She had sat and waited for him that night, she never did like being alone. Had she been smiling then? He couldn't be sure but he could not remember a single time when she wasn’t. There were days when that smile had saved him, pulled him back from the brink and gave him peace... but it hadn't been one of those days. Those days never came again.
"We create our own waves, we cannot blame the ocean."
Not her last words but the only ones he could bring himself to remember. Sometimes he wondered why she said it. Had she known? Had she accepted it? Did she understand? She needed to understand. He didn't want forgiveness, that was nothing to him, but he needed to know if she understood. He needed to know because there were days he couldn't remember if he himself had understood...
These thoughts can unbidden to Jevaisius Yalsa but they would not stop coming.
They had stopped for the night, a stone’s throw away from the city and they had stopped in this forsaken place. Had Jev the choice he would march straight into Marn and settle everything this night but the decision had been unanimous. He could force the issue, Jev was good at that, but even now he had to concede that they were right.
She had delivered them to doorstep of the Fire Singer, Jevaisius had always known that she would, but she could go no further. She was looking for her mother and regardless of everything that had happened she would protect her. Of course Jev wouldn't hesitate in killing her, in fact he'd been planning it for as long as the beast had travelled with him, but there was no reason that the two should reunite. So Gruff, as Bryce has so charmingly named her, would remain here and once matter in town was concluded he would kill the beast, he would destory the last relic in a soon to be forgotten story.
As if she heard him the beast stirred, slowly lifting herself off the ground and inhaling deepy. She was restrained by a thin almost dainty chain and as she moved it began to pull against her.
"Don’t break it"
Bryce hadn't looked up from the odd book he'd picked up at some point in their journey but by now he knew well enough what Gruff would be doing. The beast cast a beady eye in his direction and issued a high pitched shriek.
"If you do you’ll have to get me a new one…” said Bryce disinterestedly as he turned the page of his book.
This time the gryphon snorted and dug its claws into the ground. It glared at Bryce for a moment but eventually settled down on the ground again.
"What’s wrong with the bird?"
Sani was staring at the Gruff from the other side of the clearing, her head tilted slightly to the left as it always was when she was curious.
"Doesn’t understand why we stopped." Bryce shrugged
Sani frowned for a moment and continued to stare at the gryphon.
"The bird is stupid." she said matter of factly before returning to sharpening one of her numerous throwing knives.
Once again the Gruff rose to its feet, although far quicker this time, and bellowed across at Sani. It was enough to cause a flock of birds in the trees above them to abondon their nests and take flight but it was not enough to illicit a reaction from Sani, she just continued to sharpen the knives without even blinking. Bryce on the other hand seemed to get quite the shock from it.
"Language!" Bryce scolded as he finally dropped his book and gave Gruff a disappointed look.
It was odd to see a creature of myth and legend ashamed but by now Bryce saw it almost daily by now. Gruff shrugged her wings as as sheepishly as a Gyphon can and lay down on the forest floor once again but all the while a strange tittering noise could be heard from the branches above.
"It's not funny.” Said Bryce severely as he looked up at the leafy canopy “Who's gonna have her if she goes around talking like a sailor?"
No response came from above, which was to be expected since neither Willum nor Rafe could speak. Chances were they’d scampered off long before Bryce had responded to their mirth but then again when you said something you always knew the twins had heard it.
Normally any of this would have been enough to distract Jev, he rarely let an opportunity to assert his dominance over the group pass, but he said nothing. The truth was Jev had barely heard any of it; he wasn’t really there to hear it. He often dwelt on that day two years ago but now, whether it was his surroundings or the fact he was so close to his target about, it now consumed him. He couldn’t escape it and he couldn‘t hide from it but he knew he could end it.
And so without a word Jevaisius Yalsa got to his feet and began to walk.
“Hey Boss, where you going...?”
Jev didn’t answer, they already knew. He had told each of them that this was a loose end that must be tied up for the good of the group, the Wave had a reputation and this was the single black spot upon it, but by now they knew the truth of it. Jev had come to Marn because it was the only thing he could do, this was all he had left.
He walked out or the clearing, the thick brambles blocking his way blackening and smouldering as soon as they brushed off him. No one followed him but if any had tried the heat radiating off their leader would have made such an action difficult. They didn't need to follow Jev because they already knew what was going to happen tonight, afterall they’d seen it twice before.
Tonight the waves would reach the shore.
Tonight Lanya Caliope would drown in the past.
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