The Obsidian Beach

     Not an April Fools’ joke. The kids came back with the money and confirmed they are indeed interested in this expedition. Starting a routine systems check on the Reliant. If all systems are go, we depart on the morrow.

     ***

     “What are you doing up there, Larana?”

      So absorbed in what it was she was doing, it took a few moments for her brother Koro’s voice to register. Larana’s arms, head, and indeed her entire upper body were waist-deep in a chest at the back of their parents’ attic. The chest contained the belongings of her late grandfather, and no one had been through them in years. If Larana had had to guess, she would believe that no one had examined its contents since her grandfather himself. A thin layer of dust had coated the top of the chest when she had opened it, and the contents within were arranged more lovingly than her parents would have left them.

      “I’m looking through Grandpa’s stuff!”

      Larana’s parents were wishing to downsize, and while they were not bad Neopets, they were also not particularly sentimental. If left to their own devices, they would have surely donated the entire chest to the Money Tree without regard for what it contained. Larana knew that these items were among the most precious to her grandfather, and so she was examining them to see what she could salvage.

      She had just admired an ornately framed photo of her grandparents’ wedding, identical to one placed lovingly on her parents’ mantelpiece, when something metallic caught the light filtering through the attic’s dusty window. It just barely peeked out from under an old, lacy cravat. Larana lifted it out from its hiding place and examined it, a brassy metal tube with a secure cap on the end. She unscrewed the cap and slid out the rolled-up parchment within.

      Larana’s first impression was that the parchment was very old. It felt thin and crinkly in her paws. The ink was thin and faded in many places. The Steampunk Acara raised a paw to fiddle with the zoom on her goggles as she lowered them onto her eyes. It did not help much, but some of the lines appeared more like a sketch than words. And written along the longest of the lines were a series of numbers.

      “What d’you got there, Larana?” Koro asked from over Larana’s shoulder.

      “I can’t tell,” she answered. She hadn’t heard his approach, but she’d long since sworn not to give him the satisfaction of startling her. Without even turning to face the magma Vandagyre, she added, “It looks like a bunch of strange lines with some numbers written next to them. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

      “It’s obviously a map,” Koro replied.

      “A – what? N-no! It’s not obviously anything,” insisted Larana as she began to scan the parchment centimetre by centimetre.

      “It is!” Koro said. His overlarge finger appeared right in Larana’s face, she was unable to stop herself from jumping at the suddenness. It traced a path right along the strange line Larana had noted and right out of her vision. “Here, it looks like it could be maybe the shore of a river or a lake.”

      Larana fumbled with her goggles and pulled them off, the better to see where Koro was pointing. Sure enough, though the ink was faint, she could see what he had indicated. The sketch did look like a path. It might have been a shoreline, but it was strange; Moltara didn’t have beaches. “You’re right,” she admitted. “And if it is a map, then those numbers must be coordinates.”

      “Grandpa never mentioned going on adventures and making maps,” Koro said. “He kept it for so long, but he never told anyone about it. Should we ask Mom about it?”

      Larana thought for a moment. Their mother had known their grandfather for far longer, obviously. Perhaps the expedition had even taken place while she had been alive. But on the other paw, surely she would have told them about it at some point. She’d told them all about how Grandpa had liked painting, about how he had liked growing different types of fungus, about how he and Grandma had once gone on a ski vacation atop Terror Mountain. A grand expedition to parts unknown would have definitely been a bedtime story... if she knew it.

      “I think we should ask around ourselves,” Larana said, coming to the decision herself as she spoke. “I doubt Mom knows the story, because she never told us.”

      “Maybe it’s a secret?” Koro guessed.

      “Maybe it’s something he meant for Mom to discover herself,” Larana agreed. “He gave her the box that it was in, after all.”

      “And since she didn’t discover it, we get to,” Koro said. “Only problem is, I don’t know how to read coordinates. Do you?”

      Larana looked at the numbers again. “No,” she admitted. “That should be our first priority. I bet the Arcanium would have a book about how to read coordinates.”

      Koro sighed. “Yeah, but we’ll have to buy it,” he said. “The shopkeeper is strict about it being a store and not a library.”

      “If we have to, I’ll buy it, don’t worry,” Larana said.

      She rolled the scroll up once more and tucked it inside her pocket before descending from the attic. A quick confirmation to their parents that they were off to the Arcanium later, and the siblings were out into Moltara proper. The air was warm and smoky, and outdoors, the sounds of whirring machinery and clanking hammers were much louder.

      “It’s very out of the way,” Larana said as they descended into the much quieter Moltaran caves, “but I understand why the Arcanium is all the way down here. Neopians want to be able to hear themselves think while they read.”

      Entering the shop, Larana approached the counter. Koro trailed behind with a reluctant scowl on his face as he glanced around at the towering shelves of books that they would not be permitted to freely peruse.

      “How can I help you?” the Yurble shopkeeper asked, only barely glancing up from his book for a moment to see his new customers.

      “I’m looking for a book on how to read coordinates,” Larana said.

      The Magma Yurble frowned and began to rub his chin. He carefully marked the page he was reading in his book before setting it down. “If you don’t mind my saying so, that’s a bit of a strange ask,” he said. “Not many Moltarans care about reading coordinates. It’s far more useful to know cave navigation. If you’re looking to do a bit of exploration, I do have some books that can help you in that regard.”

      Larana’s ears drooped. “It’s just… I have a set of coordinates I need to decipher. Cave exploration might help depending on where they lead, but I need to know where to go first,” she said.

      “Well, I may not be able to help, but I know someone who might. If you head to the docks in the magma tunnels, you can speak to one of the ship captains,” the Yurble said. “They would be the ones who use coordinate systems the most in Moltara.”

      Larana’s eyes widened; she had thought the wiggly line looked like a shore. It made perfect sense that the coordinates would be along a magma river! She nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll do that,” she said. “Thanks for the advice!”

      Though neither Larana nor Koro had ever been to the magma tunnels, they had an idea of where to go. The tunnels and the ships that were atop the magma were not places that most Moltarans went unless it was for work. Larana and Koro drew close together as dockworkers marched purposefully to and fro, hauling cargo between warehouses and ships in mechanised carts. All of the ship workers looked too busy to stop and answer questions for two young Neopets.

      Larana’s gaze eventually lit upon a Neopian who looked promising: An Orange Kougra was leaning against the railing of a ship that had no workers clomping across its deck. His head was on his arms, and he was staring out at the hustle and bustle of the docks, seemingly without seeing it. Larana gestured to him and grabbed Koro’s arm to march over to the ship. She waved her arms above her head and called out to the Kougra, “Excuse me! If you have a moment, could you please answer a question for us?”

      The Kougra blinked in surprise at being addressed, and he peered down at Larana and Koro in brief bemusement. Finally, he shrugged and nodded. He gestured them to the gangplank. “Might as well come up here so we can talk properly,” he said gruffly.

      Larana and Koro trotted up onto the boat. On the side, in faded letters, Larana could see the name S.S. Steam Reliant. As they approached the Kougra, he held out his hand to them. “Commodore Rigney Birkin, at your service,” he said.

      Larana and Koro took turns shaking his hand. “I’m Larana, and this is my brother, Koro,” she said.

      “I take it you had questions about the magma ships?” Birkin asked.

      “Sort of,” Larana said. She pulled the map tube out of her pocket and gently retrieved the parchment from within. “We found this when going through our grandfather’s belongings. It looks like a map, but we can’t figure out anything about it because we can’t read the coordinates.”

      Birkin took the parchment and peered closely at it. He was silent for a moment as his eyes scanned over the map and the coordinates. “What was your grandfather’s name?” he asked finally.

      “Ascaran Rhassi,” Larana said. After a beat, she added, “And as far as I know, he never did any sailing. He never told anyone in the family about it. That’s why we were confused when we found this.”

      “Well, I don’t know where these coordinates lead,” Birkin said. “But I could get you there.” He glanced out at the bustling dockworkers, none of whom were approaching his ship. “The Reliant hasn’t had much work lately. It would be good for her to stretch her legs a little.”

      “Well, we don’t know what’ll be there,” Koro said.

      “But if Grandpa left it lying around, surely it wouldn’t be too dangerous,” Larana said.

      “Okay,” Koro finally agreed. “Let’s do it.”

      For the first time, Rigney Birkin cracked a smile as he clapped his hands together. “Now all we need is to discuss the terms and our expedition can begin within the next day or two.”

     ***

     03 Day of Eating Y28 2015 hours -

     The Reliant is fully operational and ready for travel.

To be continued…