Love Lost and Found {Mianite/Sparksize} - ON HOLD ↹

-=+Chapter One+=-

     "What do ye mean, 'next time I die'?" Jordan raised his dark eyebrows, and kept his eye trained on my hand as I continued stitching.

     "For whatever reason, probably because this is the gods' special island, none of us really die here. We just pop back on the beach where we first arrived, minus our stuff. That always empties out onto the ground where we 'died'." He shook his head when speaking about the inventory, as an adult would to a young child who was caught with their hands in the fruit cellar: both disapproving, and thoroughly annoyed.

     I clicked my tongue and made a 'tsk' noise. "Probably since yar all the champions. Can't have a god's most powerful warriors slain by a small spider." 

     "So what about Ianite did you want to talk about?" I sighed and kept stitching, still bothered by his informal way of speaking about our Lady.

     "I was hoping that ye'd have some information for me." He raised an eyebrow, but then clenched his eyes shut as I tugged on the thread. "I came here on her instruction of finding ye on an 'island of champions' to restore our goddess. Something to that effect." Finishing the last stitch, I knotted it and snapped the thread. He stood up, and started wrapping the bandage around his chest.

     "You know more than I do. She hasn't said a word to me, and I've never seen her either. There hasn't been a word about her for a while from Mianite." Jordan motioned for me to follow him, so I stood up and walked upstairs. As he dug through a dresser, I leaned against a wall.

     "She's quite fond o' you." He turned his head to look at me, stopping midway of tucking in his clean shirt. The sun glared through the windows adding highlights to his black hair, but nothing shone brighter than his eyes. Once again, his eyes held the joy of a young child with a new friend.

     "Really? Does she speak to you?" I nodded, and he stepped towards me.

     "Aye. Sometimes she'll visit in me dreams." Jordan was now in front of me, bouncing side-to-side on his toes. It struck me then how odd it was for a person like him to be Ianite's champion. Every tale held in the Ianerea library had told of previous champions being strict, fighting for justice with a heavy hand and commanding words. I saw none of that in the man who stood before me. He was lighthearted and excitable, quick to laugh and smile, even when put in a tense situation, as I'd seen this morning. During the small portion of the day I've spent with him, the only time he wasn't smiling was the split seconds where he thought someone was attacking him, and I was flying through the air. Surely I was missing something; either Jordan was acting or there was a darker side to him somewhere.

     "What's she like? How does she look? Is she okay?" I blinked, forcing my thoughts and opinions away. Turning on my heel, I walked back downstairs before answering with the champion in tow. In a less-than-graceful manner, I sat down on the couch opposite to where he'd dressed the wound I gave him.

     "I haven't seen our Lady recently, so I can only imagine that something's wrong, alongside her being imprisoned. As for her personality," I paused, collecting my thoughts. "She's lovely. The goddess cares more 'bout 'er people than herself, and makes sure no child is left lonely or distressed at night. Our Lady is never showy with 'er powers, nor does she use 'em for her own benefit. Her magic is strictly for the benefit of others, and for instilling justice. While she may seem distant at first, Ianite truly is the best friend ye can have." Jordan smiled.

     "You must be really close to her, seeing as you dropped formalities." I shook my head, annoying with myself for the moment of lapse and more so with him for pointing it out.

     "Cheeky bastard." He guffawed, the sound of his amusement echoing around the house. A brief and comfortable silence ensued, until I got up from my spot on the couch.

     "I ought to be going." Jordan stood up and escorted me to the door, though it was only three meters away. He stuck out his hand, and this time I took it, giving him a firm handshake.

     "It was nice talking to you, Capsize. Thanks for coming over. Oh, and for stitching me up."

     "An obligation, considering I inflicted it." I started to walk out, but stopped and turned around a few feet away. "Bye, Jordan." Once I was down the hill, I let the disappointment sweep in. My hopes had been that once my crew and I had sailed here, I could find the champion and he'd somehow have all the information we needed. Unfortunately, he was just as much in the dark as I was, possibly even more so.

     Why is it that answers never come easily? Is there something so wrong with knowing what to do that knowledge itself must hide away, keeping from us sentients? Ianite, I prayed, what're you doing? Are you in such treacherous hands that you are unable to properly instruct your own followers, or do you deem us unworthy; trust us so little?

     Sighing, I sat down in the tall grass, cresting a small overlook. A single drop of water came down, landing on the toe of my right boot. It was joined by another, then one more. Soon enough, it was sprinkling rain down to the dry land. I looked over the land, squinting under the drops of water fringing on my eyelashes. Once upon a time, the little girl I was would squeal and run from the rain, worried about it soiling the boots and hat her mother had made her. Unfortunately, I was no longer than young child. Now, as an experienced captain, the rain is not just tolerable, but comforting.

     I removed my hat and jacket, letting the rain seep through my clothing, covering my skin like a warm hug from a caring parent. Getting up from my spot on the grassy hill, I began the long walk back to my ship.

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A/N - I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! Ugh, this chapter is way too short. It's about 400 words under my minimum (as is chapter 1 for DS:TFS..... I can't let this be a habit), and my gosh it's so DRY! What happened was that I wrote four chapters initially, then decided that a three-day time-skip (which isn't much) is too long so I forced myself to write this and I had no idea what to do or how to extend it and... yeah. I know exactly what I want to happen in the next chapter, so it should be a lot better than this one. OH also: I'm going to upload chapters for this book at the same time as DS:TFS, so there probably won't be a regular uploading pattern, just whenever I can get a chapter done for both of them. 

Crappy chapters aren't as good at #HappyEndings. -Pure