The Tale of Tar-Ciryatan's Daughter by Kaylee Arafinwiel  

Dreams might be filled with lies

Ailinel and Captain Gaerondur still have duties, whatever is brewing in Tar-Ciryatan's colony.

Direct sequel to chapter 3. Double drabble to two Four Words prompts.

Captain Gaerondur took Ailinel aboard his ship, drawing her close to his side as she wept. He wiped away a smudge of dirt that had got on her cheek.

“It’s not for us to investigate,” he told her quietly. “We’ll grieve when we can; but for now we mustn’t look glum.” He understood perfectly how distraught Ailinel was, but there was little he could do short of making it a demand.

“We’re slaves to our schedule, bound like hounds to a leash,” Ailinel muttered.

Gaerondur raised his eyebrows. “I won’t leave you ashore when there’s trouble, my heart.”

“I know.”

They had reached the Gulf of Lune when Ailinel roused early one morning. She came to the rail, to stare out over the water to the skyline, a hand cradling her belly.

She felt, rather than heard, the presence behind her. “Kirinki?”

“Aye,” the stonecutter’s apprentice-turned-sailor confirmed. “Is all well, m’lady?”

Ailinel nodded her head, her face a mask of composure. “I’m… fine.”

“No, I doubt that,” Kirinki said quietly, his usually warbling voice turned somber. “But you trust m’lord to get through the voyage safe?”

“I do.” Ailinel almost breathed easier as a rainbow appeared in the sea spray.