It took a few minutes for Seren to convince Vachlan to join her and look at what she was seeing. It took even longer for the woman to make her way down, the scraping sound echoing amidst curses.

“Damn...” whistled Rive, the first of the two to make it. “And you just... saw that?”

“You can see it too, right?”

“Kinda?” They shrugged. “I mean, when you’re pointing to it, I see it as a place that has a lot of those glowing stones. If you weren’t pointing at it, though, I don’t think I would have noticed it. It’s not that bright to me. Or obvious.”

Vachlan came over and, for a brief second, put her wing on Seren’s shoulder. The captain didn’t mention that it felt nice. Weighted with almost the perfect amount of pressure to ground a person and make them feel safe.

“... I don’t see what you’re talking about,” she finally said after peering where Seren wanted her to. “It’s just water, and behind the falls, rocks.”

“That’s exactly my point!” Seren said, excited about what she and Rive could see. “I don’t think the rocks wash here from anyplace else. I think they’re created here, and every so often they wash into the river down below.”

Vachlan didn’t look impressed by this logic.

“Look, you said that people who live here can’t see the stones, right?” Rive didn’t wait for her answer. “We’re seeing it and you’re not. That’s what’s happening. Shouldn’t you trust us with something you already admitted outsiders do better? Or are you going to let this opportunity slip away from you?”

She snorted. “Fine. You can see something I can’t. What happens next?”

A wing gestured to the falls as she stepped away from Seren. “It’s in the middle. Will you swim up the river and grab stones while battling the currents at their strongest? Will you magically float after being swept off the falls? Those are about the only two ways I can see for collection.”

Seren wanted to snap back that she didn’t have the magic to do either of those things, but before the first cross word escaped her mouth, she bit her bottom lip. Blowing up at Vachlan wouldn’t accomplish anything. And it might actually result in them being paid less, or not at all.

“We can think about that when we clean up the wood, right?” She looked over at Rive, who was already nodding. Knowing how her engineer liked their projects, they were probably already dreaming up ways that the two of them could get behind the waterfall and nab most of the rocks they could see.

“Fair,” grumbled Vachlan. They looked at the way up again, heaved a large sigh, and began scratching their way back up. This time, Seren looked closer and saw that the being’s legs didn’t have the same structure as human legs, and Vachlan’s knees... or were those ankles on a human? Whichever they were, they bent backwards. Which explained why she was having such a hard problem going up the slope; she needed to claw the ground, so she didn’t fall flat on her face.

That might have been why she was unhappy about having to come back down. Not to mention she couldn’t see anything they had pointed out. She had lost all her climbing progress for what looked to be no reason.

Seren ran up to where the two of them were just talking about where the water originally came from. She listened patiently, learning that the river was a mix of several springs from the outside, and each of them had a component that people sought. The Red River, the Petwa river, and the Junla hot spring all fed into the Azmar river’s path at different points.

People visited those areas and enjoyed the benefits the waters gave them, Vachlan continued to explain. But the problem was that the more the different waters came together, the more the individual benefits weakened. By the time everything arrived here, in Azmar, there weren’t any benefits left.

The impromptu lecture lasted until the three of them reached the top of the slope. From there they could look upon the rapid waters below. It was darker up here, Seren saw, and not just because the mist was creating lighted areas. She took a long piece of wood from nearby and tried to reach the bottom sand, but had to be caught by Rive when the wood touched nothing.

“It’s deeper up here,” confirmed Vachlan. “And a bit more shallow at the bottom. There’s a large pool at the bottom from the pounding of the falls, but only for a few strokes.”

“Good to know that we won’t go splat if we’re swept off,” said Rive.

“I can tell you didn’t grow up near nature.” Seren laughed as the engineer turned to glare at her. “Falls that high up are probably going to give you a headache, if not a broken arm. And with how fast the current is going, there’s no way to stop before we’re off the edge.”

Rive snorted. “Another reason why only outsiders clean up here?”

She nodded. “Better someone who is traveling, and can afford to take the time to heal themselves, than someone who lives here and who will need another person to take on their responsibilities.”

Seren nodded, thinking about how she and Rive were going to tackle the upper part of the river. There was no crossing up here, only a few other rocks on the far side of the river, and... well, that was about it. She turned to the slope and noticed another area with chained links.

“Rive... what do you think about using the chains from the slope while we clean up?” She pointed at what she was talking about. “Think about it. Take this off, tie it around a person, and they'll tug if they need help.”

They were already looking at the metal, touching it and running their hands across it.

“It’s heavy,” they finally said, looking up and shaking their head. “So I’m not sure if you’d want to swim this across the middle of the river. Other than that, it looks as if it’ll hold a person’s weight, and there’s links on the other side that’ll attach.”

“It’ll be an idea to keep in mind, then. Vachlan, we may be visiting, but we don’t have the time or inclination to be injured. We need to earn coin, pay for the items and services we’ve used here, find a threader, and make our way to Wavemeet so we can become part of a guild. Breaking an arm or a leg doesn’t help with that list.”

“A threader… I might be able to help you with that request, depending on the mastery you need.”

“At the very least, we need someone to check our ship. After that yields more information, we might have another job for them.”

Vachlan nodded. “Then I know who to ask. For your river project, I can help in a few ways, but my body is not meant to be in waters that rough or deep.”

Rive continued talking, pointing out rocks on the other side which a rope could be tied to, if they had rope. They looked at Vachlan when they said that, and she nodded, prompting a smile from them. A rope attached from both sides would allow the person to go across the river; using the metal links would keep the person from plunging over the edge.

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Rive looked at Seren after they finished explaining, and she nodded in agreement. Then the captain turned to Vachlan.

“Can we get those supplies? Using the links from the slope and also having a long rope that can reach the opposite bank?”

“How will it tie on the other side? The currents are too strong for any of us to swim over.”

“And there’s no threader here?” Seren asked.

“Not for this.”

This made her want to ask how well the threader performed their magic, but that was a question for another time.

“I can work with that… yeah, that’s fine. I’ve got an idea that should work.”

“Very well.” Vachlan turned to Rive. “Come with me. We’ll get the rope and the tool needed to unhook the chains for use.”

“We can do that?”

“Of course.” She blinked. “Like several of the items you see around you, they can have more than one function. I only need to receive the proper permissions before we can use them. Captain Seren, we shall leave you here for the moment. Please, do nothing stupid.”

Vachlan started going down the slope again and Seren noticed she slid more than walked as she went, wings stretched out so that she kept her balance. Rive waved, then headed after their employer.

The sound of rushing water was smooth, and in some ways similar to home. She missed the waves on the beach, the small brooks that wound their way to the one lake on the island. This was much larger, and stronger than any river she’d ever seen, but there was still that connection.

“What did I do?” she asked herself. The words were quickly swallowed up, lost in the roar of white water. Her knees started shaking, so she pushed off of the railing and sat down on a convenient flat rock nearby. “I stole an airship, and I ran away from home. Hell, I’ve gotten Rive tangled up in all of this! If I’m caught, what’ll happen to them?”

Her mind whirled with everything. The knowledge that her parents would find her. The guilt she still felt for stealing the ship, especially now, after learning that the original captain was dead. The worries about their ship being found through threading were thankfully dying down, but now there were concerns about how to sign up with the guild, how to make coin without taking on odd jobs. How to anchor the ship without Rive dying!

“Okay. Relax. Meditate, just like how dad taught you.” And wasn’t that thought a punch to the gut, too? Her parents, the two men she’d always thought had all the answers, didn’t. Or they were deliberately withholding information to keep her at home and isolated.

But... These were the same people who tucked her in at night, who told her stories of far off adventures, who taught her how to cook, and clean, and read. All of this was too many emotions. She sucked in a deep breath and almost laughed; she hadn’t been expecting a mouthful of mist all the way up here. That was the detail that let her slip into meditation. Thinking over the colors and how they felt to her, Seren selected green, brown, orange, and gold. Each time she breathed in, there was a mix of those colors flooding her body. Energy, determination, passion, and luck.

She did that for a while, and let herself be lost in the dampness. Her feelings didn’t drain away, but they became more manageable threads, and with an impish thought, she started thinking of her new friends and acquaintances as colored threads. She claimed a glittering white color for herself, after the dragon she’d met on her first day in the sky. Rive... they were gray, but not a hard gray. One that was brightly polished and dependable. She didn’t know their siblings that well, but Bri... Bri she colored a burnt red, and then stopped playing with that color. Captain Juji was bright blue, a sky blue, mostly for the energy he had, and Jo was a dark shade of yellow, sunshine under a cloud, complimenting him. Tairdi... she wasn’t sure about coloring with xem. Xe could be a dark brown or sandy yellow to match xyr fur coloring, but energy wise... dark green, like the tea her dad used to drink. Vachlan was new too, but for her... ha! Seren made the being’s color similar to the rocks she’d seen behind the waterfall. Glowing, but more of a light green than yellow.

With images of skeins around her, she started knitting a pattern of circles and squares, all the colors weaving in and out. That was one thing she liked about mind-knitting, being able to add as many colors as she wanted. It wasn’t perfect, since she didn’t get to keep a physical copy of anything she made like this, but she always had a calmer mind afterwards, so that seemed to be a substitute. Mental clarity instead of material progress.

“Captain?”

Seren placed her knitting to the side, then opened her eyes to see that the other two were back. Rive was bent under a rope draped around their chest, and Vachlan had a new tool belt wrapped around her waist.

“I’m still here, yes.” She got to her feet and smiled at the others. “What? You said not to do anything stupid, so I stayed away from the edge and had some peaceful inner time.”

“That sounds like a very reasonable action to take,” said Vachlan. They were already at the slope’s edge, fiddling with the chains. “I’ll loosen these, and all three of us will need...”

“We need to deal with the rope first, yeah.” Rive ducked so that the coil thudded to the ground. “But, captain, you said you had an idea?”

“Give me the end of the rope and lay the rest of it out. I want to make sure it won’t bunch up on accident.” Seren picked up the open end and coiled the rope a few times. Then, with a hand grasping the new section, she began knotting.

“What’s that going to do?”

“Make a loop that will self-knot. We’ll toss it over the river, snag the rock, and tie the other end to the rock here. That way we have a cross rope. And we'll slip the rope through the metal before we tie it.” She held up the loop she’d completed. “See.”

“Where did you learn knots and ropework?”

“At home. From both dad and father.” She frowned, then shook her head. Just because she was angry they didn’t teach her some things didn’t mean she shouldn’t use what they had taught her.

“I’ve got the chain unlinked from its spot on the slope,” added Vachlan. A clinking sound came from behind Seren. “How did you want to add it to the rope?”

Seren took the other end piece and passed it through the eye of a link in the chain.

“And that’ll be enough?”

“There’ll be pressure on the rope, but this will keep friction down since it’ll be in the air and not pulled in the water. And it’s as safe as we can get, so hopefully that’ll be enough.” She turned to them. “My question to you is about the wood. Should we move it all now, or get the wood first? As an engineer, is the structure sound or is it going to collapse on me?”

Rive shrugged.

“I... I have no idea? I make things, I don’t look at how others work. And with this, at least half of the wood is underwater, so what am I looking for? Rot I can feel or see? Missing pieces?” They gestured to Vachlan. “You’d know more about this than I would. How do the creatures normally build? Do their dams fall apart easily?”

Seren snorted as Vachlan shrugged.

“I mean, some of the wood drifts past my living space, but not frequently?”

“Okay, so what I’m doing is first putting the rope on the other side, and that’ll let me bring the chain across without us losing it. That way, I’ll get everything fixed over there and you two can check things here.” Before anyone could say no, she put actions to words and threw the loop over to the other side. It landed half in the stream.

“Is it going to make it over there?”

“I’ve got this, Rive, but it might take a few times.” She just needed to get used to the heft. Another throw was too much to one side, so she had to re-do the entire knot when the rope was pulled back. Finally, on the last throw, the rope caught and knotted around the biggest rock. “Yes! Okay, so now I’ll travel across and check the other side, bringing the chain with me and fastening it to the links over there.”

“No way, captain.” Rive put a hand on her shoulder. “I should do this. Also, I’m taller and stronger.”

Seren snorted.

“And how well do you swim? Had a lot of chances to do that growing up, right? In open ocean, in lakes...” She grinned as Rive made a face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. If something happens, then the person in the water should at least know how to swim.”

She started taking off her sandals, and she knotted the shirt she was wearing so it wouldn’t billow out behind her. The chain stayed behind, attached to the rope which she’d pull on from over there to bring the metal in. Steeling herself, she put a foot in from her position at the edge.

“Ooh, that’s cold!”

Vachlan snickered. “You mentioned places open to the sun and which allow themselves to be warmed by her gentle embrace. This river flows through the darkness and is friends with those who play in eternal night. It’ll be colder than any other water you’ve met.”

“Ah. Great,” muttered Seren, forcing herself to go deeper into the river.