The last thing Isaac remembered was frozen wraith of the ocean, as he clung to a cluster of planks that broke free in his ship retirement to the ocean floor.  It was a familiar fate, yet one that seemed inevitable each and every time he set sail.  The waters in the New World were cruel, yet somehow, he always managed to survive, which gave him the courage to sleep as the planks drifted aimlessly in treacherous waters.  He dreamed of a better world, a world where he didn’t have sail just to make a living, a world where he had a family, and life unlike any other.

	“Up all ready,” Sasayaki greeted with a ring to his forehead.  It wasn’t the first time she woke him so brazenly, but experience rarely helped before his morning stretch.

	Isaac protected his head with a heavy palm, the memory of her blunted end still throbbing.  “I’m up,” he explained, before realizing he wasn’t in the ocean anymore.  There was chaos close by, of that he was certain, but the room which he was held was more comforting than his last.  “How long have I been out?” he asked.

	Sasayaki uncoiled from his side and peaked her head out of the raggedy curtain that doubled as a door, before coming back.  “At least 5 days, if you could call them that.  Everything here seems to be a hazy mess, if you ask me.”  She wrapped around him, inspecting him with a subtle melody that emanated from her chain.  “You’re not looking so hot.  What do you say we get out of this miserable excuse for room and pick up some food?”

	“Food?  You can’t even eat,” he yawned, taking two pushes of the bed to find his feet.  The wood creaked under his weight as he moved to the curtain, feeling the rugged cloth before pushing it aside.  Light flashed in, blinding Isaac for a moment.  His hand raised to shield the light, but Sasayaki beat him to it, hover between him and the brutally known as the sun.  “Thanks,” he muttered, stepping free and into the streets, filled with the boisterous voices from outside.  “What is this?”

	Sasayaki reeled back and perched over his shoulder as soon as his eyes adjusted, peering into every ally like an excited hound.  “It’s a party,” she proclaimed, “It’s always a party here, that’s why they saved you.  They were going to take someplace else, but I told them that we wanted to recoup near the main street, so we could see it all.”

	[i]So you could see it all,[/i] he thought, looking down each way for the best chance of getting somewhere with a decent meal.  It was then that he gave his pockets a pat, confirming a familiar tragedy, all of his money was gone.  “It’s okay,” he reminded himself, “We have been here before.  We just need to find a little cash, or a little trouble.”

	“Trouble,” Sasayaki reeled forward, “let’s go with that one.”