73 Summer, 501 AV
Anchorage Flotilla
Young Edreina was wild, she was reckless, she was... deathly afraid of heights?
From atop the railing, Surai looked like even more of a giant. Edreina could not help but hope that he fell as he flaunted his dexterity, trotting from one end of the ship to the other. "Why won't you come and join me?" He had asked, receiving only a glare in return. He knew perfectly well why. Despite her seemingly boundless courage, the top of the palivar's railing down to the water was much too high an obstacle for the young Svefra.
Tall for her age and lanky, she did not always have the best balance either. As her brother continued his parade, Edreina used a small, bent nail to carve wavy shapes into the wooden deck. So immersed in her work was she that she did not note Surai's appearance until his shadow covered her.
"C'mon... Just try it!" His tone was encouraging and his blue eyes danced with mischief. With an expansive grin, he offered her a hand.
Despite her lack of surety, Edreina allowed herself to be hauled to her feet and drug over to the railing. Once upon the ship’s railing himself, Surai helped his little sister up onto the railing. All was near still on the Suvan right now, so none of the ships found themselves rocking too much that day throughout the Anchorage. It was this which allowed Edreina to mount and then stand upon the railing. Brother and sister faced one another, hands locked as Edreina slowly became sure of her balance.
“See? Not so bad!” Surai coaxed, taking a step backwards. When his sister followed hesitantly, his smile grew. “Just don’t look down...” His warning was met with the automatic instinct to do as told not to by Edreina, though she fought against it heroically. Eventually, the brother had his sibling following him along the railing. Tentative step after tentative step, Edreina found herself gaining confidence, stepping more quickly.
But, just when all seemed to be going wonderfully, an unexpected wave hit the family palivar - and the ships around them - sending them rocking erratically. Losing her balance, Edriena found herself falling towards the deck, head first. In that instant, instinct took over. Instead of plowing face first into the wooden deck, her body sought to right itself, pulling limbs in close so that the momentum carried her over her head to land upon her rump. As the momentum continued to rule her body, Edreina found herself hauled back up onto her feet.
Just when she thought that she might roll again, she leaned back, absorbing the rest of the momentum. Trembling with lingering fear that she might have fallen and injured herself, Edreina turned to look at her brother who had fallen off of the railing as well, but landed solidly on his rear end. His wide eyes, however, made it seem as if he had just seen the most spectacular thing.
“I... uh... meant to do that...” She deadpanned with a shrug, a bubbling laughter threatening to disrupt the breath control she had just regained.
|
|
by Edreina on April 13th, 2013, 10:23 pm 
