The sight that was fed through the telescope’s many lenses into the right eye of Rohan was an impossibly grand, dim purple wall. In the distance, it covered the sky and water entirely, with shapes that could be made out as islands somewhere further ahead dotted amongst the landscape. This great partition that encircled a sizeable chunk of the Global Ocean and everything inside it was the impassable Level 50 Barrier that had long been chronicled in sailors’ journals of old, the reason no attempts had been made to enter the area in decades, if not centuries. If scurvy and treacherous weather hadn’t stopped the crew, it was this behemoth of a construct that would, and even a return journey from such a point would prove to be fatal. However, the Serenity’s Song was different. It had the resources it needed to cross this Barrier.

“Three leagues away…” he muttered, pulling the scope away from his face. “We did it. We bloody did it!”

“Didn’t think you’d be one to be this ecstatic.” Manisha giggled, rising to her feet.

“You wouldn’t be excited to see land after two and a half fucking months at sea?” Rohan rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance. In truth, Rohan had not been that happy in ages. He had survived a nearly impossible journey. His entire crew was still alive, even if some were quite ill, however avoiding such a condition was impossible. His guests were well. He had made amends with the greatest southern female navigator of all time, but most importantly, he was able to fulfill his promise. Now one last obstacle stood in the way of reaching one of the 200 or so various islands that comprised the Shimajima.

“You’re only human after all, I guess,” Manisha shrugged. “I’ll go inform Ivan and Stefan. This is what they’ve been waiting for, even more than us.”

In the meantime, Rohan ordered his crew to begin to prepare to dock. The ship’s speed was increased, and supplies for landing were being readied. Every hand on board was eager to get this portion of the journey over with.

Manisha weaved through droves of seamen hauling large bundles of whatever they could carry in their arms as she looked for one or both young northerner men who would break through the Level 50 Barriers.

Inside a hold deep inside the hull of the ship, she found her son, his sister and their cousin amusing themselves with a game of cards. Rather than disturb their fun right away, she chose to wait it out before delivering the news to them.

“Two 6s.” Stefan announced, humbly placing down two cards face down on the floor between the three of them on a growing pile.

“Let me see,” Anwen said, examining the selection of cards in her hands as both sets of eyes next to her gazed at them. She made sure to scan through them carefully, making the movements of her pupils appear deliberate and thoughtful. She was able to choose between either a selection of fives, sixes, or sevens. However, due to the way they were shuffled, there was no guarantee she would have any of the cards she was able to play. Still, she had a tactic in mind, and she would play it.

A good ol’ game of Cheat, Manisha mused. Let us see how this goes.

“Two 5s,” she spoke loudly and with pride, quickly placing her two cards down on the deck.

Ilias’ eyes darted to connect with hers, and a cheeky smirk came up on his face.

“Cheat!” he confidently called. “Anwen, you’re a cheat!”

Stefan stifled a chuckle behind his palm.

The kid isn’t letting that theme go, he remembered. He heard the word once and has been on it.

“Alright, let’s see then,” he said, putting on a calm expression. He lifted the two cards that Anwen placed as she carefully averted her gaze, while Ilias’ eyes were glued to his cousin’s card-wielding hand. Flipping them over, Stefan let out a snort.

“A 2 and a King.” he said as he slid the cards over to his cousin, ashamed of having lost.

“See? I already put in my Five, and Stefan put in two. There’s no way you could’ve put two Fives. Anwen, you need to get your head in order!” Ilias laughed. Manisha sighed. She knew that Ilias only meant well but she wished he’d be just a little softer on his elder sister.

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“You’re talking about my head? Well, I bet your head couldn’t predict this!”

Anwen lunged at the boy, and a moment later, the boy was being assaulted by tickles all over his body, prompting an eruption of laughter from both siblings as Stefan did nothing to try and prevent it.

Bless her heart, Manisha contemplated. She loves him so much. Having a hard time expressing it is all.

“Don’t mean to spoil the party,” Manisha beamed, stepping forward from her covert snooping spot. “But I got some important news to tell y’all.”

Stefan’s emerald eyes glimmered with renewed purpose and fresh resolve. This was specifically what Jay had ordered him to do, and likely his most important role on this mission. He rose to his feet, and without a second thought, he raced his way up a series of ladders, all the way up to the top deck.

“Why is he so giddy all of a sudden?” Ilias asked his sister, tilting his head in an innocent way like a child his age would.

“This is what he was supposed to do all along. He’s gonna break through that Barrier and bring us into the Shimajima. He’s been waiting to do this the whole time!” Anwen said with a beam Ilias hadn’t seen since they left Chitran together. Her cheeks flared up with warmth as thoughts of Stefan fluttered through her head.

Wait, why am I thinking about him like that? Gross… of all the things that could be going through your mind right now, Anwen—

“Well, let’s go give him our support, then!” Ilias rose to his feet, taking one of Anwen’s hands in his and yanking her to an upright stature. Despite his age and slim build he easily pulled her along to an exit, taking her with him to be by Stefan’s side.

“Wait, you two!” Manisha cried as the two children whizzed past her. Keeping up with them would be pointless. “Ah, fuckin’ hell. I guess I’ll have to look for Ivan myself.”

Manisha scoured the ship from top to bottom, scanning every hold and deck of the Serenity’s Song for a man she’d come to know as being seldom predictable, although she had heard different about him from Stefan and Anwen. She looked through the lockers, bread rooms and even the hen coop, but not a single head nor hair of him was found. She searched through her own cabin which she shared with Ilias, one of two which were highly furnished and indistinguishable from a normal bedroom in land, minus the constant rocking.

Finally, she set her sights on the one room even she was not permitted to enter.

The Captain’s cabin.

Carefully making her way, being wary of unwanted eyes as a precaution—even though no one except Rohan himself would question her for being in his room—she stopped behind its doors, locked into place from the inside.

“It ain’t gonna be you who’s gon’ be in trouble, it’s gon’ be me!” she heard a young woman’s voice cry out of frustration with someone else in the room.

“For getting a bedsheet a little dirty? Oh, come on!” a man of the same age, the voice sounded, snapped back, his northern accent easily singling out who it belonged to.

“No one else except Manisha has any, so do you know how hard they are to come by? I’m gonna lose a month’s salary!”

Getting name-dropped the moment I arrive? Oh, this is going to be fun. Rohan can wait a little while longer.

“You’re acting like there isn’t a literal ocean around us full of water to clean it with.” Manisha could just tell Ivan was rolling his eyes, his arms crossed.

“You ain’t been on the sea for very long, so let me give you a li’l hint, sweetheart. Saltwater smells very different from freshwater!”

“So what are we going to do, then? Wash it up with the precious freshwater we have stored?”

A pause erupted for a few seconds, the silence only disrupted by the soft crashes of the waves around them.

“…I know exactly how much I’ll need. I am the cook around here, after all.”

“Ah, fantastic! I thought our first time would be life-changing, but no. We’re fighting about how to deal with a bedsheet covered in cu—

Weirdos, doing it on the captain’s bed. I need to stop this before any other horrors enter my ears.

If there was anything Manisha’s time with Gareth Koppel had taught her, it was that things like what Ivan and Bhavana were doing were meant to be a private and peaceful affair. She banged on the door, prompting Bhavana to gasp loudly behind the door.

“He’s here!” she exclaimed. “Get your ass under the fucking bed, and take the bedsheet with you. I-I need to deal with this.”

She timidly made her way to the door, preparing to face whatever Rohan would unleash at her. She gently unlocked and opened the door. To her utter surprise, she was met by the navigator of the Serenity’s Song.

“M-Miss Manisha. Didn’t quite expect to see you here—

“Tell the kid to come out from under the bed.” Manisha smiled exaggeratedly, her patience running low and barely masked.

“Kid? Oh, what kid, you mean your son? He ain’t here—

“I’d consider most of this ship ‘kids’, yourself included. You’re like, what, just shy of 20? Now, Ivan,” she leaned over the nervous younger woman’s shoulder, gazing at the foot of Rohan’s bed. “If you don’t want your lovely damsel here to be robbed of a month’s salary, come up to the top with me. You’re needed.”

Ivan popped his head out from under the bed. He glanced at Bhavana, donning a disenchanted expression, then looked back at Manisha.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Ivan nodded and offered to lead the way.

Before leaving, Manisha leaned in towards Bhavana’s ear.

“I better be invited to the wedding when we get back home, honey.” she stopped herself from giggling aloud.

Ivan ascended to the top deck of the Serenity, and a dazzling sight met him. On the port side of the ship, the water, air, and everything in it was lit with a magenta filter, a complete contrast to the canvas of differing shades of blue, making up the sea and skies around the starboard side of the ship.

It was as if they’d reached the point where two different worlds met.