The Waters of Dawn Cove
~Story 5~

Keshri stared out over the water. His mind wandered like it did when he was on the road between settlements. He'd been at Dawn Cove for half a year now. After his elder brother Nyaka had run off with a visiting caravan, taking a sacred temple girl with him, life in their hometown hadn't exactly been pleasant. Nyaka had returned within two weeks to take them to this little peaceful oasis but those 14 days had been all it had taken for the relationship between the four brothers to sour a bit. Especially Yanik was resentful. 
Life had certainly changed for all of them. Nyaka himself had been a cattle boy, not really a profession that had a lot of future, but it had paid for food after their father had passed away, adding to the budget of his mother's laundry and mending service. Keshri himself had been a message runner, a job he could probably do anywhere. And truth be told, joining the caravan would probably be more lucrative if maybe a bit more dangerous. Parvas, their youngest brother had not been apprenticed to any job yet, so all he'd have to deal with was the move. It was the 2nd youngest in their family, Yanik that had lost the most. He'd been apprenticed to a clerk at the temple. Their mother had been so proud of him. And with one impulsive action by their brother, all the hard work had been undone. Yanik had been lucky to come away without a serious punishment. 
A sudden splash broke Keshri's focus. Turning his head left and right, up and down, he tried to localise the origin of the splash. Giggling behind him, alerted him to the fact that he was searching for the wrong cause.
"Got you." Parvas grinned.
"Haha." Keshri mouthed his displeasure, "What if I'd stumbled?"
"You were sitting on a stable rock and far enough from the water." Parvas shrugged. 
Two years younger than Keshri, he was just about the same height and size. Being the youngest in the family, he had had the most free time to play. The recent move the more rural setting meant the teenaged boy had even more freedom now. Parvas had spent all that free time running around exploring and causing mischief. Still, he knew that these blissful days wouldn't continue. Soon he'd have to become useful and contribute to the settlement. At this point in time, the options were still rather slim. He could join the caravan, but he didn't really want to be away from home and his mother for too long. He could become a farmer, but doubted he had the patience for it. The same went for fishermen. He wasn't as smart as their brother Yanik so anything having to do with reading, writing or calculating was out. If only games and aimless roaming were a valid job. Maybe he could go out gathering ingredients for the young cook that had joined their settlement. She might pay him in trade, but that wasn't all bad. 
The third brother in the family popped up behind them and immediately a scowl appeared on his face.
"Oh, I didn't know you guys were here." Yanik said.
"Come on brother, don't run." Parvas called, trying to quip a bit to get his brother to smile.
"We can leave if you want to be alone for a while." Keshri offered, knowing that particular need quite well.
Yanik shook his head and turned away from his brothers, wanting to leave them, when Parvas grabbed his arm.
"Stay with us please." the youngest brother pleaded.
"I'm just not happy here." Yanik sighed.
"It's not as if you're meant to stay here forever." Keshri said, "You can go back."
"No I can't, no-one will trust me." Yanik grumbled, "my future is ruined."
And it really was, Yanik thought. He'd been only a couple of weeks away from getting a better position and then he would have been set for life. His ambitions hadn't even run to getting into one of the high ranking positions. A good stable and inconspicuous post serving under one of the priests or clerks would have been good enough for him. Then he would have been able to prove his worth to his mother who only seemed to have eyes for her oldest son. Even this move had been because of him. 
"What will I be doing around here?" Yanik wondered forlorn.
"I hear you." Parvas nodded, "Our options are limited."
The two of them looked at Keshri who shrugged.
"Yes, you gave a decent chance at joining the caravan." Yanik sneered.
"He'll have to miss his new girlfriend though." Parvas jested.
"Girlfriend?" Yanik suddenly got interested in the conversation and pulled closer.
"She's not my girlfriend." Keshri sighed, "We're friends."
"Who's the girl?" Yanik asked, looking at Parvas.
"She's called Tavula." Parvas said, "She's the daughter of one of the caravan handlers and she's very pretty. Long black hair, nice curves. You know. She's very handy with a brush too." he continued waggling his eyebrows.
"She's creative." Keshri defended her, "And she likes it here."
"Were you maybe meeting her?3 Parvas asked innocently.
"How did you know?" Keshri asked.
"Let's just say there is little to do here. I happened to come across you two on a couple of prior occasions."
Tavula chose that time to round the corner and join the group of young men. She'd been running a little late for her meeting with Keshri because she just hadn't been able to leave her latest decoration project in the middle of completion. She'd filled small glass containers with plants, rocks, shells and colourful fabrics. She strung the different containers together and had hung them outside her window. Now the inside of her room was alive with a kaleidoscope of colours and reflections. 
"I didn't know you'd all be here." the girl said.
"We just kind of invited ourselves." Parvas grinned.
"Nice to meet you." Yanik said, he'd barely taken the time to get to know the other young people at the settlement these past months.
"The mysterious brother, charmed." Tavula said with a small flourish.
"We were just talking about our future." Parvas said, explaining their plight.
"There is another option." Tavula said after a bit of thought.
"What did we miss?" Parvas asked.
"You know ow the caravan leaders impressed sea dragons, right? I'm pretty sure they might like others to do the same. Think of all the possibilities dragons could offer us. Instant travel. Deep sea fishing and exploration. Transportation across the sea, naval routes. And I've probably only scratched the surface."
"Would you do it?" Keshri asked her.
"Oh, I... don't know. I'm quite happy here."
" Think of all the deep sea treasures they could bring you." Parvas grinned.
"And the places you could see and all the different cultures." Yanik added.
"Plus you'd definitely be able to go wherever you want, even if that means staying here." Keshri said.
"Maybe we should all go ask Gejuisu if we can go to Lantessama." he added.
"Or someplace else." Yanik insisted, not wanting to go to the same place his brother impressed.
"That's up to you. The nekrats probably know where else you can go." Keshri shrugged.

~~°~~°~~°~~
Stats and Nekrats:
Keshri (m) and Lake Volludh (m)
Yanik (m) and Eji-Toinaye’Vanya (m)
Parvas (m) and Fountain Sarih (m)
Tavula (f) and Sand Wamid (f)

~~°~~°~~°~~
All images found with google
Nekrats impressed at Lantessama Isle