Eletheria’s body hurt everywhere from the landing. The fall and skips across the water when they hit explained a good amount of her pain, but she couldn’t understand why her face hurt. Though most of the fall was a blank as she had lost consciousness somewhere and still had no idea how she had fallen off the ship. She remembered the puffs of white smoke and a loud explosion but that was about it. Until she woke up falling and fearing this boy was trying to hurt her, that is.

She thought back to when she was piloting the Vol Mortem. She couldn’t remember the map they had shown her before she took control. All she could remember was the feeling of flying in the clouds above the sea, the speeding coastline under her as she felt like she was no longer being constrained by the ground. Wait, the coastline she had seen. Which direction was it? Tall waves obscured any sight of the horizon.

She wondered what they could do to improve their odds; they would just be small specks to anyone above looking for them. Digging through the pack, it appeared its sole function was to work as a glider. There wasn’t even a water skin included within it. Anyone who was using such a device was meant to return to the ship before food and water became a concern. She turned and looked at the light-skinned man who had saved her.

“You jumped after me?” Ele asked the young man floating next to her in the water. “Thank you.” She quickly followed up once she realized she hadn’t expressed it already

“You are a Windmistress,” Acanthio stated.

“What is your name?” Ele asked so she could at least refer to this young man by name.

“Acanthio, Windmistress,” he replied, “My friends call me Thio.” He bobbed a little as he tried to look her in the face as he said his name.

“Well, Acanthio, thank you again for saving me. Now, do you have any idea how we can get the ship’s attention?” Ele asked while carefully digging through the pack to make sure there was no pouch containing a flare gun or something to signal the Vol Mortem.

They both floated there, holding onto the pack, trying to think of an answer to Ele’s question when a loud splash interrupted the silence. They both turned and saw a large chunk of a ship’s hull bobbing in the water. The sound of the wind and waves masking the violence above. Acanthio broke their silence first.

“Perhaps, Windmistress, we should attempt to move away from under the battle?” he said, looking up above for falling debris.

“Yes, if we both get on one side of the pack, we could hold on and kick to move it.” Ele saw a long cloud off on the horizon and pointed toward it. “Let’s aim for that cloud so we won’t be going in circles.”

Together, they kicked and held onto the pack to keep themselves out of the water, holding it lengthwise, one at the top of the pack and the other at the bottom. They both held on with one hand. Occasionally they would use their free hand to help steer and maintain a course towards the lone cloud. Ele’s legs started to burn, and she struggled to avoid swallowing water with each gulping breath. As she lagged, the pack started driving in a circle as Acanthio kept pushing. They repositioned with him in the middle to push the pack, and she held on a little off to the side. She would occasionally try to kick some to help, but in the end, she could only prevent the pack from going in another circle.

The time between each kick of Acanthio’s legs grew. When his legs ceased kicking Ele moved to the opposite side of the pack to face Thio.

“I joined an airship crew because I hated the water,” Acanthio said suddenly. He hit the water with one hand as if attempting to injure it.

“I can agree with that,” Ele replied. “Do you think we have moved far enough away?”

“Hope so, can’t remember which direction the ships were traveling.”

“How about we rest a bit longer, then keep moving towards the cloud. I remember seeing a coastline. Once the sea calms we will be able to see which way to go.”

The next few minutes passed silently with both watching the sky for more falling debris. Nothing fell that they could see. Ele hoped the Vol Mortem was okay and the lack of debris helped, but she didn’t want to delude herself. The other ship had attacked first, started the fight at a higher elevation from the Vol Mortem, and appeared to have more guns. With a sigh Ele, silently wished she was better at lying to herself.

A few minutes passed and Ele hadn’t seen any debris falling near where they were currently. There were a few more clouds in the sky now, and the Vol Mortem could be anywhere. The sun bearing down upon them from above made it difficult to look upwards. The silence continued as they paddled towards the cloud on the horizon.

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“This isn’t fast enough,” Ele exclaimed in between puffs of breath. While Thio wasn’t breathing as hard as she was, an obvious weariness was growing as their little life raft moved slower and slower.

“I apologize, Windmistress. I am trying to push as fast as I can,” Thio replied with labored breaths.

“It is not your effort that is lacking, just the situation,” Ele replied, hoping Thio didn’t take insult at her comment. “You are pushing more than I am, it is just that swimming is not getting us anywhere fast enough. It also doesn’t cover the fact we do not know where we are going.”

After he paused, Thio suggested, “We could head back and hope to come across another glider pack.” Then, seeming to remember his manners, he added, “Windmistress.”

“This glider would still work, wouldn’t it?” Ele replied, trying to think about what she knew about gliders. With the wings torn off, it wouldn’t be able to maintain a stable flight. All she received in reply from Thio was a shrug of his shoulders.

“I am unaware of the glider’s workings,” Thio said. I was hoping to get the parachute packs; I just grabbed the wrong pack. My apologies, Windmistress.”

“You had two?” Ele pushed the pack down to raise herself up over the pack so she could look at Thio. “Where is the other…”

“It was taken from me by another sailor who caught me in the air. He overpowered me, Windmistress,” Thio replied and turned his head away before the look of disappointment he deserved appeared.

“I have an idea, though it may not work,” Ele said after a minute of silence.

“What can I do to assist, Windmistress?” Thio replied looking back at the Windmistress.

“First, stop calling me Windmistress. Call me Ele.” Ele was getting tired of Windmistress this, Windmistress that. “Second, I am going to attempt to activate the pack again. It will lift it up but hopefully we will see some coast.”

“Ok.” Thio paused as if to carefully say something, “Ele, what can I do to help?”

“I will put the pack on and need you go hold on tightly to me. Then once we are in the air keep an eye out for a coast or ship.” Ele informed Thio of her plan while trying to put the pack on. The sudden buoyancy on her back forced her to struggle to keep upright in the water. With Thio embracing her, all of their weight was on the wrong, and it was even more difficult to stay upright. Ele switched the pack on her front, and Thio holding tightly upon her with one hand and the pack with the other. Ele thought about doing a countdown or something but changed her mind.

With her hands upon the control arms, she powered the pack and felt it start to lift upwards. Thio’s weight pulled the pack towards his side. The pack had some control built into it as there were two lift devices, but they would help her steer to the left and right, not forwards or backward. Even then, it took a moment for her to remember that the controls were also reversed since the pack was on backward. Even with the pull in Thio’s direction Ele used the pack to lift them higher into the air. Soon, they were high enough up that they could see above the waves. A little longer, and they were high enough that a sudden fall could be lethal.

Maintaining that height was not difficult for Ele as it only used a fraction of her quan. They could see for miles around, and it was Thio who saw the coastline. Beaches and trees lined a small portion of the horizon. Without wings, they didn’t have much forward momentum, and currently, the only momentum was from Thio off-balancing the glider in his direction. Without wings, there wasn’t a way to use the wind to move them, so Ele used the turn controllers to drop the left side a little, and as Thio’s weight pulled them, it slowly turned them in a counter-clockwise direction. Halfway through the turn, Ele was also able to see the coastline. Once they were lined up with the coast behind Thio but in front of Ele, she brought the left-hand side to the same power level as the right. Soon, they were drifting towards land. A cool sea breeze pushed against them while also drying them off.

“Yeah!” Thio exclaimed once they started going. “Can we go higher?”

“No, the glider may fail and we would fall,” Ele replied, wondering how far up they could go safely.

“At least we are moving and drying out. I was worried we would be sleeping in the sea tonight.”

“Once we get to land, we can build a signal fire,” Ele hopefully replied.

“That may not be a…” This started to say, and when he saw the look on Ele’s face, he didn’t finish his sentence.

Ele knew they had to hope that the Vol Mortem survived the fight and would pick them up. If they had to walk back to Ascalon, it would be a week of travel over land. They were flying high enough to see some debris in the sea. There were quite a few bits of wood and cloth in one part, indicating that one of the two ships did lose the battle. She was unsure if the Vol Mortem was the winner.

The sudden thought of Sal floating in the sea worried Ele. Without thinking further, Ele turned towards the flotsam bundle in the sea and flew towards it. This new change in direction away from the coastline did not escape Thio’s notice.

“Wait, where are we going?” Thio shouted over the wind.

“I see something in the water,” Ele replied with a bit of hope in her voice and kept moving towards it.

“Is it the Vol Mortem?” Thio shouted back.

“I am not sure,” She responded a little less enthusiasm in her voice.

“Can I take a look?” Thio’s request was followed by a pause, and then Ele rotated them so Thio could also look. He was almost the same height as Ele, so he couldn’t get a better look than her.

“Do you see anything?” Ele asked, hoping he could spot anything that would calm her racing fears.

“No,” Thio started to reply, but as soon as the word No left his mouth, Ele was already turning them around so she could fly towards the debris.

“Maybe someone survived,” Ele exclaimed while wishing there was a way to build up some speed.

“Wait, if someone is down there, they may not be friendly,” Thio said.

“What if…” Ele started to say, but Thio interrupted her.

“We cannot help if we are dead. We need to make sure there is no danger,” Thio said, and the truth of his words reflected upon Ele’s face and in her mind. She had come so close to dying if it wasn’t for the bravery of this man, and she could have thrown it all away on a small hope.

“Any idea, Thio, on how we can search for survivors of the Vol Mortem without endangering ourselves?” Ele asked after taking a few seconds to compose both herself.

A minute passed by as Ele assumed Thio was thinking about the solution. While she couldn’t hover in place, she started to make a circle around the debris. They were too far away to see if someone was floating in the water. At this distance, they would only know if anyone had survived if Ele or Thio saw something move around. Another minute passed before Thio finally answered.

“My friends… and crew mates… might also be… down there,” Thio started to say his voice a little shaky, “However the ones who attacked us may also. While the battle for them is over, I do not wish to grant them a second chance.” He then closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes. “I think we should move towards the coastline. We may also want to consider not setting a signal fire.”

Ele looked at Thio closely. After he opened his eyes, he blinked away some moisture. She thought about the people who would attack without provocation and what they would take. The idea they would still try to fight even after their ship had lost scared her. Why fight a battle already lost? Thio’s words made sense, so she stopped making her little circuit around the debris and angled them towards the shore. When moving around the floating rubble, she kept her distance, and they made their way towards the shore. This time both of their eyes were rimmed with moisture.