Ghosmoure Saga: Discovery Ch. 03

Chapter 4

Kit went to bed, wondering if she said the right things to Lee. Despite how he looked, Lee was a somber and contemplative soul. At six feet, he can be quite intimidating, never speaking and always a loner. When they were kids, he was tall and lanky and preferred his own company than that of other people. Kit always followed him to the woods at the back of their house where she convinced him to make a fort or he would just make sketches of the forest and everything in it. People are easily surprised that he got into fights for a geeky looking kid. Now at twenty-two, he had a build that people would find little trouble believing he had been a marine, not rippling with muscles mind you but enough for people to give a wary glance. And the way his eyes are set in a hard and somber gaze, one that was reminiscent of their father, did Lee no favors. It was the kind of look that said he saw the world and was saddened by it. But that was just the way his eyes were. If people really get to know him, Lee preferred to smile and watch spoof movies like The Police Squad or Naked Gun.

Tanner was already lying in sleep when Kit returned to their cabin. Tanner had taken off her silly wetsuit and now favored something an actual normal person would wear as a pajama, she was in her sport shorts and tank top. Appropriate attire she said about the wetsuit, what with the strong waves splashing the deck and the squall falling down like a torrent. Kit just wore everyday clothes, a denim short with a battered and fraying tank top with her bikini top underneath. The lights were already out and Kit had only the pale moonlight leaking through the windows to peer through the room. She could just make out the gentle rise and fall of Tanner's chest in the darkness of the cabin. Tanner looked to be fast asleep but Kit has a feeling her older sister still hasn't fallen asleep just yet.

She took of her shirt and shorts and went to bed in her underwear. The air was much colder at night, blistering in the day if the sun's out and it would help Kit sleep deep, especially with how freeing sleeping semi-naked was. She was ready to fall into slumber after a hard day's work below the engine hold. Add that to the emotional talk he just had with Lee. God, she seemed more tired having an emotional conversation than laboring in the dark engine hold. But at least she felt this lightness in her chest as she and Lee aired out their emotions. It felt good. Kit closed her eyes, ready for sleep to take hold.

"Did I not reiterate that we need all the energy we need?" Tanner's deep and stoic voice broke through the silence and Kit was jolted awake. Kit stopped herself from releasing a sigh. She feels a lecture coming up, "We'd be arriving at the island before midday tomorrow and time is of the essence. We need all the focus and energy we could get."

"I was just talking to Lee," Kit reasoned and she hated that there was a slight tremble in her voice when she answered. She was nineteen for Christ's sake, a grown woman. But Tanner always has this domineering tone when talking to anyone. She was a brilliant archaeologist, make no mistake, but she can be such a frigid bitch at times.

"About what?" Tanner asked. Kit felt that the coldness in her voice thawed just a little. Not even Lee could pick up that light softening in her tone at the end. Lee was wrong to assume that their older sister had a block of ice where her heart should be. It just needs a little thawing every now and then is all. Tanner may not show it, but their parent's disappearance in the Arctic shook her more than she lets on.

"Stuff," Kit answered, "How's he feeling, any thoughts and things like that. We may have had a small argument but we made up in the end. I think."

Tanner did not reply, not immediately. There was just the rhythmic rocking of the boat and the sound of the waves, sounds that could perfectly lull Kit to sleep if she lets it. Had Tanner had fallen asleep?

No, probably just thinking.

"He says you were pretty hard on him back when we were kids. Is that true?" Kit resumed the conversation, throwing her question in the dark, not knowing if she could get an answer. Lee was responsible for Kit back when they were kids and Tanner was responsible for Lee and Kit when their parents were out travelling. Of course, there was the endless streams of maids and butlers but Tanner was the secondary parent when mom and dad were away. Kit waited for Tanner to reply.

No answer. Just the sound of the ocean and the creaking of the hull. Then....

"I am disappointed. That is all I will say of our wayward brother," Tanner replied in a single quick breath. Tanner's tone had a bit of edge to it. Kit has to approach the subject of Lee delicately whenever talking to Tanner. Lee may think that Tanner doesn't care about him, thinks too little of him. Quite the contrary, Tanner cares to much to the point of overbearing intensity. Lee merely misconstrued it as superiority complex.

"Lee is apprehensive about the mission," Kit blurted out, then added, hesitatingly, "Should we just tell him the truth? About what we are actually looking? It could --"

"Absolutely out of the question!" Tanner cut her off, Kit was surprised to see Tanner show this much emotion. Her eyes were so alight with emotion that Kit felt a little guilty, that despite telling herself that Tanner has feelings, she could not help but just accept that Tanner had complete control over her emotions. Her sister was still human. Has her own set of strengths and flaws. Tanner then went on a tirade, "If only he stuck around. Weathered it through like you and me did but no, him and his so called "free spiritedness". Mom and Dad were too lenient on him, I say. They should have forced him to go back home rather than let him off that easily. Mother and Father were confident that he would return. That it was just a mere phase," Tanner breathed deep, recomposed herself and settled into her side of the bed. Kit felt like that tirade was more to Tanner herself than to Kit.

"He is more than willing to bury the hatchet." Kit offered, once she sees that Tanner calmed down, "Deep down he is a contemplative soul. But you have to promise me this, that you hear him out. Hear how he feels"

Tanner, however, was unconvinced, "And what would that take? He had made it his natural response to me rebel against me. It's probably second nature to him by now. Easy as breathing."

Kit was prepared for this and explained, "Give and take. Lee knows this. it's the key to every successful relationship between people, family, friends and lovers. Every human relationship, an equal measure of give and take. How does that sound?" It almost sounds like a contract, which would appeal to Tanner. Her older sister made it her priority to conduct herself to according to the rules and expects everyone under her to do the same. Almost an inhumane quality of hers. Some people may hate it but Kit admires that trait about her sister. Tanner has never broken a promise to her.

Tanner was silent, mulling the idea. The bedsheets rustled, Tanner turned to face Kit, "Go on."

"I have an idea in mind. You promise to make more of an effort to reconcile with Lee and bond with him, try to understand him. That will be your olive branch to him, as it were. And he will offer his own olive branch to you. Quid pro Quo," Kit explained.

Kit saw her sister's blue eyes mulling it over but she knew she had her. "Very well." Tanner conceded and Kit had to restrain herself from jumping to joy and hugging Tanner. No need to botch when she was so close. Tanner went on with the details, "What would he do in exchange? Quid pro Quo, Kit. If Lee wants to rejoin this family, he must offer something in return for reconciliation of his abandonment of the Ghosmoure name."

Kit nodded, despite it not being seen clearly in the darkness of the room, "You always say that Lee had been destined for greater things. That he squandered on his privilege having been borne a child of the Ghosmoure family. Well, have him take an active role in the Company's running then."

Tanner was aghast, "A role in the company?! That's not him offering something, that's him being rewarded!"

Kit sighed, "Do you really not get him? He knows you better than you do him." Tanner quirked her head in an angle, trying to guess Kit's meaning. Kit really does have to spell it out for her sister, "Whatever the case, Lee will not see it that way. This is Lee we're talking about, Tan. The boy who ran away from being a Ghosmoure, from money and prestige. He'd rather eke out a living in a crab boat than rub shoulders with the sons and daughters of the powerful families in Cambridge. He'd rather sleep on the side of the road than a hundred-acre manor with staff waiting on his beck and call. He is a wandering soul. He dislikes interacting with people and putting on masks for too long."

Kit felt Tanner nod in the darkness, finally understanding, "He will be put to the test."

"Yes." Kit agreed, though inwardly she doesn't take as much pleasure in that fact compared to Tanner. Kit just wants her family to be whole again, to get along.

"You're the eldest of the family. And by right, you've got the majority of control in the company. But let's face it Tan, your heart and soul is dedicated to the Archaeologic Society," Kit reinforced the idea, stroke up Tanner's ego just a tad bit to make this easier to swallow.

"And you think Lee is?" Tanner asked. Only time will tell, thought Kit but there's no need for Tanner to know that. "He is still a Ghosmoure, Tan. He will rise up to the challenge. He has been living off on the street since he was fourteen and made a life for himself all on his own. What does that tell you?" Kit answered her.

Tanner didn't say anything, which Kit took it as her agreement, cemented by the fact the next time she spoke Tanner began with a soft sigh, a truly rare occasion of Tanner acquiescing an argument, "Very well. Lee will take a more active role in the company, if he agrees that is."

"He'll agree. He won't probably like it but he'll agree. He wants this family whole once more," Kit reassured her. Then thought about something and added, "But I still think we should tell him what it is we're really after," Kit said after a time. She wasn't sure Tanner was still awake with the silence that followed.

"It is pointless Kitten." Tanner spoke. Kit hated it when she uses her full name. She won't mind if it's Lee though. But Tanner knows that Kit hated when people used it, made her feel small, which meant that on this one singular ground, Tanner wasn't budging on. Kit felt her nose scrunching up. Stubborn redhead.

"It will only confuse and distract him from the task at hand," Tanner reasoned, "And for heaven's sake, stop pulling at my covers! You have your own!"

"It's an accident, all right?" I get chilly during the early mornings and I end up pushing away my own covers."

Tan groaned in exasperation.

"Then don't strip down to your underwear when sleeping then!" Tanner complained. Kit couldn't help it; she got into this habits when her friends in college said it helps with sleeping deep. It was really comfy too.

"Just go to sleep already," Tanner said with finality, ending the conversation.

Kit tried her best to shut up and go to bed. But she couldn't help herself. After all this time, they were so close to finding what could be the pivotal discovery in human history. Which is why she was so insistent on letting Lee know the gravity of the situation, him sailing half blind as it is in unknown waters. Kit didn't want anything to happen to her big brother. She herself was frightened and all she does to cope was put on a bright smile in front of everyone else. Tanner herself was pretty anxious too, she'd hold her hands behind her in a mock military pose but Kit saw a reflection and how her hands would shake behind her back. She was projecting a stoic front.

And why wouldn't she?

For just one sleep away, in a little newly spawned island in the middle of the Pacific, Tanner and Kit may finally find proof that gods are real, and they had walked the earth eons ago.