"Where Fools Walk Freely: chapter four" by Meg J Milano

The next day, Win awoke at sunrise. He shared a cabin with four other challengers who were all the weakest of the bunch. Telly must have thought that Win could convince them to become more manly or something. Win shook his head, sometimes, Telly could really be a real ass.

Win sat up in his cot and pulled his wrinkled shirt on. He walked up on deck and greeted Telly, the captain, Borka, and a few of the challengers.

Borka, it seemed was just preparing to wake the rest of the passengers up. Work was about to begin.

Win was put in charge of the four other challengers who shared his cabin. He was to make sure they understood what they were supposed to be doing, and did it without stopping. None of Win"s unit could speak Agrulian, but Win could speak the language of Port Barnaby, which was where all the new challengers were from. He explained everything to the boys (they were too you to be called men), and left them for a while to speak with Telly.

The hot sun beat down on his head and shoulders, but Win didn"t mind. His skin was well used to the heat, it"d borne a dark tan ever since he was fifteen years old. Telly, however was already wrapping a towel around his fair haired head to protect it from the blaze.

“Good Morning, Win.” Telly said cheerfully.

''Morning'' Win said back, although his voice lacked the enthusiasm his friend's had. Win wasn't typically a morning person. He looked over and snigered, Telly's unit was in charge of scrubbing the deck. In his unit was Max, the strange one.

Telly noticed Win"s curious glance. Max, had been one of the first people up, he was also the only one on the ship, besides the captain, the crew, Telly, and Win himself, who spoke Agrulian. Win detested early risers.

''Do you know where I found him?'' Telly asked Win, nodding in the young man's direction, speaking in a low voice so that Max could not hear. He did not wait for an answer either,

''He was standing right in front of the sign I had. He asked me a bunch of questions that I"ve never heard a challenger ask before. He said he thought it was odd that we paid so much. And then, get this,'' Telly paused for dramatic effect, ''he agreed to join only after I told him the games were fatal''

Win considered this for a moment. Was the man trying to get himself offed or something? Been there, Win thought.

Just then he herd Borka yelling at a unit for weaving the ropes to the sails wrong. With a jolt, he realized that he was yelling at his unite. Win rushed over to pacify the angry crewman, and to show his unit how to properly weave the rope.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Win and his unit did their work, ate their food, and went back to their cabin. Although most of challengers were already asleep, Win was restless. He often got this way when he did not compete. He had this feeling emptiness without the adrenaline rushing through his vanes. Danger was his lover, and in her absence, life was so...dull.

His thoughts drifted to Mira. Seeing her after the games was always a pleasure. Win didn"t love Myra, but he loved that she loved him. He thought it was amusing that she would go through so much trouble just to get to Zayn and see him. Then during the few moments they spent speaking, she always had something to complain about.

Myra lived in a village about three kilometers away from Zayn. It was called Merwin, and was incredibly hard to sneak out of. Or into for that matter.(not that he"d ever tried) But somehow Myra had always managed to see him, and she always was happy to oblige.

Win was finally fed up. He stood, went up on deck to look at the stars, only to discover he was not alone. When he opened the cabin door he could have sworn he saw a flash of silver, but when his eyes finally focused it was just Max, who looked pretty peeved at being disturbed.

''What are YOU doing up?'' Win asked him.

Max just shrugged and said '' I didn"t know it was a crime to look at the moon.''

Win sighed and sat down leaning up against the prow.

'' Is something wrong?'' Max asked.

Win was indignant. Did it seem like something was wrong? No, he was perfectly alright.

'' I'm perfectly alright, just couldn"t sleep is all" he snapped.

"No need to bite off my head," Max replied, "I was only wondering..."

"What?" Win asked

"Never Mind"

Win let it go, he really didn"t care what Max thought. He was just tired. Eventually, Max announced that he was going to sleep. Win said goodnight, but continued to look at the stars. They"re like her eyes, he thought. After a few more minutes of looking at the stars, his eyelids began to droop. He then went back into his cabin and fell asleep.

Win dreamed he was with her again. These were always his favorite dreams.

In the dream Win was standing on a hill. Next to him stood a silver haired girl. Silver like the moon, not silver haired as in old,,she was defiantly NOT old. She looked to be about Win"s age, maybe younger. Seventeen he would say.

.She was the most beautiful girl Win had ever seen, and she was standing right next to him. Her eyes were two different shades of Blue. The left eye was light blue with dark swirls in it. Her right eye was dark blue with light swirls in it.

"Only two more days, Win, " she said "Two More days and I can dance again." her voice was beautiful too, like music. Win loved this part of the dream

"Two days is not so long" Win said,

"Unless you haven"t danced in four months" she replied.

Win smiled down at her "Only two more days, Red....Two more days until you can dance again."

* Win awoke with a start, it seemed like he had only just fallen asleep, but the sun was already up, and so was his unit. He dressed quickly and bounded up the stairs to the deck, where the group was awaiting his instruction. He quickly gave it, grabbed a crust of bread for breakfast, and sat down to work himself.

The rose was also carrying cargo to Zayn. All of the challenger uniforms were made with cloth purchased from Port Barnaby.

Today both his and Telly"s units was counting, all of the boys in his unit knew how to do that.

Telly was not so lucky. Two of his challengers couldn"t count, and he spent a good portion of the time teaching them how to. Max, however was able to get it through to them that for each barrel of goods they had to put one dash on the special paper Borka gave them. Telly, then counted the dashes. The work was slow.

As Win"s unit did their job, the young man revisited his dream. He had had this dream several times before, but he enjoyed it each time. Win often wondered how it was that he could feel so strongly about a woman he"d never even met before. He"d only been seeing her, in his future. Admittedly- he"d been seeing her for about three years, ever since he came to Zayn. Never had such a large turning point, he thought. And it was true, Win had never seen anything so often as he"d seen that girl.

She was tall and would have been willowy, but for extreme undernourishment: she seemed to shine.

Win still had no idea why he"d called her Red though, she wasn"t wearing red, and Win was pretty sure that wasn"t her name.

But, Win was optimistic, after all, his dreams usually came true.