My clothes were hanging out in plane site… But because of how short I was they weren’t exactly in reach, and I wasn’t going to jump up and down trying to snag them off the line… On the bright side, it wasn’t particularly windy at all. The air was nearly still, and the gentle breeze that swept over the deck gave me a strange nostalgic feeling.
The boat was massive, it felt more like a yacht. The deck held a massive amount of room for walking about, or storing cargo, like our carriage and horses. I walked out to the edge and stretched up onto my toes, leaning over the small railing, and sure enough I had only begun to see it. On the other side of a luxurious three-story mansion was another deck with just as much space, but with a massive crane sticking out over the side. Lining the hull were giant ballista that I could see poking out the sides, loaded with harpoons several feet down.
‘Not exactly outfitted for fighting naval battles against other boats, is it… Just… How big are the monsters in this bay?’
I slowly came down off the railing, relaxing again and refocusing my mind as the wind started to pick up, reminding me what I should have been doing.
I focused my senses until I found my brother on the side of the boat next to a small pillar attached to the railing. Of course, him being him he realized I was uncomfortable right away, and from that point on the issue was quickly resolved, even before we finished docking. He didn’t tease me or make any jokes… He just quickly helped me without so much as a word, something I truly appreciated.
After awkwardly taking my clothes from him I wrapped them in a big ball so as to hide everything I didn’t want to be seen, and followed him to a massive luxurious open room that looked almost like a private booth from one of those giant sports stadiums, from it I could see the entire bough and the front deck, many more, even larger ballista were stationed on it, some so large they didn’t look real…
“I’ll show you where the bathroom is, it will be easier to change there, rather than the cairage.” He said, calmly opening a door to a spacious and well-cleaned bathroom… One that had a sink with running water.
I timidly walked inside, more than a little confused, and placed my clothes on the counter, staring at myself in the giant mirror on the wall. ‘Ok… So running water… More dwarven runes? Actually, it’s a boat, so would it be that hard to do it without magic? I’m not a plumber so… They had this in Nayana too, but not at home, which means it’s either new technology, or they can only get it to work over very short distances.’’
I turned the sink on and slowly felt the cold water wash over my hands. There was no way to adjust the temperature… Or soap… But that wasn’t all that surprising. My awe quickly wore off and I got changed back into my dress, putting my armored greaves on underneath just like before. Given that Airsidh was the only one nearby, I was suddenly very glad I taught myself how to put it on without help. I was actually really starting to like it. The way it felt when the pleats swung around as I spun made me happy, like a kid playing with a pinwheel.
When I was all done I walked out of the bathroom and into the main room again, complete with a nice-looking sofa, and sat on it, once again looking out over the bough. ‘Why is the bough square… No wonder we're going so slow…’
“Is That better? You still look tense.” He asked, staring out at the shore as it slowly approached.
“Oh uh… Yeah…” It was a bit ironic, but even though I was certainly MUCH more comfortable, I still felt a bit awkward, although it wasn’t that bad, not having sleeves was a lot different than not having other things. I was just still a little caught up on Zu barging into the carriage.
“Did something happen?”
I looked over to him, casually sitting on one of the chairs, feet kicked up on a long table. “No uhm… Oh, well, actually you should know the lock on the carriage is broken… It wasn’t made very well…”
He let out an annoyed groan as if saying ‘What a pain’ leaning his head way back on his seat. “How did it happen…”
I sat down on the sofa next to his chair and stared off at the shore, nearly mesmerized as my eyes started to balance themselves like gyroscopes. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this…’ I closed my eyes and shook my head to help reset them, trying not to think about it as I brought my mind back to the conversation at hand “I locked it for a second so I could fix my clothes, and Zu thought the door was jammed, so I guess he just pulled harder and then everything kinda burst apart…”
“Ahh. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, I’m sure you're hungry, The boat has a dining hall. I can take you there if you want.”
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‘That was a weak reaction… Then again me feeling like this is just me overacting so… Ugh… “Uhm… I’d really just rather be alone for a while…” ‘If nothing else maybe I can sort out my thoughts and try to figure out how to make my eyes do what I want…’’
He let out a deep breath with a soft smile, “I admit, I’m a bit less worried about you knowing little things like that still bother you, even after everything you’ve been through”
“That makes no sense…” I grumbled.
He let out a chuckle as he tossed my hair again, moving my head enough to make me so disy I almost fell over in my seat. “Your eyes have looked lifeless for a while you know, which is pretty hard to accomplish since they literally glow now. I was beginning to worry that you had become numb to everything with all the crazy trials you went through.”
“This is me being numb to it… Numb doesn’t mean immune…”
Rolling his eyes he let out another sigh. “Either way, it’s good to see that you at least still care about your body… But then again you’ve always been shy, even when you were only 4 years old.”
It felt like a comment that under normal circumstances would have embarrassed me, but no one was around to hear it, and my mind was still elsewhere. “Well yeah, is that really so strange? Even if I don’t like my body it’s still mine, and I don’t plan on sharing it with anyone else! At least not for a while…”
“Share you’re… OK, I’m going to need to know EXACTLY what happened after the lock on the carriage broke.”
His voice lowered, sending chills down my legs, but when I looked back his expression was as carefree as ever. Still, it was startling. “Nothing… That’s why I’m so annoyed…” For a moment it was as if he turned to a statue. The steady sound of his breathing had stopped completely, and I could have sworn his heart did the same before I realized why. “A-annoyed that I feel like this anyway! Not that nothing happened!”
He started breathing again, somehow keeping his facial expression perfectly calm, almost as if that time he was too shocked to change it.
“He just walked in on me while I was adjusting my shirt and it freaked me out.” I felt my neck relax as I slowly started to tilt over like a leaning tower. “It’s not like he even reacted… I mean, I’m pretty sure he didn’t even understand why I bothered to lock the door in the first place… Which… Might make me feel worse in a way…”
He started laughing.
“You’re not helping!” I whined, punching him in the shoulder as I sat up straight again.
“Would you just relax already, you have nothing to feel insecure about. He’s an Oni.”
“Is that… Supposed to mean something… I don’t get it.”
“He's an Ogre. There’s no way he would be attracted to you, or pretty much any human girl for that matter… Well, Catherine maybe, she’s close enough to one of them…”
‘That’s just mean… Or… Maybe it’s a compliment?’ “That, wasn’t really what was bothering me, but I still don’t get it, why not?”
“Ogres are extremely aggressive, so their brains have safeguards put in place to prevent them from letting loose. In this example that just means they aren’t attracted to anyone that might not survive the uh… Let’s call it the wedding night.”
“Do they just like to party really hard or?” ‘In other words, if we got married I wouldn’t survive our—’ “What!?!” As I realized what he meant I felt another chill go down my arms. “I would die?” My voice cracked. ‘This is a joke right… Like just something he came up with because he’s being overprotective? But… Ogres are a different species… It could be legit…’
“They are REALLY aggressive.”
My whole body suddenly shuddered. The combination of realizing what exactly he was saying, combined with the realization of what it was that we were talking about, combined with the context, was just a lot to take in. My thoughts all pooled together until I felt my face turn bright red and my mind started to melt into a pile of mush thinking about how exactly I would die.
“Although from the looks of it that sounds appealing to you.”
Pulling my knees up to my seat I pressed my face against them to hide. “I don’t mind you teasing me… But can we talk about literally anything else… I didn’t need to know that…”
He chuckled again. “Right, guess I took that a bit far my bad.”
“Way… way too far… Why would it kill me?”
I heard him inhale, and before he could speak I quickly cut him off.
“DON’T ANSWER THAT!” I screamed. “Uh… My head’s getting all fuzzy again… When are we landing?”
He let out a sigh flipping a knife from its sheath and setting it next to me with a block of wood. “It’ll be a while still, the wind is blowing against us. But hey, at least you don’t look so gloomy anymore. You shouldn’t worry so much about being different, breathing fire, or anything else for that matter. Finlo will stop the dragon's blood from burning you up while you get used to it, and you look cool, not freakish. If anything I’m jealous, invincible eyes of stone that glow in the night. As an archer that would be a dream.”
Rolling my head slightly to the side I picked up the knife and block of wood, taking them into my small hands. “Thanks, I guess…”
“If you can’t sleep try carving something, take your mind off it.”
“Ok.”
“I’ll leave you be then, but make sure you eat something before we land.”
“Ok…”
I watched as he turned to walk out the door. It was funny, I had told him to leave me alone, but when he finally started to walk away I almost wanted him to stay.
“Hey Air…”
Resting a hand on the door frame he turned back without so much as a word.
“Where will you be? Just… In case I need to find you.”
A half smile crept across his face that didn’t reach his eyes as he narrowed his gaze. “I’ll be sparring with Zu, so probably the back deck. If not though I’m sure you could just follow the cries of pain.”
‘Why is everyone in my family so scary…’