This was heaven, clearly it had to be.
He slowly sat up to look at the sapphire sky, and water so clear it looked like his boat was floating on the air. It was not completely calm though as the slight rocking of the boat alerted him to the fact that they were moving, just very slowly.
“Hmm… morning, everyone. What’s going on?” Flix yawned and clapped his beak a few times. He was about to keep talking before a changeling hoof was shoved into his beak and he just blinked at Orlonda a few times, confused. She then pointed to IkaIka who was dipping her hooves into the water. Every few moments she let out a chitter and her ear fins moved to the left, then to the right.
Flix leaned over, somewhat confused. “What’s she doing?”
“She’s reading the waves to figure out much further till we find the edge of their lands,” Orlonda said with a hushed down.
“Is... is that a thing that she can actually do? Is that a thing that anyone can do?” Flix asked, clearly confused as to what was going on.
The sea-pony slowly lifted up, her ears twitching a few times before she turned to face the pair. “We should go to full sail and go with the wind. There is a storm behind us, but your ship should be able to outrun it if we keep going. Also if we keep going this way, in a few days or so we should run into the straits.”
Flix looked questioningly at her. “The straits?”
She nodded. “The furthest west we have traveled, it’s where the jungle closes in until just a small strip of water cuts though, but we never went past the narrows.”
Flix slowly started to grin as he wrapped his wing around her waist. IkaIka let out a surprised chitter, as he dragged Orlonda over with his other wing and laughed. “I don’t know if the world has an edge, but if it does, we will find it!
The trio was in high spirits as the boat continued on to the west.
# # #
Days later, the boat sailed through the straits. The three watched the distant jungles on either side of the channel they were floating through. It was not to say that it was a tight fit though – if Flix squinted, he could just barely make out the fact that there was land to the north and south of him.
“Hey Ika – you never told me why you wanted to come with us,” Orlonda asked as she sat down.
“I thought it was obvious; I want to be an explorer. If I just left you once your boat was fixed, I would still be stuck in my village, fishing and hunting. While it is fulfilling, it has made me become complacent. I would much rather explore and feel new currents, eat new foods, and see new races. Before I met you, the only time I had heard of a pony with no fluke was when my great grandfather was attacked – one quick snap of jaws and its gone.” She leaned in and snapped her sharp teeth together for effect.
The trio looked on as the water widened back up and then again they were in open sea. The sea-pony went back to feeling the currents. Every now and then her ears would twitch and she would bark out an order to turn to the left or turn to the right. Flix and Orlonda moved the sail and rudder to steer the craft even though they had no idea where they were going.
“I am keeping us within twenty miles of the coast. That way if the weather turns, we can veer in and be in relative safety,” IkaIka explained.
“Ah, so you can feel the waves crashing on the beach, and that’s how you can tell we are close to the coast?” Orlonda asked trying to figure out how she was reading the water.
“Close but no; I am not that sensitive. But I can feel when the waves in the water slow down and bend. It’s hard to explain,” Ika said with a huff.
Flix was about to say something in response when that tripod crystal started to glow and beep, indicating that a call was waiting for him.
Orlonda moved over and pressed the top of the tripod which then started to hum, before the illusion set up. “Flix, is it your birthday?” she asked in a somewhat loud tone.
Flix looked up and started to think. “Hmm... I suppose that it is, or rather, it was yesterday. Why?” Flix turned around to see his parents, a cake and a lot of presents.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” they yelled out as loud as they could.
Flix fell back as the changeling laughed at him and his parents starting to sing for him. Eventually he stood back up and listened to their singing with a laugh. “You do realize that I can’t actually open the presents right now? I can see them but I can’t open them.” He put his talon through one to prove his point.
“We’ll keep them here until you come back to claim them,” Roseclaw said, but then she grinned. “But there’s one that we can open for you right now.”
Flix’s curiosity was piqued. “Oh? Whatever could you give me right now?”
Roseclaw tugged on the ribbon that was holding shut the box that she was holding, and then lifted off the lid. Twilight levitated the contents of the box out to hover it in front of the image of Flix so that he could clearly see what it was despite the low resolution. It consisted of a base with an inscription on it, with three equally spaced struts holding up a sphere that was marked to look like a globe of the world, and on the sphere stood a small hippogriff figure. The inscription read, ‘World’s Greatest Son’.
Flix snorted and burst out in laughter. The figurine was standing upside down on the bottom of the sphere! He pounded the deck, practically in hysterics, while Orlonda soaked up the happiness that the gift had brought him. Ika was mystified, but happy that Flix liked his gift.
The herd was equally pleased that their gift was so well received, and they waited patiently until Flix’s laughter ran its course.
Flix sat up and grinned at his parents. “Thanks. This truly is the best present that I have had in a long time. I’ll treasure it.”
“Want us to save you some of the cake too?” Free asked with a grin.
“What? And spoil my fish diet?” Flix answered with a chuckle.
The herd members laughed along with Flix before they settled down to chat a little. The hippogriff could not help but feel a pang of regret to not being there in person, but as long-distance parties went, this was the best!
# # # # # # # # #