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Dream World Mirau by Josephina Mari
Day Twenty Five of NaNoWriMo

I tried my best to fall asleep, but after that battle I was too shaken up to close my eyes. I lay in my bed staring up at the ceiling of my room in the ship wondering if another attack would happen when I closed my eyes. I gave up on sleep and got up out of bed. I walked over to the door of my room, leaving my bag inside but taking my room key, and then I exited the room and walked over to Baer’s room. I knocked on the door hoping he was still awake. “Mari are you still up? We will be in Mesa soon so you should try to take it easy until then.” Baer said after he opened the door. To my surprise he was still awake as well. “I was wondering if you, me, and Karou could play that tile game until we get to Mesa. I can’t sleep and it scares me to be alone after what just happened. Those monsters came from where we are going...” I said bringing my arms up to hug my shaking shoulders. “Alright Mari. Majongg it is. Karou has the game in his room so let’s go ask him if he will play with us.” Baer said smiling then he grabbed his room key and put it in his pocket before he walked out into the hallway with me shutting his door behind him. Baer checked to make sure the door was locked before he walked with me over to Karou’s room at the end of the hallway. Baer knocked on the door this time and when Karou answered Baer spoke up for the both of us. “After the attack I think it is best we stick together until we get to port. Would you be up to a Majongg game to pass the time Karou? I have some cero to wager for your trouble.” Baer said trying to bribe him. Karou would have agreed to the game with or without the wager though. He was still thinking about the fight he had with Glenn, one of the Akuen’s lap dogs and surely one of the weaker members of the group. Things would only get harder from now on, so they needed to recruit some reinforcements as soon as possible.

“Come on in you two. Truth is I need some company now or I think I’ll go crazy thinking about what we are up against. A game of Majongg sounds fun. Mari you don’t have to bet if you don’t want to, but Baer on the other hand I expect to.” Karou said grinning as he walked over to his shoulder bag to dig out the Majongg tiles. Karou began setting up the game as Baer closed the door behind us then he and I walked over to take our positions of east and west across from each other while Karou took the north position. Karou started the game off by rolling the dice to determine where we began drawing our tiles from. We took turns taking two tiles each until all of us had six tiles then we each took one more to make seven. Karou decided to go first so he drew a tile from the wall and then discarded. Baer grinned as he picked up the discarded tile and added it to his stack then he go rid of one he did not need. I stared at my tiles for a moment as I arranged them to determine what ones I needed yet to win then I drew from the wall of tiles and discarded. The game of Majongg lasted nearly the remainder of the trip before finally a winner was decided. “Two pairs of three and a pair of twos. Majongg.” I said as I flipped over my tiles so that Baer and Karou could see. “Ah once again Lady Luck has cursed me. Good job Mari. Looks like you win the bet pool of three thousand cero. You keep ranking of money like that and I’ll have to ask you to buy me my potions next time.” Baer said laughing and then Karou responded “We should enter Mari in a tournament. I bet she could win us a ton of money with her good luck. Maybe we could try it after our business is taken care of. Mari and I will head over to the jewelry shop in town to pickup some stones that may help us gain some allies while you look for your master in town alright Baer? When we finish lets meet up at the town inn to decide what to do from there. I wouldn’t advise spending a lot of time in town though since we will be in enemy territory once we get to shore.” Karou said looking a bit nervous while Baer looked like he was thinking about something before he said “You are right Karou. I’ll try to find my information as quick as possible and meet you at the inn. As much as I’m tempted to visit the Weapon Shop and Alchemy Store I’ll avoid both today so we can get in and out as quickly as possible.” Baer then stood up as I felt the ship slowing down. “We must be close to Mesa now. Everyone gather your things and meet up on deck. I’m going to go get Nodin then I’ll be up there.” Karou said after he cleaned up the Majongg tiles and put the game back into his shoulder bag. Karou then quickly gathered the rest of his supplies into his bag before he up his room key back on the desk then he left heading to the stables. Baer and I returned to our rooms then we proceeded to pack up our belongings before we too returned the keys back to the table that belonged to the room we were borrowing.

Baer and I headed up on deck of the ship and then I saw the continent of Mesa coming into view over the horizon. I could see mountains sticking up from the flat land that seemed to act as a barrier blocking the inner lands from the outside world. “Karou never said anything about going through any mountains, but then again how would he know unless he had been here before?” I thought to myself as I noticed Karou arrive on deck with Nodin at his side. “Mari would you like to ride on my owl with me for awhile? You can’t beat the view from above.” Baer said looking at me curiously. I never quite got over my fear of heights, but for some odd reason I wanted to give it a try now. Sooner or later I’d have to face my fears and there are probably worse things waiting for me ahead. “Alright Baer. I’ll fly with you after we leave port. It will give Nodin a little break since he won’t have to carry two people.” I said as I walked over to Nodin then I pet his nose gently. I watched silently after that as the ship pulled into port and then everyone started to get off to unload the supplies that were shipped from across the sea. I followed Karou and Baer into town feeling a little scared that the enemy could be lurking all around us. “Don’t worry Mari. The Akuen are not here...not yet. I would feel their Black Magic. This maybe their territory, however regular people still live on this land so we can’t treat everyone like an enemy. Some of these people did not have enough strength to fight so they were forced to submit to the Akuen and allow them to take control of their city. We are going to free them.” I head Baer whisper to me before he said aloud “I will be quick. See you at the inn shortly.” And then Baer dashed off into the city to gather information about his Master’s whereabouts. Karou and I headed to the jewelry store with Nodin to see if we could find stones similar to the ones Claria used to make the bracelet for Karou that I now wore.

As we arrived at the Jewelry Store Karou asked me to show the shop owner my bracelet as he explained that he wanted to make a similar bracelet for some friends of ours so he needed more of the stones. The jeweler showed us a variety of loose stones in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Karou and I looked through the stones to find as many as we could that looked like Claria’s then we took them up to the counter to pay for them. “That’s about twenty stones you have there. I’ll give them all to you for sixty five thousand cero. Is that fair?” The jewelry said looking at Karou ready to bargain with him for a price. “I have enough for them. Here you are.” I said as I pulled out the red bill I got from Karou in exchange for the five green ones and then I also handed him one green bill and one coin worth five hundred cero. The Jewelry Store owner then thanked us for our business as he gathered all the stones into a small pouch with a tie cord to seal it then he handed it to me. “Do come again if you need any more. I’m sure your friends will love the quality and attention to detail that my gems have in each and every one.” The Jewelry Store owner said as Karou and I exited his shop then the two of use begin walking towards the town’s only inn. I then noticed how small this town seemed compared to the others I had traveled in so far.

Meanwhile Baer was busy collecting information about his Master in town. He heard from one of the town residents that a man matching his Master description has taken up residency in town for three days and during that time he had helped heal many of the townsfolk that had gotten hurt or ill for whatever reason. “He said that he had to leave soon, so I’m not sure if he is still there though. He was living up at the top of the hill here in the small log cabin. We started calling him our miracle doctor due to all the lives he helped save. It is a shame he can’t stay with us though. We will miss him when he does leave us.” The townsman said to Baer as he motioned up to a roof peeking up over the top of a hill. Just beyond that hill was a dirt road leading out of town. Baer quickly ran up the hill then over to the house. He noticed there was still smoke coming out of the houses chimney so it was quite possible that he wasn’t too late to find his Master. Baer knocked on the door feeling optimistic.