Dak (White fire)
Preparing for departure.
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It had been three nights since the group had entered Tao Lin Bay. They were leaving this morning for the volcano, and the showdown with Vuln and his fanatics, disguised as the very traders they employed. Their chartered ship was scheduled to depart at daybreak, so everyone was up early, making breakfast and readying their supplies. The few soldiers that had joined them were checking their gear over and over and looking for an excuse to go do something. Bai Mao and Jasmine were on their off at the edge of the room, talking quietly with each other. Gweh, Yohni, Burai, and Silo were finishing off the small breakfast and putting the cooking gear away. Chase and Ariel were packing these rest of their stuff. Sayo was sitting off by himself in a corner, looking over the contents of his parent's box. In the dark room, nobody saw the glint of the necklace as he slipped it on and tucked it into his robes. He packed the empty box into a small sack and slung that over his shoulder.
But, Sayo began to wonder-
"Hey, where's Dak?" Chase asked before Sayo could.
There was a moment of silence. Gweh broke it with, "Well, I think I saw him last night... Oh, wait. He left, just after we all went to sleep."
"Do you think he's gone?" said Chase.
"No, I had a hard time sleeping last night too." Bai Mao pitched in.
"I'll go look for him. I know where he might be. Meet us at the ship." Sayo said. He got up and walked out the door.
Dak was leaning on the salt-crusted rail at the edge of the dock. He was queasily staring at the water lapping up against the pylons, thinking about everything he had done to get here. The arena seemed fresh in his mind, and he could feel the hatred boiling in him. These traders, Kar, Vuln, they were all doing what had been done to him to other people, innocent people, children... Dak took a deep, slow breath and closed his eyes. The Nausea subsided and his head cleared. He stood there for several minutes, listening to the sea. He wondered what it might be like to settle down and live in a place like this. he heard a faint footstep behind him and jerked out of his daydream. His hand was on the hilt of his sword as he turned. But, it was only Sayo. He retracted his hand and faced the water again.
"Dak, the others were looking for you. What happened?" Sayo asked tentatively.
"Couldn't sleep. Fresh air..." he replied shortly.
Sayo stepped up beside him and looked at the slowly receding gray dawn and the burst of color on the horizon.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Sayo looked at Dak. He wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see Dak's mouth moving.
Dak noticed and half-chuckled. "You can only fight so much... I'm done. Once Kar is dead, I'm walking away. I'll go back to Rae, and we'll move far away and forget all of this. I can watch the sunrise every day if I want. I'll do whatever. Just one last shackle to cut before I'm free..."
"...Tell me about her." Sayo asked.
Dak didn't speak for a while, "She was... She- She made me feel different. Like I could do something more than fight and kill. She was soothing and she understood. And her eyes, the way she looked at me, it- I can't explain, really." he trailed off into silent thought.
Sayo smiled, but didn't ask any more.
After a few minutes, the sun had broke the horizon, Bai Mao came up behind them.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah... But, we have a problem." Dak faced him and handed Bai Mao a wadded up poster. It had a picture Dak's face and a 20,000 gold piece award under it.
"Damn." was all Bai Mao said. "We'll work around it, come on. The ship's-" just then, the horn that called for departure sounded, both drowning out and finishing Bai Mao's sentence.
Dak burned the poster and tossed it aside. They boarded the ship, finally prepared for the final leg of their journey.
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Forgot the footer, whoops.
