When Tacuma fell over the rail, Fia raced to gape over the edge of the ship shortly after the captain. "Tacuma!" Fia hollered at the river. Its current crashed against the side of the vessel, drowning out her voice. Someone needed to save the human girl, but none of her kin were capable of diving into the water with the ghost pirarucu lurking in their midst. "You have to help her!" Fia yelled at Viliant.

"No!" Viliant barked back, louder for his second refusal. He might shake his head out of disbelief, but he had come to expect outlandish demands from Fia by this point.

Her mind spun with all the reasons that he ought to save her, more than she had time to articulate aloud. Tacuma is a little girl, just like me. She's super nice and gave me extra seeds, so you could carve them into your own top! You're strong enough to save her, Viliant. I know you can! Fia clambered her foreclaws against the rail and hopped up. Her body swayed as her tail writhed for balance. "If you don't do it, I will!" Fia roared.

No, you won't! Viliant snarled and lunged at Fia. His jaws snapped around the end of her tail, snagging his fangs around the pointed tip. Since he had no intention to hurt her, he applied just enough pressure to pull. Viliant yanked her onto the planks with him.

While Fia squirmed to right herself, she lost track of Viliant. She expected that she would need to wrestle with him to get anywhere near the water again.

Instead, the dragonet had perched himself on the rail. I hate the things you make me do. Viliant dropped into a head-first dive. With his eyes closed tight, he braced his neck like he was ready to absorb the impact of a reckless charge. Viliant plunged into the murky depths where Tacuma had gone.

All the while, Captain Ulatu watched with the skin of his knuckles drawn-taught. His hands could not grip the rail any tighter, much like how he clenched his jaw beneath his beard. The rest of the sailors scrambled behind him to put out the last of Fia's fire aboard the deck.

As the water surrounding Viliant amplified his telepathy, Fia felt no further away from him. Thank you, Viliant. You're amazing! she cheered in his mind.

Their connection snapped.

"Viliant?" Fia called out to the chilly, nighttime air. The pink dragonette crept back to the rail to poke her snout through the slats. Her watery, blue eyes searched for him in the river. Viliant…? Her constant chatter over telepathy must have annoyed him, so Viliant blocked out the distraction. Fia quelled her excitement, hoping that he would reconnect with her empty mind. It became filled with uncertainty as more time passed without any sign of him.

As the water rushed by his scales, Viliant peeled his eyes open. A faint, greenish glow emanated around his pupils which were dilated to see as much as possible in the dark river. The shadowed shape of a gangly human drew his attention. Tacuma floundered her small limbs like kelp that had no hope to reach the surface until her broken body drifted downstream. Viliant dove for her like a fish that he wanted to catch. Once his claws looped around the fleshy underside of her arms, Viliant beat his wings and angled his chin for the surface.

"Ugh," he grunted, realizing how much harder it was to tow a floundering human through the water. She was going to run out of air sooner than him, and he might reconsider her a loss cause if she kept this up. Viliant pierced the tip of his talons through her shirt and pricked her skin. He hoped that would warn her to stay still, given that he could not calm her like a fellow dragon over telepathy. A thin trail of her blood was carried away by the current.

Soon, the water's course felt as though its direction reversed. A powerful force rushed by them. The pattern of layered scales became a blur in the murk. The ghost pirarucu swam too close to make out its larger form. Viliant snorted out a stream of bubbles and retreated to the shadow realm—not that he could hide from the pirarucu there. Its dorsal fin slashed across Viliant's leg like a blade. If the dragonet had not already been in the process of moving upward, out of the way, he would have suffered a loss more devastating than a few split scales and some blood.

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Frozen by fear, not a thought flitted through his mind. His telepathy with Fia dropped. Viliant recollected himself for a moment where he did not need to breathe in the shadows. Once his physical form splashed back into the water, Viliant gripped Tacuma tighter and thrashed his wings and tail for the moonlight. When they breached the surface, Viliant struggled to float while Tacuma writhed and gasped. Her arms waved to the boat, in which they had no easy way to get back on board.

"Viliant!" Fia cheered, quiet due to her voice choked with emotion.

"Tacuma!" Captain Ulatu bellowed. Now that his daughter was within his sight, his attention snapped back to the duties of his occupation. The sailors had finally put the fire out, but they had fallen into disarray without one man to command them. Captain Ulatu ordered the nearest man to retrieve the cork buoy from its fastening on the cabin door.

Meanwhile, Tacuma had recovered enough to position herself to the side of Viliant's spiky back. Her little fists gripped his horns, making his neck slouch so that she could float with him. The most surefire way to secure their immediate safety, though, was to remove the threat in the water.

Viliant reconnected with Fia's mind, overflowing her with his fear. Kill the fish! he ordered.

Fia leaped into action, racing in the direction that the pirarucu had gone. "Captain!" she shrieked. "The harpoons!"

Captain Ulatu accepted the buoy from his subordinate and cast it down to Viliant and Tacuma. While he held the rope, he shouted for the sailors to resume their battle stations.

Fia dashed up one of the contraptions like a snake. Perched atop its frame, she flapped her wings and coughed out embers. The dragonette had already expended her mana reserves on her comet-like strike, but she drew in a deep breath to refuel her fire. For Viliant, she could do anything.

On my signal, he advised. Viliant narrowed his eyes on her position, feeding her the location of the pirarucu which he sensed.

The ghost pirarucu twitched its tail to start a new dash through the water. It swam straight for Viliant and Tacuma who clung to the buoy.

"Pull us up!" Tacuma cried helplessly to her father.

Captain Ulatu had only reeled them far enough for Viliant to wedge his claws against the hull of the boat. If the pirarucu did not want to strike the ship directly, then they were safe here. And if the pirarucu did destroy the ship in its charge, then Viliant and Tacuma would be hardly safer on board.

The dragonet kept his eyes trained on the oncoming disturbance in the water. Now! he relayed to Fia.

"Now!" she whistled to the men who controlled the harpoon mechanism which doubled as her perch.

The sailors fired the harpoon, but it shot through the pirarucu's ghost-like body.

Viliant fluttered his eyes shut. Behind his eyelids, he saw the ephemeral form of the pirarucu swim through the shadow realm. A mist glowed purple around its black eyes until that magic streaked into a dull red along its linear markings of the same color. Farther away from the pirarucu at the center of this vision, bleak darkness radiated. The only mark, similarly dark, on the pirarucu was the burn which Fia had scorched into its side. Its maw of serrated teeth gaped open as the pirarucu drew nearer.

Viliant mastered his mind like Diwa had taught him, putting aside the fear which did not serve him now. However, he could not deny how powerful a dragon like Rokirith had become through emotive spellcasting. Viliant despaired at the foe before him, capable of swallowing him whole without need to shred him with those teeth. With all his might, he cast his own magic to interfere with the pirarucu's spell and drag them together into the physical world. Now! he ordered Fia again.

Fia spread her wings and glided to the base of the next closest harpoon. "Now!" she barked at the men behind this one.

The second harpoon struck the pirarucu's side, but its scales were still too tough to pierce it. Fia did not delay to watch this lackluster result. She sprinted to the harpoon which was positioned nearest to Viliant. The barbed point of the harpoon, glinting in the moonlight, was the last hope to stop the pirarucu before it reached Viliant and Tacuma.

A prayer caught on Fia's breath. She fluttered her wings to jump onto the harpoon launcher manned by Pako. Her pounding heart made her blood course like lava through her veins. More mana poured from her being, swirling into a vortex around the metal bolt of the harpoon. "Now!" she shrieked in time with Viliant's command: Now!

The final harpoon, harmonized with her spinning fire, struck the pirarucu in its vulnerable burn. Fia closed her eyes and willed her flames to explode. The attack ruptured a vital point within the fish, and the ghost pirarucu lost its momentum. The dead fish bobbed underwater until it floated past Viliant and Tacuma's spot.

A silence held over the deck aside from some relieved sighs.

We did it, Viliant quaked in awe.

We did it! Fia shared her astonishment with him, panting.

The rest of the crew soon erupted in cheers. They had slain the ghost pirarucu.