A retelling of Ten Keepers: Book One's Chapters 11-12

Bonds Tighten

John's POV

John was sulking up on the ship's deck, dramatically watching the sunset as Rusty chewed a bone toy nearby.

He was thinking back to the battle, specifically at a certain someone (coughEILENEcough) that's been annoyingly crowding his thoughts for no reason at all. He wasn't angry or anything. Because being angry meant he actually cared about her but he doesn't!

So he's totally not angry. Totally.

George interrupts his stewing, "Eilene's awake-"

"Briggan Almighty!" John exclaimed.

Marching up to her quarters, he finds the girls already crowded in her room. The other boys were right outside, trying not to look like they're eavesdropping and failing to do so. The babysitters were probably social distancing somewhere nearby.

"We were worried sick!" Hope was saying when he comes into earshot.

"I'm fine guys, really," Eilene replied, tone weak.

"Fine my BOTTOCKS! You're not fine!" John fired, pushing himself into the conversation.

He doesn't calm down when she had the audacity to roll her eyes. "Nice to see you too, oh-son-of lord Gaundor."

"Don't you 'oh-son-of lord Gaundor' me!" John scolded, going into a rant, "What were you thinking, bringing a stick into a focking battle then jumping off a waterfall? What are you? Immortal? A fish? Tom Cruise?"

"You jumped off the waterfall too," Eilene pointed out.

John sputters out. "That's beside the point- it was dangerous!"

"Dinesh's trunks, the waterfalls was a good height of twice your size, calm down!" Eilene sighed out exasperatedly. "

"I- Wh- But still! Look what's it done to you!" John exclaimed, "You're injured and weak!"

"I passed out from exhaustion," Eilene mumbled.

"Same thing!"

"But it wasn't from that."

John scoffed. "Oh yeah? Then from what?"

"It was overexertion... and I also skipped breakfast," Eilene admitted.

"You skipped WHAT?!" John cried in outrage because what in the Haliwir-

"John, calm down," George interrupted, having the audacity to look amused. "Seriously, you sound like a dad."

"Excuse me?" John exclaimed, not calming down.

Zoey whistled. "Your blood pressure is skyrocketing."

"Eilene's okay now," Hope reassured him. "No need to get all worried."

"I-I wasn't worried!"

Irene rolled her eyes. "Then don't get all mad."

"I wasn't mad either!" John denied. "Mad means I care, and I totally do not care! What I DID care about is the Marble Swan, which she could've lost!"

"Oh right, do we still have it?" Eilene asked, unbothered.

Zoron poked his head in. "Yep! Safe and sound."

"Cool." Eilene gets up and slowly begins heading towards the door.

John moves to stop her. "If you think you're going anywhere-"

"Look," Eilene cuts him off. "As much as I'm sincerely grateful for you helping me out earlier, swords boy, your scolding is giving me a headache and I'm also really hungry. So if you don't mind..."

John wanted to disagree. Unfortunately, she had a really good point. Grudgingly- and not because he was angry or anything -he steps aside to let her through.

"Fine."

"Thanks." Eilene slips out the room.

Zoey began to snort, failing to hold in her laughter.

"What's so funny?" John scowled.

"Hey John!" Zoey grinned, before striking a dumb gesture at him, "GeT sOmE!"

Irene snorted before trying to cover it up with a cough. George didn't even try, letting out a guffaw of laughter. Heck he could even hear the boys snickering from right outside the room, not eavesdropping my arse.

"...you're lucky you all have plot armor," John muttered.

Zoron's POV

Zoron was leaning on the railings of Tellun's Pride, hoping this would be the moment that Zope can finally have their alone screentime.

As if the writer heard his pleas, Hope spawns in.

"Crazy day today," Hope sighed, leaning on the railings beside him.

Zoron chuckled, "You can say that again."

They watched the rolling waves in companionable silence, relishing the peaceful company in each other and the fact that they finally have screentime-

"You think they're ever gonna get together at some point in the story?" Hope suddenly asked.

"Who?" Zoron replied dumbly.

"John and Eilene."

A glass shatters in the back of Zoron's head because why in Haliwir were they talking about them?

"Maybe?" He supplied nonetheless.

Hope hummed, deep in thought, "I bet they would. Of course, not without some bumps considering how they are-"

"What about us?" Zoron blurted out.

No thoughts. Head empty.

...

Hope blushed. "U-Uh what?"

"What?" Zoron squeaked out.

"No, what did you mean?" Hope pressed on, looking hopeful.

"I don't know! What did you think I meant?" Zoron was absolutely backtracking now because no way- no way- no-

"I KNOW!" They both jumped as John came in between them, swinging an arm around both of them with a mischievous grin as he pulls them closer together. "I think... that you both should get your acts together and stop drawing this out, huh?"

"What are you doing here?" Zoron mumbled, slightly ticked and still panicking.

"No idea. The author probably put me here by mistake. But since I'm here, I'll tell you what..." John gave them both a look while whispering, "It's EXACTLY what you think it is. Seriously. You're not subtle, guys."

Zoron glared daggers at him. Hope blushed like there was no tomorrow.

"If you get your shite together, I swear to you this'll be the last time I take over your screentime." John pats the both of them on the back. "Just a food for thought."

He finally leaves them be and there's a palpable air of silence between them.

Zoron decided to grow some. "Hope, I-"

"I think you're nice," Hope beats him to it. "A-And that I really enjoy talking to you."

"R... Really?"

"Yeah."

"I-I enjoy talking with you too," Zoron breathed out, almost slumping in slight relief.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They stare at each other. Then shy smiles began to form on their faces as they enjoyed their alone screentime together-

"GO GET SOME!" Zoey yelled in the distance before she runs below the decks.

Leaving the two of them blushing like idiots.

Through The Storm

Ivan's POV

"eeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee!" Ivan screeched as he zoomed onto the ship's deck.

Jef aggressively followed close behind him yelling, "I'M COMING TO GET YOU!"

If you hadn't gotten the memo, basically they were in the middle of a game of unrestrained tag.

"NO YOU WON'T!" Ivan fires back, weaving through crates.

"YES I WILL!"

"NO YOU-"

Ivan bumps into someone. Then Jef bumps into Ivan, who had bumped into someone. And the someone turned out to be-

-a very, ticked-off John.

"Off. Me. Now."

The cousins scrambled off him.

"It was Jef's fault," Ivan pipes up.

Jef squeaked. "What? It was yours!"

"Dude, you bumped into me."

"You bumped into our bro John long before I bumped into you!"

"What? Broski, I only bumped into John because you bumped into me-"

"DUDES!" John loudly interrupts, effectively shutting them up. "No offense, but I literally could care less-"

Ivan catches sight of a something in the sky, slowly coming closer to them. "WOAH WHAT'S THAT UP THERE?"

"WHAT IS IT?" Jef roared, eyes wide with excitement. "IS IT A BIRD? IS IT A PLANE? No... IT'S A-"

"Bird," John finishes, deadpanned. "It's a bird."

"Oh..."

"It's mail!" Eric loudly announced, plucking the bird out of the sky before taking the rolled up note clutched in its talons. "Thank goodness for Twitter, huh?"

The three boys looked at him blankly because that was singlehandedly the most confusing set of words placed in a single sentence.

Eric slumped. "Nevermind."

As if on cue, everyone else comes onto the deck because everyone sort of just has a sixth sense whenever some huge, plot-related detail was about to be revealed.

Eric clears his throat before reading. "Copper Falcon in Northern Amaya. Meet up with Dwayne. Olvan. P.S. Proud X-O-X-O."

Zoey belched. "Eek."

Eric continues reading. "Shaving cream. Moose food. Restock coffee supply. Deodorant-"

"Did our old man just send us an entire grocery list?" Ivan sputters out.

Jef bursts out laughing. "Not our old man!"

"Well, nevermind that," Ella hastily cut in. "We need to change our route back to Amaya."

"By the way, bro, what's the Copper Falcon?" Jef mumbled to him.

Ivan shrugged. "Probably a falcon made out of copper."

"That sounds stupid."

"You're stupid."

"Hey," Jef whispers to Riley, who was nearby, "What's the Copper Falcon? Ivan's asking."

Ivan sputters out indignantly. "I wasn't-"

"It's Essix's talisman," Riley answered cooly. "And no, it isn't a falcon made out of copper."

The cousins exchanged a quick look.

"Oh, yeah, nah," Ivan waves off. "Of course not. The idea of that sounds incredibly stupid-"

"Completely and utterly stupid," Jef pipes in, grinning teasingly. "Whoever you heard it from must've been incredibly weird."

"Right..." Riley shuffles away.

After a moment of silence, the cousins finally caught sight of John, who had watched the entire thing with complete amusement.

Then John deadpanned. "Should I ask?"

The cousins both shook their heads, entering a silent treaty never to discuss the conversation ever again.

John's POV

He was absolutely telling George of the funny thing he had just witnessed because he's a complete bully like that.

Anyway, they got caught up in a storm so now they were all huddled below the deck, hearing the howling wind and crashing waves and... crashing lightning and booming thunder from the outside. A lot of stormy sounds to indicate an actual storm that was happening.

Ivan moaned, slumped over the table. "I hate ships."

"I'm... going to be sick- Hck!" Jef rushed out the room with barfing sounds.

Seriously, John struck lucky to have obtained such an entertaining duo to humor himself with. Sure, they may have been slightly annoying at first but the two were growing on him. This was seemingly becoming the case for everyone else around him. Speaking of...

He spots the object of his most frequent annoyance sitting by one of the windows of the ship.

"Are you going to talk to her?" George whispers into his ear.

"YAH!" John exclaims, scratching his ear. "DiSgUsTaNg!"

"You should talk to her."

"Why?"

"For funsies!" He flashes a peace sign, accompanied by an innocent smile.

"For funsies," John repeated in a deadpan. "What the Haliwir is that supposed to mean?"

"If you talk to her, you'll find out :D"

"...well, I don't know how I can even talk to her without arguing."

George sighed before patting his shoulder. "You know, John, you could be a little less... you sometimes."

John scowled. "Okay ya little shite, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey now, big brother, don't take this the wrong way. I'm just helping my brother out," George grinned. "Now, how about you start by finding common interests."

"Common interests?"

"Yeah, like all normal people in a conversation :D"

John looks at his younger brother weirdly, wondering how he got related to him, before shuffling away. Currently, taking to Eilene sounded much more appealing than dealing with his weirdo brother. Dragging a stool along the way, he plants it nearby her window and plops down on it.

"Watcha doin'?"

"Staring out the window dramatically," Eilene flatly answered.

John whistled. "Sounds... aesthetic."

"So you say."

An awkward silence falls over them. John curses himself with the fact that he was actually considering George's advice on finding... common interests.

If it actually worked... well, only one way to find out, he supposed.

"Er, so what are your interests?" John... attempted.

Eilene looked at him weirdly for the longest time. "...I like reading books, I guess."

"Oh." Sounds like a disinterest for him. "That sounds..."

"Boring?" Eilene supplied.

"Do you want me to be honest?"

"I won't get all butt-hurt," she shrugged. "I'm well aware it isn't for everyone."

"Right..."

Another awkward silence settles between them. He was beginning to curse George for talking him into this.

Eilene sighed before mercifully putting away her anti-social tendencies aside. "How about you?"

"Sparring," John answered. "Preferably with swords."

"That sounds..."

"Cool?" He smirked.

"I was going to say that it sounds just like you," she flatly corrects.

"Well, I'm known to sound cool too."

"Really?" Eilene sarcastically drawled. "I've yet to hear it."

"Oh don't you worry. I'll grow on you one day."

"I'll be waiting for the day it comes, oh son of lord Gaundor."

Despite the banter, this time there were small grins exchanged between the two. He didn't know about her, but she really was growing on him.

Alas, he still couldn't find any common interests between them.

He tries to dramatically stare out the window, only to see lots of storm and shet. What he couldn't see, which bummed him really bad, were the stars. Because he was a big softie for stars I guess.

"A shame for this storm really," John mumbles half-heartedly. "I could barely see the stars."

"You like stars?"

"I like looking at them." He turns to her, "Do you?"

Eilene grunts, "As a matter of fact... I do."

As her words dawn on him, his eyes widened in realization and he loudly gasps, "GASP! Common interests!"

"What."

"AHEM, I mean, that is very cool of you. Because I like stargazing and I am very cool."

"..."

"..."

"Um should I-"

"Just erase the last few words of this conversation."

"Okay."

"But now that I think about it," John hums, doing a big-brain. "Your spirit animal. You named her after the constellation?"

She nods. "Ursa Major. Or, well, minor works too but 'Great Bear' has a nicer ring to it."

"Couldn't agree more," he nods in approval. "I would've named my spirit animal Canis instead but contrary to popular beliefs, we are not the writers of our own story."

"You make it sound like we're mere fictional characters living in a fictional word."

"It's a good metaphor."

"Anyway," Eilene looks at him curiously, "I didn't think you of all people nerded about stars."

"HaH. hAh... this conversation will NOT be repeated outside of us," John glares.

"Noted."

Another silence.

"So..." John pipes up. "Got anymore potential common interests?"

"Neglectful family issues and an angsty backstory?"

"..."

"I thought so."

— — —

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