I was so determined to go to Batogia. I just wanted to leave the island so much. It was as if the mainland was calling to me. I didn’t exactly know how I’d explain it to mom… or even how to ask her to let me leave. I was only ten… and my only money was a bit of Gints in a bag under my pillow.
I decided to get up and take a walk home and think for a bit along the way. I walked down the coast until I made it back to the village. The other kids were playing around like always, the adults were in their shops and playing music on the streets to make cash.
Before I came home a stopped by at my neighbors’ shop next door. Ami and Han lived there. They were these two twins. Ami was the older sister and Han was the younger brother. They used to babysit me often when I was an even smaller kid. They grew up with my mom from childhood. They were Karagatan like myself, but they were from the Western islands and came over here when they were very young.
Ami and Han can make cool things out of water. It’s really weird and a little scary, but at the same time so cool! They can actually compress water and make them into things like tools and weapons, which hunters, warriors, handymen and many others come by their shop to buy.
I walked into the shop and looked at the beautiful items on the shelves and hung off the walls. They all seemed to glint and shimmer in the light… like the ocean does.
Ami walked into the room through the back door. “Oh! Hello, Drip! Looking for anything?”, she asked with a smile.
“Haha… Hiya. I’m not buying anything today, but… I need to ask you something.”, I said slowly.
“Anything at all! Hit me!”, she continued to smile.
“What was it like in Batogia?”, I asked her.
“Hmm… I don’t remember it very well. I was so young, and I was only there for a day and a half. I was only there because the mainland is between the Western Islands and the Eastern Islands. I went there with my father and Han to just spend the night and a little sight-seeing. Why the sudden interest?”, she explained and asked with a ruffled expression.
I looked away a little being hesitant to answer, but I looked back up at her and took a deep breath. “I want to go to Batogia!”
“Oh, really!?”, she was surprised, “Do you mean to visit… or live there? Why do you want to?”
“I just… don’t feel like there’s anything left for me to do here. There isn’t very much here on this little island. If I go to the big city, well who knows? I might find what I’m looking for!”, I stated with confidence.
She stared at me for a few seconds. It was as if my words had stunned her. “You’ve… grown up so much. I helped your mom take care of you since you were born and you’ve always been so laid back and have kept things simple for yourself. Now, you’re deciding where you want to lead your own life… so young.”
We looked at each other for a couple more seconds. Then she opened her mouth again, “But tell me, Drip. What does a ten year old like yourself plan to do in the big castle city of Batogia? What is it that you are looking for?”
It was a little confronting being given a question like that. It was as if everything started to fade out around me and I was staring the question down myself. Only one simple answer seemed to be tugging on my tongue. “I’ll do anything at all. I just want to do something other than fishing every day!”
It felt a little empowering. I mean, making huge decisions for myself for the first time in my life. I really wanted to go through with it.
I just… didn’t know how I was gonna break it to mom, y’know?
