12

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“No!” Leah awoke from her nightmare to the sight of the morning light gleaming through her window. Realizing that it was just a dream, she let out a deep sigh of relief. Her nightmare was a reenactment of the falling Urali dragons. She just could not get that horrific scene out of her head. 

After taking a moment to settle herself, she got out of the bed and took off the nightclothes that were way too large for her. Katu gave them to her to sleep in, and since the crewmembers were stocky men, the clothes fit quite loose on her. After taking them off, she put on her original outfit, the blue Oakan tunic and tan pants, and walked out of the room.

As she walked down the hall, she thought about what she witnessed yesterday. The battle was terrible enough, but there was something else that troubled her. During the entire battle, Machi had an expression on his face that she couldn’t quite understand. He wasn’t angered or desolated by the incident. He was . . . expressionless. Leah knew that pirates could have a cold heart, but a scene such as that one should have rendered some kind of expression out of him. Leah couldn’t understand it. Lo and behold . . .

“Good morning, Leah,” Machi said as he stepped out of his room while she was passing by. “You’re up pretty early. Normally, I’m the first one up.”

Leah greeted him and they started to walk down the hallway together. Her mind was still pondering over what she had been thinking about, so there was an awkward silence between them.

“Are you okay?” Machi asked her, feeling the atmosphere around them get heavy.

 Leah hid her muse behind an exaggeratedly cheerful smile. “I’m great,” she told him. “As great as a prisoner can be, at least.”

Machi smirked. “That was a dumb question. I guess a prisoner couldn’t be completely okay with their circumstance. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I just have a lot on my mind.” She turned away from him and reminisced about her nightmare. “I can’t get that Auroite and Atloh battle out of my head. I even dreamt about it last night.”

“Hence why you’re up so early, huh?”

Leah nodded. “How can you have a good sleep after witnessing something like that?” She looked into his eyes. Perhaps this question could give her clues to the reasoning behind his cold expression during the battle. She didn’t want to ask him straight up about it. It could cause some unneeded tension between them, and that was the last thing that she wanted since, as of now, he was the only person that she cared to talk to.

Machi answered her question with a shrug. “I guess I’ve just seen a lot of messed up stuff in my time. Not much can cause me to lose sleep.”

“A lot of stuff, you say?” she edged him on. “Like what?”

Machi shrugged again. “I don’t know . . . like murders and whatnot. Pirates killing each other, decapitations, mutilations . . . a lot of stuff. Are you sure you want to hear the details?”

Leah shook her head. Nothing, she thought to herself. She couldn’t squeeze out any clues to the reason behind that expression. Perhaps it’s true that he wouldn’t lose any sleep over those things, but to actually witness, firsthand, hundreds of people falling from the sky, burning alive, and to not even show the slightest expression was a whole different matter. 

“I see,” Leah said as she turned from him, giving up on her investigation. “I’m sorry I made you reminisce on those things.” He shrugged again, which irked her. I guess that’s the only answer that I’m going to get out of him, she thought.

Once they reached the door to the kitchen, they both went inside. Leah had nothing better to do anyway.

“I just . . . I just don’t understand why someone would use such ruthless weapons. All of those Auroites died to protect Auroa, and they died so painfully. It’s sad.”

“I guess so,” Machi said with a shrug. “I mean they’re just Auroites, after all.”

Now, we’re getting somewhere, Leah thought, reopening her investigation. “I know you’re a pirate and I know pirates don’t like Auroites, but Auroites are living beings,” she told him. “There should be some kind of sympathy for them.”

Machi looked up at her as he cut vegetables. “If that’s the case, then the same sympathy should be for the Atlohs as well. Auroites are no better than Atlohs. Both of them kill and conquer. Why hate one and love the other? If they’re the same, you should hate both or love both.”

“Do you hate both of them, Machi?”

Machi shook his head. “To me, they aren’t the same, so that reasoning wouldn’t work out.”

Leah studied him. “What’s your belief about it?”

Machi sighed. “You’re probably not going to like what I’m going to say, but I’ll say it anyway . . . I sort of sympathize with the Atlohs.”

Leah widened her eyes. Who in their right mind would side in any form or fashion with the Atlohs? “Why?” she asked him.

“I mean,” Machi continued. “Look at the Atlohs’ background. They were banished thousands of years ago. Do you honestly believe the actual people who were banished are still alive? Of course not. They would be at least a thousand years old. 

“The Atlohs today didn’t ask to be born into Atloh families; nevertheless, they were, and the world hates them for it. It’s unfair and cruel.” He shook his head at the thought of what he just said. 

It was obvious that he had a deep compassion for them. “Tell me,” he continued. “Besides the war, what have you seen an Atloh do that would make you dislike them in any way?”

“They burned down my village and took my mother.” That was by far the easiest question Leah had ever received. Machi had some good points, but none of them could change the fact that the Atlohs turned her world upside down by destroying her home and kidnapping her loved ones.

“What?” Machi gasped, surprised by what she said. Then he solemnly empathized with her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I had no idea.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “You didn’t know. Look, perhaps everything you said is true, but that doesn’t change the fact that Atlohs are still terrorists. They live off of other people’s fear, and if they’re not feared, they kill. I could never accept that.”  

Machi understood; however, he still stuck with his belief. Even if she disagreed with it, Leah had no other choice but to honor it. They ended the conversation with that. 

“I’ll be on the deck,” Leah told him as she made her way back up the stairs to the hallway. 

“Alright,” Machi told her. “See you at breakfast.”  

As Leah embraced the sunlight outside, she continued to walk to a barrel against the front railing of the ship. She sat on it and looked out at the sea.

“I haven’t the time nor the patience for your sight, girl,” a deep, antagonistic voice said from behind her. Leah turned around to see Gireek. He was shirtless and sweating as he pulled on a rope to holster a large crate full of rocks and planks. “I’ve had a hard enough time keeping this crate up. Now, I have to endure your ugly hide. It’s too early for this kind of torture.”

Gireek was the only person on the ship, besides Machi, that didn’t try to woo her. He thought that she was the ugliest person he had ever seen, and he didn’t mind letting her know that. His reasoning: she wasn’t fat enough. 

Leah ignored his comment and looked at the crate. “What is all that?”

Gireek kept holstering it up as he answered her. “Gleddies.”

Leah raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s not.”

“It will be once Katu trades it,” he told her. “Do you know how much a craftsman would pay for this haul? A fortune.” He holstered it above another crate and then tied the rope to a pole. Finished with his work, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and let out a deep, liberated sigh. He turned to Leah and gave her a smug look. “Why are you up so early, anyway?”

“I just am.”

“Well then, get to work.” Gireek grabbed a broom that was propped next to him and tossed it to her. “You’re not on this ship to just sit around.”

Leah looked around at the ship. It was basically spotless due to her previous days of work. “What’s there to do?” she asked him. “I’ve done everything already.”

Gireek took a handful of dirt out of the crate and threw it on the floor. “Not everything,” he spitefully said. “Get to work.” Then he turned around and walked away. As he walked, he kicked down a barrel full of ashes, which spilled all over the floor. “Get that too,” he said without looking back.

Leah watched him with an infuriated glare until he disappeared through the doors of the quarters. Then she started to sweep. “It’s too early in the morning for this,” she murmured to herself.

As time passed, Leah continued to sweep and clean while more and more crewmembers came out of their quarters. Pretty soon, the nice, quiet morning turned into a loud and rambunctious pirate-filled day. Drunken pirates were singing hardy songs, they were yelling to each other from across the deck, and fistfights occurred every hour. Katu stood at his steer, overseeing both the sea and the controlled chaos of the crew.

Leah watched as a heated argument ensued between two of the crewmen. It was a bulky man and a smaller yet stocky man arguing over how many gleddies one owed the other.

“You’re insane!” the larger man told the smaller one. “I don’t owe you anything but a fist through your teeth! You gambled those gleddies, and you know it!”

“If I did,” the smaller began. “I would have a record of it, which I don’t! The only explanation is that you didn’t pay me in full!”

The larger man got right into the face of the smaller man. “Are you calling me a liar?”

The smaller shrugged. “If the boot fits.”

The bulky man huffed and grabbed a wooden training sword. “Let’s settle this right here.”

“Fine.” The smaller one grabbed a training sword as well.

They got into a fighting position as other crewmen circled around them to spectate. After glaring at each other for a moment, the two men attacked.

Leah watched the whole fight. The larger man had momentum; however, the wit and speed of the smaller man outmaneuvered his opponent. The smaller guy was barely touched while the larger man was bruised and beat to a pulp. The crowd of crewmen cheered for the victor. Leah, having an underdog complex, smirked at the sight of the smaller guy being propped on the shoulders of the crew. 

As the day passed on by, Leah did her evening dance routine. After that, the crew went into the lounging quarters. The day’s work was over. Leah, however, went back to sweeping. As she swept, she kept replaying that fight in her head, and pretty soon, she started using the broom like her glaive. 

She twirled it around her back and struck at her imaginary enemy. She jumped up and brought it down on the floorboard, and then she quickly spun around, swinging the broom in every direction. She stopped her imaginary sparring when she noticed Katu watching her.

“Please,” he said as he walked to her. “Don’t stop on my account.”

Leah did nothing but stare at him. She had no fear of any of the crewmen on the ship because she knew she could take any of them in a fair fight, but Katu was different. She couldn’t let her guard down when he was near. If Raal and Miro had a hard enough time with him, what could he do to her?

Katu was now right next to her. With a calm smile, he said, “Attack me.”

“What?”

“Attack me,” he said again. “You know you want to.”

Leah was hesitant. What kind of demand was this? She studied him to see if he was serious or not. All he did was keep that same witty smile. Is this some sort of trick? Leah stared at him for a while longer and then with one extremely quick movement, she thrust the broom at his face. The attack was so quick and spontaneous that it looked to have been invisible. No one should have been able to dodge it . . . Katu did.

The attack ended with Leah stretched in a forward-thrusting position and Katu on the other side of her. He didn’t just only dodge it, but he completely got into her blind spot.

“You’re good,” Katu told her. “You’re really good.”

Leah looked bewildered. He just complimented her on her skills, yet he avoided her attack without even breaking a sweat. “Good?” she echoed. “But you dodged my attack with ease?”

Katu laughed. “I didn’t say you were better than me. You’re good, but I’m excellent.” Then he walked off.

Leah was left standing there looking even more bewildered. What the heck just happened? As she watched him enter into his captain’s quarters, she replayed it back in her mind. Katu was definitely lethal. No wonder why Raal and Miro couldn’t beat him, she thought. She thought back to her fight with him on Miro’s ship. The only thing that fight proved was that exhaustion could get the better of anyone. 

If Katu was in full fighting condition, she probably would have been killed. With that thought festering in her mind, she put her broom in a fighting position and restarted her imaginary sparring session. To survive in a world with people like Katu and Raal, who was basically on a level playing field with Katu, she needed all the training she could get.