deep sea baby

After all the time Saiden had been in Caido, he’d learned a thing or two about the gods. So he'd acquired (stolen) a set of wooden toys, mostly sailors and a boat. Then he'd made his way towards the shrine at the heart of the port.

When he arrived, he rubbed the man's face for good luck. Then he set the wooden toys at the base of the shrine and knelt before it. "I bring this offering to Ludo, that it might keep me and my ship safe even in the heart of the most dangerous storms." His words were strangely respectful for those that knew him.

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LUDO

Saiden would find the toys before the shrine rising up, bobbing about through the air as though they were upon the water, and when he next glanced up it would be to see a ragged and masked deity, wrapped about the statue like a shawl. "Look at them go," Ludo remarked, and the sailors and the toy boat went on a marvellous voyage around them both before one of its tendrils of cloth wriggled up, wrapping about the boat to drag it down, down, down into the void of its being.

"I was a kraken," it informed Saiden, the sailors still bobbing close by. "Your next voyage will be a safe one. Thank you for your offering, sweetling." One of the sailors swooped close, giving Saiden a peck on the cheek.

As the toys lifted, Saiden grinned. Glancing up, he was incredibly glad to see Ludo there. Nodding at its words, he watched as the toys sailed around them. As the rags lifted up to pull them into it, he gasped in what he hoped was appropriate mock horror and sadness.

Then he shook his head in regret, though his eyes were playful. "They had a good voyage while it lasted." Bowing his head, he made a show of mourning the wooden sailors. "But at least they get to rest with you now." His tone indicated that he didn't think that was the worst fate in the world.

As the god informed him that it had been playing the part of the kraken, the cook's grin came back in full force. "I saw that. You were an excellent kraken." The grin softened into a genuine smile as it blessed his next trip and one of the sailors swooped in for a kiss. "Thank you. Any time." The words carried a deep and abiding gratitude.

He glanced out at the ocean for a moment. "You know, the legends say there's a kraken that lives in the depths of the Maw." Then he looked back at Ludo almost shyly. "I'm sure it's not as good a kraken as you, though."

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"Yes. They will be well taken care of, and will reside happily in Mort's halls." Or in Ludo's rags, where it would continue to play with them. After delivering Saiden's kiss, the sailors too would find their way into the folds of endless cloth, squirrelled away for safekeeping. It made a show of trying on a bow in return for Saiden's compliment, before straightening up and clinging back to the statue. "I am aware," it said, suddenly distracted, even as the cook continued to speak well of it. "You are Saiden Hali," it said suddenly. "Your sister Vanya is a star in the sky. Your niece lives on the cliffs by the lighthouse, and watches her at night." LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

”I’m sure they will enjoy their fate.” It was impossible to tell if Saiden was talking about resting with Mort, or about being played with eternally by Ludo. Maybe both. Definitely both.

The cook was about to follow up on the kraken comment. However, its words about his sister and a niece shocked him into silence. Though he knew better, a hope he’d long since given up on, that he might see his family again, rekindled deep within. Perhaps too dumb to realize what the words actually meant (or perhaps, deep down, his subconscious didn’t want to reckon with why Ludo, of all beings, the herald that escorted souls to their final rest, might be telling him all this now) caused the Hali to look at it with bright and eager eyes.

”Wait, I have a niece? And she lives by the Aumakua? Also, what do you mean, Vanya’s a star?” He leaned forward, a suddenly and uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. ”What about the rest of my siblings? Do they live too?” There was an almost pleading tone to his voice.

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”I do not know about the rest of your siblings,” Ludo said quietly, slowly. ”And I did not say that they live. Merely where they reside.” Drifting off from the statue now, Ludo swirled about Saiden as if taking him in for the first time, as if comparing him to the star child it had led to Mort’s realm, or the osprey that Safrin had stolen and placed into the sky. ”Your niece left this realm only recently, though your sister has been gone longer,” he said. ”There are men here in Torchline that grieve for them. One is a Dark Star once fallen from the skies, and the other is a man who makes things out of nothing at all.” LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

It was like losing them all over again. Perhaps because Saiden was losing them for a second time: the sister he’d loved and never got to see again, and the niece he’d never even gotten to know, given back to him then snatched away in an instant. Tears fell freely from his eyes, a grief he’d thought long gone returning to him in full force. ”How…” He had to swallow. Lifting red eyes to Ludo, he took a deep breath. ”How did they die?” Even if it hurt, he needed to know.

At the mention of men who might be able to share in the Hali's grief he nodded. "Where can I find these men?" His voice came out half-choked, but he felt himself drawn to these strangers (he assumed).

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Ludo was a quiet bundle of rags in the wake of Saiden's fresh grief, is mask comfortingly blank, its voice soft with the truth. (Whether or not it had played games previously was neither here nor there at this point). "Your sister died bringing your niece into this world, during Longnight," it explained. "Her name was Aoife. She died at a festival, during a terrible accident which claimed many others, as well." As for the men? Ludo tilted its masked head towards the shoreline beyond. "They live in a wagon, on the beach," it said. "And they frequent the Hanged Man at times. They were brought here by the lady of the stars, that they may ride out their grief." As far as it knew. Safrin was mercurial at best. LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

An accident. Death in childbirth. Nothing to avenge, nothing to do but mourn. Which Saiden did, openly, uncaring of Ludo's regard or what anyone else might think. Once upon a time, his family had been everything to him, and to have that taken a second time broke even the easy-going cook's heart.

Still crying, he glanced up at its mask. "Then I will seek them out." Because they were, in a way, his family too, the only one he might ever have again. He took a deep breath, trying to get his grief under control. "Thank you." Then he gave it a curious look, one that was obvious even through his red eyes and tearstained cheeks. "Why did you tell me all this?"

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Ludo did not judge, it did not speak, it did not attest to try and remediate or soothe or fix Saiden's grief. It merely stood by, waiting as a silent guardian while the waves slapped against the port. "Mayhaps you should," it agreed, bobbing and weaving its way back around the statue. "I told you because you are Saiden Hali, and your sister watches you from the sky every night. There are no other reasons for such things, other than simply because you did not know before." Its mask nodded at the cook, as if to bid him adieu and leave the mourning man to his next course of action. LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own

As Ludo moved back towards the statue, Saiden stared after it almost forlornly. However, he knew better than to ask more of the gods than they were willing to give. So he simply took a deep breath and rubbed the tears from his eyes. "Thank you. For telling me." He agreed with it that not knowing was reason enough.

Standing, he waited to see if it was really done for him. However, as he did, the storm in his mind and heart quieted a bit. After all, he had a goal now, and those who might be able to tell him more of the family. Even secondhand memories would be more than he had now, and all the more precious for it.

-FIN

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