Legend | Celeste Academy Series BK #2

Chapter 17 ♕ One Big Hug

Tamara walked up to Charles, looking quite troubled like the rest. A red hawk was perched on her shoulder, its sharp, yellow eyes blinking at the fourth-ranker before it flapped its wings and snapped its beak open and close. Tamara, on the other hand merely held out her arm to the bird, and it automatically jumped and curled its claws around her wrist.

"No sign of her." She told him. "Iolani has flown above the entire place and saw nothing." She caressed the bird on the back with her other hand and sighed.

The hawk looked at Tamara intently before it started cawing at her.

"No, girl. It's alright. You did your best." She cooed at it.

Charles eyed the fluttering sails that rolled down from the mast. "It's already time to leave." He sighed and looked at the others. "Any other news from your familiars?"

Elfre shrugged. "I don't have one." She told him. "But I tried searching the area nearby. I came out empty-handed."

"The same goes for me and Alva." Said Raziel, a blue snake with elegant spots of white curling around his neck, arms, and torso. Electricity zinged on its skin and it gave a gentle hiss as it continued to cling to him possessively.

The ship started moving, their direction headed towards north by the guide of the wind and the captain steering the wheel. Tamara gave the fourth-ranker a guilty glance, uneasy by the thought of leaving without Valeriana.

"Can't you ask them to delay it for a few minutes?" The redhead asked.

"I already asked them before, remember? I've managed to talk the captain into letting us have about fifteen minutes. Any further delay is unacceptable since time is important to them as well. The cargos this ship carries will get rotten if it doesn't arrive on schedule."

"That is . . . unfortunate." Raziel muttered. "But we've searched everywhere. It is highly possible that she is still alive somewhere, isn't it? We might've just missed her . . ."

The sound of large, beating wings invaded their ears, causing them to look up towards the sky. Charles and the others saw Corvan arriving, his masculine form mounted upon his familiar's back. They watched Avaro's lissome wings furl comfortably on his sides while Corvan alighted from his ride without even taking into consideration if the beast already landed or not. His feet made a soft thump against the wooden flooring of the ship's deck, his long hair dancing behind him before subtly settling on his shoulders and back.

He didn't seem to bother hiding the fact that he was aggravated—or was unconsciously showing it—since he was showing an unusually hardhearted and indifferent expression on his face as though he didn't care. At times like this, everyone knew deep inside that he was probably trying to keep himself from losing his composure—which, in fact, already happened a lot of times during the time they were trying to find Valeriana.

"You know what?" Tamara clicked her tongue. "I think there's something strange going on between Corvan and Valeriana."

"Strange what?" Said Elfre. "You only noticed it now? Everything's actually been strange ever since Valeriana arrived—even Corvan's strange."

"Ha." She chuckled as Iolani cawed again. "It's not like I haven't noticed. I just bothered pointing out the obvious. Nothing's ever been the same ever since she came, has it?"

"Sure enough," Charles added. "She is quite a good addition to our ranks. I must admit that it felt quite tedious before she arrived. You can somehow consider her as a spice to a bland dish. She makes everything taste better."

The members of the Twelve gazed at him questioningly.

It was then that Tamara voiced out the thoughts inside their heads. "Quite typical of you to use food as an example."