Solo Voices Ringing in Your Head

[Sophia Sunshore]

17, Spring, 519

The sea was calm today, gentle waves lapping at the sandy shores of Syka. Overhead Syna had not long started her ascent into the skies and the morning light was golden, reflecting off the water and sand alike. At the shoreline, a young woman was sat just close enough to the water to allow it to cool her toes.

Sophia had her knees pulled up, chin resting atop them as she stared out at the expanse of blue before her. Her eyes drifted in and out of focus as her thoughts jumped from present to past.
I don’t see a mark.
She shut her eyes.
She’s not been chosen.

The Svefra sighed, blinking at the sea with sadness written over her features. More and more often she had been waking with the feeling that something was wrong. No, not something. Someone. Herself. She had felt it for a long time but instead of dealing with the feeling she had buried it in the hopes that it would go away. Of course it didn’t, these things never do. And so it had worked its way back up to the surface, demanding her to pay attention to it.

The waves seemed to tease her, creeping further over her feet and she frowned at them, a deep line creasing her brow. Sophia kicked out at the water in childish frustration. The sea was where her problem had started after all. She closed her eyes again.

✧

“I don’t see a mark.” The speaker was a young woman, her forehead shining with sweat and dark, damp hair sticking to her face and shoulders. She was looking down at a tiny baby held in her arms, the little girl she had just given birth to. A man sat next to her, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It might still come.”
The woman roughly shook her head. “I wanted her to be a proper Svefra, like I can never be.”
The baby started to cry, scrunching her shining blue eyes shut, almost as if she understood what her parents were saying. Almost as if she already felt the absence of the mark, an absence that would follow her throughout her life.

✧

[Sophia Sunshore]

A diminutive white and grey seabird fluttered down to rest in the sand next to Sophia. It could sense the woman’s sadness and it plucked at her gauzy top in an attempt to comfort her. Sophia turned her gaze to the prion.
“Where do you think I belong Pearl?” The bird of course, did not answer, but settled down next to her, almost as if to say, ‘with me’. The corner of her mouth twitched in a smile as the Svefra watched the seabird.

✧

A young girl of around three years was sat along the edge of a Svefra ship, her little legs swinging between the railing. Salty wind ruffled the blond locks atop her head, shining blue eyes carefully watching the seas the ship floated upon. Below in the shallows, more children were splashing and laughing together as a small group of Otani milled around them inviting them to play.
On the deck, behind the child, a pair of Svefra bent their heads together to speak as they noticed her.
“Why doesn’t she play with the other children?”
Her fellow shot a sympathetic look at the back of the oblivious little girl’s head before replying. “She’s not been chosen. The Otani will not play with the unmarked.”

✧

The sea continued to lap at Sophia’s feet and ankles. She stared at the waves, eyes tracing the lacy white foam that lined their edges.
“Why was I not worthy?” Her voice was a whisper, meant only for Him, her father of sea.
“Why was I the only one you didn’t care about?”

✧

The little girl was taller now, her hair was longer, but her eyes were still the same sparkling shade of blue. She was pouting at a sad, limp potted plant while her father rolled his eyes at her.
“Why do you insist on bringing plants aboard Sophia? They always die and then you get upset.”
“Because I LIKE them!” The girl’s brow furrowed in annoyance as her eyes shined with tears. “How can I make them stay alive?”
Her father shook his head. “You can’t, they are not meant for ships. Look at the sea, do you see trees and flowers? No, you don’t, because they are for the land.” He crouched to her eye-level. “Why do you not go and play with the others?”

Blond hair flew around her head as she vigorously shook it ‘no’. “They tease me. They splash the water at my face because it tastes horrible to me. I’m not like them.” A fat tear broke free and rolled down her cheek as she whispered, “I’m not like you.”

✧

[Sophia Sunshore]

“Why did you deny me the connection to your seas that you gifted all of my family?” The whisper was no more, Sophia’s voice growing harsher and louder.
In response, the sea simply continued to wash over her feet and the young woman roughly pushed herself up to stand, causing the little seabird to anxiously take flight.
“You isolated me.”

✧

The young woman laughed as she untangled herself from her mother’s embrace. “Hey, look, it’s not forever.” She stepped back so she could take in both her parents, a bright smile winding over her mouth. “You can stop fussing now, I’ll be fine.”
With the help of her father, Sophia managed to usher her mother onto the Svefran ship that was waiting in the port of Riverfall. “Sophia, you’ll always have a home with us, you know that right?”
She flashed her parents another smile. “I know.”
That smile stayed on her face until her parents were no more than outlines watching from their retreating ship. Only then, when she knew they could not see, did she let it fall. Her voice was soft and sad.

“The sea will never be my home.”

✧

Sophia had located a small rock somewhere along her stretch of beach and she turned it slowly in her hands. Her eyes were shining with the start of the tears she had denied herself to cry for so long. As the first spilled over to course a trail down her cheek, she hurled the rock as hard as she could into the water. She roughly wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, turning away from the sea. Ahead, past her little beachfront tent, stood the jungle. The trees and the flowers she had dreamed of since her childhood.

Sophia didn’t belong on the sea. Laviku didn’t want her, she wasn’t his daughter. Her feet were carrying her over the sand, her mind numb to everything but the hurt she was feeling. The dense canopy of the trees rustled in a breeze as she neared, drawn to them as if the noise were a whisper calling her name. And when her vision was filled with all the shades of green she could ever imagine, Sophia started to run...

✧✧✧

[Oresnya Cacao]

Grades!

Sophia

Skills

● Gardening +1
● Meditation +1
● Observation +1

Lores
● Meditation: Addressing Rising Emotions
● Sophia: Unmarked by Laviku, Unwanted Daughter of the Sea
● Pearl: Sophia's Prion Tavan
● Gardening: Potted Plants Don't Survive Well at Sea
● Sophia: Never at Home on the Sea
● A Rock Thrown at the Sea: An Angry Gesture to Laviku
● Sophia: The Jungle Calls to Her

and, if you really want it,

● Sophia: Is really a stroppy teenager

Comments

This was really a lovely thread, Sophia. I always find myself most drawn to the threads that draw out a character's emotions and some of the driving forces behind what they do. You did this well. The memories were short and concise, not overdone but enough to evoke the emotions that arose from them. Well done. If you have any questions about your grade, think I've missed something, or want something phrased differently, just PM me or send a message on Discord. Thanks for the read.