by Liv Savell
Most Cabot had the advantage of appearing mostly human: webbed fingers, perhaps some gills, but with typical human features like round eyes and flat teeth. Even Delyth looked like a woman. A beautiful, strong woman with wings.
Brande was decidedly not human.
He hurried over, and the crowds on the docks made way for him. He was too strange. “Healer Alphonse!” he said, wrapping his dripping arms about her shoulders in a tight hug. He was a small enough man, but his body was sinewy and well-muscled. He must be very strong to cut through the waves so easily.
Brande released Alphonse with a kiss to the top of her head and turned to Delyth with a cautious grin. His teeth glinted in the sunlight.
“You must be her woman. Delyth. Healer Alphonse says you are a warrior of true merit and grit.” The Cabot held out a long, webbed hand. His nails were sharp.
Delyth grinned, reaching out to take Brande’s hand. His grip was strong, his skin strangely slick and cool to the touch. “That I am,” she said cheerfully, tightening her wings in excitement. “Alphonse’s woman, I mean.”
“Then you must be very lucky.” He winked and finally released Delyth’s hand, giving her a comprehensive look. Taking in her height, her build, and of course, her wings.
“I most certainly am,” Delyth said, smiling. “When will your shift end? Perhaps Allee and I could treat you to a meal this evening?”
“Don’t be silly! My woman will want you to come and share a meal with us. Alphonse, I have told her you were coming. She will be happy to see you. I will give you directions to my home, and you will go.” Alphonse smiled at Brande as he blinked a second set of eyelids.
“Of course, Del wouldn’t that be nice? Dinner with Brande’s family?” Generous too. Alphonse would have to find a way to repay him for his kindness. She also knew how expensive feeding extra guests would be, and she could tell by the state of Brande’s clothes and how slim he was that food wasn’t a readily available resource for Brande and his kind.
But she didn’t want to embarrass him by denying the offer or making a fuss.
Tucking her hand into the crook of Delyth’s elbow, Alphonse listened closely as Brande described how to find his home and hugged him once more goodbye.
Brande gave Delyth another knowing look and then saluted them farewell before jumping off the docks and back into the water.
“What did you think?” Alphonse asked, turning to peer up at Delyth.
༄
“I thought…” Delyth paused, unsure of exactly what she had thought. The experience of meeting so many others like her was still a little overwhelming after years of believing she was alone. “I thought he was kind,” she said at last, “and generous. I don’t want to put them out in any way.”
Brande hadn’t looked how Delyth had imagined he would all those moons ago when Alphonse had first told her the story of healing him, but Delyth liked him the way he was. Unique. She wondered what he had thought of her. “Do you think he liked me?”
“Why wouldn’t he like you? He already knows so much about you because I write often. I’ve told him all about the ladies and our cottage and our life together. He knows I’m happy.” She squeezed Delyth’s elbow as they continued down the docks back towards the shore to turn onto a road that followed the coastline.
Delyth smiled down at Alphonse and covered her hand where she had lain it on the warrior’s arm. “I suppose it was a silly question,” she said, a little sheepishly. It was just that she wanted so very much for them to like her.
They walked past rich, white-stone estates with clay-tile roofs, with lovely little flower gardens and fountains out front and views of the crashing surf. The streets were clean and paved. Carriages trundled past with well-groomed horses, and the people walking or riding were dressed in fine clothes. As Delyth and Alphonse continued, however, the streets became pitted and poorly maintained, the homes falling into disrepair.
Desperation was evident on the faces of the people here. Most ducked and looked away, afraid of newcomers, but a few stared blankly. Interested but distant.
“Del?” Allee’s voice was strained, and her grip on the warrior’s arm tightened.
“Yes?” Delyth only half registered the question as her mind had fallen, as it always did when she felt uncertain, into old patterns. She kept her eyes and ears open, her posture upright but not tight. Ready.
How would she handle an attack in the narrow street? She had not brought Calamity out of a desire to have a break from the malicious blade, but a simple, serviceable dagger was sheathed at her side. She was fast and skilled enough to take a half-dozen with it— a round ten if they were slow or weak. But how would she protect Alphonse? Perhaps she ought to make getting in the air a priority…
Delyth glanced down at Alphonse when the healer slid closer. “What is it, annwyl?”
❀
“I think this is Brande’s home.” She motioned towards a small cottage. If that was the right word. The roof was dilapidated, and it sat so close to the small cliff face, Alphonse wondered if the home was at risk of falling into the sea below. But there was the door painted red and the garden of wisteria he had told them of, and they had walked the right number of blocks down.
Despite the roof’s state, the rest of the home was clean, the front garden cleared and planted. There was even a small windcatcher charm hanging from a spindly old tree. Alphonse recognized the work, meant to attract good luck and harmony. It seemed like something Brande would have in his home. Still, Alphonse felt uneasy as she opened the little gate before the path leading to the door. She hadn’t ever met his wife nor his children.
Alphonse held Delyth’s hand tight and knocked. A voice called out for them to wait one minute. She could hear someone shuffling around behind the door, and then it swung open slightly to reveal…
No one.
Alphonse frowned and then looked down. A little boy, barely tall enough to reach the handle, stood in the doorway, staring up at them with interest. In his free hand, he clutched a piece of half-eaten fruit, and his face was sticky with its juices. “Oh, hello there,” the healer murmured as a woman bustled around the corner, wiping her hands on an apron. She looked much like Brande: slim with silken skin and wide eyes. Her hands were webbed, her teeth were sharp, but her hair was long and coiled in a knot at the back of her neck. Alphonse thought she must be considered very attractive for her kind as her features lit up when she smiled.
“Maiak! You little minnow. I’ve told you not to open the door without mommy.” Despite the scolding, the boy only continued to stare up at them stoically. “Are you Healer Alphonse?” the woman asked, looking both newcomers over.
“I am. This is Brande’s home?”
“Indeed. I’m Kala, and this is our son Maiak, who, of course, you already know. Please come in. I’m happy to see you have arrived in La’ Cante safely. Brande told me you planned to come.”
Scooping up Maiak, Kala opened the door wider to admit Alphonse and Delyth. It was a tight squeeze, and Kala smiled playfully. “You’re a big one, aren’t you?” She asked Delyth, her voice friendly and light. “Don’t fret, we’ll eat in the back garden; the night should be mild.”
Delyth squeezed her wings in tight and ducked to enter the doorway. When she stood, the tops of her folded wings brushed the ceiling. She looked a little sheepish at Kala’s jest. Compared to both Kala and Brande, the warrior sort of… loomed.
The inside of the house was inviting, clean though cluttered with the belongings of those who lived there. The floors were wood, worn but smooth, and the walls were painted a cheery green. Alphonse knew they were headed to the kitchen well before they reached it from the smell. Something delicious was cooking. Warm and spiced. It was unfamiliar, but the smell was enough to make her mouth water.
The healer followed Kala into the kitchen in time to hear the Cabot woman exclaim. A pot on their little stove was rattling in its seat, froth bubbling from a dancing lid. Kala pressed Maiak into Delyth’s arms, s
urprising both the warrior and the boy, then rushed over to turn down the heat.
“Only took my eyes off it for a moment,” she was fussing. “Please, have a seat. Brande won’t be long.”
She gestured to a wooden dining table complete with chairs: simple furniture, but carefully made. Delyth and Maiak made their way to one of the chairs, and the warrior eased into it with relief, relaxing her tight hold on her wings.
Maiak examined Delyth stoically for several seconds, an expression she matched in solemnity, and then smiled widely. Unlike his parents, who were both sharp-toothed, the toddler’s gums were as yet bare. He seemed to have no problem with the soft, half-eaten peach he clutched, though. He reached out with his moderately less-sticky free hand and stroked the hawk feather braided into Delyth’s hair before pointing to her wings.
“Bird,” he pronounced and went back to eating, leaving Delyth fighting back a fit of giggles.
The tension in Alphonse’s gut relaxed some as Kala moved around the cramped kitchen. While Brande and his family clearly were not rich, their home was warm, inviting, and well maintained. He wasn’t suffering as she had previously worried. She watched as Maiak offered Delyth the last bite of his mushed up peach and had to hide a smile. The back wall of the kitchen had large, open windows that allowed a brisk ocean breeze in. The air smelled of salt, and she suspected it kept Brande and his family healthy.
Kala bustled around the stove, stirring and adding spices into the various pots before turning to prop her hands on her hips with a great sigh. “Maiak is right. You are one of the God Children, though I haven’t seen your kind before. We mostly have Fish Skins and Shark Teeth in these parts. Brande said, you are from the mountains up north?”
༄
Delyth scrunched up her nose and shook her head at Maiak. The last bit of his peach looked decidedly… mushy after his industrious gnawing. He took this with the same casual stoicism and popped it into his mouth enthusiastically.
God Children. It was a nicer name than Cabot, chosen by her people for them all.
“Yes,” Delyth answered. “I am from the Brig’ian Mountains. I have never met another like me, though. If there are others in the mountains, they have hidden well.”
Kala’s gaze was steady on Delyth for a minute or so before she nodded in some sort of understanding. “You will ask my mother. She might know more of your kind. She’s napping now, but she’ll join us for dinner.”
The door opened just then, and Brande’s voice called out in greeting. Kala’s face lit up in obvious joy as she called back. Maiak looked up from his place in Delyth’s lap but did no more than smile when Brande walked in. The Cabot man looked tired but happy as he bent to kiss Maiak’s head, then Kala’s cheek. Then Alphonse’s head, and then Delyth’s too. Brande had already accepted them into his family.
“Healer Alphonse, Delyth, I’m glad to see you found your way here. Simple enough, no?”
“Very easy. Your directions were good,” Alphonse agreed.
Brande looked around his home, pride shining in his eyes, and then he settled in the chair beside Alphonse with a groan. The healer could sense the pain he was in, how tired his body was. But she didn’t think it right to say anything about it.
Instead, she stood. “Kala, could I help with the cooking?”
The two women were discussing dinner when Brande leaned closer to Delyth and Maiak, clawed finger tracing the lines of his son’s cheeks with feather-tenderness. The little boy chuckled. “You are a mess, my son.” He sighed and looked Delyth over once more. “You look strong enough. Will you help me move the table and chairs outside? When we are lucky enough to have friends and family join us for a meal, we must entertain in less crowded spaces.”
Delyth tore her gaze from Alphonse, where the other woman smiled in the early-evening light coming through the windows. “Yes, of course,” she said.
The whole scene had such a genuine feeling of warmth. Delyth had never known what family could be like, other than the warrior’s bond of shared service. The comfort here… it was like that of the little cottage she shared with Alphonse, but with a wider group of people who cared for and supported each other.
Delyth stood, setting Maiak down gently on the floor. He toddled off to entangle his mother’s feet while she worked. Together, Brande and Delyth worked to move the dining furniture out into the garden beyond, Delyth trying to take the lion’s share. She knew that Brande was likely tired from his day. She helped him light lanterns and set the table, all while the smells of the kitchen drifted into the neatly kept backyard. Neither spoke much, but it felt a natural sort of silence. Like camaraderie.
By the time dinner was ready, they had given the space a bit of a festive air. Lanterns and ornamental glass hangings dripped from low hanging branches, decorations that Brande made himself from sea treasures as little gifts to Kala. He was equal parts sheepish and proud telling her of them.
Alphonse and Kala came out laden with food, helped by little Maiak, his now-clean hands laden with plates and napkins. An older woman Delyth had not met yet followed, a baby wrapped in her arms. Her skin was greyer and tougher than Kala’s, but otherwise, the resemblance was immediately clear. They both had the same expressive way of speaking. Delyth did not think she had ever been so happy once they all sat around the old table, except perhaps the afternoon Alphonse returned from her studies to find the warrior in the little cottage near Nyth’draig.
Brande held out his hands. Kala took one, and Alphonse took the other. Then she offered her hand to Delyth, and the others at the table completed the circle.
“Thank you, Wynne, for the bounty we will share with our friends, Healer Alphonse and Delyth.”
“Thank you, Wynne.” The others murmured, and Delyth hastily chimed in at the end. She hadn’t prayed since her days at the temple, but it felt natural to clasp hands this way before the meal. The smells were even more tantalizing now, rising from a stew that included prawns and seaweed.
The older woman smacked her lips appreciatively and then grinned across the table at both Delyth and Alphonse. She was missing several of her teeth, but her eyes were keen.
“So,” the old woman croaked, her voice roughened with age. “Is it typical for your kind to love outside of the clan, Delyth?” She jerked her chin towards Alphonse in explanation.
“Mother,” Kala murmured.
Under the table, Delyth squeezed Alphonse’s knee. The healer had the sort of pinched look she got whenever she started doubting herself, and the warrior wanted to make it clear just how happy she was with their relationship.
“I know no clan,” Delyth said truthfully. “Nor any other of my kind. I should think, though, I would love Alphonse even if I did.” She took another bite of the delicious stew, thinking. Kala had said to ask her mother… “Have you ever met others like me?”
The old woman peered between the two of them and then smiled again. “I remember stories my grandmother told me, as a minnow. There was a time when all the clans were whole and happy. The Shark Teeth—” She gestured to herself and Kala, Brande, Maiak, and the baby resting in the small cradle beside Kala. “Fish Skin—You’ve likely seen them on the docks.” She ran sharp claws over her throat, and Alphonse thought of the people with gills. “Cloud Catchers, who had wings with feathers and Dragon Kin—” She nodded at Delyth’s own strong wings. “We all lived with the humans for a time, but they have higher birth rates and more land. So the humans soon outnumbered us and forgot the way of things. Things just got worse when the Gods abandoned their children.”
Kala shot Alphonse and Delyth an apologetic look. “Mother, those were just children's tales.”
“All stories come from somewhere, Kala.”
Brande nodded in agreement.
Delyth shifted. It always seemed to come back to the Gods and the war that had changed everything. Somehow, it felt as though even if Delyth were to find a way out of her oath to Enyo, she would never be truly free of them.
Instead o
f talking more of the Gods, who Delyth knew to be more than mere tales, she instead focused on the God Children. “If the Fish Skin and Shark Teeth make their homes here, alongside the sea, where can I find the others? The Cloud Catchers and the Dragon Kin?”
A very long time ago, Delyth had dreamed with Tanwen of finding her people, but in all those years, she had never once heard mention of them. The idea that there might be some hint here, something to point her in the right direction… It made Delyth’s pulse quicken, her gaze sharpen.
The old Cabot cackled as though the answer were obvious. “Where do birds like to nest?”
“Trees,” Alphonse said.
The grandmother nodded and slurped another gulp of her stew. “The stories said the Cloud Catchers lived amongst the skies, in the tallest forests. And where do dragons live?”
Alphonse looked towards Delyth, brows pinching together.
“Caves.” Delyth propped her chin on her fist. She had met the great sisters of Dawn and Dusk and heard the stories of D’draig in the sea. Her people were not built for the ocean, but the mountains, with their caves and thin air…
And cold. She was certainly well suited for the cold. Delyth had flown most of the span of the Brig’ian mountains in service to Enyo, but perhaps… Perhaps she had not flown far enough North.
She sat up again, buoyed by the prospect of something new to try. “Thank you for the insight.”
❀
The grandmother only laughed again and tucked into her stew with gusto. Alphonse interlaced her fingers with Delyth, giving the warrior’s hand a comforting squeeze before the conversation turned to the benign. How were their families? How was life?
While it was clear that Brande and Kala lived meager lives, it was also clear how very much they loved each other. How happy they were. Brande was constantly crooning over Maiak and the baby, and the way he gazed at Kala was romantic. Alphonse wondered if the people who saw her and Delyth together could see their love as evidently as she could see Brande’s. The healer liked that idea, and in the safety of the home of her friend, she felt comfortable enough to curl up alongside Delyth on the bench in Brande’s garden as supper was finished and dessert passed around. The grandmother took Delyth aside after the meal, and they spoke in hushed voices before the older woman gripped Delyth’s upper arm in support and headed to bed with the children.