The Ochre Leaves
A Boat Comes By
Four years later…
Rogueport was alive. Eager lovers, mothers, and friends awaited the arrival of the Folletto to arrive at its harbour, with over 800 passengers in tow. They had been expecting this lavish cruise liner for two days ever since its departure from the Italianate harbour of Sarasaland, a kingdom famously diverse in geography and architecture, expecting it to arrive at approximately thirteen hours past midnight.
But now it is eighteen past two. In the afternoon.
"Blimey, when's this stinkin' ship supposed to arrive? It's twenny past, now!" Called a burly, middle-aged toad with an accent typical of the working class whose outfit resembled that of a janitor. He had a few missing incisors and the rest of his teeth were tarnished by years of decay and neglect.
"Stinking, sir? You must be mad! The Folletto is one of the finest Class A cruise liners in modern times!" Responded a neighbouring stranger who, in contrast, was dressed in a suit and spoke in a formal dialect, which meant that he could have been a resident a Poshley Heights.
The burly janitor shrugged off his response and rebutted, "Well, if it was really a Class A ship then it would arrive much quicker!".
But, soon on horizon, a distant ship smoke appeared, and naturally, crowds roared in anticipation for the ship to come closer, hoping that it was the Folletto. When the crowd became privy that the ship was in fact the long awaited cruise liner, they roared even louder in excitement, tossing up hats and waving at the ship as it rode closer to the dock.
Eventually, after a delay of approximately one hour and twenty minutes, the Folletto was moored at the dock. Crowds applauded when the gate was opened to let the passengers off. The first people to depart from the ship were mostly toad families with young children. Then the couples were next to depart who were, again mostly toads, and then individuals departed, which didn't bring anybody exceptional.
Except for one. This time, it was a human.
The human was a man, possibly no taller than five feet six, who sported dark scarlet hair and had dull eyes. His appearance was informal, maybe even scruffy, as his attire consisted of a brown tweed jacket with slacks that were a darker shade of brown and black boots. His face, however, didn't complement his apparel, for his face was free of any facial hair and he seemed to take care of his skin. However, he carried with him a large, worn suitcase that was made of leather. Maybe he was on a long haul trip around the world, or maybe he stowed away. And he was going to stay, wherever he was going.
Thankfully, the customs didn't find anything suspicious about him or his destination, so they let him pass as a genuine tourist of the Mushroom Kingdom. To his surprise, they overlooked his expired passport. "Jobsworths", He mused. Tourism wasn't his objective. As much as he told them that he was paying a visit, he knew that was not the whole truth. He didn't quite know what drew to the Mushroom Kingdom. In particular, he was drawn to Toad Town, the capital. Maybe he could stand chance at finding work there
"Yer sure ya wanna head there, mate?"
"Yes." The man replied, quietly.
"I s'pose where yer from, you don't know what happened, dontcha?"
"I'm afraid not." the traveller said, with an apologetic tone to his voice.
"Alright, then, I'll tell ya." The conductor thus began. "The Kingdom was always at war with someone named Bowser. 'E's what you'd call a 'tyrant'. Time and time again, Bowser would try an' take over the whole place, even tried to forced the Queen into marriage, but she was a princess back then. The Princess 'ated 'im, and 'er hatred only grew the more times 'e kidnapped 'er. But back then she had someone called Mario who'd save her. But 'e died, you see. That changed everything"
The conductor paused.
"How do you mean?" Claude asked.
"Well, she 'ad to change. Invested a lot of money into military resources."
How strange that someone could only depend on one person to help them, and to change completely when they were not around anymore.
"Was he in love with her?"
"I think so, and I think she was 'eartbroken when he drowned drowned in that river along with Bowser. Nothin's been the same. What's yer name, son?"
"Claude." The traveller responded, quietly again.
The conductor spoke no more. Claude continued to blankly stare out of the ferry's window at the expanse of water, the gentle breeze causing it the ripple softly in the balmy afternoon sun.