The Storyteller: The End

[annarti.livejournal.com]

Seventh Birthday

The sun was just kissing the ocean in the distance as Horizons finally pulled into the jetty. The whole crew came ashore now, though it was still only Tu that Sen was interested in seeing. She ran up the jetty, bare feet thundering on the wood, and threw herself at the big captain in an equally big hug. Kaiji wasn’t far behind.

‘Are you staying the night?’ Sen asked. ‘It’s so late, it’s nearly bed time!’

‘Sure am,’ Tu confirmed. ‘When are you going to stop growing? You’ll be taller than me sooner or later!’

Sen beamed. ‘I will, just watch!’

‘Have you eaten yet?’ Tu asked. ‘We’ve got some leftover flathead if you’d like.’

‘No,’ Kaiji answered. ‘We had dinner ages ago.’

‘That’s how late you are! Oh!’ Sen danced in front of Tu, halting her progress up the jetty. ‘Be careful of Sula. She’s been a bit funny since last year, and even more the last few weeks.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Tu said, her voice wary. ‘Funny how? Is it because you told her I married a woman?’

Sen shook her head, then shrugged. ‘At least, I don’t think so? But every time I talk about you she just goes tight-lipped and quiet. Like she wants to say something but she doesn’t.’

Tu gave her a salute. ‘Noted,’ she said. ‘Has she told you anything else? The workers seemed to have her a bit wary. Did she hear anything from them?’

Sen exchanged glances with Kaiji, but Kaiji only shook her head. ‘Maybe,’ Sen answered carefully. ‘She hasn’t told me any of that, though.’

Tu sighed and hitched her bag more securely on her shoulder. ‘Right. Let’s go set things straight, then.’

‘Can we do presents first?’

The captain caught both girls around the shoulders in a rough hug. ‘Always presents,’ she agreed with a laugh.

The houses and their shade sails were all painted gold in the sunset, and the dunes up behind the village looked magnificent. Nak and Sula sat with their backs against their dome house, legs outstretched as they watched the sunset. Nak raised a hand in greeting, but Sula didn’t move.

‘Stunning evening,’ Tu said in greeting, looking back at the sunset. ‘Do you ever roll down those dunes?’

‘All the time!’ Sen said.

‘Fabulous.’ Tu slung the bag from her shoulder and placed it on the sand between Nak and Sula.

‘More treasures?’ Sula asked, sourly.

Tu spread her hands with a grin, but already Sen could feel the tension. ‘Who would I be without them? I may have planned to be here after sunset this time. Here, look.’ She crouched down and reached into the bag. When she brought it out again, she held a rock that glowed a brilliant white.

‘Oh, wow!’ Sen cried, reaching for the rock. ‘How did you do that? Is it magic?’

‘Could be,’ Tu said with a shrug. ‘This is white phosphor, from deep in the Llayan mountains. Nobody knows what makes it glow, but it seems to soak up the sunlight and glow at night, but it’s faded back to looking just like a pale, whiteish rock by morning.’ She reached into the bag again. ‘They also come in blue—’ She pulled a glowing blue rock out of the bag. ‘—green and red. The red ones are a bit dull compared to the others, though.’

‘Aren’t they pretty, Mama?’ Kaiji handed the blue one to Sula. It was exactly the same delicate turquoise as the ocean on a hot, sunny day.

‘Very pretty,’ Sula muttered. The shadows cast by the glowing phosphor made her face look strange. ‘And I’m sure very expensive, just like everything Captain Tu brings us.’

‘Sula,’ Nak murmured to her, quietly begging her not to take it further.

Tu cocked her head. ‘Sorry for bringing nice things?’

Sula looked away with a harsh breath. ‘That’s not it, and you know it.’

Sen carefully put the white phosphor down and indicated for Kaiji to do the same. Something was going to happen.

‘No, Sula, I don’t.’ Tu was suddenly angry. ‘You’ve been more and more hostile with my every visit. What is it? Jealousy? You’re still angry I won’t take Sen? You disapprove of my having wife?’

Sula was shaking her head but remaining as tight-lipped as she had all month.

Tu wouldn’t give up. ‘Go on, then, out with it. What incriminating rumours did you hear from Ryas?’

‘That’s not—’

‘Then what is it, Sula?’

Nak rested a hand on his wife’s leg. ‘Please, don’t,’ he murmured again to her.

‘No, please, do!’ Tu cried. ‘Come on, I can’t clear my name if I don’t know what the problem is.’

‘But that’s just it, isn’t it?’ Sula said quietly. Nak sighed and shook his head, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. ‘Your name carries weight.’

‘That again?’ Tu rolled her eyes. ‘I thought I’d cleared that up. Yes, I have a reputation, but you know me better than any for whom my name carries weight.’

‘It’s more than weight. If you were just a monster hunter, people would just admire you, but people fear you.’

Tu reeled back, indignant, and the glow of the phosphor made her look dangerous. In that instant, Sen could almost see how Captain Tu could be seen as fearful to those who didn’t know her.

Sula took a deep breath, and Sen could see her hands gripped tight in her lap. ‘You told us your father had walked the line of becoming a black spot,’ she said, quavering just a tiny bit in a bare tinge of fear.

‘Careful, now.’ Tu’s voice had dropped to a dangerous, warning growl.

Sen reached for Kaiji’s hand; Kaiji offered her a clinging hug instead.

Sula flinched and took another breath. ‘You’ve—I think you’ve just taken it one step further now and crossed over that line. How else do you explain the glowing phosphor? The pearls, or the gold? N-nobody just finds that much gold!’

‘I already told you that story when I brought it,’ Tu snarled, lips curled back to bare her teeth. ‘Would you prefer that I keep it to myself? That I cry poor and pretend I have nothing to offer you, no life to offer Sen?’

‘If it meant you leading an honest life, then yes!’ She glanced over at Sen and Kaiji, a silent apology before she glared back at Tu. ‘You didn’t just leave Tranquilo to get married, did you? I know what happened to that ship.’

Sen gasped. What had happened to Tranquilo?

Tu cast the girls her own apologetic, guilty look. ‘You know a rumour,’ she hissed at Sula. ‘And one that I had no part in. That was after Kes and I abandoned ship.’ She shook her head and muttered under her breath. ‘Please, tell me you didn’t tell that to the girls.’

‘Of course not,’ Sula scoffed, finding a bit of her own courage.

‘Good. Don’t.’

‘Why, because it’s finally a story that casts you in shadow?’

‘Because it’s not true!’ Tu roared. Sen yelped, and Kaiji buried her face in Sen’s shoulder. Tu dropped her voice again when she spoke next, but the anger was still plain in her snarl. ‘I thought I’d made that plain. My life is mine to tell. Whatever rumours and reputation I have elsewhere are just fabrication. Everything I’ve told you, that’s all true.’

Sula lifted her eyebrows. ‘Is that so? Horizons isn’t a monster hunter, is it? I didn’t see any harpoons on your deck.’

‘It’s a bounty hunter,’ Tu snapped back. ‘After the leviathan attack Kes and I decided monster hunting was too dangerous, even for our tastes. But the pay was good, so we stayed on with the Ruby until we had enough for Horizons. That’s it. We’re a perfectly legitimate bounty hunter. We track down pirates and bring them back to Ryas to face justice. Satisfied?’

Sula shook her head and held the fingers of one hand to the bridge of her nose. ‘This is ridiculous. When you first came here, you said you were a bit of everything. Sen’s parents were pearl divers, so that’s where you got the pearls from. You spend a lot of time around Kazin, because the trading’s good up there. Last time you said you were still a hunter, and that was why you couldn’t take Sen, because the monsters were too dangerous. Can you see why I don’t trust you? Who are you, Tu? Exactly which lie do you expect me to believe? Because the only thing that could possibly pull all these things together—’

‘Enough!’ Tu roared again. Her brow was so heavy her eyes were barely visible below it. Sen could see the veins of anger in her neck, and hugged Kaiji harder. She was scared, which made it the perfect time to be brave.

‘You’re a pirate!’ Sula roared back.

‘Stop shouting!’ Sen cried. She tried to make her voice big and brave, something to compete with the adults, but her little squeak just made her feel tiny.

All the same, both women backed down. Sula let out a heavy breath and looked away; Tu stood up, hands on her hips. ‘I’m sorry, Sen, Kaiji,’ she murmured, her voice almost back to normal. ‘I’m not welcome. I’ll see you next year.’

Sula cleared her throat carefully. ‘I think it’s best if we didn’t,’ she said, in a voice just above a whisper.

‘No!’ Sen jumped to her feet and hugged Tu around the waist, glaring back at Sula. ‘You can’t! I will hate you if you make her go away and never come back.’

Sula looked away as she shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Sen. It’s for the best.’

Tu dropped to her knees and wrapped her big, strong arms around Sen’s body. One hand cupped the back of her head in her warm hug. It was all Sen could do to hug her back. She was already crying. ‘I don’t want you to go,’ she sobbed.

‘I know, kiddo,’ Tu murmured into her ear. All the rage had drained from her voice leaving nothing but warmth as soft and strong as her hug. ‘Be brave for me, yeah?’

Sen nodded helplessly into her shoulder. ‘Are you going now?’

‘I’ll go back to Horizons now, but we’ll cast off at first light.’

‘Can I see you off?’

‘If Sula allows it.’

Sen could hear Sula shuffling behind her.

‘I don’t care what Sula thinks,’ Sen said, voice as hot as her tears. ‘She’s not my mama, anyway.’

‘Oh, Sen,’ Tu whispered, sadly. She pulled away from the hug, looking straight at Sen’s eyes. ‘Come on, then. Back to the ship.’ She swung to her feet, holding Sen’s hand in hers.

Sen looked beseechingly back at Kaiji, but her friend was frozen with indecision.

‘You can go, too, Kaiji,’ Sula murmured, and Kaiji was up like a shot, grabbing Tu’s waist in a fierce hug.

Tu patted her short-cropped hair, making soft, soothing noises as she smiled down. ‘Come on, girls. Back to the ship.’

Sen walked silently with Tu back to the jetty. She gripped Tu’s hand hard, wishing this wouldn’t be the last time she held it. The Horizons loomed like a ghost ship out of the night, rocking and creaking against the ropes that held it firm, and suddenly it all seemed real.

Sen grabbed Tu in another hug, as much for comfort as in an attempt to keep her here. ‘Please don’t go,’ she begged.

Tu crouched down again to her level, and the moonlight lit up her teeth, bared in that cheeky grin that meant she was up to something. ‘I go every year,’ she reminded her. ‘And what else do I do every year?’

Sen drew in a breath when she realised what Tu was saying. ‘You come back!’

‘Exactly right,’ Tu confirmed with a quiet, husky laugh. ‘I’ll be back again next year, I promise. But there’s something I want you to promise me, too. Don’t let this come between you and Sula, all right? She’s just trying to protect you because she loves you.’

Sen pouted, but nodded because it was for Tu. ‘I’ll try,’ she promised.

STUFF

o This was a hard one to get going, for some reason. I think because, outline-wise, pretty much all the story elements of it have happened before, except revealing that Horizons is a bounty hunter, which is a pretty minor part of the chapter. So it was like everything was building to that and Sula's accusation of being a pirate. Idk, just wasn't feeling it until they actually started yelling at each other. Whatever, done now, probably not as stilted as I feel like it is. MOVING ON.

o It's ttly not The End, I was just feeling dramatic and I have virtually no Tu-story to use for a chapter title.