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Declan stood on the deck, watching as the sky darkened. Another fierce storm was on its way, but he wasn't terribly worried - The Clodagh had withstood worse storms, and the squidding season was almost over in any case. He was more worried about his older brother - things had grown a little tense between them of late, and though Declan had tried to talk to Liam about it, his brother had refused to discuss the matter, saying it was nothing for Declan to worry about. Thus a rift had formed between them, when once they'd been as close as two sides of the same coin, and as the first drops of rain began to fall, Declan let his thoughts turn back to his brother who was, at this moment, several feet underwater, trying to escape from whatever mysterious trouble had bothered him so over the last few days.
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Liam swam along the ocean floor, his thoughts churning as his mind went over and over the encounter he'd had in Belfast only a few days ago. Again and again he relived the moment a woman had come up to him and told him she was his birth mother. "I don't know what your mam told you," she'd said, her voice laden with disgust on the word "mam", "but I can promise you it was nothing like whatever poison she filled your head with." She'd reached out to gently stroke the red hair famous in his foster family, her eyes running eagerly over his face. "I love you, and I'd do anything to have you in my life like you should be."
His uncle Calum - named for the man who'd sown the seeds of the squidding business that now dominated the world market - had intervened, telling the woman to get lost. She'd left, but not before slipping a piece of paper into Liam's hand and telling himt to contact her the moment he was away from his "smothering" family. Calum had outright refused to tell his nephew just what the woman's deal was, and Liam had been left stewing ever since. It'd grown worse when he'd gotten home, with his mother taking the slip of paper and throwing it away, telling him the woman - his birth mother - was bad news. Liam had gotten as little out of her as he'd gotten out of his uncle, and when Declan and Calum had opted to take The Clodagh out for one last run before the squidding season ended, Liam had gone with them.
But he hadn't gone for the squidding - Liam's interest was in diving, and besides, he'd told himself, his brother was the true heir. He was just the hanger on, for all that he was a dead ringer for his three-times-great-grandfather. He'd tried telling himself that he was wrong to think so of himself, not when his family had shown him all the love and care he could ever have wished for, and his loyalty to them had been steadfast, even after learning about his birth mother and her chequered past. But now that his parents had gone tight-lipped over his actually meeting his birth mother for the first time, the first cracks had appeared in Liam's loyalty, and the moment The Clodagh had dropped anchor, Liam had gone over the side, letting the water close over his head and snuff out the buzzing seeds of doubt whizzing around in his brain.
Liam was brought abruptly back to the present when his empty lungs let him know he needed air. As much as he longed to stay on the ocean floor, he knew he had to surface, and he did so reluctantly, shaking the water out of his eyes. It had grown dark, and rain was starting to fall, a cold wind raising goosebumps on his neck. A storm was on the way, and Liam felt something inside him rise to meet the challenge of the steadily increasing waves. He could just make out The Clodagh, her storm lanterns now lit, but rather than make for the relative safety of the boat on the ocean's surface, Liam took a deep breath and went under again. Waves broke over his head as he swam for The Clodagh, but he wasn't afraid, even when he got caught in a particularly powerful current that sent him tumbling over and over until he could no longer tell which way was up. All the same, he was glad when his hand bumped against the boat's hull, and, lungs burning, he fumbled his way to the surface, spitting out the mouthful of seawater he'd swallowed on the way up. The rain was coming down in torrents now, and thunder chased lightning across the sky as he hauled himself onto the deck. Calum appeared before him with a towel in hand and fire in his eyes. "Get yourself inside before you catch your death," he said, giving his nephew a none-too-gentle shove. "Are you tryin' to get yourself killed?"
It was on the tip of Liam's tongue to give an equally scathing reply, but he kept his mouth shut. But as he dried and dressed, he made a vow to get to the bottom of why his family was all of a sudden being so difficult, no matter what the outcome. He loved them dearly, but it was time they got this nonsense out in the open.
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