Alasla: The New Age

Chapter Eleven- The Titanius

It's been about a fortnight since they sailed North towards Garavia. During this period of time, Ralph had successfully proven himself to be fairly useless in the aspect of their daily life. It was no doubt that Eve's cooking skills were supreme. At first, Kanitha had still refused to 'eat food that's processed out of her sight'. But gradually, even she couldn't resist Eve's dishes.

Apart from casually carrying one of the Ten Magias around with her, Kanitha brought more surprises to him throughout the past two weeks. She was unexpectedly good at navigation and math. Ralph had asked her to tutor him, but when he still fails to work out simple equations on distance and speed after a whole week of lessons, Kanitha gave up and switched to teaching him how to draw maps instead.

Ralph's heart had felt lighter ever since his talk with Kanitha. This morning when the fog still swirls and stirs above the sea surface, he followed Eve into the kitchen to watch him prepare their breakfast.

A pearly glow gathered in the sky as the day dawned crisp and clear. The further they sailed North, the colder it gets. They've stopped by small islands and towns to gather resources, and at their last stop, they're finally forced to purchase thicker clothes. Eve entered their small kitchen (originally a storage room) in front of him in her fluffy green jumper with the small white collar of the shirt she wore underneath poking out. She also got a new dark yellow ribbon for her ponytail, which she still insisted on cutting once it grows over two inches.

Ralph still wore the same coat he did since he left Ling, but the ordinary shirt was replaced by a sky-blue sweater. His outfit was the most simple one out of the three of them, Kanitha, on the other hand, spent a good fortune on getting herself a full closet of garments that would be ready for literally any situations that may come along.

"Here's Kanitha's salad," says Eve as she sets the dish of greens aside and picked through the tea cans after she placed Ralph's salmon on the furnace. "I think white tea like white peony would probably fit Kanitha's needs, she said she was more of a light flavored person, didn't she?" Eve says as she pulls out a can of crispy pale green leaves.

"Oh, sure, definitely," Ralph raised a brow. Personally, he wouldn't imagine Kanitha as a light-flavored person.

Eve turned and tapped the glass of their kitchen storage tank where food like clams, seaweed, and snails was temporarily kept for freshness until someone wanted to eat them. She scooped up a handful of wakame leaves. Ralph's mixed them up with sea kelp all the time until a few days ago, he finally realized wakame leaves grew in a large, fan-like shape while kelp grew in strips.

Eve's probably figured that out years ago, he thought exasperatedly.

She then tugged free some snails that clung to the tank wall firmly, waving their antennas pitifully at her as she pulled them off.

"Stop being so pathetic," Eve ordered (Ralph giggling at her along the way), putting them together with the salmon on the pan. "We're still going to eat you."

For herself, she made a pancake they saved from the last time they arrived at a small town on an island. "I hope we would come across another island," Eve sighed. "We needed to purchase more resources.

Thanks to Kanitha's power, they managed to capture a lot of peculiar fish to exchange with— or financial shortage might be a really big problem.

Ralph picked up all the plates for Eve and opened the door with his back. Outside, Kanitha stood facing the morning breeze, scribbling a long equation in her notebook. Even after a fortnight with her, Ralph still can't stop himself from admiring her beauty each time he sees her. With her wind-swept hair flying behind her, ruffling over her rose turtle neck jumper, she snaps the book shut, beaming as Ralph came to her with the food.