Farewell, Dolphin Island

The upcoming three months flew by in a blur, each of the twins going through their own set of training—Mika practicing spear forms until his palms blistered under Soro's critical eye, and Maya learning to use as much of her magic as possible. Mika's friends were all too happy to get themselves injured so 'Sweet Maya' could then heal them and practice on them.

And on that topic, Mika also tried to start training with magic again, though it felt like for the first time. He knew water magic manifested in him, just like it had in his sister, but his magic was never as strong as hers, which made him simply not bother with it... Until now, that is.

Soro tried to teach him some basic steps, such as how to use his spear as a conduit for magic, though Mika struggled with the patience needed for it. Unlike Maya, Mika's magic felt clumsy. Frustration built with every failed attempt until the evening he finally managed a flicker of blue energy around his spear tip, only for it to fizzle out immediately, leaving him scowling at the weapon as if it had betrayed him.

"Gah, this is hard!" He would often say.

And before he knew it, the much fated day has come. It was finally time for the twins to say goodbye to Dolphin Island, their home.

"Come on, Mika! The ship is here!" Maya's voice carried over the dockside bustle, her sandals slapping against planks as she dodged between crates of dried fish and coils of rope. She was on her ways towards the ship which should take them to where the Seeker Exam is taking place.

Behind her, Mika dragged his feet, not from reluctance, but from the weight of the new spear strapped across his back. It was silver colored.

"Are you sure I can have this? This is your spear, you know..." Mika looked at Soro, feeling conflicted. This was the spear that while growing up, Mika would see hung on the wall. It was battered, but Soro had it fixed up and ready, making it look brand new.

No one would guess this spear is over a 100 years old.

"I haven't made use of that bad boy in years now. You'll need it to protect both yourself and your sister far more than I'll need it." Soro spoke as he slapped Mika's ass, sending him stumbling forward, almost making him lose his balance on the wooden dock. "Now go to your sister, boy! And don't make her cry, you hear?!"

"I won't!!" Mika shot back, rubbing the back of his shorts with a scowl as he caught up to Maya, who had already stopped at the edge of the dock and was looking back at them both.

She had her staff across her back and her travelling bag over one shoulder, her blonde hair tied back for the journey. Deep down, she was feeling nervous about all of this. For the longest time, the idea of leaving Dolphin Island would have terrified her, and yet as much as it hurts, she knows leaving is the right choice.

"I can't risk staying here and putting the people I love in danger..." She thought to herself. It hurt, yet she forced a smile, and as long as she's with Mika, as long as he's beside her, she knew everything will turn out fine somehow.

Soon enough, Mika reached her.

"Were you saying goodbye to Soro?" She asked him.

"Y-Yeah something like that." Mika muttered, rubbing his sore backside with a grimace.

Maya looked past him at Soro, who was standing with his arms crossed at the dock's edge, wearing his usual expression. She held his gaze for a moment, then walked back to him.

Soro looked down at her. "What? Don't tell me you forgot something back home."

He waited for an answer, but instead, he got a hug. Maya hugged him.

It lasted about three seconds before Soro made a gruff sound and patted her once, firmly, on the back — The way someone pats a door to check if it's solid. "Alright, alright, girl. That's enough of that."

Maya, however, didn't let him go. She had no idea when she'd be seeing him again, if ever.

While that hug was going, a bunch of Mika's friends came to say goodbye to him.

"I can't believe you're leaving!" One friend said. "Talk about sudden..."

"And you're stealing Maya away from us!" The other friend said. "Admit it, you're taking her away so you can keep her to yourself!"

"Oh hush it you two!" Mika snapped, blushing a little.

Back with Maya, she finally pulled back and looked up at Soro. Her eyes were bright but she wasn't crying, which Mika suspected took considerable effort. "Take care of yourself, okay?" She said. "And please try not to burn the kitchen down while we're gone. You can always ask auntie Mei to cook for you."

"I never burn the kitchen!" Soro lied through his teeth, though his fingers twitched toward the faint scar on his forearm, a souvenir from last month's fish stew incident. Maya gave him a look so knowing it made him cough and glance away.

"You burn it regularly." She responded, a soft smile on her face.

"Get on the ship, Maya!" Soro barked suddenly, shoving her toward the gangplank with surprising gentleness.

She smiled at that , small and genuine, before she turned back toward the dock. Mika caught Soro's eyes over her shoulder. It was a soft look he rarely ever saw the old man with.

He turned to say a proper goodbye to his friends, clapping one on the shoulder and taking a punch on the arm from the other in the way boys said things they wouldn't say out loud. Then he grabbed his bag and started up the ship's gangplank, Maya right behind him.

The ship, which was modest in size, started slowly pulling away from the dock, the gap between hull and pier widening inch by inch until there was nothing between them and the open sea but water.

The twins stood at the railing and looked back.

The dock was crowded with familiar faces. Their friends, still shouting "Take you two! Come back home safe!" Old Toru was also standing among them, both arms raised above his head, waving with the full commitment of a man who did nothing halfway, his two wives on either side of him, one waving enthusiastically, the other simply holding up a single steady hand.

And Soro, standing slightly apart from all of them, arms crossed, watching. Not waving. Just watching, the way he did everything, like it was something he intended to remember.

Mika raised his hand.

Soro gave him the nod and whispered, "Take care you two. I'll be waiting you to come back home."

Dolphin Island got smaller and smaller. The figures on the dock became shapes, then suggestions, then nothing at all. The sea curved and Dolphin Island was simply gone, and there was nothing in any direction but open water and sky.

"...Mika, will we be back someday?" Maya asked suddenly, her fingers tightening around the ship's rail as the wind whipped strands of hair across her face.

"We will." Mika answered without hesitation. "We definitely will."

They turned away from the railing together.

What they saw when they turned their faces towards the ship's deck were faces of mostly rough looking men. The twins can't remember the last time they were in a place made up of mostly strangers, and in this case, it was all strangers but them.

The rough looking men in question looked to be scarred sailors, the crew guiding the ship, and there were also mercenaries (or at least people who looked to be as such) with weapons strapped to their backs or side. Minus the sailors, all the people on the ship were people hoping to take the Seekers Exam.

Conversations died as soon the twins passed. Eyes tracked them with open skepticism. One man spat overboard, muttering, "Are those kids?!"

"What are they doing here? Are they some sailor's bastard children looking for daddy?"

"Nah, doubt any crew member on this ship can make a girl that pretty!"

"Kids playing at being Seekers now?! The exam'll chew 'em up."

Mika and Maya felt their judgmental gaze. It was all around them.

The boy hated to admit it, but he and sister stood out in this crowd. If Mika felt any comfort, it was that knowing there is no set limit to how many people can pass the Seekers Exam. It made him feel better knowing he didn't have to look at each person on this ship as some possible enemy.

"Let's just ignore them, Maya." Mika spoke. "This ship... I'm sure we can find a place where we can avoid people staring at us like this."

The ship in question was called the Ironbell, and up close it was considerably less romantic than the idea of sailing toward a new life had felt from the dock, or at least that was how Maya felt.

"T-This sure isn't like the trading ships that visit Dolphin Island..." Maya whispered, her fingers tightening around Mika's sleeve.

Maya used to enjoy seeing what those trading ships bring over, she always thought the crew of such ships were nice. She couldn't help but get a totally different feal from the people on this ship however.

Suddenly, barrel-chested man with a scarred nose and yellowed teeth leaned against the mast, openly staring at Maya's thighs where her skirt rode up when she climbed the rigging earlier. "Oi sweetheart!" He called, scratching his groin through stained trousers. "Why don't you ditch the brat and come drink with real men? Bet you've never tasted proper ale before."

Another man, this one missing two fingers on his right hand, spat between Mika's feet. "Boy looks like he still wets the bed." The men around burst into laughter.

Maya's grip on Mika's sleeve tightened, her knuckles whitening.

One of the men leered, running his tongue over cracked lips. "Girlie, why don’t you ditch your boyfriend over there and come sit on my lap? I'll teach you what real men feel like!" The group around him roared with laughter, the sound thick with something rotten beneath the surface.

Mika's fingers twitched toward his spear, he wanted to kill each one of them, but Maya's hand caught his wrist, her nails digging in just enough to say 'not yet'.

It's not that Maya wanted to defend these scum, but she knew her brother. She knew if she didn't put a stop to him now, he really would try to kill these men.

"What are you two doing here anyway?" A fourth person asked, this one a much younger guy than the previous men. He looked to be in his early 20s, leaning against the mast with his arms crossed, one eyebrow raised at them. "Surely you aren't planning on taking the Seeker Exam, are you?"

"...We are, yes." Mika answered flatly, stepping slightly in front of Maya as he met the younger man's gaze.

The man in question has short brown hair, a faded scar running down his chin, and brown eyes that flicked between them with an unsettling sharpness, like a crow assessing shiny objects.

"Both of you?" He asked, almost sounding as if he wasn't unsure if Mika was joking or not.

"Yes, both of us. Now move out of the way!" Mika answered sharply.

The scarred one looked at Maya then, and his expression shifted into something that made Mika's jaw tighten. Not anything he could put a specific word to, just the way his eyes moved and the way his smile changed quality slightly.

"You really dragging your little girlfriend all the way to Port Calden for this?" He asked another question.

"She's my sister!" Mika said flatly as he started pushing past his way past him with Maya in tow.

The scarred man's grin widened. "Ahhhh, I see!" He called after them, voice dripping with amusement that set Mika's teeth on edge. "Family affair, is it? How... Quaint." The way he lingered on the word made it sound like an insult.

The twins made their way towards the other side of the deck, away from them.

"Ghhh!" Mika let out, the tension in his shoulders refusing to ease even as they reached the quieter side of the deck.

"...Mika, calm down." Maya murmured, pressing her shoulder against his arm. "We'll be on this ship for 10 days. We can't allow ourselves to get into a fight with the people on it the first minute..."

"Maya, how can I calm down?! You heard how they talked about you..." Mika wanted to punch something, wanted to drive his spear through the nearest leering face, but Maya's fingers wrapped around his wrist again.

"I know, I know... But reacting will only make them worse," Maya whispered. "I'm really proud of you for not snapping, though." She spoke softly.

"I-I didn't do anything... Like really." Mika hissed, though he was starting to feel a little better.

And it was in that moment they heard it. The quieter side of the deck wasn't entirely quiet, as it turned out.

Mika heard it before he saw it, a harp, of all things, drifting over the sound of wind and waves with a confidence of someone who believed very strongly in what they were doing. He turned his head.

Perched on top of a coil of rope near one of the ship's masts, not beside it, not leaning against it, but actually sitting on top of it like it was a throne he had personally commissioned, was a boy who looked roughly 15, with silver hair that fell past his jaw, catching the light in a way that seemed deliberate, and gold eyes currently fixed on a girl standing a few feet away with an expression of disinterest.

He was playing the harp. A small travelling harp, balanced across his knee with ease, fingers moving across the strings with what would have been genuine skill if he weren't also simultaneously maintaining eye contact with the girl, and smiling the smile of someone who had been told his smile was devastating and had chosen to believe it entirely.

"I composed this one myself~" He was saying, over the music. "It's called 'Eyes Like The Morning Sea.' I can change the title if you'd prefer something more personal, baby~!"

The girl looked at him. Then she looked away. Then she walked away entirely, not giving the boy another glance.

The boy watched her go. His fingers didn't miss a single note.

"She'll come around, they all do!" He told nobody in particular, with the serene confidence of someone for whom the concept of rejection had simply never fully landed.

Mika stared at him, a little dumbfounded.

"...Who the heck is that?" He asked.

"I have no idea." Maya answered . She was watching the silver haired boy with an expression caught somewhere between bafflement and reluctant amusement. "But.. He's cute!"

Mika rolled his eyes.

On the opposite end of the ship, well away from the clusters of exam candidates and the noise they generated, a 17 years old girl sat alone at the stern railing.

She had rose pink hair, loose around her shoulders, and pale green eyes fixed on the water below with an expression that didn't invite conversation. She wasn't doing anything. Just sitting, one hand resting in her lap, the other wrapped loosely around something at her neck, a small cross on a thin chain, worn enough to suggest it had been held exactly like this many times before.

The wind moved her hair. The ship moved beneath her. She didn't move at all.

Around her, the other passengers kept their distance without quite knowing why, the way people instinctively give space to someone who has made it quietly, yet unmistakably, clear that space is what they require.

She didn't look up as the Ironbell pushed steadily northward. She just watched the water, fingers light around the cross, and whatever she was thinking about she kept entirely to herself.

The Ironbell sailed on.