Chapter 2: Land Ho!
As the days passed, Fu-Fu had no choice but to put up with the scraps from the imperial family's meals, brought to him by one of the cats three times a day. Luckily, he soon got used to it; and as if that wasn't good enough, whenever the ship stopped to take on more coal and water, he was able to fly out and scavenge for bugs before they set off again. The imperial family, however, soon tired of life aboard the ship in general. "If I had known I would have to sleep in that puny, secondhand room till Buddha knows when," Tai-Tai fumed one morning at breakfast, "I would never have agreed to come on this trip! And by the way, that awful, springy bed hurts my back!"
"Now, now, my delicate daisy," said the Magistrate, "I'm more than positive that Sir Henry will have much better accommodations for us all."
"For all our sakes, I hope you're right!"
The kittens weren't faring much better. "Hey Sagwa," said Sheegwa, "wanna race across the deck?"
"No, we did that yesterday," her sister replied. "Why don't you spin your top for awhile?"
"Nah, my tail's still sore from two days ago."
"How about exploring more of the inside of the ship?" Dongwa suggested. "Last one to the boiler room is a rotten egg!"
"Oh, no you don't," said Baba severely. "Not after your little incident with the chef!"
Dongwa let out an exasperated groan. "Ugh! I'm bored out of my mind!" he complained. "If we can't think of something new to do soon, I'm gonna get cabin fever!"
Just then, Sagwa noticed her grandfather heading out of the room. "Where are you going, Yeh-Yeh?" she asked.
"Oh, just up to the ship's bow to watch the world go by," replied Yeh-Yeh. "Care to come with me, Sagwa?"
Sagwa pondered Yeh-Yeh's invitation for a moment. It didn't sound like much fun at first; but then she remembered what Woogway, the elderly tortoise who lived in the palace garden, had taught her about slowing down and admiring the world around her. "Sure! Why not?" She turned to her siblings. "You guys coming?"
Sheegwa eagerly accepted this offer, but Dongwa turned it down. "I could think of a zillion better things to do than that!" he snorted.
"Like staying in here and getting cabin fever?" Sagwa teased.
"Huh? Oh!" exclaimed Dongwa. "On second thought, count me in!"
Yeh-Yeh led his grandchildren all the way up to the ship's bow. "Now sit back, take a deep breath, and just watch the world around you," he said. The kittens sat down and inhaled deeply. "Wa! Just smell that sea air!" whispered Sagwa.
"And fish! I can smell fish!" cried Sheegwa enthusiastically.
"I could practice T'ai-Chi up here all day long!" remarked Dongwa.
Yeh-Yeh chuckled. "I take it coming here was worth it?"
"Oh yes, Yeh-Yeh," replied Sagwa. "It's wonderful!"
"You know, Sagwa," Yeh-Yeh went on, "your grandmother and I were planning to watch the sunset tonight from here, and then get up early tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise too. Would you like to join us?"
"You bet your nine lives I would! Thank you, Yeh-Yeh! Xiexie!"
For the rest of the voyage, Sagwa made it a daily habit of hers to watch the sunrise and sunset from the ship's bow with her grandparents. During the afternoon, she would often sit by the side of the hull, lean into the wind, and let the seaspray wet her fur. Other times, she would simply lie down on her back and watch the clouds roll by, usually accompanied by Sheegwa and Fu-Fu (Dongwa stuck to T'ai Chi). Woogway was right, Sagwa thought serenely. It really is worth it to just sit back, relax, and admire the beauty of the world around you.
Because the Magistrate wanted to show the Duke his cats' special talent for scribing, he'd brought several scrolls of paper for them to write on. One day, Sagwa asked her parents' permission to take one of these scrolls, along with a paperweight and some ink, up to the bow with her. "I don't see any reason why not, Sagwa," Baba replied. "The Magistrate has plenty more. But why do you want a scroll now?"
"You'll see soon enough," grinned Sagwa, and left the room without another word. Arrived at the bow, she set to work painting a picture of the vast blue sea that lay before her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a large island off in the distance, with a smaller neighbouring one to its left, and thought she'd draw those in as well.
About a half hour later, Sagwa's painting was finished, and while waiting for the ink to dry, she lay down next to the side of the hull to let the cool wind whip against her fur. She then noticed that the ship was now heading toward the larger of the two islands. Sagwa's heart began to race faster and faster in excitement: could this be the Island of Sodor? Was their journey coming to a close at last?
Before she could think of anything else, her parents walked up to her. "Come along, Sagwa," said Mama. "We just overheard the captain tell the Magistrate that we'll be arriving at Sodor within the hour."
Sagwa gasped. "You mean that island over there..."
"Yes, dear!" Mama chuckled. "That's it!"
"Well then, what's that smaller island over there?"
"That?" replied Baba. "That must be the Isle of Man. The captain did say something about neighbouring islands to Sodor just the other day." Then his gaze drifted to Sagwa's picture. "So this is what you've been working on all this time! Sagwa, this is lovely!"
"Our ancestor Ming Miao would envy a drawing like this!" declared Mama. "And seeing as how his sprung to life, that is saying something!"
Remembering what the Magistrate had said days before about her artistic skills, Sagwa beamed proudly. But as she followed her parents back to their quarters, her face soon fell: she felt sad to be leaving the ship. She'd had so much fun up at the bow that the days had flown by faster than she could count them. "Never mind, darling," comforted her father. "There's always the return journey. Besides, just think of all the fun you'll have on Sodor. Hurry along now; everyone's waiting for us."