[flashback] Keep A Weather Eye Open (Avina)

[Will Blacktide]

The girl was not to be diverted from her own determined course, apparently. But Will simply smiled at her obstinate return to the reason she had agreed to accompany him. Still, scanning the horizon, he felt assured that he was right and that she was a worrier. Then, unexpectedly, she was smiling, and even giggling, like a real girl. He smiled at her attempt to sound like a sailor. “Something like that, yeah.” He reassured her. “But you don’t say that until you actually see where you’re headed. And don’t worry, we’ll get there alright.” He continued to twirl the capstan and was within a few moments reaching for the anchor chain, securing the anchor in its berth. He looked at Avina, considering her for a moment, before saying with a grin, “If you want to be mate, I guess I better teach you a thing or two.” He began to give her a very quick tour of the major components of those structures and gadgets of the casinor which allowed it to sail. Fortunately, the wind was enough to allow him to raise the jib sails, with Avina helping, which was enough to get them moving forward at no great speed. Will brough the Marlin about handily, and as they made the headland of the little cove, he set the mainsail, ready to begin the longer tacking manuvers that would be required to sail into the wind and back in the direction of Mura. Having set the first course, several points past SSW, he sat down easily beside Avina, who was now perched in the stern near the tiller. With his hand on the wood, feeling the set of the water under his fingers in a way only years of sailing could allow, he turned to look at her, her pale hair streaming out in all directions in the stiff breeze. “So, tell me, what is this gift like? Can you really read the air?” He didn’t ask because he really wanted to be convinced. He was completely skeptical, but he just wanted to talk to her. “You must have lived in Mura all your life then, if you’ve never been on a boat before. Unless you know how to fly. Although, I suppose you could always swim wherever you like, right?”

[Avina]

Will showed Avina round the boat, and she found herself genuinely interested, listening to them, and finding her eyes straying. He was handsome, she thought. Oh dear mother... this is what a life amongst the Konti does to you. She felt a little shamed, and quickly returned to her coy ways. Once he had finished taking her around his prized possession, he asked her about her gift. She smiled - outsiders were always curious folk. "I'm attuned to the natural world around me. I can hear the voice of everything, the plants, the soil, the sea, the sky. I told you a storm's coming Will... that's because the clouds are crying out, and the sea is shouting." She suddenly became aware that the sailor was eying her strangely. He was a sceptic. But wasn't everyone until they felt nature's soft embrace? "I've swum around the coastline, explored the coves and beaches, but I've never left Mura. I was born here, and I'll probably never leave... there's only one thing that draws me across the ocean." She swallowed, eying him carefully. My father.