The following morning came fast, and it took all of my energy to remove myself from the comfort that bed provided. Once I did, I went upstairs and saw Basil was already up and cooking breakfast; he looked like he hadn’t slept that night, but the smell was incredible and when I asked him what it was he said we’d be eating some kind of cheese omelette and what he claimed to be Aelf meat. Perhaps he was just joking, but it was damn good regardless. So good in fact that I remember how much I wanted to go back to bed on that full stomach he gave me, and the annoyance I felt at Sage for insisting we leave immediately.

When we got to the door, Sage was beginning his long and overly friendly goodbye with Arsene when Arsene interrupted him. “I understand that you are trying to boat across the Tamarind on that garbage heap you call a boat.”

Wincing, Sage nodded. “Well, yes. It’s not exactly ideal, but it’s good for the boy. Check his back, I bet he’s put on some muscle.”

Arsene exchanged a glance with Basil, and both rolled their eyes simultaneously. “Sure,” Arsene said. “Sure. But he would benefit more from combat training. His body is fit as a fleece, what he needs is practical knowledge, wouldn’t you say?”

Sage eyed him a moment before saying, “If you’re implying he can’t get any stronger, you’re sadly mistaken and I will prove you wrong.”

Arsene laughed, face filled with mirth. “No, no, of course he can get stronger. We all can. I’m saying he hasn’t got more than the barest of basics for combat training down. So wouldn’t you agree that he should learn how to, I don’t know… Block incoming attacks from pursuers? Or maybe learn how to take an enemy down? Even use a weapon?”

“Hmph, well sure,” Sage said, eyes narrowed. “Get on with it then, what is it?”

“I have a boat up the river,” Arsene said with a big smile on his face. “It’s much larger than yours and will require no rowing to move fast, though it won’t move quite as fast as it would with someone like you rowing, Sage. Speed isn’t necessarily important for you though, trust me. The larger space will give you room to spar, which should prove useful. And the larder is filled with food, so that should be good for you, wouldn’t you say?”

Up until he said food, both Sage and Basil weren’t too keen on it. Even I was on board with that, though. Any food he could pack would have to be top quality, based on what we had that morning.

“Alright, well thank you for your help Arsene,” Sage said, holding out his hand for Arsene to receive.

“Not so fast,” he said, running back inside. He came out in just a few seconds, barely leaving time for Sage to react. In his hands was a midnight purple cloak that had sparkles on it that looked like stars when they were hit by the proper light, and the inside was lined with what appeared to be wool. “Here,” he said, handing it to me.

I frowned, feeling the warmth of the inside. “Thank you, but you know it’s summer everywhere right?”

Laughing, he said, “I’m well aware. Put it on and you’ll see why I’ve given it to you.”

Sighing, I removed the cloak I wore and replaced it with the one he gave me. To my surprise, it fit properly and was somehow more breathable and light than the one I had received at Sage’s home, keeping me cool despite the materials.

Arsene saw my reaction and lit up. “See? It’s not uncomfortable in the hot weather. And here, watch this.” He took some of the loose hanging cloth that hung around my knees, pulled it up into view so everyone could see, then removed a knife from his belt and cut at it. It didn’t budge, nor did it pierce when he stabbed it. “It’s made of a highly resistant material called Kachin, which appears as a cloth but maintains the strength of most mails any soldier would wear.”

Basil came over and felt the cloak, looking interested. “Where is this material located?”

Arsene shrugged. “No clue. The thing just showed up in the house and I knew it belonged to him.”

“You expect me to believe that?” Basil asked, raising an eyebrow. Sage laughed along with Arsene, though.

“Arsene’s home is where everything ends up eventually. If you need it and you can’t find it—”

“It’s probably under my bed,” Arsene finished, with a chuckle.

I was confused by this, but Basil seemed satisfied and decided not to press further. Arsene is one of those people who never asks questions, so when you pry they have nothing to give. They just state the obvious and hope you accept their nonsense as true.

“Well, thanks again, Arsene,” Sage said, and they shook hands.

“No problem,” he said. “You three stay safe, you’ve got a lot of trouble headed your way.”

“We are aware,” Basil said. “And, we thank you for your warning. When this is all done, maybe you can come live in Avocado instead of alone here on Durian.”

Arsene shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but my place is here.” Then, yawning, he said, “Well, I’m off to bed. Sooner you guys get out of here the sooner I can get some rest.”

Everyone turned to part ways, but I knew I had to ask, so I called out to Arsene, “Wait!” With everyone’s eyes on me, I took a deep breath and asked, “Do you know anything about my mother? I… I just need to know she’s okay.”

Arsene exchanged a small look with Basil and Sage, then walked over to me and, kneeling down at eye level, said, “I can’t say her exact situation, Mint. I’m not that sort of fortune teller. She’s alive and well, healthy even. But whether or not she is in danger, I can’t say.” My face must have shown I wasn’t happy with the answer, so he smiled lightly and said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said, barely a whisper.

On that subtle note of dissatisfaction, the three of us left, following the river to the north end of the island. Sage carried me the whole way so that the trip would go faster and not because I didn’t want to move, and we flew over the tops of the trees as we did in Avocado. I couldn’t help but stare at how green the trees were, like Basil had discussed with me the night before. It was so alien to me, but he said it was normal. I spent that trip to the boat thinking about how wild and crazy the world would be, thinking of all the things I hadn’t been exposed to, dreaming up ideas that were unrealistic and more imaginative than they should be. I was wrong about every idea I had. But something about the world being, to me, completely undiscovered territory and filled with adventure made me feel something that, at the time, scared me. The desire to explore, to never go home.

I can’t do that, I thought. Mom needs me. So does my homeland.

♣ ♣ ♣

“We’re here,” Sage said, hopping down to the ground with enough force that branches cracked and whirled into the air around us. Basil dropped down next to us, just as loudly.

“You’re sure Arsene is trustworthy?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Indeed,” Sage said, walking over to the boat with enthusiasm. “In my time knowing Arsene, the only time he ever led me astray was when he told me that I needed to reorganize my home to create better balance in my mind and spirit. He told me it was just a joke after I returned angry after moving my bed to different rooms on different floors three times and feeling more aggravated than I had before visiting him.” He laughed, placing a hand on the hull of the large boat. “It was funny, or at least it’s funny now that it’s all been done. So if anything this is one big joke and we’ll end up on the opposite end of the sea we’re supposed to be. Or the boat will sink the moment we get on it.”

“If that was supposed to make me feel more comfortable, it had the opposite effect,” Basil sighed.

I was marvelling at the boat in front of us, standing just behind Sage. The boat was easily bigger than Arsene’s home was, and had a massive sail in the center of it that was gorgeous and intricately designed, with almost tribal markings that evoked a sense of history throughout the sail as opposed to what I had seen drawn in my books back home, the usual fair simply being a symbol of one’s home or coat of arms.

Grinning, Sage nodded toward the ladder on the side of the hull. “Come on, boy. Let’s check her out, shall we?”

We climbed swiftly, myself especially excited to see what our new living situation would be. Under the pink sunset, the boat’s wood finish was a stunner; it felt like I was riding on something from a dream. We went through the door beneath the steering wheel—yes, a wheel, no rowing for me—and were greeted with a spiral stairway that led down to a hall leading to five separate rooms. A captain’s room, which was filled with all sorts of embellishments that felt more like my mother’s room than it did a quarters on a boat; two separate empty rooms, presumably bedrooms, which would be for myself and whoever didn’t get the captain’s quarters; a room which Sage referred to as the “day,” which I gathered to be the relief area; and finally, the coup de grace, the kitchen which was filled to the brim with food to the point where it felt like the cabinets were bottomless.

“Hopefully none of this goes bad,” Basil muttered. “There’s no way we’ll go through all of this even if we end up at sea for the next decade.”

“I think that’s the point,” Sage said. “I trust we will use as much as we’ll need, and that’s exactly what Arsene must have thought. Now for the more important matter of who gets to stay in the captain’s quarters.”

Basil’s eyes flickered, and his shoulders tensed upward. “Obviously it should be one of us,” he said.

“You think so too? For once we agree on something,” Sage said, a grin on his face. “Well, yes it can’t be the boy. He has to focus on his studies and training, so his quarters should be something simple that is just a bed. The captain’s quarters are for the man with the plan, the intellect behind this journey, the one who you two will come to for aid.”

Basil furrowed his brow, becoming mischievous. “So you think you should be the captain?”

Pushing his chest out and standing to his full height of ridiculous, Sage nodded and said, “Of course. I’m the one in charge, after all.”

“I’m unsure what gave you that idea, but we both know you couldn’t lead a dog to food,” Basil said, shaking his head.

“And you can’t lead in general,” Basil said, a growl entering his voice. Leaning close to him, he said, “Don’t make me embarrass you in front of the boy.”

Surprisingly, I saw his eyes grow wide and he tensed more. He looked nervous. “Fine. Let’s settle this then.”

Knocking shoulders, Basil forced himself passed Sage and up the stairs to the deck. Sage smirked and followed, saying, “Like men.”

I wasn’t really sure what was about to happen, but it felt like they were about to fight. Which meant the most sensible thing to do was follow them and watch the results. There was no way I could have stopped them anyway, they never listened to me and both of them were immensely powerful, especially compared to me. I couldn’t just press my noodle arms up against them and yell, “Please stop good sirs!” That shit wasn’t going to fly.

You ever notice that the wind seems to pick up when a fight is about to begin? It did then, and I got goosebumps just looking at them stare each other down, Basil’s glare so intimidating that I was surprised Sage hadn’t called it quits just based on his eyes alone; most men, I think, would have. Sage just smiled, glaring back but with an odd sense to serenity to him. It could have been the sunset hitting him the way it was, or it could just have been his natural demeanor leaning toward what I felt was a lackadaisical calmness that was unbecoming of any sort of leader. Basil felt the same, I would think. Yet Sage was the way he was, and as infuriating as it was, I’d come to learn his strength backed him up in spades.

The wind stopped, and in that brief instance Basil leapt forward so fast that I was surprised I could see him. Sage barely moved, his palm just raising and stopping Basil’s fist without him even moving backward to brace himself from the hit. Gritting his teeth, Basil launched a second punch, which Sage also guarded. Then, in an act I wouldn’t have expected, Basil sent a kick at Sage’s unguarded midsection. Even more surprisingly, Sage guarded this hit by bending his elbow down. Basil was fully exposed then, with Sage holding him very close and him unable to move, Sage blasted him in the head with his own head, making a clack sound so loud it echoed in my ears and made me shut my eyes. Even as an angry, dispassionate kid, I felt empathy for certain things, and pain was definitely one of them. That hit sounded bad.

Basil was sent back, dizzy and staggering. Sage walked up to him with an almost disrespectful level of casualness, then he picked him up by his arms and bent backwards completely, sending him sprawling behind him in a throw I can only describe as back-breaking. The fact that the ship wasn’t splintered proved to me only how much they were holding back.

From that awkward position, Sage kicked into the air and landed on his feet, smirking. “I win,” he said, kneeling over Basil. He looked almost like a little kid there, despite the hard lines on his face.

Basil got up, rubbing his head with a grimace. “Only because we couldn’t use Mire.”

“Hey, no excuses now, that’s being a poor sport,” Sage said, slapping him on the shoulder, making him hiss in pain. “Besides, even if we could use the Mire that would only further put you at a disadvantage. I’m the most in tune with Vastmire in all of Tamarind, you know that.”

“Fine,” Basil sighed. “Then I’d have won if we used weapons.”

Sage shrugged. “Maybe, yeah. You’re pretty good with swords and stuff.”

“Pretty—! You’re giving me a headache.”

Sage chuckled and shook his head. “You’re an amazing man, Basil. The fact you didn’t already have a headache from that suplex is pretty impressive.”

Basil then proceeded to groan and rub his head some more, fighting off the conniptions associated with dealing with Sage.

“Now,” Sage said, his voice a loud boom he took on when he was either excited or ready to teach. “You’re up kid,” he pointed at me.

I pointed at myself, as if there was another kid around he could possibly mean.

“Yep, come on over here. Let me see what you’ve got.” When I didn’t move, he smirked and put his hands up in a fighting position and started shadow boxing. “Come on, let’s go already! I want to see if you really have been stuck studying history like some common scholar.”

Him calling me common made that primal part of me go rigid and I clenched my fists and walked over to him, ready to get it over with. I put my hands up and tried to remember what to do; watch for tells, see if he gives away when he’ll move, move my body with his hits to take away his power. Things like that started to swirl in my head and it became so cluttered that the meaning left the words, and I found myself staring blankly at Sage, wondering if we had started yet.

“You ready?” I said, more for myself than him.

“Of course,” he said. “Take your best shot at me. I want to see if you can hit me at all.”

Sage was already messing my head up. But I had to show him something, otherwise this was going to end worse than it already was panning out to. So I wound up, tightened my fist, and launched a punch as fast as the average tortoise moves when it needs to get somewhere at a reasonable stride. Sage dodged it with as little movement as possible, at the last possible second, my fist catching some of his cloak just barely. I tried again, and again, and again, but the results were the same each time. And, to make matters worse, four punches was all it took for me to start breathing heavy.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Sage said, sighing. He was obviously disappointed, and so was I. Even after all that rowing, I had absolutely no stamina.

“So,” I said, the air stinging the back of my throat like it was filled with cuts. “What did you think?”

He stared at me long and hard, looking at me up and down. Then he pulled my shirt up, and I tried yelling at him but all that came out was hot air from me breathing heavy. “Tsk,” he said, shaking his head. “You’ve got decent tone but you obviously haven’t ran in a long time. I’m amazed you were able to row for as long as you did, but I suppose you were sitting so it was a bit less aerobic than this.”

“I told you, he’s green,” Basil said, nursing his own wounds at the bow of the boat.

“Yeah, yeah, well I wanted to be sure for myself. I got to see what he needs to improve, which seems to be a lot.” Dropping my shirt back down, he stood up straight and cracked his neck loudly. “Next, I’ll try and hit you.”

The sweat hit me like a bucket of water, and he smiled sadly at me. He felt bad for me, and that made it worse.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll hold back a lot. You shouldn’t get hurt too bad. I just need to test your ability to dodge, that’s all.” Putting his fists up, he asked, “Ready?”

Breathing one last burning breath, I nodded and readied my own fists.

I don’t remember seeing his fist move, or the interval where I got to nurse my own wounds. I just remember waking up in the bedroom I was given, with Sage sitting in the corner sharpening his blade with a palm sized stone. When he saw I had woken up, he said, “Sleep, it’s late and you’ll need all the rest you can get. We start tomorrow.”