The sun was long gone and the only thing still lighting their pathway along the beach was the moon and the stars. Mana once explained to him that – as least in her world – the moon didn’t actually have any light coming from it directly, but only reflected the light from the sun which would be on the other side of the world at the time. Cobal brushed it off when she first told him as he did with many of the things he told her, but staring out over the water and imagining that the sun was still providing light to them in the dark of night felt nice. He was locking arms with a beautiful woman that he’d known since he was a child. She was always a bit of a tomboy when she was younger, and Cobal definitely didn’t like her all the time, but she’d been kind and as she grew up and took over her father’s responsibility, her personality had certainly mellowed out. Her shocking white hair – something she inherited from her mother – reminded him of snow and her green eyes were hit with just enough moonlight to sparkle. Yet every time he looked away from her during their conversation, he found his mind drifting to another woman. He didn’t feel the same way about Diana as he’d felt about Salandra. He didn’t know if that would change over time, since it wasn’t that long ago that he left Salandra behind in Marsolin, but for now, he definitely still thought about her.
“Your mind is elsewhere,” Diana’s voice took him out of his train of thoughts. He smiled sheepishly.
“That obvious?”
“I’ve asked you three questions and you’ve replied to all three by nodding your head yes. The third question was if you wanted to go for a swim.”
He chuckled. “I’d rather not.”
“Surprising.”
“Is this where you thought your life was headed?”
Diana stopped walking. “Where does that question come from?”
“When we were kids, was this how you envisioned your future?” He looked around. “Not literally walking on a beach, but being the lady of Ravadier, getting ready for a political marriage to strengthen your future?”
Diana continued walking. “I guess. I didn’t think my father’s health would decline so rapidly and I would be in charge at such a young age, but I always knew he was weaker than most people, and with him refusing to take another wife after my mother passed, it was pretty clear from a young age that I would take over the peninsula instead of being married off to a distant noble.”
“And how do you feel about it all?”
She shrugged. “It’s just what life has put in front of me, we all have our paths to follow.”
It was Cobal’s turn to stop walking. “Is it all predetermined?”
“Well, it’s a figure of speech.”
“I know, but it’s something I used to think as well. I was supposed to get married to some noblewoman to make Blueyerd a more stable country, perhaps even a foreign princess if I got particularly lucky. Then I made a friend.” He sat down in the sand. He’d sobered up a bit, but not enough to keep walking through the night. “I met with people living on the bottom of the sea, I helped free a spirit from a magical prison. I fought demonic creatures in the capital of the elves and traveled to the libraries of Marsolin. I sailed on pirate ships, fought ghosts and met not one but two people who were born on a completely different world. I found friendship and love, I stopped trusting my country and regained some of that trust. And somehow after all of it I ended up right back here, the peninsula where my adventure started and the peninsula where I’ll go back to being a political pawn.” He stopped his rant as he felt Diana’s hand touch his shoulder. He looked up at her smiling face, hidden in the shadow of the night.
“Can’t you be both?”
He let himself fall into the sand. “I don’t know.” He rather quickly got back up, realizing how cold the wet sand felt below him. “Can I?”
“We all have our path to walk. But no one said there can’t be a detour or two.” She reached out a hand to him. “Let’s get you back to the inn, you look terrible.”
“I could easily get up on my own, but if you insist, I think I’ll lean on you for a while.”
“That’s what shoulders are for, to lean on from time to time.”
Things took an unexpected turn when Cobal woke up the next morning. Just when he’d made up his mind to accept Diana’s proposal for marriage, someone came knocking on the door. “Cobal, you have a guest.”
Cobal got dressed quickly and made his way back down to the main room of the inn. Sitting at the table, hood over their head was a familiar figure. He couldn’t see her face, but he knew instinctively that it was Vandra who had come to visit.
“Prince Cobal, thank you for taking the time to see me.”
“Of course, are you alright being out in the open here?”
Vandra nodded. “A few people in town know who I am and the rest know that I am some strange person that visits once every few years.” She looked around to make sure they had some privacy. “I came to bring you a message from Miyara. She wished to speak with you.”
“You mean with Mana?”
Vandra shook her head. “No, Miyara said that she would like to see the hero once more before she passes on, but the one she specifically requested was you.”
That was strange. The last time – and only time – they spoke with Miyara, she was the one who set Mana on the path towards Dionil and whatever other things the future might have in store for her. Cobal only recently remembered that there were two other people that Miyara had told them to seek out. Besides finding the Woodland Sage Dionil, they were also told to find a man named Abu and someone called Sorda’Thun the wanderer. They’d now met Abu, although he was sure that Miyara meant for them to actually travel to Severanti and meet the man in person. The wanderer on the other hand was still a complete mystery to him.
“When you say before she passes on,” Cobal halted his question.
Vandra nodded again. “It seems that time has come for the seer.”
“I see.” Cobal smiled. “Well, we’d best not keep her waiting then, I’ll go wake up Mana.”
After picking up Mana, the duo followed Vandra to the shore. They went to one of the rental houses on the beach, similar to the one that Cobal and Mana had stayed in the previous year but not the exact one they stayed in. “From this place it’s the shortest route to our main entrance,” Vandra explained before taking off her hood. She smiled at the duo. “I’m glad I managed to get hold of you so quickly.”
“We were indisposed until quite recently.”
“Yeah, how did that go?”
“Long story short, most of the ghost pirates have been sent to the afterlife, one of them ran off and is going to be chased down by the Tidesetter and her crew. The mage tower on Shark Tooth Island belongs to someone who is not currently in Blueyerd, but very much still alive.”
“That is a lot to unpack, make sure you have a chat with Kiiran before you leave Arana as well.”
Cobal nodded. “Best to get everything sorted out and capped off while we’re at it. If we are to head to Severanti it’ll probably be a while before we get to return after all, no idea what to expect there and how long things will take.” He looked at Mana who agreed with him. “It’ll be good to get our heads empty so we can focus on the tasks at hand.”
“What leads you to Severanti?” Vandra asked.
“Some of our friends are currently stuck there, although they’ve been annoyingly vague about telling us what is actually going on. We also believe the man who the tower belongs to is there. Not to mention, a year ago Miyara told us that there are three people we need to seek out. One of them was Dionil, who we met. The second one is this mage, and we have no leads on the third one yet.”
Mana looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Which part?”
“We have a lead on the final person as well.”
“What?”
“The person named Sorda’Thun?”
“Yes, when did you learn about them?”
“Did you not hear the conversation that we saw through the monitor?”
Cobal thought back to it. “There was a lot coming at us all at once, did I miss something important?”
“Well, the reason Abu broke off the conversation was because he had a visitor.”
“Yes?”
“The visitor was the person named Sorda’Thun.”
“Really? I didn’t realize it at all.”
“What would you do without me?” Mana chuckled.
“Deep breaths now, both of you, and prepare to be cold for a bit.”
“I am not going to enjoy this part,” Mana said, before taking a deep breath and diving in after Vandra.
One of the benefits of actually being expected to visit the city of Arana is that there are a few priests at the ready to provide you with some dry clothing and a towel. It’s a much more pleasant experience than wandering the damp tunnels in your soaking wet tunic. Cobal still felt cold despite changing to a warm robe and drying off. “It’ll be better when we get to Miyara’s place,” Vandra promised.
And so the duo entered the underwater city for the third time, but under a more heavy atmosphere than the previous two times, knowing why they had to hurry to the old seer.
Quick note from me: I realize that in earlier chapters I mixed up some character names. Eliana’s first mate is a woman named Fareh, the seer in Arana is named Miyara. I refered to Eliana’s first mate by the name Miyara many times, and I hope it wasn’t too confusing. I’ll pay more attention to this in the future.
Also, next week the Hesitant Hero will be on break again. Hopefully that will be the last break before I finish volume 4, which should be somewhere in late September, early August. Thank you for your endless patience.
Opal Kaharis 