Setting sail 19- I am Tempest

Beads parted back around him. His path of egress into the starry night was a welcome one. The cool night air tickled his skin as it lazed on its path around him. The air was earthy and alive compared to the admittedly stuffy incensed room he was leaving. With no one in his home he decided to set out for a stroll. He wandered through town, taking in all the sleepy bits that had sheltered his community. His feet carried him through the square again, and back to the cemetery. There wasn’t an active reason on his mind to be there. In the moonlight, he found himself at his mother’s grave again. He pulled at the pesky handful of weeds that had grown in his absence. There were new flowers there. He squatted down and got a closer look.

Confirming his suspicion, he turned one of the flowers in his hand. The same flowers that grew in Beatrice’s secret garden. Their thorns pressed mildly against his fingers, before setting the flower back down gently. Staring up at the moon, he fought back the tears. Why did she have to be making this so difficult, why had he not just said something. He left the cemetery after that. Wandering the silent town with only insects as his companions. The chittering carried on the wind all over the island at this hour. He kicked a loose rock down the road as he walked, watching it pitter around in front of him. Ultimately he looked up when someone else kicked his rock away from the path he was walking. Glancing up, he finally lifted his head from how he hung it.

“Can’t sleep either?” Pauline asked him. He gave her a blank stare. His mind slogged behind his body as he scrunched his face in confusion.

“No, no I can’t. Used to a warmer bed.” Wilkes said, his shoulder slouched as he spoke to her. Of all the people to run into at this hour, it was the one the rumor mill already spun lies about him with.

“Right, sorry, that was insensitive.” Pauline grimaced, shifting on her feet idly. He really looked at her now, the same loose naval coat and deep cut shirt. The valley of her cleavage vied for his attention, but he refused to provide it. He shut his eyes hard and did all but upturn his nose at her.

“Yeah, not your fault. I’m the one that put my foot in my mouth. Will you be honest with me?” Wilkes asked her, his eyes opened slowly. She was staring up at him, still four feet away. The moonlight dappled across her skin, making her pale complexion resemble porcelain. He cursed himself for finding her attractive.

“As honest as I can be, not trying to leak any navy secrets.” She teased him, stepping in closer. He took a step back. Folding his arms across his chest, he managed not to scowl at her. She took another step forward anyways and he relented.

“The navy is coming on the voyage, I’m not stupid. Just tell me it’s not purely to recruit me. Right?” Wilkes asked and she shifted on her feet. Tapping a finger to her lips she seemed to genuinely ponder what he said. Another step forward, he could smell her now. A perfume that was soft and warm, seemingly designed to be enticing. Annoyingly it was drawing him in.

“I’ll tell you that if you answer one of my questions.” She offered in return

“Sure, ask away.”

“When you’re all alone away from the women you know on that ship, are you gonna be able to ignore the crush you have on me?” She asked, taking another step in. Her fingers danced along his chest for a second. He grabbed her wrist and gently pushed her off of him.

“Pauline. Stop. Whatever you think is going to work won’t on principle. You need to understand that I’m not just going to be swept up in your womanly charms because of proximity to you and distance from my lovers. If you want me to pursue you, then say it outright. Don’t make me out to be some disloyal bastard trapped in a tub at sea with his feelings.” Wilkes spoke harshly. Taking another step back. The redhead looked up at him with a cheeky grin.

“I see. Well, then I’ll tell you this much. You aren’t the only one we’re looking to recruit. Just the highest priority, but I assume you knew that already.” She spoke softly, her voice growing more husky as she stared at him like a cut of meat. She curled a coil of her hair around a finger, looping the silky red strands. With her other arm she lifted her chest slightly, causing a slight jiggle he couldn’t look away from. “I don’t intend to force anything between us, besides a cordial working agreement of course. I know you prefer capable, independent women. I am capable, independent, powerful, and relatively well off for a naval officer.”

Damn the woman was right. And damn his eyes for looking. He covered his face with a hand. Tilting his head back slightly he stared at the moon between his fingertips. He was growing frustrated enough to do something brash. Lowering the hand he returned his gaze to her. She was still just as far away as when he looked away.

“Right because you know everything about me from two days of observation?” Wilkes snapped at her

“No. I know just about everything about you from two weeks of research. I know you still use the moon's tracking instead of a proper calendar. I know you adopted the speech pattern of Barry and Captain Tellish. I know your original mentor was killed by the same band of pirates as your mother. I also know how to help you hunt them down.” Pauline stated calmly. She beheld him without the hint of seduction anymore, staring at him like a report. “If that interests you still. I heard a rumor of you hanging up revenge to get hitched. I’m offering you both.”

“You know facts. I’ll give you that, but you don’t know me. I promised something to people. I intend to keep it. Any means necessary.” He said while walking past her. He needed to get to the dock. She watched him walk away.

“You’ll sleep easier if you come with us and finish what you started!” She called after him as he kept walking. His feet fell all the same. He missed his kicking stone on the last stretch. His feet finally found a foundation besides the cobblestone. His boots clunked against the wood of the dock. He had elected to walk all the way to the end of it and try something. The dock was silent outside of the whistle of wind, the crash of waves, and the fall of his footsteps. No more lanterns shone down on him. The stars and moon were his guide.

Standing at the edge of the dock he gazed to the horizon. Dark waters crashed against each other with a fury. His arms folded behind his back he closed his eyes to concentrate. Slow deep breaths let him feel the turmoil in himself more clearly. It was similar to that same fuel he had first commanded the wind with. This time he would channel it rather than just ignite it all at once. He pictured it like pouring water from a jar. Before he was just flipping the emotion’s container and letting this spill out wildly. This time, he raised a singular hand. Holding it flat like he had chosen sail in a game of sail, boat, anchor. Slowly his eyes slid open again. He focused on the clouds near the horizon. He swung his arm down hard almost as if he was batting the cloud he could see blotting out the stars. Nothing happened. He scowled at that. Sailors’ Shelter wasn’t possible for him to cast at a range yet. Or maybe he just couldn’t do it silently. He thought about the incantation for a moment. About how it spoke of himself becoming a protective space.

A new idea ignited in his mind. In the same way he learned to push things away from himself with strong gust an inquiry formed. He had learned to push himself away from things too. Could it be that he could discover an inverse to sailors’ shelter? A way to summon a storm and change how a battle was going to unfold? With how taxing this new spell was he was nervous to do so. In addition to that, having himself get drenched when no rain was expected wasn’t appealing. Even with the turmoil inside it seemed difficult to push a breakthrough in a single night. Considering how he needed to be in a near death state at his last few breakthroughs, there was little chance he could do so now. Staring into the crashing waves he had another idea.

“Sayila… if you can hear me, I need to talk to you again. It's about the voyage. If you have time, I’ll let you interrupt my dreams.” He spoke to the open waves. There was no great change. Shaking his head at himself for expecting literal, in-person divine intervention was silly. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he ended his stroll and went back home. The walk was almost entirely uneventful. The most exciting thing was a small insect skittering past and nearly being crushed under his foot. His disrobing and falling in bed was welcome. A grunt came from beneath his arm after he slumped over in his bed. Lifting his head he felt around cluelessly.

“Wilkes, I wasn’t expecting you to just fall on me” Meryl whined. He bolted up, covering his privates with his hands. Even in the dark he wanted to keep some modesty.

“Meryl?! Why’re you in my bed?” Wilkes asked the shifting form of fabric that was occupying his bed. A yawn was the first response.

“You said if I wanted to I could come over. And since I knew Beatrice and Hannah would be gone, I decided to curl up beside you. I fell asleep a bit before you got here.”

“And you couldn’t foresee me landing on you?” He was now confused on two layers.

“I can’t see the future while sleeping or the futures in which I am sleeping.” Meryl informed him. He nodded at that. Then smacked his own forehead for nodding in the nearly pitch black room.

“Ah, I see. Well scoot over. Also you have to be out before dawn, Beatrice is coming back to bring daisy back.”

“I know~” She said, a teasing tilt in her voice. It was unexpected but entirely welcome.

“What did you see the future for when you’d have to go?” He pulled the sheets back and slipped into his bed gently this time. When he fully lay in his bed he noticed she was still wearing a veil. This one however seemed to have little crescent moons stitched all over it. Did she have a sleeping cap veil? Why was that so adorable?

“No, I read her note for you.” Meryl responded, scooting over to give him space. Her back was faced towards him. His hand rested on her hip, and rubbed against what felt like a slip dress. It was softer than his sheets, and from where his hand rested he got his first real idea at her true figure. Meryl had hips for days. Absent mindedly he rubbed her side. She was lean, but had the faintest hints of muscle. Her arms were toned but not outright muscular from what he could feel. Another deep shudder ran through her body at the intimate touch. Added to the fact they were in his bed, alone, at night.

“Wilkes, if you keep touching me like that…” Meryl whispered, her breathing hitched when his hand skirted past the side of her chest. One of her hands reached back for him. A single extended finger daintily brushed his crotch. “We shouldn’t yet… not until you’ve seen my face in person. But I want that to be when I know we love each other.”

His arm curled around her. A hand resting on her shoulder, he simply held her. No more wandering fingers. Meryl sighed heavily and scooted in closer to him. Her back pressed to his torso, he felt sleep finally coming for him. His eyes fluttered between open and shut, staring at the sleeping veil she wore. When he heard the first snore come from her, he lost his grip on the waking world. Falling asleep this time felt like plunging from where his body physically rest straight downward. Cool water enveloped him as current surged and tossed him through a foreign domain. Spiralling uncontrollably he began to paddle in the dream space. An agonizing journey towards what he thought was up left his dream perception of himself in dire need of air.

His head broke the surface. He gulped down massive lungfuls of air. The burning sensation from running out of breath mid swim slowly faded. He wiped the hair from his eyes and looked around. He was on a shoreline beneath the night sky now. He dragged his weary body to the sandy dunes. Collapsing there he just let himself breath. Eventually a wave washed up beside him, and Sayila’s watery form laid beside him.

“Hey baby brother, you wanted to talk?” She asked him

“Ye, yea. Didn’t expect to almost drown on the way in. At least dad drops me in a wheat field.” He sassed her, he shook his wet hair and she giggled at the droplet that landed on her.

“Easy there biggin’. I’m still the lady with dominion over what you’re about to sail across. Which I heard your question, I just needed an easement to our conversation. So kind of you to conk out so I had that. I was worried I might accidentally fry your puny brain if I showed up in person. Avatars are hard and direct incarnations would be too tough for you to handle.”

“Yeah because I know what an avatar and incarnation are. Hell I don’t even know why we don’t have a church here for you yet.” Wilkes continued to sass her. With a wave of her hand a wave crashed over his body and left him far more soaked. He squirted the water out of his mouth at her. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll be nicer. Is there anything you can tell me about making the journey to Osan that’ll make it quicker.”

“Mhmm. Well if you want to pray for navigational prowess when sailing you already have some innately because of your nature. Wait, why're you looking at me like that? Do you not know your nature?” Sayila quirked and eyebrow while he stared at her with a confused deadpan

“My nature as a sailor?”

“No dummy, your nature as a storm mage. You should be able to read wind currents and adjust courses subconsciously far better than any normal navigator. Did you not get assessed by Pauline? She was supposed to give you that information, unless wait shit have you not left yet?” Sayila sat up from her lazy laying position.

“Nope. Not for another three days. Did you just tell me something I’m not supposed to know?”

“Yep, gonna have to borrow that nugget of knowledge from your brain until you wake up. Shit I might have to wipe this whole dream except for being tossed around at first. Sorry Wilkes.” Sayila then thrust her watery hand towards his face. A sensation like getting water up his nose and in his ears overwhelmed him. Her elbow wiggled as she seemingly dug around through his head. Water sloshed off of her here and there, ultimately rejoining at the lower half of her body with the gently crashing waves. She pulled what looked like a cloudy grey pearl out when she removed her hand from his face. “There we go. Gonna put this in your dream self’s care. Next time you have a conscious conversation with a god, crush that pearl and you’ll remember the stuff I shouldn’t have told you yet.”

“Is there anything you can tell me about making the journey to Osan that’ll make it quicker?” Wilkes asked, he didn’t want to be rude, but it was the main reason he invited her in. She seemingly hadn’t heard him the first time and just passed him the weird grey pearl thing. At least he thought it was a pearl. It was about the size of one and had a muted grey color, almost like a rain cloud.

“For that, you’re gonna need to ask the sexy redhead tutor. If I could tell you more I would, but well you’ll get it in your next conversation with one of our strangely large family.” Sayila said with a smile.

“Is there any chance you can tell me dad’s name? Before I wake up, I just want to know who he is in case he has a church in Osan.” Wilkes pressed her. Admittedly knowing his father’s domains would also tell him more about his secretive mother and what other abilities he could have inherited besides messing with the wind and some clouds.

“Hmm, nope. If daddio doesn’t want you to know that yet I’m not telling. Your head was kinda gross to pick through. Good job on breaking your bed though!” She gave him a double thumbs up. “Also, you should probably wake up now. Your girlfriend is leaving her place to give you your dog back. Can’t image she’d be too happy seeing you in bed next to a fourth woman, second of which you didn’t tell her about. You little rascal.”

With a roar of bubbling water Wilkes’s eyes opened. He felt like he had slept like a rock, ready for just about anything. The sleeping oracle still curled up beside him was snoring and mumbling sweetly about something. There was a pang in his chest as he gently shook her awake. She yawned and stretched gently. A hand brushed across his face. She playfully shoved his head back into his pillow while she crawled over him. The oracle proceeded to wander out of his home, hips swaying in the moonlight. He sent a thanks to the gods above when he saw the absolute wagon of an ass she had behind herself.