Notes for Dawn's End

            Comes from Acanthor…

Zoe fought through the waves. “Hey, why do I feel so heavy/”

“I know, I hate that, but I’ll show you something. Lay down on your belly and hold yourself up with one arm,” Regal called out.

“Why though? That’s going to be impossible with all the waves!” Zoe yelled.

“Just do it!”

“Fine!” Zoe sank down into the murky ocean and did an underwater pushup. With one hand, easily. “Wait, how it this possible!

“It’s because of the salt! Smell that in the air?” Regal asked.

“Oh, so that’s what it was! I thought it was the waste of a thousand sea creatures!” Zoe said sarcastically.

“Come on! Please be serious. Anyway, all that salt increases the water’s density. Makes you more buoyant. Makes you float,” Regal explained.

“Okay that’s interesting and everything, but how? How does salt make you float?”

“I don’t know exactly…” Regal trailed off. “I didn’t really go to school much back on Acanthor. My parents pulled me out every summer to hell with the fish harvesting. But I do know it increases the water’s density, like I said. It’s like… it’s like I makes the water heavier, heavier than you so you can float.”

“Hmmm… All of this is still not helping me swim. Can you tell me more about Acanthor while I fight. The. Ocean?” Zoe said sweetly.

“Okay.” Regal closed her eyes. “Okay. Well, like I told you, we were all fishers, or seawater purifiers. That’s what most of our water is. Sea water without the salt. I was there till… till…” She opened her eyes and gazed up at the sky. “Until my father died in a fishing accident. My mom died from a sickness two months later. The Healers said of a broken heart.”

Regal breathed heavily, in and out, in and out. “That was around the time ___ took power. I had to stay with my uncle but he hated me. He gave me over to the Recruiters. And that’s where I met you.”

Zoe was shocked. Regal never told her what happened to her family. She wanted to desperately lighten her mood. “Which was the best moment of your life,” she joked. Regal didn’t reply. She still stared up.

            Is me and has cool eyes…

Weird blue symbols spiraled around the irises of her eyes. “Um… Your eyes…”

“I know,” Regal said. “When I look in a mirror they spell out my name.”

·        Leo is weird. Sums it up. Leo becomes deputy of Alcor, new leader of Rana. No one knows why…

She called out Regal’s name but she didn’t respond. “Alcor…” she muttered. “Alcor. I know that from somewhere.”

Her eyes snapped open. “Alcor! That’s a star!”

“Are you sure,” Zoe asked.

“Yes, yes! I have an aunt named Ursa. She’s named after the Great Bear, a famous constellation. Once I had an Earth night sky stimulation and I looked up for Ursa Major. The middle star of its tail had a star behind it, so I asked for its name. They told me Alcor. I know!”