"Isla."

Isla ignored the summons for her attention. She was bent over her desk, staring down at the palace layout. For the past week, the crew and she had been discussing the most secure plan for entering and exiting the palace without it costing their freedom.

The need for a distraction of some sort had arisen quickly. But that threw in new complications for they needed a distraction that was effective but without causing damage to the palace or to its occupants.

Hundreds of diversions had been talked over but each one had been discarded. There had been one that had been suggested and even though it covered all they needed in a distraction Isla found she couldn't accept it and had shoved it away with the rest.

Night fell as food and sleep called to the men. They had departed from Isla's cabin, leaving her to contemplate the pages before her, covered with Raif's steady pen strokes and with no reasonable way forward.

Isla grew more frustrated as she glared at the layout. The one distraction that was even conceivable held too many unknowns. Out of nowhere, Raif's hand appeared on top of the paper, obscuring the third level she was studying.

"Isla," he said again.

Letting out an annoyed breath, Isla pressed her fingers into her eyes, trying to brush off her fatigue over her lack of direction.

"Look at me," Raif said, his voice soft and coaxing.

Dropping her hand, she faced him. He was leaning in, head cocked in concern.

"We do not have the answers for tonight," he said. "Let it rest."

Isla scowled. "How can I when with each day we draw closer to Loria?"

"We still have time. But you will not find the solution if you overtax yourself. Think of something else, we will find a way."

As Isla rubbed her forehead, she closed her eyes. Even without seeing the papers, she had them memorized and they rose into the front of her mind, taunting her.

"Talk to me," Raif said as if knowing where her thoughts were taking her.

"About what?" She rested her head in her hands, fighting a battle with weariness and despair.

"Tell me about the Currents. The crew has talked of them but it appears they know little about them."

For a breath, Isla didn't move, locked in a memory from her childhood. She opened her eyes and held her hand before her, running her finger along the lines on her palm, able to feel the callused touch of her father's fingertip as he had told her of their family's secret. Raif's shadow on the desk shifted as he eased back in his chair, waiting.

Lamplight cast crisscrossing patterns on the floor and infused the air with the scent of burning oil. The glow of the lanterns filled the cabin but was unable to penetrate the darkness beyond the window. The sea beat against the ship, its constant murmur an undertone to every conversation that had ever taken place in the cabin.

"The Currents are as they sound, currents under the ocean's surface," Isla said, speaking to her hand. "They are pathways that can carry a ship from one end of the kingdom to the next in a breath. Most every sailor knows of their existence. Some have even chanced upon them, but my father...my family, we know where each one lies." 

She lifted her head and found Raif watching her, intrigued and captured by her. She took his wrist, tugging him towards her. He came easily, closing the distance in an instant. She turned over his wrist so his palm faced upward.

"It is a secret the Eldin have passed down from generation to generation. A secret that is taught like this." She traced her finger over the lines of Raif's skin. "Though most of the ocean feels like a course surface, they are deeper valleys and in those valleys live the Currents. Unseen but powerful."

Raif extracted his wrist from her hold. As Isla curled her hand away, he took hold of her wrist, bringing her palm closer to him. After a seconds hesitation, she unfurled her fingers. When he touched the plain of her hand, she swallowed, heat rushing through her.

"If this is a secret of your family, how come you are giving it away to me?"

He locked eyes with her.

"I am only telling you what most know," she said. "To find where the Currents live you have to know the right positioning of the stars. Even then to find the Current you have to have been taught from a young age to feel it."

Raif arched an eyebrow. "I couldn't be taught?"

"You could, but it's like riding a horse, you can learn when you are older but you don't ride with the same confidence as someone who was on a horse by the time they were able to walk."

Raif smiled. "You speaking of horses reminds me of the other Eldin I have encountered, the horse trainers that wander the kingdom. Do you come from the same family?"

For a moment Isla could only nod, words floating just beyond reach as Raif continued to brush his finger back and forth over her palm.

"Like the wandering Eldin of the land," she said, finding her voice again. "We wander the oceans. Our appearance has changed with time, as we mixed races but my father said the thing that tied us still together was the deep blue of our eyes."

Raif edged closer as if wishing to get lost in the deep blue of her eyes. His breath tangled with hers, making her heart beat erratically.

"Isla." Her name was barely a whisper on his lips but heavy with emotion.

As he drew in, Isla closed her eyes. Beyond the beating of her heart, she heard the beating of the ocean against the hull.

She retreated. When Raif opened his mouth to question her, she raised a hand, silencing him.

She listened then jumped to her feet, heading towards the door.

"What is it?" Raif asked.

"The ocean's song has changed."

She pressed one hand against the wall as she hurried down the passageway. Though her leg was healing, it still wasn't as steady as it used to be. The pain was gone but her strength was slower to return. She climbed the stairs, Raif on her heels.

The instant Isla reached the deck she knew she what she had sensed in the change in the sea's rhythm was true. A bank of dark clouds surged towards the ship, growing and expanding along the horizon, blotting out the stars. Wind battered Isla as she climbed to the helm where Hawk stood at the wheel.

"I was about to send Sparrow for you," he said.

They stood side by side, staring into the roiling landscape, the ocean swirling and mounting with energy.

"We can't outrun it," Isla said.

"No. We are half a day away from the coast of Gadolphie. We get through it, we can find cover near their port."

"If we get through it."

Neither of them looked at each other. The sky grew darker as the storm sucked the light of the moon and the stars into its cavernous mouth.

"Little Wander," Zev said, crouching beside Isla, a steady hand on her shoulder. "The sea is not ours. It is a living being that allows us freedom to explore its lands. Storms remind us that It is in control and we must listen to Its wishes. Don't be afraid. You must trust It."

"Get the men," Isla said.

Hawk surrendered the helm to her and she gripped the spokes, feeling as the ocean's teasing fingers batted it about. She held their heading, driving them straight into the darkness.

"Raif," Isla called out.

Tearing his gaze away from the blackness, he hurried to her.

"Secure the palace layout."

He dashed away as men streamed out from below decks, pausing for a breath to stare at the building tempest. There was no fear in their eyes, they faced the possibility of death like they faced life, head-on and unflinching. With instructions from Hawk, they scurried to their posts, furling sails and storing barrels below deck.

Isla watched them feeling the ghost of her father beside her. He had stood at the helm of a different ship, staring down a fiercer storm with a new crew. A crew and a ship meant for Isla.

Isla clutched the wheel. Did he know what waited for him? Did he sense the end approaching? Isla hoped he didn't. Hoped he had faith they would make it through. If it had been his crew they might have. She didn't know. 

Hawk and Orin raced up the steps and stood next to Isla as the rest of the men stationed themselves along the deck. Raif was among them. She knew none of the men could be convinced to take safety below. They were not made to hide. They would stand before the judgment of the ocean with straight backs and crossed arms, their fear carefully tucked away where it couldn't be seen.

In the distance, they heard the pounding of the rain as it rushed forward, an army of stampeding feet. In a breath, the storm was upon them, attacking with a boundless savagery.

Rain slammed down on them, its cold claws tearing into Isla's clothes, crawling down her spine, lashing her face. The clouds churned, crashing forms that cracked with lightning as they collided. Thunder rumbled through their bellies like malicious laughter.

The ocean roared, joining the fray as it battered the side of the ship. Waves soared into the air and hurled themselves at the deck. Brockton and Roland were thrown into the side of the ship while Loch and Bin collided with the stairway. Isla held onto the wheel, feeling as it fought against her, wanting to give into the sea's pull.

"You can not fight the ocean's strength," Zev said. "You must let it carry you but never let it capture you."

Isla eased the ship to the side, letting the grip of the sea guide it. The wind gusted around her, whipping rain into her eyes and mouth. It grasped the waters and gathered them up in its arms before shoving them away.

Under the force of the wind waves built into walls, barriers, mountains towering before exploding down on the ship. Heath lost his footing and clung to the rigging as Raif gripped a safety line. Isla held fast to the wheel, as fisted waves struck her.

The ship rose, climbing the wall of a wave. At the peak, everything felt weightless for a single heartbeat, before the ship tipped forward and sped down into another valley. Water and wind screamed in Isla's ears, deafening her. She grasped the wheel, the only real thing in the maelstrom. She strained with every yank of the ocean as it yearned to trap the ship under its surface. 

Another wave beat the deck, its talons finding a new victim in Sparrow. The boy was knocked off his feet and flung into the railing. Fear ripped through Isla as she saw the sea searching to take him forever. As he was hoisted into the air, Raif collided with him, pinning him to the railing.

The ship lunged to the side, and Isla struggled with the wheel, feeling the ocean's strengthening grip. She stared into the soulless torrent, trying to find a peace of hope but nothing but blackness stared back at her.

Heartlessly the storm stole time as it tried to steal lives until there had never been a time before the storm and there would never be a time afterward. It was an infinity.

Each moment to keep the ship from succumbing to its fate took more effort from Isla. A colossus of a wave broke against the quarterdeck hitting Hawk and Orin and pounding into Isla's back, smashing her into the wheel. Air was ripped from her lungs.

When she gasped water dived into her throat, choking her. She coughed, weakening. As she righted herself up, her injured leg gave out. She crashed into the deck, smacking her head. Another furious wave pummeled her as the wheel spun frantically and the ship lurched to one side, sending Isla careening into the wood barrier.

The cold arms of the sea scooped her up, lifting her off the deck towards the waiting jaws of the ocean. She was flying, a feather lost in the breeze. Before she could be swallowed by the sea a body struck hers, pressing her to the railing.

Isla peered up at Hawk, his face slick with rain, the ferocity in his eyes a match for the storm. He nodded and Isla returned the gesture. When she looked to the helm, she saw Orin tearing the ship away from the ocean's clutches, arms straining. Isla stared past Hawk and spotted a sliver of lighter gray.

"Orin! Starboard side!"

The sailor found their salvation and angled them towards it. As wind howled and rain whipped around her, Isla kept her gaze riveted to the pinprick of light among a world of darkness.

*****

Isla moved towards the deck, exhausted but unable to find sleep. The ship was still, the crew draped in heavy slumber. As she rose from the dim passageway, morning light caressed her face. A gentle breeze swayed around her, soft like an apology. She moved to the railing, running her fingers through her tangled hair. The ship was anchored off the coast of Gadolphie. In the distance, she could see the city outlined by the rising sun.

Isla remained there breathing in calmness and working the storm out of her hair. They had survived. Relief and guilt mingled inside her. Relief that they still lived. Guilt because her father didn't. She leaned against the weather-worn wood, gaze distant.

"I miss you," she whispered, sending her grief out over the waves.

The wind picked up and wrapped her up in a comforting warmth. Isla closed her eyes, imagining it was her father's embrace and his voice offering encouragement in her ears. The sun crested the horizon and bathed the world in gold.

Isla breathed in, filling her lungs with the salt and the sea. Everything was at peace at that moment, including her.

"You can tell a storm is coming simply by the sound of the ocean?"

Isla opened her eyes but didn't turn around. Raif crossed the deck and claimed the spot beside her.

"How did you know?" he asked.

She watched the undulating water, the rise and fall of the sea's breathing. "I thought you would be asleep with the men."

"I thought the same of you. Seems sleep has eluded us both." He rested his elbow on the railing edge, his body angled to her. "How did you know?"

"I grew up with the ocean in my ears. It has a voice like any other." She turned to him. "Close your eyes." After a doubtful look, Raif did as she instructed. "Listen. Hear how it beats against the hull. Quietly, like a mother's lullaby."

Isla laid her hand on Raif's chest, startling him but he didn't pull away.

"It is like your heartbeat, constant, contained. But when it grows scared or angry it quickens." She curled her fingers and tapped the side of her fist against his chest lightly in demonstration. "That is how I knew. The ocean hit the ship with angry fists, telling me it was not happy."

Raif opened his eyes as Isla took her hand away. For a long moment, he stared at her as if caught in her current.

"You are unlike any woman I have ever met," he said.

Isla stared down at the dark wood of the ship and the glistening water below.

"I believe that is true for every woman to a certain man." She lifted her head but didn't see the expanse before her, instead pictured cheery cheeks, bouncy blonde curls, and an affectionate laugh. "My mother was a barmaid. One similar to all the rest. But to hear my father speak of her...to him, she commanded the moon and the stars."

"Isla."

Isla looked at Raif, waiting.

"I know you command the sea," he said.

An indescribable feeling coursed through Isla because there was no teasing glint in Raif's eyes or a playful curve to his lips. He was open, laid bare before her. She found she had no words.

When he inched closer testing the waters, she didn't back away. He reached out, brushing his thumb across her cheek. She held his gaze, a quiet challenge.

Closing the distance between them, he cupped her cheek and drew her to him, their breaths becoming one. He hovered there for a heartbeat then kissed her.

His lips were gentle, cautious at first and it was if Isla had never been kissed before. She slid her arms around his neck, pressing her body into his, the feeling wild and wonderful.

He wrapped his arm around her waist while burying the other in her hair. It was like being caught in a storm, one she had no control over but didn't care. Isla deepened the kiss, choosing to dive headfirst into the chaos.

**********************************************************************

😁 It's cool, I'll let you freak out for a minute...or five.

Haha okay, now that you've managed to not only wake up your entire house with your screaming but remembered how to breath go ahead and scream your thoughts at me. 💬🗯💭👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

Now my turn, HOLY PIRATE SHIPS THEY FINALLY KISSED!! *collapses onto the deck of the ship*

Gosh we've been waiting for that moment for ages! Was it everything you wanted it to be?

Not gonna lie it is funny how different their kiss is from their personalities! I mean you'd almost expect a kiss like in A Secret Service! Intense and in the middle of craziness but no, it's one of the more calm moments. I found that interesting how that happened.

tanong ng kabanata (Filipino): Best movie kiss?

Answer: hands down The Notebook. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the movie I have to admit it's an epic kiss.

Vote for kisses, comment on wild storms, follow the light on Twitter horizon!