The Seas We Sail

Chapter 2

Cedric was surprised, to say the least. The fact that there was a girl, an outspoken one at that, shocked him, for his interaction with females, albeit limited, had led him to believe that all of them were demure, proper, well-bred ones. Yet here was a girl bold enough to question a man, a stranger even worse. The way she proclaimed her name, instead of mumbling it and how she stood tall and looked in his eyes when she spoke was all new to him. 'Leah' he repeated to himself as he kept looking at her without seeing the confusion pass through her features as she raised a hand and waved it in front of his face exaggeratedly slowly, causing him to snap out of  his reverie and go red, mumbling an apology. She opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it and waved it of.

A loud rumble broke the awkward silence in the room. This sound was, however, was not one that frightened Cedric, rather, it made him feel embarrassed. 'Wonderful' he thought, his neck turning red as he rubbed his hand over it in an attempt to hide the blush now creeping up. Leah's face, however, split into a wide grin, the first one she gave him since he had landed- wherever this was. "Come on," she laughed, leading him through the door and out of the room. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him. The room he had exited seemed large, but this one, it was even bigger. Massive.

The ceiling vaulted high, with a beautiful  crystal chandelier was hanging from the centre. One wall was entirely floor to ceiling glass overlooking a beautiful garden and allowing sunlight to enter the spacious room. The other three walls were painted a light beige, that clearly accentuated the paintings framed in mahogany frames. There were dark beige couches arranged in a formal square, their mahogany handles shining as the sun rays struck them. the low table placed in the centre had elegantly and intricately carved legs. 

"And here I thought I came from a rich family," muttered an awestruck Cedric, not expecting Leah to hear him. "Well, my father is the ruling chieftain, we're bound to be wealthy," replied Leah. Cedric hummed in reply, looking around him again, their initial purpose of obtaining food lost to him.

His stomach, however, reminded them, which led them to move onto the adjacent room, which had a dining table and a small kitchenette, the table arranged with a bowl of unrecognisable fruit in the centre, a half eaten one next to it. The table could seat six, made of the same wood seen in the sitting area. The chairs were neatly tucked into the table. The walls were painted the same light beige, with honey-coloured shelves and beige counters. Their impeccable taste in decorating again shone in the room, the strategically placed windows with flowers on the sill allowing the light to stream in and cause the shelves to glow. 

Again lost in the tasteful decoration, Cedric allowed his eyes to wander until he felt a whack at the back of his head. Shocked, he whirled around to see Leah rolling her eyes at him. "What?" he cried indignantly, although on the inside, Cedric was again taken aback at her boldness, willingly raising her hand against a man. He had heard his father pass many comments on such women and the latter had taken no caution or filter before passing them, nor had he hid his displeasure.

"If you could stop gawking at the interior, or me, for that matter, you would probably hear me asking you something. This time, it was. 'what do you want to eat?'" she replied with a small smirk playing across her lips. He turned red again, much to his displeasure and asked her if she had any tea. THat was when things started to take a definite turn towards unusual.

Her expression changed into one of amused confusion. "T? Like the letter? How could you eat that?" she asked with a laugh leaving Cedric in a stunned silence. She didn't know what tea was, didn't everyone know tea? "Do you have anything to drink? Like orange juice or apple juice or something?"he tried again, only to elicit another fresh bout of laughter from the highly amused girl in front of him. 

"What are you talking about? We do have juice, but what is an apple? And what is orange juice? Do you add colour or something? We have thromp juice, or, if you're looking for something more tangy than sweet, there is the wensor juice," she said, her shoulders still shaking with mirth as she checked the shelves and pulled our two glass bottles with clear liquids inside, fancy labels stuck on both. 

Cedric went pale, stumbling back towards the table. Quickly pulling out a chair, he collapsed onto it, breathing heavily. Leah still seemed amused as she peered into the shelves again and retrieved two tall glasses. He saw her look up from the counter at him, and saw her eyes widen in alarm as she drank in the sight of the paper white face that sat on Cedric's body. Suddenly concerned, she walked out from behind the counter and neared him, placing a hand on his shoulder for the second time. Cedric looked up into her eyes, his bottle green iris' meeting her hazel ones. 

"Where am I?" he whispered his voice broken and cracked. "Where am I?" All the signs pointed towards an indefinite answer, one that Cedric desperately hoped was not the case. He hoped he was dreaming, his eyes not leaving Leah's even once. "Where am I? What is the name of this town, city or country? Which continent am I on?" he repeated, tears welling up in his eyes, much to his chagrin as he beseeched her with his eyes to answer him and put his turmoiled mind to rest. Her answer, however, did little to ease his nerves; on the contrary, it only seemed to heighten it. For the name she uttered was not in any of the maps and books in his extensive home library, neither in the maps he had spent days on the end poring over nor in any of the books he had read and re-read until he knew the text off by heart. 

"You are in Terra Foinika, of course. Where else would you be?" Where else could he be? Safe, bake home, in his bed, for one. Terra Foinika, he thought before fainting and falling to the ground, submitting to the darkness for the second time in recent days.