Ignoring the shrieking from the other two, bound creatures, I kneel towards the Alchemist. Something about that suntanned skin. The black hair and salt-and-pepper beard.
The eyes. I must see his eyes.
He turns to me, eyes swollen shut from bruising. Tenderly, I tilt his chin upwards, trying to find something.
Farzaneh hugs close to my side. Ali and Sol push against the metal doors, Kura fixes the locks, and Malika reinforces the heavy metal with shielding magic.
"Lucky..." Fari glances nervously back, "the council members will get reinforcements, you know. We should just do what we came here to do. Neutralize as many threats as possible." She looks pointedly to the Alchemist. "Starting with the man who engineered all these... creatures."
"No, his eyes... I have to see them."
Instead of telling me I'm mad, that I'm putting everyone in jeopardy. Instead of telling me I'm wrong to satisfy my curiosity, because I am... Fari pauses.
"Hurry." She whispers, low enough the others, in their commotion with the doors, cannot hear. She leans down, presses her hand gently against his eyelids.
Healing magic, glowing gently. A single tear drips from her eye... no, not tears. She's sweating, hard, to keep her power from overwhelming her. To keep the magic healing instead of fire and destruction.
The Alchemist, slowly, opens his healed eyes.
They're the color of the sands of Akua.
He brings me to him, despite the manacles digging into his bruised, slashed arms.
"E kuʻu keiki," those arms, the scent. The shadowed figure I'd seen in my dreams, sailing to make his fortune on the seas. The one I simultaneously admired and loathed. My... my...
He repeats the phrase, and I dare not believe it.
"E ku'u keiki. My child."
***
Well Pirates,
Lucky's gotten all the plot twists. Shame, he should've shared more.
But the story continues...
Best
Sophia