Penthos: The Guardian Sea

Chapter Thirty-two: Homebound

The next day, the pair left the home of the Royal Family, effects and all. Instead of exiting the Realm right in front of a whole village of people, they trudged down to the trees and belted themselves back into their weapons.

     Jarissein acted as if nothing had happened to him. After a hard sleep, he had recovered. Or seemed to. Arielle didn’t fully trust his independent and happy demeanor, the way he carried himself just a little too strongly, as if trying to convince her he was what he seemed to be. She sensed his fatigue and fear, but let it go. If he wanted her to think he was alright, she would let him pretend.

     Once he had sheathed his last knife, he turned to her. “I think it’s about time to go home, don’t you?”

     She smiled and ran a finger over the ring he had given her thirteen years ago, on the beach. “I agree. I want to meet my little sister.”

     He smiled. He knew that she really wanted to go back so they could finally get married; she saw it in his eyes. But he didn’t say anything. For that she was glad. She was slightly embarrassed at her own heart’s desire to be his, completely. Marriage seemed inconsequential next to everything they had faced together already.

     He took her hand and held it firmly, wrapping his free arm around her. She breathed in his scent, the scent that belonged only to him, and purred. He chuckled and held her tighter. “Take us home, cat.” And she did.

When they arrived, they were in the middle of the bridge that connected mainland and palace island. The waves beneath them were huge, nearly brushing the water-resistant bridge. She couldn’t see the islands from where they were, but years of going to and from both had given her a sense of direction where otherwise she would be lost.

     She turned in the direction of the mainland and started walking.

     Jarissein trotted up behind her. “Where’re we going? Isn’t your home the other way?” He looked back. “Why’re we going to the mainland?”

     Arielle kept her gaze forward, taking in the long road ahead of her. Both literally and figuratively. The bridge was long, but she knew the end was up there, close. Just as with her struggles in life. She had been so tested in her near-century of living, by Fate and the people around her. Tried and nearly killed by her own actions and her friends’. But it was almost over, wasn’t it? She was going to marry the man of her dreams—and not of her nightmares—and she would be happy. Maybe they would go back to one of the empty Realms they visited and make it their own.

     She said none of this, of course. She simply said, “I owe my people an apology. I haven’t been to see them since the funeral, and that was how many years ago?” She spoke lightly to mask the pain he could surely feel from her.

     He was silent. She could feel him trying to get a sense of the truth from her, but she casually kept her mind on other things. The ocean, the air, her parents.

     By the time they reached the end of the bridge, Jarissein had given up trying to understand. She smiled a little, and took in the teeming life of the town before her.

     It was exactly as she had left it thirteen, almost fourteen years ago (even longer if she counted the years she spent holed up in the palace with no one but her grief). People in their house colors bustling about, whether in work or in play. Minstrels sat all about and played for coin or for fun, dancing with the happiness of the people she so loved. She took a step down off the bridge and onto the pavement, and a wave of regality that was common of her family shot out from her, washing over the people. Jarissein felt it too; he put a hand to her shoulder to steady himself.