Eden

Chapter Thirteen

Unedited.

A seemingly illimitable body of water sprawled before them. It varied in shades, the deepest parts that Eden could see were a depthless blue, darkest of its kind while some of the shallowest were almost completely clear enabling them to see the small fish that darted around.

The water lapped gently the sandy shore, only to recede back into its depths. It was a lulling pattern to Eden who had ever seen such a mass of water in one place. She had no idea what to even call it.

"The ocean, home to our gods." Uma smiled at the awestruck northerner.

"Ocean? Does that derive from any particular thing?" Crow eyes cut curiously into the aged female who stood shoulder to shoulder with her.

"It comes from a god long forgotten. The one who ruled the seas, protecting his inhabitants and the ones who sailed across his waters." Uma took Eden's hand, tugging her closer to here the water touched land. "He was a fair god, but one with a temper. When he felt betrayed he would flood the earth with his tears, he had done this so much that the water became salty and was unable to drink, only livable for his creatures."

The mother beast urged her to sit with her and Eden did just that. The sand was warm, teetering towards hot, from the baking sun. It was a grainy texture that held no dirt unlike the deserts she had traveled through. The sand was pure.

Eden buried the heels of her worn down boots in it, the weight easily slicing through it.

"The god...is he not still a ruler of this ocean?" She stressed the new word on her tongue, it's sound foreign to her ears.

"Of course. He blesses us every fall with fish, that's what we're doing here now." Eden frowned at Uma's words.

Distaste settled on her palette as it dawned on her that she had been with the southern pack for several months now. Her fingers twisted through the somewhat damp sand, liking the way the grit settled underneath her nails and scratched against her skin. But she didn't like the ocean. The ominous feeling of a lack of control she felt when she saw it had her ears clogged with garbled voices and creaks of wood splashing against water.

She knew it well. Eden had heard it a few times throughout her time in her aunt's territory, now Lochlan's. When air pockets had settled in the frozen lake it allowed a weak spot in the ice and some of the younger generation had fallen through. With the freezing temperatures and lack of the ability to shift, they had drowned and stay frozen underneath that lake until spring came and the ice melted, only then did they fish the bodies out.

That garbled sound was the calling of death, parting through the water and resting at her feet. Eden did not like one bit.

"What should happen if the ocean decides to flood the lands while we are here?" Her chest was tight with morbid fascination.

"Valkan will protect us."

Eden frowned, her sharp gaze never straying back to the elder female. She knew the correct answer as much as the mother beast did, they would all die, and Uma's response had confirmed just that.

§

Eden laid on her back, her gaze pierced the heavy, grey clouds above her. Her arms were flung wide and her fingers twisted the long grasses through them, the crashing sound of brash waves hitting the shore was the only roar she heard. For that brief moment, that feeling second, Eden felt truly at peace.