“It's too late. This is a waste of
time.”
Pack turned around and paced up the
length of his deck.
“We're almost at the end of the known
waters and there's no sign of him. He's not here.”
He looked at the star charts again, but
there was no mistaking it.
“It's going to be hard on her,” he
thought, sadly. “But we have to turn around and go back.”
He gave the order to turn the ship
about to his crew and started to bring it around.
“I wonder if there was some way we
could have prevented all of this. Where did we start to go wrong?”
He knew he was far from blameless in
all this. He had been the one to drive Lapse away, and perhaps that
had planted the first seeds of madness in Corsair's mind. Beyond
that, perhaps he should have set a better example. After all, it was
he who had sought more than his lot in this world, he who had
relished the excitement she brought to his ordinary existence. If he
had worked hard and contented himself perhaps they would all still be
here.
He sighed. So often the most important
lessons are learned too late. From the helm of his ship, he observed
his crew as they scurried about, adjusting the sails and pulling on
the ropes. The cruelest part of all was that not only had Corsair
gone missing, but his entire crew as well. He wondered if any of his
own had lost friends aboard Corsair's ship. He took a deep breath as
he contemplated his responsibility to them: Each night, he worked not
only for his own sake, but for theirs as well.
“Captain!” one of his crew rushed
up the stairs to alert him, “there's another ship headed towards
us.”
He pulled out his telescope, sure
enough, there was another ship heading towards them off the starboard
side.
“Silly girl”, he shook his head,
closing the telescope, “has she gotten lost? Or does she hope I've
found him? Either way, I suppose it's as good a time as any to set
her straight.”
---
“Wait”, Lapse asked nervously,
sensing something amiss, “where are we going? Why did we leave
your ship with the others?”
“It'll be fine”, Sister reassured
her. “Sometimes it's just easier to travel with one ship, rather
than two. They'll catch up with us soon enough.”
Lapse stood up on the railing and
leaned out, peering off into the distance. “There's another ship
out there. We're getting too close.”
“We're going to greet them.”
She nearly topped over the railing.
“What? Why?” She asked, a bit panicked.
“Because it's what we do. We're not
alone out here. We have to get along with each other.”
“I'm scared”, she said, backing
away from the edge of the ship. I don't think I'm ready.”
“You're ready, I know you are.
You'll be fine.”
Lapse was not so convinced. She backed
all the way to the opposite side of the ship, putting as much
distance between her and the ship as possible. Her stomach felt like
it was full of rocks, and she wanted to go away somewhere and hide
until the other ship left. “I won't.” she told herself. “I
won't.” She huddled down with her back against the railing,
shaking as she watched the figure on the horizon grow larger.
---
Before long the other ship drew close
to his own. He finished preening his whiskers and went out to greet
her, as was proper.
“I'm sorry.” he said, extending
his paw towards her, “but I'm afraid I've had no luck in my search,
and we've run out of places to go. I really am sorry.”
She didn't seem to pay him much heed.
“I've brought someone to see you”, she said, gesturing to her
side. There was no one there.
After a short silence, another figure
quietly stepped out from behind her. A tall, skinny figure with
messy brown fur and an absurdly fluffy tail, trying to look as small
as possible. It was her. It was really her.
Now he understood. He had thought the
ship looked a little different, but he couldn't place it. It was
Lapse's ship. How long had it been since he had last seen it...?
She looked at him intently, anxiousness
showing clearly in her mismatched eyes, but said nothing. The
cheerful expression he had remembered had become a nervous straight
face, and she was trembling a little. How many nights had he wished
for their reunion? He never pictured it anything like this.
“Lapse...” he said, finally.
She didn't respond at all, she just
continued staring right at him. Or was she staring through him? If
she heard him at all, she made no sign of it. Sister cleared her
throat awkwardly.
“I'm glad you're all right”, he
said, finally.
“I'm glad you are too”, she
replied, in a faint, squeaky voice that wasn't at all like how he
remembered it.
There was another pause where they just
stared at each other. Why was it like this? He always thought she
would just dive into his arms. Was she waiting for him to go to her?
Why couldn't he bring himself to do it?
“You were gone a long time. Do you
remember where you went, or how you got back?”
“No. I don't remember much about
anything.” She looked off to the side, across the ocean. Sister
fidgeted with her paws.
“...Do you remember me?” he asked,
then quickly regretted it.
“Yes”, she said, flatly. He had
almost hoped she would say no, it would make things easier, but he
could see it in her face, he could tell she remembered enough.
He swallowed audibly. “I'm sorry”,
he apologized sincerely. “I'm sorry that I hurt you.”
She said nothing, she just looked out
across the sea. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all. Silence
fell over the ship once again. Pack realized that his entire crew
had fallen silent as well. No one dared to speak or even move.
Sister broke the silence. “That
can't be all you have to say to each other after all this time.”
“We've greeted him”, Lapse quietly
urged her, though he heard her clearly enough. “I want to go
back.”
“But why?” Sister demanded of them.
“There are some things that can't be
taken back”, Pack said, shaking his head. They turned away from
each other and started to leave. “...And we're not the same as we
used to be”, he thought. “Not anymore.”
Sister chased after Lapse. “Wait!”,
she pleaded, “it can't end like this!”
“It ended a long time ago”, she
said. “Just like this.”
Pack went down the stairs to his cabin
and closed the door. Sister continued after Lapse.
“I would like to be alone.” she
said, turning to her. “Your ship has arrived for you.” Lapse
stepped ahead along the plank to her ship.
“But... no...” Sister said,
dumbfounded, as Lapse reeled the board back in. Memory waved to her
from her ship, unaware of what had transpired here. Hanging her
head, she returned to her ship and they all went their separate ways.
---
No matter how long she thought on it,
she just couldn't understand it. “Why?” she asked the stars as
she lay alone in the crow's nest. “Why did this happen?”
Up until so recently, Pack rarely
talked about anything other than finding Lapse, and she knew that
Lapse remembered him fondly as well. So why didn't they want to see
each other anymore?
She thought of Corsair, and how things
had been before he left. She remembered the time she had spent in
his cabin, so distraught over things that seemed trivial now, and she
remembered how upset he had been, because of her. She had come to
terms with the fact that he was gone, but she had always held out
hope that he would return. If he did, would he not want to see her
anymore? Was this what was waiting for her, too? A tear rolled down
her face and landed on the wooden floor below.
“Have I ever done anything right?”
she demanded of the heavens, but they gave no reply. She closed her
eyes and buried her face in her paws, and wept for the loss of
friendship and love.
---
A warm feeling came over her and dried
her tears. She rubbed her eyes and opened them, and a soft yellow
glow greeted her. At first, she thought it was the sun, but as her
vision became clearer she saw that it was a light instead, suspended
at the top of a tall room, but somehow its warmth was much the same.
“So you want a story, then?” a
gentle, somehow familiar voice asked her. Several other high-pitched
voices chimed out in agreement.
She cast her vision downward to the
source of the sound, where she saw a dark-skinned man with a kind
face and mere traces of a grey hairline, surrounded by a handful of
tiny men and women of varying sizes and colours. She sat down near
the back, and they didn't even seem to notice her.
“A long time ago, there lived a young
man and a woman. The young man was very outgoing, and the woman was
very shy, but they were both very lonely and wished for
companionship. One day, the two of them met by chance and they fell
in love. Unfortunately, they were both young, and love isn't always
as easy as they say in a fairy tale. As time went on, their lives
changed and they had to be apart from each other for a while, and it
was hard for both of them. They even started to forget how much they
loved each other and started arguing instead. They said mean things
that hurt each other's feelings and they decided that they would
never talk to each other again.”
One of the other strangers sniffled.
Sister merely sat there, listening intently.
“For most other people, that would be
the end of the story, but these two truly loved one another and
neither could forget about the other. Someday, they would have made
up, but something terrible happened: The woman fell very ill, but
because of their argument the man didn't find out. She got sicker
and sicker and it seemed that she would surely die and he would never
get to apologize to her. But then, just when all hope seemed lost,
an angel appeared to the man in a dream, and told him of her plight.
He called himself 'Corsair', and begged the man to find his love.”
Sister froze. It couldn't possibly be
true, but how else could he know?
“The man spoke to her friends and
found her gravely ill, just as the angel had said. He knelt down
beside her bed and poured out his heart to her, making his peace with
her before she passed away. But some things are just meant to be,
and the woman didn't pass away, she woke up several days later and
they were reunited. They forgave each other, and they went on to get
married and have two wonderful children. And then those children
eventually had six wonderful children of their own, and they all
lived happily ever after, or at least they will if those little
grandchildren get to bed on time for once.”
“Grampa, you always tell that story”
one of the male children complained.
“That's because it's true”, he
replied. “I'll never forget his furry face. He looked just like a
cat!” He scrunched up his mouth and nose and the children laughed.
“Grampa,” said one of the women,
“Can I ever meet Corsair?”
“Of course you can, sweetheart”, he
said, patting her head. “When we lost our way, he showed us the
light. I'm sure he'll be there for you too if you should ever need
him. But now you kids really have to be off to bed.”
“Awww” they whined, collectively,
standing up and leaving the room so only she and the stranger were
left.
“Steven”, she said, placing her
hand on his arm. “I understand now. Thank you so much for
everything.”
“My story's already finished”, he
said, putting his hand on top of hers and turning to look at her.
“Now, go and find yours.” She could see clearly into his eyes
now, and she realized he understood what she was.
No comments:
Post a Comment