On Lavender Tides (Jekua Book 1) by Travis M. Riddle

Author:Travis M. Riddle [Riddle, Travis M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

17

Victory Music

They reached the cave’s exit later that night. The area was completely wooded, trees flanking them on either side, with a dirt path leading off into the forest. Waves could be heard far off to their right, so they couldn’t be too far from the shore, but from there they could not see the ocean. The trees were too dense.

It was also unclear exactly how far they were from the city. Balt was more familiar with the geography of the island than Alani was, so he could make an educated guess about their location in relation to Himony, but without a map he didn’t know whether the city was a fifteen-minute or a three-hour walk from there. He pulled up the map on his linkpad, but service was still spotty and it wouldn’t load.

So they decided to make camp.

Balt was none too eager to slide back into his sleeping mat after the Whifflit fecal incident, but he supposed he needed to mentally prepare himself for roughing it along the way to each shrine. They planned to stay in inns and hotels as often as they could, but it would not always be an option on the road.

He wished they had a tent, though.

“We didn’t really think this through, did we?” he said, rolling out his puffy mat. They had stuck close to the cave opening, but found a small clearing just slightly off the path. Hopefully the tree coverage would protect them from any potential rainfall, but the bugs would be killer.

Alani said, “Not really, no.” She sounded genuinely disheartened. Balt had been half-joking; he didn’t think the comment would actually sadden her.

“I guess you can’t really expect a place like Mapa to have much,” he then said, trying to justify their lack of supplies. “We can stock up on the essentials in Himony. A tent, maybe some cooking equipment, some damn bug spray…”

“How would we carry all of that?”

He shrugged. “Big bag?”

They each sat on their mats and rifled through their bags to procure some late dinner. Balt had one sandwich left, while Alani had some pineapple and sunflower seeds.

“Wanna share?” he asked her.

Before she could answer, he was attempting to rip the sandwich in half. The bread tore easily, as did the cheese, but the sliced meat was not as cooperative. He handed the less messy half over to her.

“Thanks,” she said, taking it. She set it down on a napkin so she could pop open the plastic container of pineapple slices and placed it between the two of them. Then she untied her meager bag of sunflower seeds and set that beside the container.

It was not the best dinner either of them ever had, but it was fine. The sandwich’s bread had gotten a little soggy in the dampness of the cave, and Balt was not a fan of shelling sunflower seeds.

If nothing else, though, it was made all the tastier by the fact that they would no longer be hassled by pesky Whifflits. Balt chuckled to himself thinking about how his grandmother had been so fond of hers.

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