Home is Where The Heart Is

[Shabuto Venkage]

As Shabuto took in the Chef’s words he felt a writer air dance about him. Caressing the nape of his neck like an unwelcome hand. The feeling, this haunting sensation calling Venkage to the eye of the storm. He was sure it was more than some old folktale used to keep rough kids in check. The hollow almost voided feeling in his chest, like a place where the air could not gather was a real to him as the people in this room.

“Who are these…Alsace? Where can I find them?”

He spoke with a tinge of uncertainty clouding his words. There were nots upon knots of hesitation welding inside him. Part of him feared what could be revealed if he kept peeling back the layers, but he knew he could not move forward in earnest unless he came to understand how he got to this state to begin with. Years he spent under the thumb of the Nightmare wolves forged into a heartless blade, the many people he left to fend for themselves on Rudral just focused on escaping. There was a bubbling sensation, a desire for vindication, retribution for what was stolen from him.

The chef and the other were able to gather in joy and kinship under the comfort of their leaders protection, a blessing of blissful ignorance….a right that was taken from him. And even though he could never unlearn the things he had been exposed to, here was the chance to experience the side of the islands he was forbidden from interacting with. To learn and experience the culture he was denied. Every question asked, another path revealed and while he could not be certain where the end of this road would lead he was sure that all possibilities lead back to the one who took him in the first place.

Back to Grixas….

But at least for now, he could enjoy the warmth of the sun on his skin, and the salt of the seas in his tongue.

[Venkage Clos]

Gunther stood up from his seat on the wall, dusted off his clothes calmly and rested the clean picked skewer on the plate between Shabuto and the chef. They weren't known for their wide vocabulary or flowery diction, but in the righteousness of their heart. Gunther rarely said more than what was necessary and people trusted him almost without question wherever he went. Through his mask, Gunther looked down on Shabuto with firm stare for just a moment. The chef looked on with a satisfied smile on his face, leaning back and crossing his arms.

"Looks like they found you."

"Azul," Gunther said before sauntering toward the doorway, ducking a little to keep from bumping his head on the way out. Before disappearing into the sun kissed beach, Gunther looked back one more time at Shabuto, then disappeared into the light.