"You ready to go back?" I ask Eetu as he climbs aboard.
"Yeah. I wish you could stay, but I think this is what suits you. Not sitting around devising military strategies. I am going to miss you, but as long as I know you're doing what you love, I'll be happy." He nudges my side a little as we haul his and Coraene's bags into one of the three sleeping chambers we built. Now that there's five of us, Eetu and Coraene will be together in one, Davy and I in another, and Anna in the third one.
"You sound like Mother." I let a laugh slip out, ignoring the sting of missing her. "It- it's nice."
"Oh, Cas, I got you something!" Eetu stops. He sets one of the bags on the floor and takes out a large wooden box underneath his armpit.
I sit down and carefully lift the lid, revealing what has to be twenty books of various sizes.
"I know your birthday is next month and we won't be together for that. And because I don't know how many birthdays I'll miss, I got you covered for twenty years. The bigger ones are for mapmaking."
I take out the one that catches my attention. "It's the one I had in Yna. I forgot to bring it when I-" I flip through to see all of my writings, all of my letters.
"I stole it before I left for Cirn. I figured, if I found you, you'd want it back."
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Coraene walks into the room just as I'm on the verge of tears.
"I gave Cas his gift." Eetu explains. I quickly put the journal back into the box so my tears don't ruin the pages.
I can barely speak through the wave of emotion engulfing me, so I just hug Eetu's leg like a small child. I don't deserve a brother like him.
Davy is walking by when he sees me crumpled on the floor in tears. He bursts through the door and gathers me in his arms.
"Davy, Davy, it's okay! I'm okay!" I laugh and explain the situation to him.
"You scared me!" He presses his forehead against my temple. He speaks low so his voice carries directly to my ear. I don't deserve a friend like Davy.
"Can I ask what these books are for?" Coraene stoops down and picks up one of the mapmaking books.
"I write a lot of letters. Mostly to a family friend."
"It doesn't look like you've sent any of them." She gestures to the near full journal on the top of the pile.
"The person Cas writes to can't answer him." Eetu answers for me.
"Oh..." Coraene thinks she understands. She thinks he's dead, which, in a sense, she's right. But can you be dead if you haven't been born yet?
"Cas?" Anna peaks her head through the door. "Time to go."
Davy kisses me quick before we leave Eetu and Coraene in the quarters. Anna is standing by the foremast while Davy and I stand by the wheel. We wait for Anna to give us the signal, the thumbs up sign, before all three of us turn the sails to catch the wind, which slowly, steadily, creeps us into the water, where I can direct us where we need to go. I feel the slight jostle of leaving the shallow end, and Davy comes running up to me to kiss my cheek again.
"What was that one for?" I touch the place where his lips were.
"Oh, it's just something my mother did every time my father left for work and when he came back home." He blushes a little. "So I thought, you know, for luck, when we leave, and when we come ashore-"
YOU ARE READING
Caspian Jones
Fantasy*READ THE NOTES FROM A DRAGON SINGER SERIES BEFORE THIS ONE* Caspian Quillsnake has it all. The cushy royal life, his best friend, Davy, by his side. But Caspian has a secret. When his uncle, the only one who knows Caspian's secret, is attacked, C...
