Standing Steady in the Storms Ch. 1-2

So. Here it is. After much waiting. :DDD

This story is set up in four different portions, sort of like TWatWK but not nearly as well thought-out. The first two parts have very foreboding titles.

And I owe SO MUCH of the editing process to Ellie, because I honestly could not have done this without her.

Part I: Wrecked

Chapter 1: The Restored Land

The people of Anniera waited expectantly for the royal family to return, those who knew the purpose of the mission praying for the Throne Warden’s life to be restored to not only he and his family, but them as well. A person willing to die so that they might live was one worthy of immeasurably honor, respect, and alliegence.

Choruses of joy erupted when Hulwen and the other dragons flew in, carrying seven people — all alive and whole. Armulyn’s lyrics for the tune Leeli had played became ones that praised the Maker’s goodness in trials rather than ones of honor for Janner himself. And for that, Janner was immeasurably grateful. 

With the Jewels of Anniera casting light and joy on everything they touched, the new Annierans were inspired to rebuild their Shining Isle. Progress was made faster than any imagined, and everyone assisted each other, as true Annierans always had. The Maker instructed the Jewels to heal the Land with the Water from the First Well, and the forests and beauty of the Isle were even more glorious than they had been before the Great War.

Over the years, Ban Rona was repaired, Castle Rysen rose again, and new Annierans were born. Others were engaged and wed happily, and some simply had crushes they refused to admit for years. 

Artham and Arundelle were married soon after his return from the First Well. It was a long awaited union and one that was filled with joy and true love. Leeli and Armulyn played lively songs at their wedding and everyone was thrilled for the united-at-last couple. Three years later, Arundelle gave birth to a lively, brown, curly-haired daughter with laughing, green eyes whom she named Asteria.  

Janner and Sara waited desperately for the day they could court and marry, and were finally wed on Sara’s eighteenth birthday after an extremely impatient six years. Janner made the mistake of asking Kal to perform the ceremony, and suffered through multiple disasters, including Kal forgetting the day of the event — three times, and on the day of the wedding — forgetting the words to say — five times in the speech — and forgetting that he wasn’t supposed to eat any cake until after the marriage ceremony. 

Still, they were joined in union and Sara’s longings in Glipwood were finally fulfilled.

Kalmar and Galya were clearly meant-to-be from the start, even though Kal insisted he had never had a crush in his life and didn’t intend to. Janner assumed Kalmar was simply trying to do the exact opposite of what he had done, and, as Kal admitted begrudgingly years later, he was right. 

Galya waited for years until Kal finally confessed what he had hidden for years. She was delighted, but not surprised in the least. They would have to wait a year before their courtship even began, but they didn’t mind. When Kal managed to confess his feelings, Janner took that opportunity to give his brother some pay-back and tease him for it. Though Kal complained every time it occurred, Janner always stated that he had it coming, and to that Kalmar had no response.

Leeli and Thorn were the most perturbed of the four couples, mainly because they had no hopes of uniting any time soon. They made up for it by creating puppy families, visiting each other more often than should have been physically possible, and baking all sorts of crazy things in both the Green Hollows and Anniera, oftentimes successfully setting the kitchen on fire. Soon their experiments were moved outdoors. Still, Nia said their cooking was delicious. When it didn’t become charcoal, at least. 

SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF THE WARDEN AND THE WOLF KING

“But Janner, I need help! I don’t know how to do this. You’ve done it once already. Can’t you help me?” Kal begged. Janner and Sara were reading together in the Castle Library, or at least they had been until Kalmar had entered.

“One second,” Janner mumbled, scanning the pages quickly and flipping a few more. After a minute, he closed the book and laid it on top of a stack ten books high. He looked over at Sara — his wife, the words warmed his heart when he thought them — and said: “I just finished number ten.” Kal rolled his eyes and groaned. 

Janner glanced in his direction. Kalmar had never been much of a reader. He clearly couldn’t see the appeal in entertaining oneself with literature for hours on end.

Sara shook her head and laughed at her husband and brother-in-law. “But I just finished eleven.” She closed her book triumphantly and laid it on her stack with a flourish. “That’s eleven books in three hours, so I win don’t I?”

“Well, I suppose you do,” Janner sighed, feigning disappointment. He glanced up at Sara. “So, what do you win?”

“Well,” Sara twirled her hair playfully. “I think the winner deserves — ” 

“Oh please just don’t!” Kal gagged emphatically. “Janner, I have to ask you something. It’s important!”

Janner glared at him. “Did you seriously just interrupt Sara? She was talking.”

Kal rolled his eyes in response and Sara placed a hand on Janner’s arm. “Janner, please don’t slaughter Kal with your glare. I was only going to ask for a new book. You can get back at him for interrupting me later by teasing him relentlessly about his crush on Galya.”

 Janner sighed and chose to not pummel his brother. “Alright.” He turned away from Sara and looked at his imploring little brother. Although “little” didn’t exactly describe Kal anymore — he was taller than Janner by several inches but he still looked lanky. “Fine. I’ll get Sara’s book another time and not destroy you now.”

Kal grinned triumphantly. “Great. Now I have to ask you something important and I only want you to hear. Sorry, Sara,” he added apologetically. 

“It’s alright,” Sara’s eyes twinkled. “I was planning on going to see if I can help Nia with the baking. I’m pretty sure she banished Leeli and Thorn a half hour ago.” 

Sara started to stand up slowly, but Janner jumped off the sofa before she could move more than an inch or so. “Wait, let me help you.”  He put one arm behind Sara’s back and held out his right hand for her to hold on to. 

Sara sighed. “Janner, please don’t tell me you’re going to do this for the next month.”

“Just take my hand,” he said kindly. “You don’t want any complications and neither do I.”

Sara shook her head but took Janner’s hand anyway, albeit reluctantly. She placed her other hand on her very pregnant stomach as she stood, wincing a bit. 

“Are you alright?” Janner asked her, worry creeping into his voice and showing plainly on his face. Sara and Kal both sighed at the same time. Janer turned and shot his brother a glance.

“Janner, I’m fine.” Sara stated pointedly. “I’ll be fine for the next few weeks, and I’ll be fine after the baby comes. You’re the one who needs to stop worrying.”

Janner smiled. “That’s probably not going to happen.” Sara shook her head and began walking towards the kitchen. “Do you want company?”

“No, I’m fine,” was the gentle, somewhat testy reply. “Spend time with Kal.”

Sara rounded the corner and walked out of sight. Janner looked after her, knowing that she was growing weary of his constant concern, but struggling to get past it. He closed his eyes briefly and recalled the Maker’s words so many years before: Be still. Be still. Be still.

Then he got up from the couch, gathered the books in his arms, and carried them to the bookshelf. He glanced at the titles, and searched for the spot they had been removed from. 

Kal followed him, rolling his eyes again. “Can’t you just shove them in or something? I really need to talk to you.”

Janner looked at his brother in mock seriousness. “Why, High King Kalmar, haven’t you learned over the years that throwing things in a pile without order and calling it ‘organized’ is a terrible idea?”

“Fine, do your bookkeeping or whatever. I’ll ask later.” Kal  stomped off childishly with his hands in his pockets. 

Janner sighed. He knew that Kalmar only came to ask him for advice if he really needed it. And he was his brother, not to mention his Throne Warden. There was a high chance that if Janner didn’t listen to Kal now, disasters would follow. “Kal, wait! I’ll listen, I just have to take care of this too.”

His brother came shuffling back and plopped down on a stool near Janner’s feet. “Fine. But you promise to actually help me? Because I really need it.”

“Hey,” Janner got down on one knee and looked Kal in the eyes. “Kal, I promise. I’ll help you. I’m always happy to help you. That’s what I’m here for, remember? I’m your Throne Warden.” He grinned and Kal smiled back. “So what’s going on?” Janner asked as he stood up, picking up the books again and resuming his re-organization of the Castle Library. 

“Well, I, um…You see, I —” Kal looked at his hands and began intertwining his fingers. “I have to…or, no, I’d like to…er…”

“Kal, spit it out already.” Janner said, looking at his brother out of the corner of his eye. “Please. I may be your Throne Warden, but that also means I’m you brother. And that means I get to place restrictions. I don’t have all day for you to choke out your words. Actually,” he glanced outside. “Neither of us have all day. There’s a meeting soon.”

“Ugh, bother all the meetings!” Kal crossed his arms and pouted. “Look, here it is: IwannaproposetoGalyasoon,” he rushed his words and jumbled them together, making them come out in a nonsensical garble.

Janner paused mid-way in the process of sliding a book into its spot on the shelf. He blinked, a thousand comments of surprise racing through his mind. Had Kal just said what he thought he had? Janner pushed the rest of the book back in and turned to stare at his brother. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

Kal looked at him scowling and muttered, “I want to propose to Galya.”

Janner smiled. He was looking forward to teasing Kal about this one. Although, he reflected. He probably won’t appreciate it. I’ll wait until a little later. “Well, then. I suppose you’ll have to take her somewhere she likes and ask her there.”

“But I don’t know where to take her!” Kal exploded, throwing up his arms in exasperation. “That was the entire point of asking you.”

Janner shook his head. “You know her better than I do.”

“Yeah, but, I mean, I don’t know where she'd like to go.” Kal sputtered.

“Okay, let me think." Janner set the remaining books on the floor gently and thought for a minute. "I would recommend taking her somewhere nice, like one of the more secluded places on the Isle. There are some gorgeous spots along the coastline. Choose a place with some pretty flowers and trees and move on with your plan from there.”

“Yes! Perfect. Thank you Janner, so, so, so much!” Kal ran over and punched Janner lightly in the shoulder. 

Janner shook his head, chuckling as his brother ran from the room. “Oh, wait!” He yelled, remembering something. “Whatever you do, don’t chicken out half-way through!”

“I won’t!” was the distant response. 

“And don’t forget about the meeting!” Janner added. 

He received no response to this one. He sighed. It seemed as though he was once again going to spend the time before and during the first ten minutes of the meeting searching for his little brother. 

Oh, well. At least Kal was actually making progress in his relationship with Galya. Janner was looking forward to letting Leeli and Sara know. He would decide how much he would let himself tease Kal after the meeting was over.

Chapter 2: Proposal Problems

Janner and Sara strolled through one of Anniera’s orchards, enjoying the shade from the newly clothed Bumpfruit1 trees. Sweefts twittered and sang among the branches, and one of the more gentle species of flabbit that enjoyed not the taste of human flesh but that of thwap — particularly the garden variety — loped along on the ground, sniffing at blades of grass distastefully. The number of thwaps in Anniera was steadily shrinking, and without the thwaps there was a good chance that the flabbits would turn toward something else for their sustenance. Like people.

“Please explain,” Sara interrupted the silence. “Why aren’t you worried about the flabbits? The little things are as vicious as they were in Glipwood Forest, only these hate thwaps instead of us. And the thwaps are running out.”

“You see, that would be an issue,” Janner began, crouching down and removing a piece of dried thwap meat from his pocket. The little flabbit hopped closer and began munching on it gently. It wasn’t thwap exactly, but to the flabbit it was almost thwap. Good enough to eat, but not good enough to slaughter. “Except that the thwaps give birth to their kits relentlessly.”

“Relentlessly?” Sara asked, a laugh on the edge of her voice.

 Janner glanced up and her twinkling blue eyes and smiled. “Well, I mean, their litters are huge and they have them so often—”

“Relax,” Sara whispered. “I’m teasing you.”

“Mrs. Wingfeather,” Janner stood up and cocked his head. “You know better than to do that, don’t you?”

“Not really,” Sara giggled. 

Janner took her right hand and they continued walking. They had only just stepped out of the forest when Sara spoke again. 

“Janner,  why do you have your sword with you?”

Janner froze. “Uh,” he hesitated, chuckling nervously. He ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the sword that was nestled in its sheath and strapped to his right hip. “You see, I —” Then he caught the disapproving look in Sara’s eyes and the way her hands planted themselves firmly on her hips. He sighed. “Fine. I was just worried that something would happen when we were out walking and I wanted to have it just in case.”

Sara shook her head. “Janner Wingfeather, you really need to stop being so paranoid. Nothing is going to happen.”

“Something happened!” A panting voice yelled from far ahead of them. 

Janner held his hand up,  shielding his eyes from the sun’s glare and squinted. “Kal?” Oh, what is it now?

Kalmar skidded to a halt in front of them, panting. He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees. “Janner,” he gasped, out of breath. “I just asked Galya to go sailing with me and she asked if anyone else was coming. I told her that you and Sara were.”

Janner stared at his brother in disbelief. The entire point was for Kal to take Galya alone and propose to her alone. Not only that, but did he really expect Sara to go sailing? In her condition? “I don’t think the open Sea is safe for Sara and the baby.” 

Sara rolled her eyes. “Janner, I’m fine. I think the real questions are, one: Kal, you’re actually proposing to her? And, two: Kal, how do you expect to propose to her if Janner and I are around?”

Kal looked down at the grass and twisted the toe of his shoe into it. “Um, I don’t know.”

“Kal!” Janner raised his voice. “I told you that you can’t back out of this, remember? You’ve set your plan in motion, now you have to actually go through with it.”

“Janner,” Sara soothed. “Be happy for him for just a few seconds, alright?” She glanced at Janner, who implored her with a look of exasperation and annoyance. “I mean,” Sara cleared her throat and furrowed her brow a bit in mock seriousness. “Kalmar, if you’re going to propose to Galya, you need to do it the right way! You can’t hold on to Janner’s hand through this.”

Kal huffed irritably. “But Galya’s already looking forward to seeing both of you. And I need Janner’s help sailing the ship. It’s not very big, but I can’t do it alone.”

Janner looked at his little brother. There was a part of him that had always worried about Kal, even when they were little. Even in his oldest memories, Janner could hear his mother saying, “watch your younger siblings, especially Tink.” Not only had it made Kal restless and more prone to getting himself into trouble, but he had always acted younger than his age. Or maybe it was just that Janner acted older than his age — he wasn’t sure which. Either way, it was a problem. It had certainly become less of an issue in the nine or so months when they were on the run from the Fangs and Gnag the nameless, but occasionally it wove through the mature cloth of their new lives. 

“Fine,” he sighed, giving in as he always did and how he knew Kal knew he would. “We’ll come." Janner turned towards Sara. "But the minute you feel sick or dizzy —”

Sara interrupted him. “The minute I feel sick or dizzy, I’ll breathe in more sea air and lean over the rail to feed the sea creatures if need be. There is no way we’re turning back in the middle of Kal’s proposal to Galya.”

Defeated on both fronts in regards to everything he had tried to convince Kalmar and Sara of, Janner trailed slightly behind his wife and brother. “This is futile,” he muttered as Kal led them over to the dock where the little ship, The Shining Beauty, bobbed in the water. And sitting lightly on a wooden dock crate was Galya Striggs. Galya waved at them, and Kal waved back. Janner and Sara smiled. 

Sara, the talker that she was, walked straight over to Galya and struck up a conversation about the flowers and fruits that were blooming and ripening this time of year. 

Janner looked at Sara with worry until he felt Kal dragging him away to do a final check on The Shining Beauty. He walked up the gangplank to the deck and automatically began tightening ropes that were too loose. He glanced over at Sara and Galya every few minutes, concern flitting around in his stomach. What if something happened to Sara when they were out on the water? What if the last maintenance crew hadn’t done their job thoroughly, and the ship began leaking in the middle of the sail? What if —

“You know, if you don’t stop nagging Sara about being careful and everything, she’s going to get really annoyed with you before the month is out." Janner turned to see Kal standing at his shoulder, arms crossed. "Mama had all three of us without any problems. She hasn’t had any issues so far. What makes you think that something will go wrong now?”

Janner sighed. “I don’t know. It’s gone so well. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I think that because it has gone well that something will go wrong.”

Kal placed a reassuring hand on Janner’s shoulder. “Janner. Sometimes life is peaceful. Sometimes there are no snags. Thank the Maker that it’s been this way and pray that it will continue to be.”

“I know,” Janner sighed, his shoulders slumping. Kal nodded to him and walked away to check on something else. 

Janner closed his eyes and bowed his head. When they were running from the Fangs, he had begged the Maker for rest and peace. He had received perfect peace in his death, and the Maker continued giving him that peace of heart and mind in the following seven long years. 

“Maker,” he whispered. “Please, grant me peace of mind through this storm in my head.”

Then a gentle breeze blew in the scent of salt water from further out in the sea. Janner breathed it in deeply, a smile crossing his face. For a moment, he imagined his Papa standing beside him. 

Then he opened his eyes and went back to tightening the knots. He looked up at the cloudless blue sky and felt peace in his heart. 

It was a lovely day to be at sea.