Legend of Ransera

Ash 2, 122

Norani's eyes slowly fluttered open.

Her body curled and uncurled sleepily, and she could see Ruvaf's wing wrapped around her. She reached out, patting him on the stomach, as he stirred to wake as well, a light skree escaping his beak. He raised his head over to her, and she rubbed a hand along over the top of his skull, drifting down between his eyes and along his beak, and he cooed lightly.

Norani rolled on her back, looking up at the stars that the Duck had put in the sky above her inside her room, peeking through the tall grasses. She smiled softly. Seeing the stars this way made her feel small, but not in the way that she had been recently. She felt small and a part of something bigger than herself, even if she wasn't really sure what that was. She rolled onto her other side in her grass nest, plucking a dried strand out. Idly, she began twisting and shaping it, a soft smile growing on her face.

And when she was done, she stood up from her nest, and dressed in her hunting leathers, a simple breast strap and loin cloth. She wrapped up her hair, and walked over to the so called walls of grass that made up her space. There was a small doll hanging there, from the base stalk of a tall grass strand, carved from bone. It was crude and simple, but something about it felt familiar, and it was pleasing to her. The Duck had put it here for her, and she was thankful. She grabbed her journal and diary, wrapped in a leather strap for transport, hiking it over her shoulder.

Norani looked around her nest, seeing the two paths there. One led to the main hallway with the rest of the rooms for the crew. And the other, the other well, it led to a beautiful garden, full of flowers and so many different plants, several Norani had never seen before. And in a corner of the garden, a cave, lightly glowing. This was Yeva's room, and it was beautiful. Everything about it felt... right. Suited Yeva, complimented her.

Norani walked over to the entrance of the cave, peering in, seeing Yeva sleeping there, and she smiled. Her dearest friend, who was helping to mend her heart. Norani would never be able to thank her enough. She set the little grass lotus she'd formed on the nearest bookshelf, and she left, leaving Yeva to her sleep. Stepping down the path of her own room, she found the door, and she opened it to the deck. A low whistle and Ruvaf was following after her, the door widening for him.

The sun was already rising over the sea, still early in the day. To Norani, it felt like the sun rose earlier here than back home. Maybe it was a lack of mountains here? Though she didn't know where here was, it was just water in all directions. Walking with Ruvaf over to a space with enough room for him, she spoke to him in her native tongue, "Go hunt, spread your wings."

With a loud skree, Ruvaf flapped once, sending a blast of air buffeting out to the nearest people. And a moment later, he was streaking through the sky, watching for fish down below in the waters. Norani reached out with her aether, calling to the winds, only to realize they weren't there. She cast her eyes up, seeing that the sails were slack, unmoving. She strode over to the railing, looking down into the waters, seeing that they were merely bobbing in place.

If she couldn't commune with the winds, she'd commune with the waters. She pulled her long tail of hair over her shoulder, almost reaching her knees. She untied her breast wrap from her torso, and wrapped it around the middle of her hair. She did the same for her loin cloth as well, tying it higher up. It was tied up in three places and she was as naked as a lark. On her back, a lotus tattoo over her heart. Up her spine, a great tree trunk, disappearing into a colorful, swirling sky. On her front, there were swirls of wind trailing between her breasts to her stomach, and patch of giraffe spotting over her left breast.

She stepped up and onto the railing, then she let loose a loud, blood curdling scream, startling a few of the crew nearby. And then she jumped, feet first, off the Duck and crashed into the ocean waters below. She let herself hang, suspended, under the water, opening her eyes to see the deep blue all around her, before kicking upward to breach the surface and sucking in a chest full of air.

And she was smiling.

Norani was treading water, bobbing up and down, when she saw a shadow streak over here. She looked up just in time to see something with a tail break through the water, diving down. Curiosity sparked up. Someone else had joined her in enjoying the waters while the ship lazed in the doldrums. Norani saw the person, a blur in the water at some distance, before they came swimming rapidly in her direction.

And suddenly they were leaping over her head, and Norani's eyes followed the person's form, as such as it was, as they splashed down on the other side of her. And Norani's smile was much bigger now. And now they were in front of her. They looked feminine, young, and Norani assumed Rathari. She'd met a few in Drathera to no longer be surprised by how varied they can appear.

Smiling brightly, "Hello Keiko! I am Norani of..." She paused. She didn't wish to say she was of Ounokt Nora now. A slight faltering in her smile, but she recovered, "Ecith." And then a bit defiantly, "Why should I give warning? I harmed no one." Then a teasing smile, she sucked in a deep breath, and awkwardly dove back under the water. Her eyes were searching for anything to focus on as she pushed herself downward. She reached out with her aether, giving some to the waters here. An offering and a greeting, spoken purely in the exchange. Hello, this is who I am.

The feeling of the ocean around her was so much bigger than it was at Nora. And it felt less... singular. This was a world, not a single lake. There were so many voices and vibrations across her Elementalism run that swirled down her torso. Some drew on the aether she offered, thankful. Others ignored her. She didn't mind. She turned, locating the ship for bearing, before kicking her way back to the surface, gulping in the air once more. A few others were jumping into the water now, but she looked around for Keiko.

She fed some more aether to the water, asking the currents to send Keiko back her way, gently. And they agreed lazily, and the waters around them began to shift to accommodate.

As the currents brought Keiko closer, the other swimmers in the area were enjoying themselves. Splashing, rough housing, and laughter were common around the ship now. At the question of her name, Norani simply nodded, then spoke. "Sort of. I commune with the water. I've never been at sea before. It is so big. Many voices." Smiling a bit sadly, "I grew up on a beautiful lake back home. It had one voice, big, deep, and old."

As for why, Norani looked confused. She had assumed everyone was here for the same reason as her and Yeva. There was a long pause. "We're here to help the Duck lift the curse? From the chaos storms?" There was a skeptical look on her face now, worn quite plainly. She didn't trust Captain Kynne, but that didn't matter, as the Duck and her crew needed help, and Norani and Yeva would help them.

She wondered just how much the Captain had lied about, and to whom? She'd seen his skeletal face, she'd seen the tatters of the ship that were seemingly hidden now, but she knew in her heart the curse was real. "Are you not here to help with the curse?" She tread a little closer, "If not, why are you here?"

Norani could feel an anger, raw and fresh still, welling up inside of her. Beneath the water, her fists were clenching, her throat tightening. The currents that had been beckoning Kaiko over were now growing agitated, swirling around the pair, pushing and pulling erratically. "What did the Captain tell you?" Her nostrils were flaring, her eyes pointed, and her body clenched.

The angry chopping of the water subsided into a more sloppy and messy bobbing, matching Norani's confusion the more this woman spoke. But her bristling nature was gone now, and a brow was raised at Kaiko, "Well, the lake at home had no salt, but the fish certainly did not look all the same. They came in every color of the sky above and the lands below." But she couldn't help but laugh a bit. Kaiko certainly was an odd one. "I'm not very good at holding my breath either. Something to work on."

As Kaiko clarified, Norani shrugged, "The captain speaks in lies, so I know not why I was chosen. Maybe The Duck knew I needed to get away for a while." The waters calmed, returning back to the still seas that were in the area. Norani knew not this word, 'mutiny' but it didn't matter. She, as she always did, had made it very plain and clear how she felt about the Captain, to the Captain.

And then Kaiko asked about communing with the water and she smiled softly. She was reminded of how she'd asked in quite the similar way a few years ago toward one of her mother's cousins. And she would repeat his words now. "Before you can commune, you must learn to be still and to listen, to feel, to lose yourself in the water." Norani kicked her feet up, moving from treading water to floating on the surface, and she closed her eyes as the sun began to warm her body as it bobbed softly in the gentle ebbs. She remembered spending day after day in Nora, trying to find how to properly still herself, to slow down, to stop and listen and feel. "When you can do that, you will be able feel something more. And when you do, come tell me so. Maybe I'll have learned enough by then to give you a Rune so that you can commune properly. And if I can, I will."

She quieted herself now, thankful for Kaika's strange demeanor for dispelling her anger. Norani knew she was still hurting from her family's betrayal, but having some distance from them made it easier, she felt. Maybe the wound could just become a scar while on this journey. Thinking back to that night, she broke her own silence, "I do not trust those who lie. Where I am from, lying is one of the greatest of sins, and I have been hurt by those close to me by their lies."

She found herself wondering if Kaiko was similar to Juno at all. "I am sorry for losing control of my anger. It has... happened a lot since then. But it is through no fault of your own."

Norani lulled her head to the side to look at Keiko now, "The sea has many more voices in it than I expected. There's the laughing as waves play with winds, there's a steady chorus when a current is near, but there's always the deep, low rumble from the darkness below. Many voices."

To find peace from recent events.

Norani wondered if everyone on this journey shared that mindset. She hadn't really thought about it that way in regards to herself, but it certainly seemed that she was doing just that. A soft smile grew. Kaiko was a pleasant person, and Norani could only hope that she wasn't pained like Norani herself was. To get lost in the water? That was an interesting thought. One she could get behind.

Sharing her smile with Kaiko, "I wouldn't mind learning how to breathe in any water. Papa could hold his breath for so long, many said that he could."

She missed him. She saw the pain in his eyes when she had confronted her family about what they had kept from her. She had seen how he had been silenced by her mothers. She knew his own pain with having people taken from him by the Unknown, and saw that pain grow when he saw how she'd felt. She had seen that it had been eating him up to keep that from her. Her heart wanted to forgive him, but she still felt betrayed, and felt that he was a coward for keeping it from her. For not standing up to her mothers.

As Kaiko led the way back to the ship, Norani flipped onto her belly and dipped into the water, frog-swimming after the young woman. She kept her eyes forward, following after the woman's webbed feet, but she reached out once more with aether into the waters around her. She asked them to help care for herself and for Kaiko, to warn them if danger was coming, to aid them with their currents. Norani gave a generous amount of aether into this, and hoped that they would hear her question.

Soon the pair arrived at the barely bobbing hull of the Duck, and Norani gulped in deep lungfuls of air. Norani was treading water, waiting to follow Kaiko's lead as she caught her breath. She placed a hand against the hull, closing her eyes, and remembered what she'd been shown. The cursed form of the Duck and her crew, the determination in Yeva's voice to help them. The Duck was alive, that much she knew. She reached out to it with her aether, tinging it with the power from her Animus rune. It pushed into the ship and was immediately gobbled up. The aether was consumed and it was gone from her. She sighed, severing the flow, patting the hull twice with her hand. She hoped Yeva was right in trusting the Captain.

And she wondered if she'd ever trust anyone else as much as she did Yeva. As much as she did her family, before she learned about Juno. She looked over at Kaiko and smiled sadly.

She could at least try, with this one.