The three of them sat at the table, silently sipping or blowing on their hot soup. Vachlan’s explanation of why she felt the rocks were dangerous was a valid concern; they could easily tell secrets about someone’s mental, emotional, and physical state. Rive had protested against the physical part, but then Vachlan had hit them in the head and the point had shown up on the stone. Another slight cuff appeared in the same place, and then when Vachlan followed it up with a jab at their shoulder, a slightly lower part of the stone rippled, proving her point.

“So... we have to hide these from other people. Which should be easy,” continued Seren, staring at her pink rock, “since they seemed to be attuned to us.”

“Us and at least...” Vachlan did a swift count. “Four more people.”

Seren bit her lip and continued drinking the soup. It was good, slightly salty, but went down smoothly with a rich flavor and warmth that puddled at the bottom of her stomach. Did having this many rocks mean they needed that many more people on the Picotree Drop? Or did it mean they just needed to find other people to give the stones to?

“Okay...” She took a deep breath. “Well, I guess the first thing we do is discuss the fact that all three of us have our own stone.”

Rive and Vachlan both nodded.

“Which, and maybe this is only me, but I feel that means we keep them close. On us.”

Another nod.

“I think the same, actually. I don’t want to let this rock out of my sight.” Rive picked up their gray thing and coddled it in their hands. “It feels... Vibrant?”

“Mine has a feeling to it as well,” confessed Vachlan. “And it’s one of privacy.”

Seren smiled at that.

“Okay. Then we at least agreed that these rocks are not leaving us. What about the other stones? The ones we think belong to other people we haven’t met yet. Do we keep them?”

Rive and Vachlan looked at each other, but didn’t say what they were thinking. They shrugged shoulders. Tilted heads to look everywhere except the stones. And continued eating.

Vachlan was the first to speak. “It feels strange, does it not? To see other people in such an intimate manner?”

A wing stroked the air above a slightly orange rock with a twisted top.

“This person is having problems with their head, it looks like.”

“But we can’t give them to anyone else,” Rive pointed out. They let out a sigh of relief when the other two agreed with them. “So it doesn’t matter if we want to or not, we have to keep them for now. And see what happens in the future.”

Seren reached out for the other four rocks and gathered them together.

“I guess this means we don’t need to take any rocks from the other baskets?” asked Seren with a nod. Vachlan shook her head and clacked her beak.

“No, take at least three rocks. Sell one of them here. Get the money you need for the supplies you need. And then... leave.” Vachlan shook her head, fluffing out the feathers around her neck. “Right. Leaving.”

Seren felt her insides clench, anticipation mixing with excitement.

“Did you decide?”

Vachlan nodded. “I think so. Rive was right.”

“I was?” They coughed as both women turned to look at them. “I mean, of course I was! …What was I right about?”

“There’s no reason to stay here if there’s no one and nothing for me.” She shrugged, and a small feather drifted to the floor. “I can at least admit it to myself.”

“What about your family?”

“What family? My mom went off trading somewhere and never returned home. Dad tried to find her, but I never saw him again either. It’s been just me since.”

Seren got up, crossed the room to stand beside Vachlan, and held her arms open. The winged woman stared at her in confusion.

“What?”

“It’s a hug. Now come here.” Seren took the last step and wrapped Vachlan up, squeezing her tight. “It’s what friends and family members do—”

“I know what a hug is,” snapped Vachlan, but her voice wasn’t as harsh as it had been earlier.

“You sound like you haven’t gotten one for some time, and while we can, I’d like to give you a bea-very good one now.” Seren grew quiet as she hugged Vachlan again, glad she’d been able to “bear hug” into a similar sounding word. “And you can have even more hugs, as many as you’d like, on the ship.”

“Are you bribing me?”

“Is it working?” Seren held her breath, but she leaned back and looked up to Vachlan with a smirk growing across her face. The beastkin pushed her away, gently and with a smile.

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“If I say yes, what will you do? Offer more?”

“I’ll offer some,” said Rive. “My hugs were legendary back home. Or at least, in my family they were.” They got up from the table. “I can give you a demonstration?”

Vachlan sniffed. “Yes. I’d like a hug. If only to compare the two of yours and see which one I like best.”

Rive hugged her as well, them coming in from the left side and leaving Seren on Vachlan’s right. After a few minutes, the beastkin stirred, and ducked under their arms to remove herself from the hug.

“I think I like both of them,” she said, reaching out to grab the drink on the table. “But I don’t have a specific one that I like more than another. Which means I’m going to need a continuation of study so I can come up with a clear winner.”

Seren smiled. It was an interesting way for the woman to say she enjoyed hugs, but that was fine. Not everyone was comfortable flat out saying what they wanted.

“Okay. So we have a plan. Hide all the rocks mysteriously attuned to us and other people we might meet in the future, sell the normal rocks, and get supplies.” She winced. “Um... just to let you know, Vachlan, our ship is a little... small. There’s not going to be much room for sleeping or, well, doing anything inside the cabin.”

Rive laughed at the understatement, but Vachlan nodded.

“Maybe I can do something if I have a look. Well, I can always look, but what I’m saying is that I might be able to do something about your ship’s space.” The others simply stared at her and she shook her head. “Never mind. You saw what I could do with earth. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah,” muttered Rive, rubbing their head and laughing. “Good luck doing anything to the Picotree Drop. It’s... let’s say that it’s a unique type of ship to be sailing in the sky.”

“She’ll see it when she sees it.” Seren looked at the rocks on the table. “Okay. For my claim, I’ll take this one, this one...” she looked around at the others, but felt nothing really pulling at her. “And the green rippling rock.”

“I’ll just take these three,” said Rive, their hand reaching out to claim three of the rocks nearest to them. “Doesn’t really matter since I’m not selling them and I don’t collect rocks. Do the rest go to you, Vachlan?”

“The rest are ones I will take to the council here and let them go through. That’s the whole point of me gathering the rocks. Since I don’t have friends or family to sell them for me, I have to sell them at a loss to the council.”

“That won’t happen this time though,” said Seren. “You have so many! They’ll have to pay a good price for them, right?”

Vachlan clacked her beak. Her tail, Seren noticed, was also twitching.

“Maybe,” was all she said. “That’s something to see later. And honestly, you two won’t be involved in that since it’s not allowed for outsiders to join.”

“Okay...” Rive nodded. “But what are we going to do in the meantime? Sit in your place?”

Seren yawned. She wouldn’t mind having a good nap again. Swimming in the cold water had drained her energy a lot more than she remembered it doing.

“You can either stay here, or you can explore the city a bit more. I can show you where to sell off your own rock.”

Supplies! Seren felt her tiredness was taking a backseat at the thought of exploring the city. Viadora had been full of so many new ideas and concepts, it had been overwhelming, but Azmar shouldn’t be like that at all. Oooh, and if she stuck around Rive, then they’d most likely split whatever food they found.

“That sounds like a good plan. We can sell our things first, let you tell the council you’re leaving so they’d better pay you a fair wage, gather supplies, and then be on our way to the nearest Guild, since we still need to sign up.”

Seren sat back down at the table and started heartily eating the soup she’d been picking at a little beforehand. If they were all going shopping and bartering, then she wanted to have some energy. At least, it would be best to eat now, so she didn’t faint or do something stupid later. Rive must have had the same thought, or they might have just been still hungry, but they sat down and started in on their bowl again.

Vachlan was the only one who didn’t take themselves back to the table, instead choosing to pace around the kitchen and living room area.

“I don’t know what the council is going to do this time,” she finally said to the other two. “I’ve never actually given them a supply of rocks this big, so... they might treat me fair this time. They might continue giving me the lowest amount of coin that they can. I doubt it, but it’s even possible for them to pay me less and say that I’ve made a rare item uncommon at best.”

“Is there any way we can help?” asked Seren. She finished her bowl and looked back at the stove. There was still a lot more in the pot, and if Vachlan didn’t mind about seconds, then she might get another bowl. “I know we’re outsiders, so the possibility...”

“No. You can’t. You aren’t allowed and there are things I need to discuss with them about leaving that they wouldn’t want you to be there for.” She sighed. “I appreciate the thought. It will take me a while to get through everything I’ll have to, so... finish up your food, take a second bowl if you’d like, and I’ll introduce you to the person who you’ll be selling your items to. Zeisad.”

Vachlan didn’t say the name with kindness, but she also didn’t mention them with the outright malice she had every time she mentioned Tairdi. Seren decided that another half bowl would be just the warmth and fullness that she’d need, so she got up to get seconds. Rive had already finished their bowl, and they were now standing in front of the pot, cocking their head as if they were unsure.

“What’s wrong?” asked Seren.

“Well... I was just wondering... If we’re going to be out in the city, with some extra coin to spend, do I want to fill my stomach here, or try some of the other foods available?” Rive made a clicking sound with their tongue. “It’s hard to decide since I want to taste everything.”

“Eat the soup later,” suggested Vachlan. “It’ll stay on the stove, and if you’re hungry when we return, you can have it then. It tastes slightly different cold too, if that’s something that’ll interest you.”

“Sold!” exclaimed Rive, raising their drinking/eating utensil in the air and setting the bowl back in front of where they’d sat. “And yeah, I’m curious how it’s going to taste later on then. I might not even taste the difference if it’s light enough.”

Seren and Vachlan were the last ones that needed to finish up then, since Rive declared that they would wait until night to taste the soup again. The comment made Seren question if it actually was night, since they didn’t have enough daylight to see what time of the day it was. That led the conversation into a debate over morning, afternoon, and night, with Rive saying that bells divided times best, Seren mentioning that how high the sun was was the best way to tell time since that didn’t change based on where you were; for example, there were no bells in Azmar, so how was Rive supposed to tell the time if that’s what they used? They argued back that the sun changes the time it rises the farther inland you go. They had an uncle who chased the sun for an entire twenty-four hours.

Vachlan laughed throughout all of this.

“What does time matter as long as someone is available when they need to be available? If I can visit my friend in the morning or the evening, does the moment the sun is ahead matter?”

And she won the conversation with that, because neither Seren nor Rive had a suitable answer.