Stella's Stellar Saga

The Ship’s giant bell sounded with a resounding bong.

At least, I think it's a bong. Could be a bang of sorts. What sound would a giant bell make anyways? Oh! How about a falsetto 'boop'. Yeah, I like boop more than bong.

Wait, what's going on again?

Her eyes fluttered open. The sun shone through the window of her room, blinding her for a second, but she quickly turned away from it. 'If the sun's still on this side of the boat it must still be before noon', she thought.

The bell echoed again. Judging by the number of boops she hears, either the bell ringer doesn't know how to tell time and thinks it's four in the morning, or they're signalling that land is approaching.

"We're almost there!" Stella cheered as she tossed her blanket aside to jump out of bed. It felt like weeks since she first boarded the ship to travel across the high seas to the continent of Alrades. In reality it had only been about five days, but still. Taking the mess she'd made in her room, she condensed it as well as possible back into her knapsack. Stella did one more look around her room before accepting it as clean and rushing out the door to the deck of the ship.

Right away she could see the shoreline in front of the ship, and she was in awe. Running up to the edge of the deck and stared out at the sea port in the distance. "Woah...", the wonder of the foreign land in front of her almost brought a tear to her eye, thinking of all the new places she'll get to visit, all the new Bub-Chi she'll get to meet and befriend. She’d never thought that this is where her life was headed towards, but she was excited to see where it was going.

"...elllaaaaa...", echoed from within the ship. Speaking of new friends.

Stella inhaled and let out their new signature friend call, "Zakuraaaaa!!!". Giggling and bubbly, Stella skipped along to the entryway of the main body of the boat. Soaring through the door came another young Bub-Chi, running at top speed before stopping abruptly. Then raising her arms above her head in an exaggerated manner, the other Bub-chi yelled, "Stellaa!!!"

"Zakuraaa!!", Stella called back, running up to her new friend and picking her up in a benzel-hug. Spinning around two full rotations the pair fell to the ground in a giggling pile of limbs.

"So!" Zakura said, picking herself up and brushing off her clothes, "Did you hear the bell? We're almost at land!"

"Of course! Why else would I be up at this ungodly time of day if we weren't almost there?"

"Riiight," Zakura chuckled, "I forget, you're one of those weird night-chi who curse the sun and all things day related."

"Heeeey," Stella puffed out her lower lip, in a fake pout, "There's nothing weird about wanting to spend more time at night with the beautiful celestial beings in the sky instead of the day with just one, overbearing, oversized ball of fire."

"Psh, you just say that because you overheat too much."

Stella kicked her foot like a child caught in a lie. "That's not the only reason you know..." she mumbled.

Zakura chuckled again at Stella's little hissy fit, "If you say so."

The sound of the ship's bell rang through the air again. Stella jumped for joy. "We're here!". She raced to the front of the boat and looked out to the coast. "Zakura, look, you can see the town from here!"

"Really?", Zakura hurried up to stand next to Stella and looked out as well, "Wooow! It's so much different from back home."

"Yeah, it really is..."

She stared out at the landscape in front of her. Zakura had been to the capital, Aclestus, before, but for Stella, this was the first time she had ever left the island she grew up on and knew so well. The landscape in front of her wasn't too different from the one back home. However, she knew once she got there, all the Bub-Chi and other creatures wouldn’t be the same. Thinking about it pulled at her chest a tiny bit. 'Am I starting to regret this trip? Maybe I should have just stayed home...'  

The ship's speakers crackled to life and a booming voice sounded out, "Passengers! We will be reaching port in approximately twenty minutes! Please be sure to have your bags packed and ready for deboarding. Have your rooms cleared of all your belongings." The speaker crackled again then died. Zakura looks to Stella, "Twenty Minutes. Just twenty Minutes and then we'll be on another continent."

"Yeah...". Stella looked back out over the horizon. Soon her self-made quest would come to a start, and who knows where would end up taking her. "

"Hey Zakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are your bags anyways?"

"...OH NO!", Zakura screamed and rushed back toward the main area of the boat.

Stella laughed behind her, "See you at the port!"

~~~

Once the ship had finally reached port and docked, Bub-Chi slowly made their way off the boat and onto the pier. Stella seated herself on her bubble and floated above the crowd, Drawing in her sketchbook. She occasionally looked up to see if Zakura had gotten off yet. After the largest wave of Bub-Chi dispersed from the dock, finally, she saw Zakura scrambling off the boat, overpacked suitcases and all. Stella waved at Zakura to get her attention and packed her sketchbook away. Zakura waved back and ran up to her right as Stella got down from her bubble.

"Hey! Did you wait long?"

"Nah, I had fun Bub-watching, no worries!"

"Sweet! Well, let's head off to town then.", Zakura skipped her way down the pier, Stella hot on her tail.

The pier their boat had docked at was one of the longer ones in the port. It took around 10 minutes for the two meandering bub-chis to reach the edge of town. Slowly the empty pier blended into a bustling area filled with bub-chi and other creatures, the likes of Stella has never seen before. She was in awe at all the hubbub and commotion going on around her.

"Wooooow! There's so much going on around here!"

"Yup! There's always a lot going on around ports like this."

Stella looked in awe at all around her, it was intimidating. All the bub-chi, all the buildings, all the food...

Then she got a wonderful idea, "Hey! We should go get some lunch! What do you say?"

Zakura made a sour face, "Hmm, I don't think I'll have time. I'm suppose to be on a train to the next town soon and I still don't know where the train station is."

"Whaaa... you're leaving already?"

She laughed at Stella's childish pouting, "Well yeah! I don't want to waste my time mucking about. I have places to be!"

Stella held a quizzical look on her face and mumbled, "Yeah, I guess that does make sense..." She stared down at the ground, looking deep in thought.

Zakura frowned at this and asked patronizingly, "Stellaaaaa, do you know how you're getting to Acletus from here?"

She flinched at the accusation, "Whaaa, of course I know!" Why wouldn't I know that's the most important thing right now!"

Busted.

Zakura laughed, the two bub-chi had only known each other for the better part of a week, but Stella's long winded denial seemed all too fitting. "Do you even know how to get to the next town from here?"

"Weeeeell, no! I was thinking I'd just figure things out as I go along. What if I find something cool and want to stay a few days? Nope! Don't wanna risk it", she punctuated her last statement with an exaggerated shake of the head. Now that was classic Stella.

Zakura laughed again, "Well okay then. Looks like you’ll be shaping up into a well traveled Bub-chi in no time then, huh?"

"Looks like it!"

"Speaking of which," Zakura looked to her watch and sighed, "I really need to get going now. The station is suppose to be a twenty minute walk from the port and my train leaves in forty."

"Oh no! Don't wanna miss that one then. Hey, how about I walk with you then?"

Zakura shook her head and laughed, "No way! The two of us together? We'd take hours!"

Stella laughed as well, "Yeah, you're not wrong there." The two bub-chi giggled together for a moment, but it faded away quickly. The two look at each other, both unsure on what to say next. Zakura finally breaks the silence.

"Well, guess this is goodbye for now."

"Yeah...But not for long! I'm sure we'll see each other again at the capital."

Zakura smiled, "Yeah, of course we will." Her face seemed happy, but her voice had a bittersweet tone to it. "It's such a large place though, what are the odds we'll find each other again anyways?"

"Astronomical!!" Stella punctuates her words with hop, "Of course we'll find each other again! We just need to make a meeting place for us to go to." She grabs Zakura's hands and pulls them face to face, her eyes sparkling with glee, "We'll wait for each other at the Great Library, every Sunday at six! No wait, how about eight? Six is kinda early for me."

Zakura blinks ahead, unsure of what to say. "You mean eight at night, don't you?"

Stella gives her an incredulous look, "Well duh, any earlier and it'll mess with my sleep schedule. Well more so than usual, at least."

She was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing at her friend's statement, tears coming from her eyes. "Of course, of course, how could I ever forget." She wipes the tears from her eyes, "Eight on Sundays it is then."

Stella cheered and bounced around, pulling Zakura into a hug. The two friends giggled and jumped around together. Eventually, they stopped, and the two stood together awkwardly.

A fun little moment the two got to share before they would go their separate ways. "Sooo, see you around then?", Zakura asked.

"Of course! Take care." Stella replied, and the two turn and walked away from each other, waving together until they were lost in the crowd.

Stella felt a pang in her chest. She never made friends easily, and Zakura was the first person in a long time she was able to have fun with. She would miss the few days the two got to spend together, but she was also happy to have all those memories to share, and happy to know her friend would be having fun adventures of her own to experience. Knowing this, replaced the sadness in her heart with excitement. Ready to start her own adventure, Stella trekked off and began the task of exploring her newfound surroundings.