The sun has rose high in the sky many bells ago. It's rays splaying across the sky and lighting up the coastal city and the ocean like a crystal in the dark. The light had just started to set, slowly but surely making it's way down from it's place in the sky. It wasn't anywhere near it's horizon bed, but it would in time. Time in which Gale was taking for himself.
His blue eyes gazed across the ever moving and glistening water that was the ocean. The crisp winds that blew back his curly locks also blew back his thoughts to further and further back into his mind. Memories, ideas and realizations he had tucked back were now being shuffled through again. They were all in the forefront of his mind.
Come Summer it would be two years since Kendhl had left. Since she was put into the ground. Two whole years of walking alone yet again. And come next Summer, it would be two years without her entirely.
With his hands in shallowly hanging from his pockets, the blonde man let the cold waves of the ocean roll over his bare feet, slowly pulling sand out from under them. His feet were half buried already, but his gaze remained distant, continuing to stare off onto the water.
Ricky was back, at least. He was sure that Telion and Ricky were happy to be reunited with Martin. Gale could even go as far as saying he was positive both of them were glad that Ricky was alive. Gale included in that matter. He didn't know what he would do without Ricky now that Kendhl was gone. He wouldn't have anyone. That's why he was so ecstatic when he finally came home. But Ricky has saved him in countless ways on so many occasions. He didn't know whether to be happy he had such a good, reliable friend or whether he should be mad at himself for forcing Ricky to go through so much. As if a pirate attack and a life threatening illness wasn't enough, he had to go around and put his life in danger and make him do things he should never have done. He just felt like he was dragging them down. All of them. He was only making their lives miserable with these brutal happenstances.
But he didn't know what to do about it.
Turning his head to his right, the contemplative man observed the rocks nearby the shore. Some of the larger ones he saw were dry enough to have started growing moss on top. The piles of dirt that formed in their cracks somehow sprouting some sort of life. A few especially seemed to be doing well, having grown some variation of vine on them. Algae and sea weed grew where the water slowly flowed by when the tides were up, but other than that, the rocks were generally untouched by the water. Blinking at the fairly distant rocks, Gale simply watched. The tides were starting to pull out so the water only met the rock's bottom, but on their top, they were encountered by a different type of being.
It took the widower a long hard stare to fully realize what the small figure was. His head perked up suddenly, no longer squinting his vision. He didn't quite understand why this was surprising. Well, that was a lie. He knew perfectly why, it's just that otters were fairly common by the docks. He's seen several hunting and cracking open oysters before and he's seen plenty swimming about. But this time was different.
Standing there, watching the critter scurry across the rocks, it wasn't just an animal that ate to live. It wasn't just an otter. It was a woman. A young, beautiful woman who was able to be an otter and find joy in anything. It was his bondmate that mended his wounds and gave him a reason to go around just one more corner and just find the good things in life. The girl who always found the silver lining.
The thing about silver linings though is that you have to have a reason to look for them.
You can't just find it. It's not something that just happens. You have to search for it and you have to have something that makes you want to find it and rediscover it over and over and over again. And she was his. She was his reason.
With a grin peering on his face and his eyes glazing over with water, his low voice chuckled to himself. Watch her prance around the rocks. She was so elegant and graceful. Pulling his feet up from their sandy tombs, he slowly made his way toward the sea otter, wishing to observe it closer. Wanting to be near her.
It continued to jump from rock to rock, scavenging about in a manner that Gale didn't quite comprehend. But it swung around one of the vines, neither of them hardly noticing. The vegetation managed to wrap itself around it's leg, gently at first. But it started to pace away, the small otter tugging at the knot it had made, tightening it's grip.
Like a snapping of jaws, Gale's mouth fell open, jerking visibly where he was. He saw the gaping teeth of the monstrous fiend clasping down onto her leg. Hear the snapping of the heavy bone as it ripped and tore.
The otter started to thrash around, shaking it's leg and chewing on the vine. Gale watched it all unfold before him. See the dogs circling her, nipping at her hands and tearing at the flesh in her neck. The foul beasts feasting on her slowly dying body.
Gasping, hands clenched, the murderer lunged forward, swing his backpack off of his back and into his hands. Handles scrambling inside, he blindly shoved paper and books around, fingers frantically in search of the hard, cold blade. He wasn't able to fish it out before he got to the rock, but once he reached it, he looked directly into the pack. He shoved a few more things around, pushing aside his music book and chestnut. But the blade pierced the bag of chestnuts and ran through, the tip jabbing into his hand. Gasping in surprise, he merely glanced at the damage, seeing the speck of blood that had erupted from his skin, before taking a firm hold of the knife. It was just a simple, dull stained eating knife. It was used far too often and was old. But it saved one life.
Maybe it can save a second.
Plopping the backpack onto the sand beside the rocks, Gale grabbed hold of the trap,pulling it up enough to slide the blade of the knife under it. He paid little attention to how badly he was probably scaring the otter, seeing as otter were generally timid things. He simply continued what he was doing, sawing vigorously at the plant. It was a pretty tough plant, though.
Gale's mind was elsewhere though. As usual, he was out in the Pass, sawing at the flesh and bone of the corpse of one of the mongrels. It gave away like butter there, but on the rock, it didn't give away any easier than any other vine would. Especially with his dull knife. But he eventually cut down to the bone done, and at this point it, the knife did nothing. The knife simply was too dull to cut through the thick strands in the vine. But he was quick to toss it aside and into the sand. There was only a few more pieces that needed to be cut, and Gale decided that it was time to just tear them off.
Grabbing hold of the dogs ears and the grabbing hold of the scruff of it's neck, the man pulled them apart, giving away slowly until the last fibers snapped. The dog was beheaded and the vine was cut, leaving Gale to focus on what was really important.
Turning to the otter, he realized that was still standing there, somehow not frightened enough to bite him. Maybe it was so frightened it couldn't do anything at all. But no biting was good. He wasn't fond of biting. He supposed the next step was to get the rest of the vine of it's leg, so it didn't get stuck again. But it would probably bite him then, wouldn't it?
Augh, why were animals so difficult?
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." Gale muttered, as if animals could understand. He then cautiously brought his scarred hand to the vine, taking hold of it with his two fingers. If the otter didn't do anything drastic, he would then carefully bring his other hand over in an attempt to hold the leg so he could unravel it.
He's going to get bitten. He had a very strange feeling he was going to get bitten.
by Aira Lyedan on January 23rd, 2015, 1:58 am 
