The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

Waves of Unsaid Words

Setting: pre-Caraval, fourth part of "The Best Friends' Failure" mini-series. Scarlett is fifteen.
Inspiration: I wanted a bridge that would lead to the final part of this series, and this seemed like the perfect way to arch everything.

"The Best Friends' Failure"
4/5

The waves roared quietly like background noise as the sun set on the small isle of Trisda. Scarlett's feet dangled in the water as her hands rested on the damp wood of the docks. Felipe had asked to meet with her, telling her he had something important to discuss. She was somewhat nervous even though Felipe told her not to be.

"Thank you for coming here on such short notice," Felipe said as his feet clunked on the dock.

"You're being so formal, it's making me more nervous," Scarlett laughed uneasily as he sat beside her.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting I'm not at the academy where 'we shape boys into regal young men.'"

Scarlett wrinkled her nose, "Edicate class?"

"My least favourite class, yours too?" Felipe shook off his boots, placing them next to Scarlett's heels before dipping his feet in the water.

Scarlett nodded, "It's absolutely dreadful."

Felipe sighed as he tangled his hand in his hair nervously, "I've been thinking of a million ways to say this, Scarlett, and I just can't think of a simple way to put it. So I'm just going to put it out there; I want to run away."

"You want to what?" Scarlett looked at him incredulously.

"Run away. With you. And bring Tella, of course."

"Are you out of your mind, Fel? We can't just run away! We're on a damned isle, we just can't up and leave," Scarlett retorted with exasperation.

"Why not? Why can't we just sail away and get the hell out of here?" Felipe pushed.

It wasn't like either of them to curse, but this idea had been on both of their minds for a long time. Though Scarlett had buried this thought along with other things, Felipe thought about running away willingly every night. They hadn't had much time together due to their studies, and it seemed many things were left unsaid.

"Because of the consequences. Do you know what my father will do if we run away?" Scarlett crossed her arms.

"If we get caught, I'll get a stern talking-to from my old man, maybe a good bruise across my jaw. Nothing I can't handle. The real question is, 'what will he do if we don't run away?'"

"There are better, safer options, Fel."

"Like what?" Felipe scoffed, but realization dawned on his face. "No. Absolutely not."

"It doesn't sound so bad anymore." Scarlett shrugged kicking her feet around in the water.

"An arranged marriage doesn't sound bad? And I'm the one out of my mind?"

"It's better than running away," Scarlett sighed.

"You will not walk into a marriage blind as long as I breathe. Have you forgotten that night when you were fourteen, I was fifteen, and you were crying on my doorstep because your father had told you about a future arranged marriage? I remember that night clear as day. My heart broke for you as you told me there was more to life than just wealth and power.

"You wept in our backyard until daybreak not wanting to be trapped by yet another man. Every word you said that night has stuck in my brain, even if it was all out of despair in a mental breakdown."