Return To Azkhar I

The night air was winter cold.

The weather was chilly enough to turn one's breath into tiny white cloud-like mists. Nürih had succeeded in making it just in time before the night ship prepared for departure. She was exhausted and physically worn out. She had pushed her boundaries and her body, running faster than her legs could take her in an attempt to meet the night ship. But knew better than to let her exhaustion show on her face. She could not let any sucker on the ship see her as weak.

Once you're weak, the strong will prey on you.

Her feet were sore from all the running and she suddenly wished Marki was here to rub her feet with some coconut oil like he sometimes did.

Stop thinking about him, Nürih.

She knew she cared deeply for him but there were other things at stake to think about.

Her life, for one.

She was beginning to understand what her mother once meant whenever the woman talked about how 'your feelings for someone can turn into your Achilles heels'.

"Your emotions are nothing but a nuisance that weakens your heart. Soon, that person you have special feelings for becomes your weakness"

The woman always had something "wise" to say.

She shook the thought and the woman out of her mind. It was a part of her memory she wished she could forget. A memory she was above now. She stared up at the night sky and envied its calmness. It was not going to rain tonight but it was definitely going to get colder. Her eyes searched through the boats for any more ghost hunters. She needed to be sure it was relatively safe before making her way to her cabin.

Thank the skies for the hunter's gold.

With her mind slightly at peace, she crossed to her cabin and latched the wooden door behind her. The space was understandably small and the bed was even smaller. She eyed the old wood on the wall and the milk-white sheets spread across the small lump of a bed. It looked clean enough to not give her asthma. She found herself touching the surfaces of the small side table and drawers checking for dust, but it had been well cleaned.

"Not bad"

It was an irony to think that she fancied a clean space to sleep even though she went for weeks without a decent shower.

She caught her reflection in the tiny mirror on the wall. Her grey eyes were a bitter memory of the man who had taken her mother by force. A night that her mother forever cursed her for. She stared closer into the mirror, searching for an identity outside of the sick life she was forced to live, but caught a glimpse of emptiness. No one to call family. Except maybe Marki. Someday. His proposal was a reminder that she could not give up.

"Useless" she sighed with a shake of her head as she shifted her gaze from the mirror and back to the bed. She needed rest. Tomorrow morning the ship would reach Azkhar and she had to be fully ready, body and mind.

She sat at the edge of the bed for a minute, staring into nothing while her thoughts travelled far. She recalled the first time her mother had poisoned her. The first time she caught the woman in the act.

...

Nürih was eight. Ill in bed with a cold. Her father had always loved her the most. He would watch and care for her all day, but at sunset, he would retrieve to work. That was when mother would take over. That night Nürih was unable to sleep so she forced her eyes shut. That was when mother snuck in.

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe.

She unwrapped the white cloth hidden between her bosom and slipped the disgusting green powder into Nürih's herbal tea, unaware that Nürih was still awake. Nürih's eyes were hot from the tears that threatened to burst out as she watched her sweet mother's actions. She knew it was poison, and hell, she knew just how effective it was. A pinch of that devil powder could kill a horse, let alone talk about what a whole damn full spoon could do to a child. Her father had taught her about poisons before. The effect it had on one's body. That was when she knew that mother didn't want to take chances of her waking up after drinking it. A million thoughts and questions ran through her mind.

Why me? What did I do wrong?

"Damn foxy bitch stealing my husband's attention. His love. With those wicked grey eyes of yours just like your sinner of a father"

But the father Nürih knew had striking green eyes. She had always wondered why she was the only one in her family with grey eyes but father had always assured her it didn't matter. Of course, she was his daughter. She had never doubted father's words either. Until that moment.

"I hope you die a slow painful death, you devil. I hope you rot in hell if there's truly one."

Nürih fought back the tears that threatened to drown her, enveloping the confusion, pain and hurt she felt. She needed to get away. To pretend it was all a bad dream.

"Mother's drunk", she inwardly told herself, "Maybe that's why she's spilling rubbish. She'll like me again in the morning. I'll be more obedient"

...

Pushing the thoughts away, Nürih pulled off the band that held her luscious thick hair together. Her silver hair fell to her waist and her head felt a bit clearer. She caressed her scalp with her fingers. Something that she had become accustomed to doing whenever her head ached. It was soothing.

She knew the ship would arrive in the early morning so she had about seven hours to crash. Sleep was something she didn't get much off. Her mind was always wandering off on it's own, leaving her with sleepless nights and fatigue.

Not today.

She needed rest.

Azkhar was going to acquire much thinking in the morning. With her mind made up, she laid on the uncomfortable bed with her back and her eyes staring at the ceiling. She soon dived into a dreamless slumber with her blade just underneath her pillow.

Morning came faster than she expected and the skies were a lot more bluer in Azkhar. Too bright for her soul. Nürih double-checked her belongings before hopping out of the boat, a rush of memories floating to the forefront of her mind as her feet touched Azkhar's soil. Despite the brightness in the early skies, she felt the weather turn eerie.

This is where it all began...