9. Mother
Relief flooded Meri when she saw the front gates of Isla on the top of the hill. The week of training was exhausting, today especially so. She had lost her fight against Elaria, the smaller girl had disarmed and knocked her flat before she had a chance to react. The fight hadn’t really been fair in her opinion but she might be just a little bitter.
“Good to see you’ve made it back alive” Levi was waiting for her outside the gate.
“Alive is a term.” Meri was bruised and a bit uncomfortable from the overworking her muscles had gotten. “I am surprised to see you outside”
Marcella had done her best to keep both boys within boundaries of the Isla tribe’s plot of land. This had infuriated Meri and she worked with Levi and Chrysippos to carefully break the rules Marcella kept putting in place.
“Yes well a mishap during lunch today has banned both Chrysippos and I from the kitchens.” The smile on Levi’s face told her that had been a plan of Levi’s from the start. With Marcella in the kitchens three times everyone had a bit of downtime.
“The downside is the it will be Marcella’s cooking and I am sick of her spinach and sage dishes”
“That is truly unfortunate” Meri agreed. Marcella wasn’t a terrible cook but she cooked the same dishes each time. It had gotten old quickly. The only good thing to come out of this was that Marcella had allowed some newer types of vegetables into the green house.
“You probably have an hour or so before Marcella is done with dinner”Levi pushed the gate open as they walked inside.
“Thank you, enjoy your free time” Meri left him at the front gate, hurrying to her room. An hour of time to herself, normally this would be the time for her to work on her studies that aspen had assigned that day but with combat training there was no homework.
Meri mused her options. She would take some time to care for herself and then visit her mother, it had been a long time since she saw her.
Levi
Dinner was uneventful, Levi found himself praising the gods for that. He was expecting Marcella to punish him and Chrysippos again. Of course he would take the brunt of the punishment, he had set the kitchen on fire but when he arrived the kitchen was spotless and the stove was usable. It had to be some sort of witchcraft.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, most of the days work was finished, so Levi turned in early. Thankfully Marcella didn’t bother Levi. Possibly due to Meri attempting to distract the obnoxious woman. Meri had promised to keep the woman busy when she could. With Marcella out of the way, Levi turned in early. The sound of crickets and distant waves lulled Levi into sleep.
Levi awoke far from Helike. Golden sands and bright blue water stretched out in front of him. Levi couldn’t help but smile, he was home.
His joy was cut short when he noticed a figure floating in the waters.
“Of course she would be here” Levi would have ignored her but there was a reason his dreams brought him here and no doubt she would have answers. Levi searched for a way to get to her. A boat was parked near by, with no one around Levi climbed into the boat and sailed it out to the woman.
The woman turned to the boat as it approached. She waved to its occupant, inviting him into the sea. Without a second though Levi jumped into the water.
“Hello mother” Levi greeted her once he surfaced. Levi’s mother smiled warmly at the greeting.
“My sweet boy, you have returned” she cried.
“Yes, please continue to act like I left instead of you abandoning me” Levi spat. Seeing his mother again brought back many unpleasant memories.
“It has been far too long, Leviathan! Look at how much you have grown! What a handsome young man you have become. You loo so much like -”
“Mother, if you have something important to discuss with me, then let us go to land and discuss it. Otherwise I am leaving” he interrupted her mid fawning session. Levi turned and headed towards the nearest island, ignoring the disappointed look.
“What do you want mother”
“I want to see you of course!” she cried. “It has been many years and I expected you to return sooner but you seem to prefer dallying!”
“Dallying?! You gave me to the amazons!” He roared. “It was his earliest memory. Levi and his mother were walking along the beaches. She was teaching him about the lands and where to find some rare shells after the recent storms that shook the seas and tore at the land. The duo had run into some amazons, the woman were scouts, searching for a city hidden in the islands. The amazons were planning on attacking and learning the secrets of the sea people. Instead of killing the scouts, his mother traded the young boy to amazons for their promise to keep secret of anything found on the islands.
“It needed to be done for the greater good” she insisted. “The amazons are terrible things and besides you have done well. You are thriving.”
“Besides I needed to keep you safe and those nasty old amazons where exactly what I needed.” a sigh escaped the woman. “A great evil is stirring Leviathan She is coming for those silly amazons. It is time for you to journey home and return to me”
Isla Amazon Challenge 