A dream:

You make your way back to a small thatch hut in amongst a clump of other similar structures. You seem to know where you are going and though they all look the same this small figure seems to know exactly where to go. Once inside you can see several small beds line the interior. There is some food laid out for you and while it looks simple and meager you eat it. The other beds in the hut are occupied. There are 4 adult humans laying in the beds asleep, unloving, barely breathing. There are several bundles and bags in the corner of the hut that look disheveled as if someone has been going through them. The small body you are viewing this scene through doesn't seem to notice or care about this intrusion. You finish the meal and climb into the empty bed and go to sleep.

In the morning you wake and there is another meal waiting for you there. You aren't sure what exactly is is made of, it looks like a kind of porridge you would guess but not sure what kind of grain or whatever it is made of. The adults are still just laying in the beds even their position has not changed from the night before. You go outside and there is the group of kids gathered already dividing up into groups for the games they have planned.

You play for a short while before you can see up on the horizon land coming into view at this point it is not more than just a small speck on the horizon but it is most certainly land. By the time you go back to your hut for the night the small speck on the horizon has begun to stretch as far as you can from one edge to the other.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The next morning when you go outside the group of kids has grown dramatically, in total there are more than 200 children now. The new additions do not seem stand offish at all but instead join right in with the rest of you in your games. They are dark skinned and wear loose fitting light clothing, and instead of the leather cobbled shoes that you wear they all seem to be wearing saddles tied high up the ankle. Even though you could not speak the same language you understood the same games and before you knew it they were joining the existing group in all kinds of games. Similarly none of the kids that had been here for while seemed to really be disturbed or really make any kind of fuss over the addition of so many more to the group overnight. The whole place seemed so calm and peaceful other than the games that inevitably led to all kinds of panicked yelling and screams of children as they either got won or lost the games. Once you return to your hut there are several more cots that have been placed inside and there are several more adults taking up those cots. Same as before they seem to just be asleep. More bags and baskets are placed in the corner and they too appear to have gone through. You make no real effort to investigate this or to check out the new occupants you instead sit down at the small stool and eat the meal that has been set out for you.

By the next morning the shoreline from the previous day is now gone and once again there is nothing but water surrounding the floating mat of houses.

You wake