A Walk In The SunThe night of my graduation, Gabe and I set off on our first vacation together. We had both been wanting to head to Al Simhara for as long as we both could remember. On our flight over, it was decided that we would spend as much time working towards acquiring our first vacation home. We knew it wouldn't come easy as we had to prove to the locals that our intentions were honorable, we also knew it wouldn't be our first trip that would accomplish our goal.
We were staying at the base camp setup for first time explorers. The people we met here were fascinating, but paled in comparison to young love. Gabe and I were never going to get our vacation house if we didn't start spending a bit of time apart.
With a last lingering look, Gabe made his way to the market to see what artifacts he could bring home for Mercy. He was also determined to find local children and begin his tutoring requirements.
After speaking with a few locals, I found that many of them had menial tasks that needed completing, but not the time to do them. Seeing this as a way to get my foot in the door for my dream home, I offered any assistance I could.
Most tasks were the normal go here and get this, bring it back and all that. Eventually though, I was sent on a chain of tasks that led me into tomb exploring. I really think I've found my passion in life.
Gabe wasn't having nearly as much luck as I was. His desire to teach and fulfill his tutoring requirement was not panning out. No matter how much time he spent teaching children all he knew, it just wasn't being considered. Eventually, he gave up and moved on to snake charming, I really hope he doesn't want to bring that basket home with him.
Just as they say, all good things must come to an end. The next day we were informed by country officials that our visa's were expiring. No matter how much we begged for just a bit more time, they told us there were no exceptions. I decided then and there that since I'd racked up a decent amount of lifetime reward points, I would be purchasing a little something to help with extending our next trip.
We got back home late that night, I don't think anyone was expecting us so soon. Once we set foot in the door, we were bombarded with everyone asking at once for pictures, details and presents. During this Mercy excused herself, seems she's caught a bit of a bug or had her tiberium gems too close to her for too long again.
Gabe politely found an excuse for us to head to bed after all the excitement died down. We were both so tired that I forgot to speak with Sam about teaching me Sim Fu. Apparently, all the talk about Mummies existing is true. I always thought the stuff of legends in movies and books were just that, legends, but after my brief encounter I'm not taking any chances. When I woke up, I found that Sam was out back in his training room, breaking space rock blocks for gems. As soon as I brought up the prospect of him being my mentor, his eyes lit up like a toddler on Christmas morning.
Gabe and I were already deep in planning for our trip back to Al Simhara. This time I was convinced that I could get my dream home and have time to work on furnishing it a bit before we had to head back home. Everyone was so busy with work, hobbies and planning that we forgot dear Ollie's birthday. As usual she was on her way out to greet Gabe as he came home from work, then the sparkles started and an impromptu party commenced.
The next day we were finally able to head back to Al Simhara, we were calling this our second honeymoon even though we hadn't married yet. We also decided that this time, we wanted a bit more privacy and stayed at an out of the way camping area.
I continued on with my tomb exploring, coming ever so close to my goal. Gabe spent a lot of time getting to know the locals, picking up more artifacts for Mercy, books for our extensive library collection and much to my apprehension, he started snake charming again. I saw the joy it was bringing him and left him to his devices, I was only a few tasks away from being able to buy my home so I headed out to scout places for sale. The first day brought me no luck and I was feeling pretty defeated. I knew it had to be a place that was going to pass down through the family for generations to come, we needed space, comfort and most of all a place to just get away.
Since I was already on my way back to town, I decided to start on my next task. On my way driving to the tomb, the sun peaked over a sand dune and glinted into my eyes so brightly that I nearly got in a car wreck. When I was at a stop and calmed down enough, I opened my eyes to look around and saw the house of my dreams. I immediately called Gabe and gave him directions, I was so excited that you would have thought I won the lottery. When Gabe finally showed up it was nearing sunset, we spent around a half an hour exploring the property when we came to notice the view around us. This was most definitely the house for us.
