This was the first time he had ever seen the sea, spending most of his life deep in the forests and mountains made it so, he walked along the dock along with everyone else, Allera had already got in to the Red Mountain, a giant ship, more then 40 meters long, built out of red wood with two floors above deck and three bellow, Allera had command over the top one along with the ships captain who was under her orders over 100 men where aboard most of Alleras soldiers stayed and those who wanted to follow her back to the mainland mostly came on the overcrowded smaller ships following the Red Mountain, when they boarded Leif begun to look around, after seeing the soldiers and workers going down under the deck he started to follow them, just to be stopped by Katlyn's hand on his shoulder.
Katlyn: [Where are you going?]
Leif: [To my quarters?]
Katlyn chuckled.
Katlyn: [Youre not sleeping down there silly, cmon where staying on the second floor.]
Leif followed her the stairs to the floor above the deck, it was big and spacious, handmaids walked up and down from Allera's floor, according to Katlyn she was very picky about her rooms, there where four rooms on the second floor, the first two where already occupied by the Red Mountain's captain's men, Gregory took the third and by Katlyn's words he would do one of three things all day: drink all day and vomit all around, throw loud and never ending parties and orgies, neither of them wanted to participate in any of those things, so the both of them took the last room, thankfully that one had two bed bunks, the last thing the both of them wanted was to sleep with the person they were the most conscious of.
They passed the next few days quite quickly, while the sea movements made Leif a bit sick bow and then Katlyn was always there to offer him a couple medicinal plants he didnt know for him to chew on, some of them made his tongue really red, the two kids talked quite a lot for most of the day, even at night where they would talk until both of them where already passing out, every two or so days Allera would step dow from her private floor and take Leif to the deck for a quick duel with wood swords to "keep the both of them sharp" in her own words.
Six days aboard the Red Mountain Leif was at on the ships bow, observing as the workers passed by from time to time, enjoying the soft salty breeze coming from the ocean, he closed his eyes but once he heard the chocked quacks of the Pearl Seagulls that gathered on the masts he opened them once more and looked up.
???: [Seems like where nearing land.]
Leif looked up, a tall and broad brown skinned man stood close, he had sharp eyes and thick grizzled beard.
Leif: [How do you know?]
???: [Pearls Seagulls are common around the south Kirthian islands, that and the fact we made a turn to stop on land less then a hour ago.]
The man chuckled to himself.
???: [Loland Flemmer, pleased to meet you boy.]
Leif: [Leif.]
He said as he grasped the mans big and calloused hand.
Leif: [Where are you from, Loland?]
Loland: [Im from many places boy, many, but if youre asking where i was born, then were talking about the north of the Meshna Expanse.]
Leif: [And where is that?]
Loland: [To the north of Jirandal, on the south of Cithroam, its quite rare to meet another person from Cithroam in such a high class ship.]
Leif: [You knew i was from Cithroam?]
Loland: [No Pallaccian kid goes to Cithroam in the first place for them to come back.]
Leif looked away into the sea.
Loland: [Not to mention your eyes.]
Leif: [My eyes?]
Loland: [Me and you both, and every other person from Cithroam, we have different eyes from everyone else, dont you think so?]
Leif looked up a the mans eyes, the man had small and thin eyes while Leif's where bigger and fuller, the mans had deep black color whille Leif's where a pale grey, but the both had the same defiant glint to them, the brave look of someone who wouldn't go down without a fight, Leif chuckled.
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Leif: [I guess so.]
A day had passed and by sunrise they where already moored on the port of a merchant village by the south coast of Kirthia, Leif sat on the bow once more, it had become his favorite spot over the week, he watched the town's people work on the harbor, men carried heavy cargo off ships, women prepared stalls and small tents to sell all kinds of food, children ran around throught the stone streets, outside of his short stay in Cithii, in wich he stayed most off inside Sommerhall, this was the first time he actually got a good look at a actual city, the only thing that came cose was the brief memories off his village, he hated those memories, the boy took the sword from his belt and hugged it to his chest, looking out a the streets and houses with melancholy in his eyes.
Katlyn: [What are you looking at?]
His heart jumped a little, he looked back at her, she had her long black hair down, looking at him with her gentle eyes.
Leif: [Nothing.]
He said as he looked away.
Katyn: [Hmmmm...]
She slowly stepped closer, and by his side, she pit her hands down on the bow and looked out into the city along with him.
Katlyn: [Where gonna stay here for the rest of the day, captain Loland said he had already planned a trade with a Kirthian barom around here, and they also wanted to get some more provisions, i wouldnt be surprised if they stayed the whole day out trading and bargaining.]
Leif didn't respond, the girl glanced at his face and grew a little impacient.
Katlyn: [Want to go take a walk around with me? Maybe buy some food?]
Leif: [I dont have money.]
He did, but since he was getting free meals everyday he wanted to save it, on his belt, along with his sword the boy kept a small leather sack where he kept his pieces, he had one silver piece, two iron pieces and a few coppers.
Katlyn: [Dont worry, ill pay for you.]
She said, looking at him with a smile on her lips.
Leif: [Dont waste your pieces on me.]
Katlyn: [Waste..?]
She said with a confused expression.
Katlyn : [Here.]
She shoved her hand on her pocket then took out an iron piece, she forced his hand closer to her and tried to pry it open.
Leif: [H-Hey! That's an iron piece, you know?!]
Katlyn: [What about it? Cmon take it.]
By the end of it she managed to force him to grab it, and when he tried to give it back she ran away, laughing as she jumped down the steps to the docks, they both ran until she had to stop to catch her breath, the boy was used to and running long distances without getting tired, once he caught up to her he stopped and looked down at her a little worried.
Leif: [Why did you do that?]
Katlyn: [To have fun! Can't you have fun?]
As the sodt breeze passed throught memories of his old villaged flowed into his mind, but not the cold wiind or the heads on stakes but the wamr memories of himslrf running throught the fields, laughing with the other kids on the village, it had been a long time since he had the felt joy of a good memory, Katlyn looked up and noticed the gloom on his eyes, she reached over to grab his hand, but changed her mind and grasped his wrist soflty, he looked down into her eyes.
Katlyn: [Come on!]
She said with an enthusiastic tone before taking him all around the coastal city, she took him to buy all kinds of random food being sold in tents by random street merchants, despite the flow on the city apparently being slow since it was morning there was still quite a lot of people walking the streets, Leif made sure to keep an eye on those who kept their sharp eyes on Katlyn, he could sense a dangerous person like a trained hunting dog could smell prey.
Katlyn: [Look! Try one of these.]
She said, offering him some kind of roasted, skewered, very long, green fish.
Leif: [What kind of swirly fish is this?]
Katlyn: [It's not a fish.]
She responded, giggling.
Katlyn: [It's called a Green-Spiral Eel.]
Leif: [Iil? It's sick?]
Their little adventure lasted for the rest of the day, up until the sun started to go down, they where sat on a hill, above the sea, they both stared off at the red and purple sky silently, enjoying the sound of the waves crashing against the rock bellow, Leif tried to steal a glance at Katlyn just to notice her glancing at him aswell, they both quickly averted their gazes, silence seemed to stretch between the two of them.
Katlyn: Um... you... uh, Leif...]
Leif turned to her finally seeing the reddish hue over her pale cheeks.
Leif: [U-uh.. yeah..?]
She turned her eyes to him aswell.
???: [What is this?]
They both looked back with wide eyes, Gregory stood there, with his arms and slumped against a tree.
Katlyn: [N-n-nothing! W-were where j-just about to go back to the ship!!]
She quickly stammered, jumping up while wiping her skirt, she turned to look down at Leif, the red hue on her face had grown much more prominent.
Katlyn: [R-right, Mr.Crows?]
She asked with a nervous smile, Leif was confused.
Leif: [Y-yeah..]
He said getting up and following the both of them as they walked back to the ship, despite being a couple of steps behind Gregory and Katlyn, he could hear the two of them whispering too each other, even if just a couple of words.]
Gregory: [...you told me...]
Katlyn: [...nothing...]
The three walked back to the Red Mountain, just in time as they had finished to load the provisions and the captain had already returned to set the ship on its way, strangely, for the rest of the travel Katlyn would act weird around him, she couldn't speak more then a few words to him, everytime she saw him she'd look away and waltz oit of the room and when he'd finally come to their room to sleep she was already asleep every night.
Thankfully the rest of the trip was quicker then the way there, 4 days and he woke up to the bells and cheers of the Pallaccians as they welcomed back one of their generals, when he walked over to the deck, draping his cloak over his shoulders once more he could already see Allera, Gregory and Katlyn waving at the crowd as they rode their horses by, followed by their soldiers, all marching in unison, he heard someone stepping closer to him and look back to the see the same grizzly brown old man as before.
Loland: [Seems like this a goodbye boy.]
Leif: [Maybe.]
Loland reach over and patted the boys head.
Loland: [Dont forget boy. This is THEIR glorious empire. Not ours.]