Memories

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: An Unexpected Trip

"Did ah ever mention ah hate boats?" asked Karsh as he leaned over the side.

"Three times, Karsh," Riddel said dryly. She smiled. "But look on the bright side. We're going someplace outside of Termina and the main island. Think of it as an adventure! It's almost like a vacation!" She looked over at Dario, batting her eyelashes. "Don't you agree, Dario?"

Dario just shrugged (he was still too young to know a come on when he got one).

Glenn found the other children on the deck, Viper Churro in hand. "Hi!" he said brightly. Dario and Riddel waved. Karsh leaned over the side, still. . . you figure it out. Curious, Glenn walked over. "Karsh? Are you okay? You don't sound too good." Looking at the half-eaten Viper Churro, he shoved it towards Karsh. "Do you want the rest of my Viper Churro?"

At the mention of food, Karsh's face turned a slightly darker shade of green.

"I. . . don't think Karsh wants food right now, Glenn," said Dario. "Why don't you come over here with me and Riddel?" Dario patted the empty seat beside him. "You can finish your Viper Churro- and that had better be your ONLY Viper Churro, by the way- and then we can go play something."

Glenn just nodded. Riddel might've been a girl, but she was okay. She didn't have cooties like the other girls he knew. She gave him cookies and Dario and Karsh seemed okay after playing with her, so she must've been safe. He pulled himself up onto the bench, his feet dangling above the deck of the ship.

It was several days after the monarchs had arrived. After more meetings, the adults decided that Porre would probably try to strike Guardia first, and at that, they'd strike sooner. Viper, Garai, Zappa, and a handful of Dragoons decided to return to Guardia with the royal couple to try and help fend off an attack. Viper allowed the Devas he was bringing with him to bring their respective families as he was bringing Riddel.

Besides, the last time Viper and his Devas left the kids with a sitter. . . it wasn't pretty.

As Karsh continued to watch as his lunch became one with the sea, the other three started a more. . . not gross. . . conversation. "Guardia Castle is supposed to be even bigger than Viper Manor!" said Riddel. "We could play the BEST game of hide and go seek there! Don't you agree, Dario?"

Dario just nodded (still not seeing the obvious).

"I do! I do!" said Glenn, thinking that his opinion was just as good as Dario's. He was bouncing up and down in his seat, a sign that he'd had a candy bar of some sort in addition to the Viper Churro. "There must be a MILLION rooms there we can play in! And they probably have lots of food there, too!"

"Is that all you ever think about, Glenn? Food?" asked Dario, eyeing his little brother. He wrapped his arm around his younger brother's neck, putting the five year old in a headlock. Glenn squirmed and verbally announced his protest as Dario just laughed. "Silly, silly Glenn. One of these days we're going to have to set you straight." He then proceeded to give his younger brother a noogie. Riddel started to laugh hysterically as Glenn desperately tried to get away.

"No noogies! No noogies!" Glenn cried. "NOOOO!"

"Let 'em go, Dario. He's just a wee 'ittle one, after all," said Karsh, looking up long enough to make the comment before he turned his attention back to sea. "If ye aren't careful, ye may end up rubbing all of is brains out!" He moaned. "Oh. . . I knew I shouldn't have ad that Dodo and Squid Gut Noodle Soup before I left. . ."

Dario let Glenn go. He knew Karsh was joking, but did Glenn know that? To begin with Glenn wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. Heck, he'd gone out onto the Viper Manor Bluffs by himself! Dario knew that even his own father wouldn't go down the Bluffs without a good reason. Relax, Dario. He's five. Doesn't your father enjoy talking about that incident with you drinking your mother's perfume whenever he has guests? Of course he does. Why? Because he's a parent. That's what parents do best- they embarrass their children. Ah, don't worry. You turned out okay, Glenn will turn out just fine, too.

Glenn looked up at Dario fearfully. "Rub my brains out?"

"Ignore him. He's sick in the head AND in the stomach," said Riddel.

"Okay," said Glenn. Still, he gave Dario a raspberry and went to sit next to Riddel, placing her between himself and his older brother. "Riddel will protect me!" Glenn clutched Riddel's arm, sticking his tongue out at Dario as he did. Dario cracked a grin and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?" he said. Dario bolted out of his seat and made a "scary" face. Glenn yelped and ran from Riddel, causing his brother to give chase. Riddel laughed. Dario and Glenn were so funny! Though, she had to admit, Karsh could be funnier (especially when he mimicked someone like her father or one of the Devas as they were speaking- that was a riot!). But he wasn't as cute as Dario was.

NO ONE was as cute as Dario was!

. . . well, maybe that one boy with the freckles and the shiny teeth was a bit cuter.

But Dario was HERS. Well. . . someday he'd be hers. It just needed time.

Night fell apon the ship. It was still several hours away from reaching Truce Harbor and aside from the crew, most of the occupants were asleep. The two Devas had turned in early, seeing that they'd likely find themselves with a very long and tiring day once the morning came to awaken them. General Viper had fallen asleep over a stack of paperwork he'd been trying to sort through. Karsh and Dario were sleeping sitting up, their backs against each other as they snored in alteration (Karsh breathed in, Dario breathed out, Karsh breathed out, Dario breathed in, ect.). Riddel was curled up in her bed, a pleasant dream of a certain blushing bride and a handsome blonde groom on their wedding day.

She didn't understand why her father was in the Dodo costume or why Karsh was one of her bridesmaids instead of Dario's best man, but oh well, dreams are like that. Just last week her wedding dream included Radius and Zappa tap-dancing on a giant wedding cake while a bunch of dancing trout danced around the happy couple.

Glenn was still awake. He was sitting out on the deck in his nightclothes, looking over the side of the boat. The water below was a very dark blue, almost black. Glenn wondered how deep the water was- he couldn't see the bottom. He knew that the ocean was very deep, and sometimes he thought about it. It was fascinating.

The little boy looked out ahead. He could just barely see a something. A very long, thin, something. Whatever it was, it was sitting on top of the horizon. His eyes widened in curiosity. Could that be the Zenan Mainland? Glenn's face lit up. Yes! Yes it WAS the mainland! But. . . if it was that long and that thin and they were that far away, than how big WAS the Zenan Mainland? It could be bigger than the entire El Nido Archipelago!

Glenn heard footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see one of the sailors walking along the deck. The sailor was roughly six feet tall and had dirty blonde hair just a few shades darker than Glenn's hair. The young boy waved at the sailor, who, in return, flashed Glenn a smile and walked over to him. "Well, well, well, what's a kid your age doing out here on a night like this?" he asked.

"That's the Zenan Mainland!" Glenn said, pointing at the horizon.

"Yes, so it is," said the sailor. He looked down at Glenn. "Haven't you ever seen it?"

"No," said Glenn, shaking his head.

"Ah, so you're one of the boys with the Acacia Dragoons, right?" said the sailor.

Glenn nodded. "My name's Glenn. My daddy's a Deva."

"Well, well, well!" said the sailor, looking impressed. "You must have a great dad then! A real Acacia Deva. . . absolutely amazing. I bet that you're going to be a Dragoon someday, too, right Glenn? Following in your father's footsteps, saving the El Nido Archipelago from the dangers that lurk around every corner!"

"Yeah!" said Glenn. Then, he frowned. "But that's Dario's job."

"Who's Dario?" asked the man.

"My older brother," said Glenn. He nodded at the man, happy to have this grown-ups attention. "He can already use a sword. He's got all sorts of trophies and medals and ribbons for his skills with a sword already!" He smiled. "I'm gonna learn how to use a sword, too. I want to impress Daddy, too!"

"I'm sure you'll do that," said the sailor. He held out a hand, which Glenn looked at questioningly. He looked up at the man, his eyes filled with confusion and curiosity. "My name is Curtis, Glenn. I'm a sailor on this ship, as you might've already guessed." Seeing what the man was getting at, Glenn held out his own hand to shake the other hand.

"Nice to meet you, Curtis," said Glenn. "Why are you out so late?"

"Off-duty," said Curtis. He reached into his pocket, then pointed at one of the moons. "See how it's lit up like that?" Glenn nodded. "It's like a giant mirror. The sun's rays bounce off the moon to give us all a little bit of light. And with that light, I can do something neat, Glenn."

"What?" asked Glenn. Curtis showed Glenn a compact, which opened up to reveal a mirror. He placed it on the railing. A beam of light appeared on the water. "Wow!" Curtis grinned and started to make the beam go off and on, getting several giggles out of Glenn as he watched the light spectacle before him.

"Neat, huh?" said Curtis, making a few last flashes before closing the compact. He placed his hands on his knees and bent down to Glenn's level. "So, what do you plan to do once you get to the Zenan Mainland? There's so much to see and so much to do. There are all sorts of fantastic things there to see- what do you want to see first?"

Glenn shrugged. "My Daddy said that Dario and I are supposed to stay in the castle," he said. Then, his expression lightened to a very excited one. "But the castle is supposed to be even bigger than Viper Manor! We were talking about it earlier with Riddel- we think we can have a really COOL game of hide and seek in a place THAT big!"

Curtis frowned. "Aw, you don't want to spend your whole time in the castle, do you?" he asked. "Being cooped up inside a musty old castle when you could be outside in the cool, fresh air?" Glenn's expression darkened. "Thought so. Kids your age need to be outside playing, not cooped up inside smelly old castles."

"Still, my Daddy said I had to stay in the castle," said Glenn.

Curtis grinned. "Tell you what. While we're docked in Truce, I'll talk to your dad and tell him that your good old friend Curtis will take you around to see Truce and the area surrounding Guardia Castle. Give you a little tour of the place so you can see what it's like. How does that sound?"
"That sounds great!" said Glenn. "You'd really do that?"

"Hey, didn't I say kids need to get out more often?" said Curtis. "Just you and me."

"What about Dario, Karsh, and Riddel?" asked Glenn. "Aren't they coming, too?"

"Now why would you want them around?" asked Curtis.

"They're my friends," said Glenn.

"Well. . . if I take you out beforehand and you already know about everything, wouldn't you impress them with your already vast knowledge of Truce and the Zenan Mainland?" said Curtis. He put his hand on Glenn's shoulder and waved his arm high above their heads, towards the sky. "They'd be pretty impressed if someone your age was smarter than they were."

Glenn thought about this. Maybe Dario and Karsh would play with him more often if he showed them how smart he could be. Maybe Curtis had a good idea there. Besides, he would get to see everything before the other kids did- didn't that say something special right there? Glenn nodded. "Okay."

Curtis smiled, patting Glenn on the back, a wide grin on his face. "Marvelous. You run off to bed and get a good night's sleep. I'll come pick you up first thing in the morning after your Dad wakes up and I can talk to him- which Deva is your father, by the way, Glenn?" asked Curtis.

"Garai- he has the Einlanzer," said Glenn.

Curtis nodded. "All right. What's he look like?"
"He has long white hair and silvery armor."

"All right, sounds like a hard guy to miss. So I'll go find Garai in the morning, discuss the proposition with him, and then we'll have a BLAST tomorrow!" said Curtis. "Trust me, Glenn- it'll be absolutely wonderful. Truce is a great city to visit. Certainly bigger than the cities of the El Nido Archipelago."

"Even bigger than Termina?" asked Glenn.

"Yeah! Bigger than Termina!" said Curtis. He held out his hand again for Glenn to shake. "Then it's settled. Tomorrow morning. Fun, fun, and more fun in the Zenan Mainland sun! Just you and me, little buddy. Just you and me while Dario, Karsh, and Riddel are stuck in that smelly old castle!"

"Yeah!" said Glenn, shaking Curtis' hand. "That smelly old castle!"

Curtis let out a laugh. "That's the spirit, Glenn!" He cleared his throat and looked out at the night sky. "My, my, my, it's getting late. If we don't get to bed soon we'll get up late. The earlier the get up the better day we'll have!" Glenn nodded, then ran off to where his cabin was. Curtis grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "One question. Where's your cabin?"

"Oh," said Glenn. He gave Curtis quick directions, then waved him good-bye and ran off. Tomorrow was going to be GREAT! Instead of being stuck in the castle with Dario and Karsh and Riddel, he was going to hang out with Curtis in Truce! That was a lot better than being inside all day! The Zenan Mainland was going to be great!

Curtis grinned, chuckling to himself. "Such a nice boy," he said.