"Hold the briefcase tightly, Meridith! The storm is getting worse!"

The wind had picked up. In the distance, were waves, like mountain ranges. Although the boat did not rock because of them.

She shouted over their loud, distant roar.

"Yes, father!"

Her father stood, both hands outstretched to his sides, holding those waves at bay. This feat would have seemed spectacular, to those who didn't know her father. They wouldn't have cared for those occasional shutters, running through his body, or for the perspiration, in place of the ocean spray, soaking his robes. She did. She knew her father, better than anyone had ever had the chance to.

"Meridith, be ready! My mana is running out! Chalk!" He shouted so loudly she nearly fell over herself. "There is chalk in my right pocket! Quickly, draw a sigil on the floorboards!"

She drew it around him, becoming aware of just how small their boat was. Merely eight feet wide, and twenty feet long. If he weren't tired and fleeing, this storm wouldn't be a problem, but, that he was tired, meant that it could capsize.They had left the port in a rush. So quickly, that they hadn't gotten the news of a storm so massive. 

"Father, we'll be alright. Right, father?"

He lowered his hands, as his voice stopped its chant, he collapsed soundly. His mana had run out. His last thought was that he, and his daughter, would pass on together.

............................

"Father! Father! Please get up..." The salt water dripping from her brown hair pooled around his eyes, as she hovered over him. He woke up reaching to her face to wipe away the tears, that would drip down, too.

"Shush, now. Meridith, I'm still alive... help me stand up."

They were on a beach. The storm clouds made the sky gray, and the wind and rain had nearly subsided. But, those waves were still tall. 

He saw pieces of his little ship splashing around out there. And that their mass was beached along with them, its sail was still attached and spread widely across the shoreline.

"We won't be getting off of this island anytime soon. I'm not even sure of where we've landed... Thank the gods we did."

The rain lasted longer than Alistar would've liked it to. And, as it went on, he began to see his breath drawing white clouds out in front of him. This island was naturally humid; because the rainwater was cold he saw those clouds; their water weighing down on his robes. The cold moist air had started to bother with his breathing. He began to cough softly, at first; not to bother Meridith. But they became louder. A loud, sticky cough. He lay down, where wet sand and topsoil met rainwater.

She was crying already. For the life of him, he didn't know why the habit had set in. Maybe he'd been too soft. He saw the pendant her mother had given her. Herieth had once worn it herself, and he thought, that she had been right. Meridith shouldn't have been left in his care.

She knew her father as well as she knew any stranger.

"Merry, come now. Help me up. I've gotten enough mana now..cough... to build us a shelter."

They made their way beneath tree limbs, the canopy was tight in areas, and sparse in places that let in light, and for today, rainwater. Diverse plant life took this island as home and had thoroughly subjugated it. He leaned on Meredith while keeping his coughs to a minimum, he was little more than skin and bones. If he did let them go, as they might, they would shake her, because he wasn't enough to hold them.

They stopped beside an incline. Palm leafs hovered over the edge, successfully shading a source of flowing water. 

The short walk had taken his breath. He wished to himself that he would have brought some potions, and remembered, after a short moment, that the storm would've taken those as well. He was just happy that he and his daughter had made it.

He coughed. "Meridith, I don't know what it is, but something has taken a hold of me. I've felt the effects of mana depletion before."

"You're pale," she reached a hand beneath his chin, and felt his throat, "and warm, too."

"Yes." He waved his sleeve. It was to seem grandiose, usually, but his hand rose so slowly that it would provoke a sense of pity instead.  A rock hut, the size of a single tent, formed.

"I'll help." She chanted with both hands before her bust. Stone beds were then transformed into fluffy, thin mattresses.

"Oh, transfiguration, Merry? When since?"

She chuckled.

"I'm my father's child."

Alistar felt the humidity on his chest aggravating a sticky cold, and, as the days passed, he began to have joint pain. Next, his head felt strange, and light.

He would ramble about things he hadn't mentioned in years. He would catch himself, feel silly, and continue. Perhaps feeling his time drawing near, he said.

"Meredith, I have something to confess." It was a particularly hot day. "Your father... I am not a good person."

He told her what was in the briefcase she had held tightly as their lives were at risk. They were rites.  To a land that had been passed onto a friend many years ago. Alistar had participated within the Acrian war to be allowed passage into the kingdom, to obtain them.

His friend had passed away all those years ago in a similar conflict, Alistar had left him to die.

"Merry, his father had passed weeks before! Martin would have inherited a fortune! I stole it away. He was on the front lines Merry, and if I had been there, he would probably be alive today. I snuck away, and emptied his home of the fortune. I knew their home like it was my own. When I was a boy, his father would let me come over whenever I wanted. He never knew better."

He shook his head. "Isn't it a problem that I don't feel guilt for what I've done? To a man who considered me a friend?"

She wiped the sweat from his forehead, not answering him.

A pained expression finally showed, but he continued.

"War made it easy. They had gathered their fortune in the cellar. I needed it. Your mother was eight months pregnant at the time. Merry forgive me."

"Water." He coughed and continued.

There were so many stories. The older ones were more violent, perhaps because he had lacked experience. The Acrasian theft had surely gone smoothly. He laughed as his health deteriorated. 

After the storm had passed in its entirety, they went back to the beach, in hopes the sunlight would aid in his treatment. 

"You know, you've been quieter these last few days Merry. Usually I have to tell you to shut up. Good, you're growing up!"

He continued his rambling and stories.

"Ah," he sighed, as Meridith rubbed his ankles. She had become capable. Easily remaking the hut on her own. Alistar felt that he didn't know his daughter as well as he had thought he had.

"Alistar, you are strong... Even in your old age."

She smiled, as she continued rubbing his pain away. 

"You know, one of those poisons came from our king!" She squeezed around his ankles and he heard them pop.

They had been tight.

"Julie, come out! We've gotten our information. If a little bit more." She held the briefcase to her chest.

The hut had been well made. Even having a window built in which showed a vista. The view twisted. Two women stepped out. Both of them were crying.

One of those women was Meredith.

They entered the room. It was small and could only hold those who were currently present within. The Meridith on the bed pulled up a skin-like substance, from beneath her chin. Revealing a face as beautiful, if only, a little bit older. Her hair was blonde and Alistar had only seen this particular blonde once, his eyes were at their most lucid, seeing her again.

The other woman had been crying since entering. 

"Ally, you've gotten old..." She would be beautiful, too, but her face when crying was ugly. She hugged him on his sickbed. "Why did you have to continue being that way. You knew people like us would find you, right?"

"Get away from him! You know it isn't safe to touch him!" 

"Marny..." She protested, being dragged away.

Alistar had gathered himself, as best he could under the effects of whatever they had given him. 

"Marnisa Lovelock... The last time I saw you was twenty years ago. You were half fish back then, weren't you..." She slapped him, solidly.

"Julie, you didn't deserve the insult. I apologize, for bringing you into squalidness."

"You are twenty years too late, Ally. And, you have more to apologize for! I heard it you left my husband to die..."

Marnisa shifted. "You deserve worse, you traitor. You left us, and still, even after that betrayal, you did not change. You kept on going, being a crock!"

"Both of you did the same. I kept track, over the years. You're allowed to be on land every five years because of the sea's hold on you. It's an eleven-year cycle. Last year should've been your time on land. You broke the curse. How, exactly?"

She was about to slap him again, but Jullie held her arm back. She huffed and withdrew her assault on the lame man. It was silent for a while.

Marnisa walked over to Meridith. She was gagged and shackled in mana restricting cuffs.

She touched the earings on Meridith's left ear. Meredith didn't move away from her reach, the tears on her face let him know that she couldn't; they were slave cuffs.

"These earrings are magic tools. They don't need... Julie stop touching our victim! As I was saying, they need no mana to operate. You may think that you're fine, right? That you're dealing with those potions well; only joint pain even? But, Ally, as my friend likes to call you, you've  said things today, you closed mouthed salamander."

Marnisa sat beside him, touching him despite her warnings to Jullie. She held his face, for a moment some sadness could be seen on her own.

Alistar tried to pull away

"We followed you in Acrian. You know, at first, it was out of surprise that you'd be there. Honestly, I'm surprised by how well you treated your daughter. Your display, for a time, made us think that you'd turned another leaf." 

He tried again, and failed. Choosing to instead avert his gaze.

"Ally, we've had enough! We're teaching you a lesson for your own good." Jullie stepped forward. " And despite how it looks, for Meredith's. We'll be taking your treasures, your possessions, and we'll give you the chance to start again."

He stopped avoiding their gazes and met both, for a moment.

"You've changed. Both of you."

"We had to, Ally. You left us, so we had to learn to protect ourselves."

Marnisa shifted, away from him.

"Before we go, Alister, we've looked for you, to ask this question. Why did you leave our group all those years ago?"

Again he averted his gaze. He sighed and met both of their's.

"I left you because I found someone I loved more."

"Herieth?"

"No. It was my Meredith."

Marnisa sighed shifted. Jullie hummed aloud, with a smile on her pink lips.

"Then goodbye, Alister Lovelock."

"Bye, Ally."

They left him and Meridith bound-up. Alister would recover first, and free his daughter. They had both grown and learned from this experience. Meridith depended less on her father from then on.