[Wild Fox]

I am an endangered a very rare species of fic writer: the stormshipper (PicardxHama) So if you don't like it, don't read it. But if you're feeling adventurous, try something new!

Just a note: this fic is slightly author's universe (AU). Everyone is still an adept, only there's no "AGH WE MUST LIGHT THIS LIGHTHOUSE!" No one really knows each other and lives in a semi-blissful existence. I say semi, because we need some sort of tension for a plot.

***

Phase the First: The Promise

“I’ll return again. I promise.” It was a phrase she was doomed to repeat again. She whispered it to her baby brother as she cradled him in her arms fourteen years ago. And again, she said it as she clung to him desperately on the docks of Ateka.

“You returned once before,” he said once their embrace was over. “And you’ll do it again.” He flashed her a reassuring smile.

“Ivan, I feel so disheartened by my early departure. We have finally been reunited after all these years, and now I must leave you again,” she sighed. Choking back her tears, she brushed his wild blonde hair away from his eyes. He looked so much like their father’s.

“Hama, you must go. You’re needed! I will see you when you return and we’ll have a lifetime to spend making up for our lost time.” He was barely fifteen, his birthday only yesterday, but already he was so mature. Hama supposed it was from his upbringing among Kalay’s noble elite.

“Alright, I’ve delayed this for far too long now.” She glanced over her shoulder to gaze upon the ship that was to carry her across the Western and Eastern seas, far across Weyward to Garoh. The sails were unfurled and the wind billowed them out with eager anticipation for the journey. Sailors were calling to her, beckoning her to join them. She quickly took Ivan’s hands in her and kissed them. “I promise I will write you as soon as I am there and everyday afterwards.” Using all her strength, she let him go, for the second time, and ran to the ship.

“Are you ready now, Master Hama?” the captain asked as she climbed aboard.

“Yes, let’s go. The sooner we reach Garoh and deliver this medicine, the sooner the people will be better and the sooner we can return.” The captain nodded and began to bark orders at their crew.

Hama walked to the stern of the ship and stared back at the island. Ivan still stood on the docks and waved to her. Seeing her little brother waving back at her, seemingly unmoved by her leaving tore at her heart. She knew that he wouldn’t see her again for at least two years. Maybe more if the epidemic grew worse. Turning away, she wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘I will come back and make things right this time.’

***

Hama struggled against the wind to hold on to her robes. “We can’t turn back!” she screamed over the roar. “We have to deliver the medicine!”

“Hama, are you mad? The storm will tear this ship apart if we continue!” the captain bellowed. He clung to the tiller, trying to protect his ship and himself. “We’re lost, anyways! We need to turn back and regain our bearings!”

“Let me calm the storm, captain,” she begged, trying to step closer.

“No, I am turning around!” He used all his might to spin the wheel around and shot her a ferocious scowl for even proposing such an idea. He respected the Adept, but did not trust her powers.

The sudden roar of the ocean caught everyone’s attention. Looming before them was a giant wall of water. Panic came over the entire crew as the sheer mass of the wave sucked their tiny ship towards it. The captain struggled with the tiller, trying to bring the ship around the wave but it was too late. Hama crouched down to her knees as she felt the gentle rain before the wave overtook the ship. Ivan’s face smiling back at her from the dock was the last thing she saw before the world became black.

***

“My child, I’m afraid we must speak alone.” The village elder took the eight-year old aside. She stared up at him with wide eyes, filled with tears. She was old enough to know what he was about to tell her. “Your father will not recover, I’m afraid.” A deluge of tears poured down her face at his words and she hid her face in her hands. The wind picked up with every sob and shudder of her body.

“I know, my child. There is nothing more we can do for him.” He knelt down to her level and pried her hands away from her face. “And there is nothing more I can do for you.”

“What do you mean?” she sobbed. The wind died down suddenly as she captured him in her lavender stare.

“Your powers—Jupiter is very strong with you. He has given you powers stronger than even mine. I cannot train you any longer. But I do know of another sage. He lives far across the sea, on the continent of Angara. His name is Lama…”

“No!” she screamed as she pulled away from his touch. The wind began to howl and a few stray clouds began to move across the sun. “I won’t go!”

“Child, please! It was your father’s last wish for you!” The wind slowed to a gentle breeze. “He knows you are something special. I know this too. Master Lama, he is here to see you.” The elder motioned to a man standing a few feet away. She hadn’t noticed him standing there, but he had been watching her intently. He was a curious man, dressed in fine white robes. His hair was long and silver, tied back in a braid.

“Hello. I am Master Lama, from the Lama Temple.” He chuckled at his own pun. “You are very gifted and I wish to pass on my powers of foresight to you. When you have completed your training, your powers will grant you much wisdom and guidance.”

“But I can’t go. What about Ivan?” She looked up at the two men with wonder.

“Ivan will be fine. But he cannot go with you,” the elder said. An eight year old is in no shape to care for a baby.

“But, he’s my brother! I won’t leave him!” she shouted.

“Master Hammet will take him to Kalay. He will treat him like his own child,” the elder reassured her. She recalled the brown-haired merchant who came to Contigo when his ship crashed upon the shoals a month ago. He was always dressed in fine robes and always had wise words to share. “He is set to leave within a week to Hesperia.”

She let a few more tears run down her cheeks. Hammet wasn’t their father, but she trusted him. When she was older, she would ask to see him and be with him, that was what she felt in her heart. “I see what your heart desires,” Master Lama began. “And it will be so. I promise.” He took her small hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

“I’ll go.” Master Lama’s smile was warm and comforting. A gentle breeze blew through her hair as she managed a weak smile.

“Good. From this day forward, you will have a new name,” he said. “You will carry on my temple and its teachings when I am gone, Ignes. You will be Hama, apprentice of the Lama Temple.”

Her new name sounded different and strange. Master Lama explained that their ship was to leave soon and he instructed her to say her goodbyes quickly. The horrible secret that had been kept from her all morning was that her father had passed earlier in the night. But she was numb as Ivan was brought before her, wrapped in a blanket. He squirmed as he was placed in her arms.

“Brother,” she began. Continuing became impossible as she was choked with tears. His eyes were bright and he smiled up at her with a tiny gurgle. “I’ll return again, I promise,” she whispered.

“Thank you, Ignes,” Hammet stammered as he took the squirming baby from her arms. “Or should I say Hama?”

“Promise me you won’t tell him about me,” she said before he turned away. “I don’t want him living his life wondering why I left him.” Hammet felt uncomfortable at the thought of keeping her promise, but nodded when he saw the fierce determination in her lavender eyes.

“You must be strong now, Hama,” Master Lama instructed as they turned away from the village. “You must be strong always, even in the darkest of times. Just like the wind: when the wind meets the mountain, it does not give up. It will fight the mountain until it has been worn down into a hill.”

The mountain that stood before her was great. She wondered how she could even begin to overcome it—a new home in a strange and different land, one that didn’t include her mother, father, or new baby brother, and new powers that she needed to discover. The wind picked up and she felt as if she could float away.

***

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