"You never told me your name," said the young man.
"My name is old. It's a name the younger people would not know," the Night Watchman said.
"You can just call me for you watch. I don't remember whose ship this is or who that girl was," said the Rod.
"I'm the Watchman who took your ship in the event of your death," said the Night Watchman. "I'm staying on the ship and you are welcome to live here on shore."
"I'd like to stay here, but I can't work the ship alone. Are you interested in helping me?"
"I enjoyed sailing by the time I turned thirty," the Night Watchman said.
"I turned thirty when I was in the ocean. How far do you go?"
"You've seen the sea before?" the Night Watchman asked. "Not you. You never left the sea shores before. You never saw a sea before?"
"Never saw a sea, but I've seen the ocean. Enough supposed to see it," the crew member said.
"Enough to do all kinds of jobs in their shore. Your name?" the Watchman asked.
"I'm Rod." He stretched his arms. "Stiff neck, traps, lower back, knee, all in one. It's been like this for a while. Besides, I don't have your strength Here. Maybe I should've thought about retiring when I was a young master."
"Maybe you already retired. Your strength and nerve is in here," said the Watchman. "But I got to admit, you got me out of the sea," he said as he tapped top of the Rod's head.
"Name's Rod, now. This wouldn't be a story if it didn't have a change of names. I gotta say, the one I had before wasn't very good." He chuckled. "I was a part time Guy. And when I'm not hard at work, I'm sleeping."
"And you seem to sleep too much. You need to keep up the rest of the time."
"That includes eating. I didn't broke my ribs, though. They're all right."
"You're still limping," said the Night Watchman. "What hurt is your neck and back and knees."
"Not a problem. I'll work a little bit. To the nightcap," said Rod. "Is that all there is to it?" he asked.
"It'll be okay. All you need to do is study."
"Maybe so. But I'm a Guy, you know. I like to take a nap when there's nothing to do," said Rod.
"How are you supposed to do stuff on the ship? How do you make sure the ship's okay?"
Rod sighs, saying, "I'm just saying, I like to sleep."
"You'll have sleepless nights once you start sailing," said the Watchman. "By the way, how did you get out of that whirlpool?"
"I don't know. I was thinking maybe something broke out of it because suddenly I woke up. Maybe there was another ship."
"Maybe there was," said the Watchman. "To be honest with you, the boy had the Book Page in his hand. You might have been near to death. If you had been the first to die, barely dying and going away. But this way, you didn't die. You were able to survive the whirlpool, with him fighting underwater."
"How did he do it? I've never seen magic before. It was like an illusion of some sort."
"I have no idea. I never saw him perform a spell like before."
"Maybe he was shocked inside a whirlpool. He was thrown away from it."
"Maybe you're right. I was awakened by the three children. I followed the boy. I saw him open the whirlpool. I saw him throwing the Book Page.
It is hard to know why he did it. Maybe it was a book of lore. Maybe it was the boy's downfall. But I saw him trying to survive this whirlpool.
Your brothers were in danger. If you were killed, they would be left alone.
It's the brothers who stayed together and always prided each other. They had the family honor to uphold. I guess you owe them your life. That's why the boy had to survive."
"I don't remember what happened to me," said Rod. "What should I remember?"
"Everything. Maybe it's a dream. Maybe it's a nightmare. Maybe it's caught inside this whirlpool." He taps the top of Rod's head again. "Maybe it's a dream of some sort, but on the other side, an illusion. I don't know. You were there in the net, not moving. It was like you'd given up.
I was on the other side. I stayed on the bank but I could see the whirlpool covered in water. The water was coming from the ocean. It was a real whirlpool. No one could survive it. Maybe only a few of the magicians can cast a spell to get out of it. The boy was still in there. I couldn't see him.
If he's alive, he should be able to grab something and swim out of it. I knew those cliffs are dangerous. I could hear the waves trying to reach those cliffs. The water at one side was far more than the other. I decided to take him out of there and turn him around. I willed for him to move."
He saw the boy had made a head gesture. Even though the waves were going in, Rod saw the boy was still able to move. The boy was headstrong. He was a strong swimmer. But his swimming skills were not enough.
"I felt him move," he said. "But he did not go to the right place. He was going to the left side of the cliff. The currents were stronger on that side. I asked him to go there.
The boy was not thinking about the danger of the cliff. Maybe he thought he'd float with the currents and reach the other side. Maybe he thought that if he did, he would be able to climb up the cliff."
"Why would he think of the cliff like that?"
"It made me think of what had happened in his village. He was scared. I told him to go to the other side. Maybe the boy did not know there were two sides on the cliff. He was strong. The boy thought to escape the whirlpool. He knew there were lots of dangers in it.
But he chose to get out of it. He did not know what else to do. Maybe that's why he fell asleep before he reached the other side. I saw he was sleeping as the ocean waves carried him underwater. He was able to live.
Every day was like this. The rocks and the cliffs. There were more whirlpools. One in the middle of the ocean, the next one somewhere else.
The boy survived it. Eventually, the waves touched him. We willed for him to escape those currents. We had to. We had to fight for our lives. We were as strong as someone could be. We were given the illusion of safety and life.
It's funny, I thought, the boy only ordered one of us. He saved me. Was the boy supposed to accept me? Or did he was get resentful? I should've been able to save him. But I could not hear what the boy said. Not that he said anything. It was as if the boy thought of something. The illusion might have done something.
You see, I think every master was seen as a servant. A creature came out of the whirlpool. It was one of the many illusions I saw in my life. It was like a beast. It was a large creature, with many tentacles. It had a huge mouth.
The boy was fighting it. He was trying to kill the creature. He hit the water to get him away from the creature. He struck his foot. I thought that I'd seen a wound on one of the boy's feet
Rod interrupts the Watchman, saying, "What did you say before, start to finish? I didn't catch it. I think I've been heard it and forgot it. I think I was asleep. I think every time you speak, I'm asleep." Rod chuckled when he said this.
"It's a nice story. Maybe I'll have a good dream, then. I'll even remember you. And I'll even talk to him some other time," said the Watchman.
"I already forgot about you," said Rod. "I'd never talk to you or see you again."
"That is a reason why it is a dream."
"I'll be moving on the ship. I've been questing if I can tell the boys what happened. I'm sure they'll be aware of the danger. I still can't tell them everything, though," he said.
"Can you tell them about the monster that can swallow anything without chewing?" asked the Watchman.
"I can tell them the truth, how I escaped it."
"What will you tell them? How will you tell them what happened? You was in the net and it was covered with water. That's where you were sleeping. How you got out of that? That's what you have to talk about. You can't say things that you don't remember."
"But that same thing happened to the boy. Even if he was out of the whirlpool. If there was an enemy, I don't think he would know what it was. I'm sure he would have known about it."
"Maybe he looked at it and got terrified."
"He can fight. He was strong and he fought that thing off. Even if he were in a state of shock, he should've been able to fight."
"Maybe he did not see it," said the Watchman. "Maybe that thing hid its true form."
"Maybe he forgot. That thing might have used magic. And I was there. I saw it. I know people can cast a real spell, people like magicians. If this thing could do that, it would've been able to defeat the watchman if it had fought for its life."
"I don't think this thing can be defeated. Maybe it's just an image. Maybe the boy's just an illusion. I don't know if I can stop you from seeing things. But I don't think he's a magicians. Maybe he was a wizard. But I saw him. I saw the boy. He was strong. He was so strong. He was stronger than a big fish.
The fish could swim. He could beat the fish. He had a greater desire to live. Nothing could defeat him. Not the boy. Not the fish. Not the whirlpool."
"I think this thing is nothing more than an illusion. It's not as if someone cast a spell that has real powers."
"But you know someone who has powers and cast real power? There were magicians, wizards, sorcerers. They can cast a real spell. If you look at the others, they perform a real spell. They actually have a spell. They have power and they use magic that will result in an illusion. If there is magic, then you can see these things. The illusion is there. It really happens.
Someone like the Dowager, she's really the one who put an illusion. She's an illusionist. She's a conjurer. She knows how to cast spells. She's so trained that she make you do what she wants, whether or not you know of it."
"No, she is not like that. She is a good woman. She is one of the best women in our country."
"With all the wealth that she has, she is probably pissed off with the boys. I mean, she has all the money in the world. She has so much gold. She's so rich. She's so powerful and yet she lives on that ship. Every time I see her, she's the same woman. She's just gone to bed. She's been sleeping. She has much money. I mean she has a tremendous amount of gold. If she went to any village, she can ask for anything. She can get a house. She can get a palace. She can get anything she wants. With all that gold, she could do whatever she wanted to do. She could not go to the same place twice. She should go somewhere new and exciting. Is she the same as before she found the magic?
Everyone was so happy when they found the magic. I think she knew already. I think she had the power already. I think right to the end, she was the one who made the magic happen. Maybe that same toy is the same one you'll cast into the whirlpool in the ocean. Maybe you'll meet that same boy. If you go to the other side of the ocean. Maybe even the same magic could happen to you."
The Watchman humphed but said nothing.
