Disappearance of Roselei Hawthorne

Chapter Seven

Kallen rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles as he slowly sat up and yawned. He stretched his shoulders, and wondered what possibly could have caused him to wake up so sore.

    "Good morning Kallen." It was Lillia. She was already dressed, and she handed him a cup of tea. "Did you sleep well?"

    "Eh... alright I guess." Kallen looked around him, and realized he had been sleeping on the couch. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I slept here. I sure hope Vulcan slept well. I wanted him to be more comfortable so I gave him my bed."

    After the previous night's festivities, everyone went to bed one by one. Vulcan, still exhausted from the fight, was the first to fall asleep. He was going to sleep in the living room, but Kallen insisted that he sleep in a bed. And of course, he offered his own, which meant that Kallen had to sleep on the sofa.

    "Well he's still fast asleep, so he must be pretty comfortable." Lillia smiled.

    "True, but I was expecting him to sleep in whether he was comfortable or not. He was so tired last night." Someone else spoke. Kallen turned to see Gideon. That's right. Gideon ended up spending the night here too.

    "How long have you two been up?" Kallen asked.

    "A while." Lillia yawned. "I woke up around three O'clock. I guess I just couldn't sleep. Gideon woke up around four O'clock. He said he's just used to getting up early."

    "It's part of being a knight. Early to bed and early to rise, you know how it goes." Gideon shrugged.

    "What are we going to do for breakfast?" Kallen meandered into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "We don't have a lot of food. It would be one thing if it were just me and Auntie Lillia eating, but all four of us? We don't even have enough ingredients for pancakes."

    "Actually, since we woke up so early, your aunt and I planned out our day." Gideon explained. "We were thinking that we would go out and eat breakfast, and then make our way to the harbor and eat our breakfast while we take a look at the ships."

    "How long does it take to build a ship?" Kallen asked.

    "We're not having it built. We're just going to buy one that's already been made. Sure, it wouldn't be ideal because it wouldn't have been built specifically for our use, but its better than waiting for months for it to be built." Gideon explained.

    "If you say so." Kallen sighed. "What time is it right now?"

    "Six O'clock." Lillia glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. "We don't want to let Vulcan sleep too late, but... I feel like we should let him sleep. I went in there to check on him about half an hour ago, and he was curled up so soundly."

    "I'm gonna suggest we let him sleep no later than eight O'clock." Gideon said. "If he really needs it, he can just sleep on the docks or something while we pick out our ship."

    "Hold on... can Vulcan even come with us?" Kallen scratched his head.

    "What do you mean?" Lilli asked.

    "It's just that even though Vulcan is free he isn't necessarily, how should I put this... 'socially accepted'... He'd stand out too much. And if anyone saw the Gideon After-Frost with a dragon-born, the word would spread so quickly that your father would hear about it in no time. He'd likely find out that you were the one who stole your family's textbooks. You'd get in huge trouble." Kallen frowned. "And then, by extent, we'd get in huge trouble. Nobody wants that."

    "I hear what you're saying, but what do you think we should do? We can't just leave Vulcan here all alone." Gideon crossed his arms.

    "What if I stayed with him?" Kallen suggested. "Besides, you two are already up and dressed. You could leave now if you wanted. I mean, the sooner we get ourselves a boat, the better, right?"