Archer POV 3

The Crew boarded the silt skimmer and stood on the aft deck while the sailors prepared to launch.  In town, Templar Hocaxolatl and his guards stood stiffly at the approach to the docks and apprehensively watched the Crew prepare to leave.  The two groups stared sternly at one another across the distance.  The tension was thick in the air for several minutes before the silt skimmer finally set sail.  The Crew stood together on the aft deck, glaring at the Draji soldiers, until Breakshore was only a smudge on the horizon.

When the city finally disappeared from the sight, there was an audible sigh of relief from several members of the Crew.  Gathering the minimal supplies they had managed to acquire in Breakshore, each member went to find their own place on the skimmer to rest and to process the altercation with the Draji Templar.  Darus roughly brushed past Ryllis on his way to the stairs leading below.  “Crazy half-elf brings nothing but trouble.”

Ryllis walked to the forward deck and stood gazing out over the Sea of Silt.  She’d been told her whole life that she wasn’t worth it.  She was used to it.  So why did it bother her this time?

A high, strong wind filled the silt skimmer’s sails, but no breeze moved her midnight hair.  There was no caress of air for her now.  How long would it take to grow back?  How long would she have to wait to feel the wind dance with her again?  A tear fell slowly down her cheek.

Ilianora came up quietly behind her.  “Where is your dagger?”  Ryllis removed it from her boot and handed it over without hesitation.  If her Captain was going to kill her for her betrayal, she guessed it would be fitting that she should die on Denal’s blade.  She looked back at the Sea and wondered whether she could have done anything differently.

A lock of hair fell onto her shoulder.  Then another.  Somewhere in the back of Ryllis’ mind, a memory tickled.   Gentle hands tilting her head and holding her still.  Being tended by a handmaiden.  An act of kindness after one of the other children had spitefully burned her hair.

The tears flowed silently and steadily down Ryllis’ face.  How little she actually knew about her Captain.  “Should I not have helped the boy?  Should I have left him there to die of starvation?  To be sold into slavery?  What if it was all a trap to start with?”  Ilianora stood silently behind her, offering no answers and no other comfort than the dagger’s quick, clean cuts.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s done now.”

It was.  And somehow that made it better.

—

Gae’Al clambered awkwardly back up on to the aft deck, his pants twisted awkwardly and his braxat-manacle belt missing.  Ilianora, who had been rushing to the aft to learn his fate, heaved a great sigh of relief.  Ryllis stood at the starboard railing and carefully watched the Sea.

Captain Haku shouted orders to get the skimmer moving again before the monster came back, but the shifting sand in the distance told Ryllis that the silt horror had decided to take its prize and leave to heal.  She didn’t believe it would bother them again on this trip.  She did, however, make a mental note to mention to the captain later that he might want to invest in better men to work the balista.

The rest of the Crew had gathered in the center of the skimmer to take stock of what the battle might have cost them in ammunition and morale.  Darus sat near the mast, dumping silt out of his shoes.  His brother knelt slightly behind him and was dusting off his shoulders.

Ryllis walked calmly over to the group.  She stopped in front of Darus and knelt so that their eyes were level.  Under the silt, his skin was still glowing with psionic power.  He was breathing deeply, trying to regain calm and refocus his energy.  When he met her pale blue eyes, they were a dangerous kind of angry.  “Remember this, Darus, the next time you think I’m not worth the trouble.  I didn’t have to pull you from the silt.  The winds would have been perfectly fine letting you choke on the sand and die in its crushing darkness.”  It was true.  They both knew she had saved his ass.

She let it sink in for a moment.  Then the anger disappeared from her eyes and she smiled, genuinely and sweetly.   Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around him in a friendly embrace.  When she leaned back, she brushed some silt from his face and kissed his cheek.  “I’m glad you’re okay.”  He was in such a state of confusion, he didn’t know how to react.

Ryllis stood and smiled at the rest of the Crew, and especially at Gae’Al.  “I’m glad we’re all okay.”  She grabbed her travel bag and strolled across the deck to the stairs leading below, pausing only slightly to wave and jovially call out to Captain Haku, “Beautiful day for sailing!”

She ducked her head and trotted down the stairs to find a little nook below deck to temporarily set up in.  She needed a comfortable place to sit and a flat surface to write on.  Ryllis was suddenly homesick, and wanted to send a letter to her mother back in Draj.