//------------------------------//
// Diplomacy 
// Story: Expedition to the Cloudbreak Islands 
// by Starglider 
//------------------------------//

The interior of the building was a roughly semi-circular space, big enough for perhaps forty creatures to gather. The side walls were lined with shelves full of books and jars and a jumble of weird knick-knacks, while the far wall was dominated by a huge and elaborate wooden chair, seemingly made from salvaged ribs of ships, adorned with bits of net and carvings of various strange creatures that might once have been figureheads. A spiral of stairs off to one side lead up to the attic, while a sizable pool in the opposite corner hinted at a flooded, underground escape tunnel.

In the giant seat ('throne' might have been overstating the case) sat a tiny, ancient-looking fish woman, sprawled on a mass of mismatched cushions, bright eyes peering at her visitors. Before she could speak there is commotion to one side as a gangly gillman came barrelling down the staircase; a teenager perhaps, shouting "I found it, I got it!" presumably referring to the heavy book he was carrying.



'Cool throne room, by the way' thought Summer Scribe, as she lifted a hoof and opened her mouth, as though ready to speak, but her train of thought is interrupted by this book business. She paused to see what this could be about; could it just be a coincidence?

Rolling her eyes and ignoring the young gillman for now, the chieftess proclaimed in a slow, reedy voice "Strangers, you be finding yourself before Smoothfin, leader of the Witchway tribe, and she's mighty curious about what manner o' creatures be visiting her today, and what purpose they do have coming to the Marsh."

Scalesbook stepped forward and got his word in first: "Smoothfin, this be Search Po-knee, and her friend Captain Po-knee, and that one back there is... uh... Spooky Po-knee? And by all appearances they be friendly and smart as you or I."

At the back, Sliptail leaned around the hippogriff and shouted "And this is Reef Skimmer and he's a hippo-griffon and that means when he's in the mind to he does turn into the biggest fish you ever did see!"

Reef Skimmer 's ear tufts flicked out in surprise, before he stared at the ceiling with a sheepish expression.

Okay, she was up! Summer Scribe bowed low to show her deference, before speaking with a smile: "Thank you so much for your time, Smoothfin! We are ponies, from Equestria - beyond the Storm Barrier, far below. We arrived on an airship which crash landed, and we find ourselves in a strange and unfamiliar world, on a mission of exploration and scientific discovery."

Boilerplate so far, but now came the important bit: "And so, we find ourselves looking for new allies, friends who can help each other out! We offer our services as fliers, as engineers and our magic and combat capabilities, and wish to extend the olive branch of friendship to you. Our biggest priorities right now are to get repairs for our airship so it can take flight again, and to find shelter and common ground against those who would do us harm here." She bowed again and awaited the fish creature's reply.

As much as Cloud Cutter wanted to be involved in formal first contact with a new civilisation, Summer Scribe... pretty much set the stage perfectly, as she saw it. And so, the purple pegasus held her tongue for now...

Smoothfin blinked, digesting the unicorn's little speech. "Beyond the storm? Now Smoothfin, she always did hear tell the great storm is the edge 'o the world, that there be nothing beyond, just an howling wind an' rain so hard it'd flay the skin from any creature who be so foolish as to fly into it. Not that us folk think much of it, not anymore. So you be saying, you got a ship that did crash, now would that be in these isles of ours?" she asked, peering closer at the mare. "Sure I did see something just like you, Smoothfin knows she did." she muttered. 

Summer Scribe shook her head. "It's a fair ways off: way outside of this island chain. So you'd have to get transport by flier, assuming we can't get any other airships working. We've already commandeered one of the Drow's and Nutmeg's been taking a peek at how it works..." ...just casually dropping that in like it was the easiest thing to do in the world. In truth it had been a lot of work, but maybe the feat would impress Smoothfin!

At that the old gillwoman jerked upright, staring from Summer to Set Sail and back in horror. "You did what? Smoothfin just did hear these po-knees saying they stole a ship from under the drow, but she's having a hard time believin' it!? You folks saying you took away their galleon?"

"We didn't commandeer it!" Set Sail yelped, stepping forward. "We... were forced to board one of their smaller ships during an attack, and are in the process of recovering it from when it... crashed." Meanwhile the teenage gillman had set the heavy tome down and was paging through it furiously, adding more must to the already dusty air in the room, while shooting furtive glances at each visitor in turn.

Now that they were talking about Azure's ill-fated scouting trip, Cloud Cutter felt she had to step in. "I was in the squad that took over the ship. We travelled to an island chain and were trapped when the creatures found us, and attacked first. We fought back, won, and took the ship." Short, sweet, to the point, she thought.

"If you'd stolen their 'copter you wouldn't have crashed it into the island," Set Sail insisted to Cloud Cutter, "It's okay to admit if you had trouble. Those creatures were mean!"

Summer Scribe nodded to Cloud Cutter. "Purely in self-defence! Before that attack we didn't know there were critters so bloodthirsty and relentless in the Cloudbreak Islands! If we're going to survive them, then we need to get ahead of them or we're sitting ducks."

"I wouldn't have crashed it if it was more than a poorly maintained, flimsy piece of dragon dung!" Cloud Cutter defended herself. "That engine was... well let's just say Nutmeg wouldn't have been happy!" The usually calm purple pegasus seemed uncharacteristically agitated.

"So lemme get this straight, you... you... went to the isle o' misery and stole one o' the demons' 'copters? And then gone done smash it into the ground?" the chieftess said. "Oh, Smoothfin ain't liking what she's hearing here, you tangled with those drow and riled 'em up no doubt, they'll be chasin' you to the end 'o Skylands now. You best be hid good, po-knees, 'cause the demons 'll not never forgive ya for that. Smoothfin's wondering, you done got any elementals among ya, 'cause the bubble 'round a nexus is the safest place to hide, been working for us folks for generations." 

"Yeah they done got some elements, they do..." Scalesbrook broke in "...Search Pony got magic and Spooky pony... she's spoooky and hippo-griffon, he must be real friendly with Water to turn fish the way he did..." The old gillman stared at Set Sail before muttering "...not sure 'bout Captain Pony."

Summer Scribe looked curiously at Set Sail. She doesn't say anything, but she's also not sure. ...What's her element? She looked down at her hooves, thoughtfully. Does everyone get one? Maybe not? If so it was no big deal, right?

"Elementals? Well..." Cloud Cutter started. "I think another one of the squad I was in might be one." She looked over to the hippogriff. "Azure's pretty clearly attuned to the Air element, isn't she?"

"What happened was the demons came to... enslave and eat one of our exploration teams," Set Sail explained, feeling very small right then. "Reef Skimmer here managed to figure out how to destroy their trap, but they were too close by then and opened fire. They hadn't expected that flyers would escape their trap, so... it was possible to engage them. Once Cloud Cutter had control of the ship, she took it out of the sight of their... galleon, and managed to land it... relatively intact. We had to... borrow it. If we just flew away from a ship like that, then they would know where we are!"

"One can't take credit for disabling the trap device, my dear... erm, Captain, that was quick thinking and yes..." he nodded in acknowledgement to Cloud Cutter "...an impressive display of magic from Azure Feather." Reef corrected. "Indeed one must confess, my main contribution to the engagement was, erm, 'persuading' Silent Arrow to put the copter down post haste... and in one piece. That gave Cloud Cutter the chance to take the prize, and one must say it was a damned fine piece of flying, getting a strange craft in poor condition all the way back to the Harmony." 

Cloud Cutter bowed her head to the griff in thanks for the credit and backup. She'd tried to defend herself, but... yeah, it always helped to have a witness back you up, right?

Summer Scribe gave a firm nod to that. "Ultimately, if the drow are going to play dirty, we're not going to hesitate to do so either!" She grinned. "They're the aggressors, and we have an important lesson about friendship to teach them! Should we, uhh, be able to do so safely, first."

"Oh Smoothfin be' liking this less and less, she can't be blaming you folks for defendin' yourselves, but you shoulda let that 'copter alone and run for yer lives, 'cause now..." The chieftess was interrupted by the teenage gillman, who seemed very excited about something in the book: "Gran, I found 'em, I found 'em, well one of 'em at least. See here, this be her, don't ya think?" He brought the ancient book over to the chieftess, who peered at the indicated page. "Uney Corn. Good likeness ain't it. Yes indeed, Smoothfin thinks you've found the measure of our guests. You done good Brightfin." 

Set Sail sagged in relief saying, "Thank you chieftess. We would never do anyone harm except in self-defence. Creatures like you are just the sort of people we hoped to find, so we can work together, and perhaps do something about those demons who... steal our children away." At the teenage gillman's words, she tilted an ear, saying, "You mean Summer here?" looking over to the sprightly speaking unicorn archaeologist.

"So I'm hearing Summer's your name, Miss Uney Corn?" the younger Brightfin said cheefully. "Says here right in this ol' book, Uney Corns did live in Rainbow Valley, not been seen since long ago and seems like they were reclusive folk even back then. You decide to go on a grand trip all of a sudden?"

Smoothfin waved the young gillman away. "Never mind that, can't ya see we got more pressing concerns here?" Peering at Set Sail she said "Now you just tell old Smoothfin what your notion o' 'doing something' about the demon drow does entail. 'Cause the Uney Corn there sounds half-daft with her notions o' friendship and such, which ain't something no drow is gonna understand not in a million seasons." 

"Hold on, may I see that book?" Summer Scribe waved it over to take a look, squinting. "Huh... ooooold. These are your runes, but... fascinating! That illustration looks just like Princess Luna, if she didn't have wings..." She perks her brow, smiling in surprise! "So it seems you do know of us after all! Fascinating!" Diversion over for now, she tilted her head at the mention of drow. "Well, we can't not try." Summer informed the chieftess. "And we certainly can't let them trample all over us! Friendship also means standing with your friends!"

Closing her eyes a moment, Set Sail looked up at the chieftess on her creative and impressive throne. "We came through the Storm Wall as explorers, in a ship that managed to survive the trip, but barely. On the other side is a big ocean, then Equestria, the land we call home. We need safe harbor and repairs for our ship, so we could hardly say no to sharing it with you, and giving you defense in the air against these pirates. There are not... many of us. No more than 50. But we're able bodied ponies who do have uhm... elemental magic."

The acting captain took a moment to compose her thoughts before continuing. "We can manage your weather, and help with anything you need built. And we CAN fight. We're not fighters, not all of us, but we have defeated those... Drow before. Between them and defeating chompy pits, I think ponies may be... helpful. At least some of us can join your defense, to give the others time to get to safety."

Giving a troubled huff, the brown pegasus concluded, "It's absolutely inexcusable that those creatures are taking slaves. Ponies are not warlike or anything, but... we have some... unfortunate experience with slavery in the past. If there is anything we can do to rescue your people, we'll fight as if they were our own, because if we don't, then one day it'll be us in those cages."

Several seconds of silence followed Set Sail's speech as all present absorb it. Brightfin's eyes were shining with eagerness at the prospect of fighting the drow, but Smoothfin looked aghast. "So you're the captain of a crashed ship, now? Smoothfin can understand, that'd be hard to live with. Don't think she's ungrateful now, for such brave folks offering to fight the demons, even if it is in trade for helping with your ship."

"You folks just don't see the truth of it though. Mayhap you got lucky in your first scrap with the 'em, surprised those drow with the grace of the elements while they're a wonderin' what to make o' these strange creatures come a-calling on their isle. But you got one ship, one ship and one stolen copter, both crashed you say." 

In a bitter, weary tone she explained: "Smoothfin's seen a whole armada o' ships, crammed to the gills with a mess of vicious trolls, they all went a-fighting the demons with our some of our finest to show 'em the way. And what did happen? So they did put down a few demons, even sink a couple-a ships, but of the eight gillfolk who did go with 'em, we saw only two return to us. A victory you say? Not for us it weren't, not a half season later when the demons did come back twice as angry as a-fore. Darned near burned down the whole marsh they did, such was the spite of 'em. Weren't no sign nor sight of the trolls then, promises to help turned to ash and went a-drifting away on the wind."

"Smoothfin can't see you pony-corns doing no better than a whole army, no matter how many elements you befriended. So there won't be no more fighting, that's for sure; she don't even want no drow to see hair nor hide of you here, 'cause it'll be us that bear the brunt of their rage 'gain should they think we be harbouring their enemies."

Cloud Cutter remained quiet through the entire exchange. She wasn't anything close to a diplomat, and this wasn't a time to be asking what happened to her. But after Smoothfin's latest response... their situation wasn't looking great. Far from it, in fact.

"Hmmmm...." thought Summer Scribe, falling back on her rear as she swished her tail and considered the gillwoman's words. These creatures had clearly suffered through a lot more in Cloudbreak Islands than the ponies had imagined... and likely learned the lesson to live a secluded life and not mess with powers beyond your reckoning. "Smoothfin, we understand; if your kind are done fighting, then we won't ask you to help out in battle. But, we still want you to know that should you find yourself embroiled in conflict not of your choosing, we're willing to lend a hoof."

"Hmph. Easy to say, pony-corn, harder to do, harder still to see an end to the fightin' once a feud gets started. Demons don't forget, they don't just let things slide, and Smoothfin don't either, you folks keep that in mind now." The old gill-woman was leaning foward, perched on the edge of her seat; her now expression softened as she relaxed back into the cusions.

"Now here's what I'm saying, you folks are free to visit the marsh, 'long as you don't come near 'fore sun-up and get well clear before sun-down, you hear? I hear tell of you sleepin' over or sneaking around in the dark, you ain't coming back here, not on friendly terms that is. Smoothfin knows we don't see a lot of trade these days so she won't say no to you folks doing some honest custom where you can find it, but she don't want to hear her folk upset with more talk o' fighting demons, that clear?" 

Fair enough, thought Cloud Cutter. No allies to be made here, not yet. Judging by Smoothfin's reaction, any further answers will have to wait until another day: the spooky pegasus realised they'd be pushing their luck to ask for more here. Looked like they were on their own against the drow.

Summer Scribe nodded sadly at that: well, maybe it had always been a reach to hope for anything more? The gill folk seemed pretty much battered and beaten into a corner, after all. Hiding her disappointment, she said brightly: "OK, loud and clear. Thank you for your hospitality!" The unicorn did wonder what the rule on being out past dark was about... most likely it was to do with high profile gillkidnapping.

Set Sail sank to her haunches, but wasn't about to give up so easily. "What you've told us... it's awful... and... you're right that there's probably not much we can do to stop them, but they don't know we're their enemies yet. I don't think we can turn the tide or anything like that, but I don't think those Drow are as unstoppable as they seem. They may have been angrier, but... how many ships do they really have left? I have ponies who might be willing to find out." The brown mare stood up again, saying, "You're their enemy as much as we are. Everyone is their enemy, since they attack everyone. Your children are—" Her voice choked off.

With a shake of her head, the pegasus concluded more calmly, "They'll attack you no matter what advantage you have. Ponies, weapons, prosperity, you can't gain anything without getting their attention. Does that mean you should just give up and let them take away your..." She sighed, bowed her head and admitted, "But I can understand why they'd be afraid of a few ponies, who just sort of... defeated one of their smaller ships, without knowing who they were. We did come here to ask for help, but all we really wanted to know was if you were as awful as they were. If you think leaving us to them is the safest thing for your people, then we'll do what we can alone, and be glad to call you friends. Thank you chieftess."

Almost as an afterthought, the mare lifted her head, and looked up to the old fish creature, adding, "But ponies can be very helpful, even as slaves, so if they do take us, just... watch out for what they might make us do. We're not just colourful deer."

Smoothfin looked thoughtfully at Set Sail. "You don't look like much, but you be a smart little thing, ain't you Captain Pony-corn? Just like Smoothfin here, maybe." She gave a dry chuckle. "Now see, we gillmen aren't what we once were. Us folks been in a rough patch for a long time, that's to be sure. Lost our chief, lost our heroes, such as they were. Smoothfin ain't saying it'll always be that way, not at all, no she hopes that when she's gone and Brightfin here steps up to chief, someday we'll be all set to face down the drow, beat 'em back so hard they don't dare set foot here again."

"You see Smoothfin's doing what she can, but we fell so low that climbin' back'll take a lot more seasons yet. We go pickin' a fight 'fore we're ready, we'll be knocked down again, maybe even lower. So, mean times, you folks can help with the climbin' up, Smoothfin'll be glad to see it. Somethin' she can do to keep the drow off yer tails, she'll do it, 'long as it don't involve more of her people dyin'. But she ain't gonna live to see the end of the demons, that's for sure." 

"Now... you folks go run along while there's daylight to spare. If you wanna get any business done, Smoothfin is saying. You come visit her once ya got more sense in your heads."

"Thank you chieftess. We'll do our best not to make any more trouble with them," Set Sail said, turning to leave. Over her shoulder she looked at the others and says, "Uh, p-permission for everypony else to leave, granted?" Then she kind of awkwardly headed for the door alone.

Reef Skimmer closed his eyes and gave a little bow, dipping his head and half-spreading his wings. "On behalf of Queen Novo and the hippogriffs of Mount Aris, thank you Chieftess Groovefin; one does hope you succeed in your quest to regain your freedom and past glory." With that he did a formal about-turn and trotted out after Set Sail, heedless of the giggling Brightfin and his grandmother's annoyed glare. 

A quiet nod from Cloud Cutter in thanks for hearing them out and she was heading for the exit as well. Had this gone any better, this might have been a chance to find out more about her condition, and what the 'elements' had to do with it, but... looked like that would be a question for another day. For now it seemed they'd be heading back to the Harmony.

Summer Scribe nodded her head in understanding to Smoothfin. "We wish you the best of luck in flourishing as a people, and we'll always be open to further discussion in future - thank you again for having us!" With that she was slowly trotting over to join Set Sail and the others at the door. Well, all things considered, it went about as well as it ought to have been.

The visitors began to make their way back through the town, whispering to each other about what had just happened and what to do next, but they didn't get far before the sound of webbed feet flapping rapidly on timber came from behind: looking back they see the gangly young gillman, Brightfin, running after them. "Hey! Hey wait a minute! Mister Griffon! Pony corns!"  He caught up, putting webbed hands on his knees and panting. "Uh, Mister Scalesbrook, will you give us a moment here?" he asked.

"Hhph!" the old gillman replied, "Come on Sliptail, I've a-feelin' we don't wanna be a-witness to whatever mischief this one's plannin'." The two wander off, leaving Summer Scribe, Cloud Cutter and Reef Skimmer alone with Brightfin. Set Sail was nowhere to be seen; as soon as the doors opened, she'd spread her wings and leaped into the air, shooting up into the sky and making a beeline for the nearest cloud.

"You folks wanna fight the drow!?" the young gillman said eagerly. "That's so cool? You know my pa, he almost finished them off! Took down a couple-a giant galleys all on his own, so everyone says! Would'a taken 'em all down if those sneaky trolls hadn't betrayed him, I'm sure of it! Ha-ha, yeah, hey... wasn't there another flying pony-corn?" he concluded, looking cluelessly around.

Cloud Cutter gave Brightfin and odd look, tilting her head again. She's not the leader here, far from it, but listening to him speak... she decided it was best to stay silent. For his part Reef Skimmer looked around, alarmed, then caught sight of the brown pegasus, a dwindling brown dot heading up to the nearest cumulus. He glanced at Summer Scribe, wondering if she could handle this kid.

Summer Scribe huhs, listening to Brightfin's tale ... Say, where did Set Sail get to? Well, anyway. She grinned! "Well, it's not so much that we WANT to, so much that we won't go down without a fight if it's what it takes!" She made a proud, thrusting motion with her cute little unicorn horn. "Right, Cloud Cutter?" The little mare pondered that for a moment, before asking "Huh, so what did those trolls do, specifically?" She suddenly thought that it might be a good thing they didn't have Abby along with them...

Cloud Cutter finally spoke up. "I'm not the most enthusiastic creature when it comes to conflict, that's more Azure's and Grenelda's opinion and... I'm sure Reef agrees with them, too, but I'm willing to fight." She sighed. "Just wish I knew what happened when I became... this." A gesture with her wings, indicating her own body.

"Well...." Brightfin said nervously "...see I was just a kid back then, wasn't in the ne-goat-ee-ations and such, but the way gran does tell it, trolls don't care a lick about other creatues 'cept how you're useful to them. Not so in-your-face outright evil as the drow, but maybe that just makes 'em more of a danger, 'cause you won't see it coming when they decide you're no longer of a use to 'em and leave you twistin' in the wind."

"So yeah, my dad, 'course they asked him to lead the attack 'cause he was just so brave and strong and knew all about takin' down drow, but... I guess..." His voice cracked, and he continued unevenly "see they were mad that the drow was pulling their ships in, but once my dad did smash the machine that did that, those trolls, they got what they wanted and packed up and left. So I hear it tell, they left him there, and didn't give a hoot what happened to him nor us folks left behind." The kid seemed about to break out in tears, but he choked it back. "You ain't like that though, are you??"

Summer Scribe pondered that for a moment. Abby wasn't like that, was he? She guessed that for the most part, Abby lacked the resources to get anything out of double crossing them. Well, it was something to consider in the future: for now it was just an anecdote to think about. The cyan unicorn perked up, feeling the tremble of empathy behind her face as she listens to the kid's sad tale and nodded along. "Of course not! We ponies believe in the fundamental values of friendship: we help each other out, because that's what friends do!" She emphasised her declaration with a cheery nod!

"Well that's great, Miss Summer Pony-corn! So, uh, do you really have elementals and a battleship and griffons and, uh, stuff that can smash all those drow done good? Like their whole isle o' misery and everything? Cause..." His voice dropped to a loud whisper "...there might be some folks round here itching for a rematch no matter what the chieftess does say, if you and me were real convincing, you hear what I'm saying?"  

Reef Skimmer had meanwhile taken a step back and was also whispering, though in Cloud Cutter's ear. "Do you think you can keep her out of trouble? One is rather concerned about Sails, on her own up there."

At that Cloud Cutter shot the hippogriff an understanding glance, tilting her head and lowering her own voice to a whisper. "Keep Summer out of trouble? I could, yeah. Go ahead and find the Captain." She quickly turned her attention back to Summer and Brightfin: she had an assigned task now.

Summer made a hoof-circling gesture. "Weeellll... I won't make any guarantees like that. We don't even know how strong they are in total! But..." She tilted her head at his proposal. "...I shall have to keep that in mind, for the future! I think it's too early right now, but certainly the Drow are in need of being taught their lesson! Thank you, kind one."

"Yeah! We gotta get some, uh, recons!" Brightfin enthused "Like how many did my dad kill, three quarters or maybe only two thirds?" The teenage gillman smiled at the thought. "Look we gotta convince every gilly round here, so they be knowing you ponycorns are the real deal, the real hope we been waiting for. Any other cool things you can do? Fix our turret? Put a bubble 'round the village, like at the nexus? Heh, even if you got more cure for fin-rot..." the teen's webbed fingers went to the fins on his head, full of holes and frayed at the edges "...cause we all got that real bad since the ents don't come no more."

Reef nodded in thanks to the pegasus. "Thank you.... and do take care, Summer." he said, before spreading his pinions and flapping up into the sky. 

"...what's with your griffon?" a surprised Brightfin said, watching the hippogriff's sudden ascension.

Summer Scribe tapped her hoof in thought. The shield: they'd likely have no clue how it works, so it was a wash on whether they could do anything with that - but the 'turret' sounded like a machine, and Summer was confident Nutmeg could take on any challenge in that domain. Perhaps tit-for-tat was the way to go here? "...I believe we could fix your turret, but the pony best suited for that job isn't with us. I'll ask about it, and perhaps you'll have your wish!"

Suddenly registering the griff's sudden departure, she blinked. "Err, well, he's technically a Hippogriff..."

"Oh yeah! Sliptail said somethin' 'bout that, hippo-griffons who turn into giant fish, right? Yeah she's cute and smart ain't she." he said, staring off into space with a smile at the thought of the gillwoman.

Meanwhile Reef Skimmer was climbing steadily, just a slight twinge in his wings after the long flight in the morning, heading for the last place he'd seen Set Sail disappear into the clouds.

"...Anyway," Summer Scribe continued. "What's this fin rot thing you're talking about? We do have a medic who's interested in novel species, so maybe there's something for us to do there too?"

Brightfin's mind snapped back to the present. "Uh, well, it's just, uh, you know, like your fins are sore all the time, and they get holes and tears and sting when you're swimming and it just sucks, ya know? The ents... uh you folks know 'bout ents right, tree people with flowers and leaves and such growing outta them? Yeah they used to come by, traded a potion to fix yer fins right up for a good load o' peat, but we ain't seen them no not for years now."

Summer Scribe tilted her head. "Ents? Tree people?" Her first thought was of timberwolves, but... these 'ents' sounded nicer and more reputable. "Okay! So, if I see any ents, ask them about your fin problems. Can remember, thank you!" Levitating out her notebook, she jotted a new entry. Perhaps this was a good deed in waiting!

"You ponycorns can't make potions? Oh, I was thinking potions be magic, and Scalesbrook said you be the magic elemental, but, uh, never mind then." Brightfin said sheepishly.

"Mmmm, well, we can make potions, yes." Summer explained. "But we didn't exactly come prepared for alchemy, especially not after crash landing. That and not knowing the recipe makes it unlikely we'll figure it out on our own, with apologies!"

Hmm, Brightfin seemed to be rather talkative, Summer thought, so why not ask try and satisfy her curiosity? "Your magic shield: if I may ask, how does it work? Is it a spell, an artifact, a natural occurrence?" She thought it unlikely that the effect was reproducible, but on the off chance it was... imagine the new possibilities for fortifications back home!

"Magic shield?" Brightfin asked cluelessly. "Us folk don't really carry shields, prolly 'cause it's too hard to swim with 'em."

"No, uhh, the..." The unicorn gestured with a hoof into the distance, where she remembered seeing the shimmering magic earlier, on the next island downriver. "The forcefield? The big bubble shield around one of your homes?"

Brightfin's face lit up with realisation. "Oh, yeah! The great bubble, 'course that's the power of Water, but it must've been ancient gillies that built the gate and the made bubble itself! You can tell 'cause who else woulda made all the slides and fountains and pools and stuff! And yeah, you see it's like... only water elementals like me and gran and... pa..." he looked down for a second "...yeah we be the only ones who the gate will open for, but it's a long trip downriver to the bubble, gotta do it every time the demons come and..." he looked imploringly at Summer Scribe "...sometimes, not everyone makes it."

Cloud Cutter was just sticking to what she's asked to do at this point. Summer didn't seem to be getting into trouble, but the talk about elements seemed promising, even if she couldn't quite grasp all of it... so she was just listening in and quietly keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the surrounding village.

Summer Scribe nodded her head in low, sad understanding. "Thank you for letting me know, Brightfin." She wondered: if Reef Skimmer was water elemental, maybe he could just... open the bubble? It'd be even better if he could  change it or even make a new one on top of that, but that seemed a bit of a stretch, surely?

Brightfin was looking nervously back over his shoulder at the chief's hall; the guards had returned to their stations outside and were giving him curious looks. "No problem at all, Miss Summer Pony-corn, you be taking care now, Brightfin'll see ya around, to be sure!" With that he waved and padded off towards the river.