Deep thoughts

[Lillian Drennan]

Lillian was feeling rather distraught.

She had caught her mother and father talking about marrying her off to some nobleman, and it terrified her. She knew that she had been lucky thus far, because she knew her parents had been arranged from her mother's birth to be married. They got along very well, which was good, but she knew it didn't always work out this way.

She had managed to sneak out again - she was rather good at it, after all. This time was just because she really needed time for herself, her mind was racing at the possibility of marrying someone she didn't know.

So, she came to the shore of the sea. It had always been a favorite place for her, because she really loved the ocean. She knew it had to be in her blood... she sighed as she sat down in the sand, pulling her cloak around her, making sure the hood was up. The last thing she needed was for someone to recognize her. It wasn't too hot out today, so it didn't feel bad wearing the cloak.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she thought again about the possible marriage, then lifted her hand and wiped them away furiously. She hated feeling like this, but she didn't know what else to do. She just wanted to be able to fall in love...

A sigh escaped her lips as she looked out at the sea, watching a ship move slowly in the water. It was tempting sometimes... that she could just get on a ship and sail away, not worry about what was going on here. She bit her lip at that thought - there was no way she could abandon her people like that. But, Abel had done so...

She shook her head again and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

Things would work out, they always did.

[Briar Thorn]

Briar was rather lost in thought as well, which was never a good thing. You see, most merfolk aren’t too well balanced on land, and this girl herself was no exception—so being lost in thought, and not concentrating on where you were walking—was a general disaster. Briar hadn’t broken any bones in her leg yet, and she wasn’t eager to find out how that turned out when two feet became one gigantic muscle and spinal bone.

Well, what was she thinking about which was oh so likely to end up poorly? Well, earlier today—when the sun was still high in the sky—Briar had been exchanging some gold coins that she had, er, acquired, for a loaf of bread (a foreign but tasty dish for herself). Then the merchant had asked her name, and Briar had supplied it. Then he had asked if she had been named after the bush, Briar. Or, more commonly, Briar-root.

And the girl had blinked in confusion and asked if Briar really was a plant. The merchant said yes, and told her it was uncommon to be named after a plant in these parts—while the entire time, the girl had thought it was a gibberish name, like John or Mark.

And so she left the marketplace, nibbling on the salty loaf of bread and wandering through a beachside forest, absently exploring as she pondered. Normal people wouldn’t have spend more then, oh-lets-say, five minutes on the concept—but Briar was easily amused and thought about the topic for quite a while.

Lost in thought.

Unbalanced.

Next to sandunes.

Now, you probably could see the error in Briar’s ways right here, but for those few who are still confused—the narrator will kindly supply what happens next.

A few hours later of exploring, still daydreaming like Briar does—the girl looked up along the edge of the sandunes to see a girl crouched by the shore, waves lapping around her like she was merely a rock. Naturally, this caught Briar’s attention and she yet again forgot what she was doing and where her feet were suppose to go—and the girl tripped, sliding down the slight hill and quite near to the other person and landing face up.

Lovely. Now she really didn’t have a choice to whether she was going to say hello or not.

[Lillian Drennan]

The frustration returned when Lillian thought about her mother and father arranging a marriage for her, and she just wanted to hit something. But no, that would not be ladylike... of course not.

And usually, the princess was quite aware of her surroundings. Her father had told her to always be aware of everything, which she was usually very good at... but in deep thought like this, she might as well have been ambling around aimlessly as well.

No, nothing would disturb her now... well, nothing except what happened next.

Her hand moved quickly to her dagger as she heard the noise, though she did not pull it out. Her eyes widened as she saw the young girl laying face up on the ground next to her. She calmed down enough to release the dagger and took a deep breath, tilting her head slightly as she looked at her. She left the hood up though, and a slight smile crossed her face at the situation. Well, this was better than moping.

"Well, hello there." She grinned slightly, moving her other arm off of her leg. She hoped the girl would talk to her, because if not.. well, this situation would be very awkward. Not that it wasn't rather awkward already... but it would be more so.

"I'm Lily. Who are you?" She used her nickname because she knew that most of her subjects knew of her only as Lillian, and there could be plenty of 'Lily's' around. She had used her middle name before, but for some reason.. she didn't want to blur the truth that much.

[Briar Thorn]

Briar suppressed the urge to smile. Not because she was rude, or was unfriendly—but because she found human accents funny. Like a kid might imitate a British accent, the girl could sometimes find herself falling into it as well. She knew that if she started to smile, she would laugh—although nothing funny had been said, and then it would just all go downhill from there.

So, bright red hair covered in flecks of sand, the girl blearily sat up with a straight face. Ow, ow, oww…—nothing hurts worse than falling and getting all the breath knocked out of you—and Briar rubbed the back of her head trying to get her thoughts together without bursting into laughter.

“Hello!” Briar piped back cheerily, after a moment’s thought, there was no use trying to be calm or mysterious when you were amused. Then the older girl introduced herself, and Briar nodded in acknowledgement, peering around and trying to get her thoughts back from the world of dreams. Even if Lily had used her full name, the younger girl wouldn’t have recognized it. As said before, she wasn’t too fond of humans, and rather uninterested in them—not to mention that politics bored her to death.

Swinging her legs around and swivling on her back, Briar turned so that she face the sea (grimancing at a jolt of pain from the sudden movement)—and returned the favor. “I’m Briar—and I don’t suppose you know where we are, do you?”

Great, another random thought that strung the girl back to reality—a true thought. Where were they? Briar frowned, throwing her eyes from side to side. Sure, she might be able to figure out where she was in the water, but the girl wasn’t keen on merely disappearing after introducing herself to a mysterious cloaked stranger.

[Lillian Drennan]

Lillian watched as the girl sat up, wondering if she was all right. But she said nothing about being hurt, so she said nothing about it.

She smiled as the girl finally responded with a cheerful hello. Perhaps this would get her mind of the darker things that were running through it as of right now. She watched as she turned towards the sea, and introduced herself.

But the next question had Lillian extremely confused. How could the girl not know where she was?

"We're.. by the sea. That's the Iluzu Sea." She lifted her hand and pointed at the water in front of them, before looking back at Briar. "I hope you don't mind... but how is it that you don't know where you are?" She was genuinely curious, that this girl could show up seemingly out of nowhere and not know where she was. It made no sense to her.

She decided in that moment that she didn't want to look strange to the girl either, and lifted her hand to push the cloak from her face, letting it fall down. She hoped the girl would not recognize her, but was prepared to deal with it if it happened as well. But she figured she would be more likely to answer the question if she wasn't hiding herself.

[Briar Thorn]

Briar huffed irritably, but still didn’t loose her rather cheerful demeanor. “Well, of course we’re by the sea,” she said, stressing the last word as if it had a whole other meaning. “I mean where in this, country, island, whatever you wish to call it—are we? I don’t come here very often, and would prefer not to get ambushed by pirates.”

That last sentence was almost completely meaningless. Briar could care less about pirates, in her biased opinion they were slow, brutes who couldn’t swim and have never managed to catch or do anything of relative harm to anyone in the merfolk. Still, she had heard people say that quite frequently while talking to family, or friends—so Briar had picked it up without really realizing what she was saying.

“Like I said before,” Briar continued rapidly, standing up and keeping a careful foot or two away from the water as she slipped onto the balls of her feet, stretching her legs, “I don’t come here often, which might explain why I don’t know where we are. I was just wandering back there, “ Briar gestured behind her with a flick of her wrist, “for fun, when I tripped and met you.”

Then the older girl removed her cloak and Briar beamed, more confident now that she could see the girl’s face properly. Mysterious cloaked strangers were fun and all, as long as they didn’t stay that way—Briar had heard stories of sea-monsters able to transform themselves into any form, and therefore preying on young kids like herself—not that Briar wouldn’t complain if someone called her a kid.

[Lillian Drennan]

Lillian raised her brows slightly as the girl spoke, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. It was still interesting that she didn't know where she was, but she wouldn't push it further. "This is Seza. You shouldn't have to worry about pirates right now." She knew the navy was around here right now, so it was fairly safe. Well, she thought so at least.

She watched as the girl stood and stretched, nodding slightly as she continued to explain about why she didn't know where she was. Though, it honestly still did not make any sense to her, she would not keep bothering the girl about it.

She noticed that Briar relaxed a bit when she removed her cloak, and she grinned slightly, noticing the girl said nothing of who she was. That was definitely a plus. She wouldn't have to take off early from her outing if she wasn't recognized.

"You should come here more often, Seza is wonderful."

[Briar Thorn]

“Oh, come on,” Briar laughed, looking amused as she replied. “I’m not so dim that I don’t know what Seza is.” Well, that was a half-truth. Briar knew that she was on the third largest island to the east next to that rather strong rip-tide, but didn’t quite know that Seza was what this island was called. In fact, up until that moment—the girl had actually thought Seza was an interesting dish she should try before she left for home. Like the narrator said: Briar didn’t care much for politics. But, hey—you learn something new every day!

Then there was a small silence, before Lily again spoke about Seza—which Briar agreed to rapidly. They really did have some nice forests here, and the, what was it?—bread, was spectacular. Plus, the coral reefs along the ocean bottom in this general territory weren’t half bad.

But, then Briar could argue that there were better places. Ever tried the different pastas in the islands a few hundred miles south? Amazing—and one of Briar’s first exotic food. Plus, not too far from here, there was another island called… called…? It started with a T, anyways—and had some amazing mountainous terrain that Briar adored. So, not having anything better to do—a nd in the need of a guide, Briar piped up in an almost competitive voice, “Can you prove to me that Seza’s the best on the sea?” Note how she said on, not in.

[Lillian Drennan]

Lillian raised her eyebrows as Briar spoke, slightly frustrated at the tone - it wasn't like many people spoke to her like that on a regular basis. Ever, actually...

But as Briar thought of other lands, Lillian herself wished she could even go to other lands. She had actually never even been off the island in her life. Her father had said it was to keep her safe, after all she wasnt even supposed to be out and about on the island.

She looked over at Briar as she spoke, and a grin crossed her face. "Of course!" After she spoke, she froze. There was no way that she could take this girl around without being noticed herself... and she definitely couldn't risk doing that... if her father found out she was outside the palace again without her guard, he'd have her locked in her room with guards surrounding her.

"On second thought... I really need to get going..." She made the move to stand up, hoping the girl would not stop her.

[Briar Thorn]

Briar didn’t know who she wasn’t speaking to, and if she did—her whole personality would probably change in an instant. Nervous, quiet, serious—the girl may not know much about people and their ways, but she knew that royalty was treated in much higher regard than the normal citizen. And for all Briar knew, she could be insulting the country with a vague, casual gesture! (It happened to her brother a few years back and Briar wasn’t keen on getting the same lashing he got)—it was probably better that the girl didn’t know who Lillian really was, or she’d probably seem an entirely different person.

Then Lily agreed to give her a tour, with quite a lot of enthusiasm Briar might add, and the younger girl beamed. That is, until her demeanor changed entirely and Lily stood up to leave, quite nervously if Briar was a good judge of character. Frowning, she gave Lily another up and down glance. She did look vaguely familiar—was she on one of those wanted posters in the town center? Nope, Lily looked too… clean, somehow to be a criminal.

Briar’s face drooped in disappointment. It would’ve been nice to have had a guide around the island—especially a mysterious cloaked stranger like Lily herself. Something was different about her, something… off and serious. In a good way though, a way which made Briar want to stick around more and dig up why that was. If Lily would tell her, that is. Still, the older girl seemed oddly nervous, and Briar restrained herself from asking why, instead, asking, “Well, in that case—could you point me in the direction of the nearest river? I need to set up a place for the night.”

Which was true—a river would send her to a lake, which was peacefully ideal for sleeping, as there were no natural structures for her to sleep in around these ocean waters, and there were no tides and sharks in a lake. Plus, she heard she had some cousins who lived further inland—same red blond hair, so they shouldn’t be too hard to find.