literature

Asunder - Chapter 2, Raindrops

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Karis stared at the large waves with awe. People scrambled behind her, the crew shouting orders and trying to get passengers below deck. Clinging tightly to Nis’s paw, the pair of Ratonga watched the waves crashing against the bow and shivered as cold rain came down in sheets. Unlike the panic behind them, the two were engaged in a deep conversation, and a promise was made that would haunt one of them for the rest of her life.

The two had easily snuck on board a ship heading out of Temple Street to East Freeport. They only had cargo for company – few people took leisurely boat rides to accomplish whatever kept them out so late at night. Once they snuck off at Easy Freeport, it became a simple matter of buying tickets. Nis surprised Karis when the price of two tickets came out be over a gold piece – and Nis paid without batting an eye. Karis had heard of gold pieces, but never seen one. Even silvers were rare around Temple Street, and the orphans only ever earned small amounts of copper coins.

The thought of how Nis had saved up so much money, however, soon left Karis’s mind as she saw the size of the ship to take them out of Freeport.

Karis had never traveled to Freeport proper, only among the hamlets scattered about its high walls. The only water vessels she knew were the small boats that went from one township to another, and the only bodies of water she knew were the calm passages connecting the villages. But here she could not see where the water ended; she could not see the rising sun for the size of the ship.

And once they were allowed on the ship, it did not take Karis long to let her curiosity sate itself. Curiosity only killed the Kerra, after all. Dragging along the older Ratonga, she darted about the deck, tripping up all her words as she tried to relay her excitement verbally. Not even Nis could understand half of what Karis said, but she just smiled and did her best to steer her sister out of trouble. After several unfortunate incidents of Karis running headlong into passengers and crewmembers, Nis took it upon herself to mumble an automatic apology for her sister each time they so much as passed someone.

As the sun finished rising from her watery bed and dressed in her long orange rays, the crew pushed off. They promised smooth seas and calm weather – an uneventful ride to the Thundering Steppes.

They had not expected the massive storm that washed over them just an hour later.

Even as the rain pounded down and lightning flashed across the sky, Karis still scurried about, not satisfied with the base tour given by a cabin boy earlier. Eyes alit with excitement, she made a point of checking behind every crate and peeking into every cabin just to make sure she did not miss anything. She provided Nis with a colorful narrative of the adventure – unheeding of the fact that Nis was there for every step of it.

“Karis thinks is mores funs this ways! Was borings befores!” she yammered through similar lines of thought incessantly so Nis could not get a word in edgewise. Nis, however, had given up trying to talk sense into the spastic girl a half hour before.

“Rains nots so bigs in homes! And bang-bangs nots so louds, and flashies nots so brights, and windies nots so strongs, and wets not so whooshes! How comes things biggsers heres?” Nis knew better than to try and answer, because Karis paused just long enough to take a breath start a new line of thought.

“But musts rains lots heres, yes? Pretty waters bigs and needs muchlies waters. Hey, Nis?” Karis suddenly seemed to calm down, serious look crossing her face as she looked up to the older Ratonga. “Wheres alls this rains comes from?”

Nis did not answer for a moment, expecting the girl to keep talking. When several moments of silence passed, she blinked and looked down at the girl. “It . . . er, what?” Stumbling over her words, she gave Karis a questioning look. It was not only the sudden question that startled her – the reasoning behind the serious query bothered Nis more.

“Wells, Momma uses to says that’s rains comes froms gods. But was longs agos and nows everyones says gods go bye-byes. So whys still rains?”

Nis had to pause. The two stopped walking near the bow and looked out to the ocean. Nis noticed Karis’s grip tighten around her hand, but the girl said nothing further, waiting for Nis’s answer. Sighing, Nis thought about the question. The subject at hand was assaulting them, pouring over them, and Nis felt an answer should have been easy to come across. But it kept eluding her, dancing farther away the more she pondered it. She rarely thought about such things – to her, the rain fell simply because it fell; it was the way of things. Knowing its source would change nothing, so she had never questioned it.

After many long moments of silence, Nis finally gave a defeated shrug. “I dunno, Karis.” She felt bad for offering so little of an answer, so she let her mind race in order to come up with anything that made even just a shred of sense. “Maybe there’re still gods about. Maybe the water juss likes to play like this. Maybe there’s no reason.” She cringed at her own lame answers – her mother had been better at giving things wonderful explanations, and even if her ideas were not reality, they were things one wished were true and, slowly, became so for one. Karis was probably still living deep in the world their mother had built around them.

Karis obviously thought the same. “That’s answer is borings, Nis!” she complained loudly, face changing abruptly into a comical pout.

Laughing quietly, Nis ruffled the fur on top of Karis’s head playfully. “Sorry,” she apologized with another shrug. “But I really dunno. But I’ll tell ye what – I’ll go upto the rain ‘un day and ask it, mmkays?”

Karis looked up to Nis, still pouting. Karis guesses is okay . . . Buts do its soon! Karis wants to knowses!”

“As soon as possible, kiddo. Promise.”

Another careful glance up to Nis finally brought out a nod from Karis. She continued her sober routine for a moment longer, then broke it as a huge wave crashed on the bow and showered the two Ratonga with salty water. “Big waves!” Karis observed with a giggle, clapping her hands. “Big waves like big sparklies,” she announced, and shot off into another of her tangled yarns of thought. “But goes whooshes and splashies and weties! Sparklies homes sits and are borings! Looks, Nis!” the excited squeal meant to draw attention was hardly distinguishable from her previous line of thought. “Is greatly bigs big ones!”

Chuckling, Nis followed her leisurely, turning to face the sea again as she got behind Karis.

She barely had time to scream before she was tackled down to the deck.

A massive wave, larger than the ship by at least tenfold, roared towards them. She could the feel the heavy body of a human above her, and managed to catch a glimpse of Karis’s confused face pressed into the deck.

The human above them cursed violently. “Ya both ‘old on tight, runts – an’ pray ta summat!”

Nis’s eyes widened as she watched the wave move closer. It seemed to grow larger the more distance it covered. Snapping her head from one side to the other, she saw the panicked confusion spread about the ship. She did not try to question why the man on them would try to help – there were more pressing matters.

She looked to Karis. The wave’s shadow was nearly to the deck. With no regard to the fear on Karis’s face and in her own chest, she used the last few moments they had to give a final instruction to her little sister.

“’Ris!” she shouted over the panic and the wind and the wave, slyables carelessly tossed away for sake of speed. “Ye survi’. ye get safes. Na matt’ if wit’ me’r not. Promi-“

The wave crashed down and covered them all in darkness.
The tale of Karis, young Ratonga Brigand as life brings her through a winding maze of decisions, deceptions, and delights. Her dependence on others leads her down many different paths as she tries to learn where she fits in the world.

Chapter Two - Promises are exchanged for the last time as troubled waters rise around Karis.

The rest of the chapters will probably come out sporadically, as my writing muse tends to die after a while. I'll try and bring it out as quickly as possible, but I can't promise anything. ^^
© 2006 - 2024 kitsune-kij
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Kitirah's avatar
:clap:

Yay! Keep up the good work!