Diary Entry 33

It didn't take me very long to find a ship that was sailing to Laguna Island after I returned to port. I managed to book passage on a ship called The Sailor's Love Letter (talk about issues) just a few hours before it left port. It was a pretty fancy cruise ship with five fully rigged masts. While I waited for our departure, I actually ended up counting the number of sails, 42 by the way, instead of reading in my cabin. I was happy beyond words when we finally weighed anchor.

After we exited the bay, I grabbed a deck chair and pulled out my diary to update it. I also pulled out my Junior Wood Cub's Guide to Marine Life to identify the monsters I had encountered in that dungeon. I would occasionally pause in my writing to enjoy the scenery. There would be blue and pink dolphins jumping out of the sea, green whales surfacing to spout, and the occasional sea stack. During the trip, I received replies from my party members that they will meet me at the crustacean-filled dungeon in a few weeks. Looking at my schedule, I was depressed to see that I was going to have to shorten my stay at Laguna Island to one day and night if I was going to make it back in time.

The ship ended up reaching our destination without a single incident of pirates or sea monsters. Wondering why we had such a peaceful voyage, I questioned a crew member. Turns out Laguna Island is such a big tourist destination that not a single pirate ship would dare to interfere with any ship that travels back and forth from it (once it is registered). I'm not sure I am ever going to understand the economics of this archipelago. Anyway, after making sure my return trip on the ship was booked, fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the ship was leaving tomorrow.

Looking around, I managed to find a room in an inn called the Lucky Albatross. Setting my bag down, I sent Zilla a message telling her I was was on the island and the inn I was staying at and that I was only going to be able to stay until tomorrow. She messaged me back telling me she would meet me there so I went down to the dining room. I didn't have to wait before she walked through the door. It might have been because I hadn't seen her in a while, but her cyan scales and ruby dorsal spikes seemed more vibrant than the the last time I saw her.

"An Daghda! You are lucky you didn't keep me waiting!" she said jokingly.

"Zilla, you know An Daghda is not my real name, so why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because it's fun," she teased.

"Once again I apologise that we have only the one day for our date."

"It's not too big of a deal, I actually have leave the island help a relative early tomorrow morning anyway. I got a last minute Rune Message from my stupid brother that he needs help. I'm just glad everything worked out. Now come on, I know a nice little cafe that will be great for lunch."

The cafe she led me to was a quaint little place called The Caffeinated Lemur. We ordered a small meal each and chatted about what we should do on our date. Since I only had today for our date, I wanted to pack as much as we could into our date, and yes, readers, I did tell Zilla about how long I was able to stay. By the time we had both finished, we had agreed to go see a play, do some shopping, have a romantic dinner, and a stroll through a park.

When Zilla went to the restroom, I asked the waiter for news of the latest plays. You see, Laguna Island is famous for its numerous lagoons, which have been used as the location for numerous nautical-themed plays. There were three different plays scheduled for today, Fortune Island (a favorite in the Archipelago), The Sahagin from the Lost Lagoon (a classic horror play), and a play that is always popular with the ladies, Den Lille Havfrue (a musical that takes place when merpeople were still waterbound). When Zilla came back, I told her about the three plays and asked her which one she would like to go see. She was apparently very excited to see Fortune Island instead of Den Lille Havfrue (the one I was sure she was going to pick).

The play was being performed at the third lagoon at the right of the rock shaped like a shark. Naturally with directions like those, I hired a kid to lead the way. We managed to get some decent seats, somewhere between the middle and the front, with no large hats or crazy hairdos sitting in front of us. The play was about an orphan boy who joins a ship. A pirate who has disguised himself as a member of the crew takes the boy under his wing. Wait a minute, why am I giving you, my readers, spoilers? Anyway, even though it wasn't my first time watching the play (it's a few decades old), it is still as good as ever, although I don't remember a character using starfish as throwing stars the last time I saw it.

After the curtain call, Zilla and I went to the merchant district to shop for souvenirs. There were wooden bath duckies carved to look like pirates, merpeople, and aquatic monsters that we had some fun with before the merchant shooed us away. We did end up getting some matching tankards with scenes from the play we watched engraved on them. We also ended up getting... Two Sahagin plush toys, a matching set of salt and pepper shakers carved to look like a mermaid princess and her beloved human prince, two commemorative posters of some of the actors, a set of miniature cannons, a set of handheld catapults, and finally, some silly hats that gave you some sort of animal ears. Had I known this was going to happen, I would have brought my Dimensional Carpet Bag.

Around dinner time, we decided to stop shopping and grab a bite. Zilla led the way to a bistro called the Sea Dog, with myself carrying the bags, full of everything we bought, following behind her. They had a fantastic selection of seafood, although I stayed away from the crab legs, it's too soon. Instead, I ordered a bowl of Sere with a non-alcoholic Chicha de piña while Zilla ordered the Mofongo with shrimp on top as well as a Morir Soñando to drink. For dessert, we both ordered Switcha and duff.

Once we finished our dessert, I paid a couple of porters to deliver our purchases to our respective rooms. Now unhindered by bags, Zilla and I went for a stroll around the nearby park while we talked about what has happened to us since last we met. She had a good laugh when I told her about the Dandy-Goblins and hopefully I impressed her when I told her about how I came in 6th at the Tirna Highland Games in Ceiliúradh. It turns out Zilla couldn't come to the Games when I had asked her because she and her party had taken a job to track and take down a vampiric cultivator in Feng Long.

We chatted together until it was sunset and the lamplighters had come out to start lighting the park's light posts. At this point I offered to escort Zilla back to the inn she was staying at, which she accepted by the way. She was staying at an inn called The Galway Tavern. At the door to her room, we said goodnight (or should it have been goodbye since we were both leaving the island, albeit at different times, tomorrow) to each other. I leaned in to give her a kiss but I think I screwed up the timing, because she didn't see it and had turned around and closed the door... Thankfully I didn't hit the door too hard to leave a mark.

Cursing my bad luck, I walked by myself back to my inn. A thief or two tried to rob me, but in my bad mood, I left them as a pile of ashes. Once I made it back to my room, I set up some traps to deal with any potential intruders before going to bed.