Waves and Embers

The Blessing

Ulma sighed in relief as she stood on the beach and adjusted her backpack. She glanced one last time at the Isle, a knot forming in her stomach.

Leaving her grandparents behind had been more difficult than she had thought. Ulma's mind wandered to all the family days at school and all the birthday parties she had attended where her friends' grandparents had been present and hers had not.

It wasn't fair. She knew they were serving time for doing terrible things, but the people she had met were not the monsters the stories portrayed.

They were people, alone and trapped on an island with limited communication to the only bit of family they have.

Then there was Hayden. Ulma felt the knot in her stomach tighten as his face appeared in her mind. He had grown up the only child on an island full of of villians. No one even knowing that he exists, not even his own brother.

Hayden didn't deserve to be there either. He deserved the chance her parents and their friends got so long ago. She had seen the fear in his eyes when he begged her not to tell anyone about him. Ulma couldn't imagine what his father had done to make him so afraid. Then again, his dad was the god of the underworld. That's scary enough on it's own.

Ulma was snapped from her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice speak out.

"Took you long enough."

She turned around and found herself face to face with Connor. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you." He smiled. "I couldn't sleep last night knowing you were over there."

Ulma rolled her eyes as she started heading for the limo. "You worry too much. Everything went fine. Grandma even came up with an idea to help me get my amulet to complete the sweet sixteen tradition."

"Really? That's great! Now you just need to convince your mom-"

"No way!" She snapped, turning to face him. "I'm doing this on my own. We both know my mother would never let me go."

Connor sighed as he opened the door to the limo. This girl was too stubborn for her own good.

"You'll never know until you ask her." He reasoned.

"Oh I know her answer." Ulma scoffed. "The tradition is lost. We'll never complete it and it's too dangerous to try."

"I hear you." Connor acknowledged, climbing in the driver's seat. "But going behind her back is just going to make things worse when she does find out."

Ulma shrugged. "Then I just won't let her find out."

"But Ulma....you can't....Aarrgghh! You know what, fine, do your own thing. But when it comes back to bite you, I will say I told you so." Connor retorted.

"Oh trust me," Ulma smirked. "I won't give you the opportunity."

🐙

Uma sighed as the circle on her computer screen swirled around and around. She had been trying to reach Harry on his ship for thirty minutes, but so far no one had answered.

She reached for the lid of her laptop, preparing to slam it closed, when the screen blinked. The screen became blue before the picture came into focus and a familiar face appeared.

"Hello love."

Uma's smile grew as relief washed over her. "Harry, finally."

He chuckled as he straighted the collar of his uniform. "Ye miss me that much, aye love?"

"You know I miss you kelp brain." Uma chuckled.

Harry grinned at her response. "Kelp brain? Haven't heard that one since we were wee pirates. So what's goin' on love? Ye don't normally call me during deployment, I normally call you."