As the boat rolled into the sprawling docks, having spent the last few hours on the massive Aguire Lake with no end in sight, Lavaad's stomach dropped, he felt a knot form in his throat as he watched hundreds of boats going in and out of the tens of piers that branched off from the lake bank that connected to his home town, Kalpuk.
Lavaad could see boats of various sizes, some extravagant ones similar to his, with grand family crests displayed on them, and at the furthest dock on the right side, stood a behemoth of a boat maybe a bit less than a hundred metres long, and fifty metres high. Despite its absurd length, Lavaad was more shocked by how the boat was floating, giving how thin it was, at most twenty metres, probably even less.
Rather than sitting in the water, the boat somehow floated on it, defying anything Lavaad thought possible, shocked so much the feeling in his stomach disappeared for a second.
Behind Lavaad, stood Penny, hair and beard somehow even more disheveled than it was when they left Lormodra, next to him stood Cassius. As Penny looked in the direction Lavaad was staring, his mouth opened in realization, "Oh, yea! What a lucky bunch yer is! Thats one of them river boats, especially made for towns who use the smaller rivers branching off the Lake as some kinda business. They are expensive to buy and even more expensive to run, keeping em' off the water like that."
He stopped for a second before continuing, letting the information sink in, "Dunno how but they use source of some kind to power the floating of it, and the ship can bend around curves while trying to get through tight spaces. Heard it was hard to control though!"
Lavaad couldn't stop shock from appearing on his face, the boats could bend? How did that make sense.. and Lucky? Was he going on that ship? Lavaad had no clue how to feel about that, seeing other kids his age piling onto it already, which meant he would have to get on it straight away, which meant he wouldn't have to see his family. He was ecstatic but also saddened by that, it was known Kalpuk sponsored the trip to the capital, providing boat and sailors but none of the family members would turn up if none were going to school.
From his knowledge, Lavaad knew he had two years before another of his siblings would be going to the academy, while his older siblings were probably off doing other stuff. His older brother, Paramas Kalpuk had graduated a few years ago and was currently serving in the Reguus army, the only member in the family to have any real talent in combat for generations. His older sister, Elara, had taken an apprenticeship under their father, and rumour was that she would take over the family instead of the brother, whose focus was gaining a reputation within the military field. As for his younger sibling, Lavaad had no clue as information on them wasn't public yet, they were most likely being kept inside to learn before heading to the academy.
Penny waved from the entrance to the boat as Lavaad and Cassius left it, travelling along the pier they had docked at. Looking up towards the streets, the difference between here and Lormodra was obvious, the streets a never-ending market, fill with merchants from the villages sprawled across the Aguire Lake who came to Kalpuk with the wares of their village to sell.
Towards the end of the street, Lavaad could see the outline of a massive estate, dwarfing the Lormodra estate, with walls towering seven metres all around it and a massive green gate at the front. Over the towering fence Lavaad could see the four floors that made up the main house within, and he could see the peaks of various smaller houses sprawled throughout, some holding quarters for servants, others holding space for the branch families or guests.
Looking at the place that was once his home, Lavaad felt a pain in his chest, as he quickly darted his eyes to where him and Cassius were heading. Ahead of them, was the furthest pier, at the front of it stood two guards in armour with green accents, on their chest sat the image of a whale, the Kalpuk families crest.
A small line was forming infront of the guards as people piled onto the boat that defied physics in Lavaad's mind, looking even more insane now that he was right next to it.
Lavaad lined up behind others, his teacher at his side. After a couple minutes of the people ahead of him having their identity checked and baggage searched, before being let onto the boat, it was Lavaad's turn.
They did the routine check, asking Lavaad for his families identifier, in answer Lavaad pulled out a golden medal, adorned with the image of a Mehkrib, a freshwater fish known for inhabiting the Udamine river exclusively, centred around Lormodra itself. The fish on the medal was a plain gold, but the real fish shared the appearance of a cod apart from a singular red stripe, usually passing over their head before wrapping around and flowing down their body. Though this interesting appearance of the fish couldn't be carved onto a tiny medal, the guards knew this was the official identifier for the Lormodra family, clearly having had all the emblems memorized.
Following the confirmation of his identity, the guards searched through his bag, and then Cassius' bag, briefly stopping on Lavaad's knife before moving on, letting the two onto the ship.
Passing the two guards, Lavaad felt a pulling, he knew if he left Kalpuk now he wouldn't return for years, maybe not until he had fully graduated. He was doubting himself, but that didn't last long as a hand slapped, and grabbed, his shoulder, Cassius bending over the boy who was now almost at his shoulders, "Calm down son, it's not going anywhere, and you are not ready yet."
The words felt like a cold shower falling on him, saddening him, but also relieving him of the thoughts that almost made him turn around. He was once again resolute in the direction he needed to go, and stormed towards the ship.
The first then Lavaad noticed upon entering was the stillness of the boat, while Lormodra's steam boat had little movement, this one had none, it was like being on land. Lavaad's shock at the weirdness of the ship didn't end there, as he looked down the halls to the left and right of him, skinny halls, so skinny adults with their broader shoulders would have to squeeze themselves to travel through them.
As his thoughts started unravelling into silly directions again, a cough broke him out of his daydream, "Cassius and Lavaad, coming from Lormodra, you guys are in... room twenty seven! Head to the second floor and it should be seven doors down on the right side, use the stairs just behind me."
Lavaad and Cassius passed the lady, blonde hair tied up into a bun behind her head, with a green hostess hat atop her head, matching the green button up shirt and skirt, as she handed out a token with their room number on one side, and the same whale the guards had embedded on their chests on the other.
Without anything but a nod to the lady, the two went up the stairs, the second floor a similar skinny hallway, with dull pink walls and black and white tiled floor. As they passed by doors leading to their room, Lavaad noticed the considerable length between each room, the rooms probably condensed to be super long but squished like the hallway.
Eventually they got to a door with the number "27" on it, Cassius lifted up the token to the number as the two seemed to resonate, parts of a whole finally together as a brief small glow came about, before dissipating as the door unlocked and opened a *clunk* sounding out.
Lavaad was the first to enter the room, his suspicions confirmed as there was a wall no more than a metre or two in front of him, the room having the same width all throughout.
To the left was a small table set and chairs, with a wardrobe and cupboards above, to the right was a sole bunkbed without anything else around it. Not an ideal living space but the trip to the capital was fast, especially on this boat, probably taking about the same time Lavaad and Cassius took to get to Lormodra, despite the path to the capital being littered with windy, super thin branching rivers.
Lavaad threw his bag down and went to lay on the bed, aiming to clear his mind.