Chapter 224: Day 223

Day 223,

The islands are starting to be spread further apart now and the sea floor has gotten deeper.  With how clear the water is we’ve mostly been able to see the bottom up until now, if only barely at times, but no longer.  When we came up to the island we’re on now, I was able to observe a pretty rapid dropoff; a steep incline coming down from the beach that abruptly terminates in an underwater shelf.

As for the island we’re on now it seems to be a fair bit larger than most we’ve seen so far.  Not anything approaching the main island, but enough that we were able to make it out in the distance not long after setting out this morning.  Part of that is because it’s tall.  Practically a small mountain.  Well, an unusually large and steep hill at least.  We decided to go to the far end of it by boat before putting in for the day, and that took us the better part of an hour.

As for that decision to make landfall for the day, we wound up doing that earlier in the day than originally planned, largely because of the aforementioned matter of islands being further apart the further out we go.  That and we might have underestimated how easy it would be for us to find fresh water as we go and we wanted to try to refill our supplies if we can.

The good news is that Maiko recognizes this island and says we should get to the island with the healing spring late tomorrow, so worst case scenario we’ll just restock there.  If it’s safe and magically healing to bathe in, surely it’s safe to drink.

The less good news is that Maiko also vaguely remembers there being large animals living here but she doesn’t remember if they’re dangerous or not.  It took a fair bit of convincing for her to agree not to go scouting on her own.  Yes, she’s stronger than the rest of us put together and can probably fend for herself just fine with the rest of us just slowing her down in a dangerous situation, but, as Lin put it, better to have a second set of eyes to avoid a bad situation in the first place, and if something does go wrong better to have someone with her to help instead of needing to wait for everyone else to cross who knows how much of the island blind.

Speaking of which, they have been gone for quite some time now.  No warning pings on the bracelets (or whatever that feels like, so far it’s only ever been me in danger), so they’re probably fine.

It’ll be so nice to get to that spring.  Possible healing magic aside, it’ll be a relief to wash off days of being sticky with salt water and sand.  That said, I’m amazed that none of us are really any worse off than that.  Four days now of being out on the open water with no shade and exposed to the breeze and splash of seawater, and I’d be expecting sunburns and chapped lips and cracked knuckles, but none of that so far.  Closest to that is, upon examining myself, my arms and legs seem maybe a little darker, but then again, that’s not saying much given that I normally get less sun than anyone else in the Village, possibly this whole world.

The palms of Lin’s hands are looking rough though, threatening to blister if they haven’t already.  She seemed to be trying to hide that though, and when I asked her about it earlier she shrugged it off saying that we’re going to a healing spring so nothing to worry myself over.  And then she added that she does expect me to do more of the rowing on the way back.  She laughed when she said that last part but I think it was less of a joke than she was trying to make it seem.  I hope she’s not forcing on a happy face just for my sake.

Okay, enough of that melancholy line of thought.  Going to go stretch my legs and walk this beach a bit.  Maybe catch up with Cass.  Haven’t talked to her much since this trip started.

 

Well, Maiko was right about there being large animals here.  She and Lin returned not too long after I stopped writing earlier, refills on water in tow and excited to take us up the mountain to show off what they found.  Well, Lin was excited to do so.  Maiko was more like reluctantly going along with it.

Curiosity piqued and then only intensified by Lin refusing to elaborate, Cass and I followed the two of them up the mountain.  It was steeper than anything I’d grown used to since being here, but not so much that I couldn’t walk up it.  Even if I did occasionally find myself leaning forward to grab the ground or a tree to keep my footing.  And of course we had to stop and wait for me to catch my breath a few times (just another day or two of this).  The view at the top was worth it though.

From a distance, I’d assumed this mountain was flat on top, but in truth it was a basin, covered in grass and speckled with flowers and broad leafed shrubbery with a lake in the middle.  And lounging around the eastern side of the basin (caldera?  Is this place volcanic?), basking in the sunlight still making it over the edge  of the mountain’s rim were what appeared to be cats.  From a distance anyway.  And then you realized that from the distance we were looking at the larger ones must be the size of a cart and the smallest (kittens?) were at least the size of Cass.

Lin asked if we wanted to get a closer look.  Cass jumped at the opportunity.  I almost did and then started to think better of getting up close to a bunch of predators twice my size or more.  

In response, Lin told me that wasn’t something to worry about, refusing to elaborate beyond a “Come on, you’ll see.”

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In the tone of someone who’s given up on averting a bad idea and has settled for mitigating damage, Maiko added that as long as we’re all slow and quiet and keep the lake between us and the animals we should be fine.

And so we cautiously made our way down the shadowed side of the basin, coming to a stop at Maiko’s direction a decent bit back from the water.  Closer up, the strangeness of the “cats” became more apparent.  The first part to become more noticeable as we approached was that some of them appeared to be grazing and once we got up to our “safe distance” I could see that they had broad, flat teeth.  Horse-like.  Or maybe even human.  And their eyes…  The slits of their pupils were horizontal, thin strips of black bulging in the center bisecting fields of dark yellow.

Unnerving variations on a familiar form I’d had a fondness for.  Unnerving, but fascinating.

Otherwise though, they acted much like one would expect from a group (herd? pride?) of cats on a lazy afternoon.  The larger ones lounging in the sun.  The younger ones playing with one another or a tolerant elder.  Some of them grooming themselves or what were presumably their offspring.  An endearing sight despite the strangeness.

Then again, the sight of regular cat behavior out of them was an alarming portent when one of the “kittens” finally took notice of us and started making its way around the lake toward us.  They may be herbivores, but in the world I’m from, house cats are known to hunt for sport or play.  Having seen these ones play with one another, I didn’t care to imagine how I’d wind up after being used as a toy.

As we all tensed up in the start of our respective fight-or-flight response, one of the larger ones - a parent perhaps - came to join the young one.  At that point under some unspoken agreement we started slowly backing up the slope.  I can’t speak for what was going through the others’ minds at that point, but I was afraid that if I bolted that might encourage the “cats” to chase.

Fortunately, upon reaching the “kitten” the larger “cat” started nudging it back toward the group.  With the setting sun pushing the shadow near to the far rim the herd/pride was making their way up and over, presumably down to the forest below for the night.

We stayed and watched them go.  All but one thirsty straggler that decided to get one last drink from the lake.  And there we got our last surprise of the evening.

It was quick, just a brief ripple of something moving under the water, a great splash, a yowl, an audible thump as the “cat” leapt up and backwards.  This was then followed by several seconds of growling before the beast swatted at the water and then bounded off to join its kin.

We decided not to refill our water supply any more after that.  The looks on Lin’s and Maiko’s faces would have been funny if not for the implication that they had apparently taken a bigger risk earlier in the day than they’d realized.

Curious though that the bracelets didn’t signal to Cass or I that the two of them were in danger when they’d apparently collected water from the lake earlier.  Does that mean that they don’t work the way we thought they did?  Is it only when one of us is alone and in danger?  Or maybe whatever it is that lives in the lake is nocturnal so it’s safe in the daytime.  And if none of us felt one another as being in danger when the “kitten” was approaching us, did that mean it wasn’t dangerous in and of itself or that we weren’t in danger to begin with because of the presence of its parent on the way to remove it?

Such speculation took up most of our dinnertime conversation.  Well, that and just talking about how cool that was.  We did all agree though that we probably shouldn’t rely solely on these artifacts to judge whether or not we’re getting ourselves into something dangerous.

And thus I’m on watch once again.  Me and the nature sprite.  I should probably go wake Cass for her shift soon though.  Don’t want to be dozing off on the watch again.

 

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