The Sword Saints

25. Stirrings

(Yuna)

"Honor is a badge that all men must wear. That has always been known. But women have honor as well, and any man who harms a woman or does away with her honor has no honor himself."

- The Book of Sympathy: Ch. 6: verse 2.

Three days passed since Dellin disappeared beneath the waves and the mood amongst the crew hadn't improved. It was hard to forget such a sight, and it was a memory that would likely haunt Yuna for a long time. She was making a habit of having bad memories. After two days of sitting around stewing in her thoughts, Yuna couldn't handle it. So she asked the captain for some help.

Sybill had a straw target set up at the bow of the ship for Yuna to use. She needed to keep her mind busy so that her thoughts wouldn't dwell on the dark, on Judar, on Mollington, on Dellin, on Queensport. She had to keep herself at work. Sybill seemed to understand that, even if she didn't have a full grasp of Yuna's specters.

The target wasn't too helpful for Yuna, however. She was a skilled archer and even though it was initially a challenge to hit a close target as she and the ship swayed, she was able to adjust until all her arrows struck the middle of the target. She smiled. Her arrows would not miss when it came to it. They would pierce Judar's heart.

Yuna kept at it. It was all she could do to keep herself from thinking of everything else. As long as she focused on her breathing and eying the target and keeping her arms steady, she didn't have to think about the dead, didn't have to think of Judar and his evil grin. She was afraid that such thoughts would only darken and poison her soul, but then she'd think of Judar's smile. That only made her want to put an arrow through his throat.

She was acutely aware of Padrick sitting nearby watching her with Char lying at his feet. He took his eyes off her only to peel an orange with a small witling knife. She wasn't sure where he got the orange from, but she craved one. He saw her eye it hungrily. His only response was to smirk. Apparently, he wasn't keen to share with his princess.

Ordinarily, Yuna wouldn't have liked him watching her. It wasn't that she had anything against Pad – they were best friends, after all. However, she as a princess was so used to people always being around her and keeping an eye on her that she hated it, but in this instance, she welcomed it. His eyes anchored her while she tried to manage her inner turmoil.

It was also nice to have him deter any unwanted advances by the crew.

Once she emptied her quiver into the target, she stood back and took a breath, her hands at her hips. Pad tossed the orange peels a few feet and Char shot up from his prone position to fetch them. "That target must have said something very rude to you, huh?" he said.

She gave him a confused look. "What?"

He took a bite of his orange slices. He spoke with his mouth full. "You look angry. You're frowning sharply, and your brows are so crunched and furrowed they look like a unibrow." Her cheeks turned red immediately. She hadn't realized that she'd been looking like that. She was tempted to shoot an arrow at Pad, but then remembered that all her arrows were in the target. Instead, she pouted and threw a few less than savory words his way. He responded with a laugh.

Yuna turned away from him and retrieved her arrows. As she turned back to continue target practice – while being conscious of her facial expressions – Padrick got up and walked over to her. Char followed closely, the peels already devoured. Pad offered her an orange slice. She wanted to be mad at him, but she knew he'd only been poking fun at her, which he often did. She took the slice with a smirk.