Avira

The last thing Avira saw on the Lorelai was a bright light coming from the other boat. Two extra figures stood onboard, surrounding the slain daemon before another burst of light enveloped them all.

The warm sand underneath her was Avira's first sign that something was different. The waves crashed at the shore of the beach she was laid out on. Her vision gradually returned to her.

Godart's beaked mask was what she saw, the Plague Doctor's blue eyes looking at her with concern behind the lenses. “Are you okay?” asked Godart.

“Hm? Oh... yeah.” Avira spoke groggily, sitting up with a grunt and looking around.

“Good,” Godart said, “I was worried you might be injured.”

Avira's hearing, dulled after whatever happened, came back as she registered the commotion around them. All around them was the crew of the Lorelai, some of which were injured, patrolling the beach to find fellow crewmates and anything they could recover from the wreckage of the ship.

Wood, crates, barrels, and the occasional body floated in the water and rested on the shore. On a rocky outcrop sticking out of the sea in front of the island was the Lorelai, battle scarred. The holes in the hull were too large to easily patch, though Avira noticed a few of the crew over there surveying the damage. They were joined by some water hybrids; shark people, mermen, mermaids, and a dolphin man.

Avira focused back on Godart. “What exactly happened? We were just in a battle, weren't we?”

“Good question,” Godart replied, “I remember patching up someone whose arm had been cut off, and then a flash of light shone through the window. Then I woke up on the beach.”

“That's fucked,” Avira said, getting up.

“Right, well I need to tend to the wounded. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Godart said.

“Can I help?” Avira asked.

“You can help us explore the island,” came a male voice. Shen approached Avira, bandaged heavily. Godart exchanged a look with him and left as he continued speaking to the wolf girl.

“Hey, Shen,” Avira greeted the Quartermaster, “you holding up alright?”

Shen glanced down to observe his bandages. His arm was in a splint, he had numerous cuts and a few broken ribs, and a head wrapping. “I've been better. I've also been worse,” he cleared his throat, “anyways, I've got Gulliver flying around and scanning the shore and nearby islands. We have a number of missing crew. Hawke, his harpy friend, Anne, and the captain are notable examples.”

Avira examined the wall of trees that covered the island. It was thick, so a harpy overhead wouldn't be able to see if someone was within. “So you want me to canvas the foliage? How big is the island?”

“A day's travel circumnavigating it on foot,” Shen explained, “It's a decent size, but we should be able to find everyone with time.”

“That's assuming nobody went overboard. Speaking of, how did we get to this island?” Avira asked.

Shen shifted his posture, looking uncharacteristically nervous. “you didn't see them?”

Avira furrowed her brow. “See what?”

Shen considered something then shook his head. “It's nothing. Just find the captain and Anne.”

#

Hawke

Hawke came to hacking as saltwater spewed out, the prince turning to clear his airway faster. He sat back and looked around to see a dark cave lit by barnacles stuck to the walls. It was dim, but his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.

A shark woman stood over him, a globule of water levitating around her hand. Kalani was next to her, annoyed expression on her face.

“Kalani? Are you okay?” Hawke asked.

“Splash him,” Kalani commanded the shark woman, who shot the ball of water into Hawke's face.

He was already soaked, so Hawke simply brushed it off and stood. Kalani seemed annoyed at him, but he was too worried for that. “Do you have any injuries?” he asked, noticing that Kalani's wing looked broken. “Did you set that yet?”

“Hawke!” Kalani yelled.

“Sorry, I'm just worried. If you didn't set it I can help— “

“Dammit, shut up so I can be mad at you!” Kalani stomped her foot.

“Oh. Sorry, I guess I put myself in danger back there on the ship,” Hawke said.

Kalani pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, thoroughly exasperated. “I meant you diving into the water to save me!”

Hawke averted his eyes. “I'm not apologizing for that. You know you're important to me, Kalani.”

“You're also a prince,” she hissed.

Hawke sighed, “I don't believe your life is worth less than mine, That's all there is to it.” He glanced back to the bird girl who now sported a blush, but still looked angry.

“You know as well as I that it is. I'm your guard for a reason.”

The shark woman spoke up now, patting the two on the shoulder with heavy, rough hands. “I think it's respectable, but what isn't is being so overcome with panic you fail to use any of your elemental ability to make sure you don't drown.”

That stung. “Okay, I admit that was dumb. Uh, anyways, who are you?” he asked.

The shark woman shot a sharp, toothy grin. “Izumi. I rescued you two. I was surprised at how few were thrown overboard. My kin have taken most of them to the island everyone ended up at.”

“Island? The ship crashed?” Hawke asked.

“Apparently,” Kalani said.

“Alright, well would you take us there as well? I need supplies to help Kalani with her wing.”

Kalani, now showing some signs of pain from her broken wing, seemed confused. “Since when do you know how to mend harpy wings?”

Hawke flashed a coy smile. “Let's just say I looked into it just in case.”

Kalani gave an exasperated sigh and couldn't help but smile. “Vaki's sake, you won't even let me stay mad at you.”

#

Mareth

“This sadness is really harshing my vibe,” Valisa said as she floated next to Mareth, who had his amulet out.

Though many of the sailors made it out okay, the occasional body still lined the shore. “You can tell what kind of emotions are floating around?” Mareth asked.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Well, anyone with observation skills could do that. Though I can kind of feel the emotions around me in a sense, yeah.”

“I see,” Mareth replied. He continued down the beach. Most of the crew had formed a camp in sight of the ship by now, but the occasional person walked by yelling the names of the missing crew.

When Mareth returned to the camp, he was met with an interesting sight. Shark hybrids had arrived on the island, carrying numerous people. Also arrived was Anne, who was being tended to by Godart. It looked like a good way to get educated on daemon physiology at least.

He approached Hawke and Kalani. Hawke was tending to Kalani's wing while Kalani gave a few annoyed grunts of pain.

“I see you two are alright,” Mareth said with a grin.

“In a subjective sense,” Kalani spoke through grit teeth, “I'm hoping Hawke knows what he's doing here.”

Hawke was binding her wing tightly with fabric. “Okay, I said I got training in this but it's my first time doing this, so go easy on me. I did everything how I'm supposed to though.”

“I trust you, don't worry. This just hurts like piss is all,” Kalani said. She examined Mareth, bright yellow eyes burning a hole in his head. “You must be the famous scholar. We haven't met formally yet.”

“Indeed we haven't. Mareth Morsum, as I'm sure you're aware.” Mareth bowed slightly.

“Kalani Sky. Under normal circumstances I'd have kept the prince away from people of your reputation, but I'm glad you've been an asset to him,” Kalani spoke sternly, a completely different posture than when she was speaking with Hawke.

“Well he is an interesting man.” Mareth smiled, causing Kalani to narrow her eyes.

“I'm right here, you know,” Hawke said, drawing the two's attention. “Kalani, just relax, we've been journeying together for a little over a week now.”

“You know that's not very long, right, princeling?” Kalani asked.

“It's long enough to get a sense of character.” Hawke shrugged.

“Well, I might not come off as the most virtuous, but I do intend to finish my traveling with you two on a good note. And considering you're going to be grounded for a while, let's get along. Or at least, not eye each other with so much suspicion,” Mareth explained, hoping that he didn't have to deal with the same kind of hostility the harpy had met Avira with.

Kalani scanned him up and down and scoffed. “Fine. Just watch yourself.”

Mareth nodded. “Always do.”

He continued into the camp, eyeing the crates of still usable food that had been gathered. While one party worked on fixing the boat, the other seemed to be stocking up on new food to replace what was spoiled.

“God, what a bitch that bird was,” Valisa spoke next to Mareth.

“She's protective. It's admirable how seriously she takes her duty. I assume she's his guard,” Mareth replied.

“Probably about half of that is out of the desire to hog the prince to herself.” Valisa smirked.

“You think so?” Mareth asked.

“Definitely. Moron. Relationships formed out of a sense of duty don't end well.”

“I think there's a difference in their relationship and something like an arranged marriage.”

That last part hit Valisa in a sore spot. An annoyed expression crossed her face and she floated as far away as she could.

“Alright, good talking,” Mareth said.

“Huh. You say something to me?” a sailor asked Mareth.

“Huh? Oh, no, just muttering to myself.” Mareth waved him off. The sailor shrugged and continued on his way. Mareth considered that perhaps he was speaking to ghosts too much.

#

Avira

Avira slapped away a few bugs as she cleared her way through the dense forest. Though the bugs were annoying, she found this environment far preferable to the bleak cells of Drima and the cramped ship. If she had time Avira would have made something to keep the insects off her, but she was in a hurry.

No spirits seemed to exist in the woods to help her find the captain or any of the other missing crew. She had to resort to her instincts and senses instead. Her ears flicked as they caught as many sounds as possible. Keeping her eyes on the surroundings, Avira sniffed around. Fruit, hints of dung, seawater, and finally from deeper in the island she could smell blood.

The brush was so thick and full of so many spikes that Avira had to cut it down with her knife while trudging along. It was slower going for her, but the wolf girl could only imagine how much worse it would be for the normal crew. Avira reminded herself to get a once over for parasites after this.

She made it to the source of the blood after what seemed like an hour. Reeves sat, leaned against a tree. A sword was buried in his gut, blood pooled around him. Too much.

Avira knelt to listen to him. She was shocked to hear a rasping breath.

“Cap?” She shook him.

He seemed to stir, his eyes opening a sliver. “Aye...” His booming voice was gone now. “Let me sleep, lass.”

“As if. You've got places to be, you old fart.” Avira slapped him lightly to keep him awake.

“Too late. One of those husks got me good. I've been sitting here a while. I'm too damn hardy,” he forced out a laugh, blood spraying out. “Just let me relax for a moment.”

Avira wasn't sure what to do. She'd dealt with death before, but she was usually the dealer. This amount of blood surely meant he wasn't long for the world. Any attempt to move him would probably do more harm than good.

She sat next to him, taking a breath.

“You know... I never wanted to be captain,” Reeves started, “the crew voted me in, thanks to my dad being the last one.”

“You seem like such a natural leader though,” Avira commented.

“Thanks. I learned to like it in time. It's rewarding, getting a bunch of layabouts and uniting them for a common cause. That being getting rich of course.” Another laugh. This time it devolved into a coughing fit, another spew of blood coming out.

Avira patted his back, unable to do much else to comfort him. Once the captain was done, he leaned back on the tree one more time. “Hey, lass?”

“Yeah?” Avira asked.

“Give my body to the shark tribe, will you?”

“Sure. If I can lug your body out of here.”

Reeves chuckled to himself, then was silent. Avira heard his breathing stop, and he grew cold. The captain died next to Avira, his words still playing in her mind.

The next hours went quickly. Avira flagged Gulliver down and got help taking Reeves to the shore, where the shark tribe took charge of his funeral. Apparently he had been an honorary member of the tribe, which surprised almost nobody. The sun down by the time Avira and the others got back together, laying on the beach while the ship was undergoing it's finishing touches. The five stared at the stars and multicolored moon in silence before Godart spoke.

“What do you guys think the stars are, anyways?” Godart asked.

Mareth was the first to respond, “well, the popular consensus academically is that they're giant sources of energy so far away we can't comprehend. Our sun is one also.”

“I always heard that they were fragments of the Shattered God that never formed into Immortals,” Hawke said.

“Hm. Most tribes think of them as a representation of the Spirits, watching us. That's where they go when they're not in the forests,” Avira explained.

“I believe that they're fragments of the Shattered God, myself,” Kalani said, “though some harpies think they're other harpies who managed to fly to the heavens.”

“Huh. I guess it depends on the culture,” Godart wondered.

“I guess so. The world is full of things where meaning wildly varies depending on what you see. It's true between tribes, even,” Avira said, more thinking aloud than anything.

“I see you're starting to get introspective,” Shen's voice said, the man standing over Avira.

“Hey, there, captain,” Avira said, still laying there.

“Not used to that yet...” Shen muttered, “anyways, I wanted to thank you for finding Reeves. It's a shame about what happened.”

“Yeah. Speaking of, he wound up very far into the forest. You never explained to me how we got on this island,” Avira inquired, sitting up.

“Ah. Have you heard of the Men in White?”

The others sat up, Hawke speaking, “They've shown up all over, haven't they? Usually just for an instant at important events.”

“And they've been showing up when daemons die,” Mareth said.

“True.” Shen nodded.

“So it was them? That was teleportation though, wasn't it? Isn't that something relegated to the Immortals?” Avira asked.

Shen simply smiled. “Let's just say this world is full of strange sights. Sail for a while, you'll see them all. Have a good night you all. We set off in the morning.”

Avira watched him leave and the group laid back down. She stared at the stars until sleep took her.