1 The Cruise (1)
The fluttering of a seagull's wings caught Jasmine's attention as she stared at the calm, blue sea—it was definitely more interesting than listening to her friend check their suitcase for the thousandth time this morning. Seriously, just bring the whole house. Why bother with only a suitcase? It wasn't like they could go back to the shore if there was anything they had left out. It was already too late.
"Diving gear, check. Swimsuit, check..." Vivian continued to tick off her mental checklist, but when she noticed that Jasmine was not listening, she tilted her head to her friend. "Jas, are you okay?"
"Mmh." Jasmine grunted listlessly and gathered her hair messily into a bun. She then strolled to the balcony, hearing nothing of whatever Vivian was blabbering behind her.
Vivian regained her energized tone. "I almost thought you were sea-sick. Is it because we stayed up so late last night that you are tired? Jasmine?" She jabbed the silent woman.
Jasmine didn't react to the jab, walking to the balcony of the cruise ship they were on. She held onto the white railing as her eyes stared fixedly into the calm, blue sea. "This whole situation is giving me a sense of déjà vu—like it has happened before."
She looked lost as she blinked slowly, as a few stray locks of her hair fluttered slightly from the wind. Vivian was puzzled by her words and dashed to stand beside her.
"That couldn't be." She shook her head. "Perhaps it was a dream? You were scared of the sea in the past."
"Was I?" Jasmine's lips curled upwards on both sides, and she decisively stepped away from the balcony and made her way to the swimming platform.
"Are you going to swim?" Vivian asked as she followed her, then realized that the latter was still wearing her shorts and tank top. She didn't look anything like one would when going for a swim.
Jasmine shook her head in response to her friend's question and sat down on the wooden board, letting her legs dangle in the cold water. When she was used to the cold, she lowered her hand and scooped a handful of the water then let it slip through her fingers with a giggle. Vivian wondered whether she was trying to prove that she was no longer scared of the sea.
"It's calm here, don't you think? I could design twenty outfits just sitting here." She let out a beautiful smile.
Vivian widened her blue eyes as she sat down next to her. "That's true, but could you enjoy the vacation before you think of work?"
The two of them were fashion designers. Jasmine majorly drew her inspiration from nature, which is why they had planned this trip—to refresh her inspiration. However, Vivian wanted to enjoy the trip for a while. It was just a day since they left the port, and they were yet to get to the deepest part of the sea. Wasn't it too early to start working?
"How about we go for a dive first?" She suggested and stood up. She held Jasmine by the shoulder and tried to pull her to stand.
"In this part of the sea?" She frowned as she resisted Vivian's pull.
"Why not? It's deep enough and we will not dive that far down. Besides, the weather forecast showed that the weather would be calm today. Why not grab the opportunity?" Vivian tried to convince her and waited for the latter to stand on her own. When she did, she dragged her up to their room to get changed.
When they were done, they went to the platform and started preparing themselves.
"Are you girls going to dive?" Came a question from a deep masculine voice behind them, and Vivian turned to see one of the crew members.
"Yes." Vivian answered excitedly. "Do you want to join us?"
The man, who was wearing a blue crew uniform, frowned at them. "You are not allowed to do that here. Didn't you read the instructions before you boarded the ship?"
"We did…" Vivian admitted guiltily. She was so excited about diving that she had forgotten all about the rules. They could only dive when the ship docked at the next island.
"Go back to your rooms." Ordered the man authoritatively, leaving them no choice but to leave the platform.
Jasmine turned after a few steps and stared hard at the sea. "The next island isn't that far away. We can still dive later."
"Where?" Vivian turned to follow her line of sight but didn't see what Jasmine was seeing.
"It's right—" Jasmine paused when she realized that she didn't see it anymore. Perhaps she saw wrong. "Never mind. We can check it out on the map."
"Yes." Vivian was once again invigorated and she leapt towards their room. Jasmine could only follow helplessly, and by the time she arrived, the latter was already sitting on Jasmine's bed with her legs crossed, and a map spread out in front of her while a globe stood by her side.
She ran a finger along the dotted lines drawn on the aged map. "We are in the middle of Clarepar Sea, and the closest island is Cannon Island, which is 960 nautical miles away. We will only get there in another one or two days. You couldn't have seen it from this far." She looked up at Jasmine who also looked a little surprised. "Maybe you saw the Wandering Islands?"
"Wandering Islands?" Jasmine changed out of her diving suit and back into her denim shorts and black tank top. She sat on the bed with a curious look on her face. She had travelled to many places in the world, but she was certain that she had not heard of any such place as the Wandering Islands. Even so, the name sounded awfully familiar.
"It's just as the name states—They don't stay in the same sea and keep disappearing. Those who have seen them once didn't see them again. It's said to be enchanted." Vivian explained jubilantly, rambling on about the beautiful sites that are said to be on the Wandering Islands.
"You and your magical beliefs." Jasmine huffed at the latter and rolled her eyes. Vivian was so obsessed with magic that she seemed to believe anything from blogs as long as they regarded magic.
"It's really true." Vivian insisted as she pulled the maps away to make more space for Jasmine.
"Have you seen one before?" Jasmine asked pointedly, to which Vivian shrugged.
"I didn't but you did. You saw an island, but when you turned to point at it, it was gone. It has to be the Wandering Islands. I mean, you have never hallucinated before." Came her incessant ramble about things that no one else thought made sense. "Maybe, it stayed for a shorter while than it should?"
"You need to seriously get back into the real world, Vivi. You're too much into fantasy." Jasmine laughed and picked up a stack of paper and pencil, then sat on her legs while reclining on the bed and started drawing.
Vivian was about to leave and move onto her own bed when she paused as she saw what Jasmine was drawing. It was a long dress with what looked like a belt on its waist and it gave her an idea. "I know! How about we make a wandering belt just like the Wandering Islands?"
Jasmine paused and slapped her forehead, wondering what her friend had drunk. Why was she still going on about magical staff? "I know of so many wandering items in real life, away from blogs and videos."
"Really?" Vivian was shocked and excited, her blue eyes growing big as she anticipatedly waited to hear the whole story.
"Yes." Smiled Jasmine, squinting her eyes while waving the pencil in her hand leisurely. "Wandering bags, phones and purses on the streets of Efinchil." She answered, referring to their hometown. [1]
"Urgh. You know that's not what I was talking about." Vivian was disappointed. Though she had to admit that everything was a potential wandering item in Efinchil.
While they chatted, Jasmine's attention was caught by a feather out of their window, and her gaze followed it as it landed on the calm water. It was a blue feather, much bigger than any bird's feather she had ever seen, and it seemed almost as though light radiated off it.
How beautiful, she thought. She wondered what kind of bird she belonged to. Maybe the bird was someone's pet and it was on their ship? Otherwise, its feather wouldn't fall into this part of the sea.
"That's so beautiful!" Came Vivian's exclamation that pulled her out of her deep thoughts, and she smiled.
"I've never seen anything like it before." She added as her hands itched to reach for it, then realized that Vivian was looking at something different. Following her gaze down at her drawing papers, she was puzzled to see that she had drawn a short dress with large feathers decorating its skirt—feathers identical to the one floating in the sea. And when she turned to look at it for comparison, it was gone.
