Vachlan wasn’t kidding. This water was nothing like the lake Seren knew, and while the current made her feel as if she was out in the ocean again, it was too cold. Her legs were numb, with the sensation crawling up her body and making her hair rise as if it was frightened of getting wet. The bottom was, at first, muddy and mucky, but after Vachlan came to the edge, that feeling of things going squish between her toes went away.

“I can at least short up the mud,” she’d said when Seren had looked back in surprise.

“Can’t you pull out the earth and make a bridge to walk across?” asked Rive, speaking louder so Seren could hear them clearly over the water. Thankfully, she wasn’t too far away from the shore. “That’s logical.”

Vachlan sighed and shook her head. “You don’t have mastery over any elements, do you?”

“Nope!” Rive grinned. “Everything I do is hard work and brain power.”

Seren winced. Maybe they hadn’t meant it to sound like how it had come out, but they were going to be cut to pieces by Vachlan for that remark.

“Oh. I see,” said the winged woman. “So my having to wrestle for control, and using my body’s energy in the process, is not work at all?”

“I didn’t—”

“That’s exactly what you just said,” she continued, talking over their protest. “Did you mean it? Or did you speak in ignorance?”

Knee deep in the river, Seren wondered the same thing. She knew what she wanted them to say, but that didn’t mean they actually would.

“I...” They let out a sigh and rubbed their head with both hands. “You’re right. I spoke...” their voice trailed off and Seren didn’t hear the rest of what they said. Judging by Vachlan’s satisfied body language, though, it was them admitting their mistake.

“To explain a bit more about the magic system that the elements entail,” she said, looking over to Seren as if making sure she was listening, “and to bring you in the understanding, all mastery is based on self. The energy you use is the energy your body gives you naturally. The amount of energy it would take to create a bridge for a being to walk on is more than I can provide. Then there is the problem of how to make a bridge so I don’t dump someone in the river; unlike you, I do not have an eye for crafting projects and making things.”

Rive muttered something and Vachlan laughed.

“No, I cannot magically make a bridge spring to life. If the support isn’t there, it won’t hold anyone up. That’s also why you’ll never see ships made only of elements. It would take too much focus and energy to keep the ship sailing and directed.”

Which only confirmed what Seren and Rive had learned about their ship, that whomever had made it had produced a high level of water mastery since they’d been able to keep water from entering through cracks. It made her wonder, for a second, how much energy had been stored in her dad’s spell and how he’d done that.

“What I can do, however, is make small steps for your captain to take so her ankles aren’t trapped in the mud. Or, if you wish, I don’t have to do anything and she can hurt herself by straining against the current while forced to remain in one area.”

“No.” Rive coughed, turning their shoulder to Seren. “Thank you for your help.”

“Okay.” There was a moment before Vachlan began speaking again. “Is there anything else you don’t know, and yet you’ve spoken as if you’re an expert?”

“Yeah, fine, there is.” Rive’s voice grew loud again, allowing Seren to hear every word they were practically shouting at Vachlan. “How come Tairdi says you’re a friend, but every time we’ve mentioned xem your reactions have been pretty shitty?”

“Rive!” snapped Seren. She wanted to add for them not to piss off the person helping her out, nor the one that was going to pay, but... they had a point. A good point. Tairdi had always mentioned her kindly and in pleasing terms, but she’d turned away when hearing xyr name.

“Yeah, give me any look you want. You know I’m right.”

Okay, so they hadn’t heard her. Instead of asking her engineer to calm down, Seren kept her eyes focused on what little ground there was in the water, and concentrated on moving back.

Vachlan’s voice rose as well; this was almost like how her father reacted when she’d dared yell back during punishment. Dad would clam up, holding everything inside until he erupted with fury at anyone in the area. Father would match her, tone for tone, and when she’d yell, he’d yell right back. As weird as it might have been, trying to be heard over his yell had taught her two lessons for the price of one. First, she really didn’t enjoy being yelled at. Second, if everyone involved in the conversation was angry, then nobody was listening.

With a sigh that either went ignored, or more likely, was covered up by the water, she continued to the slope side. None of the pathway she’d previously felt followed her though, since apparently Vachlan hadn’t noticed the change of direction.

Seren yelped as she splashed, submerging fully as the current swept over her. She knew what was coming before it happened; her body fell into open space, and after a few seconds jerked to a stop, the harness she’d rigged keeping her under the white water. The others had probably heard her—maybe—and even now were thinking of how to pull the chains back in.

That was something she hadn’t thought of. With all of her weight added to by the falling water, how was anyone going to pull her out? Did they need the rest of the town to help?

She cautiously opened her eyes, putting her arms over her head so she didn’t hit too hard. Wait a second… This was close to where she’d seen the rocks! She wriggled about to see exactly where she was, and about an arm’s length to the left, below her, was the biggest concentration. Several rocks rested in front of her as well, even if they weren’t as big as the ones she’d first seen. Straining to reach them required her to brace one arm with the other. Seren felt her fingertips brush against something rough, but when she looked again, nothing was there.

Had the stones fallen? She tried to look for them, but a single glance down told her there was no way she’d be able to find them. Better than those, though, was the bigger group! Vachlan had said they’d each have the fifth choice of the stones they’d gotten, so that meant they needed at least ten. Seren’s mind raced, trying to figure out the best possible solution.

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Going lower was easy, if she could get the rope to unwind. Going left was harder, but if she swung her body weight and put as much motion as possible into her legs, then that should actually work.

Holding as tight as possible since the cold water was numbing her fingers, Seren grabbed hold of the chain above her and maneuvered her leg so that it slipped out of the rope she’d slipped through a link. Then she did the same to the other side. Now her foot was in the loop meant for her thigh and she was holding on by curling her arm around and grasping with her hand.

The water made things tricky, but so far it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She removed her foot and controlled her descent down the chains. When she reached where the first loop of rope was, she hooked her arm around the other hoop and felt about for the knots. If she unknotted it, then that would give her extra length while leaving her with a loop to put an arm or a leg through—and then that would allow her to rock back and forth to move toward the cluster of rocks.

The first part of that went well. She removed the knot and dropped about half her height. After that, though, things became a problem. Her hands were freezing at this point, which meant she wasn’t sure how hard she was grasping. Seren started swinging, the falls slowing down her speed, but once she pumped her legs hard enough, it wasn’t enough to stop her.

She was across the waterfalls now, reaching out with one trembling hand to touch all the rocks she saw glowing. Pain shot up her arm as she scraped it against the rocks. Seren cursed, but hung on and the next time she swung back, she put her legs out to slow down. That was her last mistake. Her feet hit the rocks and jarred her hard enough that her hand slipped from the chain. For a moment she hung upside down from the loop, and then she slipped off that as well.

Seren pointed herself downward and placed her hands so she’d cut into the water. She opened her eyes after she felt herself floating to the surface again. She’d hit those rocks, right? Her feet certainly seemed to agree. So those stones would have to be here. And if she was already here, why not dive for them?

It was blurry, most likely from everything being churned up, but the deeper she swam, the more everything settled. At the bottom, she saw plenty of rocks. Over twenty, maybe even triple that! Several of them were rippling in the same manner that Tairdi’s rocks had pulsed, and if they were touch-based as well, that meant those were all the ones that had just fallen. Her eyes widened at seeing exactly how many others were there. Maybe those were other types of rocks? They all couldn’t be what Vachlan wanted, because then they wouldn’t be rare.

Her lungs ached, telling her it was time to head back up for some fresh air. Seren took another look around, then started kicking. Bubbles preceded her to the top, and then she broke through, sucking in a large gasp of air.

“CAPTAIN!”

She turned to see Rive shouting something from over at the edge.

“What?” she yelled back, shaking her head. There was too much noise; no way she was going to hear them and that meant they wouldn’t hear her either. Seren started swimming over, and after several steady strokes, was close enough that Rive reached down and grabbed her.

“What were you trying to do?!” they scolded, taking her right hand and leaning as far backwards as possible. Seren rose slowly from the river, then popped out when Vachlan added her own strength.

“Did you injure yourself?” asked Vachlan, shaking droplets from her feathers. “We pulled up on the metal chain, but we already knew it was too light.”

“I’m fine,” said Seren, squeezing water out of her hair. “I’m sorry, Rive, I really thought I had a better grip.”

“Why?” They threw up their hands as if there were more words that couldn’t be expressed in mere sounds. “Why not just let us pull you up, and then you could have told us you needed more time or something—is this how you felt when I was anchoring the ship?”

“Worse,” Seren looked Rive in the eyes and tried to show how serious she was about that answer, even if she felt herself trying not to laugh. “At least I would hit water, which is much kinder than ground would have been to you.”

“Not by much,” added Vachlan. “There have been times when the falls have broken people’s bones and scrambled their heads.”

“I promise I’m fine. I controlled my fall and when I was down there, do you know what I saw?” Seren didn’t wait for them to guess before she let her secret slip. “Lots of those rare rocks!”

“What?” Vachlan looked confused. “We’ve only found them in the shallows. How do you know it’s those types of rocks and not another kind?”

“You said they ripple when they’re touched—these had the same pattern, I saw it underwater.” Seren pointed back at the deep end of the waterfall. “I’ll go back in and grab a few, they didn’t look as if they were too far down.”

“Farther than you think,” said Vachlan, tapping the side of their beak. “The water’s clear, beings have said, where the white froth ends, but apparently it’s similar to a mirage. The bottom is further away than can be touched.”

“I guess that’s why you can only wait for the rocks to be pushed back into the current.” Seren turned to watch Rive plant themself on the bank, looking down at the turbulence. They caught her looking in their direction and shook their head.

“Nope. Whatever plan you’re thinking of, I want no part in it.”

“I need you, though.” Seren was already thinking about what Rive could do. “Also, Vachlan.”

“Yes?”

“Can you raise the ground like you did with the mud up there?” asked Seren, pointing to where she’d fallen from. “I’m like Rive, I don’t know that much about magic.”

Vachlan shook her head from side to side.

“It was possible because there’s a lot of mud up there. Nothing really changes when I harden it or when I let it fall apart again. Under the waterfall was created from water pounding porous rocks. If I change it from its original shape, then I might damage the entire area.”

“Honestly, elemental mastery sounds annoying,” commented Rive. “Can’t do this, can’t do that. Someone tells me I can’t do something, that’s my time to prove them wrong.”

“Humph.” Vachlan didn’t sound impressed with Rive. “Very well. You can’t use any of the elements. What now? Are you magically going to master one?”

“What would happen, Vachlan, if you moved the rocks down below?”

She sighed, turning away from Rive and running her beak through a few feathers on her neck before answering.

“Let’s start with one of the first rules about elements, at least with earth. If I move something, I need to know its exact placement to put it back without causing a problem. Mud is fine. Easy. Rock? If I’m too short or too much, then it can’t support the weight or other rocks it was holding before I moved it, and then everything comes crashing down. I know you met with Tairdi, and most likely visited xyr library. If you remove a bottom book from holding up a stack of them, you risk toppling the entire stack.”

“You’re saying there’s a chance you could bring down the entire cliff?”

“Yes.” There was a pause. “Or at least, that’s a theory I wish not to test.”

Seren nodded, looking back at the river. “That makes sense. And no, I don’t want to risk that either.”

“There’s got to be mud down there.”

“But then I don’t know where the stones are,” Vachlan pointed out. “Since I can’t sense them.”

“Not even their absence? You said you can’t sense the stones themselves, but what about sensing around the stone? Can you do that?”

“There’s nothing covering them, so no. Also, that returns to the problem of pushing them up.”

“Captain? Are you okay?”

Seren looked over at Rive, then glanced at Vachlan.

“I’ve got an idea! And yes, before either of you say anything, it's a better one than before!"