For Edmund

[noblerworld]

Fishing in a boat was pretty simple, Seifer thought. You drove it out until you found a shoal, and then you dropped the nets, waited and then dragged the nets on board, removed and washed down the fish you kept and counted your catch. Most of the time was spent just dropping the nets and hoping that both you found something and that Edmund wouldn't try and talk to you too much.

Which was really the one black spot of the sea being back and being able to do this again, it was Edmund's boat not Seifer's and so he had to listen the other boy's suggestions. Which mostly meant that they couldn't stay out from dawn to dusk like Seifer wanted. He kept track of how many fish they caught every trip out, and every week. He knew both the most fish they'd ever caught and how many they'd caught yesterday and it both annoyed and baffled him that Edmund cared so little about beating those totals. He seemed happy just to take what they could find in a session.

Which today was a shoal of mullet they'd stumbled across around the back of the second Island.

"You up for handling this?" he shouted across as he positioned himself at his side of the nets, ready to pull them in. "Looks like we've caught some big ones."

There was no more bite in the comment then there normally was. Seifer saw the world as a series of challenges to be overcome, to prove yourself against and teasing one upmanship was the only way he ever really communicated with anyone. You joked that they couldn't cope, they boasted that they could do it all themselves and you both had a good laugh. Well, either that or else they got upset and defensive which was often just as fun.

Comments

[giftless]

Over time, Edmund had accustomed himself to Seifer's rougher edges. He was not ready to call the other boy a friend, as in Edmund's mind that title required more than simply spending time together but sharing of one another. But he did not eye him suspiciously or doubt him nearly so much as he had in the beginning. The need to be better grated on Edmund mostly for its constancy. It bothered him more when Seifer felt the need to be better at the expense of another, but as their fishing trips included only Edmund, Seifer and the fish, and Edmund was confident enough in himself not to take offense (on good days), this usually did not present a problem so great they could not move past it. It was the sort of attitude that Edmund was accustomed to finding in soldiers, but outside of war it felt silly.

Edmund had cut the engines and locked the wheel, looking with interest over the side of the boat to see their haul. He grinned faintly at Seifer's now expected and blunted barb.

"Let's bring them in," he said, grabbing the net. "Faster we do, the sooner you can count them."

Honestly, Edmund would have put him in charge of the treasury in Narnia and not thought twice about it.

[noblerworld]

Seifer nodded his ascent, with a little smile of his own at the reply, and started to pull the net in.

They were old hands at this job and before long they had the fish all on deck and counted out. One less than last time, he noted, damn it.

"I'll take one for Nymeria," Seifer said once they were done. It was a statement but letting Edmund know he was doing it was as close to a request for permission as he ever got. Once a week he took a fish for Nymeria and that was it. It wasn't something he felt up for discussion.

[giftless]

Edmund cared as little about Seifer supposedly taking a fish for Nymeria as he did about how much catch they took in every day. But he was curious, which is quite a different thing from being wholly invested. He had not commented the first time Seifer had announced that he was taking a fish, assuming that the other boy would explain. But then he had remembered who he was dealing with and thought perhaps it was a one time thing. The practice continued and Edmund's curiosity grew, until they found themselves here.

"If you're trying to win her favor, I'm not sure that's the way to go about it," he remarked.

[noblerworld]

"Heh," he breathed out a little laugh at that. "Nah, it's more repaying a debt."

[giftless]

"A debt?" Edmund echoed, curiosity heightened even more. The direwolves were not simple animals; they were as close to Talking Narnian beasts as Edmund had ever known, though they never came close to speaking. A well-trained dog might work to save a human out of training, an affinity for humans fostered within him, but Nymeria especially had to choose to do something before doing it.

"What in Aslan's name could she have done for you?"

[noblerworld]

For a moment Seifer didn't reply at all as he turned away to focus on the horizon for a moment. It wasn't something he'd ever really talked about but he had no real reason to lei either.

"She decided I was better off alive than dead," he said somberly and, for once, without any bombast. "I have been trying very hard to prove she was right."

[giftless]

Edmund had been half inclined to believe that Seifer would leave the question hanging and unanswered in the salty breeze. That an answer came at all somewhat surprised him. The answer itself greatly surprised him, so much so that he remained still, attempting to parse its meaning for too long.

It simply did not sound like Seifer speaking. Not the Seifer who rudely cut through life and hurt those around him through carelessness.

"..What did you do?" There had to have been something, some great event. Edmund couldn't think of anything off the top of his own head that would sway Nymeria.

[noblerworld]

"I don't know," he said slowly with a shake of his head. "I don't know what she saw in me."

"If I hadn't come here, to this island, I would have become a monster. A torturer working for a dictator. I've seen videos of that future, it's not ..." he stopped at that. "I ... I only ever wanted to be a hero, to get the glory I deserved. When we saw that video, we thought... I was ready to die, you know, better to die innocent than become that."

The words were flowing out of Seifer now, incoherent and muddled up, and he wasn't sure why and he wasn't sure he could stop them.

"I do not know why Nymeria stopped her."

[giftless]

Sometimes when you listen to someone speak, someone you don't know very well at all or perhaps do not like very much, you can find yourself unexpectedly excited by certain things. Certain words and tones sound so familiar to your ear that you want to sit up straighter and nod and say, "Yes, me too," even though what you are talking about isn't something to get excited over and isn't exactly the same. Edmund heard echoes of himself -- young and scared and regretful for having been taken in -- in Seifer's words. Enough to have some idea what to say.

(His gaze did narrow at the mention of her, but she wasn't the point right now.)

"Because everyone makes mistakes," he said. "And everyone can be good again, if they want to."

[noblerworld]

"You make your choices," Seifer agreed and then he stretched himself and wandered back towards the motor. "Doesn't have to be the same one twice in a row."

"Can't gossip like old wives all day," he added in a somewhat harsher voice then he'd been using. "Best we get this to the kitchen before it dries up."

[giftless]

Edmund took the hint and moved without complaint to the wheel once more. Engine rumbling loudly beneath them, he directed them back to shore, casting a glance or two Seifer's way. There were half a dozen things he could think of to say, but none of them felt right to say to Seifer.

It wasn't until they were back to the dock that Edmund had reason to speak. Frowning, he cut the engine and let the boat coast to its mooring.

"Was that boat there when we left?"

[noblerworld]

"Don't think so," Seifer replied as he jumped ashore and helped tether the boat properly. "Huh."

He was pretty sure he'd never seen it at all before, actually.

"Best take a closer look."

[giftless]

"It is that time of year," Edmund remarked as he moved to secure the boat to the dock with ropes. He kept one eye on the new boat the entire time though, speeding efficiently through his task, his attention taken now.

"Probably someone's island gift... unless someone just arrived in a boat." It wasn't impossible, but Edmund's mouth screwed up in a frown. He would be rather jealous of anyone who arrived with his own boat.

[noblerworld]

Seifer nodded as, their task done, he wandered over closer to read the writing on the side. They could bring in the load after-wards.

And then he smirked suddenly as he did so, more satisfied than joyful but still clearly happy.

"Bad news, Edmund," he said dryly, "looks like you're going to be fishing on your own again."

He pointed one lazy finger at the message on the side that said, clearly, "For Seifer".

[giftless]

Edmund took a few steps closer, but the words were plain as day, short and to the point.

In all honesty, he was happy for Seifer. He knew the kind of freedom that a boat could bring and it was a very good gift indeed. Whether it was deserved or not was someone else's judgment, and as Edmund had a boat he hardly felt gypped.

That wasn't why his shoulders slumped, as though in defeat, for a moment.

"Hell," he sighed. "Are you going to turn this into a fishing competition now?"

[noblerworld]

"Heh," Seifer breathed out a little laugh as he rested one hand on the boat's side, "don't worry. I'll try not to make you look too bad."

[giftless]

Edmund rolled his eyes and heaved another sigh.

"I'm saying it now: I'm not competing with you. I'm not. You can't make me look bad," he insisted. "Now let's get this catch in before it gets ideas about jumping back in."

[noblerworld]

"Sure," Seifer agreed goodnaturedly as he removed the hand from his boat and walked back over to help move the catch.

"Can't blame you for chickenin' out."

[giftless]

Edmund pressed his lips together in displeasure, though underneath the expression was a certain look of amusement.

"I have a fish," he threatened, holding a fifteen-pound, bright red opah by the tail in a menacing fashion. "And I will hit you with it."