sea of time

7

Caspar didn’t get any sleep that night.

Instead, he’d laid down in bed, comfy as he could be on a mattress made mostly of what he’d guess was hay and fabric scraps.

He listened to the whistling of the wind outside his door, a nice, cold breeze to compensate for how awful hot it was.

All he did was think about how crazy this whole situation was.

Is this just a hallucination? Am I dead?

No matter what it was, he could only assume he’d never see his family again, and he’d never see his home again, and he’d never see his cat again, and he’d-

Well, there would be a lot of things he’d never see again.

It was bittersweet, really. All he wanted to do when he was back home was leave and never have to deal with the expectations of his parents, neglect, and his brother’s annoyingly smug voice. Not that he’d want to see them again, but just the thought that his old life was done was a really scary thought.

He sighed, a thing that he didn’t do often.

Even though it was the end of one life, it was still the beginning of a new one. One where he’d make a name for himself, and he’d only hang out with people that actually cared about him.
Or, he’d die of polio, or he would be murdered, or any number of things could happen.

Wait, that could happen even if I wasn’t in the olden days.

He tried once more to get some shuteye, but he just couldn’t. Finally, he had had enough of this annoying restlessness, and made a decision.

He got out of bed, got dressed, and walked out the door.

Caspar practically sprinted all the way down to his right, letting the wind blow over him. He finally stopped running when he made it to the fishing pond, and just took a moment to take it all in.

The sky was a deep, deep blue, like the ocean, with all of the stars shining. The reflection of the moon on the pond was bright and glorious, even if it was only a crescent at the moment. Everything was almost still, yet the wind made things look unsettlingly alive. Caspar walked over to the message board on the side of the little shack by the dock and read some of the requests people were making, for things like fish, and asking people to find their lost things.

I really did travel through time.

Man, I’m awesome,


He walked a little bit further past the fishing ponds when he spotted a knight standing by the entrance, at which point only one word could go through his mind.

Curfew.

Yes, indeed, curfew. There was no telling on what the rules were here, and Caspar wasn’t about to take the risk of getting punished. He ran back to his dorm room, walked in, and sat down on the bed.

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The three knocks on his door woke him up.

Caspar whined, his muscles aching from the sheer stupidity of his sleeping position. Apparently sleeping with your shoes on and your legs crossed was not a great idea. “Who is it?”

“It’s Ashe.”

Caspar sat up in his bed. “Come in.”

And so Ashe did. He took one look at Caspar, then pulled a confused expression. “Were you sleeping with your uniform off? Did you not get one of the loungewear sets?”

“No, I did, I just…” He shook his head at himself. “I ran around outside at, like, three in the morning, for no reason.”

Ashe let out a sigh. This time, Caspar was the one with the confused expression, so the kinder boy explained himself. “Oh, sorry, it’s just that I’d heard from a few of my classmates that they heard a ghost laughing last night. But if that was you laughing, then there was no ghost.”

Caspar laughed. “What, are you afraid of ghosts?”

Ashe blushed and looked to his feet. “Well, you don’t have to make fun of me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed so soon.”

Ashe sat down on the bed next to him. “No, it’s fine. Anyways, I just came to-”

“What? No, it’s not fine!” Caspar tried to keep his voice down, but obviously failed. Ashe just looked at him, startled. “I mean, uh, you just, uh, don’t have to take that.”

Ashe laughed a little. “I guess that’s true. Well, in that case, I’ll say, ‘I accept your apology’.”

Caspar smiled. “Well, that’s better. Anyways, what were you going to say?”

“Oh, well I was going to say that,” Ashe put on a professional look, “firstly, you missed the Black Eagles archery class. I would say that it doesn’t really matter because you’re not an archer, but considering that you haven’t even attended a single day of class yet that it does matter.”

“Alrighty, Mr. Responsible.” Caspar yawned and stretched his arms over his head, somehow scraping the back of his hand against the awful untreated wood wall.

The addressed ‘Mr Responsible’ raised his eyebrows. “Hey, responsibility is important! If you don’t attend class, then you might get kicked out of the academy.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, if you’re not a noble, they don’t really throw you any saving hands.”
Caspar shook his head too. “Boy, I’m really saying all the wrong things today. I didn’t mean to bring up such a bad topic.”

“No, no. It’s better you know now then when you’re getting sent away. Alright, so, secondly-”

Ashe was interrupted by the growling of Caspar’s stomach.

“Maybe we should continue this conversation at the dining hall so that you won’t be cut off again.” He chuckled awkwardly.

Ashe nodded. “Good thinking!”

Caspar closed his door, then began taking unbuttoning his jacket.

“What are you doing?” By the time Ashe got that sentence out, his face was red and his eyes were wide.

“What?” Caspar’s shirt was already discarded in the corner of his room. “I’m just changing shirts.”

Ashe averted his eyes somewhat. “Oh, alright. I’m going to get a head start on the dining hall.” Caspar couldn’t see it happen due to his shirt covering his eyes, but he could tell by the creaking of the floors and door that Ashe walked out and left.

Well, that was weird.