Men Felt And Feared Thee Of Old

[Jade Harley]

“Come see!” Rebecca chirped, and proceeded to drag Jade in the direction whence she had come, only stopping when they had reached a section of the railing that overlooked the waterfront.

The dockyards opened into a massive fish market, hundreds of boxed-in stalls lining the streets as far as the eye could see, the midday shopping crowds blending all messily together to form a muddled landscape of color and skin. She had to squint against the blazing twinkle of sunlight across the rooftops to see what Rebecca was pointing at, and even then, her eyes only narrowed further in confusion. “Who are those guys?”

Jade was, of course, referring to the two-legged lifeforms striding purposefully through the chaos of the street. There were six of them in total, all clad in white armor that flashed like some material caught between plastic and metal, boots thudding relentlessly upon the ground, complete with weaponry and helmets that seemed, altogether, very military to Jade. The light cast upon the protective body armor over their black uniforms glinted severely, making them appear as radiant angels walking among the natural dust and disorder of humanity. No one seemed overeager to get caught standing in their way, either, if the frantic scurrying of the outdoor market’s patrons was anything to go by.

“Who?” asked Jade’s most recent acquaintance, the lacy parasol twirling over her shoulder as she, too, peered over the ship’s railing.

“I don’t know,” said Jade. She tracked the progress of the shiny white knights across the marketplace, noting that they were all distinctly forward-facing— were they headed towards something in particular? Yeah, that was it! They must have been there to deal with some kind of problem. Some kind of…. Really difficult to discern, possibly imaginary problem?

At this point a commotion had built up on one side of the marketplace, culminating in much shouting and excited murmurs. Leaning forward over the railing and craning her head to see, Jade noted that a throng of people were looking out to sea, a view that she herself would only be privy to if they were on the reverse side of the ship; the soldiers continued on in that direction, eventually straying from her line of sight. A few dark clouds crept along the edges of the ship’s hull, too, as if a storm were building somewhere in the distance, but it was super hard to tell. The frustration of not being able to see precisely what was going on made Jade slump into a pout, ears flopping dejectedly against the sides of her head. Something really important could be happening and she wouldn’t get to be a part of it at all!

… Oh, well. She, Bec and Rebecca could have plenty of fun without having any more near-death experiences, thank you very much! Plus, they had a brand new friend to hang out with! Turning to Rebecca with her winning-est smile, Jade asked if the Little Sister had seen anything else in her brief exploration of the ship.

“Welllllll…” Rebecca looked especially serious all of a sudden, chewing her bottom lip in thought. Slowly, her face broke out into a somewhat crooked, silly grin. “There is a swimming place, with a slide-y tube and everything!”

Jade snapped her fingers. Perfect. “Great, let’s go!”