Serenus - Sarcastic Newcomer Edition

Chapter 5: Friendships, New and Lost

I woke up the next day to find that Amy had already skipped off to work, but not before she left me breakfast on the table. Clearly, she's on a mission to win the "Most Thoughtful Friend of the Year" award. My day kicked off with a smile—because who doesn't love breakfast served with a side of kindness?

As I chewed on my meal, I reflected on her visit. The main takeaway? Stay away from Qilam. Well, she needn't have worried; I had already decided I wasn't about to embark on a grand quest for new islands. I mean, let's be real—I'm barely qualified to navigate my own backyard, let alone uncharted territories. So, with that resolved, I needed to find something else to occupy my clearly under-stimulated mind. Fabio's question about whether he was in the right job came to mind, but after about five minutes of pondering, I got bored and decided to shelve that one for later.

The rain had finally stopped, but water was still cascading down the hill, creating a makeshift waterfall. The swamp had transformed into a pond, which, I must say, was a significant upgrade. Swamps are so last season, after all. Excited to enjoy the new scenery, I dragged my boat out from the backyard and plopped it into the pond, using a tree branch as an oar. Instant fun!

I lay down in the boat, trying to conjure up memories of my grand adventure near Dinosaur Island, but there wasn't much to recall. It wasn't too warm, and the sunlight felt perfect on my skin. The gentle waves rocked the boat, and the sound of the waterfall added a zen vibe to the whole scene. Determined to soak it all in before the pond reverted to its less desirable swamp state, I stayed in the boat for quite a while, thoroughly enjoying my impromptu retreat.

Lying there, staring at the sky, felt like the height of luxury. My mind, as usual, wandered back to my supposed duties as a thinker. But honestly, what was I supposed to think about? The only things that really intrigued me were the ones that could probably get me into trouble. Clearly, I needed to meet more people and explore the island if I was ever going to find an intriguing question that wouldn't lead to my untimely demise.

Then, a thought struck me—why do we have wings but can't fly? Now, there's a question with some potential. I decided to dig into that one in the days to come. First, I needed to find out what people already knew about our useless appendages.

I closed my eyes and let my imagination take over, pretending I was flying. The boat's gentle movement added a touch of realism to my daydream, and I could almost feel my wings aching to take flight. Small tremors ran through my shoulders, as if my wings were actually trying to break free.

Around midday, I reluctantly got out of the boat, tied it to a tree, and made my way to the village center for some food. I decided to grill the cook about wings, and to my surprise, he told me that he had been practicing and could actually hover in the air and cover small distances. He advised me to start exercising my wings more often, so the muscles could grow strong enough to carry me longer. Well, that's one way to get motivated.

Later, I ran into an old lady in the village center who welcomed my question with a lengthy response. She regaled me with a tale from her childhood—apparently, there was a time when we could fly, but as we got lazy and stuck to the ground, we lost the ability. She thought with enough training, we might still be able to fly. And with a shake of her head, she concluded, "We have wings, but we don't fly." A bit of an understatement, don't you think?

As I talked to more people, it became clear that most blamed our sedentary lifestyle for our grounded state. Not enough exercise, they said. But then I met another woman who'd been active her whole life, and she had a different theory. Naturally, I was all ears.

She explained, "Look at the birds and animals. Most living things share so much with us—two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, two arms, and two legs. Sure, there are differences, but why are we so similar?" She paused dramatically, then continued, "I think people and animals started from the same creature. Whatever it was, it had two eyes, one nose, two ears, and so on. Over time, we evolved in different ways, and now we're quite different. I think the original creature had two arms, two legs, and two wings. Some of us lost our wings and became animals, others lost their arms and became birds. We kept both, but as we got bigger and heavier, the wings couldn't carry us anymore. I think we'll eventually lose the wings entirely."