𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓

Chapter 4

The first thing she noticed of this stranger were his eyes.

They were so bright and a strange amber colour, it was like looking into the eye of a flame itself.

The hood fell to expose inky black hair, impossibly dark.

He was dressed exactly like her, plainly, although she suspected he must have a well paid job in the Stilts - the materials he wore were fine, like hers.

Then she felt something...else.

A swirling energy radiating from his area.

They sized each other up in that moment, but the boy quickly turned his head away, once again facing the open sea.

He figured that Kaida was no threat to him.

"Don't let me stop you. There is more than enough space."

The boy gestured to the space next to him.

Kaida was still standing, but with a sigh, she went to sit next to him at the end of the pier.

She swung her legs down and over the edge.

The waves lapped eagerly at the wooden stilts rising from the depths.

Now that she was sitting alongside him, the radiating energy intensified.

It wasn't uncomfortable and she got rid of it quickly.

This was already a weird night.

Instead she focused on the other ships docked, a few bobbing in the water.

She focused on the stillness of the night.

"Beautiful night isn't it?"

The boy broke the silence.

Kaida internally groaned.

Anything but the small talk.

She should have just turned around when she saw someone was here.

"Yeah."

She replied cooly

He turned his head slightly towards her.

"A lot on your mind? I heard you talking to yourself as you were walking."

Kaida wondered if she should just jump and swim away now, but a small laugh escaped her.

She had been caught and now she was embarrassed.

"Yeah, a lot on my mind. More than you could imagine."

"Try me."

"Well, I-I have to leave my family and move away from home, to a place where I don't fit in. But it's the place where I belong at the same time. It's so confusing, and I feel so conflicted. Like I've been split right down the middle."

The boy nodded slowly.

"Right, that is...complex."

They returned to the silence, this time it was more comfortable.

Kaida already felt more composed, having this time to settle her thoughts.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Him again.

Kaida properly looked at him then, he was a little older than her by the looks of it.

He seemed tall, even when sitting, and he was broad shouldered and well built.

There was no denying, he was a handsome young man.

"Go on."

She urged.