Reborn From the Cosmos

Miniarc-Bad Tidings 10

Rey was acting strange.

Namely, Maxine hadn’t seen much of the whaler, which was incredibly strange. From the moment they were introduced, Rey was underfoot. The whaler would breathe the same air if it were possible.

Going from that extreme to the opposite caused great trepidation in the merchant’s chest. Something was wrong. Something she was in no rush to discover. Whatever mood had taken over the whaler, the consequence was a smooth journey and no one was in a rush to risk that.

However, the peace couldn’t last. Maxine was staring out of the window of her carriage with a hollow interest when rushing winds disturbed the steady rhythm that had been luring her into a light doze. She didn’t need to look over to know it was Rey, nor did she question why the whaler decided to hop aboard while they were moving instead of waiting for one of their many routine breaks. Maxine put off the confrontation for as long as she could but the heavy stare on her person soon became too uncomfortable to ignore. She raised her head and met the blue eyes watching her intently.

With the whaler before her, Maxine could confirm there was something wrong with her. Rey was too quiet. If Maxine had to guess, she would say that the other woman was nervous; she looked away once their eyes met and her shoulders were squirming more intensely than usual. At the beginning of their acquaintance, the sight would have turned Maxine’s stomach. It still filled her guts with squirming nerves, but the merchant found that she was growing accustomed to Rey’s strangeness. The whaler’s countenance would never be appealing but Maxine hoped that if they were forced to work together in the future, there would come a day when it no longer bothered her.

“Hello,” she greeted when Rey was quiet for too long.

The whaler jumped and still refused to meet her eyes. Maxine was wondering if they would go the whole ride in silence when Rey finally piped up, almost shouting.

“I learned to swim ‘fore I could walk!”

“…I see.” Maxine wondered if she was meant to offer congratulations.

“I guess ya know ‘bout my family.”

“Not in detail.”

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“Oh.” Rey’s scarlet hand scratched at her neck. “Um, I’m an Aguari. Never had to explain this before.” Maxine felt a wave of sympathy for someone else with a complicated family. “Make it simple, we’re the only kind of a religious outfit in the Gray. Saints never done nothin’ fer a sailor, so we send our prayers somewhere that is just as useless but much closer. Bunch of silly rituals and stuff, most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” The whaler wasn’t a very good storyteller, but Maxine hung on her every word. She knew of the Aguari family, as she researched all the powerful factions of the city in search of a sponsor. They were quickly disregarded because there wasn’t much an outsider could find out about the mysterious family. More surprisingly, it was just as hard to find out about them from within the city.

The Aguari was a dealbreaker for all three of the hands she’d hired; the siblings outright said that they couldn’t do a damn thing against them and Thom refused to even have a conversation about anything related to the family. She was very interested in learning more about the clan and wasn’t expecting such a precious thing to fall into her lap.

“Yeah. Way back when Graywatch was a true hellhole, the rituals got dark. Most of what we do now is watered down copies. Like communion. We pray in the water, yeah? So, the kiddies get put in little pools, even the babes. Mams hold onto them usually, but they say ah squirmed right of mine’s arms and started swimming. Like ah was born to it.”

Maxine made a thoughtful sound, crossing her legs and leaning forward. It would be bad if she demanded more but she wordlessly urged the whaler to continue.

“Always been that way with me and water. Even the magic. The damn spells confuse me but I’m the best at fighting underwater. It’s what ah was known fer before…‘for ah was known fer being intense.”

Her lips curled into a small smile, but for her wide jaw, it was an average size. Almost pleasant. “Ah was the only sailor crazy enough to jump into the water to catch the beasties ‘stead of using a net. Got plenty of idiots killed trying to copy me, heh.” Rey cleared her throat. “So, uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“It sounds incredible.” Etiquette demanded she show the appropriate amount of interest in Rey’s accomplishments, which wasn’t hard as fighting sea monsters directly was both as impressive as it was insane, but she was eager to get the conversation back to her family. “Are you a priestess of this religion?”

Maxine didn’t care for religion. In the Guiness family, wealth was the only higher power. However, she’d been educated on the power of faith, as there were many groups in the kingdom whose beliefs affected their attitudes when it came to trade.

“Hah! No way. Mam tried to have me trained for it, but ah don’t have a pair big enough.”

“I’m sorry? What does your size have to do with it?”

Rey watched Maxine’s eyes drift to her chest and then the strangest thing happened. The whaler’s skin was tanned but her blush was still visible through her nearly golden complexion, though it was faint.

“Not that, ah’d—er. Ah mean, yeah. Not that. The Pearls are crazy. The things at the bottom of the sea are dark and twisted, so the things they do to worship them are twisted.”

“…are they responsible for your peculiarities?”

Rey scoffed. “They wouldn’t do that, but they aren’t unhappy about it. A lot happier than ah am.” The last part was grumbled but clearly audible. The woman was incapable of being quiet. She coughed. “They usually just paint themselves with the blood of the deep. Creepy, but kittens next to trench witches. Those crazy bitches do the nasty stuff that ruins it fer everyone else. But ah don’t want to talk ‘bout that!”

Maxine sighed inwardly. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You.”

“Um.”

Rey leaned forward. “That’s how it works, right? We tell each other stuff about each other.”

Maxine stopped herself from asking what it was and why Rey was trying to make it work. She had a feeling the answer would distress her. “Is there something you want you to know?”

“Um, like what kind of things do ya like? Other than money. Er, not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

The whaler’s clear inexperience at speaking with consideration was almost enough to make Maxine laugh. Almost. The fear of what would happen if Rey took offense smothered her humor.

“I don’t have many interests.” The only thing she’d ever dedicated herself to was earning her father’s approval. “I suppose I enjoy music.”

As a girl, she was dragged to all kinds of events, first by her mother, eager for her to stand out from her siblings, and then by her father, when she would be useful. Later, she was too focused to enjoy them, but when she was too small to have proper ambition, she’d enjoyed concerts the most. During any kind of theatre, the boring talking lasted a short time before the crowd was enthralled by the show, and music was much easier to enjoy than complicated plots.

“Oh! I can play an instrument!”

“You can?” the merchant blurted out, disbelief taking control of her mouth. Her mind that associated musical talent with ladies of the capital couldn’t see the ruffian honing such a skill.

“Yeah. Ah’m a boss with a pair of spoons.”

She couldn’t help it. A laugh burst out of her, more of a snort than the polite chuckle she’d been drilled to use. Her gaze rapidly flicked back to the source of her apprehension but there was no trace of anger in Rey’s expression. She was smiling, wider than before. That of course meant her face was incredibly unsettling.

“Did it require instruction?” Maxine hurried to ask, willing to extend the bizarre interaction if it would remove the horrible visage. Unfortunately, Rey seemed just as eager to continue their talk. After Maxine tried and failed to end the conversation organically half a dozen times, she gave up and accepted the whaler’s company in her carriage.