Chapter Text
Sarah Grace sat with her back against the sun-warmed wood of the raised quarter-deck. The weather had been calm for weeks, but clouds gathered menacingly in the east and she wanted to enjoy the last bit of heat before the rains hit. Even so, the wind had picked up considerably, forcing them to drop their sails to keep from being blowing into the island just west of them. Sun-bleached hair fell into her face but hardly bothered her at all anymore.
As the nymph girl relaxed, her mind wandered, revisiting memories of her adventures aboard the ship. A lot happens in three years, after all. And that was certainly true for the three years Grace had spent aboard the Sangue Padre. Her earliest memory, of course, had come less than three weeks since joining the crew - they’d been slammed by a maelstrom. Still without her sea-legs, she had gone sliding right off the deck and right into the freezing ocean. Before she had drifted too far in the deadly swells, though, one of the pirates had flung himself into the water after her. That pirate had become one of her closest friends, Aisuru, after he helped pull her back aboard the ship.
Not long after that, she’d enjoyed her first proper Christmas aboard the ship with people that were closer to her than family. She’d spent weeks leading up to the holiday carving small animal figurines for each of her crewmates, taking pains to ensure each little totem fit their recipient and that no two were the same. And of course there were the smaller moments that filled her with happiness. Like the first time she had avoided being pickpocketed by Sparky, or when she’d fallen ill and had been visited by Latte’s less-than-friendly spirit that made it a point to be as annoying as possible. At least, that’s how it always felt to Grace.
Of course, there had been plenty of trouble in those three years. One of the first real dangers they encountered was when Riddle had been kidnapped. Grace had gone off in pursuit, foolishly alone, and was captured herself. They had both ended up being brought aboard a ship called Wynthaul, captained by a man called Gwilym Pritchard. Through events that culminated in Grace getting whipped, Riddle’s soul getting stolen, and the eventual death of the lich captain. Of course, Riddle’s soul had been returned and they’d made it back to the Sangue Padre, and Grace had made friends with the man who had saved her on the Wynthaul, Kieran.
Grace was pulled from her reverie abruptly when someone stepped up beside her. It was Truth, looking even more exhausted than she had the day before.
“Still not sleeping well, Truth?” Grace asked, standing up and stretching.
“No, the nightmares are just getting worse,” the blind Farseer answered.
“Still can’t remember any of it?”
“Nothing more than screaming and fire. Maybe...something about the ship crashing into rocks? I don’t know.” Truth put her face in her hands and Grace gave her shoulder a pat.
“I’m sorry. Well, hopefully they’re just dreams, yeah? Come on, you should get something to eat.” Truth nodded and let Grace lead her down below deck. Dropping the Farseer off in the galley with a request to Abbey to make sure the girl got some food, Grace made her way to her own little cabin. Inside, she sat heavily in her cot, leaning back against the wall.
Truth wasn’t the only one having nightmares. Rowan was probably having the worst of it. As an empath, she was having to deal with everybody else dealing with nightmares and such. Even Grace had been feeling the effects of whatever had everybody so unsettled. Her abilities, which now came so easily to her, felt as if they slipped out of her grasp when she tried to use them.
Looking toward her tiny desk, she saw the cannonball-sized egg perched on top a folded blanket. She’d found the egg, first assuming it was just a giant rock since it had been so covered in caked mud. But then she’d cleaned it, revealing the smooth surface pulsing with countless shades of color. Reaching out a hand to touch the egg, the colors swirled to a deeper red beneath her touch.
With a small smile, Grace laid back in the cot and let herself relax until she fell asleep. But like Truth, her nights had been plagued with nightmares as well, and this one was no exception either. Like the other dreams, she stood on a sandy shore strewn with massive boulders. A ship had crashed into the rocky beach in front of her, fires still smoldering on the familiar deck. From beyond the ship, coming toward her from the horizon, was what she could only describe as a tidal wave of crackling energy.
Someone put a hand on her shoulder and she turned, coming face to face with a young man maybe only a couple years older than her. He was an attractive man, taller than her with kind honey brown eyes and dark skin. “Grace?” He spoke with a thick, warm accent, and eased some of her worry ease. Behind him stood another figure, smaller than even Grace, with glowing orange eyes. In the orange-eyed girl’s arms she held Grace’s egg close to her chest. But instead of feeling protective, there was the strange sense that the girl stood across from Grace was meant to have the egg.
Turning back toward the wrecked ship, she saw the energy wall steadily approaching. Before the wave hit, though, Grace was shaken awake, coming to and finding Aslansa standing above her, looking worried.
Sitting up and rubbing a hand down her face, Grace felt the ship around them swaying like crazy. “You’re having those nightmares too, aren’t you?”
“Aren’t we all?” Grace tried to laugh as she said it, but her head was pounding and trying to laugh didn’t exactly help. Looking up suddenly, Grace saw that the egg was no longer on her desk. “It’s gone?”
“Grace, are you alright?” The demon looked at her with no small deal of concern.
That was a loaded question, given the pounding in the nymph’s head. “Do you want the truth or a lie to make you feel better?”
“Grace,” he sighed, smiling nonetheless.
“What is it you needed Aslansa?”
“Riddle wanted us all up on the deck. That storm is going to hit soon.”
Right on cue, the ship lurched suddenly, making Aslansa stumble forward. He’d have fallen right on top of Grace too, had he not managed to catch himself.
“I slept longer than I thought,” the nymph commented, standing up and following Aslansa as he made his way back to the deck. Each step Grace took, though, her headache slowly worsened. As she finally stepped up onto the deck, though, she found the sky much darker than it had been before. In fact, the storm had come upon them far faster than any natural storm would have. Riddle stood at the helm, looking nervous. When the captain saw Grace, she called the nymph over.
As Grace approached though, she saw something approaching them from the east. Unlike her dream, this was an actual tidal wave, twice the height of the ship’s mast. Riddle looked deeply unsettled.
“We don’t have many options,” the captain said. “Grace, do you think you could conjure a wind to get us out of here?”
“I can’t. Even if my powers weren’t acting up. We could only go west. The wave would only catch up with us,” Grace responded.
“Then this is it?” Riddle breathed.
They all turned and watched as the monstrous tidal wave approached, drawing them closer as the sea retreated to feed it. But as it came near, a light seemed to take shape between the wave and the ship. The crew watched the light grow larger and larger before, like a rubber band pulled too far, it snapped, crashing in upon itself. The light crackled like lightning, full of energy that had the hair on their arms stand on end. The energy wave approached far faster than the water and when it hit, there was only silence, absolute silence, and darkness crashed around them. There was no wind, no light and no sound. There was simply nothing. Still, there was the sense that they were still together on the ship in the empty world.
The last thing Grace clearly remembered was feeling Aslansa’s presence at her shoulder fall away and then a blinding light erupt from the darkness. Then her world lurched violently, throwing her back into a void. She fell and kept falling, through the deafening silence. Whatever world she was now in, she was the only thing in it. There was no sky and no ground, no wind rushing against her skin, nor was it hot or cold. There was simply nothing.
Then, after what was either a few seconds or a few years, Grace crashed through something that felt like the surface of a lake and coldness washed over her. And then, just like that, she was standing in the middle of a frozen forest. Sleet fell from the sky, clinging to her now-feverish skin and making the wispy strands of hair stick to her neck. The forest would have been quiet around her had she not just emerged from the silent void. Even the gently falling sleet around her was deafening and the cold light through thick clouds was too bright.
Feeling overwhelmed, Grace sank to her knees, covering her ears with her hands and squeezing her eyes shut. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before a touch at her shoulder drew her back to the real world. She looked up, bleary eyed, into the confused face of a very young man, maybe only about eighteen. “Are you alright, ma’am?” He spoke with an accent Grace could have sworn she’d never heard before, and yet sounded vaguely familiar.
“Where am I?” Grace’s own voice sounded strange to her, hoarse for some reason.
“Y- You’re in Kasaan. We’re just outside of Nebesa. Are you...not from here?” His eyes took in her appearance. She was wearing only a pair of thin knee-length trousers and a loose-fitting shirt, certainly nothing fit for the freezing temperatures of wherever she was now.
“Did you find something Alek?”
Grace glanced toward the new voice, looking over her shoulder only to then have to turn and look up at the man that had approached on horseback. With a shock, she realized it was the man from her dream. His honey-colored eyes looked down on her with just as much confusion as the boy, Alek he’d called him, had.
He slid down from the horse’s saddle and went to Grace’s side. “Are you alright, miss?” His voice was just as warm as it had been in her dream, and something made her feel as if she could trust this man. Moreover, he was wearing what looked like a guard’s outfit - tall leather boots, fitted trousers, and a layered leather tunic over a dark long-sleeve shirt. Over it all was a fur-lined hooded cloak which he took from his shoulders and draped it over hers, securing it beneath her chin. “Do you need help?” Without the hood, his dry shoulder length hair, pulled back out of his face, was slowly plastered down against his scalp.
Grace made to stand up, the guard’s hands going to her shoulders. Even though she did make it to her feet, her knees nearly gave out when she tried to take a single step and he had to brace her up. “Alek, I’m going to her back to Nebesa. Finish your round and meet me back there.”
“Of course, Captain!” Alek gave an odd sort of salute before hurrying off.
“You aren’t injured, are you, miss?” The captain looked her over curiously.
“No, I don’t think so. But I feel… I don’t know, weak?” She couldn’t understand why, but something felt off, wrong. And whatever that wrongness was, it had left her feeling as if she’d just started recovering from the flu or something.
“Is there somewhere you’d rather go or would you like to go back to the guardhouse?”
Grace looked at him, really looked at him. How much could she actually trust him? What felt like only a few hours ago, she’d been safe on the deck of the Sangue Padre, among friends that were close as family. Now… “I was separated from the others… We were out at sea, and there was some sort of...tidal wave. I should find them,” Grace said, trying to pull out of his grip. “I have to find them. They could be hurt!”
“Hey, hey, you need to calm down, alright?” The captain kept hold of her shoulders, his grip gentle but firm. “If you need to find someone, we can start back in Nebesa. But we really do need to get you out of this cold.”
Grace looked back to him, distantly realizing her fingers had gone numb. “I need to find them. Please, they’re the only family I’ve got.” She hated the way she sounded, her quiet voice hoarse with desperation.
“I’ll help you find the people you’re missing, alright? I promise. But we need to get you somewhere warm.” He let go of her shoulder and offer his hand. Grace’s eyes went from the offered hand to his eyes again. Finally, she nodded and took his hand. He guided her over to his horse and helped her into the saddle. It wasn’t exactly a dignified mounting, and Grace was quick to admit she’d never ridden a horse in her life, which earned a smile from him. It was a very nice smile, she found herself thinking.
“Is there something I can call you, miss….?” They’d started walking, quickly stepping onto a narrow path as he led the massive horse by its reins.
“Grace,” she answered. “Sarah Grace. And you, Captain?”
He chuckled. “Captain Marcello Vasile, at your service. Pardon me if I skip the bow.”
“I’ll let it slide, Captain Vasile,” Grace said, leaning forward slightly.
“Please, call me Marcello.”
When Grace didn’t answer, the captain looked back worriedly but only gave a slight smile when he saw she had fallen fast asleep. Easing the massive draft horse to a stop, Marcello climbed easily into the saddle behind Sarah Grace. She stirred slightly, looking over her shoulder at him, her blonde brows knitted together in question. “It’s easier to keep you from falling out of the saddle like this, especially if you fall asleep. And anyway, it’ll be faster this way.” With that, he clicked his tongue at the stallion and they started forward again.
Before long, Grace had fallen asleep again. At first, she seemed to try to stay upright, but after a while she fell into a deeper sleep and leaned heavily against Marcello’s chest. The weather seemed to worsen and he quickened their pace. The faster they got to Nebesa, the sooner he could try to get some clearer answers from the girl. Whatever had happened to her, it had really shaken her up.
But why had she been in the middle of the woods? Why was she wearing so little in such cold weather? Where was she from? Whatever her accent was, it wasn’t something from anywhere near Kasaan.
No matter the questions he had, and he had a great deal, Marcello would have to wait before he could really speak with her.