#okay i'll stop talking about international trading now alskdjfaldfj

[megarywrites]

find the word tag game

tagged by @thewriteflame and my words were: joke, jump, brown, bug, book

all from Seafoam

joke

Zeno murmured something, and I blinked, abandoning my racing thoughts and returning my attention  to him. “What?” 

“I said, we could get married.” 

The absurd desire to laugh nearly overcame me. He was about to speak again, but I shook my hand between us, cutting him off. “I appreciate you trying to make a joke, but is this really the time?” 

His expression contorted to an almost-grimace before it shifted into a small smile. Then, he shrugged. “Sorry.” I scrubbed my hand roughly over my face, leaning forward, slightly away from him. “It is an idea, though.” 

“Us getting married?” 

“Yeah.” 

I sniffed a quiet laugh, despite everything. “Please, we’d be miserable.”

jump

The door to [the captain]'s quarters was right up against the railing, with just the riggings swaying between me at the oar-churned ocean below. I stopped, looking into the water, my hand absently fingering the shard in my pocket as my gaze traced patterns in sea foam lining the choppy waves. I could jump. The oars might catch me. Or they might sweep me under, their turbulence keeping me below the surface until I was out of air. 

Heart stammering, I stumbled away from the railing until my back pressed into the wall. Did I actually wish for death? Or did I just want this to be over? 

Freedom. That’s all I wanted. Basate promised that; I could hold out until then. I could…

I would.

brown

It was strange. Being here. New experiences—not that I had a lot of practice with them, mind—always were strange. She sat across from me, crossing her feet beneath her and clasping her hands together in her lap. 

“What was your name, again?” 

“Solera,” she said, her grin bright white against her russet-brown features. My eyes dropped to the dimples indenting her faintly freckled cheeks. “And, I know coming here, leaving your family, it’s a bit much to take in.” I met her gaze again. “If there’s anything I can do to help you adjust, or settle, just let me know?” 

I returned her smile, however faintly, and nodded.

bug beetle

A tiny armored beetle skittered over the marble steps by my fingers, deftly avoiding them in its hurry. 

Could I have done anything to help? Would the sound of Osmari’s pleas ever stop ringing in my head? 

“Stay back,” a calm voice said, drawing near. “I’ll talk to her.”

Geros. No longer the Diamo, to me.

Solera was right. He was just another man who had done nothing to deserve my respect. 

The beetle had made it past my hand now, scurrying over the sun-warmed marble toward the shade of the pavilion until it was crushed under Geros’ sandal as he made his way to me. He hunkered beside me, his hand rubbing false comfort between my shoulders. 

“It’s disturbing, isn’t it. The lengths my children force me to go.”

book

“Be still, and accept the blessing of the gods,” he said, stepping nearer to them and laying his hand on each of their heads. When he spoke again, it was almost song-like. A chant, of sorts. In the old tongue. I knew very little of it. Just a few words. Curse words, to tell the truth. Zeno, Ismi, and I had found an old book of it in the attic of their home years ago, and that had been all we had been able to look for before Hele called us down for lunch. 

His voice resonated throughout the latridom, even after his chant had stopped. 

He lifted his hands, staggering back a step. As if he had been possessed by the gods themselves and they had suddenly left him. 

“You are now one.”

I'll tag....... @pinespittinink @flowerprose @daisywords @ashen-crest @isherwoodj and @nectargrapes (as always, no pressure!)

your words will be: purpose, plain, peer, pressure, and pain

#tag game #excerpt: seafoam #book: tss #mc: thala galanis #sc: zeno kokinos #sc: solera aurado #sc: geros kryiaku #the last one is from a wedding #and Basate if you remember from my country posts is one of the nations in Thiortha #it's a very agricultural area (they grow a lot of the crops that get transported to the other nations (namely Arnna) but #they are also the main hub for international trading as well #Kehalt is the second biggest but they ship artisan wood works around the realm #Arnna is landlocked poor baby so they don't lol and Micillo does some trading as well #Dacha too #but neither as noticeably as Basate (or Kehalt) #okay i'll stop talking about international trading now alskdjfaldfj