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The boat swayed slightly as they made their way to land. They weren’t on Sea Legs anymore, due to her now being in Captain Villads' ownership. Instead, they opted to get to Queen Zubeia by land. (Mostly for Rayla’s sake. She was very done with boats from that point on). It was still a mystery as to why she hadn’t picked them up like planned, but most of them thought it was just because she had other, more queen-ish things to do. Soren, on the other hand, was deeply suspecting that Queen Zubeia was more injured than she had let on. He tried his best to put it out of his mind, for his sanity, and everyone else's.
The boat swayed gently with the waves, rocking it as it went. They had to be close to land by now. The sun was starting to set, meaning that they’d need to find shelter soon. Soren yawned slightly, covering his yawn with his hand as he did. Callum, who was wide awake and holding Aaravos’s prison, looked over at Soren, noticing his yawning.
“Man Soren, you look tired. How long has it been since we’ve gotten a full night's sleep?” Callum pondered. Soren shrugged.
“Gotta be at least three days. All of this adventuring is definitely making me tired. And kind of hungry,” Soren responded. His stomach rumbled slightly and the thought of hunger. Callum laughed slightly and nodded.
“Yeah, the adventure is definitely taking its toll on me too,” He softly replied. He looked over to his side where Rayla sat. Well, had sat. She was now leaning over the side of the tiny boat, holding her stomach with her eyes squeezed shut. She was breathing heavily and looked slightly green. Callum reached out and gently placed a hand on her back. She turned slightly to look up at him, not leaving her position at the side of the boat.
“You okay Rayla?” Callum asked the obviously-not-okay elf. She shrugged, her grip tightening on the side of the boat.
“Yeah yeah, I’m fine. You know, I thought I had finally gotten over my seasickness, but I guess it hasn’t gotten over me,” She tried to joke, her small laugh turning into a gag. Callum gently rubbed her back, hoping it would help her. He looked back at Soren, who yawned again.
“How long until we reach land?” Callum asked. The sun had set, and it was starting to get cold on the water. Soren looked behind Callum and smiled.
“I’d say not long.” He replied. Callum turned around quickly, being greeted by the amazing sight of land. He tapped Rayla’s shoulder and pointed the land out to her, causing her to sigh in relief.
“Finally.” She muttered, trying to suppress another gag. Callum smiled at her and nodded.
“Yeah, finally. Hopefully, we’ll find somewhere nice to sleep tonight.” He sighed. As the island came closer, Rayla started to perk up. Partially because that meant no more water, but also because she knew this island. Runaan and Ethari had taken her here when she was younger. It was an old Moonshadow training camp that had long since been abandoned, but Runaan still went with Rayla whenever she needed serious training. Rayla softly smiled and sat up.
“I know this island! There’s an old campsite we can stay at!” She excitedly mentioned. She jumped off the boat and helped Soren pull it onto the beach, grabbing supplies off when they had finished. Soren gently picked up the sleeping Ezran, while Callum grabbed Aaravos’ prison and his bag. Zym jumped off the boat and ran after the group with the Baitlings on his back. Rayla excitedly lead them to the campsite, which was sort of inconveniently placed in the middle of the woods.
“What kind of place is this?” Callum asked, observing the surroundings. Old archery targets still stood, fighting dummies lay on the ground, all overgrown with plants of all kinds.
“This is an old Moonshadow Assassin training camp. Runaan used to take me here when I was younger to train me,” She reminisced. She smiled at the memories, trying to think of those times with her family instead of the currently coined Runaan sitting in her pocket. She cut down some vines with her butterfly blades until it revealed an old campsite in a clearing. Remains of a firepit from long ago still sat on the grounds.
“Here we are! They say the moss here is so soft, it could put anyone to sleep in seconds!” She explained excitedly. Soren gently set down Ezran on a patch of moss and threw a blanket over him. And boy was Rayla right, that moss was so soft! Soren quickly ran to a patch of his own moss and lay down, not even bothering to take his armor off.
“Man you were right, this is so-!” He was snoring before he finished his sentence. Rayla giggled and threw another blanket over Soren. She picked up a bag, grabbing a flint and steel from it.
“Do you mind helping me find some dry leaves and sticks?” She asked the still-awake Callum. He nodded, always happy to help her. He put Aarovs’s prison into his bag to keep near him and followed Rayla into the woods. She gathered some sticks while he found the driest leaves he could.
“This should be enough. Hopefully, the fire will last all night.” Rayla muttered. She motioned to Callum with a handful of sticks to head back to the clearing. They didn’t say much on the way back, mostly being too tired to keep up a conversation. When they finally did get back, the only thing Rayla said was “Put the leaves in the middle”. She set the sticks up around the leaves and grabbed her flint and steel, striking them against each other until a few sparks caught the leaves on fire. She gently blew on her fire until it flammed up, lighting the sticks ablaze as well. She sat back and tossed the flint back into the bag.
“There, that should last the night.” She sighed. She laid down on a moss patch, instantly feeling relief in her aching body. Callum lay down beside her, putting his bag down beside him. Rayla turned onto her side to face him and smiled.
“Hey Callum,” She whispered. Callum gave a small smile back to her, but it slowly dissipated.
“Hey Rayla,” He reached out and grabbed Rayla’s hand. The fire reflected onto her face, illuminating her features. Her smile faded as she squeezed Callum’s hand.
“Is everything alright? You look distracted.” Callum shrugged and turned to lay on his back.
“No no, everything’s fine. Maybe I’m just… tired.” He wasn’t technically lying, he was tired. But his mind had been wandering back to Finnegrin and what happened on his ship. The dark magic, the torture, almost losing Rayla, everything was circling around in his head. It was a burden on his consciousness that he couldn’t get rid of. Rayla didn’t seem to believe his flimsy excuse of ‘just being tired’.
“Well, maybe tomorrow, we should just take a break?” Rayla suggested. Callum shook his head.
“We can’t take breaks. For all we know, Claudia could be on her way right now!” Callum scoffed, sitting up on his moss bed. Rayla sat up too, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Callum, I cut her leg off. I don’t think she’ll be up to chasing us anytime soon.” Rayla deadpanned. Callum slowly turned to look at her.
“You never know! She could be trying to hunt us down right now!” He argued. Rayla sighed and shook her head.
“Callum, you’re paranoid. A day off would be perfect. Let's relax, take a day to ourselves. Just a day.” Rayla tried to pursue him. He crossed his arms and turned away.
“Fine. One day.” He settled. Rayla smiled and grabbed Callum’s hand. He turned to her, softly smiling when he saw her smile.
“I know somewhere perfect on the island to take a day off at!” Rayla laid back down, pulling Callum down beside her.
“Can’t wait,” Callum whispered. His mind slowly drifted to nothingness as he fell asleep.
____________________
“We’ll be back by the end of the day. Don’t die while we’re gone.” Rayla mostly joked with Soren. He laughed and patted her on her shoulder.
“Relax, Ezran and I will be fine! We’re gonna spend the day together and it’ll be awesome!” Soren fist-bumped Ezran, who was laughing happily. Rayla rolled her eyes and picked up her bag.
“We’ll be back tonight!” Callum waved as they walked away. Soren and Ezran waved until the pair disappeared into the trees. Callum walked a little bit behind Rayla, who was excitedly leading the way.
“You’re going to love it there! It’s so beautiful and full of life! I’ve missed it so much!” Rayla rambled. Callum tried his best to listen to Rayla, but his mind continued to wander back to Finnegrin. He looked down at his hands, feeling the crushing weight of dark magic surrounding him. It felt like he was walking in an endless loop of darkness. No matter how hard he tried to break the loop, he always somehow ended up right back where he was. It was almost suffocating, he could never escape this-
“-everything okay?” Callum zoned back in on Rayla’s voice. He looked up, now noticing that they had stopped. Rayla’s eyes were trained on him, with a worried look.
“What? Sorry, I must’ve been zoning out,” Callum sighed. He rubbed his eyes, trying to push the thoughts away. Rayla slowly walked up to him and grabbed his hand.
“Callum, I can tell something’s wrong. You don’t have to tell me about it, but just know that I’m here for you whenever you want to talk,” Rayla squeezed his hand gently. Callum smiled softly and nodded.
“Thank you Rayla.” He felt a little relieved after her comforting words. The weight still sat heavily on his shoulders, but having Rayla beside him, hand in hand, took some of that weight away.
The pair started walking again, this time in a comfortable silence. It wasn’t too long of a walk, only about an hour long. Rayla was becoming more and more excited the closer they got. She talked about how she used to go here when she was younger to take breaks from assassin training. And Callum was not disappointed. Rayla excitedly ran in front of Callum, only stopping when she reached the location.
“Welcome to Coloured Cove!” Rayla excitedly yelled. Callum couldn’t help but stare in awe at the place. It was a small cove on the shore of the island, covered in trees and flowers. The water was bright pink (mostly due to the pink and purple sand). The flowers were vibrant and the animals were peaceful, it really was as amazing as Rayla said it was.
“It’s called Coloured Cove due to all of the vibrant colours here! Every single colour of the rainbow can be found here!” She raved. Callum smiled and watched as she sat down on the sandy beach. He sat down beside her, picking up a pile of sand in his hands.
“You were right, it is beautiful here,” He softly agreed. Rayla smiled and put her hand over Callum’s. They sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the waves gently hitting the shore. It was peaceful. It almost brought Callum’s mind off of Finnegrin.
Almost.
“Callum, I have something to admit,” Rayla sighed, her smile faded. Callum nodded and moved a little closer to her. She looked out at the sea, purposely trying to avoid Callum’s gaze.
“I miss what we were.” Rayla quietly admitted. Callum took a sharp breath, turning to look at the sea with Rayla. They hadn’t really talked about their relationship after they had mostly made up, so it was kind of ambiguous what they were.
“Me too,” Callum softly replied, almost whispering it. Rayla looked over at him, smiling slightly. She rested her head on Callum’s shoulder, listening to his soft breathing. He put one of his arms around Rayla’s shoulder, pulling her closer. She instantly relaxed whenever he held her. Her breathing softened and her gaze shifted to the floor. His thoughts started to shift from this calm moment to when they were back on Finnegrin’s ship. When he had cast that spell on Rayla. The sight of her on the floor, writhing and screaming in pain because of him…
Callum shuttered and pulled away from Rayla. She looked at him confused.
“Callum? Everything okay?” She asked. She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, but quickly pulled it back when Callum flinched. He took a deep breath and turned back to Rayla.
“Rayla, I need to tell you something. And you’re probably going to think way differently of me when I tell you this,” Callum scratched the back of his neck nervously. Rayla rested her head on her knee, staring at him intently.
“Callum, I could never think differently of you. We’ve been through a lot, and I understand you have reasons for everything. I would never think any differently of you.” Rayla smiled, reassuring Callum. He gave her a half smile, but it quickly faded.
“Back on Finnegrin’s ship, I did something… horrible. I had to do it. If I didn’t, you would’ve died. I had to do it, and now I can’t stop thinking about it.” Callum’s voice was starting to shake. Rayla’s eyes turned to worry as she moved slightly closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Callum, what did you do?” Rayla asked, her voice starting to shake with both fear and anticipation. Callum took in a deep breath, trying to get the courage to tell Rayla.
“I… used dark magic to escape the chains,” Callum admitted. Rayla immediately straightened up, removing her hand from his shoulder.
“Wha- Callum, why? Out of everything, you used dark magic?” Rayla was slowly backing away, not knowing how to respond. Callum stood up and slowly walked away from Rayla.
“I had no other choice Rayla! If I didn’t you would have died and I could never live with myself if I just let you die!” He tried to explain. He was starting to choke up thinking about how he almost lost Rayla. Rayla stood up, walking over to Callum.
“Callum…” The words died in Rayla’s throat. She reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward her. He turned to face her, avoiding eye contact.
“When Finnegrin cast that spell on you, I just lost it. Seeing you in pain just… did something to me. And when I touched you, I could feel that pain. And it hurt Rayla, I can’t even imagine what you went through,” His voice was shaking, he didn’t know if it was with sadness or anger.
“And when he told me he was going to kill you by feeding you to the leviathan, I knew immediately what I had to do.” He turned away from Rayla again. She looked out at the sea, trying to form a response. The only thing that she thought of was grabbing him, and pulling him into a hug. He didn’t refuse the hug,
“Callum, I never could imagine how hard the choice was to make, but I can tell you that I could never think any different of you, no matter what,” Rayla reassured. Callum stood in shock for a moment before smiling softly and wrapping his arms around her. The stress, the fear, and the weight of this secret instantly dissipated the moment Rayla reassured him that she could never think any differently of him. He felt… relaxed.
“You were right, I definitely needed a break.”