The Jewel of Orlegon

Chapter 3: Waiting in Saisio

This news had the same effect on Alteria as if she had received a bucket of cold water down her back. She really counted on having her friend by her side the next day, a way for her to not change her mind and give herself courage. Knowing that she would be alone in the Grand Square lowered her spirits a notch.

"I know you were expecting me to come with you," the young Nimean continued, "but I can't leave my mother alone right now. But you can just stop by to see us when you come back; Mom will be very happy to have a visitor."

Alteria remained silent for a moment, digesting her childhood friend's decision, her only friend in truth. This young girl was the only person who had always considered her equal to the other Nimeans. But her decision was understandable; Vanyera needed constant attention, and her husband couldn't always be by her side.

"You resent me for wanting to leave Nimeo, don't you?" Alteria asked her friend.

"No," the teenager replied. "I resent the islanders for making you want to leave. I'm not stupid, Alteria, I know that unlike my mother, your grandparents don't have much money. And since there are few people here who would accept you working for them, just look at how difficult it is for you to sell your fish and shells that you collect near the coral barrier, you have little chance of being able to support yourself. So, what options do you have left? Leave here or get married. And I know you're about as eager as I am to see yourself chained to a home for the rest of your days. Especially since the man who agrees to marry you, excuse me for what I'm going to say, will undoubtedly be a man who has been rejected by all the others."

Alteria didn't say anything; Lumia had perfectly grasped the problem. But she didn't want her friend to hold a grudge against all her fellow islanders for rejecting her. After all, if the young woman wanted to leave the island, it was also because she wanted to explore the world, and that had been her wish long before the issue of marriage arose.

"I don't want to get married, especially not to someone from here..."

Lumia swallowed her last bite of crab, then wiped her hands on a cloth that was sticking out of her own bag before sitting down next to her friend.

"I don't think the men on the mainland are very different," she objected.

"I'll give them the benefit of the doubt."

"With your talent for shell hunting, you might just find an hidden pearl. A splendid sailor for the child of the storm!"

"Don't call me that!" Alteria retorted a little brusquely.

The young woman didn't like that name; it was a name whispered in the streets of the port when she went there. A name that, though poetic, represented to her the idea that people had of her.

"But it's such a lovely name; it sounds like the title of a story. The Legend of the Child of the Storm! A sad and painful love story that would ultimately end well."

Alteria found nothing to say in response; her friend's answer had caught her off guard. She wasn't used to imagining love stories. She thanked the night for concealing the blush on her face in the darkness. The teenager seemed satisfied with her effect, as she smiled and hugged her tightly. The young woman returned the embrace.

The fire was dying down, and the clouds obscured the moon, plunging their camp into darkness. When Lumia pulled away from her, Alteria couldn't see her face. But as she fell asleep a little later, she felt her friend's tears drying in the hollow of her neck.

Alteria had been walking for an hour, her bare feet sinking into the warm sand of the beach, when she arrived at the barren dune that overlooked the city of Saisio. When she had woken up in the morning, the traces of the camp had vanished. She had realized that Lumia couldn't wait for her to wake up before leaving to join her mother. So, she had set out on her own to reach the only major city on the island of Nimeo, Saisio.