Free Arcene: The Island by Al K. Line

of curiosity and her inquisitive nature meant there was no way she could pass up such an opportunity — they would visit the island and uncover its secrets.
    All they had to do was figure out how to get down to the harbor, get across the water, find a way in and hope that if anyone lived there they didn't mind her popping over to say hello.
    For a moment, Arcene had a strange sense of déjà vu. Having just come from one strange castle here she was at another. But this was different, this was no castle as she had ever known one, this was as if the rock itself had decided where to place buildings and had accepted some, changed its mind about others, creeping over them and giving the whole edifice an organic feel that called to her, wanted her to come visit. Play, explore, uncover secrets.
    But should she go? She should try to get home, and she dearly wanted to see Lucien, but what adventures would she miss? Was this irresponsible? She was a mother, after all, and mothers didn't go running off and never returning home. What was a few days though? This was her one chance to have adventure — she'd cared for her child for seven years, subduing her nature, acting responsibly. She was young, still wild at heart, and who was she kidding? There was no way she could miss out on this.

 
     
     
    A Nice Place to Visit
    Arcene walked away from the sight of the island and the village crowded around the harbor, moving along the cliff top to find the access road that would hopefully allow her and Leel to get down to the water and somehow get to the island.
    She promised herself they wouldn't stay long, would only take a day to do a little exploring. No big adventures, just a short stay to check out the mysterious place. The first sign of danger and they would be gone, head along the coast and make their way home to The Commorancy.
    A day was all right, wasn't it? She wouldn't stay long, didn't even want to as she craved a hug from her son. Needed one. She missed his smile, the smell of him, wanted to bury her head in his perfect hair and take in his essence. She'd never thought of it before, what he smelled like, but the freshness of the coastal air after the cloying atmosphere of the forest, and the aroma of damp earth, had opened her senses, and the first thing she had thought was how amazing such a simple thing as the smell of your child was.
    So, a quick foray into the village, find a way to get to the island and that would be it, then it would definitely be all about finding a way home to be reunited with her family.
    The wind tugged at Arcene's tattered kilt, and a strand of hair worked loose from her pigtails. Then the ribbons were free, hair untangling and cascading down her back before the wind lifted the fine-as-silk strands so they drifted like gossamer. She held the red ribbons tight, the simple pieces of material feeling important. It was a part of home, that was it, they were hers and they were familiar, so she clutched them tight like they were as precious as her son.
    The cliff edge had eroded in places, the limestone exposed, the drop high and impossible to clamber down. Leel bounded off ahead looking for a safe route to the village, cut off as the cliff curved away, so Arcene kept walking, hoping to find the remains of the road.
    As they rounded a bend, signs of the road became apparent. The land flattened out and the road, or what used to be a road, guided the way down.
    Whenever she saw these old transport routes she thought of how they once looked: covered in pristine, black asphalt, and probably jammed full of people in their cars as they had what they used to call "vacations," where they frantically hurried to picturesque places like this to forget the jobs they did, and spend a few precious weeks pretending they were free.
    Such concepts were alien, seemed ridiculous to Arcene. Why didn't people just live somewhere nice to start with and not do stupid jobs that made them depressed and angry?
    It was all about