“Well, that clock sure is annoying.” Gwenyth shot an irritated look at the stupid big clock they’d stuck at the end of the room.
Near which they had managed to inconveniently place themselves.
The clock had just struck twenty-nine.
A full minute of horological assault on her eardrums.
Callie, seated right in front, just gave a shrug.
It was nowhere near pacifying enough and Gwenyth had half a mind to scold Callie on the lack of interest in her reaction but instead grinned.
“Ah, fuck it.
Most like, we’ll never hear the damned thing again.” A smile this time from Callie when their eyes met.
Gwenyth then looked around the hall, stretching to get as full a view as possible.
“They couldn’t have left already, could they?” Callie shrugged and leaned toward her.
“I’ve been getting the feeling that something’s off.
Liam has been telling us that he’ll ask every time we have approached him about the driftfellow limit.
This procrastination is unlike him, and surely asking about upper limit relaxation is not something to be left for the night before drift submission.” Gwenyth’s face had contorted into something resembling a snarl through her words and she was all but ready to snap.
But Callie was not the target for it.
Her fist came down on the table, hard.
A loud noise would have echoed at least a few seats around them.
Gwenyth gave a mumbled apology which was more of a grunt, looking down to discover that she had water stains on her top.
“Dammit.” She said, containing her loudness this time around.
“It all bloody makes sense now.” She hissed out to Callie.
“Why they took a separate ship by accident, why we haven’t seen them tonight.” She said, grabbing her glass and gulping down the rest of the water.
“I don’t even want to talk about it anymore.” Callie murmured, loud enough for it to reach Gwenyth’s ears.
“How could you not?” Gwenyth thundered, resulting in quite a few heads turning their way.
She took her volume down several notches before continuing.
“This is not some game.
It is the Faring we’re talking about here.
And there is no choice more important than that of the drift!” She exclaimed.
“I know, alright?
I know.
I just… don’t have the energy to deal with it.
I’ve already been contemplating it for the better part of this evening.
I’m… tired.” Callie said and let her head fall down in her arms, sighing loudly.
“I’d rather just deal with it tomorrow.
I’ve got to…” She trailed off and if smoke could have shot out of Gwenyth’s ears right now, it would be.
She leaned forward and hissed into her ears, or at least where she assumed them to be under her golden hair.
“How can you be this unconcerned?
We cannot be teamed up with any random people.
The average person remains in the same drift for five years.
I do not want to fall on a lower percentile of that curve.” A groan resonated from the golden curtain before Gwenyth and a slow stirring ensued, eventually leading to a bleary eyed Callie emerging.
“So you want to do headhunting tonight?
In the middle of dinner where everyone also has to make the most important decision of their lives in a matter of sixty or so minutes.” Gwenyth faltered a bit and Callie continued.
“Some, you’ll find, have already dispersed from this hall.
Tomorrow you’ll find everyone in the main grounds for drift allocation, even… even our friends.”
“Not that we’ll be talking to them!” Gwenyth interrupted Callie only for her to shake her head.
“I didn’t say that we would.
The point is, we’ll have at least a couple hours to interact with people and form a drift then.
We’ll sleep early-ish and wake up in a timely manner.” Gwenyth sighed her loudest and most dramatic yet, utterly defeated by the soundness in Callie’s well-reasoned argument.
“I supposed you’re right, Lee.” She groaned and got up with a grunt of effort that the activity merited not, especially with her affinity for exercise and physical well-being.
Once the two ladies had disposed of their nearly clean plates, they made their way to the outside of the dining hall.
“Let’s go to the balcony once.
There is stardust to see.” Callie said, grabbing Gwenyth by the arm and pulling her, lest the girl protest.
Gwenyth was yet again taken aback by Callie’s–a supposed mediator– grip strength.
“Are you sure you don’t want to register tomorrow as a fighter?
You really could be a good one.”
“No… I am a linguist.
I’ve never even given being a fighter a thought.
And when I met you all two years ago, it reinforced the thought given that there were already three fighters in…” Callie sighed and her grip weakened, footsteps slowing.
Gwenyth didn’t slip her arm from her fingers however.
“It’s fine.
You know as well as I that the roles are placeholders, a record to show the government that balance is maintained in drifts and that they’ll be able to do their job.
Which we will.” Gwenyth said proudly.
“Even without those-” The expletives leaving her mouth stopped right at its threshold when she made eye contact with a red haired chubby lad, seemingly too young to be present for the orientation.
But he was not.
Gwenyth very well knew of this.
“Crowe!” She said loudly to punctuate the unmistakable incident of their non verbal interaction, should the timid boy were to attempt weaseling his way out of this.
Callie’s hand had long left her arm and dropped to her side.
She too had seen her best friend.
Gwenyth’s feet were moving of their own accord and were she more conscious of herself in that moment she would realise that her manner of moving discerned itself not to a large extent the way Liam used to march in comical imitation of Gwenyth’s style of walking.
She hardly had gone a few steps away from Callie when she heard her voice.
“Don’t start on him.” Gwenyth’s march lost half its intent and vigour in the next couple steps.
Callie did not need to say more.
The last two years with Crowe came rushing back in an instant.
‘Don’t start on him.’ Lee always said that when she felt Gwenyth might give the poor boy more trouble than he deserved.
The handful of times Gwenyth had ignored her, she had felt bad for a couple days at the very least.
Crowe was a sweet lad, of undoubted good nature.
Even Linae hardly ever teased the boy.
The resolve to give the boy a piece of her mind further weakened when he started tripping over his words the moment she got within earshot of his soft voice.
“I w-was ju-just looking f-f-for you – a-and Lee also!” He stuttered out the latter part in a hurried defensive rush.
Given what she knew of Crowe, he probably was beating himself up internally for adding Callie as an afterthought, no matter how unintentional.
“Why didn’t Liam just tell us directly that there is no circumventing the limit?” Gwenyth was trying very hard to keep her volume under control, her tone civil, especially with Callie at her side by the time she was in the middle of her question.
“H-hey Lee.” Crowe said awkwardly.
“Did you all take a separate ship to Youvlon on purpose?” Callie’s tone had a hardness to it, though Gwenyth would not call it rude.
Crowe seemed to have picked up on it.
“Yes, I didn’t want to – but…” It seemed he realised how false any pretense or excuse of his would come off as.
“And I think Liam was scared… of hurting you as well!
He really tried, even tonight with the esteemed Weathered.
He wanted the cutoff to be smooth in case things didn’t work out – as they clearly didn’t –” He sighed.
“That’s why he’s been avoidant and stuff.” Words were spilling out of him quite smoothly now and it abated some of the uneasiness Gwenyth felt within, regardless of the implication that their worst fears were confirmed.
“He always said one good drift was better than two half-assed ones.” She said bitterly.
“You had to know it would be you two, right?” Crowe whispered tentatively, sounding much more furtive and anxious.
“I really thought you knew.” His lip was trembling.
Before Gwenyth could open her mouth, Callie moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his larger frame.
Gwenyth couldn’t even bring her lips to curl at how Lee’s hands barely met each other when she hugged Crowe – yet she still insisted on her arms going around the outside of his whenever she hugged him.
“We know.” Lee’s whisper was audible to even Gwenyth.
“We always knew.” She said comfortingly.
“….yeah.” Gwenyth added lamely, all the wind taken out of her sails at that point.
She really did.
They had been the last to join the Behoven – as they liked to call themselves (had been doing so for years) – as well as those who had substitutes in terms of the role they could serve on the drift.
“I would go with you Callie but…” Crowe started crying and Callie hugged him visibly tighter.
Gwenyth knew why.
Even though Callie had grown to be his closest friend, Crowe had known most of the Behoven since a half dozen years or more.
There was also the matter of Linae.
A smile cracked her mask-like expression just in the slightest.
It was just like the gods to do something so beautiful yet so jocund: the relentlessly teasing and immensely annoying girl the hells had unleashed upon Verflane and the kindest most sensitive soul –who Gwenyth had the good fortune of knowing– to fall for each other.
“It does not matter, Raven boy.
Be happy.
I like not to see you cry.
Linae would beat us up with her pans if she knew we were the culprits of this sorry little mess.” Callie said the last words very kindly and moved her hand up, giving his hair a little ruffle.
Crowe let out a muffled chuckle in her shoulder.
Gwenyth smiled again.
* * *
Crowe was dragging a chair – from the dining hall, Gwenyth presumed – right out into the battlements which were functioning as a balcony these days.
The lad – gods bless him – said he required the seat for gazing at the ‘mesmerising’ sky, lest he lose his balance and fall.
Advisement of holding on to the battlements was not taken as well as Gwenyth would have hoped as immediately after this ideation she was informed that the boy was averse to heights, especially looking down from an edge like the battlements had.
Given his balance, it was most prudent indeed.
It did not stop the girl from having a good laugh about it once the boy had left, the extent thereof muted by her friend not partaking in her sense of humor.
Gwenyth’s cloak – black as her hair and the sky above – billowed in the near tempestuous wind that had picked up in Crowe’s absence.
The smile on the boy’s face hinted at the pride he most likely felt at the heightened utility of his seat in that moment.
Gwenyth turned back towards the sea, indeed a stormy grey.
“It will be a turbulent first Faring for all of us.
Especially you, Raven boy.”
“He can navigate through the wildest of storms, I know it.” Callie returned.
Gwenyth’s head tilted just enough to see her face turned back and the corner of a smile.
Somehow she knew that the boy would be beaming back at Callie.
Gwenyth did not take up issue with how improbable – nay, near impossible – was her statement in its realisation.
Sometimes it was better to let be the bubble of delusion disguised as hope.
Why should a young bamboo compare itself to its delicate peers when it can be more tree than grass?
“We will show them, Crowe.” Callie said in a tone not uncharacteristically optimistic, but one unusually steely for the woman.
“We are the golden dust in this dark, dark sky.
Insignificant, mayhaps.
But beautiful and worthy for the world to bask in the brilliance of.” And in another unusual occurrence, Gwenyth felt warm inside as she looked up at the starry sky in its luminescence, wrapping her arm gently around Lee’s shoulder.
A word not brought oft to Gwenyth’s lips seemed to make its way there.
“Tranquil.”
* * *
46th day of the 10230th year since the passing of Kriene
It so happened that despite retiring to bed at around half hour past the zeroth, the ladies did not wake up well into the eighth hour, leading to a fair bit of ruckus in their dormitory.
Luckily – due to the late hour of their rising – it was near empty and devoid of sleeping souls who would have been perturbed terribly so by the quarreling duo.
They hurriedly got ready for the day ahead, with Gwenyth managing to give herself a bruise in her side as she lost her balance into a bedpost while she hopped around on one foot, trying to get the stupid leg of her leather pants in.
A relentless utterance of curses had ensued for the next minute or so.
When they were ready, Gwenyth contemplated her cloak in an afterthought and decided to leave it.
She felt like taking in the entirety of the wind.
In addition, she had a fair bit of running about to do that day.
With her left side already aching, she didn’t feel like being subject to more accidents because of fashion choices.
She could see weather conditions had grown more stormy around Youvlon as she stepped out of the dormitory into an airy corridor.
“You know, you’ve got it really good with short hair, Callie.
You can just leave it be.
No tying, no inconvenience.”
“You could cut your hair as well.” She returned simply.
“But I like my long hair.” She whined and sulked a little.
They reached the dining hall just past the end of the eighth hour yet they seated themselves as far from the clock this time around.
Breakfast was a blur.
Gwenyth did down at least half a kilo of meat and three glasses of apple juice, but who kept count anyway?
Despite Gwenyth eating as fast as she could, Callie still managed to wind up before her.
Probably because she ate less.
The wind had increased slightly in its intensity by the time Gwenyth and Callie walked out onto the main grounds, marked by a decent crowd of people, most of which Gwenyth hoped were undrifted.
One good thing about arriving late was that they could mingle more freely.
One of the Behoven would certainly have registered themselves first thing.
No point in worrying about running into them here.
Certainly they would know better than to steer clear of their presence.
“Let’s split up.” She told Callie.
“We’ll cover more ground that way.”
Callie headed to the right, Gwenyth started into the left.
She positioned herself nicely in the largest group she saw, nearly a dozen.
It would be a hotspot in terms of information flow.
From what Gwenyth could gather, most crews were fleshed out already and were not looking for more people despite having space.
She understood why.
Forming a drift with someone one hardly knew was an undesirable prospect.
She herself had hoped not to be in this position, but there she was.
After a few minutes of listening to them talk about what kind of drift mix was ideal, she extricated herself from the conversation, only to find Callie approaching her.
“Did you find anyone, Lee?”
“Crowe and Linae have been here since half an hour, but they also have only been able to find a Navigator, that too a rookie.”
“Just our luck.
A rookie Nav for the first drifting is nothing less than professional suicide.
We’ll be stuck on boring assignments if we gain a reputation for being lost at sea.”
“There is no alternative.
People have been forming drifts since the past three days and navigators in particular are in high demand.
The sixty-fifth is one of the worst starting sectors in terms of safety.”
“I know.
Shit.
We should have come earlier.”
“There were no alternatives.
And it’s not that bad, I’ve done a year of Nav also.”
“Two rookies instead of one.
Great.”
“It’s not.
But it’s something.
We have a couple hours still.”
“Awful good that’ll do us.” Gwenyth grumbled.
“Shush now.
Here they are.” Callie said with a slight but detectable change in her tone as they approached Crowe, Linae and the Nav.
Crowe waved hi to Gwenyth, she nodded back.
Linae gave a sort of sheepish smile and nod.
Gwenyth responded in a facial expression that could only be characterised as a grimace – intended as a smile, however.
Then she saw the Nav.
He seemed to be six feet, a tad shorter than Gwenyth herself.
He had hair the colour of the sapphires, eyes the colour of amber, skin like smoky quartz and a diamond shaped face.
Gwenyth wondered why he was reminiscent of gems like so while also trying to discern by the looks of him whether he would make a good enough navigator.
It seemed impossible to do so.
“Hey, you’re the Nav, right?” Gwenyth stuck her hand to shake his.
His grip was firm enough.
That in itself did convey something to her.
“Yeah, hi.
I’m Zander.
And you’re the fighter.
Gwenyth.
It’s nice to make your acquaintance.”
“Likewise.” She said a bit curtly before covering it up.
“You’re undrifted too, huh?”
“Not anymore.” Zander replied with a winning smile, which made Gwenyth hopeful for a moment, only a moment.
“Yeah right.
You have competition, Callie.
Let’s see who can be more optimistic.”
Crowe gave an awkward laugh.
“Gwenyth is just a bit tensed.
Let’s go and… yeah.
Let’s go.” Crowe and led an all too willing Zander away.
Which left Gwenyth with Callie and Linae.
Linae.
Gwenyth’s jaw clenched a little.
“Does your best friend know you’re here with the people he’s been hiding from?”
“We’re all equally to blame.
It isn’t Liam’s fault in particular.
And he knows.
He wanted to come as well but he felt too guilty…”
“Showing his face in front of us.
As he should!
It was that slimy bastard’s idea to have the ship scheduling accident too, wasn’t it?”
Linae did not respond.
“And what about the others?
Where are they?”
“They’re packing and preparing.
They want to board as soon as possible.
They thought Crowe and I would be help enough.”
“Is it help enough?” Gwenyth asked in a tone which was growingly increasingly rough.
“It is.” Callie interjected firmly.
“To form the worst drift in the nine zones, sure.” Gwenyth said and then sighed, looking at the ground for a moment before up at Linae.
“Thanks for coming to help, Linae.
It’s just…”
“I know, Gwenyth.”
Gwenyth sighed again.
“I’m gonna go and look for undrifted.” She turned and walked away.
Another half hour of mostly fruitless conversations later, Gwenyth was told of an undrifted Tender-Environmentalist.
An aspiring in both regards, she was told.
As she set out towards the more central part of the grounds – where he was last seen – she knew she’d spot the reportedly six and a half foot guy easily.
And noticeable he turned out to be.
But it was not his height that brought him to notice, it was his booming laugh.
Gwenyth managed to make her way up to him and excused themselves from the conversation.
“You’re Venedir?” It was more a statement.
“Yes, and you are?” His grey eyes seemed to probe her.
“Gwenyth.
We’re forming a drift and we could use you.”
“I won’t join as a fighter.
I can fight but I want my role to be either a tender or environmentalist.” He said, his body tensing, his voice defensive.
“That’s all good, because I already am the fighter in our drift.
And lucky for you, we have both your preferred slots empty so you’ll fit in just fine.
I doubt the others would have found anyone else yet.” Gwenyth said and started to walk.
“Come I’ll take you to our drift.”
“Not a drift yet.” He said in a teasing tone.
She looked back to find him grinning at her.
“Shut up.”
“This is going to be very fun.”
Gwenyth groaned loudly.
“You’re very annoying, you know that?”
“Mhmm.” He said in a musical tone.
When Gwenyth finally spotted Callie, not only was she with the others, but also two new people.
Gwenyth could only hope that their drift was complete.
Her pace quickened.
Venedir kept up easily.
As they approached the group, Callie and Crowe moved to create space for the two.
Gwenyth introduced Venedir as she looked at the other two.
One was a girl, a couple inches shorter than Gwenyth, a tad taller than Callie.
Her olive skin almost shone under the lamp post they stood beneath.
Her hair was the colour of Wairo in the hours before sunset, a deep subdued orange.
Her eyes made Gwenyth’s breath hitch for a moment.
Surely not.
But it was so.
A deep deep red, the colour of blood.
Gwenyth had only seen such colour once and it was that memory which induced this reaction in her.
Surely this girl’s case was not so.
Her eyes quickly moved to the other person, a boy slightly taller than her.
Hair of silver, eyes of silver… his skin so pale.
She was so taken aback by the appearance of the two before her that it took her a few seconds to realise that she’s seen the lad before, only he’d been cloaked and the lighting had been poor.
As she finished introducing Venedir, her eyes went to the lad’s.
“You.
We met yesterday!” She exclaimed.
“Yes we did.”
“You ran off after the orientation.”
His cheeks flushed a little.
Gwenyth would have doubted the presence of blood within him had such contradicting evidence not been presented before her.
“I had to turn in early.” He mumbled.
“I am Finley.
It’s nice to meet you, Gwenyth.” It seemed the boy was compensating for his lack of interaction last night.
Of course, given that he would have to interact with them now.
“Nice to meet you too, Finley.
What role can you play with us?”
“I’m an environmentalist, but it won’t be an issue for Venedir.
Sylviane here -” he looked at the blood-eyed.
“can be a builder.”
“Wow.” Gwenyth muttered.
“Wow indeed.” Callie said.
“We have our drift.”
“Aren’t we going to look for more people?” Zander asked a bit shiftily, looking around at them.
“I mean, no offense, but we aren’t the most… robust drift out there.”
Venedir laughed.
“No shit.
We still are four under full capacity.”
“Six.” Crowe said.
“What?”
“Six.” Linae repeated.
“We” she gestured at herself and Crowe.
“Are part of another drift.”
“Oh wow.” Venedir chuckled.
“I told you, Gwenyth.
This is going to be fun.”
“You and I have very different definitions of fun.
But leaving that aside, I am sick and tired of talking to people.
It’s been more than an hour.” She groaned.
“I agree.” Finley added.
“I’ve been here for-” he checked his watch, a mechanical thing – silver, of course.
“more than three hours now and it’s been far from a cake walk.
I’d just like to relax for a while.”
Sylviane spoke then.
“While not having enough social battery or energy are not valid excuses, I still think we should not add more people.” Gwenyth was finding it hard to look at her and settled for looking at the patch of grass in between where they all stood.
“Except Gwenyth and Callie, we do not know each other.
That’s a lot of new relationships we’ll need to navigate.
Those who had their drifts formed beforehand will already have a significant challenge before them despite gelling well with each other.
We have a dual challenge before us which may get magnified if our drift is larger.
Coordination will be hard, especially these first few weeks, which is also when we’ll need to complete our introductory assignment.
We do not have years of mutual understanding and planning to make this easier.
So let’s not complicate it.”
“Well said, Sylviane.” Callie said and sighed.
“It’s not optimal, of course.
But I think all of us forwent the optimal quite a long time ago.
So we’ll roll with this drift at least for the first assignment.”
“Well, then.
If our drift is complete, we need a name for it.” Venedir said with a smile.
“Actually, Zander had a name that we quite liked.” Finley said.
“Let’s hear it.” Gwenyth said but Finley didn’t reply, turning to Zander with a smile.
All eyes went on Zander as he gave a little awkward and shy smile.
“Serendipity.”