Prince Among Men

Chapter 9 - Ships Passing

It had been a few days since the last night meeting, but her sleep schedule hadn't recovered. This morning, she woke to a handful of missed calls and texts from Jess. It was 9:30 am; an hour into her shift already. Apparently her alarms hadn't been set. She threw on some clothes and raced to the cafe, numb to the reprimands of her boss. She launched headfirst into work that day, skipping lunch to make up for the lost hour. Despite the extra sleep that morning, she was exhausted. At the end of her shift, she dumped a bowl of house-made kettle chips into a paper bag and ate them on the back porch of the cafe, staring at the horizon. Some seabirds came and pestered her to get to the food. She tossed a small handful onto the ground and watched the gulls peck mercilessly at the chips until they were tiny, oily crumbs embedded in the asphalt.

After dinner she eased onto the bike, looking up the hill towards her little house. The marina was downhill...that was an easier trip to make, but she knew that if she went sailing this evening, she would probably fall asleep in the boat again. The sea was choppy today, and it wouldn't be the wisest choice to risk drifting out, so she pedaled up the hill anyways and went to bed early.

...

Orm, too, was exhausted. Orvax had kept him busy the past several days without any sign of reprieve. Why, then, had he made the trip out to the bay that night? He wasn't surprised to see that she hadn't shown up. There had been several nights where he'd arrived to an empty sea. Her boat was still tethered there by the distant dock, which he could barely make out. Orm watched the town lights switching on and off for a little while, wondering who they each belonged to. He watched cars darting along the coastal road, night visitors in a town where they would never linger.

It was getting late. He left as silently as he had come, ignoring the tension gathering in his mind as he dove towards his home. The time away from Atlantis, however brief, had been a welcome reprieve. He was beginning to understand why she loved lingering alone at the surface like this.