87 A U T U M N 159
When the dawn broke that day, it was to a sky enshrouded by tumbling storm clouds and waves capped by white teeth. It was late in the Autumn season, and heavy were the hearts of men and women sailing on the open waters in search of something to find in the still fresh shoals. The water was cold, the howling wind even colder, and still it was warm enough for the tempestuous waters to bear witness to the birth of an old soul.
The woman was in the water before she'd even registered striking it, if there was indeed an impact to remember. In a moment's notice, she felt the cold stabbing at her skin with sharp little fingers, and surfaced with a howl to match the screaming torment of the wind, or the gulls braying for scraps.
Fortunate enough to be born in sight of black, rocky land, the woman was still moored in slackjawed shock at this manner of birth, treading choppy waters with all the precarious evidence of a person uncertain of what to do, who she was, or where she was going. It took the cruel assault of the Suvan Sea near pinning her under a wave for her to begin moving, to begin struggling for survival before the cold settled into the marrow of her bones and she grew too heavy with the weight of icy limbs to even float anymore. She kicked, pushed, screamed, railed against the sea's avaricious desire to eat the sun's newborn golden jewel, silenced only by white-capped vengeance until the strength to push to surface once more brought her there.
The gods of sea and storms had bets placed on what would prevail in those next fleeting ticks, either in favour of choppy waters consuming a heavenly feast, or on the wight surviving to crawl to shore. The sun goddess hid her face away behind the cowl of storm clouds, the frigid water wept from the sky not entirely lacking in feeling.
But she didn't know this as she kicked and pulled, in flight from the frigid water dragging at her heels. Land closed in, black rock like a volcano's last treasures for her to drag her nails across, stroking in attempt to claw her way atop the stony plateau.
