Nina's Discipline

Battles and Choices

Battles and Choices

"Okay, here's another one." Manon tossed the rind of her fruit over the side of the boat as it coasted gently through the trees. "Would you rather never need to sleep again, or never need to eat again? No adverse health effects for either option."

"Definitely sleep," Erec said immediately. "Can you imagine all I could get done in a single day if I didn't need to sleep?"

Manon nodded in agreement, pointing to him to indicate that she was thinking the same way.

"I would say never need to eat." Nina smiled wistfully. "That would be marvelous. I could run just as much as I want and never pass out because I lack the energy to do it."

"That's a highly specific problem for you." Addie shook her head. "Personally, I love food. I wouldn't want to give that up no matter how convenient. I'm going to agree with Erec. Sleep is overrated. And if I'm never asleep, no one can ever sneak up on me."

"That's also a specific problem," Gael chuckled. "I'll agree with Nina. Sleep is more than just the physical requirement. It's a chance to relax and sooth your mind from the day's events. Meanwhile, if I didn't have to eat, nothing would ever tether me in any single place. I could travel further and help more people who are underprivileged."

"How about you, Manon?" Erec asked, gently turning the wheel of the dinghy and maneuvering them around the massive tree in front of them.

"I think I'm going to have to go with... sleep." She finally committed. "Food is delicious, but sleep can be a huge waste of time. No need to set aside an entire night towards soothing your mind."

"Sleep wins it then," Addie grinned, stretching her arms high over her head. "And, speaking of sleep, it's starting to get late. We should look for our next place to stop."

It had been days since they had first entered the Red Monolith Forest. While they had been content, initially, to stay in the first perch they had found, they soon realized that Didier was making no attempts to come in after them. There had been not even a hint of a scouting party searching for the little dinghy even once.

After some debate, they decided that they would begin slowly crossing through the trees, under the canopy, and out of sight of anything that might be trying to find them. They docked in trees each night, roamed around in the afternoon usually, and slept the morning away with a strange laziness that Nina was unaccustomed to experiencing.

Their progress was deliberately slow, almost meandering. They were making their way towards Isaie, but it was done with absolutely no sense of hurry or purpose. There were times, such as when they started playing silly things like 'Would You Rather...' that Nina felt like she was on a family vacation, of some odd variety.

The trees remained far apart, even as the dense canopy blocked almost all sunlight in places. The ground appeared untouched by humans of any kind. Occasionally, they could hear the loud rumble of a massive airship engine, but they never saw the ship it belonged to.

"I found a river," Manon said some time later, half hanging out of the side of the boat.

Nina, who was leaning her back against Erec as they sat at the front of the dinghy, looked over lazily without any real interest.

"That's not a river. That's a stream."

"Meh. What's the difference?"

"Stream is smaller."

"Oh... I found a stream."

"That's fascinating, Manon," Addie said dully from where she had taken control from Erec at the steering wheel. She was the only one skilled enough to land them when they found a place to park the boat for the remainder of the day.