Role

Chapter 4

For three days I drank and ate nothing. On the fourth day, I succumbed to
my intense thirst and drank some sea water. This only made me feel sick,
but that fourth evening, moisture could be felt in the air, and I prayed
for rain. By my fifth day without water, a light drizzle started falling,
which quickly turned into a downpour. I raised my mouth to the heavens
and drank as deeply as I could. Rain filled some crevices and holes in
the driftwood and I drank that as well.

Food was not so easy to come by and I only ate four times in all my days
at sea - but the sea provided for me enough to survive.

The first meal I had was a sea turtle that surfaced for some air. I lifted
it out of the water, tore its head off with my claws and drank its blood.
I then ate nearly every bit of flesh I could claw out of it's shell, gorging
myself in its savory goodness, saving only a few small morsels for later.

Those few morsels ended up being my salvation, as a large seabird met its
demise (and the insides of my stomach) as it landed on my floating home
to dine on one of those stingy bites. It was this experience that taught
me sustainability - I will never completely finish a meal, and leave a few
scraps behind, just in case. There will always be something hungrier than
me (or simply curious) that may be my next meal.

This also taught me patience and the benefits of complete silence and hiding
in plain sight - skills that became even more useful to me later in life.

*****

In the end, I drifted for forty-nine days, washing up on the shores mere
miles from where I had began my journey, but to a far more luxurious and
accepting location - the bathhouse of Lady Rayihn.

It was then I began believing that it was her, the Lady of the Sea, who
saved me. For what purpose, I wasn't sure, but I sure intended to find
out.