Part 1 ⎯ Missing

There are all kinds of missings: Some come from being alone, others come from the losing of someone or something dear to you, and still others come from some place deep within you that is hard to identify. 

Then

The Crossing

Laird MacKenzie was just as cold and hungry as his younger siblings, but he wouldn’t let them know. It was difficult enough to keep his own fears at bay, so he told them that the dolphins had been singing to them these last few nights. He said he could hear their voices under the ship even through the pounding of the waves and the creaking of the old boat’s bones.

The three of them shared cramped quarters. Laird’s bunk was next to their one porthole and served as their only source of natural light. The twins, Emilie and Jack, slept in the bunks on the opposite side of the cabin. The bunk below Laird’s was intended to be their play area for card and dice games, but with the heaving swells they’d all been too seasick. 

This bunk was used mostly by their mother, the Lady Margaret, when their father was at the helm above. She would lay with them and tell them stories of the new home they were going to across the sea, an enchanted place named Waterford the Brave.

“But why is it named thus?” asked Laird at the beginning of their journey.

“Because the house willingly gave up its life as a whimsy tree to travel to the new world and become a home for your uncle, my dear brother Jon,” she replied. Then she’d tell them more stories—not only of Waterford, but also of their old home, Waterglenn the Defender.

Then Emilie asked, “Mother, why did we have to leave Waterglenn?”

“Queen Arian said we must go, and in haste, lest we become victims of your wicked cousin Lord Sebastian‘s madness. Now enough of this,” she said as she tucked each one in tighter against the cold. “We can’t change the past. Besides, we have a wonderful new home awaiting us.”

Δ Δ Δ

While his family conversed below deck, the Lord Robert MacKenzie drew his red wool scarf more tightly around his neck as he steadied the wheel of the old trawler. She’d been a good ship and served his family well for generations, but this crossing was costing her and them dearly. They had to reach land, and soon, as the last north-easter they’d sailed through had hit her pretty hard.