Foggy seas: Foggy seas

“Oh, I didn’t know you were here, Chel.”

Laine was in the city relations center to do some overtime work, and had expected to be working alone… it was the weekened, after all.

 

Chel suddenly jolted around, having not been aware Laine was even there.

 

“...Likewise?” she responded, confused.

“What on earth are you doing here?”

 

“Work? The work that needs to get done?”

 

“You promised you’d lay off on the overtime though, for your sake.”

 

...Shoot.

Chel was right. Laine said she’d still pace herself with work and upholding things in spite of the hole Wasundari left – and though that was, in fact, a bold-faced lie, Laine had at least been half-decent at hiding the fact from Chel.

 

“Look, don’t worry about it, ok? Just a little extra stuff done today means I can have it easier tomorrow.” Laine said, gesturing her hands about.

 

Chel didn’t look very convinced, so Laine decided it was time to deflect.

“Still, that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

 

Chel paused, then gestured towards a box she was carrying.

 

“I’m clearing out Wasun’s stuff, finally.” she sighed.

“I’ve been putting it off for ages, but the longer I look at her empty desk with everything intact, the worse it feels.”

 

...Ah.

 

Laine knew it was a sore subject with Chel, even worse than it was for herself.

Chel was closer to Wasundari, after all.

 

“It sounds… weird, I guess, but I was going to take her stuff to a graveyard and bury it – considering it’s all we have left.”

 

Laine nodded quietly.

“It’s not weird, I promise.”

 

“Well, I’m just about done, and was going to head out, anyways.” Chel sighed, abruptly changing the subject.

“Just don’t stress too bad today, ok?”

 

Laine gave another quiet nod, and Chel passed by her as she carried the box out.

 

Sentiments were something for later.

Because now, there’s work to be done.

 

...At least, that’s what Laine tried to think.

She’d come into the office in a mindset to get work done, but really, everything had been feeling fuzzier and fuzzier – and the interaction she just had with Chel was the tipping point.

 

Try as she might, as much as she tapped her ballpoint pen to the page… there was no will in her to put anything down. Not even a signature.

 

Is this how Wasundari felt?

 

 

There was a certain place, far from the bright beaches tourists would flock to. Down a dirt road followed by a partially overgrown forest path.

‘Song’s cliff’ was its official landmark name – but more commonly, it went by the moniker of the city of lost songs.

To call it just a cliff was almost an understatement – the location was known for being dangerous, both up on its unstable cliffside, and down to the crashing riptides below.

Before the area was properly charted, it’d be the scene to hundreds of shipwrecks – and even in modern days, it still claimed lives of those who didn’t know any better.

 

Or… those who knew exactly what they were doing.

 

Laine had never been as intimidated by the cliffside as others had been, but it certainly felt… surreal, staring down at the crashing waves below.

Almost hypnotizing.

But Laine was hesitant.

 

She wasn’t quite sure how long she’d been staring when the voice called out.

 

“Is someone over there…? Hold on, Laine?! Is that you??”

 

It was a familiar voice, though Laine couldn’t quite place who it was – despite the speaker being able to recognize Laine herself by name.

 

“The hell are you doing out here?! You know the cliff here is loose, right? I wouldn’t trust the ground that close to the edge.”

 

Breathe in.

Turn around.

 

Though she stumbled a bit from disorientation, Laine turned and moved towards the speaker, away from the edge.

It was… one of Chel’s friends? Laine had seen the two together a bit, so that’s all she could really assume. The wind on top of the cliff was strong, and had blown the woman’s hair wildly to a point where it was totally covering her face… but Laine knew she felt familiar.

 

“Seriously dude, what got you all the way out here? Was it Chel?”

 

“...What?” was really all Laine could say.

“What would Chel have to do with any of this? Who are you, anyways?”

 

“Geez, I can barely hear you over the wind… let’s head down the hill and chat more, yeah?”

 

Lained nodded, and followed the pink-haired woman down the forest path that she had arrived from – the massive trees now shielding them from the wind.

 

With a stretch, the other woman wiped her hair out of her face and gracelessly plopped down on a fell tree.

It was at this point that it clicked with Laine – it was Juniper, a marine biologist who lived just out of town, and worked closely with Chel.

 

“Oh, Juniper. I didn’t… really process who you were either, with the wind and everything.”

 

“Hey, no problem, man!” Juniper nodded.

“I was out here to get some samples of the particular type of lichen that grows on the cliffside. But Chel was milling about Wasundari again, so when I saw you, I was worried she’d made you come out here.”

 

“...Why would she do that?”

 

“I dunno, I guess my brain thought she’d sent you to look for remains? Even though logically that makes no sense, given how feisty the marine critters that can tolerate the currents are.” Juniper explained, shaking her head.

“It’s pretty interesting, actually. There’s so much… death around it, that various creatures were able to build and evolve tolerances to the current in order to take advantage of an otherwise easy meal.”

 

Laine was… aghast, and there was a pause – Juniper’s expressing slowly shifting from one of a carefree nature to a horrifyingly embarrassed one.

 

“Shit, sorry, that was super insensitive, wasn’t it. Shit.”

 

“It was.” Laine said with a mix of a groan and a sigh, burying her face in her hands.

 

“I got… off topic, I’m sorry.” Juniper said, shaking her head.

“Never had the best relationship with her, was always on my ass about permits. But a loss is a loss, and it still hurts.”

 

And for what felt like an eternity, there was a silence.

At least, until Laine broke it.

 

“You knew all that… and yet, you thought it was a good idea to scale the cliff on your own?” Laine asked, her tone sharp.

“For what? Lichen?”

 

“Hey, hey!!” Juniper replied defensively.

“I already have Chel berate me for my safety ethic, I don’t need another dog barking at me about it too! I’m just built different, ok?”

 

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. No you’re not.”

 

“Well, it’s not like there’s someone else who’s crazy enough to scale these cliffs to help me out.”

 

Laine huffed and was able to give a weak smile.

“Well… maybe it’s a good thing you found me, then?”

 

“What?” Juniper asked in response.

“You were just calling me stupid for this!”

 

“Hey, I said it’s a stupid thing to do alone.” Laine said, shaking her head.

“Scaling a cliff with a partner makes things exponentially safer.”

 

“Well… I guess, yeah.” Juniper sighed.

“How good are you at it though, anyways?”

 

Laine shrugged.

“Paws and claws have a pretty OK grip on the type of cliffside rock around here. I’m no professional, but I’d say I’m decent?”

 

Suddenly, Juniper grabbed Laine’s hand and gave it a firm shake.

“Good enough for me! Let’s get ‘ya harnessed up, then!”

 

Juniper’s energy certainly was a bit… much, but it was almost contagious to Laine. Despite how completely foggy and numb everything had seemed… there was still optimism and joy left in the world.

Even over something as small as a rare lichen, someone felt enthusiasm and passion.

 

Breathe in.

Turn around.

 

There was still hope left, it was too early to throw in the towel.

That’s what Wasundari would have wanted.