Undying Will

The man stood on the mammoth carca.s.s, his face glistening in the new found ray of sunlight that had begun to seep into the interior of the hollow mountain. He stood gloriously clearing the floating debris, hands hard at work with his sleeves rolled up to his shoulders.

To his side was another member of the elusive crew, he on the other hand Brenda had seen before. He had been one of the few that Terrick had come to rescue. He was called Fawkes, if she could recall right.

They had been introduced of course, nonetheless Brenda found herself at extreme odds with how flippant her mind had become with the information gleaned from that exchange.

Of the seven membered crew, Brenda was ashamed to say that she only knew the names of four, and even them she often got mixed up.

A sudden tap on her shoulder brought her out of her revere. Behind her was the black haired Angella, a sunny smirk on her face as she fluttered her sword around like a walking stick.

"So, what"re you looking at?" She began her smooth voice causing Brenda to feel a small spike of warmth.

"Just trying to take it all in, I mean it"s not every day that your home is razed to the ground.." she replied as she turned back around. Now that the troublesome chase and infiltration no longer gave her an adrenaline high, she once again returned to her usual personality. A dull and raw honesty that Bruma had told her caused for people to dislike her company chief among those changes.

Angella though just chuckled, an understanding nod later she walked forward. "You know if you want to get on the crew, you"re going to have to ask…" she whispered before going forward to join the duo in their restoration efforts.

Brenda blushed slightly, unused to people seeing through her. The only one that had been capable of doing it before had been Bruma, and even him Brenda could only accept because of the amount of time that they had spent together.

"She"s right you know… There"s only so much wishing will do to you." A voice droned out as a head popped out of the calm water.

Terrick looked at her face seriously, he had been going for a swim in the calm waters, maximizing the down time to train.

His wet pants stuck to his lanky muscled legs as he pulled himself onto the tiny boat. "Ol" Bruma said that you wanted to leave the island. Unless you don"t want to do it with us, you"re going to have to work fast. The crews been here for a week already. We"ll probably be leaving soon.

If you don"t ask captain any time soon then you might not have the opportunity to do it later. " he said nodding to himself. No doubt patting himself on the back for offering useful advice.

"Fine G.o.dd.a.m.nit! Stop nagging." She snorted out, he was the fourth person that day that had offered her this advice.

First it had been Fawkes, who had been helping out by keeping the civilians fed. He alone had got more work done than a whole platoon of cooks! He had said it to her in a brief moment of respite and then exited rather coolly.

Then it had been the doctor, the boy had flagged her over in between her ch.o.r.es to offer her the advice before being whisked away by Bruma to look at some soldiers that had faced some heavy bruising on their daily hunting trips.

Brenda would be lying if she said that she did not wish it. She knew that they would accept her too, but a small voice inside her head still stalled desperately. Every time she plucked up the courage to ask the captain for permission she would remember the f.a.g end of the monstrous battle.

The battle had shaken her to her very core, it had been a true clash of t.i.tans! Looking at the crew that she wished to join then looking at herself, she could not help but feel inadequate.

The only one on the crew that she could possibly relate with was the boy, and he was a boy for crying out loud! Barely past the age of nine, still a childlike warble in his unbroken voice. The fact that she was as useful as a ten year old ribbed against her pride knocking it on its head and drowning it in the shallow water.

With a groan of finality she made her mind again, looking ahead with an expression of resoluteness. She would do it. With purposed steps she walked to the head of the boat, pulling along the line that connected it to the gargantuan carca.s.s that her people had decided to use as their island.

With a tug she pulled ahead and jumped onto the hard ground.

"Oh good you"re here, go fetch me one of them hammers why don"t you!" a sudden voice interrupted as a buff women looked over at her. She was part of the reconstruction party, and had obviously confused her as being a part of the supply unit.

Unfortunately, Brenda could not find it in her to correct the women"s opinion, and so she was off. Trudging quickly to the pile of crudely made hammers, grabbing one and yanking it back to the buff women in a huff.

"Back to the quest!" she thought to herself as she continued her way to the captain.

As she neared the captain she could not help but notice a dull smirk on his face, a glint in his eyes as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Ah… Mister captain, may I speak with you?" She asked, at the critical moment her voice deciding it quite liked its residence in her voice box.

With a turn and a pleasant smile he looked over at her, temporarily stopping his ch.o.r.es. "Yes..?"

"Uh… iwantedtoknowweathertherewasanopeningonyourcrewOkthankyoubye!" and amidst chuckles and straight out laughter she fled, her ears red enough to light up a dark cavern…

************

I couldn"t help but laugh out loud as I remembered the scene. With a wistful glance at the moon I looked over at the crew, sans Sorren of course for he was still on the island working on the last serious case. It was because of him and his desire to treat all the patients he could that we had stayed on the island.

He would finish his ch.o.r.e tonight, and by daybreak tomorrow we would be off.

Rein sat to the very corner, the week"s events still shaking his mind. Many times I had woken up to his screams as he woke shaken from nightmares that had started from that day. The only one that he spoke to was Sorren, and I wasn"t particularly insistent. If he needed help then he would get it, but he would have to ask.

"So, did she finally ask you?" Angella asked silently a small smile on her face as she stroked Scipio"s forehead. He lay asleep on her lap, tired from the day"s work. He"d worked really hard today.

"She did, if you call what she did a call for permission. Whatever it was, it was d.a.m.n hilarious." I said chuckling as Fawkes filled the crew in on what happened.

Terrick was the first to guffaw, before chocking on the drink that he had just guzzled prior.

"So, you going to do it?" He asked out loud a hearty laugh later.

A serious expression came upon my face as I looked at the crew. "As long as someone is willing to vouch for her I don"t see why not!"

"I do!" was Terrick"s equally serious response."Then she"s in!"

Then my serious expression melted away, as I chucked my canister at him. "d.a.m.nit Terrick! At this point you"ve recruited more people than I have!" and we were again chuckling away, a silent party as we waited for our hard working doctor.

As the group finally began to tiredly lie down, a small tug ran through the rope that tied the boat to the island.

With quick and gentle movements I pulled us closer. On the surface stood a smiling Sorren. Fatigue clear in his eyes, though he still looked perfectly vibrant in his joy.

Next to him was the wizened form of Bruma and a sniffling sound that told me of the existence of the island teen.

Bruma looked over at me thankfully as he embraced her, Sorren climbing on the ship as I waited for the scene to play out in its entirety before I interrupted.

The girl slowly turned to me, determination in her red eyes. "So, do you accept captain?" the moment seemingly rubbing away the nervousness that she had felt prior.

"If you join the crew I"m going to push you really hard." I warned, happy to see that her determination still remained.

"I don"t care how you complain, your training"s going to be tough. Especially because of where we"re going. If you join you"re going to be the one with the least authority of the lot, even Scipio shall outrank you.

And I don"t particularly care how weak you are, as long as I see you work to your bones we won"t have a problem, but if you slack off don"t blame me!

What d"ya say, cabin girl Brenda?" I asked my voice completely serious as I looked into her eyes.

She nodded, still determined. She would do fine, I was sure. Those were the same eyes the Scipio had, and I was d.a.m.n proud of that brat.

"Then get on, girl!"

With a smile she walked onto the boat, careful not to let it rock too much. The last thing she wanted to do was wake up her new superiors.

"Please. Call me Barts!"