Rivers of Reverie

2. Calm Before the Storm

The high-pitched cry of gulls, the chirping of smaller birds, and Liryl's scream of terror greeted the first sunrays of the morning. Stunned and dripping with sweat, she looked around in panic. Almost as if she was not yet sure that she had awoken. Not far from her came an amused laugh.

"Good morning," Sanya greeted her. "Have you slept well?"

"... Very funny ..." mumbled Liryl as she slipped out of her bed. Her tired eyes peered beyond the curtains and squinted, as the light coming from outside was still too bright for them.

"Is it time already?"

"More or less," her friend replied, as she put all her things in a bag. "By the way, this is for you," she added, tossing into Liryl's hands a satchel with the cocoa beans they usually had for breakfast.

"Thanks," she murmured to her friend, but her voice died on her lips out of astonishment. Instead of the light clothes she used to wear every day, Sanya donned a cuirass of cured leather, complete with shoulder pads and leg guards. Plus, she had buckled to her belt a scabbard, from which was sticking out the polished wooden hilt of a short sword.

"W-what are you wearing?" Liryl babbled, unable to hide her surprise.

"What? Ah," her friend exclaimed, almost nonchalantly. "This is my sentinel's outfit."

"You're not a sentinel yet," noted Liryl.

While she prepared to become a priestess of water, Sanya had been training for years, together with the other sisters, in order to join the sentinels. Just like priestesses were in charge of leading and supporting their communities, sentinels lived to protect them from any danger. But, as Sanya told Liryl herself, her investiture was still several months away.

"And, to be fair," Liryl added, "that is not a sentinel's outfit – it's just your training gear!"

"True, but the sword is the real deal. Check this out!" Sanya said, drawing it before her shocked friend.

"Fine, fine!" replied Liryl, who did not share her friend's enthusiasm for slashing weapons. "But why have you dressed up like this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sanya asked in return. "Since we're to leave, I want to be ready to protect you to the best of my ability. After all, isn't it also the duty of a sentinel to protect her priestess?"

Liryl was left speechless for a moment. She, too, knew that sentinels must protect priestesses of water, especially when the latter's obligations exposed them to risks. And yet, the idea of her friend as her devoted sentinel struck her as extremely awkward.

"I'm not yet a priestess, though," she then noted with an embarrassed smile.

Sanya pouted, clearly frustrated by her remarks.

"And I don't care. Neither that you aren't a priestess, nor that I'm not a sentinel. I will always protect you ... with or without somebody's permission."

The girl pronounced those last words more in annoyance than anything else, but when she turned, Liryl suddenly hugged her from behind.

"What do you ...?" she protested in surprise, but her friend shut her up with a whisper.

"I love you, Sanya."

The stiffened arms of the future sentinel fell loose against her hips.

"I don't care about who you are, or who I am," Liryl continued. "All I need to know is that you're here with me."

"Silly," she said, turning around and hugging her friend back. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

***