————— Triss
The sunlight blinded her as she opened her eyes. Her body felt stiff, her limbs near immobile, and her mind drowned in exhaustion, though she didn’t move a bit. Triss shook and twisted her head, hearing a crack at the back of her neck, straining with a buckle of sweat. Everything about her felt constrained as she lifted herself with a push.
“You awake?”
The voice rang to her left ear, and she turned her head toward it, noticing scattered woods lying around her like a battle had just happened. The aromatic smell of wood made Triss cover her nose. She never understood why people enjoyed the earthy smell. Her eyes narrowed up to above, wondering why the sunlight seemed to be contained in a small spot. And then her mouth started to widen into a gasp. There was a sun, and it was shining through a big hole, looking like a pothole on a wet road, piercing through the main deck.
She thought she was dreaming. What or who did this?
She directed her eyes toward the floor, and Lloyd lay there face up. His skin was pale as green, full of cuts that weren’t deep, but enough for Triss to see the red of blood. Those cuts looked to belong to something big. Triss could hear his loud breathing as if he was trying to keep his lungs alive. She thought Lloyd was a corpse.
“What happened?” Her head felt numb, tingling as she was rubbing her hair. Was that white room real? Her eyes rapidly blinked to keep her headache from escalating.
“I was hoping you have an answer for that. You attacked us.”
Lloyd slowly pushed himself up, hissing like he was in pain, his back grumbled in a curve,
“Me?”
“I’m assuming that wasn’t you and you got possessed by a demon. Don’t worry, not everyone can experience that.” A voice from behind Triss emitted and made her jump. The marine limped over like he was crooked.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Triss said.
Lloyd slammed both of his arms on her shoulders.
“Me neither. And I have a lot of questions. But for now, I just thank god that you’re back.”
He treaded his way toward the door down the aisle, making his way up the stairs. One hand was holding to his right ribs, looking like he was trying to hold them together. Triss sighed, not knowing what to do. She wanted to fall asleep right now. She felt like her body was about to crumble.
The marine… Ash was his him. He began to make his way, and Triss decided to pick up her pace and strode alongside him.
“What happened?”
Ash was dragging his legs one by one. He looked to be suffering from some damage below his pelvis, making it a hassle for him to walk.
“Well… I hope I already hit you hard enough for them to reconsider not tying me up.”
So there was a fight that happened. Triss stared up at the big hole. Something of that size must have been big to delve into that much destruction. Did she turn into a big ugly monster? If so, she regretted having that image stuck in her head now.
“How did I make that hole?”
“With your magic.”
With my magic?
Triss stared up again at the hole. It was too clean of a circle for it to be her doing it. If so, someone else would have filled the hole with imperfect round edges. The real one was not perfect, but it got close. The entity that possessed her body was skilled in using her magic. Even worse, it used it better than her.
“How did I… How did it use the magic?”
“I don’t know! I’m not an expert in your magic business thing. I was struggling to try to hold you down.”
Triss didn’t notice they were already at the stairs. Ash slowly stepped his feet up one by one. She was behind, following him like a kid with his grandparents. Suddenly her nostrils felt itching, and her hands were reaching up to scratch them before she noticed her nose was running.
A coldness came down out of nowhere. She sighed, and her breath was visible.
Why is it suddenly cold?
—————
The coldness peculiarly disappeared as Ash was pushing the trapdoor and led them to the room below the steering wheel deck. Triss sighed again with intention, and she couldn’t see her breath anymore. They took a few strides toward the doors leading out to the main deck, and as they were stepping out, the wind hit Triss, sending a chill down her spine. The cold reappeared. Her arms wrapped around her body, rubbing her skin frictionally to generate heat.
Ash didn’t respond to the cold the same way as Triss. They walked around the hole. She took a glance down there to see only shadow.
“Don’t you feel cold?”
“What?”
They stopped by the bow of the ship, no reason to look down the destroyed hole.
“There’s a sudden cold out of nowhere.”
“Look at what I’m wearing. Look at what you’re wearing.”
He was right. Ash dressed in a thick long-sleeved marine shirt and pants, contrasting with Triss, who wore something unsuitable for handling the cold.
“Hey, Triss. Can we talk alone?” Lloyd walked toward her as Ash heard him and prompted him to stride away to the other bow. Tic was nowhere in sight.
"About the compass..." Lloyd grabbed the compass, which he thought was broken, from his pants pocket. It looked the same as before. Rusty. The arrow pointed in the wrong direction. Triss supposed that the shopkeeper guy didn’t do his job well.
“It’s still broken.”
“The shopkeeper deserves to be in agony in hell. But he did fix it. At least until I’m back here with you all.”
Triss raised an eyebrow at Lloyd. When did he get the compass back? The shopkeeper told them the expectations would be in a few days. But she knew everything that happened, happened in one day. They got there in the morning and left in agony in the afternoon. She looked over to the other bow and saw the sun a quarter past the horizon.
“So… did you break it again?”
“No, I think you broke it. Not on purpose, but I think due to exterior circumstances out of their control.”
Lloyd playfully tossed the compass up and caught it midair, repeating the process like he was juggling a ball.”
“And you, Triss… is only compatible with what I was thinking about. Your magic.”
Triss chuckled.
“You think my magic caused your compass to go crazy?”
‘Why wouldn’t it?”
Why wouldn’t it? Triss always believed she held a sustainable amount of control over the release of her energy. But she couldn’t answer the question. Would her energy always have been leaking?
“But why would my energy affect the trajectory of your compass?”
“It is not that my compass became broken when it came near you. But rather… I don’t know how to say it… it gets negative. It becomes negative.”
Lloyd held the compass toward the brightness of the sun. The color was warm in orange, and Triss extended her arm out to cover her eyes.
“It should point west when I’m pointing it toward the sunset, but instead, it points east. The opposite way.”
Lloyd then turned toward the other side where the dark was getting bigger and bigger, growing into a horizon of stars.
“Now, see this?”
Triss saw Lloyd’s intention with this act. The arrow spun around, pointing at the sunset, flickering the mirror with a light piercing.
“Is my energy causing the compass to the trajectory in the opposite way?”
“That’s what I’m seeing. I thought at first the compass was leaning toward you, but this makes more and less sense at the same time.”
“I can’t explain it. I know nothing about my magic. Besides, it’s saving my life every time.”
Lloyd snapped the compass back into his rusted pocket while yawning.
“I just wanted to talk to you about it. Now, I need to learn how to read a compass backwards. Break out of my habit.”
Lloyd strode out of her way, heading toward the strapped doors below the steering wheel deck. The ship blew forward by the wind to somewhere. Somewhere, Triss didn’t care at all.
Triss smiled, staring out at the distant sea. It was shimmering with dashes of light and calm on the water's surface. It was beautiful. Though Triss’ definition of beautiful may have been altered from the commons’. She thought never leaving Terro Village was a gift, that the outside world would not be welcoming her. It turned out she was believing in the false all her life. It did not welcome her the way she anticipated, but it did bring a thrill. She had been waiting for it to come.
————— Lloyd
The touch of the door was painted in moist cold, like they were just passing by a thick fog. This should be the captain’s cabin, and Lloyd deemed the captain of this crew, though no one ever acknowledged it as of the sunset. The room emitted less soul than Lloyd expected. Usually, these high-ranking marines would decorate their personal spaces to their likeness, but not with this one. The marine must have gone through some tragedies in a row.
Drops of water dripped on Lloyd’s head. He stepped out of the way and looked up at the leaking.
Water? Where does it come from?
The cabin stood at the near the end of the ship, where if unluckily they got caught in a storm, the waves would tower over the windows of this room. Three ends of walls formed the space, each built with two sets of windows. Glass windows had been ageing relentlessly, just from their musky looks.
Sitting at the center of this, Lloyd didn’t notice that he wasn’t alone in the captain’s cabin. Breeze landed on Lloyd’s skin from the windows, they were wide-opened. Did the chill come from outside? The water?
Ash rested on the high chair with legs straightened on the long oak table, cap covering his eyes.
“Ash?”
Lloyd wanted to know if he was sleeping.
“I’m here.”
Ash responded in a gaunt voice with his head down, still keeping his calm. He probably knew Lloyd was here from the doors swinging open. They created a creaking sound of old wooden structures when Lloyd was pushing through them. He hated those kinds of noise.
“You look relaxed. Find yourself a place already?”
Lloyd side-stepped toward the table. Every step of him pressured the woods below him, feeling like they could become broken anytime soon. How old is this ship? You can’t tell with ships. They could be a few years old, or they have survived for more than a hundred years. This one could be one or two, or both, or neither.
Like he thought, the place was devoured of life. It was empty, with only a few drawers and shelves. Lloyd guessed they contained nothing of worth.
“Are you going to tie me up again?”
“You save my life. If you going to deny that, at least you save my appearance.”
Those claws of Triss were sharp. Lloyd wished they had a clean mirror, one with not a single spot, so he could figure out every scar that would remain on his face. What would people make of an explorer with the scars of a warrior? Could be either way.
Lloyd felt like the answers to everything could be ‘both’ or ‘either.’ Something he’d like to say ‘maybe.’
“Then can this be my room as a form of gratitude to you?” Ash said.
“Are you going to be our captain? No, you are not. This is my room.”
“I’m the marine here. I should be getting compensated for letting you go with this.”
“What’s compensation?”
“You should learn more about that if you want to be on the sea for long.”
Ash grinned while pushing stiffly from the chair, twisted around left to right and Lloyd heard a couple of cracks. Stretching his chest out, he leaned his upper body down and extended both arms out, touching the tip of his shoes.
Lloyd hoped this guy would leave them the moment they arrived on any form of the island.
“I should think about tying you up again.”
Lloyd put his hand on Lloyd’s shoulder while treading past him. Lloyd felt the tension Ash was pushing, not liking it.
“Trust me, I’m going to be with you for a while,” Ash whispered as a cold breeze flew into Lloyd’s ear. It was uncomfortable. Like a violation of privacy just happened. And Lloyd deemed himself the victim in this case.
Lloyd sighed a relief once Ash stepped his trickery feet out of the room, leaving only him and stiff air floating around this ambience. Lloyd knew he wasn’t fit to be a captain. But he wanted to be. He needed to be.
I’m the captain and that is the end of the line.
“Hey!”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Lloyd slightly jumped around to see Ash leaning on the door.
“What?”
“Do you know where are we going? Because I have a suggestion.”
Is this a trap?
————— Tic
“I think I’m done with you for now. We are checking back in a week.”
Tic didn’t know why he was talking like his patient was a human. It was a bird! Roc didn’t know what the meaning of “checking back in” was to understand Tic. At least he hoped not. He had seen what those birdmasters he met could do with a horde of flings. But Lloyd was far from belonging to the same levels.
Roc lay with her wings spread out above the table. She had wide wings, bigger than Tic could’ve imagined. Each of them could be compared to the torso of a fully grown man. Her beak pointed at the ceiling, struggling to call a noise out of her. It was a good shot, whoever that marine was, especially with the distance he was at.
Tic’s training in medicine was limited. They had to put him in training due to mandatory. The nurses wouldn’t be there all the time while he was wailing on the battlefield. The only things he did for Roc were stabilizing the wound and giving her a bandage worth noticing. He believed the only function of medical bandages are signal for people to stay out of the way.
“Looking at you, patching our savior like a servant.” The voice bellowed out from the opening door. The sun was gone, so the figure hid in the shadow, tapping their feet while striding.
Tic grabbed the lantern to his side and held it up, revealing the face of the marine they kidnapped. He forgot they let him run free after what he did to Triss. Tic wasn’t there to witness the whole thing unfold, but Lloyd was quite a storyteller.
“Staying up late? What’s with you?” Tic said.
“I feel like I’m going to be with you people for a while.”
“Didn’t Lloyd say he would drop you off the moment we stepped on any land?”
“I didn’t hear that part.”
This marine…
“What’s your name again?”
“Captain Ash.”
“You’re a captain?” Tic smirked, not believing Ash’s title.
“Everyone I know asked me the same thing. My sole objection is they gave me the title, so they believe I deserve it.”
“I didn’t say I don’t believe it.” But Tic thought about it. That wouldn’t count as “say.”
Ash stood to the side of Roc’s right wing, seeing it flicked a bit. Roc was conscious through the whole process, and Tic respected it. Fortunately, he got to skip taking the bullet since Roc’s wing was too thin for the bullet to pass all the way through - not that it was a good thing for Roc.
“Are you done with her yet?”
“Yes. Why? Do you want to get on the table too? Your friend holding the gun mistook you for a misfit or something like that?”
Ash winced his eyes, and treaded to the workbench right by the wall and sat on it.
“Those are not for sittings.”
“Remember our talk at the table? With Hugo?”
How could he forget? Only one of the things Tic genuinely enjoyed and lamented about from that whole infographic.
“What’s about it?”
“Were you a marine?”
Tic felt the warmness of his sweat underneath the fabric of his sweater. He expected there to be questions from Ash, curiosity is what moves civilization forward. But he didn’t want to start with this one.
A quiet air breezed through both of them, crackling with the stubbles of wood. Tic chose to remain quiet. There was no reason for him to answer that question. He didn’t like to talk about it, and Ash wouldn’t gain anything from a confirmation of that question.
“Why do you care?”
“I will show more respect to you if you’re a marine.”
That was a lie. Respect is worthless if there is no purpose besides harvesting the goodwill of your superior. The goodwill that was devoid of honesty. And Tic was sure he was not superior to a captain.
“What would I gain from that? What would you gain from that? Respect?”
“I thought people are usually hungry for respect, especially the marines. I’m counting myself on that.”
“Don’t count me on that. I know nothing of respect. I don’t even know if I was a marine or not.” He lied. He knew. And Ash knew he was lying, too. Tic wasn’t trying to hide the lie. It would make him look like an idiot.
“If so, I’ll leave you free. Also, I’m going to sleep in the same room as you because of Lloyd. Blame him.” Ash shut the door and didn’t leave time for Tic to respond. They hadn’t decided yet where are they were going to sleep. It hadn’t been a day yet since they stole this ship. Its size was too much for only the company of four individuals.
Suddenly, the cold smoothed Tic from nowhere, slinging the wind out of him. He didn’t know if the amount of sweat under him came from fixing up Roc, or if the outside temperature was reaching the heat. The cold answered his wonder with no respect. Tic preferred living in the heat to the cold.
Usually, the floors are the coldest when the weather brisked into low temperature… Oh no.
Do they have to sleep on the floor? I don’t want to sleep on the floor.
————— Triss
The moon shimmered the wavy surface of the sea, risking the fishy smell that bothered Triss. The smell made her want to vomit. It was playing with her head. But Triss still decided to stand there and breathe in the fresh air, ignoring the smell.
Triss never have time to stare at the bright shining moon for this long, and it was smaller than she thought. She heard people talk about some phenomena where the moon, dressed in a quarter of black, created a crescent moon. The clearest image of a crescent moon Triss could remember was a page from an art book. She couldn’t figure out which art book it was, and she was eight. Her people described it as looking like a boomerang but with sharper edges able to cut a person’s head. That would be a deadly weapon. Less so than a well-trained archer.
The moon wasn’t the only thing painted in the sky. White dots make the sky a lot brighter than the blue sky when the sun is awake. Triss’ eyes traveled among the dots… Right, she remembered now, among the stars. The stars were what kept her staring and gasping at what should be a boring view. It was only sky, which is dull in the morning, clouds and blue, occasionally birds passing by on migration.
But Triss stood out here by the bow to sight the stars and the moon, the two main players of the night, but another player joined the stage and shook Triss. The first two were static players, beautiful enough to remain still and awe everyone, but the new one was more than that. It was moving. It was leaving a trail of sparkling clouds of dust behind as proceeding through the darkness. Triss tracked the movement of it, wondering if it was alive or not. Her eyes glued on it, didn’t matter what was it, but it was beautiful.
It was too far for Triss to make out its liveliness. But it wasn’t any of her concern. She accepted its beauty was enough to smile at her. She couldn’t explain it, but she loved it. Her eyes were melting.
It shouldn’t be alive, nothing should be living traveling at that kind of speed like a dazzling white, but Triss somehow believed it was alive. Again, she couldn’t explain it, but it was alive. She knew it. But did it matter?
No, it did not matter.
————— Lloyd
Lloyd thought he would become tired of the rusted sound of flipping his notebook, but he remained wrong. He finally acquired the captain’s cabin for himself, and the mother of god did. He felt like a captain just sitting in the almost broken chair and the moist oak table doing absolutely nothing. This should be what it felt like to be a captain.
The room was lit by an oil lantern Lloyd found hidden in one of the rooms below deck. It was enough to keep his eyes from straining, and he was already in a lack of sleep.
This was not the ideal life of a captain. He was thinking too much. It hadn’t been a day since this ship was there. Was his? His time acting as a captain will come soon. Lloyd hoped so.
The notebook smelled of splashes of water; the pages emitted the oak scent and that other scent of older prints that Lloyd couldn’t find what to compare it to. It was a rather odd and unique smell. It shouldn’t smell good, but Lloyd felt like he got addicted to occasionally putting his nostrils down and inhaling his notebook. He hoped nobody had witnessed that scene. That’d be more horrifying than death.
That page of the Nyx Fish, what a monster of a creature. Devil face, almost human-like, on the anatomy of a lanternfish. What a world.
As Lloyd kept turning the pages to his right, going back closer and closer to the beginning. His fingers were flipping with more hesitation each time. He didn’t know if he wanted to go back to the start or not, fearing it may cause him to lose his calm for a second. But his hands didn’t share his fear, as they continued to slide from one page to another.
Lloyd had a lot more blank pages than he thought. He set out with the goal to fill out this notebook in ink with everything of strangeness. He felt his goal would remain incomplete for an upcoming long cycle due to his lack of discipline.
He never got taught about discipline. People always told him discipline would become the success of his future, of his rise, but they were missing the fact that Lloyd didn’t know the meaning of that word. Parts of the blame were on him, too. He was too afraid to ask, fearing they would mock him for his naïve. But they would never, right? They were good people.
The act of flipping to the start of his notebook happened in a minute, like a swim across the river, but Lloyd felt like an eternity had passed since he dared to do so.
There it was. The first smearing page took Lloyd's breath away. Not that it was only beautiful, but it brought Lloyd back to the period when he didn’t have much burden on him. It was an ink drawing, a bad one, probably with an unclean brush as though it was supposed to be in all black, but there were smears of other colors, especially in blue. Lloyd did love the blue.
Lloyd never stared longer at a portrait. His hand unconsciously moved closer to touch the drawing, trying to feel the skin, trying to feel the warmth he should feel from a human. But they weren’t real. His father wasn’t really on the paper. It was just a portrait. A bad one. A horrible one.
But it looked so similar to his real father, it gave him a whirlwind of emotion. His hand was on the page, and a drop of tear wet one of his knuckles. No. Not this again. He could never contain himself from tearing up looking at the portrait. Lloyd thought he was ready. He thought a few times looking at the first page had already prepared him, but each time it was getting nowhere. It sucked.
He wiped the tears away, one time with the back of his finger and another time with the front. Both times never brought the dryness to where he wanted, so he closed the notebook. If he had kept going, his tears would have ruined the book. Nothing more. Lloyd decided to call it a day.
But the day wasn’t over yet. Lloyd needed to find a space to sleep. The only things big enough for him were the floor and the table. Which one is warmer? The table. Which one is safer? The floor.
So Lloyd made his last decision of the day to sleep on the table.
————— Ash
Ash sat cross-legged right by the bow of the ship, hearing the slapping waves of the sea and the chirping of the seagulls. The sea was clearer than the sky. Today was a sunny day, bright enough for him to keep his cap on.
Ash couldn’t believe it had been a week since he got kidnapped by the group and put up with them. As he was smearing at the sky, with the sun close by, he felt like the sun agreed with him, too. The sky blessed them with luck; the fridges were stuffed with meals enough for all of them for weeks, although they may have to consume rotten foods after this and next week.
“How long before we arrive there?”
The sound of wood creaking appeared nearer and nearer to Ash. Lloyd was standing behind him with his head over his heels. Ash tilted his head up to see the piercing eyes of Lloyd frowning him down. He looked angry. Ash felt like it was because the day before, he refused to call Lloyd a captain. And he will remain so until death. Ash also caught a glimpse of Tic steering the wheel.
“Should be a few more days.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it is getting colder every day.” That wasn’t a guarantee they would be there in a few days, but they were good signs. Ash sighed, noticing the breeze blowing out of his mouth. Ash didn’t like the cold, everyone on this board didn’t like the cold, something they could all agree on.
Ash felt no use in whining about the temperature, knowing that in no time there would be snow, and then ice, and then they would all be at risk of dying.
“What are you looking at?” Lloyd said.
“I’m waiting for someone.”
“Are you in love with a mermaid?”
“I wish. There should be a paper stand around here.”
“A paper stand?”
“It’s a small port where they sell newspapers and other things. They don’t allow anyone near it besides marines, so maybe that’s why you never heard of it.”
“We’re not marines.”
“Technically, we are.”
Ash raised his index finger to point at the flapping flag of the marine symbol at the top of their crow’s nest.
“And I’m a captain. They will know my name.”
“What about us?”
“Go into one of the cadet’s cabins below deck and suit up the uniform.”
“I’m not wearing that ugly outfit.”
What is ugly about it? Ash quickly glared down at his fit just to reaffirm himself.
“Wear it, or I’m going free and all of you going to jail,” Ash lied. He was playing with them and he only wanted to get the newspaper to see what are they were writing about the recent attacks on the marine stronghold. Lucky for him, underneath his marine uniform held a wallet not belong to him. The guilt of using another person’s money may have dealt with him a bit, but this was important, and Ash assumed the owner’s wallet would have been an honor for their wallet to be used by a captain.
A horn blew like an explosion about to go off, making Ash and Lloyd jump like dying fishes. Yes! They were there already. That sound belonged to the stand. Ash rushed to the bow right near the edge, almost falling out. He licked his lips, tasting the salty air while squinting to find the port.
“Also, this place is not an island. It’s only a paper stand.”
Lloyd hissed loud enough behind Ash for him to hear. Ash saw him seizing his notebook and feather and was ready to chalk down whatever it was. Ash couldn’t understand why Lloyd would find joy in doing that.
“How does it work? Are we going to dock there?” Tic grunted from above deck. His sweaty palms held strong on the sticks, no reason to wheel as they were proceeding.
“Yes! There’s a dock. Just be sure not to crash into any ships.”
“I don’t see any ships beside us,” Lloyd said.
“They do sell ships too.”
“At a paper stand?”
“I forgot to say how big it is.”
“I think we’re here!” Tic bellowed while slowly steering his wheel. Ash stared out into the head of the ship, and finally, he saw it all, and it was a glorious sight.
Ash intentionally lied to Lloyd about this being a paper stand. It would come out better as a surprise.
————— Lloyd
Lloyd leaned out of the bow and witnessed the revelation of the curtains on the port. To the stand. Lloyd didn’t know the person who called this location a paper stand, because they deserved to be buried in a grave. This was not a stand.
A long shadow delved over the arrival of their ship, arrays of stands, each with their own floating wooden boards, lay alongside the sea pathway designed only for ships of big size to pass through. This looked like a festival. Like a celebration of a new age.
“You call this a paper stand? Are you blind?!”
“Yeah, I lied. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.” Ash grinned, and Lloyd frowned upon his face. He still didn’t know what to think about him.
But Lloyd did appreciate the surprise. But the surprise soon died down into the black hole when Lloyd realized he missed the long line of marine ships waiting to float through the stands. Do they have to wait in line?
“Won’t we be crashing into them?”
“Marine ships can do a lot of things. Tic, punch the center of the wheel.”
Tic followed through with the action, and Lloyd heard a metal grunting operating underneath the ship. Lloyd’s heart was racing rapidly the moment they almost hit the ship in front of them. He didn’t want to get into trouble with the Marines again. And, another surprise of the day, the ship purred to a halt and stopped with ease.
Lloyd glanced up at the mast. The mainsails were still down, with the wind enhancing them ahead, but the ship didn’t move a bit.
“I’m not going to explain. Figure it out yourself.” Why did Ash talk like Lloyd’s dad? Lloyd was thinking of what could be enacted at the bottom of the ship for this to happen, but his head went into a whirlwind of headaches and chose to remain inquisitive. A door slammed hard behind Lloyd. Triss was rushing out to share the scene with them.
“What is this place?” Triss said.
“Timber Trail. I’ve been here a few times where they celebrate some anniversaries. It’s only designed for marines, which are fitting for us at the moment.”
“Won’t they ask for identifications?” Lloyd sighted the fish swimming in a circle down below their ship. Are they trying to eat the ship? Good luck.
“I wish I could make this more exciting, but no, they don’t. And trust me, they keep the place very safe.” Lloyd thought that might bite Ash in the future. But it didn’t matter. Lloyd adjusted his eyes back to the long hassle line, and it hadn’t moved up a bit.
“How long do we have to wait here?”
“Not too long.”
Very beautiful last words.
————— Ash
“Lloyd! Wake up!”
Ash slapped Lloyd on the back of his head, right down the neck, and he jumped with intensity. He was falling asleep by the edge. If Ash had been keeping his eyes somewhere else, Lloyd would have ended his life being fish food. It sounded like a worthy death, depending on what you are asking. For Ash, there were some dignities in providing the fish another day without hunger.
“What do you want to get?” Ash’s guilt of using a stranger’s wallet may have dusted off a bit, but it still bothered him. He was pondering on how he would respond if he found the owner. What if the owner had a family to take care of, and now they died of starvation? What if…
“How long has it been?”
“Just a couple of hours?”
“A couple?!”
Lloyd looked up at the sky, then hastily jerked his head down to see the sun only degrees away from reaching the horizon. Ash didn’t even care how much time had passed. He taught himself how to entertain his mind when being put in a boring situation. People looked at him like he deserves to be arrested sometimes when he does that. Tash said Ash would stare into the distance deadpan like a statue.
“Relax, we still have time before night comes. Now, what do you want to get?” Ash straightened up his stance and seized out the wallet in style.
“That’s your?”
“It is.”
Lloyd stood there for a quiet pondering for a thought.
“I will have to think more, but currently I just need more ink.”
Ash sighed while tossing his wallet up and down. It was a risky move. He couldn’t for Lloyd to form his thought. They would have gone through the whole thing by then. But Ash decided to be patient and waited for their captain to figure out what to pay for.
It wouldn’t take that long. Right?
—————