Flashback [The Docks] Flights of Fancy (Edreina)

[Nathaniel Deveraux]

Day 44, Season Spring, 504 AV

It is an old saw that children tend to do exactly the opposite of what their parents tell them to do. It wasn't that Nate was trying to deliberately anger his father. Well, OK, maybe a little, but the young teen was also very eager to explore territory he'd never been to before. His father had always told him that the docks were dangerous, filled with angry sailors that would curse and beat him up if he looked at them fully, and ships that were filled with pirates and all manner of nasty people.

The truth wasn't that Anton hated the Svefra, or that he didn't trust sea-folk, it was mainly that as a hunter, he primarily understood those who hunted on land. The sea was foreign to him, strange. And so he never really interacted with the seafaring folk, and thus had developed something of a superstitious fear of the docks as a place of mystery and potential danger. Besides, he was training his son to be a hunter; what business did he have hanging around the docks?

Nate, for his part, was looking at the ships with a mixture of curiosity and a tiny bit of fear. If his father knew he was here, there would be fire to pay, and he knew it. Still, the place was huge, with vessels of every description and size moored, and as he wandered between them, he tried to imagine what it must be like on such a thing, out on the open seas. He imagined, the seafaring folk probably had it easy, he imagined. His mind conjured up an easy life of just fishing for food, not needing to spend endless bells stalking and gutting and cleaning and skinning...

Red hair? Nate thought only his sisters had red hair. Didn't his dad say that it was super-rare or something? That was clearly a lie, since there was a red-haired girl moving along the docks and it definitely wasn't Kat. Nate didn't think Lea would come down to the docks. Unless it was to climb a mast to see the stars. Hmmm, actually... Nate made a mental note to never tell Lea about this place.

Dashing off after the girl, Nate grinned as he felt the wind whip over his face. He couldn't do this in the Bronze Wood with his father; and he did understand why. Crashing through the brush was an excellent way to scare off potential prey, as well as attract potential predators. It was all-in-all just about the worst idea ever, but then running was such fun! The girl's red hair bobbed up and down in the distance, and Nate could feel his lungs start to burn a bit as he closed the distance. She wasn't moving very fast, but then Nate was rather far away to start with.

Finally catching up to her, Nate shouted out, "Hey wait... a tick... oh man..."

He was seriously out of breath. He probably needed to practice this more. He hoped the girl would stop, since he was really not capable of that sort of sprint for at least another chime or so. Taking a few ticks to catch his breath, he threw the unknown girl a grin. "Hi! I'm Nate! Who are you?" he asked.

[Edreina]

"Don't wander too far!" Illsa Whitewave called after her youngest child with Gnovak, a merry little thirteen year old by the name of Edreina. It was a wasted effort, but it soothed her mind to at least have attempted to have the errant child behave. As expected, the pale-haired woman did not receive even a wave of acknowledgement as the insane child saw fit to leap from the side of the palivar onto the dock itself, bypassing the gangplank and the dockworkers moving up and down it.

Edreina did not know why they had come to Syliras this time, nor why they had been asked to keep a few of the crates of cargo upon her home ship. Efficiency of travel did not weigh upon a child's mind. The song she hummed as she skipped through the crowd was a jaunty tune about a man who only had three fingers and one ear. There was a punchline somewhere in the song, but the absentminded youth had not thought to remember it, only the merry tune.

There was always so much activity upon the docks, and the people here were so different from her own kin. They wore so much! Did the heat not bother them as it did her? One could hardly go swimming in such odd atti-

Is that man wearing anchors!? she stopped and spun in place, watching a mail-clad knight stride purposefully by. Ah, well, he was gone before she could run after him and ask. After a tick of standing, staring about aimlessly, the young redheda decided that she would make it to the dock's end and back before the day's end. This way, she would see absolutely everything that the dock had to offer before they set sail.

Walking on land was still a bit of a hassle for Edreina, silly land did not sway and dance like the deck of a ship. But, she found skipping to be a bit easier, and so she skipped everywhere she went!

Suddenly there were steps behind her and panting breath as someone was apparently trying to catch her. Don't let it be Suri... Don't let it be Suri. Perhaps a chant would keep the evil big brother at bay. Luckily, when she turned, it was a stranger and not her brother standing there. He appeared to be a bit out of breath after running to catch her for some reason. Already, he struck her as an odd sort. In any case, he was smiling and introducing himself. "My name is Edreina Whitewave." A broad grin split her small face, making her blue eyes twinkle. "It's nice to meet you, Nate." Two copper brows scrunched inwards, marking her confusion along with a cock of the head and a twitch of her lips. "Why did you run to catch me?"

[Nathaniel Deveraux]

"Hi Edreina!" Nate replied cheerfully, but her next question caught him a bit off-guard. Why did he run to catch her? Truthfully, Nate pretty much ran just to run. Running was fun! Besides, she had red hair, and that was interesting right? How often did you get to see that? Flushing slightly, Nate shuffled his feet a bit. "U-uhm, 'cause..." he tried, then cleared his throat a little. "Er, 'cause your hair's really neat?" he tried. "I've never seen anyone besides my sisters have hair that color before. I dunno why mine is all brown and boring, I wanted red hair like my sisters too, but my dad tells me that the color's supposed to be all rare and stuff."

Nate was rather excited to talk to someone from the docks. And he'd seen her leave a boat, so she was one of those sailor people his dad was talking about! She definitely didn't fit the description his father had given him. She wasn't all wrinkly and angry and puttering around and shouting at him to get out of her way. And she didn't look like she was about to go off on him for daring to be a 'landlubber' or anything like that. In fact, she wouldn't look out of place at their dinner table beside his two sisters. She seemed to have Kat's boisterous attitude and Lea's quiet strength.

"So do you live on a boat?" he asked. Nate didn't live on a boat. Actually, he'd never even been on a boat. He didn't even know what the inside of one looked like. How did they live in them? Where did they go to the bathroom? How did they even get food out there? But Nate's attention was drawn to the sails and masts and all the intricate moving parts that went into making a boat what it was.

"Do you ever climb one of those things?" he asked, pointing at a tall mast. Nate himself wasn't the best climber but he knew that Lea, his youngest sister, was an avid climber who loved to clamber to the top of buildings to see her beloved constellations, and give their parents heart attacks in doing so. Nate knew she would just love it here.