A light rain fell early the next morning, just enough to make them stuff their blankets into their bedroll covers. Buna was on watch over Miko, and made sure he was awake before helping him do the same. The shower quickly passed as the cloudy sky brightened with the new day.
Breakfast was just a few scraps of dried fruit and whatever berries they could find. Ilika overheard comments about tasty inn food at the end of an easy day’s walk. Before departing, no one could resist one more dip in their favorite hot pool. Ilika took a good look at Miko’s hand, and Neti reminded him the ointment jar was almost empty.
After reluctantly climbing out of the relaxing hot water, Ilika spread out the map and selected a new emergency meeting place, a village on the coast several miles north of Port Town, on the route he hoped to follow. The morning clouds lifted but still provided shade as they departed their camp below the hot spring terraces. Rini had trouble tearing himself away, but Miko didn’t look back. Sata was somewhere in between.
After they found the wagon road that came down off the hills, farm cottages began to dot the river valley, with little herds of cattle, goats, or sheep, as well as gardens and small fields of grain.
The chirping of Ilika’s bracelet sent them scurrying into the trees as three soldiers came riding by, going in the opposite direction. The group waited in hiding until the armed men were long gone.
The ten wanderers ate lunch with a large farm family. The kitchen table
was laden with fresh and plentiful food and drink, and the students’ eyes sparkled every time one of the family members mentioned the sea, now so close at hand. After they had eaten, shared a bit of local news, and purchased some bread and cheese, they were quickly back on the road.
For a while as they walked, Ilika and Neti were in the lead, a bit ahead of the rest.
“What do you think Ilika’s ship is gonna be like?” Buna asked anyone who cared to speculate.
“A tall ship, I think,” Sata predicted, “with white sails!”
“He said it was small,” Rini reminded them, “but you’re probably right about the white sails.”
Boro joined. “Yeah, I’ve heard big ships have crews of twenty or more.”
“I bet it has a mermaid in front, like the one I unloaded about a year ago,”
Toli said.
“Or maybe a dragon!” Kibi speculated.
“Yeah!” Sata agreed.
“I wonder if we get cabins,” Mati said from atop Tera.
“The ships I’ve seen only have a cabin for the captain and his lady,” Miko informed, “and everyone else sleeps in bunks.”
Several glanced at Kibi, and she blushed.
“Why don’t we ask him?” Rini suggested.
“Ilika!” Buna called.
“Yes?”
“The people you pick — do they get cabins on your ship, or bunks?”
“There are three cabins on my ship, each with two beds, so we all share with one other person.”
“I know who I’m gonna share with if he picks me!” Miko said proudly.
Neti grinned, and for similar reasons, Kibi smiled.
The rest were silent, thinking about the possibilities.
About mid-afternoon they came to the north-south road. The salt air was pungent and they could faintly hear the roar of waves, but could not yet see the ocean.
To the south, the road crossed the wide river valley, then wound into the wilderness beyond and eventually to another kingdom.
To the north, according to the farmer where they had eaten lunch, just over a rise, lay Port Town.
Ilika looked straight ahead, to the west. A small hill of boulders and scrawny trees stood between the road and the ocean. “I know some of you have been in Port Town, but have you seen the open ocean?”
No one claimed the experience.
Mati and Tera picked their way among the rocks, but had to stop a hundred yards short of the hilltop. Tera was happy to wait in the last sandy space between the boulders, as tasty grass grew where it was protected from the wind. Ilika and Boro helped Mati to the top.
As they all gathered on the topmost boulders, a broken cloud layer poured shafts of golden sunlight onto the open ocean about two hundred feet below.
The dark water spread out before them from north to south without an island or distant shore in sight. The students’ mouths opened and their eyes grew round with wonder.
After a few minutes, Sata stuttered out what most of them were feeling.
“P-please, Ilika, teach us about what we are seeing so we won’t b-be afraid of it.”
He thought for a moment. “This is where all the water goes at the end of its journey down the streams and rivers. There are several oceans by name, but they are all connected, so it’s really one big world-ocean. Since the rivers wash minerals off the land, and evaporation takes only pure water back into the clouds, the ocean is very salty. It would make you sick if you drank it.
Although it may be shallow near the shore, it eventually becomes several miles deep.”
“What is that roaring sound?” Miko asked.
“Waves. They move across the ocean as ridges of water pushed along by the wind, and when they hit land, they release their energy.”
“Are they dangerous?” Neti asked.
“Sometimes. They can just creep up a sandy beach until they tickle your toes. They can also throw a wall of water twenty feet high against the rocks,
and you had better not be in the way. The sea is very beautiful and gives us many things, but it must be understood and respected, or it will slap you just like that steam vent.”
Miko swallowed, and everyone gazed thoughtfully at the vast ocean before them.
Deep Learning Notes
The students, while discussing the future sleeping arrangements on Ilika’s ship, realized their relationships, for the first time in their lives, might be an important factor. The reader might be tempted to guess who will share cabins, but should keep in mind that a long journey lies before them that will test those relationships.
Why does Sata beg Ilika to explain what they are seeing when they look out over the open ocean for the first time?
Wind causes the most general wave motion, but it is modified, and sometimes completely overwhelmed, by other forces such as tides and earthquakes. The waves caused by earthquakes, which are often very large, are sometimes called
“tidal waves,” but have nothing to do with tides, and the term “tsunami” is more accurate.
NEBADOR BookTwo: Journey 95
