Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 13: Sea and Sky

"I believe we were nearly accosted by pirates." Mimi said plainly.

"That's not fair, we're pirates." Rubi joked, but it seemed not to hit the mark.

"It is unlikely that Minam law enforcement would send Collectors after us." Mimi continued, cupping her chin in one hand as she thought. "But I wholly expect that we all would have been taken straight back there for sale."

"Or worse." Rubi added, remembering the prison all too well. They may very well have just been sailing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The thought crossed her mind; was slavery worse than death? Her father had thought so, and she was inclined to believe him.

That morning, Rubi walked the decks, looking through the glass at the expanse of blue around them. The water was so deep here that she could only see the ocean all around her.

Kai wandered around the deck, looking for things to do to make himself useful. He and Indra stood near the glass, the young blind man running his hands on the glass as Kai talked with him.

"What do you remember about home?" he asked Indra. "I've never been to Akali."

Indra smiled with nostalgia.

"For I lost my sight," he began. "I remember the trees. I loved climbing them with my friends, eating the fruit. There were cobblestones on most streets and potted plants everywhere. I went to school with an old teacher who was also blind, so we learned braille as well as reading with our eyes. He was so important to me as a role model, even though it was old age that took his sight.

He taught music. He knew his instruments so well that he didn't need to see what his hands were doing, he could feel it. I've always loved music, probably thanks to his passion for it. Nothing like noise we heard from that ship. That sound was so angry."

"I've never seen anything like it." Kai replied. "It was this bag with tubes poking out of it."

"Like a mashak?"

"I don't know what that is, I'm afraid." Kai admitted.

"It's an instrument that has one blowpipe and then other pipes with two reeds inside that vibrate when air passes through them. The bag inflates so you can store air in it to push out through the reeds. You can change the tone by covering or releasing the holes in the chanter."

"I think he had something very similar then."

"That's a shame." Indra said. "At home we usually only play the mashak for weddings and happy events. We'd never use them for conflict."

"Can you play the mashak?"

"Quite well, yes. I was in Port Kibo for a few years, so I probably need a bit of practice."

"How did you end up there, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's alright to ask. I was in the nearby city visiting family. My town is up in the highlands so we would travel down once a year or so. I got separated one day and was sure I could find my way back to our residence. Someone jumped me and I was taken to the docks.

Next thing I knew, I was on a ship and we were dropped off in Minami. Someone talked to me about what skills I had, and all I could think of was music. That person bought me to play for them and eventually to pick up deliveries in town. I can read some maps with my fingers because the ink is raised on the sheet. Only in the last year was I allowed out of the house to work.

I always wanted to escape and get back home, so we started to plan using braille. We would scratch the paper with our nails so that when you flipped it over you could feel the words pressed through."