Three ships bobbed up and down on the swells of the open sea. Far to the west, just below the horizon, the whitecaps of waves breaking over littoral reefs showed the crew of Zora’s fleet how close they were to land. The men and women starved for well-prepared food and thirsted for something that wasn’t brined by sea air or spiked with liquor. But their captain refused. The night before they were set to land at their hidden cove southwest of Dawnbreak was the last anyone had seen of Zora. She had been locked in her quarters since.

It was a strange turn considering how ecstatic she had been when they discovered and destroyed the remnants of Scott’s fleet. Now, the Church of the Will’s chapel in Dawnbreak was all that stood between them and the city.

First Mate Johnston stretched as he watched the sun flirt with the surface of the sea. He, like the others, felt restless, but knew better than to rush the Captain. And so he watched with measured breaths as the sun and sea kissed.

Four seconds of inhale. Four seconds of exhale. This was the moment. Johnston had spent a better portion of his life at sea, and had yet to see the optical illusion named Solanna’s Wink. The bright green flash was something he had heard countless stories about, and doubted its existence until his grandfather urged it was real.

Moments passed as the sun continued to sink. Then, the final sliver of brilliant light fell beneath the ocean.

No flash.

“Another day maybe?” Tidus suggested, his sudden voice crashed like a wave against Johnston’s back, nearly startling him over the gunwale.

“Dammit, Buccaneer!”

“My apologies, Johnston. Where is Zora?”

“Her quarters. She’s been there since we sunk the rest of Scott’s ships. You’ve been scarce, as well.”

“I know,” the god said with finality. There would be no explanation for the mortal.

And Johnston knew better than to ask for one. “I suppose you want me to try and get the Captain?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Johnston.”

Though Tidus knew the way, he, strangely, respected Zora and her ship enough. He let Johnston lead him to the large, redwood door at the back of the ship, beneath the helm.

The First Mate’s knuckles rapped against the door. The sound of movement inside was barely heard. “Captain. You have a visitor.”

“I’m not seeing anyone,” Zora replied from behind the door.

Tidus nodded lightly to Johnston, urging him to give the god and captain a moment alone. The First Mate moved aside. “Zora, it’s me.”

“No, really? A visitor in the middle of the ocean is the God of the Sea?” Zora’s depression did little to blunt her attitude.

Tidus soured. “And here everyone on the boat thinks you’re depressed.”

“Just go, Tidus.”

The god sighed and looked down at the base of the door. The gap was small, but far from water proof. With a flicker, Tidus’s body shifted from opaque to translucent, and finally became completely transparent as he transformed into briny sea water and sloshed under the door.

Inside her quarters, Zora was groaning while watching the puddle force its way under the door. “I told you to go,” she hissed at it.

The puddle gathered, and a hand thrust upward, reaching for the floor just outside of the liquid’s surface tension. A second joined it, and Tidus pushed himself up and out of the floor as if he were climbing out of a pool. The puddle shrunk behind him and the water moved to form his body. When he was fully returned to his corporeal form, he looked around the room. “So luxurious.” He reached out for a sterling tea kettle on a small table near him.

“What do you want?”

“It’s about time I got into your room.” Tidus grinned coyly.

“Stop.” Zora crossed the room, grabbed the kettle from Tidus’s hands, and forced it back to the platter. “What do you want?”

Tidus took a long look at Zora. Her eyes were harshly bloodshot. The hand she had used to snatch the kettle back had each of its fingernails chewed down with small scabs at the beds of the nails. “What is happening to you?”

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“Nothing.” Zora turned her back to Tidus and walked to her bed. It was made with a plush comforter, but was perfectly smooth and had a thin film of dust. She had not slept in it recently.

“You look awful,” Tidus said softly.

“You always know just what to say.”

“I’m being honest because I’m worried, Zora.”

“You? Worried? You only worry about one thing. Being off this plane before the sun comes up so you don’t get caught red handed.”

Tidus rested his hand next to the platter to steady himself in his anger. “Where, exactly did you learn to talk to a god like this?”

Zora spun on her heels, arcs of lightning surged down her limbs and the burning candles around the room surged in intensity. Tidus looked down at his hand near the silver. Small bolts of electricity arced from his hand to the platter. Wisps of steam rose from his fingers as they began to boil away in front of his eyes.

“You think you earn respect, do you? A womanizer that bubbles up from the sea when his wife’s back is turned, flirts with some women, kills some men, and dissolves back into the ocean in the morning?” Zora barked a laugh. “Please. No one worships you, and hardly anyone even respects you. They make their offerings so you don’t flip their ship looking for whores.”

Outside the cabin, cries and shouts would be heard. Zora’s fury subsided for a moment once she realized there was panic in her crews’ voice. She ran to the large, velvet curtains in the back of her cabin and drew them. Outside was a torrent of water only a few yards off the bow of her ship. Zora looked left and right. She could no longer see her other ships. They were trapped inside of a water spout.

“Are we done?” Tidus asked Zora’s back. “I reach out to you. Ask you what is wrong. And you lash out at me? I do not ask for your respect, so much as I ask you respect your crew, Zora.”

She turned to look at Tidus momentarily furious that he would do something so cruel, but then her shame weighed her eyes to the floor. “I apologize, Tidus. I haven’t been myself.”

“Frankly, this is very much like you,” the god said, strolling over and placing a hand on her shoulder. As he walked, the waterspout outside shrunk back into the sea. “Just far too much of you. No professionalism. What is on your mind?”

“Dreams I’ve been having.”

“Since we sunk Scott?”

“Longer before. It has been years But they haven’t stopped these past few days. It has grown so close. Something is chasing me.”

“What is?”

Zora looked at Tidus in the eyes. She was nervous to bring up the shadowy sea creature. On one hand, there was no way these recurring nightmares and hallucinations were normal. But on the other hand, there was no way to prove it was strange to another person. “A monster. Underwater.”

“Zora, my dear.” Tidus raised his hand to her cheek as Zora teared up. “I am the ocean. How could I let it harm you?”

With a shudder, Zora raised her hand to his. “I know. But why am I still being bothered by the nightmares even when I can count on you?” She leaned in to Tidus, but the sea god leaned away.

“It could be your conscience,” Tidus suggested. The words came slowly and measured, as though he did not want to give credence to the idea. She scoffed in response, but Tidus remained straight faced.

“You mean to take Dawnbreak,” Tidus said, walking back to the table, tapping it nervously.

“I do.”

“Why?”

“A base of operations. It’s been my dream, you know. To settle in with something I have earned.”

“Earned with piracy,” Tidus said, chuckling.

“I mean, I’m not good at much else,” Zora shrugged.

“I could offer you the entire sea, and yet your dream is on land?”

Zora’s breath caught.

“You remember how we met, correct?”

“I appealed,” Zora answered slowly.

“You appealed an appeal like I had not heard before. You offered me so much, Zora. Your ships. Your treasure.” He walked back to Zora and looked her up and down. “Your body. And your heart.” He brought his face close to hers. “All for me. So we could pillage together. You love the sea, Zora.”

Zora leaned in for a kiss again, but Tidus stayed just out of reach.

“Why then, is your dream to leave me?”

A tear finally fell down the pirate’s cheek. The sea god watched it stoically. “Because your nightmares are stronger than your dreams. If your fear is greater than your love, then, Zora, we will address this. We will be taking Dawnbreak. Sooner rather than later.”

“You do not have to help me, Tidus.”

“Anything for you, Zora.” Tidus wiped her tear away. “Now, go be with your crew. You have a siege to plan.”

Zora wiped her eyes as Tidus once again turned to water. In the center of the puddle on the floor was a clear crystal the size of an apple. Smile to herself, Zora squatted down and snatched it up. She walked to a chest of drawers and opened a top draw full of crystals just like the one she held. She set the new stone among its sisters and pushed the drawer closed.

She moved to her coat rack, grabbing her overcoat and hat, and with a deep, trembling breath, she pushed through the door onto the deck of the ship.

“Enough rest!” she called out to her crew. “We will be moving on Dawnbreak before the end of the month, so get your wits back about you! No more whining and complaining. I just gave you all a three day vacation, so I presume we’ll be able to get right back to business!”

A spattering of “yes captain!” came from the men and women still out and about in the chilly ocean night with Johnston smiling right in front of her.

The excitement of the crew took her for a quick ride, yanking her from the doldrums of the past few days. She would out maneuver that beast below her ship. It would break her heart, but for her crew? She would have to make the sacrifice.