LAYLA, WORLD TRAVELER

CHAPTER 1: ARCTIC ADVENTURE BY MARIAM MOHAMMED

In the land of the ice and snow, where the polar bears roamed and the seals barked, a young adventurer set out to explore the farthest reaches of the Arctic. Her name was Laila. She was 12 years old. Now I know what you're thinking, 12 years old is too young to go on adventures without a parent or guardian. However, she was an orphan. She was also a child prodigy. And she was a third degree black belt in taekwondo.

Her saesong was a Korean grandmaster named Man-hee Han, and he is 85 years old as of March 2023. Having been raised in a taekwondo dojo for 12 years, Layla was finally ready to discover the lost ship of Lord Horatio Nelson, the British Admiral who went crazy in 1808 and sailed into the Arctic Ocean where his ship froze at the North Pole. Layla had heard of Lord Nelson's legendary treasure that he borrowed from a young Indian raja who had rubies, gold bracelets, diamonds, and necklaces.

Now, Layla was bundled up from head to toe. She wore a super fluffy Gortex jacket, gloves, and boots. She also had a sled pulled by six dogs whose names were Jack, Rey, Rex, Musky, Rusky, and Tusky. As you can tell, these dogs were all male. After traveling for three days, she made an igloo at the North Pole and crawled in. Her dogs dug holes and buried themselves for a nap. Layla spread her map on the snow. The treasure should be here somewhere, she thought. However, she didn't know that the teacher who was Korean had sent her on a wild goose chase to test her fortitude.

When the morning came, Layla heard the chop chop chop of a helicopter coming to airlift her back to the dojo.

“But Master, how did you know that I was even here?” asked the curious child prodigy.

Grandmaster Man-hee Han pressed his lips into a thin line. “I knew because you have been in my taekwondo dojo for 12 years! I knew you would make it to the North Pole, but honestly, you should not have tried to look for the treasure of Lord Horatio Nelson. The treasure was found twenty years ago using satellites. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

Layla puffed up her cheeks in indignation. “I could’ve frozen to death, Master!”

The octogenarian grandmaster looked sorrowfully into the frozen horizon. “Well, you might have, but it’s not that chilly!”

From that day on, Layla had learned her lesson that there are no get-rich-quick schemes in life, and that it was important to work hard toward your goals. In fact, Layla went on to open her own taekwondo dojo in Fremont, California when she was 20 years old. She taught kids how to defend themselves using Grandmaster Man-hee Han’s techniques. Then, she taught more people who were interested in learning. All in all, she became a pillar of the community and everyone around the world respected her.

But as an adult, there was still one thing missing in Layla’s life. As an orphan, she wanted to know who her real parents were, even though she was raised in South Korea. So, she wanted to take a trip to Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where she had been told her birth parents lived.

There was only one solution: she needed to go on more adventures. It was the appeal of the treasure that made her go to the Arctic in the first place. But now, she was driven by a deeper need; a need to discover her true self and where she came from.