Quanil was enjoying the little hide-and-seek game when, suddenly everything shifted. And it wasn't that they'd stopped enjoying things so much as they were now awestruck at all the... people around them. Glowing people and creatures and... they almost feared to breathe, as if their breath might disrupt the newly-revealed soul forms.
And, for a moment, their mind slowed to something like peace, as it had when they'd first seen the ocean in the sunlight, and all they could feel was the sheer wonderment of being alive in this place at this moment.
The peace was shattered by the sudden appearance of a large ship? boat? There was a difference between the two words, but Quanil couldn't remember now what it was and wasn't sure it mattered. Well, it mattered if there was a difference, or else there wouldn't be one, but it didn't matter right now because a God was bidding them all come aboard.
They hesitated a bit, then headed for a gangplank, leaving their boots around their neck for now. There wasn't a good place to put them back on without their feet getting sandy first, so might as well just enjoy being barefoot. They stayed where the sand where was wet and cool, where the waves lapped at their feet. They left wet footprints behind them on the gangplank, and tried to find a place aboard the ship where they wouldn't be in the way (or, hopefully, found out by the provost).
Maybe I should walk back? Too late now, unless they wanted to jump overboard, and that didn't look safe to their eyes. Plus, they'd get everything all wet. And heading back alone would possibly draw more attention to themselves, on top of potentially angering a God.
No, no, better to be on the boat.
Or ship.
HERE, however you defined it.
But they leaned over the edge to look at the gathered and varied souls, to watch them play on and in the waves, and they smiled.
And, for a moment, their mind slowed to something like peace, as it had when they'd first seen the ocean in the sunlight, and all they could feel was the sheer wonderment of being alive in this place at this moment.
The peace was shattered by the sudden appearance of a large ship? boat? There was a difference between the two words, but Quanil couldn't remember now what it was and wasn't sure it mattered. Well, it mattered if there was a difference, or else there wouldn't be one, but it didn't matter right now because a God was bidding them all come aboard.
They hesitated a bit, then headed for a gangplank, leaving their boots around their neck for now. There wasn't a good place to put them back on without their feet getting sandy first, so might as well just enjoy being barefoot. They stayed where the sand where was wet and cool, where the waves lapped at their feet. They left wet footprints behind them on the gangplank, and tried to find a place aboard the ship where they wouldn't be in the way (or, hopefully, found out by the provost).
Maybe I should walk back? Too late now, unless they wanted to jump overboard, and that didn't look safe to their eyes. Plus, they'd get everything all wet. And heading back alone would possibly draw more attention to themselves, on top of potentially angering a God.
No, no, better to be on the boat.
Or ship.
HERE, however you defined it.
But they leaned over the edge to look at the gathered and varied souls, to watch them play on and in the waves, and they smiled.
