The air was still warm, the summer heat had yet to lose its intensity. Risa rowed ashore with Fala on the ship's siding and with Sibir, a large but older Moontide man sent with Risa to 'help her with picking the fruit' but mainly to keep the overconfident girl safer. My mother worries so. The island ahead was a large fruit bearing island, and the older pod members say they had stopped here before, but only briefly. Of the tons of islands dotting the Suvan Sea, Risa found it hard to believe that they could remember some unremarkable island, filled more with rocks than trees.
Carrying a long basket Risa ran towards the beach before the rowboat was even beached itself. He long skirt got soaked around the legs, but Risa and Fala hurried about their task, immediately pulling the orb-like fruit from the small green trees with wild abandon. The sand was turbulent beneath her toes, less firm from the recent tide, but the soft vibrations were comforting. Sibir finally caught up to her, quickly speaking to slow Risa's chaotic harvesting.
"Now Risa," he began, trying to capture the girl's interest, "What you're picking right now are the sea grapes. They're just beginning to bloom so you have to make sure to leave the green ones, let the land have them." Risa looked curiously at the tree, noting the color difference. "And what about those?" she asked, indicating the other leafy tree filled with big colorful fruit, ranging from green to yellow to orange to red. "Mango. It's the same color concept with that."
"I got it!" Risa exclaimed and went to work. Sibir moved over beside her and began picking fruit into his own basket. Risa's pace was quicker, though, and she soon emptied her basket, grabbed another, and moved off down the beach, Fala following from the sky.
After over an hour of picking the various fruit Risa noticed the smoke of a fire in the distance, through the brush and rocky juttings. She looked back at Sibir, who was still working on his side, picking an assortment of different fruit. She grinned at Fala. "Let's go find out what that is." Fala swooped down onto Risa's shoulder and the pair moved in.
After about a half hour of traveling Risa had reached towards the other side of the island at a long clearing. A small shelter had been built, and the fire was merely crackling. Risa had no idea how long ago the fire had been roaring, she didn't know anything about fire. But the searing heat within the logs were alluring, giving patterns of bright red cracking from within, like the surface of the log was bout to be flecked off leaving but the molten center within. Risa sat by the fire, staring into its depths, and lost herself in her thoughts.
