“I’m so boooooored” drawled Victor. It had been a week since their adventure of sailing up a cloudfall, and now Victor was leaning his upper back and arms on the railing with his head towards the skies. As usual, it was a sunny day and their patchwork ship was creaking along, going faster than normal thanks to the engines going on intermittently. Although they still weren’t able to go all the time, they used them mostly during daytime.

“If you’re so bored, why don’t you read a book?” suggested Silk, looking up from a copy of Iron Desire. While Bundo had gotten armor and weapons for riding about like a knight on Fluffy, Silk got a truly awe-inspiring amount of saucy romance books to read. Levi just got some furnishings for her bunk and got a lot of drawing supplies, and was currently sketching the horizon while nodding silently.

“I already read all of the good books four times over. Why can’t something cool happen? I didn’t expect voyages to be so booooring.” Victor wailed.

“Then read them a fifth time. I don’t have to babysit you.” retorted Silk.

“Stupid romance books. All of the leads are so stupid. If you really want the guy, then just gain enough clout that no one will care if you decide to have a gaggle of husbands. That’s what emperors and empresses did in ancient times, and no one gave a hoot.” said Victor. That struck a nerve with Silk. Romance books were an escape from the boorish men she knew, and having someone who was an equal to have by your side was something that struck a chord in her.

“Don’t you dare say that. It’s not romantic or conducive to true love to just do that. There are customs to be followed, and choices to be made. You can’t brute force your way through courting.” Silk retorted.

“Eh, whatever. Romance is kind of cringe anyways. Fantasy and adventure is where it’s at.” said Victor. Silk stood up, closed her book, and cracked her knuckles.

“You take that back. Now.”

“NEVER! You can harm me, but I will only be seen as a martyr to the superior genre!” shouted Victor in a righteous clamor.

Silk leapt at him, with Victor stepping to the side.

“Brilliantly dodged!” he exclaimed.

Silk then attempted to put him in a headlock, but Victor did some weird twisty-flip thing and deftly slipped out of it with ease. He then proceeded to poke Silk in the ribs and dash away giggling.

“Fantasy shall triumph! Death to the cringey romance books!”

Silk then proceeded to chase Victor around before tackling him to the deck and choking him with her hands in a rough bit of horseplay. In the end, her superior physical state was just too much for Victor to handle.

“Say it. Say romance is the better genre!” she said while throttling him. Victor was about to respond when suddenly Henry opened the door to the top deck. Seeing an opportunity, he took on an evil smile that sent chills down Silk’s spine, despite her seemingly winning.

Victor quickly moved Silk’s hands into grasping from his neck to his face while she was distracted, and puckered up his lips. Carefully making sure to get the correct angle for maximum embarrassment, he completed his bit of trickery. Henry gawked at them with eyes that explicitly told them that he missed ten seconds ago, when he had no memory of this event. Silk’s face flushed, seeing how the situation they were in could be misinterpreted.Henry adopted a baleful and regretful expression, attempting to bleach his mind of the scene before him.

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“I swear this is not what it looks like”, said Silk in an attempt to provide some much-needed context. Victor merely chuckled softly. Although he was the one who appeared to be losing, Silk was the one who was truly in danger here. Henry simply closed the door and walked back down the ship, swearing to always knock before he opened a door. Silk lept off of Victor’s chuckling body and bounded after Henry in an attempt to explain what was going on and how Victor was really at fault here, while Levi suddenly noticed what was going on.

“Sorry, I was a bit absorbed in my drawing. Where did Silk go?” she queried.

“Oh, she’s just trying to convince Henry of something. Go ask him if you’re curious”, he said mirthfully. Although he might never be able to defeat Silk in a fair fight, he always made sure he never was going to be in a fair fight.

Meanwhile, belowdecks, the aftermath of Victor’s prank was causing major amounts of discomfort for both parties involved.

“No, no, I understand. You are at that age, and courting is nothing I’m a stranger to. It just caught me off guard, is all. Why, when I was your age, something similar happened with my crew when we were rescuing the Duchess of Lynthia. You see, she and I were -”

“Okay, cutting that off right now. What I was trying to say was that he insulted my books, and I was trying to get him to admit the superior genre via my physical might.” Silk said while holding a cup of tea. She was currently trying to explain to Henry what actually had transpired while they were in the dining room. Henry was still of the opinion that what had happened was what it looked like, much to Silk’s chagrin. Carrying a newspaper in one hand and a mug of whiskey in the other, he was the very picture of the understanding elder who was giving out sage advice.

Before he was going to explain how he understood how powerful a blooming romance could be but that privacy was important nontheless, Levi started screaming at the top of her lungs.

“YO! There’s an island over here! Might wanna check it out!”

Indeed, there was an island that they were rapidly approaching. The first thing that was noticeable was the massive volcano in the center, jutting up with a plume of smoke coming from it. Moreover, it had small amounts of lava leaking out of the top and had three holes that made it look like it had a face. The lava was leaking from the “eyes” of the edifice and made it look like it was crying glowing tears of molten rock. The second thing that the crew noticed was the jungle, a dense group of trees surrounding the volcano due to the high-quality ash it produced for soil.

More pertinent, Levi’s keen beastkin eyes spotted an encampment of surprisingly high-quality wooden huts and treehouses, with a group of people walking about on them. As the ship docked onto the pristine beach, the natives gathered. Tanned and lithe, the natives looked like the very epitome of an idyllic seaside lifestyle. An old chieftain walked over to them, wearing a brilliant cloak of iridescent feathers that looked like they were constantly shifting colors in a fantastic rainbow.

“Hello there, young travelers. It’s been a while since we had visitors. Care to join us?” he said, his face the picture of hospitality.

“Sure, why not?” shrugged Bundo.

A couple minutes later, the entire tribe was walking deep int othe rainforest when a massive griffin lept out at them, it’s eagle-like beak revealing a tongue with serrated teeth-like structures on it. It’s wings folded back, diving as it prepared to rend the chieftain limb from limb. Just as it was about to do so, the chieftain snapped his fingers and it collapsed, apparently dead.

“What did you do to that thing?”, said Victor. Instead of being scared or unnerved by it, he seemed interested and curious on how he managed to kill it with little to no effort.

“We are healers. I simply caused rapid cell division, as healers do. In this case, what I helped grow was an E. Coli infection that got to it’s nervous system. Alright men, please haul this thing and sacrifice it. You know what to do.”

“Lit. Also, what’s “e colai?” Victor questioned

“You don’t know what causes disease? No wonder the group of sailors last season were dying when we found them, your civilization is a bunch of primitives! We have to fix this. Here, follow me. I have to teach you some things, '' the Chieftan said. Although he appeared to be condescending and insulting, he was genuinely just trying to help and didn’t think about his words.

“Sorry about that. My father can be a bit abrasive, and just says what’s on his mind. Please, don’t take offense to it. He didn’t mean to be insulting.”, said a young woman. She looked apologetic, and flipped her jewel-encrusted hair as she ducked under a low-hanging vine. As she pushed aside a massive branch, the young woman revealed the beautiful treetop village for the whole crew to see.

“This is our home. Welcome, kind visitors. We are having a feast. How about you join us? The more the merrier, as I say,” said the woman.

“My name is Acna. Welcome to the village of Itzilipochtilan. We will discuss why we brought you here after we eat.”