//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: A Pearl For Your Thoughts // Story: Set Sail // by Jack of a Few Trades //------------------------------// “Captain Sternclaw?” The question stirred me from the state of near-sleep I’d slipped into in the previous hour of silence and calm. “Yes, Astra?” The bridge was dimly lit by maddeningly small portholes; barely adequate to let enough light in to see by, even on a sunny afternoon. My second in command stood behind the wheel, piloting the ship more by feel than by sight. Mother of Pearl—or Halibut, as it was now called—was a cheap merchandise runner built for even cheaper sailors, now fitted to look like a humble fishing trawler. It was an overgrown dinghy compared to my darling Green Haze. The sort of ship that the hippogriffs would hardly notice. “We’re here,” she said, pointing at the navigational chart. “The island is about two miles to starboard.” “Marvelous!” I grinned, standing up and pressing my face to one of those too-small portholes. It was no wonder this ship had been so easy to commandeer with just one tiny sloop—they probably couldn’t see my pirates coming. Sure enough, out of the endless horizon rose the imposing figure of Black Skull Island. The island stuck out of the sea like a dagger, the jagged edges of the volcano that formed it shooting up at impossibly sharp angles. There was no flat ground anywhere on it, just steep slopes and cliffs all the way to the summit, where the mountain was cut short of its potential height by a wide, deep crater. A chill ran down my spine. I had sworn years ago that I would never return here, but here I was. Despite a steady wind, the waters around Black Skull Island lurked with eerie stillness, like they were held down by an invisible force and commanded to be calm. Perhaps it was a holdover from when the Storm King had used the island as a major hub of operations, some spell he’d laid down to minimize interruptions from the weather. It was just like him to try and scare water into submission. Conquering this corner of the world had to have been much easier with magic. That overgrown yeti had certainly used it to his advantage, giving him an unnatural amount of leverage to get his way. Most of the inhabitants of this part of the world lacked magical abilities, making them easy marks for a tyrant with enchanted weapons. I had neither of those things, at least for the moment. Charisma and traditional shows of force could only go so far, and I feared I was nearing the limits of what those could do. The hippogriffs were out for my blood, so it was either take another step forward, or everything I’d worked for would die with a whimper. Or, more realistically, a volley of cannon fire. “Are you sure they’ll show up?” Astra asked, craning her neck to get a view outside. “I don’t see any signs of life out there.” “Without a doubt.” I leaned back in the little wooden chair I’d pulled from the navigator’s desk and stretched my wings until I felt a satisfying pop. “She’s here, I know she is.” “And what if you’re wrong?” Astra fixed me with a doubtful side-eye. “What if we stuck our necks out like this for nothing?” “Astra, I thought you’d have a little more faith in me than that.” I smirked at her, but it was only to hide my annoyance at her distrust. “It’s not for nothing. This might be the most important trip we’ve ever made.” “If that’s the case, then why are you so tight-beaked? You haven’t told us squat about what we’re even doing out here in the first place!” Her tone held an accusatory edge, and she might have been the only parrot on board bold enough to use it on me. Everyone else knew the consequences of insubordination. But Astra had a little bit of extra privilege compared to the others, as my second in command. “I just like to keep you guessing,” I said with another smirk. That earned me an eye roll. “You’re nervous. I can see it in your eyes, and it’s making me nervous too. What aren’t you telling us?” In that moment, I regretted giving Astra permission to question my authority in private. Having a source of humility sounded like a good idea until it was used on you. I grabbed a small wooden box from the navigator’s desk and popped the lid off, revealing a disorganized heap of necklaces strung with glimmering, irregularly shaped pieces of translucent pearl. “It’s the shards,” I said, taking on a more serious tone. “We’re here to make them useful.” “And why can’t we just use them now?” “If you want to turn into a fish, by all means.” I offered her a necklace. “These things are as useful to me as feathers on a dragon as they are now. But I know someone here who can put them to work for us.” “A weapon?” she asked. I shrugged. “Perhaps. All I know is that we have a lot of magical artifacts, and we’re going to see a zebra who specializes in them. What she does with them is anyone’s guess.” Astra seemed underwhelmed. “That’s it?” “That’s it.” I nodded. “You attacked the hippogriffs and this was as far as your plan went?” She pointed to the box I held in my wingtips. “Careful with your tone,” I warned, glancing at the door. A poorly timed eavesdropper could ruin everything, but it looked like no one was there. “It was a bit of a rush job, I’ll admit, but I had no choice in the matter. You see—” A series of quiet thumps from outside cut me off, and I turned an ear to listen more closely. Wingbeats. Claws tapping against wood. Swords drawing out of their sheaths. “They’re here.” I downed the last of the grog I’d been sipping for the past hour in one gulp, shuddering as the vile stuff made its way down to my gizzard. I could hardly bear the taste, but it would help me get through the next few minutes. “We’ll talk about this later. Keep circling the island until I say otherwise.” “Are you lost?” a very familiar voice said from outside. Strong. Steadfast. Sultry. It was a voice I’d planned to never hear again. Another plan that had long since gone by the wayside. Steeling myself with a breath, I opened the bridge door and put on a big smile. “Captain Celaeno!” I announced, stepping out into the sunlight. The parrots who had landed on the deck all turned their heads as one, and at once swords began to lower. Before I could blink, a sword appeared close enough to my beak for a kiss, glinting in the sunlight. “Who are you? State your business!” I held up my wings. “I thought you would have recognized my voice.” I gestured to my head. “May I?” She nodded, and I pulled my hat off, letting my crest feathers breathe. The light of recognition brightened her eyes, and she lowered the sword from my face. “Artemis?” “It’s actually Captain Sternclaw now, but yes,” I said as she wrapped her wings around me in a quick hug. “Sternclaw?” she said with an incredulous smirk. “That sounds a little—” “Intimidating?” I finished for her. “I was going to say ‘garish’,” she laughed. “Sometimes you have to be a little bit garish when you’re building a brand,” I said, joining her in laughter that I most definitely had to force, despite my annoyance. Appearances, I reminded myself. “I take it that you’ve heard of me?” “I’ve heard the name mentioned a few times.” “You’re going to hear it a lot more soon,” I said, intentionally trying to sound cocksure. “Hey Mullet, get over here!” Captain Celaeno called, and a large green parrot fluttered over from his place on the stern. “Look who it is.” Mullet landed with a thump in front of me, and his unpatched eye widened. “Well, I’ll be plucked.” Somehow, I could swear his hulking frame had gotten even bigger since I saw him last. Even more parrot for me to despise, what more could I want? “Good to see you, old friend,” I said with a forced smile, stepping forward and offering a wing bump. “What are you doing out here?” Captain Celaeno asked. “Just thought I’d drop in and catch up with the old crew. And I need a favor. Is Vitali still with your crew?” Captain Celaeno cocked an eyebrow. “What do you want with her?” “I’m afraid I can’t say right now, but I need to speak with her at once. It’s urgent.” Celaeno and Mullet exchanged a glance, and then Mullet asked, “Hmm, what’s it worth to you?” I sighed. Life outside the law usually came with a hefty cost, even with the friends and family discount. I pulled out a small purse of gold coins from my pocket. “What’s the price?” Mullet snatched the coins, leaned right down into my face, and grinned a grin that made me feel like my guts were full of vinegar. “You stay for dinner and a shanty or two, and you have to sing with your whole chest.” He slipped the purse back into my pocket. Another practiced smile. “Like the old days, huh?” “Under the Keel,” he confirmed. It had always been his favorite tune, and not coincidentally my least favorite. Mullet clapped me on the back with his wing and took flight. Good riddance to the overgrown vulture bait. He just wanted me to embarrass myself in front of a crowd. With the object of my vitriol gone, I turned back to Celaeno. “How’s business?” I asked. “Good.” She pointed up to the airship hovering over our heads, the propellers humming as they fought the wind. It was bigger and shinier than the last ship I’d seen her in charge of. And then I noticed two more exactly like it nearby, sailing toward the island itself. “We’ve expanded a bit,” she explained, noticing where my eyes had gone. “I’ll say you have! Treasure hunting has been that good?” She shook her head. “Same as ever. Hardly enough to survive on. Since we don’t have to worry about the Storm King anymore, I’ve gotten quite a few offers for privateer work.” “Ah,” I said in understanding. The news of the Storm King’s defeat in the Equestrian capital had come with a front-page picture of Captain Celaeno standing next to his shattered body. She was part of the group that had taken him down. Every corner of Ornithia sang her praises for weeks after that. It surprised me that she hadn’t taken on a role in leadership of some kind. “Privateer? I didn’t know there were any wars going on.” “It’s mostly just ship-for-hire stuff. Security work, escorts, that sort of thing.” “So you’ve gone legitimate?” I asked. Celaeno mulled over the term, but she didn’t seem to like it. “Eh, on paper, maybe. We’re under a contract with a ‘no illicit activity’ clause, but you know how that goes.” I nodded. “More guidelines than actual rules.” She also nodded and then gestured her wings wide, looking around at the deck and crew still milling about. “So, you’ve gone into the… fishing business?” I weighed my options. She clearly hadn’t heard of my recent exploits: the expansion of my fleet, or the attacks against the hippogriffs. Staying unassuming seemed like the best way forward. “I’m still in the adventuring business, same as you. The ship is temporary, soon to be replaced with something more… flattering.” Celaeno chuckled with pity. “We all start somewhere. You should have seen my first ship.” I chose not to defend myself from the condescending remark. “Indeed. Things have been so dreadfully calm since the Storm King died; it’s been hard to scrape out a living. But I have an idea that might change our fortunes. That’s why I’m here today. Vitali has the expertise I need to make it work, and if it does?” I tapped my wingtips together. “Well, then I can cut you in.” That raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.” “Well, it’s not easy to explain,” I lied. “It would be tough to explain without just showing you, and I can’t really show you since I don’t have a prototype. I just need to talk to Vitali to see if it can be done.” “You can stop selling,” Celano said with a smile. “Follow me, I’ll take you in. My crew can guide your ship into the docks.” “Thank you, Celaeno. It really means the world. Let me go fill in my first mate, and I’ll be right up.” After catching Astra up on the relevant details, I flew up to the airship in a tight spiral, ascending with the box of pearls clutched in my talons. Its deck was roughly the same size as the vessel we’d sailed in on, but that mass was held aloft by an enormous gas bag, enough that the deck was in full shade even in the afternoon sun. In vibrant, flowing font, the name Harpie was inscribed on the bow. I had missed airships. Sailing in ocean-faring vessels was a practice as old as time, but this new way of taking to the skies brought a new brand of excitement. Even for flight-capable creatures like parrots, sailing around the skies without the use of wings changed the game. Impassable lands became passable. Huge amounts of cargo could be moved in record time over routes never taken before. The world became a little bit smaller. Of course, new technology came at a massive expense. Airships were completely out of reach to a typical gang of pirates, even to more successful ones like myself. Captain Celaeno had made a name for herself as one of the few skyfaring marauders, and now she was a hero with enough resources at her disposal to own a fleet of shiny new ships. To say all that allured me was an understatement. When I had been a member of Captain Celaeno’s crew, I admittedly held a fondness for her. Yes, she was beautiful, but that was only a small part of it. There was something about her presence that I never could get out of my head. She somehow walked the line between being a fearless, respected commander and a beloved caretaker. I’d seen her stick her neck out for her crew’s safety many times over the years. She did it without thinking. It was the sort of compassion that earned her the undying loyalty of her crew. Of all the creatures I’d ever stabbed in the back, she was the only one that made me feel remorse. I landed on the deck as the airship gently climbed, heading for the volcanic spire that was the centerpiece of Black Skull Island. It made The Keep look like a sad little anthill. The cratered peak stood high in defiance of the ocean constantly nipping at its heels and trying fruitlessly to weather it back beneath the waves. Up and down the south flank of the steep black mountain, four small metal towers had been built for airship docking, with only the lowest one occupied at the moment. A gentle bump signaled that the ship had docked. “I never thought I’d see this place again,” I mused as the deckwings tossed mooring lines over the side, calling down to other crewmates on the ground. “Again?” Celaeno fixed me with a raised eyebrow. Right. When I was part of her crew, I had been very tight-beaked about the circumstances that led up to me actually joining her. Though I could already see the suspicions growing. She knew what this place was in the Storm King days. “Artemis, were you a prisoner?” I said nothing. The silence was enough of an answer. Celaeno took a few steps closer. “Why didn’t you ever say anything about that?” “I prefer not to talk about those days.” It might have been the most honest thing I had said in the last week. She nodded. “You don’t have to. I’m just surprised it never came up before, that’s all. I know they did some horrible things to the prisoners here. Are you sure you’ll be okay to go inside?” “I’m fine. It might be good to see the place in a different context, maybe it will provide some closure.” Before the conversation probed any further, I took a few running steps and vaulted myself over the railing, spreading my wings and gliding down to the ground. The landscape was barren, with nothing but black rock and a few scrubby plants daring to colonize the steep slopes of volcanic waste. Other than the tower, the only sign of habitation was a ramp carved into the ground, with a large set of metal doors at the bottom of it. The doors were open, with a steady stream of workers hustling in and out. The entrance to the tunnels. Celaeno set down beside me and took the lead down the ramp. My heart rate spiked when we reached the bottom, and with a deep breath, I stepped across the threshold. The ramp led down another meter or so before leveling off and making a left turn, the passage opened up into a tall, spacious chamber lit by harsh white magic crystal lamps. The prison cafeteria, once upon a time. It was certainly different than I remembered. There were no longer rows of tables for prisoners to eat their bland, insufficient meals, but instead the room was now stacked high with crates. Still, it retained the metal catwalks around the top of the walls for the guards, though those had also been co-opted for storage space. “I love what you’ve done with the place,” I said. Celaeno barked a laugh. “A storage room?” “Better than what it was before,” I said. “They used to intentionally let food spoil before they served it to us in here.” Celaeno looked around the room. “So that’s what this was! I never could figure out why they had guard catwalks in a storage area. Shouldn’t there have been a kitchen or something adjacent to it though?” It was my turn to bark a laugh. “Ha! You think they gave us hot meals?” The humor dried up quickly as Celaeno’s concerned stare came back. “Let’s keep moving,” she said, ushering us past the old cafeteria and into a long corridor that led deep toward the heart of the mountain. “So,” I began, “why Black Skull Island? I didn’t figure you would want to live in an old prison.” “You ever heard of the three most important things in real estate?” she countered. “Location, location, and location.” “A deserted island in the middle of nowhere is a good location to you?” “Don’t play dumb. You know exactly why it’s perfect.” I pondered that for a moment, and the answer dawned on me. “Twenty kilometers south of the Celestial Sea trade route convergence.” She grinned. “Every ship headed to or from Equestria passes within sight of here. It was more useful back when we were marauders, but being right in the middle of the hottest trade route this side of anywhere still has advantages. We can’t grow much food here, so it makes importing easy.” “So many easy targets passing right by,” I mused aloud. Celaeno shook her head. “Like I said, it would have been great if we were still in that business, but we’re not entirely operating outside of the law anymore. If I did anything to threaten those shipping lanes, I’d have two dozen frigates shelling the place inside of a week. No more raiding, but I’m in a great position to handle anything coming on those routes that the navies shouldn’t know about.” I looked back over my shoulder at the stacks of crates through the cafeteria doorway as it receded from view. “Sounds lucrative,” I said, giving an impressed nod. “A river of trade, and it all comes through your talons. Wouldn’t it be great if you never had to worry about navies at all? Life would be so much easier.” “Amen to that. Too bad they’re just a fact of life,” said Celaeno. I smiled. Maybe it wouldn’t change the game, but I had planted a seed all the same. The tunnels were bustling with activity. We walked past dozens of living quarters and offices that had once been jail cells, their iron bars replaced with more inviting wooden doors. Her crew was much like mine, largely consisting of parrots from Ornithia but with a sizeable contingent of other species present as well. A few zebras and ponies here and there, and there was even a minotaur lounging in one of the branching hallways from the main corridor. It felt nothing like the gloomy, stinking pit of despair it had been just a few short years ago. It felt like we had walked nearly to the center of the island when Celaeno took a turn into a short hallway with daylight streaming into an open doorway at its end. Suddenly, it dawned on me. Did she really give Vitali the entire crater? The bright midday sun shone down from directly overhead, straining my eyes as we emerged from the tunnels. The crater was deep and nearly circular, lined with steep and jagged cliffs all around. The floor of the crater was mostly flat and filled with black sand, gently sloping down to the lowest point in the center. The sand was artificial, added when the Storm King needed more room to hold prisoners of war. With the nearly vertical walls of the crater, there was no escape for the unwinged. Deep in the pit, there was hardly any breeze, and the black sands became blistering hot in the midday sun. A massive cauldron, boiling over with despair. I shuddered at the memory of unanswered pleas for water echoing down the tunnels we’d just come from. The crater held no prisoners now, but life of a different kind. Hundreds of clay pots lined every bit crater floor, each one containing a plant of varying shape and size. Some held tiny, bright flowers. Next to them were cacti with wicked-looking spines. There were even some rather tall trees offering a bit of shade. Running in between each pot was an intricate network of black rubber hoses, which all emanated from a large cistern on the far side of the crater. At the bottom of the crater’s bowl, a rickety shack made of metal sheets and plywood stood like it really didn’t want to be there. Even though the materials looked fresh, they had been thrown together haphazardly; all of the thought had gone to function, not form. “Hey, Tali!” Celaeno shouted, banging on the metal wall as we entered. “You’ve got a visitor!” She waved me into the room. “A visitor?” said a smooth, richly feminine voice not unlike Captain Celaeno’s, but a little lower-pitched. The instant I heard her, I smiled. Years of memories flooded back through my mind, images of a very different time. Sweltering, backbreaking work deep in the mechanical compartments of ships. Meals eaten under an unrelenting sun. Long nights forced to stay alert on watch duty. In every memory, Vitali’s voice was there. I had missed it more than I realized. “Hey, gorgeous,” I smoldered, sliding into the doorway. My eyes adjusted from the bright light outside, revealing a series of workbenches piled high with random parts, some of them merely mechanical while others at the far end of the room pulsed with ethereal light. It may not have been as hot in the crater as it once was thanks to the plants outside, but it was still very warm in the hut, and the low hum of cooling fans at each bench filled the air. At the center of it all was a zebra, on the tall side by her kind’s standards, but still only about chest height for me. A pair of clear goggles covered her eyes, and she had the same purple streak in her mane that she had always worn. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” “Artie?” She stepped around the workbench, her face lighting up. “Artie! What are you doing here!?” She bounded forward and snapped me up in a hug that took me off my feet, my light avian frame no match for her equine strength. “Just came to check up on the best mechanic on the South Sea.” I smiled at her as she set me down. “And because I need your help.” Vitali laughed. “So nothing’s changed at all,” she said to me, and then turned to Celaeno and nodded. “Captain.” “How’s that crankshaft coming along?” Celaeno asked. Vitali pointed to the massive metal cylinder that occupied the longest, heaviest-duty workbench along the back wall. “I’m just about to press the last bearing on and it’ll be ready to go. Shouldn’t take more than another hour.” “And how much more after that?” “There’ll still be a lot of work to get the shaft back in, but I bet we could have that all done by the end of the week.” Celaeno nodded. “Good. I need Pirene back in the air ASAP.” She glanced between Vitali and me. “I’ll leave you to it. Just don’t take too much of her time, okay, Artemis?” “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. With Celaeno gone, I looked to my old friend. “So they made you the chief engineer?” “Took her long enough,” Vitali said, returning to her work. I stepped further in to get a look at what she was doing, fumbling with a thick ring of metal about the diameter of her hoof. Only now did I realize that her hooves were completely covered in black grease, which was undoubtedly now all over my back from when she hugged me. I swallowed the annoyance at my ruined overcoat. Anger would get me nowhere right now. “What is that?” “Nothing special,” she said, spinning it around. “Just a very heavy-duty roller bearing. Here, check out the old one. See how worn out that is?” She passed me a similar metal ring, which at first I had trouble telling the difference. When I didn’t say anything, she filled in the blanks for me. “See how loose those rollers are? And the heat discoloration?” “Oh,” I said, running my wingtips over the bearing. More grease coated the feathers. “Sure is.” “That thing was probably about a day from coming apart. You couldn’t get away from the whirring noise anywhere on the ship. This new one, though? WOW!” She held it up to the light as if it were her child. “High-carbon stainless steel from the foundries back home in Olduvai, complete with carbide coatings on the frame for extra corrosion resistance. This baby can handle a hundred thousand foot-pounds of torque without breaking a sweat. It took me days to convince Celaeno to spring for it, but this thing is going to way outlive the ship it’s going in.” Even though I admittedly couldn’t care less what she was talking about, it was hard to dislike her enthusiasm. “Impressive.” “You bet your beak it’s impressive! Here, let me show you how it fits on the—” I held up a wingtip. “I’ll take a rain check. Remember, Celaeno wanted me to be quick.” “Of course she did.” She frowned but nodded. “So you said you needed my help? Did your ship break down or something?” “Not this time.” I chuckled. “It’s more of a project I’m working on, but before we get to that, I have a gift for you.” “Oh, sweetheart, you shouldn’t have!” she cooed with a playful smirk totally unbefitting the words. “But first you have to close your eyes.” She complied and held out a hoof. “Gimme gimme!” I reached into the pocket of my vest and pulled out the pearl shard of Itroscia’s captain, draping it over her hoof by the cord. Vitali gave me a puzzled glance, but the wry smirk was still there. “Well, this is a sudden proposal. I don’t know if I’m ready to get married, Artie.” I simply laughed. Vitali was known for her mockingly flirtatious sense of humor. “Do you know what that is?” “I do,” she said, holding it up to her snout to examine the gem. “How did you get this?” “I have my ways.” “I’m sure. Hippogriffs don’t just part with these, you know.” She glanced at me again, furtively. “Do I really want to know?” I shrugged. “Some things are best left unsaid.” She nodded, but the suspicion didn’t leave her eyes. “And you’re giving me this, why?” “I know you’ve been tinkering with enchanted items.” I pointed to the glowing artifacts behind her. “Maybe ‘gift’ wasn’t the right word. I need to use that gem for a project, but once I’m done with it, you’re welcome to keep it.” Another brief look between me and the gem. She was considering a lot more than what she was letting on. “What kind of project?” “Well, that depends. What can you make out of that?” I pointed to the necklace. She smirked again. “I suppose you could embed it in an armband. Or a bracelet. Any sort of jewelry, really.” “You know what I mean. I’m thinking of possibilities. What can the enchantment be used for?” “Do you want to turn into a fish?” she asked. “Not particularly.” “Then you have a rare piece of jewelry. Or, correction,” she said, admiring the necklace again, “I have a rare piece of jewelry.” “That’s it? Just for turning into a fish? You couldn’t turn it into a power source to do something else?” Vitali shook her head while giving me an apologetic look. “Permanent enchantments like the one on the Pearl of Seaquestria are usually very specific. It’s harder to misuse powerful magic if it can only be used for one thing. Basically, the stronger the enchantment, the more specific it has to be.” I felt my throat tighten a bit. “Surely you must be able to do something with it, right?” “I don’t know. It’s a transformative spell—” “So it can transform things! I can work with that. Could we modify it to transform objects?” “If it involves transformation spells revolving around adapting bodies from land to sea, then sure!” Pressure built at the base of my skull. “So why can’t it be used for some other transformation?” “You’re thinking of transmutation,” she said. “That’s for inanimate objects. Transformative magic is for living creatures. They sound similar at first, but they get very different in practice.” “So that’s it, then?” I pinched the bridge of my beak. “I can turn myself into a fish?” Vitali nodded. “Pretty much.” Suddenly, I felt faint. I sank down with a heavy thunk into an empty stool at the workbench behind me. Was that it? Had I thrown a sucker punch at the strongest navy on the South Sea just for the ability to breathe underwater? Surely there had to be something. Anything! White-hot rage boiled through my limbs, and I forcefully held them down to keep from hurtling that worn out roller bearing into the wall. Doing that would effectively end any cooperation Vitali might have left for me. “Artemis?” she asked, peering at me over the pile of junk on the tabletop between us. “Can you—oh. Uh, is everything okay?” I had to fight the urge to explode with a deep breath. “It’s not, Tali,” I said as calmly as possible. “I was counting on this.” “It’s not the end of the world, you’ll figure something else out!” Her smile was so chipper that it somehow made me even angrier. “I believe in you.” “You don’t understand. If I don’t get this project to work, I will be dead within the week.” The room went silent for a moment. “Okay,” said Vitali, taking a step out from behind her bench. “It’s obvious that you haven’t been telling me everything. What exactly do you need with this pearl?” “A weapon,” I put it bluntly. “I’ve made some powerful enemies and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to outrun them forever. I need something to protect myself and my crew. Something big enough that nobody will want to mess with me.” “What did you do?” I decided that not mentioning the sunken ship and hippogriff blood on my claws was the better option. With the conversation running on sympathy now, losing that would be game over. “What I had to do. I’d rather not talk about it.” “Those enemies aren’t coming here, are they?” “No, they don’t know where I am. But once they find me?” I made a slicing motion across my throat. It didn’t quash the fear in her expression, but at least she let the conversation move on. “Why did you come to me? I just fix things. I don’t make weapons.” “Desperation will push you just about anywhere,” I said. “You’re the only person I trust who can help. Please, Tali. Help me.” She looked at me for a moment, the conflict evident in her knitted brow. “Alright. As long as you don’t get me swept up in whatever you’re running from, I’ll help.” “You’re a lifesaver.” I pointed to the necklace. “So, transformative magic can’t be used for weapons?” “Not unless you’d make things better for yourself by turning whoever is after you into a water breather,” she said. “If magical weaponry is what you need, couldn’t you just buy some? I know there’s some of that floating around on the black market.” “With what money?” I asked. “I’ve barely got enough to pay my crew, and even if we could find something powerful like I need, how would we steal it without it getting used against us first?” Vitali nodded in understanding. “Well, let’s see…” She scuttled off toward the rear of the workshop. On a bench at the far wall, a small array of glowing blue gems were embedded in a sheet of metal, with filaments of similar luminescent fiber connecting them. “Surely there’s something I can do. What are your specifications? What type of weapon?” “Anything that has a fear factor. Intimidation is ideal. An air of mystery would be good.” “So something with range. If you can stay far away from the target, then they won’t be able to see exactly what hit them.” “That’s perfect! Like a spell that could cause explosions at a distance, or something that shoots an energy beam?” “That’s difficult even for advanced mages,” she replied, and I deflated a bit. “Without an enchanted artifact to base it on, I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that.” “So let’s get an enchanted artifact,” I said. “Where can we find one?” “They’re super rare outside of royal treasuries. Unless you’re up for a high-level heist?” “As fun as that sounds, no. Far outside of my skill set.” “Well, that takes us back to square one.” Vitali scratched at her temples. “I don’t know of any artifacts that won’t be under heavy guard. We could get some enchanted crystals that might be usable for some small weapons, but nothing like you’re after.” She held up the pearl shard to her face, staring deeply into it. “Unless…” She stood up stock straight, her eyes alight with exuberance. “I’ve got it!” “What is it?” I asked. “I know where we can get you an artifact!’ As she often did when excited, Vitali started prancing in place. “And you could have it tomorrow.” Hope poured into the pit of despair in my guts. “How?” She held out the pearl shard. “I hope you know how to swim.” The muted swish of fabric against fabric tugged at my ear, and I cracked open my eyes, their lids stiff and unyielding. The light in the room was harsh, glaring down at me from bright white circles on the ceiling. I’d just been looking up at them with no difficulty, hadn’t I? Why was everything so fuzzy now? “Glad to see you’re awake, Typhoon,” said a high-yet-soothing feminine voice behind me. She sounded a bit like Di, and a little flutter raced through my chest, only to be quashed when I saw the blurry griff standing over me was wine red instead of sky blue. “How are you feeling?” I opened my eyes a bit further, bringing the room into slightly better focus. The cot I was lying on was bright white, the linens itchy where they pressed against the skin through my fur and feathers. “Heavy,” I said, my voice a dry croak. The nurse giggled. “I don’t hear that one too often.” She offered me a cup with a long straw, and I took several greedy gulps of water. “Could you rate your pain on a scale from one to ten for me?” she asked. I craned my neck to peek at the bandages that now enveloped my entire shoulder, a thick layer of padding that ran from my elbow to the base of my neck, immobilizing the whole area. The pain hadn’t even registered yet, but now that I was looking at it, a stinging prickle shot through my shoulder, running deep into the muscle. Still, it was so much better than it had been. “About a three,” I said. “Thank you.” The nurse wrote something on her clipboard. She was very pretty, with a small, sharp beak and deep brown eyes. “I’m going to take your vitals, just lie still.” “Sure thing.” Under normal circumstances, I would have thought of something more charming to say, but post-surgery brain fog was a little thicker than normal brain fog. My eyes felt heavy, and I just wanted to go back to sleep. With the nurse poking and prodding me, that would have to wait a few minutes. A groan to my right pulled my attention, and I rolled my head over to the side. Another hippogriff in an identical cot lay prone, face contorted in pain, chest rising and falling in labored heaves. Most striking among her several injuries was a bandaged stump on her back—all that remained of her left wing. The image of cannonballs punching through Eidothea’s hull played through my mind, and I shuddered. She was one of the griffs below deck when the second volley hit the ship. I didn’t recognize her as one of my crew, so she must have been rescued from the wreck of Itroscia. If she had stayed in the water, she would still have her wing. Another wave of guilt washed over me. It would have been better if we threw a shard down to the griffs overboard instead of trying to take them on. It was a long swim back to Seaquestria, but it was a whole lot better than getting shot to pieces on the ship. I could have flown it over myself without taking us in close. Stupid. What was I thinking? I was the one who pushed us to rescue Itroscia’s crew. It could have been done without us abandoning our charge. We made ourselves vulnerable. Maybe the final decision wasn’t mine, but I convinced Captain Virga to make the wrong choice. We should have seen the trap coming a mile away. Moraine was right. This was my fault. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I couldn’t look away. More memories rushed to the surface, and I winced as the splashes of bodies buried at sea rang in my ears. My friends and shipmates entering the water for the last time. Captain Virga. Powder Keg. Almost two dozen more with them. At least I had been able to distract myself from all of that with the struggle of guiding a crippled ship home and keeping my remaining crew safe. It was three days of living on the knife’s edge, bailing water from our leaking hull, feeling every degree of list and wondering how much longer before the ship capsized. Three days of searing agony in my shoulder. Three days where the only thing that kept me going was looking forward to that moment when I’d finally touch dry land and get to fall into Diamond’s waiting arms. It was over now, all of it. We were home. My shoulder was healing. Di didn’t want me quite the same way I wanted her. There was just me and my thoughts, lying immobile in a bed, surrounded by the consequences of my actions. I did this. How many others were there? How many more griffs were dead or maimed because of my decision? My ears still rang with the deafening booms of cannons; the sinister hiss of lead slicing through the air on its way to kill. The screams of the wounded and dying. It’s my fault. “Lieutenant? Everything alright?” asked the nurse. Her voice pulled me out of my mental rut, and I found her near the foot of the bed, a stethoscope hanging from her ears. “Yeah, what’s up?” I asked, trying to make my voice as casual as possible. “You just tensed up and your heart rate spiked.” She eyed me warily, looking the bed up and down. “You sure your pain’s at a three?” “It might be a four now.” I chuckled, trying to laugh it off. The nurse didn’t see the humor, writing on her clipboard with a worried frown on her face. “Just try to relax,” she said in a soothing voice. “You’re safe here. Everything is going to be alright.” The bright, sterilizing lights overhead at least offered me a void to stare into. An endless expanse of intense white, nothing to remind me of the weight of my failures. Or of those who failed me. I recoiled from the thought almost as quickly as it came. That wasn’t even a little bit fair. Di wasn’t the problem. I was. I couldn’t force her to feel a certain way. We had both agreed a long time ago that it was a strictly casual relationship. Nothing more. I was the one who lost sight of that. Life could just… go on the way it had before, and that would have to be enough. Still, the anger persisted. Out of everything I’d gone through in the last week, that was somehow the worst. The one thing I wanted to go right hadn’t come through in the end. It wasn’t Di’s fault, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. And I had no sources of comfort in this hospital, either. Only reminders that life was anything but normal right now. “Nurse?” I asked. “Yes?” “How long until I can go home?” She smiled down at me. “We’ll have to hold you for a few more hours to make sure everything is okay, but you should be able to go home to recover before the end of the day.” I smiled weakly. “That’s great news.” Just a few more hours, and then I could make sure I never had to think about any of this ever again. “Gallus!” I froze, stomach lurching into my throat. The large basket laden with a huge pile of stackberries I was holding obscured my view, but I knew what was coming. I heaved the heavy load of fruit up onto the counter, and immediately all I saw was pink as Silverstream snared me in a crushing hug, my face pressed awkwardly into the fluffy fur on her chest—which I didn’t mind as much now, I found. It was different when it was my girlfriend’s fur I was getting smothered by. “Hey!” I attempted to say, though it sounded more like “Hmmpf!” She must have interpreted that as a protest from me, and she released me from my fluffy pink prison. “Ok, wow. That is a lot of stackberries.” I froze, suddenly without any sort of alibi. “Uh, I just really liked the berries.” “I’ll say!” she said, picking up a few and asking, ‘Please?’ with her eyes. I nodded, and she popped them into her mouth. “Mmm, those are perfect!” “I flew a little further out than the one I crashed into,” I said, letting her have the laugh without any protest. “Totally untouched. I feel like I barely even scratched the surface of what was there.” “Ha! Scratched. I see what you did there." I blinked. "I wasn't doing anything, but alright?" Silverstream just snorted a little laugh. "What are you going to do with all these?” “I dunno.” I shrugged, searching for the right excuse. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I could make cobbler again, I guess.” “And jam! Jam keeps really well,” she offered. “Yeah, that’s an idea. I might just see how many I can fit into the freezer before Ty gets mad at me.” Silverstream snarfed a few more berries, which sent a little twinge of annoyance through me. Hours of work and getting pricked by the thorns just for her to come in and snipe the best ones. But at the end of the day, this was what it was all about now, right? Whether it was money from selling wine or just providing a snack, it was all going to the same place: to make Silverstream smile. “So,” she began with a mouthful of berries, “whatcha doin’ today?” “Nothing really. Just… this.” She swallowed. “Then let’s plan something together!” I snuck a glance over at my fruit basket. It would have been nice to get some juicing work done today, but it took me all of two seconds to make that decision. “What did you have in mind?” “I dunno,” Silverstream answered with a shrug. “What sounds fun to you?” “Uh, wanna go get food somewhere?” Silverstream shook her head. “I just ate a little while ago.” “Me too,” I said. “Movie?” “We don’t have a theater here yet,” Silverstream reminded me. “Harmonizing Heights?” I tried. Silverstream stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. “Nah, we just went there like a week ago.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “Then I’m out of ideas. What else is there to do on a date?” Date. The word caused a flutter in my chest. “Anything can be a date!” “That doesn’t narrow it down, though.” I scratched a talon to my beak. I wasn’t quite sure what fun things there were to do besides the Harmonizing Heights, but there was one big curiosity on my mind. “Could we go underwater?” Silverstream’s eyes widened a tiny bit, but it wasn’t quite like they lit up. “Is that what you want to do? I thought cats hated water, and you’re part cat, right?” “Housecats hate water,” I corrected her with a gentle chuckle, “I don’t mind it so much. I’ve been wanting to see how that necklace of yours works, anyway.” I thought I detected the slightest bit of hesitation as she drummed her claws on the ground. Did she not want to go underwater for some reason? The pause lingered long enough that I was about ready to ask her what was wrong, but before I did, her smile returned in full force. “Sure. Let’s go for a swim!” Nevermind. I didn’t want to go for a swim anymore. In my mind’s eye, this was supposed to be a fun little outing with just me and Silverstream. In reality, it seemed like half of the entire population of Mount Aris had the same idea. The beach near the train station was packed. Hippogriffs of all shapes and sizes roamed around the black sands, from elderly ones with lots of gray feathers to tiny grifflets, who were also coincidentally the ones screeching the loudest. “It sure is crowded out here,” I commented, hoping Silverstream would get the hint. Silverstream fixed me with a quizzical look. “It’s summer and we’re at the beach. Did you expect it to be deserted?” Okay, so she didn’t get it. “Sort of. We don’t have beaches where I’m from,” I said, looking around at the crowd. Out in the water, some of them had elected to turn into seaponies. “Just muddy ponds that smell like dirt.” “Ew! You really aren’t making me want to visit Griffonstone. Like, ever.” “That’s the idea.” My gaze lingered on the ocean as it led out to the horizon. The further from shore you went, the fewer hippogriffs there were. I wanted to get away from the crowd as quickly as possible, so I made a beeline for the water. Again, I began to question my choices. When I got to the water’s edge, I suddenly realized just how little I knew about swimming. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d willingly entered a body of water in my life, and never once had it been an ocean full of unknown dangers lurking where I couldn’t see them below the surface. Silverstream blew past me with a joyful shout and bounded into the water, splashing me in the face and immediately sinking up to her underbelly. If she could do it, so could I. With a deep breath, I waded into the water, which was cool to the touch compared to the sauna of heat and humidity on land. Maybe I needed to incorporate a quick swim into my cooldown routine after work. We went far enough out that we were mostly alone, where the water was barely shallow enough for me to touch the bottom. “Okay,” I started once my head was the only part of my body above the surface, waves lapping at the fluff on my neck. “How does that necklace of yours work, again?” “I dunno,” Silverstream said, twirling the gem around in her claws and peering down at it. “Wait, you don’t?” She giggled. “Well, I know how to use it, but I have no idea how it works.” “I figured that would have been the first thing they taught you when they gave those out.” “It’s super easy,” she said, dismissing my concerns with a wave of her talons. “All I do is close my eyes, hold the pearl in my talons, and think happy thoughts. Then whoosh! I’m a seapony.” “Happy thoughts?” “Mmhm!” She nodded vigorously. “Going from seapony to hippogriff is super easy for me. I just think of all the cool stuff on land I haven’t seen yet, and then I’m all beaked up in a snap!” “But it’s harder to go in reverse?” She nodded again, this time more slowly. “Yeah. I was kinda trapped down there for most of my life...” “Oh, uh. Right.” Silverstream smiled. “When I need to go back down to Seaquestria, I focus on the happy things I already have in life.” She leaned in a little closer and smiled, pointing a claw at my chest. “This time, I’ll be thinking about you.” “That was the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” I said, but it was hard to brush off the swelling of joy it gave me in my chest. Was I blushing? “Get used to it,” she said, giving me a little shove with her shoulder, then wrapping a wing around my back. “Ready?” Truth be told, I would have been fine sitting like this for a while, but we had places to be. “Ready.” Silverstream took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then a wave of light swept over us. It felt warm and tingly, a cascade that ran through my entire body from tail to beak. My limbs gave out and I dropped into the water, suddenly a bit denser. I held my breath as I slipped below the waves. My instincts told me to claw my way up to the surface, to find air at any cost. But before I did, I felt a tap on my side. My eyes opened, and there was no discomfort when the water hit them. Silverstream was in front of me, smiling with a face that lacked a beak. Even though I’d seen her in seapony form before and I knew it was coming, it still took me back slightly. I raised my hand in front of my face, only to find that I no longer had any digits. A pair of long blue fins ran back to a body that also now lacked fur, feathers, and hind legs. I could have sworn I could still feel where my hind legs used to be, even though they weren’t there. The biggest shock came when I touched my fin to my face and it squished. No hard, pointy beak. Just a snout. I was a fish now. “Oh. My. Gosh. Gallus you are so cute! You look like a shark!” Silverstream swam over and grabbed me, spinning us around in a lazy circle. She was cool to the touch, slick scales sliding over mine. No fur. No feathers. It felt very weird. But I didn’t hate it. She pulled back and looked at me, and then she frowned. “Uh, Gallus, you can breathe.” I gasped, but instead of sucking a choking deluge into my lungs, small slits opened on the side of my neck and let the water out. I didnt choke because my lungs no longer existed. It felt fine. Natural, even. “This is going to take some getting used to,” I finally said. “You’ll get the hang of it real fast! My cousin told me that when Headmare Twilight and her friends showed up for the first time, they were swimming around like they’d done it all their lives in two minutes.” I thought about what fish did to move. Fins out to the side to steer, and the tail was the propulsion. It was a little like flying, but just… weird. I started wiggling what used to be my butt, and then I was propelled forward alarmingly fast, right toward Silverstream. “Whoa!” she shouted as I bumped into her nose-first. I only just now realized how sensitive the tip of my new snout was. Sharp, tingly pain radiated through my face. It felt like I needed to sneeze, only the catch was that I lacked sinuses. “You okay?” “Sorry,” I said. “Just take it easy and follow my lead. I’ll start slow,” she said, and then beckoned me along with a fin. It was different, for sure. Water was a lot more dense and resistive than air, and a bit less transparent, but it took barely a minute before I could keep up with Silverstream. Once I felt reasonably confident in my abilities, I pulled up to swim alongside her. “Where are we going?” I asked. “It’s a surprise!” she sang back. “Let me guess, we’re going to see Queen Novo’s underwater palace?” Silverstream shook her head. “Nope, not even close.” “An old shipwreck?” “Slightly warmer.” Silverstream put on a little bit of extra speed, and I was able to keep up with her in no time. “How do you like the fins?” “I miss having claws, personally.” I glanced down at my fins slicing through the water, little streams of bubbles trailing off of them. “But it is cool to be able to swim this fast.” Silverstream nodded. “It’s a trade-off.” “Which form do you like better?” “Hippogriff,” she said without a moment’s hesitation. “Flying is so much more fun than swimming!” “Yeah. This is pretty cool, but I don’t think I’d trade my wings for it.” We were still fairly high above the ocean floor, which lurked below us through the water’s haze, but I could make out a few rocky formations down there. Silverstream angled downward, and I followed. The water in this part of the ocean was remarkably clear, much more than I expected it to be. When we were about halfway to the seabed, colorful bright splotches appeared. Just a few at first, and then suddenly the entire seafloor came alive with color. We halted, and Silverstream fixed me with a big grin. “Welcome to Constellation Reef!” “Whoa,” I gasped, spinning in a circle to take it all in. We were a good bit deeper now, the surface only faintly visible. Even in the middle of the day, the light was dim like the sun had gone down half an hour ago. The reef below us made up for that on its own, the luminescence of the coral casting a shimmer on us from beneath. Most glowed in shades of green and turquoise, though some had adopted a yellow hue. In the distance, I thought I could even see a bright purple one that looked like a very wide mushroom. It took a few awestruck moments for me to gather my wits enough to speak. “There’s no way that’s natural,” I said, turning to Silverstream and pointing a fin downward. “Like the Harmonizing Heights, right? Did seaponies make that?” Silverstream shook her head. “Nope, this one’s all natural.” “Get outta here. Can we get closer?” “Sure can!” said Silverstream with an enthusiastic nod. “Just be careful not to touch the coral. They’re very fragile.” “Can do!” I awkwardly spun upside down so that I could descend directly to the ocean floor instead of coasting in as we had before. It was probably more than I should have attempted with my level of swimming practice, as I quickly found myself barreling headfirst into the sea floor. Only a pair of fins wrapping around my midriff and yanking me out of my death spiral saved me from painfully crushing my nose again. “What did I just say?” Silverstream scolded as we pulled up into a level path and gradually slowed down. Well, it would have counted as scolding if she hadn’t been fighting to contain laughter. A hot flush burned through my cheeks. “I meant to do that.” “No, you didn’t!” This time she couldn’t keep it in, a cackle escaping from her lips. “Okay fine, you’re right, I didn’t. Swimming is hard, okay?” That earned even more giggles from the seapony on my back. She released her grip around my belly, even though part of me wished she hadn’t. And that made me blush even harder. Was this my life now, turning to mush every time she touched me? Thankfully, the low light wouldn’t immediately give that away. “At least this time there wasn’t a thorn bush for you to crash into.” “You’re hilarious,” I deadpanned. Before embarrassment could take over any further, I turned my attention back toward the vibrant, glowing forest of color that surrounded us. I knew vaguely what a coral reef was supposed to look like, and this was not it. There was the obvious glowing, but also the size of it. Individual corals were supposed to fit in my palm, not be big enough for me to carve one out and live in it. “I see you’re impressed,” Silverstream said, drifting in front of me with a smirk on her face. “This is crazy.” I swam ahead and did a lap around a huge cone that glowed green with purple streaks, easily three times as tall as I was. “What even are these?” “They’re unique,” said Silverstream. “We just call them light coral. As far as I know, this is the only place in the whole world that they grow.” “Don’t you have a tour guide routine you could give me?” I asked. She laughed. “Not this time.” “Why not?” “I was never a tour guide down here, duh!” “Why not?” Silverstream looked around at the coral. “I dunno. I guess I got bored of this place after a while.” “Bored? You? I don’t believe that for a second.” She held up a fin. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I get a little excited about new things.” “A little?” I teased. “Shush. Remember, I was stuck down here. For my entire life growing up, this was pretty much the only safe place to go outside of Seaquestria. I used to come here, like, four times a week at least.” “That makes a lot of sense.” Even with the grandeur of Constellation Reef, I could see how it might get old after a while. “I guess I feel the same way about Griffonstone. You spend long enough in one place, and it gets routine.” “I bet there are some good things about living there,” said Silverstream. “If anyone could find a way to put a positive spin on that place, it’s you. Or maybe the griffon who used to deliver mail to Grandpa Gruff. She was always weirdly happy for some reason.” Silverstream swam up and nudged herself next to me. “Even though you say it’s horrible, we’ll have to go sometime.” “Sure. It is a dump, though, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She smiled. “And I’m sure I’d love it, as long as we were together.” The comment hit me like a sucker punch. It shouldn’t have, as innocuous as it was, but it was like a neon sign lit up over her head that read ‘GIRLFRIEND!’ in flashing lights. I’d known Silverstream for so long. Well, a year wasn’t a ton of time, but she was the longest-running friend I’d ever had, not counting the rest of our group back at the school. It was still weird to see her as anything more than my friend. But here we were. A couple, somehow. What could I even say to something so sappy and flirtatious? It had already been too long since she said it. Now I was making it awkward. I had to say something, and I had to say it right then. “Uh, yeah, you too.” Silverstream looked at me like I’d grown a horn, snorted once, and then busted out laughing. If I wasn’t blushing before, I could feel it now. I didn’t have feathers on my face to conceal it anymore, so I was probably sitting there red as a cherry while she snickered at me. “You really are new to this, aren’t you?” “Yes,” I said hotly. This time, the embarrassment stung a little. “How do you even come up with stuff like that all the time?” “I just say what’s on my mind!” “Well, I’m horrible at it. Are cheesy lines a requirement?” “They don’t hurt. I’m a sucker for some good flattery,” she said. “Or pick-up lines. Those are great too!” I cocked an eyebrow. “Okay, even I know those don’t work.” “But they’re funny! Here, let me try one on you.” She cleared her throat for effect and then fixed me with an impish smirk. “You look like you go fishing a lot.” “What?” She grabbed me by the shoulders and tilted me back like we had just finished a complicated dance routine. Her voice deepened a bit, imitating someone suave and rumbly. “Because you’ve got me hooked.” A lot of emotions coursed through me in that second. First, the discomfort of being tipped unexpectedly, but then there was the nervousness that came from looking deep into her eyes while she did it. But finally, to top it all off, mirth. “That was awful,” I said with a snort of laughter, quickly wriggling free of her grasp before I devolved into a blushing mess. “Did you really have to tip me like that?” She shrugged. “Just trying to spice it up a little.” A spark registered in her eyes, and her face lit up. “Ooh! That reminds me of that time I tried to get you to try ballroom dancing.” “Oh no, that disaster?” I grumbled, the embarrassment of that just adding to what I already felt. “It wasn’t a disaster!” she argued. “You were doing so well and then you just quit one day out of the blue.” “Silverstream, I dropped you on the floor when I tried to dip you. You had to go to the hospital to make sure you weren’t concussed.” She waved that off with a fin. “But I wasn’t! Accidents happen.” “I’d prefer them to not happen in front of an entire class. Seriously, we were the only non-ponies in that room. They were always watching and judging us.” “You don’t know that. Sure, we got some looks because we were different, but that’s just how it is when things are new.” “I have no idea how you stay so positive about everything,” I said. “It’s all in how you look at things. Sure, I could just throw up my wings and write that class off as a failure. But we still learned some moves and had a lot of fun before that! There’s good in anything if you look hard enough.” “I don’t know how I’d be able to put a positive spin on messing up and dropping you in front of dozens of ponies. I embarrassed myself and I guarantee you everyone else in that class remembers me as the klutz who nearly killed his partner.” “Yes, because they all spend their time thinking about you, specifically,” she said with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. “Trust me, nobody cares that much.” I opened my mouth to argue, but I came up short. I couldn’t counter that logic. Silverstream looked me in the eyes. “Would you ever try it again?” “Eh, I dunno,” I said, crossing my fins. “I don’t think dancing is my thing, but maybe? I don’t know how you’d trust me to dip you again.” She smiled. “I trust that you’d do your best, and that’s enough for me.” “Maybe someday.” I swam a little higher, peering over the field of glowing plants. “I want to check this place out some more.” I felt a little rush of water, and suddenly I was wrapped up in a hug. Silverstream nuzzled into my cheek, her smooth scales sliding against mine. Before I knew what to do, she pushed off and waved a fin at me. “Come on, there’s one that looks like a giant brain down this way!” I paused for a moment as I watched her shrink away into the backdrop of multicolored lights. It felt like a daydream, like I could wake up at any moment and reality would catch up to me, except it wouldn’t. This was real. I was here, with Silverstream, and we were going to see a big brain together. With a smile on my face, I swam after her.