“Woof Woof Woof. I hear you, doggie! Do you want to play? Come play with me!! ” barks Punkin as she continues tending to the plants in the greenhouse while pretending to tend to bees on her mother’s vessel. “Can we grow bees on mommy’s spooky monkey shit?”

“Where is this spooky monkey poop?” Eve asks as she squats on the center mass, looking down and watching Punkin with curiosity.

Entertained by their conversation, Kala interjects to correct Punkin and Eve, “It isn’t a shit. It’s a ship, Pupu. You keep saying shit. Shit means poopoo. And Eve, she is referring to the Apiary. She thinks we are saying it is the ape-eerie. I just got tired of correcting her. So she calls the Apiary the spooky monkey.”

“Shit means Pupu? I am a shit too?” Punkin squeals at the discovery of a new nickname.

Bursting out with laughter, Eve falls from the center mass and floats just above the deck before making crashing into the deck’s hard surface. “Thank you. I appreciate the catch ya’ll.”

Giggling at Punkin, Kala attempts to correct Punkin again. “You are not shit. Shit means stinky poopoo. Not Pupu.”

“I’m not stinky! You are stinky!” snarls Punkin, flashing her sharp teeth at Kala.

“Children stahp. Pupu, Baba Kala and Madame Eve mean to say that shit means poop. Like stinky bathroom poop. This boat is called a ship and not a shit. And spooky monkey is really Apiary,” chimes in Kali, interjecting with a smile.

“You say ape-eerie. I say spooky monkey. Toh-may-toh, Poh-tay-toh!” growls Punkin, growing tired of being corrected and laughed at.

Agreeing with Punkin, Kali offers Punkin comfort. “You are right. We sometimes call the same thing different names. And sometimes we say something but mean something else. Sometimes, we say ‘c’ya later’ when we really mean to say, ‘Goodbye, I don’t know when we’ll see each other again.’ Sometimes we say ‘goodbye’ when we really mean to say, ‘I love you and will miss you.’”

Hearing Kali speak her truth, Eve and Kala stare into space reminiscing moments of their pain, loneliness, love, and joy.

Trying to distract herself from her loneliness, Eve looks to Kali and Kala and asks, “You all want to see what she can do? There are three of us, so we can contain and handle anything that may happen. Nothing is more safe than the Valkerie right now. Since La Gateau got us honey, we have much more of the shadow mist to veil and protect us. It will nullify any magic coming in or out, but will amplify what we allow it to with the right seals.”

Responding with a coy interest, Kali entertains Eve’s idea. “Sure, why not. Didn’t you say you were Claira’s haggard? We won’t be as strong as our coven but I think we can do it. Technically we all were Claira’s haggards. Say, what coven are you with anyway?”

“After Claira gifted me her vessel, I waited for her to return so I could join Ursa Domus. But she never returned. I sailed the seas solo until I met two others, a dirt walker and a wind whisperer. Realizing that we did not fit in with any of the covens of old, we formed our own covenant with the forgotten deities masked by shadow and sealed by fate. It wasn’t long before we grew my crew from 100 thieving souls to an armada of reavers and marauders of time and life.”

Acknowledging and respecting Eve’s carefully shared explanation, Kala and Kali both nod, to honor the secrecy of Eve’s coven and ownership of her information.

Kala and Kali look at each other and begin to form hand seals, enhancing the barrier around the mist and fortifying their concealment.

Feeling satisfied with Kali and Kala’s acknowledgment and willing participation, Eve turns to Punkin and offers her invitation, “Hey munchkin, you want to play a game? We can practice playing hide and seek PLUS catch and release.”

“Hide and seek! YIPPEE. AWOOOO !!!! Madman Eve, what is catch and release?” Punkin asks with enthusiasm for learning a new game.

“We are going to learn to catch ghosts and let them go. We all have different ways to do it. We need to find your way!” Turning to Kala and Kali, Eve invites them to show Punkin their magic. “Ladies, after you.”

Pulling out her knitting needles, Kali holds them out with open palms and whispers incantations which cause them to rise and begin to weave magic seals in the air.

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Instantly, nets of light weave together into a film forming an iridescent bubble that grows and surrounds any vessels entering the immediate proximity of their vessel.

Kala raising and eyebrow and grinning arrogantly, tosses a silver ball into the air which instantly turns into her broomstick. Forming seals with her hands, a triangular portal of energy appears and small bubbles float out, some of the bubbles colliding to form a bigger bubble.

Rolling her jacket sleeve back to reveal her beaded bracelet, Kala begins to control her broomstick with her will. As Kala’s broomstick begins to dance in the air, a light breeze forms, directing the bubbles to spread out and touch Kali’s barrier, forming runes against the bubble’s surface before being absorbed into the iridescent barrier itself.

Eve, smirking with the grin like the size of a quartered melon, snaps her fingers and blades appear out of the air. The blades carve runes into the air which fly out and exit the iridescent bubble, only to disappear into the mist beyond.

Closing her eyes, Eve begins to hum a sweet but eerie tone-deaf melody that causes everyone to turn their attention to her.

The mist around the Valkyrie begins to thicken and the waters calm in the ocean.

Whispers of voices and shadows could be heard as figures and silhouettes begin to visually manifest, walking the decks of the Valkyrie.

In the mist outside the iridescent bubble barrier, silhouettes of giant strange humanoid beasts flash like shadow puppets in against the veil of the mist.

Starting from a faint and distant sounding caw, the shadows of a murder of crows cawing louder and louder as they fly in a funnel-like formation above the center mass of ship.

Excited, Punkin claps and jumps up and down and squeals, “MAGIC SHADOW PETS!!! CAW CAW CAW . ME TOO! ME TOO!”

“Pupu, you see them? Those shadows in the air and on the decks? Go catch them with your bubble wand!” Eve says as she crouches down to talk to Punkin at eye level.

“Okay miss madman Eve! I’M GONNA GET YOU GHOSTSIES!” Screams Punkin as she tugs on her necklace to activate her bubble wand.

Chasing the shadows on the deck while swinging her wand, Punkin laughs almost maniacally with childish fervor.

“Oof, I almost forgot, Pupu come here. You can’t catch them without a materia seal of some kind. Your wand needs bubbles” yells Kala as she summons Claira’s tear vial from a silver ball in her pocket.

Pouring some of the tears onto the wand, Kala recites an incantation that causes the tears to absorb into the wand itself.

With only a quarter of the vial remaining, Kala shows the other witches what is left of the vial before snapping, causing the vial to shrink back into a silver ball. “We need to preserve what’s left. There is a quarter left and it was mixed with some of Pupu’s tears so it isn’t purely Claira’s anymore. Hopefully the mystic divided the tears as it needed to- we need to keep her pure tears. We might be able to finder endless tear.”

Approaching to sit down on the floor next to Punkin, Kali’s wands begin to knit the air while Kali recites an incantation and places a vial on Punkin’s sash bow around her waist. “There you go, you can wear this vial. I have weaved a thread like a flexible straw. This vial is filled with hedera helix, some of my protective love tears, and honey. This bubble potion won’t hurt anything inside of them. It has a magical string connecting to your wand and will let you make many bubbles.”

“Can I go now? They are running away!” Whines Punkin as she pulls herself away from the three witches.

Running around the ship, Punkin continues swinging her wand, creating bubbles around the ship but unable to catch any shadows.

“Not fair! They are too fast. And they fly away! AND The birdies ARE TOO LOUD. They are dis-attracting.” Whines Punkin.

“AHEM!!!” Coughs Eve.

Suddenly the shadows in the mist ground themselves and run around Punkin. The crows land on the masses, rails, and decks of the vessels and await their capture and while subsiding their cawing.

“Thank you. This is practice, she isn’t ready to chase you across vessels. Please help her my friends. Marauders of Mayhem and Reavers of the Restless Isles, go chase her back!” Commands Eve.

Suddenly hundreds of additional shadows in the mist appear, varying in size, shape, and form. Shadows of people riding horses across the ship decks and shadows of people running and jumping across the decks hoot and holler as they pass by Punkin.

“OOOH… YOU HAVE SO MANY FRIENDS. I’M GONNA GET YOU!”

As Punkin chases and catches the shadows of ghosts and souls, she screams with excitement.

“Oh, whoops, we forgot, she needs to release them. Here Punkin, take this.” Eve shouts out to Punkin as she reaches out to hand Punkin a strange hollow shaped bubble wand. “This is a bubble blade. It can make bubbles and it can cut and pop bubbles made by our bubble potions. Otherwise those bubbles are hard to pop without its caster’s magic. Believe it or not, this was your father’s bubble blade. He gifted it to me when we first met. It is yours now.”

Now running with a bubble wand in one hand and her new bubble blade in the other, Punkin struggles to swing either of her tools.

“It’s too hard!!!” Screams Punkin.

“Wear it on your bow sash! Pull it out only when you are ready to pop a bubble. It isn’t threaded yet to make bubbles.” Shouts Kali.

Laughing from her stomach, Eve instructs Punkin to start popping the bubbles. “Actually Pupu, put your wand away. You caught enough friends, it's time to let them out. You know, the release part of catch and release. Use your blade.”

“Aiya! Yah! Ah! Oof! Ay!” Yells Punkin as she swings at the bubbles with shadows in them.

Feeling satisfied with Punkin’s practice, the three witches smile at each other and nod, non-verbally agreeing it is time to end the practice.

Clapping her hands together once, Kala pops the remaining bubbles.

Waving her hand in the air and yawning from boredom, Eve releases the density of the mist, no longer showing the silhouettes and shadows of the ghosts and souls on her vessels.

Commenting on and celebrating her progress, La Gateau, Runt, and Akiraion clap their paws and cheer from the helm of the ship.

“We can continue tomorrow. In a day or two we should be at the Mystic Evermore, there you will meet my sister whom can teach you to fly. Just know, she does not like most people.”

“BUT I’M NOT DONE! I WANNA KEEP PLAYING! I can see him. There is one more ghost! I hear him! I see him. Over there! He is mad! I’M GONNA CATCH HIM AND TICKLE HIM. HE WILL BE HAPPY AFTER A TICKLE!!” Screams Punkin with excitement, pointing at a silhouette in the distance on one of the vessels sailing by.

Catching the party off-guard, everyone turns to where Punkin points. Unable to see what she is referring to, the witches and the mehti gamheers prepare for battle, forming seals and drawing in mana.

“WHERE DID YOU GO! I SAW YOU! YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM ME! YOU WILL TAKE ME HOME!” Shouts a voice muffled by remaining density of the mist.

Raising her eyebrows in concern, Eve instructs everyone. “Oh boy! It isn’t too happy! We should brace ourselves. It has no idea what it is chasing!”

Approaching the party, the silhouette of a giant beast with three heads projects onto the mist like a shadow puppet.

“Here goes! Release your seals and give it everything you got!” commands Eve.

“No wait, don’t hurt it. I wanna keep it!” Screams Punkin as the party begins to release their magic.

With a loud crack like a thunderous snap and a flash of bright lightning, Punkin, Eve, Kali, and Kala propel through the air and are thrown against the rails of the ship deck.

Looking around frantically, Kala yells out, “Is everyone alright? I can’t see! Pupu? PUPU??? WHERE IS PUPU??”