The Games for Nihon (BOOK THREE)

Chapter 30 - The Arena

Sofia made the medallions. They were real but they were not exact copies of each other.

That had been Ami's advice. "Everything that is real is unique," he had told Sofia, and after pondering this for a moment, Sofia had realized that he was right.

Perfection was a give-away. Yet, integrating flaws in the mirror images had been rather difficult. Sofi had not known how much was not enough and how much went too far. When she was done, there was a pile of medallions lying on the floor, and suddenly, Ami panicked.

"There are too many! How will we even hide them?"

Instead of a reply, Sofia and Orì burst out laughing.

"Sometimes, you are like Sofia," Orì said, giggling. "It's like you didn't even grow up in Nihon!"

Sofia stuck out her tongue at Orì, but told Ami, "We make them disappear, silly! Weightless and invisible."

"No problem," Inaan yawned. He had fallen asleep during their proceedings. As soon as the children had explained to him that Sofia held their carriage inside an impenetrable sound barrier, he had relaxed to the point of total fatigue.

"Oh, good," Orì said. "Snores-a-lot is awake."

"I don't snore!" Inaan protested.

"Hah! If there was a snoring competition at the Games, you would win it."

Inaan weighed his head.

"Well, at least I'd win something." He sat up and looked out of the window, squinting into the distance. "I think - yes, right there. It's the arena."

"What?" Ami, Sofia and Orì shouted in unison, making the Bayla flutter towards the ceiling in fright.

Ami scooped the Bayla up in his arms and shook his head at it. "It's like you forget sometimes that you can turn into a ferocious beast."

The Bayla nuzzled its head against Ami's shoulder. He went to the window, trying to squeeze in between the others to get a glimpse.

"I don't see anything," Sofia said.

She looked at Orì.

"Neither do I," she confirmed.

Inaan grinned complacently. "Seems like you're no real sailors yet. It's right there."

He pointed in a direction that didn't appear any different from its surroundings. Treetops - so what? Before Sofia and Orì could complain, he adjusted their heads himself and pointed again.

"Don't you see it? The shape right above the crowns of the trees. In the distance behind them."

"There's nothing there," Orì said. "You're just making stuff up. You're so - oh, wait."

"See it now?"

"Hm. Maybe. Sofia, can you - ?"

Sofia nodded excitedly.

"I see it too. Look, Ami!"

Finally, they all could see it. Inaan nodded with self-satisfaction and leaned back again.

"Always pays to have a captain on board. Ah, I miss the waves."

But the others were too agitated to listen to him. For a moment, as they saw the arena taking shape ahead of them, all their worries fell away from them, and they felt as if they were merely headed towards another adventure.

"It must be huge!" Sofia said.

"Because, look, those trees seem small from here," Ami added, "but they are actually fully grown. So, just imagine -"