The young Sapphire set up shop along the Spanish coast. Mostly things she got in Morocco, such as carpets and lanterns. There were a few unsold pieces of jewellery along her shop, where anyone was free to negotiate a price. The place was going well, with her being just about to communicate a price with other customers, making several hundred euro in the process. From what she knew, the next few countries ahead dealt in euro, so she could save some for the next stretch of countries.

“Excuse me, how much?” A woman asked in Spanish.

Sapphire looked to her left at the woman who asked that. She was standing in front of her, holding an emerald necklace in her hand. She had a suntan, wearing a sundress with red flowers on it.

When Sapphire’s eyes met her, her brain shorted. Her motor functions seemed to stop. She felt her mouth move but couldn’t hear any words being said. She desperately tried to form a sentence of some sort, eventually yelling out “It’s free!”

The girl looked at her for a second. Sapphire realized she yelled out in Arabic.

“Well, thank you.” She replied. Also in Arabic.

“Wait!” Sapphire yelled. “You can understand that?”

“I can, yes!” The girl nonchalantly nodded.

“Wait! Again!” Sapphire yelled. “Can I…can I stay with you? I…need to learn how to talk!”

“Excuse me?” She asked.

“I’m…not good at Spanish!” Sapphire yelled out.

“Wait. I have an idea.” The girl asked. “I’m trying to get a degree in languages. So if I teach you the language, we’d both gain something from it.”

So it was agreed. She spent the next few months at her apartment. Her name was Cristina, and she was twenty-three. It was a small apartment, especially for how tall Sapphire was. But it was nice enough. Her couch was big enough for her to sleep on comfortably, anyway.

There she learned Spanish besides the bare minimum necessary for trading. She also taught her some English. since it made sense for her to learn.

But the entire time, Sapphire was thinking about her. She was a great teacher, and she was able to get her teaching credits thanks to her. When the summer ended, she started teaching in the last year of Spanish secondary education, leaving Sapphire alone. She learned to cook for herself, thinking it better than living off whatever restaurants she could find with some fruit and snacks in between that.

When Cristina was busy teaching, Sapphire would wander around her small town. Sometimes go back to her boat and check for any issues. Termites, wood rot, that kind of thing. It was usually fine, so she’d just go back to the apartment or wander around the beach. But one day she heard something that unsettled her. It was a man yelling something. Alone in the afternoon sun was Sapphire and a couple having an argument along the beach. The small woman looked terrified at the man, flinching in response to what he was shouting.

Sapphire felt the wind blow behind her. When she saw the girl, all she saw was her, the mans face taking over whoever it was she was married to. She rushed over to the couple, landing a swift fist to the back of the mans head. He fell to the ground instantly. Sapphire checked, and he was still breathing. The girl looked at her, terrified.

She squeaked out a slight ‘Gracias.’ and ran off. With enough action for one day, Sapphire went back into the apartment. Cristina wasn’t back when she entered, despite it being 4:30.

She checked the note on the fridge.

‘Gone for today, won’t be back until ten.’

So Sapphire waited. She looked over whatever was on TV. The only thing that looked interesting was some show called 'Sailor Starlight.' Just a show about girls fighting monsters, but it was pretty nice.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And at 10:03, Cristina walked through the door. She waltzed in with a bottle in hand, completely drunk.

“Sapphire!” She yelled. “How was today?”

“It was…fine.” She answered. She chose not to mention what happened earlier.

“Great! I just got off some work gathering, and there was a lot of really good drinks there! I’ll bring you next time!”

“Sounds good!” Sapphire replied.

“We really need to go out more. I need to know you better, you know? You are a really great woman.”

She fell into Sapphire’s arms. Cristina embraced her, and Sapphire embraced her back. Cristina moved them to the couch, where Sapphire fell on the couch, and Cristina on top of her. Cristina moved up to match her head, and then kissed her.

When their lips touched, time stopped for a moment. Sapphire grabbed her waist, kissing her back. It continued for a few seconds, until Cristina got up.

“Wait, stop! I’m…really drunk right now, Sapphire. I’m…I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

Sapphire went back to sleep, confused about the whole ordeal. She couldn’t sleep, just think while staring at the ceiling. Until Cristine got off her, kissing her felt good. Really good, in fact. Back when she was married, she never felt this way towards any man she saw. But everything she saw was about men and women getting together. She drifted to sleep, thinking about everything that happened today.

When she got up, Cristina was awake, sipping coffee by the table.

“Are you okay, Cristina?” Sapphire asked.

“Hm, yeah, I’m fine.” Cristina nodded, setting her cup down. “Look, Sapphire. I need to talk to you about last night.”

“What about it?” Sapphire asked, internally asking herself about twelve different questions.

“When I kissed you, it felt…good. Great even. And I’m just thinking about if I like women or not.”

“So can we get together?” Sapphire asked.

“No!” Cristina snapped back. “I’m…sorry for that. But…you’re eighteen years old. You’re only slightly older than my students, so dating you just feels…wrong to me. Look, Sapphire. I think that…it’s time for you to go.”

“Really?” Sapphire asked.

“Look, I took you in to teach you what you’d need to survive your merchant job, right? And I’ve thought you all that you’d need.”

“I…I see.”

So Cristina and Sapphire took one more trip around the town to buy things. Once Sapphire had a boat full of new items, she loaded them all on the boat.

“Are you ready to go?” Cristina asked.

Sapphire nodded. Cristina gave her one more hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Come back whenever you can.”

“And with that final message, I set off. I continued sailing across the world, finding people to help I’ve taken around six trips around the world, helping people with their problems and developing my powers.”

“Damn, six trips?” Lainey asked. “And at twenty-one, too. You’re doing better than I was, anyway.”

Silence filled the air, and before Sapphire could ask Lainey what she was doing for two years, Lainey asked her another question.

"You ever go to New York?"

"Yeah, once. Pretty nice place, helped two girls with their boyfriend problems."

"Nice, nice." Lainey replied, nodding with approval. "When's the next time you can come over?"

"Don't count on that." Sapphire replied, losing any of the enthusiasm in her voice. "Prophecy, remember? Chances are I'm gonna die."

"Oh, right. That." Lainey mumbled, trying to save the conversation. "I mean, it doesn't have to be true. The original prophecy said that there'd be four people serving God, right? Now we have seven, and we're only halfway."

"You think?" Sapphire asked. "Look, I'm gonna end up taking a hit for the girls on the team, and that's probably what's gonna kill me."

"Wait, you have a plan for how you die?" Lainey asked, shocked. She was probably the most powerful person she knew. So, to have her just…give up?

"Look, if one woman has to die, it's gonna be me? You got parents, right?"

"Y-yeah." Lainey stuttered. "They're…pretty cool."

"See? I don't have anybody. I live on this boat. Far as the world's concerned, whatever my old name was died three years ago."

"So, it's motivation you need?" Lainey asked, a smile creeping across her face.

"Motivation?" Sapphire asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, motivation." Lainey yelled with a fist bump, trying to put Dominic-level enthusiasm into her request.

"You're going on a date with me!"

"A date?" Sapphire chuckled. "Any ideas?"

"Uh, Mephisto's! Really good café in downtown NYC!" Lainey blurted out.

The coffee at Mephisto's was mediocre on a good day, but she was on a roll. "We go to the city! Downtown, and then down on-"She stopped there. The Dominic level enthusiasm had hopefully done its job.

Sapphire stood up and met Lainey at eye level. Lainey was paralyzed in anticipation for whatever her answer was.

"Sounds good." She responded. "I'm gonna go tend to the ship now, but if you…touch my shoulder, we can do something else."

Lainey, dumbstruck, placed a hand on her left shoulder, and when she did, Sapphire embraced her. Lainey put another hand on her shoulder, and Sapphire leaned in and kissed her. It was over as soon as it began, and Sapphire casually walked out of the room, leaving Lainey alone with her brain scrambling to get itself moving again.

"Also, I'll pay for my own plane ticket." Sapphire said with a wink before she left, leaving Lainey alone in shock, and she lay down on her bed. She probably wouldn't mind.

Because operation: Sleepy Sapphire was in motion.