"W-What are you two doing?!"
Max's bliss is suddenly shattered by Mia's voice. Beth squeals in embarrassment and violently pushes Max off her, punching his face in the process.
"Ouch." Max falls backward.
"I-It's not what it looks like!" Beth is frantically trying to explain herself while putting her clothes back on in a panic.
"Well, what am I supposed to believe this is, then?" Mia is furious.
"Calm down, Mia, you don't want to wake the crew," Max says.
"We were… um…" There is no way Beth is getting out of that situation.
"How could you? I take my eyes off of you for one second and this happens? Don't tell me, you two were always…" Mia walks closer to the two of them.
"No, no. Wait, why are you mad, Mia?" Max asks.
"Wh- Of course, I can't have my brother making love beside me!" Mia is blushing a little.
"That's not what we were doing…" Beth is still trying to talk her way out.
"Oh, really, then what were you doing? Breastfeeding?" Mia retorts.
Beth's face is red across. She can't make out a word.
"If you wanted to do that with someone, I…" Mia mutters.
"What was that?" Max believes he heard something.
"N-Nothing!"
"Mia… Don't tell me… are you jealous?" Beth says.
"No! I just can't have my stupid brother do that with anyone." Mia's face is getting redder.
"Mia, you can't just have me stay single forever."
"I-I know that!" Mia has a hint of disappointment on her face.
Max sighs. He was going to stop with Beth anyways, but Mia has just lowered his chances of getting with Beth again.
"But I can't have you do anything obscene on this ship while I am here. I am going to keep a watch on you two now." Mia points at Max and Beth.
"Fine. Beth, you want to pick up where we left off once we arrive?" Max jokes.
"What are you saying?!" Beth gives Max a painful punch on his side. She seems to have regained her usual self.
"Oww." Max groans.
"I can't believe you." Mia kicks him on the side, too.
"Owww. Okay, okay, I was just joking." Max slowly backs off in retreat, seeing that he is now up against the two of them.
The next couple of days went by fairly eventlessly. Mia has been preventing them from getting close to each other, so Max spent most of his day sleeping. Beth and Mia seem to have made up. They now act as nothing happened, but Max is still treated coldly by both of them.
Max opens his eyes to the glaring morning sunlight. He is lying down against a wall on the opposite side of Mia and Beth, who is still sleeping soundly.
The sun shines through the cracks on the ceiling. The gentle rocking of the ship soothes Max, who has already gotten so used to the sound of waves crashing against the hull that he no longer notices it. But there is now a new sound, the sound of seagull squawks.
We must be close to the port, Max thinks.
He pushes himself off of the ground and stands up to stretch. There is no window on the ship, so Max can't tell what time it currently is, but he has a habit from his decade of daily training to wake up almost exactly at sunrise.
Max is about to go up to Beth and Mia to wake them up when the sound of footsteps comes from the deck above them.
"We can see the docks now, Captain." A muffled voice seeps through the floorboards.
"Good, get the rest of the crew ready for disembarkment." Another voice answers.
"Aye."
Max realizes that they are closer to their destination than he thought. Knowing that crewmates will soon begin coming down to the storage room, he hurries to where the girls are.
Beth and Mia are sleeping peacefully with their backs against the wall. Mia's head is leaning on Beth's shoulder.
"Wake up, we are almost there," Max whispers as he shakes both of them.
"Already?" Beth weakly raises her hand and rubs her still-closed eye.
Mia shows no sign of breaking out of her slumber.
"Yeah. Come on, people might be coming soon." Max shakes Mia harder.
"Okay." Beth reluctantly opens her eyes.
Beth turns around to see Mia leaning on her shoulder and smiles. Beth reaches her hand out and pats her on her head.
"Wake up, Mia."
Reacting to her touch, Mia opens her eyes.
"You two get prepared, I am going to check out the situation," Max says as he leaves them and walks toward the stair leading up to the door to the main deck.
Paying attention to footsteps, Max sneaks up behind the door. After making sure there is no one walking around on the main deck, he slowly pushes the door open slightly.
The sound of seagulls is louder now. Max peeks through the crack and sees the ocean in front of him and gasps audibly at what's beyond the waters.
In the distance are mountains levels higher than anything Max has seen before. The port's size rivals the entire Stratford Island. What's over on the other side of the docks hasn't come into view yet, but the sheer mass of land is also astonishing. The horizon is covered by cliffs and beaches stretching across Max's entire field of view.
That scene is what Max has been dreaming about all this time. A world so large it would be impossible to explore completely. Max's blood begins to pump. He can't wait to step onto that land.
Max quietly closes the door and walks back down the stairs to Beth and Mia, who now look wide awake.
"What are you grinning about?" Mia asks.
Max hasn't even realized that he has a wide grin on his face until Mia points it out.
"Paradise." Max answers mysteriously.
Mia frowns in confusion.
"So, what's our plan?" Beth walks up.
"There is a room with a window at the bow of the ship. We can go there while the crew members are busy docking. Then we jump into the water from the window and swim onto the shore." Max explains.
Born and raised beside an ocean, the Stradfords are all familiar with the water. Swimming shouldn't be a problem.
"But won't we get all drenched? Will that attract suspicion?" Beth asks.
"This is the only ship that can bring us back to the island, so, as long as we get as far away from it as possible, we will be fine," Max says as he gathers all of his belongings.
"Okay."
There are more and more footsteps above them. The ship begins to decelerate. They are getting close to the docks.
"Alright, just follow me," Max says to the both of them and walks toward the stairs leading to the door.
After the footsteps have left the main deck, Max opens the door slightly again. There is no one on deck. He gives a signal to Beth and Mia behind him as he pushes the door wide open.
Max peeks his head out and looks around. The port is only a couple dozen yards away. The crew members and the captain are all at the helm directly above them, helping to dock the ship. No one is looking their way.
After waving at Beth and Mia again, he sneaks out the door and walks across the deck, occasionally glancing behind him to make sure the crew is still occupied. Max holds on to his breath, trying to make as little noise as possible.
They soon reach the door on the other side of the ship. Max turns around and sees Mia and Beth are following him. He pushes the door open and enters with the other two.
It is a much smaller room with barrels containing what smells like alcohol lined up against the walls. The room is much better lit from a window on one of the walls.
"Phew, that was intense." Mia sighs out of relief.
"Yeah." Beth agrees.
Max is surprised that they barely faced any difficulties during this very risky trip. He grabs a barrel that is heavier than he thought and places it vertically below the window.
"We are really close to the port now, let's jump out before anyone notices us," Max says to the two, who nod in agreement in unison.
Max grabs onto the windowsill and climbs onto the barrel. He sticks his head out to look around. Since they are at the back of the ship, no one on the docks should be able to see them jumping out. The water is pretty far below him, but he has dived off of much higher cliffs before.
"Here I go," Max says as he props himself up with his arms and pushes himself out of the window.
He positions himself so can hit the water lightly. After a brief moment of freefall and wind brushing the sides of his face, his body hits the water.
Max sinks a little due to the momentum. He orients himself and swims back up to the surface. After wiping the saltwater off of his face, he opens his eyes and looks up at the ship.
The broadsword and sack of coins are noticeably trying to drag Max down, but he manages to stay above the surface with ease.
Mia's face sticks out of the window. She waves at Max, who waves back in reassurance. Mia pushes herself off the ship and lands beside Max, who gets water splashed all over him.
After a short pause, Mia's head pops up to the surface. She shakes her head to get the water off of her face.
"Whoo, it's cold," Mia says.
"It's alright," Max replies.
He looks back up again and sees Beth, who has watched Mia's descent through the window, in the process of getting out herself.
Beth dives off much more gracefully than Max and Mia did and hits the water with barely any splash. She pulls her head out of the water, wipes her face, and tosses her hair behind her.
"Follow me," Max says to the both of them and begins swimming away.
Like Mia said, the water is pretty cold, and the sword and pouch of coins are not helping, but Max has swum in much more violent waves and even in storms, so the calm waters at the port are actually pleasant for Max.
Max swims toward the closest ladder that leads up to the docks.
"I will go up first to make sure that it's safe up there," Max says to the two who have just caught up to him.
New Sernor's port is mountainous compared to the one from Max's home. The top of the dock is a dozen yards above him. He can't see anything on the other side.
Max grabs onto a rung and begins pulling himself up the ladder and reaches the top. He peeks his head over the board and the entire town comes into view.
What Max has seen so far of the land across the sea from his home has already flipped his world view on its head, but the actual town itself is something else.
The edge of the city is some distance away from the port, and from there, Max can see that the size of the city is on a completely different scale from his. Houses are big and made fully with bricks, unlike the small wooden ones Max is used to. The roads are multitudes wider than what Max has walked on. The pedestrians are a different kind of bustling. Max reckons that there are more people walking around the port than the population of his entire town.
Max stands there, absolutely stunned at the sight that he has been fantasizing about for years. It is even more majestic than what he imagined.
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