So as it turned out, the notification had been sent only to a select number of alliance leaders. It seemed that only the more prominent or larger guild-leaders were assembled in the modest hall, a Nordic-styled building that overlooked the sea from a high cliff. Besides Ariana and myself, Wildeye, Tyman, Jannie, Winnie, Magisteria, Mad Dog, Hua Ling, MacYnduff, and Angelfire were seated around the tables, a roaring hearth fire in the midst of us.

“I hate to do this on such short notice and with a select group,” Jannie said to start us off, “But yet again our little darlings have stumbled into something big.” she continued with a smile. I heard Hua Ling sigh, a wry grin upon her face. “La-na! Can you tell us a bit more about this quest you've found and your theory on the other quest?” the girl with golden hair said to me, and I nodded, relating the basic premises of both as the others listened intently. Mad Dog in particular narrowed his eyes as I brought up the Silvestri quest, exchanging a short glance with Chaneyson, who was with him. I saw the other werewolf-player nod back; it was likely they knew something.

When I had finished relating what we had found out and what we were inferring from our observations so far, the others were silent for a moment, absorbing or musing over what they had learned. Mad Dog took a large swig from an ale-mug, and then cleared his throat.

“I can tell you that, from what I've observed on land, the pirate players who hang around the ports are definitely checking things out and seem to be keeping an eye on certain things. With what Lana's said, I'm guessing they're hanging around for one of these couriers to show up.” he told us.

“We in particular have had some grief with Deep Blue Kings,” Hua Ling noted, “One of the stronger guilds in the pirate alliance. They have managed to get at least three of our ships so far.” she said with annoyance.

“Hornigold's Revenge has been very active on the eastern coasts as well,” Wildeye nodded back.

“And did anyone else notice the Guardians have a new monster on the seas?” I then said.

“We noticed.” Hua Ling said. “She must have spent quite a fortune on those two ships alone, just on the slight chance of rebuilding her rankings. More of their effort has been put into the smaller ones, though.”

“The Guardians of the Eternal Citadel can have their fleet back, with all these pirates revving up their schemes.” Magisteria shrugged. “The only real problem with it is that it might create more potential opportunities for said pirates to unlock the conditions of the other quest, if Lana and Ari are right.”

“I don't much doubt it,” Wildeye shook his head. “With that in mind, I'd like Lana to proceed with whatever plans she has going north as soon as she can.” he then said.

Hahh... thought so.

“I've already arranged some things,” I said with a slight shrug. “We can be ready by the next evening for sure.”

“You're taking me with you, remember?” Angelfire quickly reminded me.

“Ahh--right,” I nodded.

Well I did prepare two caravels, after all...

“I'm coming too. And I don't doubt Peaches and some of her gang will tag along as well.” Jannie said.

“Ehh?”

“And that's just on your ship.” Angelfire quipped. “We're gonna send a small expedition up there with you, from across all the other guilds who want a piece of the action up there.”

“That's fine, I guess,” I said, making a mental note to get one or more of those portable wayports that we could place down, in case there wasn't one up north. I also sent a note to Anhe and Maryn again, letting them know that we needed to get some of our prefabricated fortresses ready. “Ahh... how many ships are we talking about, anyway?” I suddenly wondered.

“You're just taking the one, right?” Jannie asked me.

“I was getting two ready,” I shrugged.

“Oh! Well then, we'll add ten more in total, and two for protection.” she said, and I nodded back to her.

“Got it.”

“Somehow this got slightly out of hand, huh?” Ari whispered to me.

“J-just a bit,” I weakly grinned back.

“All right! I'll send the note and roster out now; basically, anyone who wants to join up needs to have a group ready by next Panarena evening!” Jannie then said.

“Agreed.” Hua Ling nodded.

“Agreed,” Mad Dog said, and when the rest of us had given an affirmation, we adjourned.

As Ari and I went outside, we say Maryn and Anhe, along with the others, materializing on the nearby wayport. Our shield-user gave us a funny smile as I nodded them to follow, and we headed down to the docks with our guild. I saw Wildeye and Jannie exchange a glance, following us down out of curiosity.

“I did as you said; it was not too hard,” Anhe remarked. “I admit it is a better idea than having poor Cylodel use his super-skill every time!” she grinned at me.

“Right?” I grinned back as we neared the water.

“What did they do now...?” I heard Wildeye wonder behind us.

“D-dunno,” Jannie's voice returned, and I could hear Tyman stifling a snort.

“O-kay! This is a good spot!” Anhe nodded. “Heali!” she said, and Healina, as I had anticipated, opened her mage-storage to place the two caravels on either side of the nearby pier.

“HUH?!?” we heard from behind us, and the eight of us, plus Myanihia, burst into laughter.

***

“You didn't know about that?” I grinned as we settled ourselves around the hearth-fire again to a still-bemused Wildeye, Jannie, and Winnie. Tyman was the only one who seemed to not be surprised.

“I knew you girls were doing that to make fortress building easier in the Wildlands; but... it's a ship!” Jannie returned at once, still trying to process it.

“Ah-heh,” I softly smiled, recalling the time I had seen Lizzy do something similar to our waggon.

“There must be some sort of special component they have on it so that it can be placed in there... that's such a cheat, though!” Wildeye mused.

“Think your father and the others will crack down on it?” Jannie asked.

Ehh?? Ohh, right, his dad is a GM, I recalled.

“They're too busy ensuring things are going well in the alpha testing for the summer update... besides... it's not like we know for sure it's a bug per se... maybe they had the intention of letting it be used this way...” Wildeye said, adopting an innocent, know-nothing sort of expression.

“Oh you.” she said, patting his shoulder.

Summer update, huh? I then mused to myself.

“What kind of update?” I wondered.

“Hmm? Oh!” he grinned as my question registered. “I can't tell you much; but I can tell you that it's going to be a literal game-changer for us. Think of it as the next instance or next level even of Panarena competition!” he told us.

“Hmmm...?” I returned with interest.

“Someone's going to be on all summer,” Lysandra quipped.

“No good. We need her, for our vacation plans.” Myanihia said.

“Gyeck!?”

“You can't be on games all summer.” Ariana poked me. “Besides, you enjoyed the offline time on our winter break, remember?”

“Ah--true, I did like that...” I replied, smiling fondly at the memory.

“It's good that you have some real to get into with each other.” Jannie smiled. “Not that we have much room to talk,” she softly remarked, and Wildeye put an arm around her.

“We'll figure something out soon. Honest.” he told her, and she nodded back.

“Oh! Look at that; the roster's almost full.” she said as a notification got her attention.

“Eh?? That was fast,” Ari exclaimed.

“Hmm... besides us, we'll have Dreamers Fables, Heavenly Dragons, Jade Lotus, Gears and Wheels... Farmers Dell? Wow! Didn't expect them... and of course, Valiant Maidens, Northern Warriors, Night Wolves, Words and Sorcery, Flamehearts, ♥Valiant♣Hearts♥, a few from †SOVEREIGN†, and a couple from some of the smaller guilds in our alliance. All told, a hundred and fifty players at least.”

What an expedition, I thought to myself with amazement. For fourteen ships that's a pretty decent crewing, though.

“Looks like we'd better get our other twelve ships up here.” Wildeye then nodded. “Now, Lana... or Anhe; what exactly did you do to those ships...?”

So long story short, we helped the others get their ships up to the docks of Hålla with our little trick in the space of a couple in-game hours. All told, besides our two caravels there were four more caravels, three junks, two galleons, a cog, a fluyt, and a brigantine. Oh, we also had Fyu along with us for the voyage, and those of the Mountain Tigers who were coming along had their sabercat as well; and of course Angelfire had Torayuki. Also, Hua Ling and her guild had managed to ally themselves with Shuĭyŭ the Sea Dragon after all; and the Heavenly Dragons had their own friend, Guntaru the Wise from Kunlun.

How did I not know this happened? I wondered to myself as the two majestic beasts arrived. For that matter, Shuĭyŭ can probably swim, given it's a sea dragon... but Guntaru is a flying one, right?

“Guntaru! It looks like we do not get to race Dracuoatlax after all!” Qi Lin declared with a resigned sigh.

Ehh?? That's what you wanted??

“Ah--!” Ariana pointed suddenly at the skies. The beast in question was now arriving. Dracuoatlax landed with a thud, turning to me with a gleeful look.

“Lady Windstrider! It is fortuitous indeed that I guessed your plans ahead of time! We have a great conquest ahead of us, do we not?” he said to me.

“We do.” I nodded back. “I wasn't sure if you wanted to go this time, what with making sure your home was safe and all that,” I told him honestly.

“Hmm! The Torching Mount is no longer a safe haven for me, 'tis true; all the more reason for me to accompany thee and these friends of yours.” he returned.

“Then we're glad to have you.” I smiled back. He nodded, and turned to his fellow dragons.

“Shuĭyŭ; Guntaru; it has been many ages.”

“It has been many indeed,” Shuĭyŭ nodded. The voice sounded female.

“Dracuoatlax!” Guntaru grinned. “Our rivalries are on hold for the present! But in one thing we can contest: let us see who can get to these Outer Isles and thence the Hitherlands first! What say you?” he said, his voice by far more energetic than Dracuoatlax's.

“Ho-ho...!” our own ally returned with a grin. “But I fear Shuĭyŭ will get the best of both of us, should she partake! She moves faster in the water than we two in the air, after all,” Dracuoatlax said to him.

“Hmm!” the other nodded back.

“The both of you can fly for sport at your leisure; I will be taking note of all that has changed in the north since last I visited there, and will have no time for foolish games.” Shuĭyŭ replied in an indignant manner.

“The problem has removed itself, old friend,” Guntaru said with the vague hint of a chuckle. I could see Qi Lin and Happy grinning to each other.

“Hmm, hmm... then I will accept the contest as it stands; when those who have proven worthy masters to us have gotten underway, our contest shall begin!” Dracuoatlax returned.

“Agreed!” the other dragon nodded.

“Th-they're gonna race,” Ariana commented, her expression nonplussed.

“Y-yeah,” I managed to nod back. “M-more importantly, they seem to all know each other,” I then said, and she nodded in reply.

“It's an amazing world, huh?” she said as she turned to me.

“For real.” I smiled back.

“We might get an early start on our voyage,” Angelfire remarked as she walked over, nodding towards the wayport.

More people were showing up again, and from what I could see it looked like we had nearly everyone who had signed on to the voyage here. There were even a few from a certain guild called HarmoniNews, a group of players who ran the in-game player publications and who were among the most prominent creators of guides and walk-throughs on the forums.

“Oh, looks like Rosalyn herself is coming along,” Lysandra noted as she caught sight of a young lady who looked about her age.

“The leader of HarmoniNews, you mean?” I asked her as I recalled the name.

“That's the one.” she nodded back to me.

“Eh? Rosie's here?” Lizzy perked up.

“Ahh...” Lysandra returned with a bemused grin.

“Heh?” I said blankly.

“So it was you who gave her that name,” Lysandra then said, and Lizzy beamed.

“Of course! She hates, it though. Still, she was my beta-partner for a while! Gotta say hi!” the blonde girl said, striding up and calling out the apparently detested nickname in a loud voice. I saw the other girl's expression crinkle up at once, and then melt into a look somewhere between a smile and a glare.

“How many people beta-tested this game?” I then wondered.

“Hmm...” Lysandra shrugged.

“Closed beta; one-thousand. Open-beta, five-thousand.” Myanihia then said. “The alpha testing, was a few hundred. All employees, of course.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Of course,” I said.

“And now there's literally millions of people online.” Ariana remarked with quiet amazement.

“There are.” Myanihia nodded.

“Hooray for the whaddaya-call-them capacitors, I guess.” her twin quipped.

“Yes, those things,” the other smiled.

“Infibyte Multi-processing Data Capacitors?” Wildeye said as he joined us.

“Ho-ly snap.” I returned.

“It's certainly a mouthful!” he grinned in agreement. “Not to mention all of the backups, safeguards, and redundancies built into the system so that it runs smoothly. Have you noticed you've never lagged here in this game?” he continued with a smile.

“Oh! Now you mention it!” I snapped my fingers in realization.

Lag: of of the great dreads of all gamers. Especially in massive multiplayer online games. I myself had been a victim a good number of times in several games, whether I was just strolling around somewhere or if I was mere inches away from my goal... only to have the goal seized from me at the crucial moment, forcing me to go through everything I had gone through yet again to try and claim it. But here in Panarena Fantasy Online, I could not recall a single instance where lag had happened for me. Or for the others, for that matter.

“I've heard they're actually retrofitting some of that technology into older games,” Angelfire said, and Wildeye nodded to her.

“Some of it, yes. Others are building up on the new technology itself as they develop their own worlds.” he said.

“Neat!” Ari smiled.

“But anyway--” Wildeye began again, interrupted by the sound of a portal opening. It was not the wayport.

A few meters away, a magic similar to what we had seen in Apodemia shimmered into view, and through it stepped Anna Belle, our Ragamis guide for the Outer Isles and beyond. She had all of her effects packed into three bags, one in each hand and the third on her back. With a smile she hastened over to Ariana and myself, setting the two in her hands down as she greeted us.

“Whew! I only got your notice a couple hours ago, but I managed to get here in time!” she declared.

“Good to see you!” Ari said, kneeling down. “We'll be on the caravel down there; the one called Golden Clover,” she told the little Ragamis, who nodded.

“Right!” she declared, and then looked around.

Ahh... oh boy. How do I explain this...? I suddenly wondered, fearing that the quest might somehow be in jeopardy.

“Lots of friends coming along for the ride, eh? Just you remember my uncle's instructions about what he wants you to bring back for him, though!” Anna Belle said with a smile.

Phew.

“Got it,” I nodded back with relief.

“And of course I couldn't expect you to go up there all alone; even Apodemia knows about the pirates in those waters.”

“Really?” Wildeye said with fascination, kneeling down as well.

“Of course! There's all sorts of rumors we've heard from special visitors to our little realm; Covenhame is still a free island, but that's further out. The nearest island, Paradise Island, is said to be a home of the more ferocious pirates and so forth who have made this world their home.” she explained.

The “more ferocious,” huh? That means the player-guilds, the Skull and Bones Alliance, I bet; so there might be trouble after all, huh? But we have three dragons with us, too, so I can't think they'll be *that* much of a problem...

“Covenhame has that witches guild living on it, right?” Angelfire then remarked.

“I think so, yeah,” Lysandra nodded. “You mean Crystalina's Wand, yes?”

“That's them!” the flame-haired girl replied.

“We've heard stories of them, as well,” Anna Belle said. “They stand against the pirates when they come around to Covenhame, but in most other matters they're content to stay where they are and as they are.”

“Of course.” Angelfire shrugged.

“At any rate: I'm going to do a check on our numbers,” Wildeye said as he stood up. “It looks like the expedition group might get an early start, though! And with Djaziim out of the way, we'll manage to get some actual profits going in the Wildlands again.” he said as he headed off.

So apparently there's a cooldown for the orbs-slash-demon quest that lets you summon or banish Djaziim. It's a three real-month cooldown, but the kicker is that the players who did the summoning or questing cannot obtain the quest again for another three months after that. Which... eh, I pretty much agree with.

“What's happening with them, anyway?” Angelfire wondered, referring to the King-Priests.

“I've heard a rumor that Rayna is quietly preparing to come back in a dramatic fashion.” Jannie shrugged. “It could be that we'll see the Queens of the Desert Skies back in a few days or so!” she added with a faint grin.

“But whose side will they be on?” Lysandra said with a knowing smile.

“That's the big question,” Jannie nodded in agreement.

“There's lots of things going on below here, huh?” Anna Belle blinked in wonder.

“For sure!” Ari replied.

“For sure,” I said in agreement, looking over toward the northern horizon. It seemed almost haunting, and definitely mysterious.

Adventure... here we come.

***

The expedition set off a couple in-world hours early just as Wildeye had suggested. It was quite an impressive sight, actually, seeing these fourteen ships set off--not to mention the three dragons. Dracuoatlax and Guntaru immediately soared off into the skies when the horn sounded, and Shuĭyŭ gracefully slid into the waters near our ships with Hua Ling carefully nestled on her back.

On our flagship, the Golden Clover, we had ourselves, Anna Belle, and Dreamers Fables. Peaches, Derwydd, Snow Dancer, Gondron, Cylodel, Cloveroak, and another member called Caylee, a Fae-kin, were with us. Caylee was a light fighter who described herself as a “skirmisher-type” when asked. Not quite a tank, not quite a full-DPS, but something in-between. Our other caravel, the Silver Swan, was being crewed by ♥Valiant♣Hearts♥, along with Words and Sorcery.

“I hope we get somewhere reasonably safe before we have to seriously log out...” I remarked quietly as Ariana and I observed the expedition from the crow's nest.

“Right?” Ariana agreed. “I think we'll make it to Covenhame at least by Sunday night or Monday morning; that should keep the pirates away, at least.”

“Hopefully,” I nodded. “That's not even the halfway point, though,” I added with a sigh, pulling up the maps again. Ari laid her head on my shoulder as we looked over them.

“It's halfway between Harmonia and the Outer Isles, and the Outer Isles are halfway between Harmonia and the Hitherlands...” she frowned. “And those currents, too.”

“Exactly. I think Anna Belle will have more to say on them when we get there, but even this mapping data is a bit discouraging... and that Thundering Icewall... hmm,” I mused, focusing in on the place in question.

“It sort of loops around those islands there, the Shiverang Isles,” she noted.

“Not Shivering...? Heh, nope, Shiverang.”

“I bet they're tundra-like, or even arctic.”

“Oh I bet,” I nodded in agreement.

“Think we can get to them?” she asked me.

“Ehh... I guess it depends on what the Thundering Icewall is,” I replied.

“Oooh, true.” my partner said. “Though it doesn't sound good at all!” she added with a grin.

“Not even a bit,” I cracked a grin back.

A horn then sounded. I looked up at once. We were about three in-world hours out from the mainland, which was already becoming a faint haze on the horizon, so there could be some sort of danger around.

“That came from the Spriggan,” Ariana told me, referring to the fluyt that was acting as a flanking rearguard off to starboard. The horn sounded again, and we looked towards the ship in question. Ariana used her far-seeing skills, and we espied a fleet of eight ships coming up from the southeast.

“Pirates,” I said, recognizing the flags. “The Deep Blue Kings, even.”

“Aren't they about the worst?” Ari asked me.

“We caught a glimpse of them that one time,” I nodded. “From what I've read on the forums, they're players who've gone out of their way to obtain certain curses or blessings, all of them sea-related. The result is a guild of people who resemble various sea-creatures; their guild leader, Admiral Squidclaw, is one of the top-posters in the naval combat forums for Panarena.” I said, and she let out a soft whistle.

“So they all look like the villains from that old pirate franchise?” she said with a soft grin.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess they do!” I smiled as the thought struck me. “I wonder if their ships can do that thing, too...”

“Go underwater, you mean? That would be kinda cool!” Ari smiled.

“It would--ahh! We gotta focus,” I then snapped myself to attention as I saw the ships more clearly upon the horizons.

“They're all galleons and fluyts; oh, that's a man-of-war,” Ariana noted as she observed them more closely.

“That's probably the flagship.” I said with a nod. “More importantly, look at this galleon's pennant,” I said, pointing to the one furthest on the left of their formation.

“Hm? Ah!!” Ari exclaimed as she also recognized the design. “Venomheart!”

“Looks like they're out for some revenge... I don't know who knew what or who contacted who, but that doesn't matter right now,” I said with a shrug. “What matters is that every single one of those ships is capable of catching up to this fleet.”

“I'd say the gossip-mill alerted them and things went from there, but you're right,” Ariana nodded.

As I watched the enemy fleet getting closer, a strange thing happened. They began furling up their sails. For a moment I thought I was seeing things, and I blinked a couple times. Nope, they're putting up their sails... but why would they do that...? I don't mean to sound negative, but those eight ships could easily trounce us, and that might even win them the conditions to do the competing quest. Why are they--wait... Deep Blue Kings... old pirate franchise...!!

I jumped from the crow's nest down to the deck in a flash, using a shadow-skill to negate my landing impact. Ari let out a gasp as I did, but quickly scurried down after me as I went straight to the one person who could answer a certain question that had just popped into my mind.

“Heali!” I said, taking the Sea Elf gently by the shoulders.

“Lana?” she looked at me with concern.

“I know you were joking about it a few days ago; but, could a Sea Elf actually summon a sea-monster, like a kraken or something?”

“Hm?” she blinked, and then quickly thought about it. “Mm... there's specialized taming skills as you go further along those skill trees; specifically for Sea Elves, krakens and leviathans are grand-master skills that take a significant amount of time to be good at, but yes, it's possible for one to summon them,” she told me. “Why are you--oh you're not...” Heali said with a slump of her shoulders as she realized where I was going with my question. I let go of her, and anxiously turned back towards the enemy fleet.

“Hmm?” Lizzy wondered.

“Deep Blue Kings... they might have a tamer...!” I said as I gripped the rail of our ship tightly.

“Tamer? Oh, no...” Lizzy remarked as she came to my side with Ariana.

“What are they doing? Can you see anything?” I asked my partner, who still had her far-seeing skills going.

“The lead ship does have a mage at the prow; he's chanting!” she told me.

“Cylodel! Port me to the Spriggan, now!!” I called, and the mage nodded his head, whisking me over at once.

“Lana! What the--” Jannie started.

“No time!” I said, scrambling to the crow's nest of her ship. She came up after me, and when I had gotten there I took out my bow, aiming carefully.

“That ship is four-hundred meters away.” she warned me.

“I don't care. I have to make this shot or we're all dead.” I told her.

“Got it.” she said, placing a hand on my back.

Using all of my skills, both system and non-system, I managed to zero in on my target. He had a conch-shell around his head, and several other parts of his body were covered in shells as well. I couldn't quite make out what he was based on, but that didn't matter. Quickly, I set off my critical boosters and bonus skills, adjusted for the wind as best as I could, and loosed the arrow with Dragon Breaker. I could feel both of us holding our breath as the arrow sped towards the ship.

They might intercept it... might. It's just an arrow, after all. They're no ordinary pirates. They've got all sorts of curses and mages, I bet. Oh boy. We're gonna die, my panicked thoughts ran as I watched my arrow hurtling towards the enemy ship. Suddenly, a flurry of fire-spells erupted from the side of our ship, outpacing the arrow and landing on other ships in the enemy fleet. The flames caught at once, and with our enemy now distracted by this surprise attack, no one paid attention to the arrow. It struck the target, blowing him up nicely, and I felt life returning to me with a deep breath.

“Tabby! Signal the fleet! Get us in the wind! Have the smaller ships towed if we have to!” Jannie called down, and Tabitha nodded to her.

“What about our stowaways, captain?” she returned with a grin, her arm around Ariana.

“Oh, I'll think of something,” Jannie winked back.

“Gyeck!?” I tensed up, and they burst out laughing.

A few minutes later I was (safely) back on my own ship, which was helping the Silver Swan to tow the cog. I was not in the least surprised that Ariana had followed me over seconds after Cylodel had whisked me away.

“Although I thought that was Angelfire for a moment,” I said with a wry grin, and she smiled back.

“That was very Angelfire-y of me.” she admitted. “I hope that delays them long enough,” she said in a more solemn tone.

“I hope so,” I nodded. “At least until we get to Covenhame.”

“Just until then?”

“Eh, it's sneaky, but we might be able to pass off aggro there,” I said, and she nodded back.

“I won't ask how you're planning to involve Crystalina's Wand in this little fight.” she said with a sly grin.

“I'm not sure myself yet,” I returned with a shrug. “You think they're out of your range by now?” I then asked her.

“It's only been a few minutes; the smoke is still going, anyway,” Ari remarked, looking back towards the southeast.

“Ah-heh,” I said, grinning wryly.

“We probably did catch them off their guard,” Peaches noted as she joined us, “But now they'll be more sly and sinister about doing things. And don't forget that Venomheart is with them, sea-monster or no sea-monster.”

“Speaking of sea-monsters,” Derwydd then added, “Don't we have a sea dragon with us? And the two in the air?”

“The two in the air got way ahead of us,” Ariana said with a resigned smile.

“I guess Shuĭyŭ might have been able to take a kraken, now that I think about it...” I suddenly realized.

“Better safe than sorry, hon.” Peaches shrugged. “Besides, she's now towing that smaller caravel off to port,” she pointed, and I nodded as I caught sight of the majestic sea dragon helping the ship through the waves.

“There's lots of excitement going on in this world, isn't there?!” Anna Belle said as she joined us. “We were almost attacked by pirates and a sea monster! Whew! Incredible!” the Ragamis exclaimed as she daintily skipped around the deck.

“Ah-heh,” I faintly smiled.

“I'd wager they'll be up and running again in an hour; and Venomheart might not even wait for that.” Cloveroak remarked.

“I couldn't hit their ship, sorry,” Ariana shrugged.

“Not blaming you!” the big guy said. “Just being mindful is all.”

“Report coming in,” Caylee then told us. “Jannie says that Venomheart's ship is on the move after all, but the rest of the fleet is hanging back to get their damage under control.”

“Tch!” I said with a snap of my fingers.

“Figures,” Ari sighed.

“We can handle one ship better than eight,” Peaches noted.

“All the same, I'd rather have no ships,” I quipped back.

“True!” the older woman grinned back. “Let's not forget we're essentially passing through their stomping grounds, though. Paradise Island is up ahead, after all.”

“We can probably avoid going near it, at least.” I said.

“Should we signal the others to adjust course?” Cloveroak asked us.

“Let's keep north by northwest until we get closer to Covenhame.” I suggested.

“Good thinking.” Peaches agreed.

“I'll get the message out!” Caylee nodded.

And so after our first major scare we made some minor adjustments to our course, plotting to head in an arc towards Covenhame so as to avoid (we hoped) any more pirates. As for Venomheart, I was at least half-certain they were going to be a wild-card. There was a chance that they were really just in this for themselves and had used the pirates for convenience to get this far; there was an equal chance that they would continue to use the pirates to force us into a position favorable to them and unfavorable to us.

She's tricky to predict, I have to admit, I mused to myself as I gazed back towards the galleon that was shadowing us from a distance. With a shake of my head, I turned to the front of the ship, leaning on a rail near the prow.

“Lana?” Maryn said as she joined me.

“Just trying to wind down a bit,” I smiled back.

“Yeah right.” she smiled in turn.

We stood there near the front of the ship quietly for a few moments, idly gazing out at the sea. It had gotten tranquil again. Well, the energy aboard our ships was pretty high, and most of us were inflamed by a busyness intent on keeping us ahead of or away from any more surprise visitors. But the ocean itself had a calm to it, a soothing atmosphere that really was calming me down. A soft sigh fell from my lips, a quiet smile upon my face as I looked out.

“... -tiful.” I heard Maryn remark.

“Hm?” I turned to her.

“Hm? Ah! The ocean, the ocean.” she said quickly, her cheeks coloring. “I'm gonna help Lizzy,” she then said, giving me a pat on the shoulder as she left.

“Hmm...?” I wondered with a confused grin for a moment, and then shrugged, returning my gaze ahead.

It really is a nice day out today, huh? Heh, it's amazing that they can get this level of detail into everything; must be those what's-it-capacitors that Wildeye mentioned. Sometimes I wish I understood all that stuff... but then, it might lessen the magic for me, I mused as I smiled again.

Faintly, very faintly upon the distant horizon to the northwest, I saw a sort of sheen or glimmer. There were a couple of barely discernible flashes as well. With a frown, I shook my head.

That can't be what I think it is... could it...?