Darin put up with the formality as much as she could, but when Ridahne stood back up she wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s neck and let out a shriek of laughter. Darin had laughed a lot today, but she felt inclined to do so, especially after the events of this morning. She pulled away from the warrior to look at the now calmer waters. People may not get a full day’s work, but they would get some. Absently reached her hands up to undo the braid that was currently a mess after her dive into the salt water. In fact, she was coated in salt. The human could even taste it on her lips. She almost regretted the bath last night as she wasn’t likely to get one tonight. Ah well, she had survived worse than being coated in salt. 

She worked on redoing her braid as she turned her attention back to the docks, “I believe there is more of the market to discover, not to mention the trees without branches, and I suspect there is much gossip and plenty of rumors taking flight in Tasen right about now.” Darin finished tying her hair back, “We should put some of them to rest. I doubt we will be able to do much about all of them though.” She gestured to the docks, “So Captain Rheisun! Please return us to the docks.”

As they journeyed back towards land Darin pulled her boots and leathers back on. On good thing about being The Seed-Bearer was that she didn’t have to wait to dry off. The Sky was more than happy to toss her around and in return she was dry in moments. Darin had to admit that The Sea had a point. It was nice to talk to Astra, to The Sky, The Sea, The Stone, without having to worry about the results of her conversations being spotted. It was nice to see what she was capable of asking for. It was nice to know that she didn’t have to worry about holding back. It was nice to play and to laugh and to have fun with Astra. Still, people have lives and she couldn’t be selfish enough to prevent them from trying to make a living.

The closer they got to the dock the more Darin could spot people either gathering at the water’s edge or watching warily. She wasn’t sure how many people spotted her being thrown out of the ocean or how many had seen the wind slow her descent, but it appeared to be enough that people had managed to figure out which boat she was on. Darin couldn’t see for sure, but she thought she the beginning of a crowd. She didn’t feel uneasy about the crowd, but she did feel apprehensive. The people weren’t hiding anything. She didn’t think the Red Hand was going to take advantage of the crowd to try something. It was just a little more than slightly unsettling to realize that all these people were gathered for her.

Darin found herself taking a step back form the boat’s railing where she had been leaning. She supposed that was the con of having people know that she was The Seed-Bearer. The last time she had been recognized was thanks to an Eluri prophecy and then the Eluri mostly understood that she didn’t want to be known and respect that. The last time she had been lauded in public was at The Farm and there they knew that she was really just one of them. Here? Darin wasn’t sure. Would any of the Azurei even realize what she meant when she said she was just a humble farmer? Was that even really true? How would they react to her once she left the [i]Sun among Rain[i]? Was she allowed to be nervous?

She whispered to Ridahne, “I find myself wanting to tell the captain to just moor his boat here, so I don’t have to deal with the fact that people know what I am.” She looked at her sister with her slight fear plain in her eyes, “What do I do? What do I say? I’m not really just a farmgirl anymore, am I? I am Ri'atal, Hope of Many, and I don’t even know what that means.”