The port town of Amee was bustling. The chatter of humans and Spirits filled the streets lined with stalls and shops. Clothing from all countries were hung outside a few storefronts. Fish and other produce from all over the world was set up in street stalls. Weapons and jewelry were neatly laid out on tables. Enthusiastic merchants called out to those on the streets hoping to get more sales.
The scent of sea salt filled the air. Beyond the buildings, the sails of many ships billowed in the wind looking much like the light clouds that dotted the sky. The docks were filled with busy sailors trying to load and unload the docked ships. Kindle watched them work as she sat on top of a jar half her size filled with dirt and sand and a handful of small stones. Terbius stood behind her being strangely quiet with a gleeful grin.
“Who knew a jar of dirt could keep them so behaved,” Aliya was a bit surprised they had stopped being rambunctious since Kindle had them fill it and give it back to her. “They were so hyper on the way over.”
“It’s pretty good for keeping them distracted,” Kindle smirked up at Aliya.
“You think we can make it to Lurline before nightfall?” Aliya mused aloud to Kindle. It had been so long since she’d traveled around outside the Leylines she couldn’t recall. “It's been a while since I've traveled on the surface in a regular manner…”
“Depends on the ship I guess,” Kindle shrugged. She was a Water Spirit so Kindle thought she was referring to just swimming across the sea. “We'll probably be there not too long after sunset at the latest.”
“Hey there boys!” A red head human stood behind Terbius and caught their attention. “I didn’t think I’d see my Gaylette heroes here.”
They recognized her immediately as the woman they helped in Baker’s Pub back in Gaylette. She was carrying an extremely large rucksack over her shoulder. Her clothes were much more suited for the warmer weather. A pair of high waisted, brown shorts over a loose yellow shirt that was way too big for her and falling off her shoulders, the only thing keeping it on was the suspenders that pinned it to her body. On her right arm she wore a gauntlet and around her waist a belt with two daggers hanging off it.
“Oh! It’s you!” Ter perked up.
“Nice to see you’re doing alright!” Bius chimed in with a big grin.
“Who’s this?” Kindle stood atop the large jar to peek over her brothers’ shoulders. Aliya looked at the human with the same questioning look.
“Remember the fight outside the pub in Gaylette?” Bius whispered to Kindle.
“She’s the one we rescued from the sleazy guy,” Ter added.
“My name is Gwen!” The young woman snatched Kindle's hand with a sultry smile. “What’s yours, lovely angel?” She kissed the back of Kindle’s hand.
“K-Kindle,” Kindle’s cheeks started turning as red as her hair. “I’m Terbius’s older sister.”
“If I had known you boys had such a heavenly older sister I might have blown off that work meeting to drink a bit more!” Gwen smiled up at Terbius. She spotted Aliya who seemed to be silently enjoying seeing Kindle all flustered. “Traveling with another heavenly maiden? I must say I’m rather jealous.”
“Please don’t call me that,” Aliya’s expression quickly shifted to unamused at the flirtatious attention focused on her. “The name is Aliya.”
“Aliya it is!” Gwen beamed, taking the hint but not letting it get to her. Kindle was much more her type anyways. “Where are you all heading? I assume since you are here at the docks you are looking for a ship.”
“We are heading to Lurline,” Aliya lightened up again as she looked back at the ships. “I’m looking for my own brothers and, well, we’re trying to get a little help in this mission of ours.”
“I’m heading there as well!” Gwen clapped her hands together. “If you don’t have a ship just yet you should come with me! I know a Captain of a merchant vessel who’s very into that sailor superstition about all four elements of Spirits being onboard brings good fortune, so much that he’ll let any Spirit travel aboard his ship.”
“Oh that’s perfect then,” Aliya grinned. “We’ll have all four.”
“Say what now? Four…?!” Kindle's face contorted in confusion as she looked at Aliya. “Did you forget to count?”
“Nah, look up there,” Aliya pointed to the rooftop behind them. There was a Wind Spirit writing in a book with a small fox sitting on her shoulder. They both jumped upon hearing Aliya call them out. “She's been following me since I literally ran into her on my way into Gaylette.”
“How’d you know?” Breyze pouted as she floated down from the roof. “I thought I was being sneaky…”
“Well she seems pretty observant,” Pree flicked his tail rather cheerfully. He thought it would do Breyze some good to be a little more social. “It was bound to happen…”
“Well aren’t you two precious!” Gwen squealed at the sight of Breyze and Pree, she found them to be absolutely adorable.
“I am Pree! My charge here is Breyze,” Pree proudly introduced. “I apologize if we gave you the wrong impression. Breyze likes to observe from afar and she has taken quite an interest in you, Miss Aliya!”
“Is that so?” Aliya looked with curiosity at Breyze, who was writing things down in her notebook. “Well don’t feel the need to hide any more. You’ll learn more by being involved than you will from a distance.”
“Really?” Breyze blinked, it had never occurred to her that could be the case. She was always content with being an onlooker.
“Yes siree!” Pree agreed. “You’ll be able to ask all sorts of questions too!”
“Exactly, my thoughts,” Aliya giggled.
Gwen spotted the Captain she mentioned overseeing the loading of The Valorous. His messy dark hair was graying, poking out underneath his rust colored bandana. His off white shirt was loose and baggy tucked into black pants. His heavily tanned skin made his verdant eyes stand out more.
“Captain Granger!” Gwen skipped on up to him.
“Ah, Gwen I was afraid we were going to have to leave without you this time around,” Granger laughed as she approached.
“I always show up at the last second, you know that!” Gwen shifted and pointed to her new Spirit friends, “I found some Spirits that are heading to Lurline as well!”
“I hope you don't mind the company of our Earth Spirit companions,” Aliya prefaced as she approached, just to be safe. “I assure you they aren't with The Earth Legion.”
“Nah, I don't mind,” Granger waved off the concern. He glanced at Terbius behind her and smiled seeing them try to ground the floating Breyze but she kept popping back up paying them no mind at all as she was lost in her notebook again. “I can tell just by looking at them that they aren’t from The Earth Legion. Also it wasn’t that long ago I had the company of a pair of rather nice Earth Fae outside The Earth Legion. I know they aren't all bad news.”
“They didn’t happen to be brother and sister, did they?” Aliya knew it was a long shot but couldn’t help but wonder if it was her brother, Lios, still roaming around with their reclusive sister. “A top notch sailor and craftsman and a small grumpy girl that looked a lot like him?”
“Oh? Do you know Lios and Erinna?” Granger tilted his head in interest. “Lios saved the ship in more ways than one.”
“I remember them!” Gwen perked up. “Lios helped me defeat that Sea Serpent Demon that attacked the ship during the storm! Erinna was just the cutest thing but she couldn’t stand me.”
“Yeah, while she doesn’t dislike humans, she’s never in a good mood around them,” Aliya laughed. “I’m looking for them, actually,” Aliya lit up at finding a potential lead on at least one brother. “I really could use Lios’s help.”
“He’s one of your brothers?! Small world, huh?” Gwen grinned.
“You don’t happen to know where he was heading do you?” Aliya asked. She always figured Lios would be more difficult to track down. She guessed they were likely hidden from most humans to avoid backlash, much like Kindle and Terbius were before.
“They jumped ship at Jinjur, they were heading to Lambertine,” Granger rubbed his scruffy chin as he thought back. “That was almost three years ago now, so I’m not sure it will be of much use to you.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Aliya smiled. Much like Terbius, Lios had a tendency to want to help humans and that was the trail she was looking for.
“Why don’t you come aboard, the crew is just about done loading up,” Captain Granger walked towards the ship and waved for them to follow. He had a few preparations to finish up so he left them to their own devices to take care of them.
Aliya turned around and noticed Breyze was quietly floating right behind her writing in her notebook again with Pree on her shoulder. She smiled and noticed Kindle was sitting on the jar again, sternly talking to the twins for trying to make a game of getting Breyze to stop floating. Aliya walked back over to them with Breyze and Gwen close behind.
“We are good to climb aboard!” Aliya informed them on her approach.
“One sec’,” Kindle slipped off the jar. “Hey, Terbius!” Kindle smiled sweetly and curled her finger to bring them down to her level.
“Yes sis’!” They said in unison and both leaned in. She hit them both on the head as hard as she could, knocking them out. She caught both of them on her shoulders.
“Ah! Why?!” Pree’s fur frizzed out in shock. He couldn’t fathom why she would knock out her brothers. Breeze was silent but wide eyed.
“Damn girl!” Gwen was mildly impressed such a small girl could knock them out with ease.
“They don't handle sailing very well,” Kindle giggled as she marched toward the ship with a bit of pep in her step. “If I don't knock them out they will freak out.”
“Then what’s with the jar of dirt?” Aliya looked confused between Kindle and the jar.
“That's to distract them in case they wake up so I have time to knock them back out before they realize we are sailing,” Kindle threw them down under the stairs to the top deck so they would be out of the way of the crew. “Aliya? Are you able to pick up that jar and bring it aboard?”
“Well…” Aliya looked at it skeptically and tried to tilt it but it didn’t budge under her touch. “No.” Aliya thought it was rather impressive at how strong Kindle and Terbius were physically. Before she had seen Terbius just tossing it back and forth to each other when they had just filled it.
“I got it!” Gwen tapped her Earth Rune pendant, setting it aglow. She quickly lifted the jar up without breaking a sweat and rested it on one shoulder as she carried it to the ship.
Aliya was speechless, it was impressive for a Spirit to have that kind of strength but a human that strong was almost unheard of. Gwen was a rather skinny woman, granted it was more of a lean build. Looking at her you would never assume she could lift something that likely weighed at minimum three her body weight with such ease. On top of that earlier she mentioned taking down a Sea Serpent Demon with Lios meaning she could fight pretty well if she could keep up with him. Aliya was secretly hoping she’d join them on their mission.
“Damn, you’re strong for a human!” Kindle was impressed as Gwen walked up and handed the jar to her.
“I was raised by a bunch of Earth Spirits before this war got out of hand,” Gwen gently set her rucksack down pretty close to Terbius since it was out of the way. “I learned some strength boosting Magic Artes to keep up with them whenever we played games.”
“That’s still impressive! But don’t those artes come with some backlash?” Kindle asked as she set down the jar in front of Terbius so it was the first thing they saw when they woke up.
“Yeah, Giant’s Strength leaves me pretty tender and I can bruise pretty easily after it’s effects are done but nothing too life threatening,” Gwen explained. “The version in this magic pendant has helped limit the backlash quite a bit, however it is shorter bursts of strength.” Gwen looked at Aliya and smiled, “Actually, Lios made it for me after seeing me use Giant’s Strength against that Sea Serpent Demon.”
“That sounds like him. Lios is quite the craftsman. He’s pretty good at making magic items and weapons,” Aliya giggled as she pulled her dagger from her back. “He made me this when we first met. It’s just a regular Rune Weapon so there’s no glyph carved into the metal. It works fine as my tether though.”
“Does your brother know how to make Masterworks?” Kindle lit up from her perch on the jar. “Like these Gauntlets we’ve been using for Terbius’s tether?”
“If he does I haven’t been around to see him do it. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could though,” Aliya shrugged. “Lios is about a thousand years older than I am.”
“No wonder he seemed so wise and good at everything,” Gwen threw her head back. “I was so jealous!” She snapped back to Aliya, “Wait how old are you anyways? Sorry if you think it’s rude. I just want to know how far behind him I really am.”
“I’ve been around for five hundred thirty six years,” Aliya stated simply as she leaned against the railing of the ship.
“Really? I would have thought you’d be older than me with your kind of insight.” Kindle shrugged it off and clicked her heels against the jar she was sitting on, “I’m seven hundred and thirty, give or take a couple years. I didn’t exactly keep track in the beginning, so it’s kind of a guess.”
“Well after the whole nightmare with The First Order resolved, I have been traveling around a lot, learning all sorts of things. It’s been a little over a century since then.” Aliya’s solemn tone quickly perked back up after taking a breath. She smirked at Kindle, “Plenty of time to gather all that insight I have apparently.”
“The First Order? Does that have anything to do with the organization of Druids that calls itself The Order?” Breyze recalled seeing various people saying they were from The Order pass through Gaylette before.
“You don’t know about The First Order?” Kindle looked at Breyze in surprise. “Were you born after, like Terbius?”
“Yes siree! Breyze has been a Spirit for twelve years now,” Pree answered for her.
“You are just a baby Spirit then how cute!” Gwen cooed.
“You are definitely too young to know,” Aliya sighed, preferring not to rehash the bitter memories and lack there of around that time period. She could tell Breyze would be curious to know so she decided to elaborate anyways. “They are technically the same organization though you wouldn’t know it. The one of this age is technically The Fifth Order, I believe, though it’s just now usually referred to as The Order. The number mainly was determined by the succession of the Arch-Druid.” A bitter cold expression flashed across her face for a moment, “The First Arch-Druid was bad news for all Spirits, he taught the members of The First Order that Spirits were just tools as he brainwashed us all with a magic arte.” Aliya took a deep breath trying to not get too riled up by the past. She noticed Breyze was jotting down notes as she spoke and it helped calm her down seeing a curious being much like herself who can never know too much. “However, the Second Arch-Druid started turning things around, completely opposite of the First’s method. She and her descendants made sure that The Order became an organization of balance and peace between Spirits and Humans.”
“No joke,” Gwen huffed. “The Order sure have their hands full trying to help resolve this war. I haven’t seen my little brother in quite some time.”
“So your brother is a Druid?” Aliya had come across quite a few in recent years and all of them were rather kind.
“Yeah, don’t ask me what rank he is,” Gwen sighed, she did miss him. “It’s been that long and he was rising fast. We were both raised by the same Earth Spirits. When he got the chance to try and make a difference in this war he joined The Order. He’s been working overtime to try and make things better.” Gwen tilted her head back and raised her voice for Granger to hear, “If my client list wasn’t a mile long I’d take time off to go track him down for a visit!”
“If you didn’t pick them so inefficiently you’d have plenty of time!” Granger raised his voice back at her from the helm.
“He’s probably right,” Gwen shrugged with a defeated smirk.
“Do our guests have everything? We are setting sail!” Granger leaned on the railing just above them.
“Yes, Captain, thanks again!” Aliya smiled up at him.
“What exactly do you do anyways, Gwen?” Kindle asked out of curiosity.
“I’m sort of a broker for the Captain’s goods.” Gwen pointed over her shoulder at Granger above them. “I set it up so stores take his wares and sell them. It lets him sail more if I do all the groundwork. He gets to do what he loves and I get paid to travel the world. It’s pretty win-win.”
“Getting paid to travel is quite the dream!” Pree swooned.
“Master does love a good adventure!” Breyze looked up from her notebook. “It does sound like fun though! I don't know much about the world outside Gaylette so I take notes…” Breyze held her beloved notebook up all proud. “I've always taken notes… Anything and everything! But to get out of that town and find new things to write about is just so thrilling! Master, why didn’t you take me out on one of your adventures!”
“You were always too scared to leave the town,” Pree patted her head.
“You could have made me and I would have gotten over it!” Breyze huffed.
“If I had you wouldn’t have come across Miss Aliya!” Pree reminded her.
“This is true!” She looked at Aliya with a curious sparkle in her eye. “Your tale interests me for some reason. I’m just so interested to see how it will turn out.”
“You and me both, kid,” Aliya chuckled. “The essence of adventure is the tale it weaves. Lios used to say that all the time.”
“He is quite right! True bonds are formed when those with a passion for adventure join together and share their tales while they share an adventure of their own,” Pree added in with a chipper tone all puffed up with pride. “As much as I enjoy any good adventure I love sharing them just as much!”
“Master is a pretty great story teller! I have a whole book in my bag just filled with them and I started another one.” Breyze happily patted her oversized messenger bag. She eagerly looked at Aliya. “I’d love to hear some of yours as well!”
“Now, now, Breyze! All in due time!” Pree waved a paw. “You can’t expect all the information at once.”
“I know...” Breyze pouted, pressing her quill against her cheek.
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