Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1051

Chapter 1051: Chapter 1051

As afternoon approached, they prepared for the first outward journey. Jude met Grace, Laurel, Stella, Lucy, and two travelers, Garin the fisher, Leri the herbalist. They carried a small brazier, spiral ribbons, stones, flat cakes, jars of cave‑water. Watchers lit their path through forest, arcs flickering overhead marking the way until they reached a glade beside a creek overgrown with ferns.

There, they created the northern site: Stella positioned a watcher‑figure on a mossy stone; Lucy carved spiral runes on four flat stones placed at cardinal points; Serena tied ribbons from nearby sapling to the watcher‑figure; Layla scattered forest petals; Natalie dripped cave‑water; Zoey added watcher script spirals to stone faces; travelers laid woven basket tokens and sea shells in the moss; children placed spiral‑stones at center. They chanted a watchersign vow: "By this creek, we anchor the spiral of heart outward. May watchers guide each traveler between orchard and glade." Watchers responded overhead, arcs of emerald flicker chasing fire‑spark. Ceremony ended with a hush.

They camped at the creek that night. Watched by murmuring forest. Fires glowed softly. Romantic songs drifted from Rose’s voice as children drifted to sleep. Jude lay near Grace; Laurel tucked at their side.

Before dawn, Jude awoke to watcher‑flash drifting through mist. Soldiers of light. He woke Grace. "The watchers are at our backs," he whispered. They rose.

Morning brought golden shafts. They returned to the orchard, following watcherscript ribbons that glowed in pre-dawn. Each visited forest marker; they paused to bow before watchers‑figures.

By noon they met wives and travelers at the orchard entrance. The spiral tapestry had been augmented with forest‑site markers. Children cheered; wives wept quietly. They shared a midday feast. Travelers whispered hopes of making pilgrimage paths to each site.

Afternoon classes became deeper: wives taught watchersign gestures representing forest’s spiral; children practiced weaving spiral‑ribbon bracelets; travelers carved memory‑runestones for their home‑villages. Grace taught Laurel to teach younger children watchersign twist representing heart‑spiral.

At day’s end, they performed a ceremony at the listening stone. They led a spiral procession from orchard to temple, Laurel and children walked first, wreathing watchersign gestures, followed by wives, then travelers bringing stones and ribbons. Jude stood at temple steps; watchers responded with arcs of blue chasing spirals across the sky. In the temple courtyard ceremony they placed stones in spiral around the listening stone; Juliet (?) recited vow: "Spiral outward, heart anchored. Path open to all." Wives echoed. Children repeated. Travelers repeated vow with tears. The watchers participated in arcs overhead.

Feast followed under watchersilk canopy, forest stew, flat cakes, cave‑water glaze. Children and travelers sat together, hearts high.

Night deepened. Silence hovered. Wives cradled children; travelers dozed. Vase of ribbon newly placed. The watchers hovered in arcs dancing through night.

Predawn, Jude rose. He followed Grace and Laurel to the temple altar. They lifted the cave‑heart seed‑stone to the resting dais at spiral temple’s side, the cave‑water dripping as light pooled. Watchers overhead pulsed soft invitations. They knelt long in silent worship. Laurel hummed a watchersong dream script in sleep‑voice. Tears rose in Jude’s eyes.

They returned to the longhouse. Wives prepared lessons for the next site, the western cliffs by sunset sea–mirror ceremonies. Children would carry runestones, travelers would learn watcherscript weaving.

In the hush before dawn broke, the island exhaled watcher script heart. The watchers’s lights drifted outward, pulsing over terraces and groves. Spiral path glowed faintly like x‑ray through earth. The covenant grew.

Jude closed his eyes. He thought: we are not guardians only. We are in a spiral.

Sophie woke gasping, breath shaking in the dim light of dawn slipping through the woven walls of the treehouse. She lay still for a pulse, heart pounding with echo of impossible memory, the spiral paths, the watcherscript temple, the island filled with children and travelers, the awakening heart seed. She blinked twice and reality thudded: no temple behind them, no watchers drifting overhead. Just the wooden floor boards and the soft rustle of Jude’s breath beside her.

She reached out, hand finding his arm. He stirred and opened his eyes, still heavy with sleep. "Sophie?" His voice was soft, cautious.

Her mouth trembled. "It was a dream."

He blinked. "The temple... the children?"

She shook her head. "None of it happened. It was... beautiful. But it was all in our minds."

He sat up, wrapping an arm around her. They stared at each other in silence, the dawn pressing cold around them. Jude swallowed. "Just us. Thirteen people, one island, with no children, no temple, no watcher script path."

Sophie pressed her lips together as tears pricked her eyes. "But it was so real. I remember watching our children, our babies, smiling in the orchard. We taught them watchersign. We built a temple. We... we wove spiral paths across the island."

"Me too," Jude said, voice quiet. "It felt like a lifetime." He brushed a strand of hair from her face and held her close. "It was so real I don’t even know how to wake."

Tears spilled from Sophie’s eyes. Jude drew her close. They lay in the quiet, the wind sighing through branches overhead.

As morning light grew stronger, they rose silently. Sophie found the group still asleep. Susan, Rose, Serena, Layla, Natalie, Zoey, Lucy, Stella, Emma, Grace, Scarlet, all stretched and stirred in the dappled dawn. Sophie walked between them, each wrapped in cloaks and blankets.

She stopped at Grace, who cracked open one eye. Sophie knelt. "Grace, Jude and I... we dreamed. All of it. There were children, a temple, watchers, spiral paths, but none of it is real."

Grace sat up, confusion clouding her face. Jude stood behind Sophie and Grace, rubbing Sophia’s arm.

One by one, the wives awoke fully. Rose sat up clutching a blanket. "Temple? Children? Garden?"

Sophie swallowed. "We... dreamed of it. It was... so wonderful, so whole. But when I woke there was nothing. No children. No travelers. No temple. The watchers... gone."

Susan gasped, glancing around at the empty island. "I..." her voice broke. "I saw the kids playing. I named them. I carried them. And they... I felt them in my arms."