Flash Flood!

The trips back and forth from Auster to Boreas were always long ones, but every time he came to visit Keahi and he was regaled with more stories of her island home it gave him the inspiration to keep working on this boat for them that could carry them off to the islands. He certainly wasn't getting any younger and the idea of retiring to a beautiful, tropical land with this wolf that had captured his heart was oh so appealing. Every few weeks or so he would trek back up to the north of Boreas to visit Keahi and use the forge he had built in the Armada to fashion more metal fittings and braces for the vessel. The progress was slow, but finally it was starting to take shape and it could even float on the waves when he pushed it out from the shore. He had to ask Keahi for her opinions and advise on how to improve it constantly since she had far more experience in this craft than he did, but he was figuring it out piece by piece and he imagined that by the end of the season they would be ready to set sail.

For now, he could enjoy one of his many visits to his love and could help keep her warm against the unforgiving winter of the north. Being here was just reinforcing his desire to get them to somewhere warmer, but he knew Keahi's dedication to the Armada and he wanted to give her as much time here as she wanted. He was deeply asleep, enjoying the kind of peaceful sleep he only got when he was with Keahi, when he was suddenly jolted awake by both the cry that cut through the night air and Keahi's sudden movement as she was also pulled awake. He stumbles to his paws, shaking his head to try and break free of the fog that muddled his thoughts as Keahi tells him they need to move. He wasn't fully registering yet what was happening or what was pulling them from their sleep, but he still kept to her side and began to rush toward the opening of their den with her–only to see her spill to the ground as her limbs betray her and she trips over her own paws.

"Are you alright?" he mutters as he continues to blink the sleep from his eyes, turning back toward her to help her back to her paws. He had turned his back to the entrance to help her, but that didn't stop him from hearing the rapid approach of the rushing water. He had grown very accustomed to the sound of moving water with all the time he had spent on the coast recently, but this was the sound was so much louder and more imposing that it sent a chill of fear down his spine. He turned back just in time to see the initial onslaught of murky flood waters crash into the side of his forge, momentarily disrupting the shape of the wave as it rushes in toward them. He froze as his seafoam gaze struggled to take in what he was seeing and a dread washed over him even as Keahi bid him to run. Their progress was cut off before it even began as the waters swept up pieces of his forge, the tools he had used again and again, and pieces of trees from the surrounding woods, bringing it all in toward them faster than he could comprehend. It all caught up at the entrance of their den, forming a wall between them and the outside. He already knew from his years of working with materials and the physics of how they move that the weight and speed of the water bringing all of this junk to them would make it impossible to dig their way out. He watched helplessly as Keahi tried to slam her way past it, only to bounce off as even more pieces were added to this blockade.

His gaze shifts to meet hers and in that moment he knew that they had both accepted this sudden and cruel fate. The sad smile that crossed her face ripped his heart in two. For so much of his life he had avoided real emotion and feared a commitment to any individual that had the possibility of forsaking him, but he had finally over come that to be with Keahi, only to have their happy ever after ripped away from him. The only consolation he had as he quickly swept the woman he loved up into his embrace was that he wouldn't have to live without her. At least he was here, getting taking from this world with her, rather than coming back to the Armada for another visit only to find her gone. He held her as tightly as he could as the freezing cold water started to fill up the space around them. "None of this is your fault, my love. I love you, Keahi," he managed as he squeezed her tighter, returning her kiss and savoring the feeling of her one last time. The water began to sweep them up, making them float as it neared their heads, but still he clung to her. "I will," he promised with a little smile as she bids him to follow her in the next life. "I'll find you in Hawai’i." They may have not gotten their perfect ending this time, but in the next perhaps they would have better luck.

As the water pulled them under and the last of the space in their den was filled, he closed his eyes and tucked his head down over Keahi's as she pressed her head into his chest and for the first time in his life he fully relaxed. There was a peace and an acceptance of a fate that was forced upon them. He was almost grateful that there hadn't been much time to contemplate what was happening. His only treasure in this world was Keahi and he was able to hold her as they slowly sank back down to the floor of their den, pretending that nothing had changed and he was simply keeping her warm through another cold night. Consciousness eventually begins to slip away, but in his mind he is on the boat that is now sitting abandoned on one of Auster's beaches with Keahi at his side, drifting off over the ocean waves with the wind catching their sails.

- exit Ruga via death -

"Ruga Amanto"