Fia fiercely whipped her tail to chase after Mahi. "Let's race!" she shouted. "Let's race to Carlinoa. Last one there has to catch fish for a month!" Although Fia did not mean to volunteer Viliant to continually satisfy Mahi's appetite, she figured that her parents would gladly pay the price to have her home.

"Eh," Mahi drawled, but the proposition made him give pause. The blue and yellow dragon tilted his head back to glance at Fia with one, blue eye. "I don't know about that. Carlinoa is kinda far. It'd take me a week to get there—assuming you two lindworms can keep up."

Fia's eyes brightened with the new information. If Mahi could extend his magic to the dragonets, then Fia and Viliant could get home in a week's time. The pink dragonette narrowed her eyes out of determination. "If you think you're faster than us, prove it!" she spat.

What are you doing? Viliant asked over telepathy. Just let him go. That dragon is a waste of time. In the critical eyes of the dragonet, Mahi had also proven himself to be a waste of energy. Viliant had thrown his mana into the sea, catching fish for an adult dragon fully capable of fishing for himself.

Trust me. I'm good at making friends! Fia reassured him. She suspected that she could trick Mahi into helping them under the guise of play. The pink dragonette lined up alongside the larger, blue dragon. Her tail wiggled, ready to thrash into a frenzy when their race began.

"First person to get to that iceberg wins!" Mahi announced. A clumpy, melty pile of ice accumulated over a distant stretch of water. The coloration of the iceberg was tinged with a magical, blue glow. The integrity of its structure did not last long under the tropical sunshine and heat.

Maybe he's actually an ice dragon? Fia wondered about Mahi's element. She had assumed his magical alignment with water due to her familiarity with those dragons around Carlinoa Island. However, his element might bear more similarity to the ice mages of the north. If Fia wanted any hope to compete with Mahi, she needed to apply her own element to the race somehow.

When I set things on fire, they run fast, Fia thought to herself. Maybe if I light my scales on fire, I'll go fast too. Her mana bubbled in her ley lines, ready to explode the moment that Mahi signaled the start of the race.

Both dragons bobbed along the waves which served as a wishy-washy starting line. Despite how the current pushed Fia back, Mahi edged further ahead. "On three," he instructed before listing off a slew of loosely related terms. "Ready. Steady. One. Two. Two and a half…. Fish!"

Fia lurched to begin the race, but she realized too late that he had not said three yet.

"Ha! I really got you," Mahi laughed. "I said fish, not three!" When he shouted the number, the dragon bolted into action. A spray of water blinded Fia's vision as she floundered after him.

"Wait!" She did not care about the salty droplets which spattered her tongue. Fia hollered in a long, exasperated tone, "That's not fair!" Though her wings did little to gather forward momentum in the water, she flapped them anyway.

A cloud of steam hissed around Fia's body. The upper portion of her scales dried enough to allow a cape of fire to cover her back. A desperate whistle peeled from her jaws as Mahi shot ahead of her in a blur of half-frozen froth.

In hardly any time at all, the blue dragon clambered atop his unstable, collapsing iceberg. Rays of sunlight flashed off his golden crest as he proclaimed himself victor. "I win. I win! You lose. You lose!"

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A ragged gasp caught in Fia's throat, irritated by her own smoke. He doesn't have to rub it in, she whined. Since she had already lost the race, Fia drifted slowly through the water so that she could growl to herself out of earshot.

Translate for me, Viliant said in her mind, snapping her out of her defeated haze. "Hey!" he barked, raising his voice to direct it at Mahi. "You cheated! Does it feel good, getting a head start on a tiny dragonette?"

"Ugh," Fia grunted. As badly as she wanted to tell Mahi off, she did not repeat Viliant's words. I can't say that. He might get even more upset than me…. The fire dragonette tempered her frustration. Instead, she showed her goodwill by trudging over to the broken iceberg to congratulate Mahi.

"Come on, Fia!" Mahi called. "You can still take second place. Beat that sad shadow of yours! Whoo!" he cheered, expressing undue enthusiasm. "Let's go."

Fia twisted her neck back to glance at Viliant. After two quick, successive blinks, she lowered her neck in a mischievous offer. Pretend to race me.

"Fia," Viliant objected. I'm sore.

If we entertain Mahi, we'll get to rest sooner when we're at Carlinoa.

You just want to play, he accused.

No, I just want to prove that I'm a stronger swimmer than you. Fia anticipated the best taunts to get both Mahi and Viliant to participate in the race. Aloud, she jeered at Viliant for Mahi's entertainment, "Last one to the iceberg is a rotten egg!" Fia renewed the strength behind her kicks and took off.

Viliant stretched out his neck and slunk along the surface like a water snake. The black dragonet pretended to put in more effort than he actually expended.

From his perch as a spectator, Mahi giggled out of glee. "That's the spirit!" He changed his tune when Fia drew closer. "Look out!" Mahi gasped. "Rough waves incoming!" A swell of icy water blocked the aquatic dragon from view. Mahi created a watery wall in front of him, cased in a sheet of ice near its base. He launched this unnecessary, magical obstacle at Fia and Viliant.

"Eep!" Fia paddled faster until the muscles in her legs felt like they caught on her fire. When she entered the magical wave, the icy water shocked her system and slowed her swim. Fia stoked her inner flames, raising her body temperature along with her ascent of the wave. When it carried her to its highest point, the pink dragonette leaped out of the water. Her wings snapped open, and Fia glided the rest of the way to Mahi. "Ah ha! I did it!" she cheered with her triumphant nose pointed into the air.

Left in the shadow of the wave, Viliant halted his progress toward the melted iceberg. His wings drooped at the same time as the wave curled overhead. "Oh no," he muttered. The slurry water threatened to pellet his face with ice crystals. To avoid the deluge, Viliant slipped into his shadow form. The icy wave passed through him, only affecting him in terms of temperature. A visible shiver wracked Viliant's body when he clumsily ruddered his wings on the other side.

"Good job, Viliant!" Fia called. "You've almost made it."

When Viliant arrived into the icy patch of water, he glared up at Mahi. That was dangerous, he warned Fia. I told you that we can't trust this guy.

Mahi sneered, "About time you made it." The dragon spoke as though his head floated in its own bubble. "You know what they say: slow and steady wins the race—except not in this case. You lost, buddy."

Fia bit her forked tongue to keep from snarling at Mahi. It aggravated her every time that the adult dragon said something too insensitive to relay to Viliant. "Be nice to my friend. We're both dragonets."

With a sigh, Mahi admitted, "You're right. Sorry. I got too caught up in the sweet taste of victory." The real winners were Fia and Viliant, as Mahi bowed his head down to the dragonets' level. At last, the dragon accepted Fia's outstanding offer for telepathy. "You two aren't so bad after all. You can call me Mahi Mahi from now on."

Fia beamed with a smile so big, her tail curled out of the water. She had successfully made a new friend who could help them get home.