Quiet Courage

5

He found the young mage sitting on a tall rock on an outcropping in the gloom. Cienn began climbing out to him, which quickly proved to be more complex then he'd imagined with the dark, the damp of the recently receded tide and the sliminess of the seaweeds clinging to the rocks. Finally he reached the mage, slightly out of breath and wetter than he would have liked. Kain refused to acknowledge him, instead tossing a rock out into the bay, waiting silently for the resounding ker-PLOP as it broke the water's surface.

"Did Charna send you to chide me some more?" he asked Cienn then, pushing his knees up under his chin and wrapping his arms tightly around his legs.

"No, I wanted to see if you were ok." Cienn responded calmly, pulling himself up to the top of the rock and folding his legs underneath him. They sat in silence a while longer before Kain began to speak again.

"I lost my parents when I was 6." He said, staring out into the sea. Cienn sat silently behind him, trying to let Kain get out whatever was bothering him. "They were mages too, and truly believed in our cause. They died in a raid on Undelm. Those who survived say they fought together until the very end, back to back. After that my mentor, Kakuri Shieldsworn, raised me. She was the greatest shield mage of her day, and took me under her wing." He fell silent a minute, and Cienn wondered if he might be done. "I never forgot what the Crown took from me though, even after I received my Fourth rank and became the Head of the Rebellion. Kadesh and his throne took from me something that no child should go without, the love of his parents. And I won't rest until the Crown has paid me what I am due." He turned to Cienn then finally; his face more serious than the boy had ever seen it.

"That is why you can't doubt my drive to see the end of this Cienn. And why I'm truly sorry I put our mission in danger, and most importantly you. I would never want to risk your life Cienn, and I swear I won't let my joking get in the way of our mission again." Kain dropped his head to his chest, clearly ashamed of his actions. The moon finally rose above the eastern cliffs, casting a gentle blue light across his stricken features. Cienn leaned forward and placed his hand calmly atop Kain's.

"I never doubted you Kain. I know what you want, and I know you were just trying to liven up what is honestly a very terrifying flight." Kain looked up then, and Cienn marveled in the site of his deep blue eyes, the reflection of the wide moon glinting back at him from their depths.

"Thank you Cienn," Kain said then, turning his hand around to clasp about the younger lads. He squeezed gently and smiled, and Cienn started to see the transformation of his eyes as they lit up with an inner light once more. He blushed and looked away, his stomach alight with butterflies. He snatched back his hand, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Don't mention it Kain. We have to stick together, now more than ever. If we're ever to reach this illusive safe point of yours, we have to be able to rely on each other right?" he looked back up then, smiling in a way that he hoped wouldn't allude to his fluttering stomach.

"Of course." Kain said, then stood with a bound of energy more attune to the personality Cienn knew, and offered the boy his hand. "Come on, lets go see if Charna cooked us up something good for dinner."

The following day rose bright and sunny. Masses of cheerful cumulus clouds skated across the edges of the landscape, pushed along by unseen winds. Cienn woke feeling surprisingly refreshed, and they left their camp with a fluidity that hadn't existed among their group before. Perhaps we're developing that dance they talk about in books. How campers develop a subconscious system to put up and take down their tents. Cienn thought as he mounted his horse.

Maybe, Charna said as she stretched up from strapping the last of her buckles to her saddlebags. I think we're just in a hurry honestly. She continued, and it was then that Cienn noticed that her mouth was moving. He stood there, mouth agape, as her thoughts flitted in and out of his mind like so many morning doves.