Introducing the protagonists of Wayward Dreams, Kakane and Serena! This chapter is not only important because it's the first real good look at them but also because I think it does a lot to contexualize their relationship and set a standard for the rest of the story. However, for a first chapter, I am a bit worried that it's on the domestic slow side. I want to know if the introduction to Kakane and Serena's relationship makes up for this "slow start."
Context note: the scene before this was the prologue, where Kakane had a nightmare. I think you guys might remember it.
Kakane awoke with a start. His chest heaved. Cold sweat dripped down his brow. That flipping dream. That nightmare. Again. For the millionth time in a row. He’d lost track of how many nights it had haunted him. Kakane was starting to think it would never go away. As he lay there, drenched in his own sweat, felt a boiling sensation rising in his stomach. Kakane gritted his teeth.
He hated that dream. He hated feeling so small and powerless, so utterly incapacitated. Even awake, Kakane continued to hear the screams. They bit and gnawed at his consciousness, lingering as they spread their melancholic venom. Kakane rubbed his temples, groaning as he tried to push the ringing yelps out of his head. The names and faces of the soldiers eluded him. He’d forgotten. Or maybe they never told him their names. Kakane gave up trying to massage the pounding headache away and let his arm fall onto the bed sheets. But his knuckles still clenched the blankets. The scratching and writhing wouldn’t go away. He hated this too, this burst of boiling emotion that threatened to implode. It always happened right after the nightmare. How shameful; Kakane was a king. He had to be stronger than this. He had to be the strongest.
Kakane listened for Serena’s soft breaths. His racing heart managed to calm, but he was only met with silence. Frowning, he rolled out of his hard cot and thrust the window open. The fresh ocean breeze of Vox streamed through Kakane’s hair, wiping away all the sweat. The gentle gales tickled his skin and slowly cooled his hot body. Kakane felt his muscles relax and his breathing even. He stared at the dark ocean, barely making out the lapping of the waves against the sand and the dance of seaside grass. Vox looked so tranquil and dark when the sun hadn’t risen. The wind and smell of the ocean were exactly what Kakane needed to finally quash this meaningless frustration.
“Flapping your small wings…
“fighting through fate…
“Struggling for joy so
“don’t give up,
“small butterfly…”
Serena’s singing. It calmed Kakane, drowning out the last yells of death that still persisted from the realm of dreams. But it was also worrying. Kakane stumbled out of the bedroom, stretching and popping his bones. He raised his wings all the way to the ceiling, feeling each joint strain and grow awake. The singing was loudest in the kitchen, where Kakane found Serena humming to herself while tending a large cauldron. The fire crackling below the pot was the only source of light in the room and illuminated Serena’s face, revealing dark shadows under restless azalea eyes. Though she’d arranged it in an updo, she couldn’t hide how disheveled her stark white hair was, which seemed to glow against the surrounding darkness. It was just as Kakane feared.
“Go back to sleep, Serena,” he said, his voice echoing through the kitchens and rising above the crackling fire. She flinched. “You need your strength. I’ll watch the pot.”
“That’s quite alright, Kakane,” Serena said quickly. “If anything, you should be the one going back to bed. You were out far later than I was. I know how laborious your work is. Get some rest.”
“I’ll be fine,” Kakane insisted. “You need the sleep more than I do. Don’t act like I can’t tell.” Serena bit her lip and looked down at the floor in shame. Kakane sighed and embraced her tightly. She was trembling. He could feel her heart against his chest, beating slightly faster than should be normal. “How long were you up?”
“…A few hours. I couldn’t fall back asleep,” Serena admitted. She buried her face into Kakane’s shoulders. “You were sleeping so soundly. I didn’t want to wake you. I decided to just power through it and get on with my day.”
“You know you can always sleep with me if you’re scared,” Kakane reminded her. “Especially when your nightmares are this bad. You’ll never be a bother, Serena. Everything will be okay. As long as I’m around, you don’t need to worry about anything that ever happened in the past. If the nightmare comes back, just holler. I’ll always be here to send those Doryokan bastards packing so your dreams can be nice for once. That’s what I’m here for. So go get some sleep.”
“But what about you?” Serena protested. “The only reason you would be up at this hour is if you’ve suffered the same…”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Kakane said. “Forget about me. You’re the one I’m concerned about.”
Kakane held Serena until she stopped shaking and her heart lulled to a steady thump-thump. When she finally pulled away, the bags under her eyes seemed deeper. The loose updo came loose, causing the old laundry clip to clatter to the floor. Serena’s white locks cascaded down her shoulders in a way that made her look like a ghost.
“…Thank you, Kakane. I’ll make it up to you. I promise” Serena yawned and disappeared around the corner.
Kakane grabbed the laundry clip off the ground and used it to tie back his own longish black hair. Serena shopped this week so he wasn’t quite sure what was in the pantry. With enough luck, he’d find some pine needles and spruce tips. Kakane followed his nose and though it was faint amidst the familiar and earthy clay-like scents of the house, he detected something sharp and faintly spicy in the cabinets.
“Bingo.”
The leaves were wilted but when Kakane brought them close to his face, a pleasantly bitter aroma was noticeable. He rummaged around for the stone kettle. He turned to grab the bucket for the well but realized it was halfway full. Did Serena conjure water using magic? Kakane sincerely hoped she didn’t actually go fetch well water in the dark. Either way, he could make it up to her by brewing her favorite tea. He took a cheesecloth and created a tea bag by securing the herbs within it with a length of twine. Kakane then poured some water into the kettle and placed his hands around the vessel. A magical red circle flickered to life on the back of Kakane’s hands, growing with intensity and heat. The sturdy stone of the kettle scorched beneath his palms until the water within surged forth with violent bubbling. It was times like these that made Kakane grateful for his ever-useful fire magic incantation. He removed his hands from the kettle and the boiling immediately subsided into mild frothing. He dropped in the tea bag and put the lid on.
“Now, let’s see what’s in here.”
Kakane lifted the great lid of the cauldron. At once, earthy, full-bodied, nutty smells hit him right in the nose. He had to stop himself from drooling. For Strongjaw’s sake, was this cast-iron lid a vessel of the gods or something? It had to work miracles to hide smells as well as it did! Kakane didn’t know how he failed to notice what was cooking. The cauldron was full to the brim with celery, various kinds of mushrooms, sea beans, fennel, radishes, onions, dandelion greens, thistles, and herbs: the telltale ingredients of Serena’s famous vegetable stew. Kakane stirred the pot and then tended to the fire, adding a few more logs to the fire. Suddenly, his chore list had gotten much larger. With a helping this large, there was no doubt Serena planned to trade some stew away for other goods. That meant in addition to washing dishes, doing the laundry, setting the table, and watching the stew, Kakane had to clean out the entire pantry so they could fit everything.
Even though it felt like the sun would never rise, the chores went by quickly. Kakane could feel his eagerness stretching through his body, like seeds sprouting from the soil. It invigorated him and made him feel that much more awake. When the sun finally did peak over Mount Strongjaw and assume its rightful place in the sky overhead, Kakane felt as though the realm of dreams were only a distant memory.
“Good morning, Serena. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. Thank you.” She smiled. Then she looked at Kakane’s shirt and sleeves, which were drenched from hauling well water and wringing out laundry. “Oh, Kakane, today was my chore day! Ugh, go grab a spare shirt; I’ll air it out for you.”
“Let’s eat breakfast first.” Kakane was already ladling stew into bowls.
“Very well; I’ll get it myself.”
“Oh, come on, Serena!” Kakane objected. “I can deal with a wet shirt for a few minutes.”
“No you can’t,” she called from down the hall. “I know how much you hate getting wet!”
“The stew will get cold!”
“Then keep it warm until I’m back.”
Kakane sulked, but he did as he was told. Using his finger, he drew a large circle in the air around both bowls. Small flames darted to and fro within the circumference of the ring, sometimes even diving into the stew. Serena returned not a minute later, sucking the last bits of moisture from a tunic with a blue magic circle. Then she stopped abruptly, staring at a small section of the fabric.
“This shirt has a hole in it!” Serena gasped. “Kakane, why didn’t you tell me!?”
“Um. I didn’t notice?”
“A hole this big!?” Serena thrust the garment in Kakane’s face, where her pale palm stuck out strikingly against the dark tunic. “This doesn’t just happen overnight! You ignored this deliberately! I’m getting another shirt. Where is my sewing kit!?”
“You’re not patching up the flipping shirt before breakfast,” Kakane said flatly.
“I’ll fix it while eating breakfast,” Serena retorted, once again disappearing down the hall.
Kakane shook his head, though he knew better than to argue. Serena marched back into the kitchen with the torn shirt slung over her shoulder and a new one grasped in her hands. Kakane changed out of his sopping wet shirt (which really was irritating him) while Serena poured tea.
“Mm, pine needles and spruce tips. I didn’t think we had any left. Thank you, Kakane.”
“Only the best for milady.” Kakane grinned cheekily and Serena rolled her eyes. “Now quit pouring tea and sit down. If we wait any longer, the stew’s gonna be like ice.” He snapped his fingers and the fire magic circle entrapping the bowls fizzled out of existence.
“Have some patience,” Serena scolded lightly, though she couldn’t hide her smile. “Alright, let’s eat.”
Kakane shoveled a spoonful of hot stew onto his tongue. Gods, forget almost burning himself or the fact that he was practically breathing steam; Serena’s cooking was the best! The homey taste of wild vegetables warmed him from the inside out. Kakane watched, slightly guilty, as Serena nibbled on her stew and deftly mended the gaping hole in his shirt. He really did mean to tell her about it at one point but she’d been so busy lately that he didn’t want to bother her. The long nights at the pharmacy had really been taking their toll on her. If only he could’ve just fixed the dang shirt himself… Too bad needles always broke in his hands no matter how hard Kakane tried to be delicate.
“How much money do you think we’ll be able to save thanks to all this?” Kakane asked. “Can we go to Aegyptus soon?” Serena paused her sewing to think.
“I think,” she said slowly, “we’ll save about two hundred i’a. I’ll double check, though, since I calculated that just now in my head. But I believe it’s fairly accurate. It accounts for the rough cost of the ingredients, too.”
“That much!? No way! Serena, you’re amazing!” Kakane raved. “How long have you been putting all this together?” She started to double down on her sewing. Uh-oh.
“About two months,” Serena conceded. “It took a while to get all of the vegetables. I had to work out some magic to keep them fresh, too.” Kakane’s spoon clattered onto the table.
“Two months!? How could you keep this from me!?” he complained, slamming his hands onto the wood. “I could have helped! I could have taken longer shifts! I could have gone foraging! You didn’t have to hide any of this from me!”
“Well, I wanted it to be a surprise,” Serena confessed. “I know it’s your favorite.” Kakane groaned and slumped back into this chair.
“Seriously? I mean… Thanks, Serena, really, but don’t pull a stunt like this again without telling me. That’s way too much flipping work for one person. Promise?”
“Alright, Kakane. It’s a promise,” Serena agreed. “And you’ll be glad to know that with all the extra saving we’ve been doing, we might be able to leave Vox ahead of schedule.”
“For real!? That’s great! The faster we get out of here, the better.” Kakane glanced uneasily out the window, where a towering mountain was visible through the morning fog. “Alright, I’ll try to earn thirty extra i’a by the end of the week. A little will go a long way, right? I might be out a bit late this week, though.”
“That’s perfectly alright,” Serena confirmed. “Just don’t overdo it, okay?”
“It’s a promise,” Kakane said with a smile.