Heroes

Chapter 11: Two Stowaways

   It was Friday morning. Mist covered the neighborhood. Lou, Arianna, and I packed bags with food, supplies, and clothes for our journey. Rue, Dahlia, Zay, Shiro, Briar, Hinata, and Suzume sat in the living room as they waited for us. Suzume had no luggage, only a kama, a sickle used as a weapon in ancient Japanese cultures, and manriki-kusari, a chain weapon. I packed my two bags, a large, lavender backpack and a small, white and brown, non-wheeled suitcase. "Ok, I got everything," I said.

Lou turned to Briar and asked, "You said you got a boat, right? We'll need that to get to most of the places we're going."

Briar nodded. "Yes," she told him, "It's at the marina. Mom used it when she did business trips. She preferred the water over the air for quite sometime after the fire that killed Dad and Blythe. It was windy that day and what should've been a small grass fire turned into a blaze that engulfed the neighborhood. The boat has a kitchen, 8 rooms, 9 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room."

Hinata looked at Briar like she was nuts. "What's that look for," Briar questioned.

Still, staring at Briar, Hinata inquired, "How can you just talk about something so traumatic and dramatic and then just talk about the boat like you didn't say anything?"

"What?" Briar began to argue, "I was just giving backstory on why I have a houseboat anyway."

"No, I'm with her. That was really weird, red-head," Lou commented.

I sighed and snapped, "Knock it off, you guys. We have a mission that determines the fate of the world. There is no time for pointless bickering."

Hinata, Lou, and Briar quickly went quiet. Shortly after that, we walked down to the marina which was about 2 miles north of the house. It was at Lake Fulton, a lake that runs into numerous rivers such as the Suika River, and oceans like the Mamarun Sea which is our passageway to the Mufakir Region. Everyone stood up. "Okay, everyone," I started to declare, "let's get to the boat. If we are quick, we should be there in 37 minutes. Waste no time and hurry. Let's go!"

And with that, we were all dashing towards the marina. It was a long walk, but no one seemed to care. My backpack was heavier than I thought it should've been for what was inside it, but I wasn't bothered by it. The only thing that was on my mind was traveling to the Tazdhair Temple to search for the first piece we needed to retrieve before Kuragari got to it. "Briar, when all set foot on the boat, I want you to sail at once. It'll take us 6 days to get from the marina here to the Port Baluri Marina at the northern tip of the Mufakir region. There is a train station in the town near the marina and it'll take 2 hours to get to Zahrat where the Tazdhair Temple is," I told my red-headed cousin as I looked at a map on my phone.

Briar nodded and replied, "Will do."

After the 37 minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the Primavera Marina at Lake Fulton. "Over there," Briar said while pointing to a rustic, two-story houseboat, "Welcome to the HSC Remembrance!"

"Gee, Bri, I never knew you were so prideful towards a ship," Arianna remarked.

Going rigid instantly, Briar exclaimed, "Give me a break! Back when Mom was busy and hardly spent time with me, going on occasional vacations on this ship was the only fun thing I got to do with her! Do not insult me and my love for the Remembrance, grape head!"

"Ok, fine, sorry-," Arianna began to apologize before cutting herself off, "Hey, wait a minute! Grape head?!"

"Yes, grape head," Briar replied hastily storming into the ship.

Hinata, Rue, and Lou chuckled. They were easily entertained by childish conflicts like that. Tapping her foot rapidly and clenching her fists, Arianna muttered, "I'm going to kill that chick."