after her.
Fortunately, the window was open to catch the soft breeze coming off the ocean. I poked my head up above the sill just far enough to be able to see inside. Jona was standing at a table across from a tall, thin man with a goatee - Mayor Bryce, without a doubt - and a sandy-haired boy who was probably about Jona's age.
"...Been a tidy old while now since Dylan went missin' in that storm," Mayor Bryce was saying. "I-I'm sorry in my heart for you, bach. But it's hopeluss to go on believin' he's alive. He's not comin' back, Jona. And that's why..." He took a deep breath and looked Jona directly in the eye. "I've decided I'll afto adopt you."
The sandy-haired boy blinked. "Hah?" he asked, looking at Bryce. "There's...there's fantastic Dad!" He smiled and looked at Jona. "You don't want to be all alone, after all, do you, Jona?"
"You and young Bryson here get along all right, like," Bryce said. "And I've always thought of you as one of my own, like. You've put on a brave face for long enough, bach. It's time you let go now."
There was a long pause. Jona stared down at the table.
Finally, she said, "Thank you... Thank you, Mayor. I'll... I'll be shooer to give it some thought."
Her tone made me doubt that the thought would end in her saying yes to Bryce.
She had looked up. "But, erm..." she continued, "bein' as I'm by here, there's somethin' I was hopin' to talk to you about too. I've been thinkin', and I don't want to summon Lleviathan any more."
That got a reaction. "But - ! Jona..." Bryce started. Jona interrupted before he could object.
"I...I just don't feel like it's right somehow, livin' like this," she said quickly. "So I - "
"Don't be spoutin' nonsense like that all bald-headed, Jona!" snapped Bryce, and I flinched back both from Jona's shock and the sudden force of Bryce's anger. "No one in the village wants to hear it. Brazen, it is!"
But before I could hear any more, I touched Cristine's shoulder. "Let's hurry back to the house," I whispered. "I've got a funny feeling the argument's going to be done soon."
She looked like she wanted to object, but I slipped away from the window and took off running across the village. I could hear frustration from behind me as the others followed.
"Tammy!" Erik snapped back inside Jona's house. "What possessed you to run away like that? That sounded like an important discussion."
"I think we heard enough to know what's going on," I said shortly. "That's got to be what Jona wants to ask us about - summoning Lleviathan."
"That thing isn't Lleviathan," Nick said. "Lleviathan isn't real. That fish is unnatural, for sure, but it's not a god."
"Doesn't mean it's not dangerous," I said darkly. "And you heard Bryce's reaction when Jona said she didn't want to summon it any more - he practically exploded! Cristine was right - there's something fishy going on here."
Erik paused. "If you two are correct," he said, "then Jona was right in not wishing to summon it any more."
I bit my lip and glanced out the window. "But we'll have to warn her to be careful," I murmured. "I'm sure she saw it, but... I dunno. I think she'd end up getting the short end of the stick if she crossed Mayor Bryce."
At that moment, Jona walked back into the house. We all shut up.
We stayed shut up while Jona told us in more detail what we'd heard at the mayor's house. Her father, Dylan had been lost at sea during the earthquake. Porth Llaffan had been in trouble - not one of their fishing vessels had escaped without major damage, and most of the nets were ruined. Then, not long afterwards, Jona had been praying. That was when Lleviathan first showed up.
"And ever since," she said, "the village has been relyin' on me prayin' to Lleviathan for all its food. It's just not right, relyin' on the God of the Sea for all our food like we are. But no one wants to hear it. And Mayor Bryce...well, he's the worst of the lot. That's why I was hopin' to ask an outsider like you for youer opinion. You know, someone impartial, like. So, what do you think? It's wrong livin' like we are, intit?"
"Yes," Erik said, not even pausing to consult the rest of us.
Jona sighed. "Well it's a relief to hear someone else say it at last, I can tell you," she said, smiling. "Right, I've got my gummel up now. I'm goin' to give it to Mayor Bryce straight this time. I'm not callin' Lleviathan any more."
She looked all ready to stride back to the Mayor's house, too, but then the clock at the church chimed nine.
"Oh dear!" Jona exclaimed. "Look at the time! I've been spoutin' off so much, it's got ever so late all of a sudden. And I don't suppose you've got a place to stay, have you?"
"Erm, no," Cristine said. Jona nodded.
"Well, youell afto spend the night by here, then."
And she would brook no argument, shuffling us off to bed like a mother hen with her chicks.
"Oi, Erik, are you awake?"
Erik rolled over, suppressing a groan at the unwelcome sound of the faerie's voice. "Silence, Stella," he hissed. "I do not wish to be awake."
She didn't take the hint. "Why did you have to go shooting your mouth off, hm? What if they kick the poor girl out of the village? I'll admit that Llevia-whatsit seems like trouble. He certainly needs to learn a thing or two about not splashing people... But what can we do about it? Are you going to poke your sticky nose in village affairs? Well careful, because it might get burnt!"
From a little ways away, he heard Tammy snort. "I hate to agree with her," she said, "but Stella's right. You couldn't have at least warned her to tread lightly where Bryce is concerned?"
He scowled into the darkness. "Why did you not speak up?"
"She didn't give us time," Tammy replied. "You were the only one who got a chance to speak. Why the bloody hell couldn't you have told her to be careful!?"
Erik snorted and rolled over again. He felt uneasy about the situation, but he certainly wasn't going to admit it to Tammy and Stella.
But, in the morning, he discovered that they had been correct, for Jona was nowhere to be found.
Well, here I am, shocked that I have once again managed to get the chapter within a week! I managed to cut it really close this time, though. It's six fifty PM on Sunday night, and I've just now finished. This chapter is not going to get any proofreading, I'm afraid...
Still, it's been fun. Imagine - Erik becoming interested in mortals! Doesn't stop him and Tammy from fighting, of course...but what fun would that be, anyway?
Anyway.
Hirundine, I don't think you want to get me started on my original story - my explanations start off strong and end with me stumbling awkwardly and saying, "Yeah...I'm not really sure how to explain it...it's like...well...um...yeah." Actually, that's how they start, too...
Well, til next time, may all the bodies of the heavens watch over you!
