We’d finally entered the lake.

And she was finally happy again.

“Krift! How can it be so big?” she asked, sitting up against the edge of the boat.

She had her hands on the side, and was watching the giant flower as we passed it. It was rather close; we had nearly drifted up against one of its massive petals.

“Because it can be?” I said, and wondered just what she wanted me to say. How could I know how they got so large?

“But… I mean look at it!” she said, raising both her hands to point at the thing. She was flabbergasted.

“I am,” I said, but had lied. I was watching her instead.

Mintmorency was all smiles as she continued watching the great flower. Which was a little funny since she’s been like this for several minutes. She’d gotten excited the moment she had seen them on the horizon as we left the river.

Would she be like this the whole way through the lake?

“Look, Krift, the petal is actually below us,” she said, looking over the boats edge.

Like most of the flowers that grew to this size, its petals were too heavy. They folded downward, into the lake, rather than upward like the smaller ones in the rivers.

Which made it possible for us to float over them, since they were partially submerged.

“Don’t fall over,” I warned.

She ignored me, as the boat floated past the flower’s petal.

The petal itself was wider than the boat by quite a bit. And it was just one of many. The flower itself was several times bigger than a Caravan Bear.

“So… what about the ones in the rivers? What if they grew this large? They’d block the whole river,” she asked, finally looking away from the flower.

“I’ve never seen it. They only grow this big in the lakes,” I said.

“Huh…” she looked to our right, at the next large flower we were getting ready to approach.

It wasn’t as big as the one we had just floated past, but it was still massive. The top of its bulb of petals, its highest point, was taller than any tree around here.

“They’re big enough to walk on… would…” she looked to me, as if too embarrassed to ask.

“You can. And will. Once we reach the center, these flowers are packed closely. We’ll eventually need to walk on them to continue forward,” I said.

“Really!” she grew excited again, and looked forward. Trying to find where we’d do such a thing.

Although there were dozens of flowers around us, the lake was still pretty open… but they were still big enough to block most of the distant sections of the lake from sight. It was impossible to see the flowers I was speaking of.

“These are insane Krift… It’s…” Mintmorency stopped talking, and I was glad that we had come this way.

Her happiness made it worth it.

“Is… is there anything dangerous here?” she then asked.

“Dangerous?” I asked back.

“Well… it’s just so amazing. What’s the… what’s the bad part of it? That you’re not telling me?” she asked.

Somewhat surprised she had thought of such a thing, I wondered if it was my fault. Was I rubbing off on her?

“There’s really nothing that bad. This place sees storms often, which is dangerous, but there’re none nearby so we’ll be fine. Creatures do come here, occasionally, but the flowers aren’t magical. So the creatures of magic ignore them. Yet they’re hard, so all the normal creatures that eat plants and stuff don’t eat them either. Too hard,” I said.

“So… other than the storms, this place is fine? Safe?” she asked.

“Relatively. As far as it can be, in the Rift,” I said.

Mintmorency looked away from me, and stared in wonder as we passed the next flower.

This one was small enough that most of its petals were still pointed upward, out of the water.

“I’ll never forget this moment, Krift,” she said softly.

I said nothing, but I did notice the way her green eyes shivered. As if she was about to cry.

Glancing around us, at the endless lake full of giant flowers… I wondered if it was really that impressive.

Unique, yes… but they were just flowers. And they weren’t that pretty, either. Their black and white petals were interesting to a point, but at their sizes it just…

For a few moments I thought of all the sights here in the Rift. The places that outshone this place, a thousand over.

True sights. Of wonder. Of magic.

Places I’d not shown anyone. Both because of their dangers, and…

The boat rocked as Mint turned around, to look at the next flower coming up. This was the biggest one she’s seen so far.

She still hadn’t returned to her original spot, since falling over the packs earlier, so she was close to me… but I wasn’t going to complain about it. I knew if I did she’d probably stop smiling. She’d probably stop being so full of wonder.

And that was not something that I wanted to be responsible for.

For a long moment, we floated across the lake in silence. Mint was more than happy to watch the flowers pass, one by one. Oddly not losing interest at all.

Would she be like this for the next few hours? Just how long could one be so enamored?

“Krift…?”

I blinked at the sudden word of worry. Worry? From the girl who was so happy?

Sitting up straight, I followed her pointed finger. To the massive shadow.

“It’s just a fish, Mint. It’s harmless,” I said, noticing the shape of its tail.

“A fish? It’s huge! Bigger than us!” she said, worried.

“So are these flowers, which you find so beautiful. Yet you weren’t scared of them,” I said.

Mint groaned as she glanced at me, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Really. Look, it’s not even swimming towards us. The only thing scary about them is how bad they taste,” I said.

“How… you’ve eaten one?” she asked, suddenly losing her fear.

I nodded. “I have.”

“How’d you catch it? It looks huge,” she said.

“It is huge. And I caught it with a spear, and hauled it onto one of the flower petals and cooked it there. They are nasty,” I said.

“Nasty…” she went silent, watching it swim away. It most likely never even noticed us.

Although there were many large creatures here in this lake, none ever bothered me. Not even when I swam, without a boat.

The only time this lake became deadly was during a storm.

And it wasn’t the creatures in the lake that became dangerous then, but the things floating on top of it.

“It looks like it’d feed a whole village,” she then said.

I chuckled at the thought, but nodded. It would.

“I’ve also noticed I can no longer see the bottom of the lake,” she said.

“It’s deep enough that the light stops reaching it, that’s all,” I said.

“Light…” she groaned at the thought of it, and then turned her head when something else came into view.

Another fish.

“That one’s bigger,” she said.

“I just want you to know that there are also larger creatures in the oceans of the Lands of Man. Far larger,” I said.

She turned to me, and I liked how she glared at me. “I do know that. I’ve heard of them. But I’ve never seen such things,” she said.

“Now you have. Kind of,” I said.

“So… there’s nothing like them in the Lands of Power?” she asked.

“Not really. There are oceans, but the largest creature is a squid. A creature with lots of arms,” I said.

“Lots of arms…?” she went silent as she pondered.

I wasn’t going to try and explain, since it was impossible. A picture would be best, but I was horrible at drawing and…

“In fact there’s nothing really as big on the land either. As far as I’m aware. Nothing as big as a Caravan Bear, or anything like it,” I said.

“Hm… why is that?”

“Who knows? Maybe our kind hunted them all to extinction long ago, or something?”

Another large flower passed us by, and its submerged petals blocked out the rest of the lake from view. Mint huffed a little, and then she went to sit on the pack.

As she sat on it, directly across from me, I watched as she looked to me and smiled.

“What?” I asked.

She blinked, but shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just… happy, I guess,” she said.

“Glad to be of service,” I said lightly.

Her smile grew, and I found myself looking away from her. For some reason it was bothering me.

“How far are we from the Lands of Power?” She then asked.

“A ways. Depends on how many storms we encounter, and which paths we take. If everything goes well, you’ll be there in a week and a half,” I said.

“Huh… so you… have many paths to choose? Are they all ones you’ve traveled before?” she asked.

“Yes. Different routes have different dangers. This one is one I consider the safest, thus our use of it,” I said.

“Oh… so it’s a good thing we headed to RiftCliff then?” she asked.

“Hm? Why would that be a good thing?” I asked.

“Well, for us to use this path… right?” she asked, worried.

I shook my head. “Where you enter the Rift doesn’t matter. There are only a few places that the doors lead to, in the Lands of Man. No matter from where you enter the Rift,” I said.

“I… I don’t understand that. How could it not matter?” she asked.

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“The Rift is massive. Far more land exists here, than the land the Rift Wall encompasses. Remember how it was a circle? We talked about that didn’t we?” I asked her.

“We did.”

“No matter which side you entered from, you’ll always end up entering the Rift near its southern borders. It is a massive stretch of land, true, but still the same section. Same for the Rift Wall in the Lands of Powers. Entering it, no matter from where, will result in finding yourself in the east of the Rift. Which is where we’re heading,” I said.

“Wait… the east? So… What if you head north? Or west?” she asked.

“Then you’ll die,” I simply said.

She blinked, but I didn’t give her time to think about it too deeply as I held out my left hand. Open palmed, so I could use my other hand to point, drawing a circle.

“Just think of the Rift as a giant circle. We enter from the south, from the Lands of Man, and head east for the Lands of Power. You do the opposite, to get back,” I explained.

“I… I see… It doesn’t make much sense, but I guess it is magic,” Mint said.

“Magic,” I agreed.

“So if we had appeared elsewhere in the Rift… we’d have used another path? Even a more dangerous one?” she asked.

“Yes and no. We’d have eventually joined up with this path, if we could. The Rift is massive, but it’s not that bad,” I said.

“So… why doesn’t everyone just use this path then? If it’s so safe?”

“Well…” I wondered how much I should explain, but decided it didn’t really matter. “Most of it is because this path is surrounded by death. If you head off the path not too far, the world becomes far more dangerous. Dangerous enough to stop anyone from venturing through it. So most people who enter the Rift, never get the chance to realize how safe this path is. Because they can’t even reach it in the first place,” I said.

“That makes sense,” she said.

“Then the rest of it is because I’m here. A lot of creatures won’t even approach us, because of my presence. A few paths I take aren’t viable for others, since without me they’ll be attacked by the things that live upon them,” I said.

Like the fish she had just forgotten about.

“Just because you’re here? Do you stink or something?” she asked, a little too seriously.

“I might. At least to the things that live here in the Rift,” I said.

Mint smirked at that, as if she agreed with them.

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I much prefer staying safe, myself,” she said.

“You’re safe enough. I can smell the hint of a storm, but the smell isn’t growing stronger. So it’s probably just circling us. Not that it will matter, since we’ll be entering the caverns soon,” I said.

“Caverns. Have I mentioned I don’t like the dark?”

“I do remember. But it’s safe. Far safer than a storm,” I said.

Her smile died down a little, but I wasn’t going to budge or argue.

Surviving was the only thing that mattered here in the Rift.

Fears and terrors didn’t matter.

A small breeze blew by, causing Mint’s hair to bother her. She hadn’t been wearing the hat, which I had come to realize was because she’s…

She has worn a hat for nearly her whole life. To hide her horns.

I couldn’t chide her for not wearing it, when she had finally been freed of it.

She’d probably never wear one again, if she could. Which was going to be odd, since the women of our kind enjoyed wearing hats.

Mint would be the odd one out.

Again.

“Ah… jeez,” Mint groaned in annoyance, and I watched as she bent over to mess with her feet.

For a moment I wondered if something had happened, but it was just her shoelaces. They had come…

“Stop,” I sighed, watching her fingers and their haphazard fumbling.

“Huh?”

I waved her hands away, and went to tying her laces. She had no idea how to properly tie them.

Mint was silent as I tied her left shoe, tightly, then swiftly undid the knots on her right. Her pitiful attempts came apart with just a small tug.

“Didn’t you work on a farm? You should know how to tie knots,” I said, tying her right shoe.

“I do! These just keep coming undone, I think it’s because they’re a little too big for me and…” she went quiet as I finished.

Sitting back, I gestured for her to look at her shoes.

She did, and frowned. “What are those?” she asked.

“Proper knots. Let me know if you need them retied,” I said.

Mintmorency studied her feet for a moment, touching the flat knots on her shoes, and then looked at me. “Thanks,” she said.

Waving her away, I glanced in front of us and was glad to see the approaching flower cluster. It wouldn’t be long and we’d be able to get off this boat.

I needed to stretch my legs, and put a small amount of distance between me and the girl. I was growing a little too… used to her proximity.

“Did you have siblings, Krift?”

The question was an odd one… but not that strange, considering her personality. One I’ve never been asked in the Rift, but from her it wasn’t a surprise…

“No. Or well, yes. I suppose. Three sisters, and… a younger brother, I think,” I said, trying to remember.

“You… you don’t remember? How could you not?” she asked, most likely noticing my effort to search my memories.

“Well it was complicated. I never met my younger brother. I met my sisters, but only a few times. And never in any real capacity. They were siblings, but not the kind you’re probably thinking of,” I said.

For a moment Mint studied me, and it made me want to clamber over the edge of the bark boat and swim away.

I stayed seated, calmly, though.

“I hope your situation was just… unique, and not because that’s how it normally is for powers,” she said softly.

“It was. Most families are just like those of the humans. Remember Mint, I’m a riftborn. I was special the moment I was born,” I said.

She nodded, her face telling me she had already thought of such a thing as a reason. “You’re… strong, because you’re a riftborn, right?” she asked.

“It’s one of the reasons,” I said.

“So why doesn’t everyone have their children here? In the Rift?”

“Didn’t I tell you most riftborn’s are born already dead?” I asked, I had thought I did…

“You did… but… I could see humans doing it, still. Even with the risk,” she said.

“Ah… I see. I failed to mention then that the mother always dies, didn’t I?” I asked.

Mint’s eyes narrowed, as I nodded. “Even if the riftborn survives, its mother will not. Plus, there’s…” I stopped talking, since I had almost revealed it.

“There’s what?”

For a small moment I wondered if I should change the conversation. I had almost done it again… and if I kept revealing such secrets, then I wasn’t going to be able to ever separate myself from her and…

“If it’s something bad, you don’t need to tell me Krift. I understand,” she then said, gently.

Holding my breath, I studied her kind smile. She was once again willing to let it be overlooked. Even though it so obviously hurt her that I wasn’t willing to tell her.

I could see it clearly. In her heart, she felt hurt. Because she had revealed her own heart to me.

Our hearts weren’t equal, though. No matter how…

I gulped, and went back to breathing.

“A riftborn has to be born during a storm. For it to survive. Born outside a storm, it dies,” I then said, sealing my fate.

Mint seemed to hesitate, but then smiled. “I see. That’s… a very heavy secret, Krift,” she said.

I nodded, and wished I understood why I was so…

“The stronger the storm, the stronger the riftborn. The mother will still die, either way, but…” I shrugged, unsure of what else to say.

“But people try anyway. But no one knows it’s supposed to be during a storm,” she said, understanding.

I nodded. “A storm is death. Surviving it even with preparation is nearly impossible, let alone giving birth to a child while doing so. So anyone who tries fails.”

“You said you knew a few others, though?” she asked.

“I do. Born during the war. While the army of powers crossed the Rift, it was inevitable that a few storms would be encountered. There were a few pregnant women, when the storms came, and they were far enough along in their pregnancy for the births to happen. Everyone just came to believe it was because of magic, and disregarded the truth of it,” I explained.

“Are they like you then?” she asked.

“No. The few that still live are broken. One cannot walk, another can’t hear anything. The last who is… relatively normal, still has the mind of a child. Even though she’s as old as you. The storms they were born in were the weaker ones, and I think the journey home had been too rough on them,” I said.

“You sound sad over it,” Mint said.

“I tried to help them. Or rather, had been ordered to. The army wanted me to make sure they would grow up to be like me,” I said, remembering the massive arguments from those days.

I refused to tell her of the people I had to kill because of those children. No matter how much she looked at me with those eyes.

I was already revealing far too much.

“Thank you, Krift,” Mint then said. I glared at her as she smiled. “For telling me. I can tell it bothered you to do so,” she said.

“Don’t. You’ll come to regret it, someday,” I said to her.

Mintmorency blinked, and then her smile faded away. “Because people will want to know,” she said.

“They’ll pressure you for it. And for your own safety, you’ll do well to never reveal anything. They’ll kill you for it,” I said to her.

She nodded, but the smile returned. “All the same, thank you.”

“Let’s also not make this… sharing our hearts… a habit, please. It’s discomforting,” I said, looking away from her. Not just because the flowers were approaching either.

“Sharing our hearts… That’s a rather wonderful way to put it, isn’t it?”

I kept my eyes away from her, but I could hear her happiness in her voice.

“Why’d you want know if I had siblings anyway?” I asked, hoping to change the topic.

“The way you tied my shoes. It was… gentle,” she said oddly.

I looked back at her, and found her looking to her feet. Embarrassed.

“I didn’t grow up with siblings. They existed, but I never spent time with them. I’m just used to escorting helpless damsels through the Rift,” I said.

“Damsels.” She smirked at the word, amused.

While Mint giggled at herself, still amused, I watched the giant flowers begin to grow in number. We were quickly getting surrounded by them.

Mint noticed them, and thankfully for me focused on them.

“Won’t the whole lake fill up with them, eventually?” she asked.

“Who knows?”

I’d not live to see such a thing, even it if did happen. Though it was an interesting thought.

“Do these flowers move? Or, I mean, are they stationary? It’s hard to tell,” Mint asked.

“They do. Just very slowly,” I said.

She nodded, finding that it made sense.

“We’re… going to hit that one, aren’t we?” she asked, noticing it.

“Yes. Finally,” I said.

Mint glanced at me, and smirked. As if she somehow knew what was really bothering me.

Maybe she did…

“I’m jealous, Krift,” she then said.

“Of?”

“You.”

Although I had heard such a thing before… it was the first time it actually bothered me.

Watching Mint as she studied the flower that we approached, I wondered where she had come from.

I had heard her story. I even believed it.

But…

How could such a power come into existence? One that could say such a thing so purely?

She wasn’t jealous of my power. Or my wealth… but my life itself.

The world I lived in. The world I ventured.

She was jealous that she didn’t get to experience these moments as often as I.

It was the kind of jealousy I’ve never experienced. The kind that would have made me sneer, and then call her a liar, if I hadn’t known her as well as I did.

“Don’t be, Mintmorency,” I said softly, as we approached the flower.

Mint glanced at me, but said nothing else. She simply smiled, and I hated it.

Or at least tried to.

“Sit down, we’re moving a little faster than usual,” I said, warning her as the flower quickly approached.

“Oh. Yea,” she sat down, between me and the pack. Like before she grabbed one of the small leather straps, for support.

Keeping an eye on her as we reached one of the massive petals, I reached over and grabbed the edge of the boat for my own brace.

The boat hit the petal a little harder than I was used to, but not as bad as I had expected. The impact sent Mint up against the pack, which caused her to make a small noise, but she was otherwise fine.

Rocking a little wildly, the boat started to float backward away from the flower. I quickly stood, and stepped over around Mint. Going to the front of the boat, I stepped up onto the edge of the boat and leapt to the flower’s petal.

The petal was solidly hard, as usual, but I didn’t have the luxury to waste time. I had to hurriedly step into the clear water, down the petal a few steps, to grab the boat.

Mint watched me as I pulled the boat up against the petal. The bark scraped loudly as I pulled it up out of the water enough to keep it here.

Glancing down the petal, past the boat, I noticed the deep depths beyond the petal’s edges. The darkness loomed, and I could sense something within it.

I’ve never seen nor heard it, but I knew something was there. It never surfaced, not even during a storm… But it was there.

Deep down. Watching. Always.

“Come on,” I said to Mint, holding my hand out for her.

Helping her out of the boat, I watched her happy eyes as she stared down at the petal.

“This is so neat!” she declared, releasing my hand as to bend down and touch the petal we stood on.

I let her fascinate herself, and went to grabbing the pack. The boat moved as I hefted the bag, and put it on my back.

While I secured the pack, I noticed that there were remnants of the petals in the boat. The little black and white pieces were all over the place.

It was an odd sight, since I usually never messed with the flowers while doing this.

With a shake of my head, I did a glance over to make sure nothing was left in the bark boat.

Once everything was good, I put a foot on the boat’s edge… and kicked it off.

It wobbled down the petal, splashing as it went back out into the lake.

“Hm?” Mint stood back up, to watch the boat drift away.

“Won’t it just come back to the petals?” she asked.

“No. Eventually the fish will eat it,” I said.

“Fish…? Wait really?”

I nodded while turning and gesturing for her to follow.

She did, quickly coming up to my side. Once again a little too close.

Why was she always so close?

“They like the bark,” I said.

“You just said the fish would leave us alone!” she complained.

“They did,” I said. Didn’t they?

“Yet they like the bark…?”

I smiled at her strange expression, it was…

“They do. Now come on, we got several flowers to cross,” I said.

Mint grumbled, but stopped arguing. Following me dutifully.

“My shoes feel a lot better, by the way,” she said, looking to her feet.

“Put them to use then, and let’s go.”