“Their manners are more gentle, kind, than of our generation you shall find.”- William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
Chapter 6
By early morning, the mist from the loch was in full opacity, suspended over the black water like a white phantom. The sun was rising slowly, casting its bright dawn sunshine on the front window of the sandstone cottage. Derrien had returned, passing the front window like a shadow as he approached the cottage door. He had seen that Thea was sitting with their guest at the fireside. The pair had been talking quietly, their bodies leaned in toward each other.
Derrien gently closed the door with a click. Thea stood to attention.
“Father,” she said happily. She hurried to embrace him in the doorway of the sitting room, kissing him on the cheek. His face was cold and reddening in the heat of the cottage’s sitting room.
“I’m very sorry, my dear. I had some errands to run.” he embraced the girl tightly and buried his face into her bouncing waves of auburn hair.
“Father, you’re squeezing me.” Thea whispered.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” He backed away and turned to observe the guest sitting down in the corner by the fire. The young man had been staring, studying father and daughter with his dark, penetrating eyes.
Geraint’s first impressions of the man were that he thought he looked haggard, bone-tired and bewildered all at once. He also found himself instinctively wanting to know where Derrien had managed to go and busy himself in such a secluded place. He had only known of Thea, her father and the elusive Jet. There seemed to be no one else.
Realising that he was being rude, Geraint stood up quickly and extended a hand. “I’m Geraint. Thea has told me so much about you, Mr Victor-Smith.”
“Welcome, Geraint.” Derrien crossed the small room to shake the young man’s hand enthusiastically. “It’s good to see that you’re up and about. Have you been well provided for?” Geraint could see that Derrien, despite his dishevelled look, had been a handsome man once. The lines across his forehead and eyes ran deep and provided a stark pale contrast to his established tan. His teeth were the tidiest thing about him.
“Absolutely. Thea has been so kind.” Geraint looked at the girl for a moment as though it was the first time. She had been kind. She had been trusting. She had welcomed him and cared for him. He felt that this was the first time in his life that anyone had done anything for him and asked for nothing in return. Thea continued to baffle him but he couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of fondness for her company. Geraint found that her sunny disposition was hard to shun, no matter how depressing his predicament was.
“Excellent.” Derrien softly smiled at his daughter who was gazing at the young Geraint. Whether Geraint was aware of the girl’s feelings or not, he didn’t let on in front of her father. Geraint watched Derrien remove his cloak and Thea took it away to hang somewhere. Geraint, mildly relieved that the smell was now leaving the room, admired Thea’s ability to act completely unfazed by things that were normally considered offensive to the senses. Geraint reflected that Thea herself always smelled of fresh air and flowers from her garden.
“Tell me, Geraint,” Derrien said, sitting down in the armchair by the fire. “How did you come to be here?” he crossed his legs and was now fixed on the young man. Geraint took the armchair opposite and warmed his hands by the flames.
“By accident.” he shrugged. “I didn’t know that there was even a planet out here.”
“Well, we have that in common,” Derrien gave a hollow laugh.
“We were headed for New Botswana. I don’t remember everything. I must have hit my head or something but I believe that there was a breach in the hull of our ship, the Demeter. Alarms were going off, people were shouting and running here, there and everywhere. I was in my cabin reading when the alarm started and within seconds there was a knock on my door. It was a room attendant shouting for me.
He said that I had to hurry and get into a shuttle. I asked where my father was but the guy didn’t know. He just insisted I had to leave before the ship fell apart. It was terrifying, really. By the time I got to the shuttle bay there were hardly any left. There was smoke everywhere.
I didn’t even have to pilot the thing. It was set to autopilot. The turbulence was making me feel sick.” Geraint stopped himself and placed his hand on the crown of his head. He felt a tender lump there under his wavy, dark brown hair. “I did hit my head,” he said quietly. He remembered that it had been bleeding. “I don’t remember anything after that. I woke up here and Thea…” he trailed off. “Thea was there.” He looked over his shoulder for Thea. She was in the back kitchen shuffling about and clattering some crockery.
After some time, Derrien asked, “Do you know where you are?”
“Oceanus. Thea told me. That’s the name of the island, right?”
“The entire planet. The planet is called Oceanus,” Derrien asserted. “The first settlers here believed it was where dreams came from. There’s nothing here but the ocean and this lonely little island.”
“When did you come here?”
“Thirteen years ago.” Derrien stood up solemnly. He walked to the window and peered out at the early morning sun coming up over the trees. “Just Thea and I.” His back was turned away from his young inquisitor.
“It was raining that night. Very similar to how it was when you came here, actually. She was so small.” His eyes were tearing up and he forced himself to swallow a lump that was rising in his throat. “It was awful.” Derrien stopped for a moment and shook his head. He looked out onto the loch and remembered the very night that he and his then four year old daughter had been dropped from the sky themselves in an emergency shuttlecraft with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a box of Derrien’s journals.
They were lucky enough to have made a safe landing but the storm, he felt, had been relentless. He cradled his frightened, crying child all that night until the following morning when the storm had subsided.
That was when Shona Lennox had found them.
She had called to the shuttle first, gently, so that those inside knew not to be afraid. She carried with her a stack of blankets and a basket of food. Derrien thought back to her angular, handsome face as she greeted him and his little girl for the first time.
No more, he thought. He could not think about Shona Lennox right now.
“Sorry… Where was the ship on its way to again?” Derrien turned to look at Geraint. He had forgotten most of the conversation as well as he had forgotten most things recently.
“We were on our way to New Botswana. My father was hosting talks there.”
“Your father? Who is he? I wonder if I know him.
“He’s Owen Brennus, Lord Governor of Atlantis.” The adrenaline rushed through Derrien’s body on hearing the name Brennus. His cheeks were flushed and his mouth felt dry. He was suddenly nothing but a pulse, listening to the blood rush around his head. He had not realised Brennus had a son.
For a few minutes, Derrien did not speak. The silence hung between them. Geraint was shuffling in his chair, looking back to the kitchen in the hope that Thea would reappear. “Atlantis was my home,” Derrien finally said, quietly.
“It was? You must know him then.”
“Not really,” Derrien lied, looking away.
“I see” Geraint, having talked about his father, was swamped with feelings of sadness and despair. He looked away at the fire for a moment. Derrien observed that the son of Owen Brennus was also a tall, dark haired character with a brooding look about him. “I haven’t seen my father since we were on the Demeter.”
“I don’t suppose you have.” Derrien thought for a moment. “You’re the only one I've been able to find,” he admitted apologetically.
A darkness crossed Geraint’s face as he looked at Derrien. “There is still time,” he declared. “I would be very grateful if you could help me find him.”
Thea had returned to the sitting room with a tray of tea and laid it on the table. She poured a cup for her father and brought it to him. Derrien covered his forehead with one hand and waved her off with the other. “I’m sorry my dear, no tea for me. I have a headache. Probably should get some shut eye.”
She seemed crushed. “Of course, father.”
“I’ll have some tea with you,” Geraint smiled. Thea turned to him and handed him the cup. What he felt for Thea overall, he wasn’t entirely sure but he found that he hated the thought of her having her feelings hurt. His offer of tea seemed to brighten her face again.
“Forgive me. I will catch up with you later.” Derrien backed out of the room and slid upstairs.
“What would you like to do today then?” Geraint asked, trying not to think of his father or the strange interaction that had passed between himself and Derrien. “What is there to do around here, anyway?”
“Oh.” Thea thought for a moment, her chin resting on her thumb and forefinger. Geraint thought that her mannerisms were adorable, even if they were exaggerated and sometimes strange to him. “Perhaps I could show you the island?” she offered.
“I’d really love that.”
“We could go to the beach. I used to collect shells there when I was a little girl. Perhaps we could see what’s there today.”
I love how you keep the pace of the story. It doesn't get boring, and I look forward to reading the next chapter. Well done! Have you thought to publish is on Kindle?
Very brooding