Without any concerns or responsibilities to worry about the next day, Fia dozed into the morning. Eventually she grew concerned about Viliant who still snored beside her. "Viliant," she called, nuzzling his cheek. "Good morning. How're you feeling?"

Viliant jolted awake. His wing flopped off Fia's back as he tipped to the side. His legs flailed before he leaped to his feet. "Argh," he grumbled, sounding like a day of work alongside the sailors had turned him into one already. I'm never doing that again.

Fia popped up next to him. It's nice that you tried a new thing! But yeah, let's be careful until we have adults around us again.

Viliant regarded Fia with some skepticism, his lower lids pinched up. Don't let my stupid mistake make you reckless. The extent of human cruelty never ceases to amaze me. They tried to poison me, even though they need me. At least, he had let himself be coaxed into a false sense of importance as their guard. They'll do even worse things to their guest, Viliant warned. A combination of fear and concern was rife in Viliant's mind, visible by his pupils widened in the middle.

I don't think they tried to poison you, Fia clarified. Her tail flicked against Viliant's ankles to reassure him. They drank from the same barrel. Pako said that's just the way pulque is. Maybe you can ask him more about it today.

"Hm." Viliant hummed, and his blank mind did not indicate any desire to understand. Stay out of trouble. The black dragonet went up the ladder first. His long claws gripped around the wooden rungs easier than tree bark, allowing him to scale faster than they had climbed trees.

Fia followed and bid him farewell in the bright sunshine atop the deck. Since she intended to stay out of trouble, she had no other choice but to interact with one human on board. I need to apologize to Tacuma, Fia knew, or else the captain might get mad at me. The pink dragonette made a lap around the ship. When she spied the little girl with a pink bow in her dark braid, Fia gasped. "Tacuma!" she called and loped over.

The captain's daughter lifted her gaze from the greenish river which reflected the surrounding trees. When Tacuma saw Fia running toward her, the human girl turned away from the rail. She walked to the other side of the deck, just like Fia had done to her the other day.

"Oh…." Fia hung her head. The sudden change in Tacuma's attitude toward her stung. Ouch. This must have been how she made Tacuma feel yesterday. I was really mean, Fia realized. Perhaps Viliant was not the best role model for everything. Now that she had messed up, Fia did not know how to repair her standing with Tacuma aside from being persistent. Just like Tacuma had done yesterday, Fia chased her around the deck. "Tacuma, wait!"

Tacuma sat in a sunny spot on the deck, her legs crossed just like her arms. "You're just trying to be my friend after you saw who my papa was." Tacuma's nostrils flared, an effort to contain her indignation. "You don't have to do that though. I only want a friend who wants to be my friend too."

In a small voice, Fia peeped, "I do want to be your friend. Just my other friend, Viliant, has always told me to be careful around… strangers. You saw him last night."

"Ha, yeah." Tacuma snorted. "Even though my papa made me go to bed, I heard about him: the drunk dragon! It seems like he made fast friends. Why can't you?"

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"Exactly!" Fia fumed. Even though Viliant had already admitted his mistake, she still felt as though the double standards were unfair. If Viliant got to interact with the adult humans all day, then Fia should be safe to consort with Tacuma. Fidgeting with her claws, Fia said, "I'm sorry again about your toy."

"It's okay. It was just a top," Tacuma said. "They're easy to make. Wanna do it together?"

Fia beamed with her mouth hung open in astonishment. "Yes, please. Please show me how!" After the disregard that she had shown Tacuma, Fia had not been expecting her forgiveness—much less her kindness.

Tacuma's smile brightened to the exact same grin as the other day. She patted the wood planks to invite Fia to sit. "You like the sun, right?"

"Yes!" Fia sprawled across the warm boards, her wings raised to absorb the sunlight.

Between her claws, Tacuma dumped out a pile of large seeds from a rucksack bag. Each spanned the size of the girl's hand when she lifted them up for demonstration. "We have to scoop out the insides of these seeds. Once they're hollow, we'll be able to make them spin and sing! Try it with your claws." While Tacuma got to work with her hands, Fia watched intently.

The dragonette used her spear-tipped wings to help hold a seed in place. With one eye still on Tacuma, she began to follow the steps that she modeled. Fia's sharp claws accidentally tore the partially hollowed seed in half. "Oh no!" she cried. "I broke it."

Tacuma tittered a laugh. "That's fine. It's just a seed. We have lots more." Since she had fingers instead of claws, Tacuma took longer to finish hers. She also did not ruin it. Nevertheless, her top wobbled around without making a sound until it fell over. Plunk! Tacuma picked it back up and tried to spin it again with the same result. "Mine doesn't work either."

The girls each carved another seed. This time, Fia did not ruin hers in the process. She struggled to give it a good flick to start its spin, so Tacuma tried them both at the same time. Although their second tops spun a bit better, neither of them whistled a note as they did so.

Tacuma huffed. "Well, they're supposed to be easy to make. Let's go ask my papa. He definitely knows how to do it." After she recollected her seeds in the bag, Tacuma got up to lead the way.

"Wait," Fia gasped. "He won't be upset about… what happened to your first one?"

"Nah. They get old… lost… broken all the time. They're just seeds," Tacuma reiterated, "so it's easy to replace."

Still worried, Fia followed Tacuma with a dragging tail. The two girls made their way to the helm of the ship so that Tacuma could pester her father. "Papa!"

Captain Ulatu gave directions to the man in his company. Once finished, he excused himself so that he could reply, "Tacuma!" The captain lifted his daughter up so that he could hold her at eye level. "What's my little girl up to this morning?"

"Can you help me and Fia make singing tops?"

"Of course." Captain Ulatu turned his attention down to Fia, his smile hidden behind his beard. "I'm happy you made a friend, Tacuma."

Fia and Tacuma gathered around the captain. He showed them how to scoop out the interior of the seed properly so that the grooves inside would let it sing. Captain Ulatu twisted his example and dropped it into a spin. The top resonated close to the same pitch as Tacuma's original one had done. When Fia finished hers shortly after, and the captain helped hers spin too. "Mine works!" Fia whistled to match its note.

Tacuma flipped hers into the fastest spin, and it sang at the highest note. "Hooray!" she squealed. "Thank you, Papa!" She hugged Captain Ulatu in both arms.

"You're welcome. Now run along and have fun with your tops."

"Bye!" Tacuma waved to her father as she ran off.

Fia dashed close at her heels. Together, they returned to their spot in the sun where they watched their tops spin. Fia learned how to spin the top with her own claws well-enough that she challenged Tacuma to see who could spin theirs faster. Sometimes they pitted their tops against each other until one got knocked down first.

Tacuma collapsed into giggles. "This has been so fun! Thanks for playing, Fia. Here. Take some extra seeds, so you can show Viliant how to make singing tops too."

Fia's eyes welled up. "Really? Thank you! I know he'll like this." Although she dreaded how Viliant would scold her for making friends with Tacuma, that would not cause her to keep secrets from him. Most of all, Fia wanted to show Viliant every nice and fun thing in the world.