All the joy had gone out of Tal's life with the turning of the season. He still made his deliveries around Stormbreak, sure, but with the Family gone he felt... adrift. Abandoned. Lost, even, and directionless. He needed to catch a skyship back to King's End, but--
But Stormbreak just felt like home now, and besides it was the last place he had seen Pierce and Vox. He couldn't help but hope that if he turned the right corner or walked into the right bar that they'd still be there, offering him easy smiles (in Vox's case, several of them at once) and belonging, different than what he had with his sisters or Alys, but still powerful.
It was the end of the day and he had made his way up to the Spyglass to sit at the edge of the island and dangle his feet over the edge. He turned a piece of sparkling seaglass from the Boondocks over and over in his fingers, whistling half-heartedly towards a passel of nearby Cloud Wyrms darting about in the changing light of sunset. One had caught the flash reflecting from the glass and was wriggling closer and then away again coyly. Every time it retreated it went a little less far, and every time it wiggled closer it came a little nearer, bright eyes fixed on the small treasure that its friends had not yet noticed.
But Stormbreak just felt like home now, and besides it was the last place he had seen Pierce and Vox. He couldn't help but hope that if he turned the right corner or walked into the right bar that they'd still be there, offering him easy smiles (in Vox's case, several of them at once) and belonging, different than what he had with his sisters or Alys, but still powerful.
It was the end of the day and he had made his way up to the Spyglass to sit at the edge of the island and dangle his feet over the edge. He turned a piece of sparkling seaglass from the Boondocks over and over in his fingers, whistling half-heartedly towards a passel of nearby Cloud Wyrms darting about in the changing light of sunset. One had caught the flash reflecting from the glass and was wriggling closer and then away again coyly. Every time it retreated it went a little less far, and every time it wiggled closer it came a little nearer, bright eyes fixed on the small treasure that its friends had not yet noticed.
