Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 75 – The Port of Haelmor

Ava and I quickly made our way out of the inn, and I was immediately overwhelmed by what I saw.

Unlike inside the inn, where people were only just coming down the stairs looking for breakfast, everyone outside seemed to have a place to be. People were practically racing up and down the street, but somehow, no one bumped into each other. In many ways, what I was watching was almost like a carefully choreographed dance… and unlike everyone else taking part, I didn’t know the moves.

How are we supposed to go anywhere?

…

“What are you waiting for?” Ava grabbed me by the hand, “If we’re going to see anything, we need to get moving              !”

Before I could even try to respond, Ava started pulling me through the crowd.

I braced myself for the oncoming wave of people, yet… nothing happened. Ava and I were almost running down the street, but somehow, we didn’t bump into a single person. Every time I thought I was about to, they just effortlessly stepped to the side as if it was nothing other than an everyday occurrence.

However, that in itself wasn’t the most surprising thing; instead, what overtook my mind was this strange sense of déjà vu. Everything about this felt familiar to me, to the point that I soon found myself stepping out of the way of people without even having to think about it.

It didn’t take long before the two of us arrived at the dock, although the first thing we did was spend a little bit of time walking along the dock to find somewhere a little quieter. We ended up finding a place right at the end of the dock where there weren’t as many people.

“So… what do you think?” Ava asked as she gestured out to the sea, “It’s a little different from what you’re used to, isn’t it?”

If I were to describe the town in one word, it would have to be ‘breathtaking’.

No matter where you looked, the town just felt alive, there were so many people walking about, working or even just socialising with each other. Most of the buildings were made entirely from wood, with only a few other materials used for decoration, sitting in stark contrast to Casgolau’s stonework.

Running along one side of the harbour was a row of stalls, each selling something completely different to the one next to it, many selling things I couldn’t have even imagined even if they were described to me. The people themselves were much like that as well; while most were human, it was clear that quite a few were not, even if I didn’t know what exactly they were. Strangely, however, there was a surprising amount of rabbit beastkin, probably second only to the number of humans that were wandering about the place.

Even looking out at the sea, while it itself wasn’t much to look at, the ships that filled it more than made up for it. Each was covered in different emblems and decorations that were clearly from lands far away from here. One in particular that caught my attention had the emblem of a bright red fox emblazoned on the main sail, although from what I could see, all the crew were rabbit beastkin.

While everything that immediately caught my attention was incredible, the waterfront itself definitely was as well… but not in the same way. To me, at least, it seemed like a miracle that the harbour was still standing. There were many holes running along it, even some places where it seemed entire piers were just missing, leaving nothing but lone stumps in the sea. My thoughts were all but confirmed by all the debris that was just left floating in the water.

“It’s… a lot…” I responded, unsure of how exactly to put it all into words.

“And that’s what’s great about this place. So much comes through here, from things to people and even cultures. It’s this little amalgamation of so many different places that just makes it feel unique… especially compared to most places in human territory.”

“Mm.”

“It’s probably the most open place you’ll find on this island…” As she spoke, she looked out towards the sea.

I did the same and just spent some time peacefully watching… it was almost hypnotising in a way. As I watched the ships as they bobbed around the in water, the seagulls as they flew through the sky and even the people running up and down the dock carrying large crates and other items, everything else seemed to just stop for a moment… Which left me with time to think.

…

What am I doing here?

…

I made my way all the way here… but why?

What do I do now?

…

What did I even do before?

…

I just… lived with Ava and Mom… waiting to go to the temple to see Ovia each week…

Do I just… keep doing that?

But how can I?… Mom isn’t here… The house isn’t here… The temple isn’t here…

…

I said I wanted this…. I said I wanted to become an adventurer… just so I could tell Ovia all my stories…

My own stories…

…

But now that I’m here…

I’m just… lost…

…

As I was lost in my thoughts, a strong gust of wind suddenly came in from the sea, blowing my hood off and revealing my ears.

“No!” I shouted as I failed to grab onto it.

In an instant, I had my shadow cover my hair. However, I wasn’t able to adjust the shade in that short moment, leaving my hair a deep black.

As soon as I felt everyone’s eyes fall on me, I quickly pulled my hood back up, holding it down tightly,  just in case another gust of wind came by.

Not now. Please… not now.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I felt Ava put her hand on one of mine, “This isn’t Casgolau. That baron or whoever was looking for you can’t do anything. Nobody knows about you here.”

No.

Please.

“Kierra!” Ava shouted a little as she turned my head to face her, “Look at me. Nothing is going to happen to you. If you don’t believe me, just look around. No one is paying any attention to us. They probably just looked over here because you screamed so loudly.”

But…

I slowly lifted my hood just enough so that I could see if Ava was telling the truth. As I glanced around, I saw that nothing had changed from before. People were still working along the dock, or socialising, or whatever else they were doing a moment ago… yet I could still feel it… I could feel someone’s eyes on me, but as I looked around, I saw that no one was even looking this way.

…

“See?” Ava guided me over to a bench and sat me down, “Nothing happened, okay? It’s alright.”

“…”

Even after Ava’s words… Even after looking around myself… I just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was someone staring at me, that someone had seen me and had taken notice.

‘Kierra, are you okay?’ Ovia’s voice suddenly rang inside my head.

‘I… I don’t know. I can feel it. I can feel someone watching me.’ I responded almost immediately.

‘Um… I-I’m watching you right now… maybe that’s what you’re feeling…’

Her comment caught me completely off guard, almost making me laugh a little.

‘I also looked around the place a little, but I didn’t see anyone looking at you.’

…

Is that… true?

…

Ovia’s the one telling me… but… I can still feel it… I’ve never felt it when she’s watched me before… At least… I think I haven’t…

…

‘Okay…’ I eventually replied, not wanting to argue with her after she went out of her way just to check for me.

‘But I’ll keep looking around to make sure! I don’t want to miss anything,’

‘… Thank you.’

“Are you doing a little better now?” Ava asked as soon as my eyes refocused on the world around me.

“Mhm…” I replied.

“Good, and just in time too. It looks like one of the ships is coming into dock.”

I looked out towards the sea and saw that it was the ship with the fox emblem heading towards the waterfront. As it got closer, I could see more rabbit beastkin coming out onto the deck, while at the same time, a crowd of people started to form just in front of the pier it was heading towards. What was a little strange, however, was that the crowd wasn’t just workers preparing to help the ship dock, but many of the people that were previously just standing around the harbour socialising had also gathered, although they were standing quite a bit further back than the workers.

As the ship got closer, they started closing the sails and slowing down just before a number of people carrying ropes began to line the side closest to the pier.

However, something strange happened the moment they tried to throw the rope down to those waiting on the pier. For a very brief moment, it looked like everything was fine. The people below hadn’t caught the rope, but it had still landed on the dock. At least, that’s what I thought I saw, yet as soon as I blinked my eyes, I saw that the same rope had actually just been thrown into the water.

What?

That… That doesn’t make sense.

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if maybe I hadn’t gotten as much sleep as I thought I had.

“Something’s wrong,” Ava said as she stood up.

It seemed that we weren’t the only ones who had noticed that something wasn’t right, as the crowd of people were already running away. The ship itself, while it had slowed down a little, clearly hadn’t slowed down as much as it should have.

*Crash*

The ship rammed into the port, stopping only once it had run through the entirety of the pier, opening a fairly large hole in its side. Fortunately for them, the hole was above water, so the ship didn’t seem like it was going to sink, but it was still a considerable amount of damage just by itself.

“Have they never done this before?” Ava asked, “I’m surprised they even managed to set sail if that’s the skill of the crew they’re working with.”

“Mm,” While I didn’t know much about sailing, I knew that something had to have gone very wrong for something like that to happen.

The people in the crowd immediately started shouting loudly about what had happened, and my ears instinctively started to focus, trying to make out what exactly they were saying.

“Again?!”

“That’s the fifth one this week!”

“Is there something wrong with the piers? They’ve worked fine as long as I’ve been here, but with this happening so often…”

“We already had to stop people trying to dock at night because of this, we can’t stop them during the day as well!”

“How many piers do we even have left?”

“Is this going to be fixed by next week? We have a large shipment coming in.”

From their comments, along with the state of the port on the whole, it was clear that this wasn’t an uncommon incident.

Looking back at the ship, I noticed that a small rowing boat was being set down into the water; on it were four rabbit beastkin and one hooded figure.

Were they just carrying people?

But why would they only transport five of them off?

I’m sure they could fit more in there.

…

“Wow… I…” Ava stumbled over her words, “I’m not quite sure what to do… I’m sure this isn’t what you were hoping to see today… and it’s far from what I was planning on showing you…”

“It’s okay,” I reached out and grabbed onto Ava’s sleeve in an attempt to stop her from worrying.

You didn’t do anything.

“Hmm… maybe we should go look at something else… since there isn’t much we can do about what happened down there… but we can definitely do something about our mood!” She suddenly sprung back to life, “How about we go through some of the streets instead? Maybe you could end up finding something that catches your interest! I just really don’t want your first impression of this place to be where ships ram into the waterfront… especially because this was the first place you ever wanted to go to… You wanted to come here, so I need to make sure you have fun!”

“… Okay.”

As soon as I answered Ava pulled me up onto my feet before shouting out, “Then off we go again!”

Right after her triumphant cry, I heard her stomach start to rumble loudly and ended up having to stifle a giggle.

“And maybe we’ll go get some lunch at the same time…” She said awkwardly as she led the way forward.