59 Sailing (2/2)

On the dock near the big ship, five familiar figures were helping the usual crew. Before going onboard, Mayari led Ling and Maga to these young men first. Meanwhile, the men became apprehensive when they saw this group coming to them.

”You guys, I'm sure you already met Ling and Maga,” Mayari smiled at the next reactions of the five and continued with his introductions, ”The oldest one among your age group in this crew here is Kana, the captain's son. You've seen the others in our troupe and they will be joining us. The tall, gangly one is Ayuk, Kisig's changed his hair color to brown this time so I'm not sure if you could still recognize him, Did you explain this to your mother?” When the boy averted his gaze instead of answering, Mayari just sighed and continued, ”Anyway, these other two are cousins, Ta and Wa'al. I'll leave you with this five while I talk to the captain.”

Before he left, Mayari smiled again to the group and added, ”Please help Ling and Maga to their quarters after you help with the preparations.”

Sailing was not new to Ling and Maga. However, this was the first time the two were actively helping. The first and second time, it was just Ling and he was accompanying his clan for the trade. The third time, the two of them were excluded by the crew, probably because they were planning to discard these children.

Thinking about it, Ling realized it might be the most peaceful sailing he had had. Hopefully, he would not jinx it.

Ling was currently taking a break in the deck while Maga was lying on its stomach with its eyes closed, but it was not sleeping. The sea air was soothing him this time, compared to his first time sailing. It was far better than staying in Kanan Island with it's suffocating atmosphere.

He was a little tired from helping out in this ship. When he saw the crew, he really wanted to help. Most of them have pale complexions, and even though he had not seen them for only a week, it looked like they had not eaten for longer than that. Their skins were dry and their eyes were bloodshot too. He could immediately see that the crew were already haggard even before they prepared to set sail. Maybe this was the reason why it took them a week before setting sail. What could Uncle Mayari had done to punish them?

Ling didn't ask the others about this though, especially Mayari. He understood that Mayari took care of this for Ling and Maga too instead of themselves taking their revenge further. Now, he was more curious with where they were going.

”Ling! Are you done with your chores?”

The voice came from the door leading below the deck. Ling turned his head and Maga also raised its head to look at the person coming to them.

”Uncle Mayari, we were already done and just taking a break.”

”Good, good. You have to be ready before we enter our next destination.” With his hands on his waist, Mayari took a deep breath as he swept his eyes to the vast sea, his sprinkle of white hair being swept by the wind too.

Curious, Ling faced his whole body to Mayari, leaning on the railings of the ship's deck. ”Where are we going, uncle?”

Ling did not expect Mayari to answer, so he was slightly surprised when the older man put an arm over his shoulders and turned him to point his other hand at the distant land. ”You'll see it there in a while.”

Slowly, the boy, the dragon and the man could see a yellow 'haze' rising above the land.