The Wind's Breath- Discovery

The pirate ship was far too bulky to sail all the way to the coast of the large island. We managed to fit the whole pirate crew into two small sailboats and rowed ashore to the isle. I sat in complete silence next to Jacob and Ruby as they chattered away with excitement. I ran my thumb across my bracelet that was given to me from Aryll and I stared straight ahead at the approaching land mass as we sailed on. The vision had chilled me to the bones.

As soon as we landed on the shore, Ruby began barking orders at the pirate crew. It was not even mid-day and the sun was already burning through my green tunic. I took my hat off and threw it in my backpack. There was hardly any room for it inside the bag with all the weapons I had packed. The beach had beautiful white sand that felt like silk on your bare skin. I flopped down into it and rested while

Ruby continued organizing her strange pirate crew.

“Travis!” I jumped at the sound of Ruby's voice. She had noticed me lying down. “Get up! You’re coming with me. You and I are heading inside the island.” I noticed she had split everyone else into two groups and sent the poor Jacob off in the sky to search for predators.

I shot straight up from the sandy beach and saluted to her. “Yes, your Highness.”

Ruby glared at me. “Shut up the f*ck up, Travis.” I laughed excessively and began walking into the forest that bordered the white beach as everyone else’s groups searched the perimeter of the island.

The forest was very airy and easy for us to walk through. We didn’t talk much at first, Ruby and I, as we were too busy concentrating on our mission. Nothing had seemed to look like it was out of the unordinary. The vision I had received had chilled me to the bone.

The forest was gorgeous with multiple shades of green and beautiful wild flowers growing at the trunks of the trees. I stopped at picked one up flower up. It was a red daisy. I smiled to myself as I remembered the last time I had seen a flower like this.

When I reached the doorway to Ruby’s room, I heard her laughing. I stopped in my tracks and listened. It was real laughter too. Not her fake, mean, snarky laughter. A very familiar voice laughed along with her, deep and heartily. I decided I might as well just walk in.

Opening up the door, I had seen Ruby and Jacob standing together at her desk smiling at each other. Jacob must have grown since the last time we met when he found Ruby and I floating in the ocean after our last misson. His shoulders had broadened and he had grown quite a bit The laughter stopped suddenly when I walked in. “Oh Travis!” Ruby blushed a deep crimson red colour that I had never seen fall on her face before. “It is good that you’re finally here. I was starting to get worried.” I happened to shrugg and let myself sit down on her blue couch across from them.

Ruby had cleared her throat as she regained her composure. “Well anyways, Jacob here expressed his interest in joining us on our journey.”

My blue eyes widened and I looked at Travis. "How did you even know we would be here?” I asked inquisitively.

He looked at me sheepishly. “Pennington told me that I might find you here.”

I frowned. ‘Of course. Pennington had mentioned something to him.’ I had thought to myself.

That nosey Rito was on Outset earlier that day to see us off. Studying Prince Jacob, I had noticed that in his face, there was something different. He had looked determined. I smiled. He had finally grown up into the great man I knew he would. There was no more scared little boy still reeling from his grandmother’s death. Here before Travis, was a strong, courageous young man with a desperate ache to prove himself. I could definintly relate to him. His red eyes steadily bore into my own. “Are you sure about this Komali? What does your father say?” I had asked.

Jacob stood up. “Travis,” He started. “My father wants me to do what I think is best for the Rito Tribe. Well, this so happens to be what I think is best. After hearing about your plans on finding all of us a new home, I couldn’t resist. Finding our destined land will benefit both of our kind. I thought this through carefully and I know this is what I need to do.”

My eyes drifted over to Ruby. She had one eyebrow slightly raised and she turned to nod at me as if to say, ‘Let us give this kid a chance.’ After a long awkward pause, I stood up and gestured towards the door. “Why don’t you go tell the crew we are ready to set sail?”

Jacob’s smile lit up the whole room. “Oh yes sir!” And on that final note, he dashed out of the room.

***

I shook my head to clear out the memory. Sighing, I tossed the sad flower back onto the ground. Ruby stared at me with daggers from her eyes. “You just killed that poor flower.”

I glared at her. “There is like a hundred more.”

“None like that though. I’ve rarely seen flowers like that.” She strode in front of me, taking the lead. I slowed my down pace slightly. We came into a lovely clearing where were dozens of those red daisies growing in different parts. It was beautiful. Birds chirped amongst the tall trees and I felt more at home here than I had since leaving Outset.

“Do you want break for lunch here?” I had asked Ruby. As hope filled my voice, I wanted to stay in this little clearing for as long as possible. I felt at ease.

Turning around, Ruby gave me a smile. “Sure Travis, but just a quick one. We still have a lot more work to do.” Her blue eyes were wide with excitement. I sunk down onto the ground in relief. It had been a while since I had a trek like this one. I bit into the sandwich I had made earlier and it tasted divine. “So Travis…” Ruby’s big eyes were mischievous. “Are you ever going to tell me about what’s going on with you and Mila?”

I groaned. Since that first stop on our journey, Ruby had done nothing but interrogate me about Mila. “Can’t a guy just enjoy his sandwich without being interrogated?” I asked crossly. I took a big bite into the sandwich,

She chuckled and flung her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Ii've seen the way you look at her Travis."

I met her inquisitive gaze with ease. “Seriously Princess, drop it.”

She smirked. “It’s the same way Jacob looks at me.”

I chuckled. Jacobs’s adoration of Ruby was clearly obvious to everyone. I regained myself and glared at Ruby. “Don’t talk about Mila to me Ruby.”

Ruby seemed to falter under my stare. There was a long silence between us. The only thing you could hear was the wind and some wild animals running nearby. After a few moments, she gave in. “Fine.” She packed up her gear and began to walk away from the clearing. “We have a job to do anyways.” I cursed silentlyt at her under my breath and scrambled together all my gear. It only took me a moment to catch up to her but we walked in silence.

After hours of walking amongst the trees, we came through to a very large green clearing. The sun shone bright and lit up the land. Off to the far right there was a very large volcano surrounded by an enormous dark pine forest. On the left in the distance was a huge crystal clear lake. Directly in front of us, beside the crystal clear lake, was a huge snowy mountain. I turned to Ruby in plain awe. She was staring openmouthed at everything, just as shocked as I was. She turned and looked at me with shining eyes. “Let us go find the others.”

Something off to the right caught my eye. I grabbed her shoulder. “Ruby look.” I pointed with my other hand towards what looked like a small village located beside the snow-filled mountain.

“We aren’t alone.” She frowned, with hesitation, both Ruby and Travis turned back towards the main beach. This was one hell of a coincidence.

Chloe Rose Violet