I was in no rush; I had plenty of time to spare. My preferences however, pushed me to act sooner rather than later. I wasn’t going to wait around to be surprised by something I could have easily found out if I spent a few days or weeks prying around. Plus, I needed a break from practicing both my tinkering and my spellcasting.
I got out of bed and exited my room. The boat I was sleeping in was not fully beached onto the shore, and I still felt a slight swaying whenever I took a step. It was subtle, barely even noticeable, but still noticeable.
The wooden floors of the stairway creaked as I made my way up onto deck, before descending down the gangplank and onto the soft, white sand. I glanced about at the remains of the party that had been thrown— eyeing the few dozen drunken men and women passed out on the tables and chairs they had set out.
Whoever that’s going to clean that up is going to have a bad time, I thought. I had been to a number of parties before back on Earth, but apparently teenagers and young adults there were not nearly as rambunctious as fully grown adults here were.
I paused for a moment, trying to see if Gennady was in the pile of unconscious bodies, and was glad to see that he wasn’t. I hoped he managed to cheer up at least slightly after last night. It was not fun being the bearer of bad news, and it was even less fun to be incapable of doing anything to make the recipient feel better.
I started in the direction of the crude wooden structures in the corner of the cave. After seeing me to my room, Ginah brought Lisa and Jack to theirs too. I did not know exactly where they were, but I assumed they were sleeping in the same dormitory area that I was shown to yesterday.
I started in that direction, when I caught a glimpse of a light stirring. Braz pushed himself to his feet from lying face first in the sand, and wiped at his face.
"G’morning," he said, yawning without covering his mouth. He blinked a few times, looking out the mouth of the cave. "Phew, it’s early. What time is it?"
"I don’t know," I replied honestly. "I don’t have a clock or a watch."
He nodded his head wisely a few times. Or at least, he probably thought he did. "Well, you should get one! It’s important to know the time if you want to be punctual."
I ignored his unsolicited advice, and cocked my head at him. "Didn’t you drink a lot last night? Don’t you have a hangover or something?"
"Oh I do." He gave me a carefree grin and spoke in a tone that betrayed his next few words. "It’s absolutely terrible. I feel like my head’s about to explode!"
"I’m sure there’s a potion or medicine for that."
"There is," he said, finally standing up and dusting himself off of sand. "But we don’t own any. We’d be broke if we had to keep a constant supply of those."
I raised my shoulders in a shrug. "Why do you guys have to throw parties?"
Braz paused, as if he was seriously considering my rhetorical question. Then he brought a hand up to his chin, and scratched it uncertainly. "...morale?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I don’t actually care. You guys can spend your resources however you want, as long as we put a stop to this enuim trade and you guys keep your end of the deal."
"Hey!" Braz shot a hand up, and patted me on the head. "Don’t worry, we aren’t liars."
I just gave him a blank look. "That’s what a liar would say."
"Well, maybe," he said, not losing any of his cheerful demeanour. "Guess you’ll just have to trust us."
"Mhm," I gave him a noncommittal sound in response. Then I turned towards the wooden buildings in the near distance. "Where’s Lisa? Or Jack?"
"Dunno about Jack." Braz scratched the back of his head. "He wasn’t at the party last night, but Lisa was there briefly. Saw her retire to those rooms over there."
"Thanks." I quickly bowed my head and started in the direction he pointed.
I wanted to speak with Lisa; after all the chaos that happened yesterday, we didn’t have time to discuss our agreement. I wanted my gold back, of course. And I was sure Gennady would prefer to have it back too after he lost his bike— I hoped it would have been somewhat of a consolation to know he could keep his gold to buy the parts to make another one.
I pushed the door of the first building so that it was open slightly ajar, and peered in. I saw about a dozen women sleeping in a line, but could not pick out Lisa from among them. There were a few kids— only two, and they were young. Less than half my age in this world. I furrowed my brows as I considered the danger these kids' parents were putting them in by bringing them in a fight against the Elise.
I shook my head and walked to the next building. I was just about to step in when the door opened up. I blinked as Lisa glanced down at me, and cocked her head.
"Oh, Ari— I mean Melas. What are you doing here?" she asked.
I paused only for a moment, still
