[https://imgur.com/Flwr2UZ]

Ch. 1 pic [https://i.imgur.com/Flwr2UZ.jpg]

The bright light of the lumena in the sky shined on the white cloud just as the prow of an airship emerged from it. The vessel had a long hull, with fans of white feather-like sails at both sides and on the three masts. The air was mostly still, but the sails waved around as if moved by strong winds.

A pair of huge ears twitched around to pick up every last detail of the air currents and echoes coming from the world below. The owner of said ears had yellowish-brown fur, two powerful hind-legs, and a long thin tail, all of which would easily identify him as a young fei. He was leaning with both his front paws on the bulwark, eyes closed, taking in the faint smell of the breeze and the subtle sounds of both the sky surrounding him and the earth far below. The voice of the wind was gentle and regular, which was to be expected given that they were flying over the massive Morvhal plains.

His musings were interrupted by his growling stomach. His ears drooped a little as he gently patted his belly. He had to forgo buying lunch in order to afford the boarding fee for his instrument, which he was carrying in a black case hanging from his shoulder. Not that he had much of a choice, since music was his only means of survival, but now he was so hungry that he might have traded one of the strings of his instrument for something to eat. Or, thinking twice, maybe one of his toes: he certainly needed his toes less than his instrument. Without even needing to look around, his ears picked up the noises of some of the ship's crew on the lower deck enjoying a break from their hard work and eating something.

Now, his nose was nowhere near as sophisticated as his ears, so much so that he could hear a door opening and the rattling sound of a creature slightly smaller than him scampering around on the deck way before picking up any smell, but, when he did, he almost froze for a moment. The heavenly aroma of baked goods forced him to turn around to see where it was coming from, and immediately he located the source. A tray carrying several different kinds of bread, probably fresh out the oven, was being transported on the head and over the round ears of a minute and nimble creature with fluffy fur and four legs, the tip of its long and fuzzy tail being wrapped around the handle of the tray so to keep it in balance. He had always thought of bread as some kind of plain food that you only eat to accompany something else, but that fragrance, coupled with his ravenous hunger, made that bread more attractive than anything he could think of in that particular moment.

He had never seen the species of the one carrying the tray, in fact he couldn't even identify at a glance if it was male or female, but by the purposefulness of its movements he deduced that it was another sentient species, like himself and all the loghral operating the ship, just one that he had never met before.

While he was longingly staring at that veritable feast, a purple plumed loghra approached the small creature carrying the tray.

"Hey", she barked, "Are you part of the staff here?"

With a high-pitched and bubbly voice (which sounded feminine to Lirai), the little furball replied, "I'm sorry ma'am, I'm not. Would you like to…"

"I'm asking the questions here. What are you doing carrying that tray of food around, then? Are you planning on selling those on this public vessel without a license?"

Almost as if she was oblivious to the harshness of the loghra's tone, the little creature smiled even wider, "Not at all, ma'am, I'm just…"

The loghra opened her majestic wings, with their purple and electric-blue feathers spread out in a fan, while slowly extracting the claws on her front paws and showing her relatively small but sharp teeth. "You little ferrels think you can come here and act as if it's all of a sudden your own home, right? What are you even, a mava or something? Think we need more of you little runts littering up the place?"

Lirai was astounded that someone from the staff could be allowed to treat a passenger like that, but then he noticed that the loghra wasn't wearing the mauve scarf of the navy, which meant that she was a passenger like them. His ears tried to pick up any noise signifying someone from the crew reacting to that, but the hesitant shuffling noises all around made him realise that, although everyone was aware of what was happening, nobody seemed to want to be the one to defuse the situation.

Not even thinking, Lirai extracted his violin from its case. It probably wasn't tuned and, being a cellist, the violin wasn't his best instrument, but someone had to do something quickly before things escalated further. He breathed in and out as he expertly positioned the bow on the strings, closing his eyes, then let a high tone escape from his violin, soft at first, then stronger and stronger, with a gentle vibrato to make it more expressive. From that first note, he let out a slow, relaxing melody. He quickly touched an activating harmonic with one of his fingers, turning his music from a regular melody into an enchanted one. All other noises from his immediate vicinities ceased at once, as all spectators became spellbound from his simple enchantment.

Allowing the musical phrase to come to its natural end, he then stopped playing, opened his eyes and spoke to the purple feathered loghra. "I won't pretend to understand what in that little lady's actions made you so mad, but maybe, if you'll let her explain herself, you'll see that it's not worth it to make that much of a fuss."

Although he tried to sound as calm as possible, the fingers with which he was still holding his bow started visibly trembling.

For a moment, the loghra seemed to relax from her aggressive pose, but then she growled, "Mind your own business, fei. The next time you'll try to use your magic on me I'm going to…"

"Enough!" Interrupted a third female voice.

It was another loghra. Her plumage was white with some pale pink spots, especially on the tips of her feathers, and she wasn't wearing a mauve scarf either.

The white loghra addressed the other one, "Dheeli, you know what the Master would think of your behaviour."

Dheeli scoffed. "Spare me."

Then she turned around without a word and left.

The new arrival addressed Lirai and the red furball with an apologetic sigh. "I'm sorry about that. I assure you that most of the Princedom's citizens are more welcoming than her."

As if nothing had happened, the small one bubbled, "Oh, it's nothing."

Lirai cleared his throat to chase away the nervousness. "Thank you for intervening."

The loghra sighed again. "Even though she went way too far, you do know that you're not allowed to sell anything on this ship, or anywhere else on Princedom grounds, without a license, right?"

"Oh, don't worry," the red one giggled, "I'm not selling anything. I just baked all of these because I want to make new friends and there is no better way to make friends than sharing a meal together. I'm headed toward the dining deck and I already have three new friends waiting for me there. Wanna join us? I have plenty of food for everyone to share and you're both welcome!"

Even though his ears perked up, Lirai put his front paws forward and answered, "Thank you very much, but I don't know if I can accept such a generous offer from a stranger."

She dismissed him with a paw wave. "Oh that's easy enough to fix: my name is Nova and I'm a mava. What is your name?"

A mava… the loghra named Dheli had already mentioned that name. Lirai had heard that the mava were supposed to be a species of really agile climbers and that they were incredibly sociable. He didn't know anything about them being good bakers though.

"Um, I-I," he stuttered, "I'm Lirai and I'm a fei."

The white loghra tilted her head. "Hold on. You said that you just baked those, right? How did you do it? As far as I know, they don't have the right kind of oven on board and, even if they had it, you shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you were part of the crew."

"Eheh," she chuckled, "that's a trade secret. Having an oven makes things a looooooot easier, but it's not necessary to a mava like me."

The loghra stared into space for a few moments, then responded, "I'l gladly accept your invite, then. I'm Leewa, by the way, a loghra."

Lirai was still hesitant, but before he could mull it over some more Nova spoke again, "If you're still worried about accepting food for free, how about you play something to us after you're done eating? I know you only played for a few moments, but it was beautiful and I'd love to hear it again!"

The fragrance of her bread filled his nose, making his stomach feel even emptier than it already was. Before responding he had to gulp again because of how watery his mouth had become. "Um… okay then. I'm just warning you: I know I'm carrying a violin, but I actually happen to be a cellist, so I might not be able to play at my best."

"Oh it's fine, don't be so shy." She winked. "It's not like we'll be judging you too harshly."

Nova scurried off towards the dining deck and Lirai and Leewa followed her, though he couldn't help but notice that Leewa seemed to fall behind a little. On the deck Lirai could see several sitting mats with centre-stands to place trays of food on. Sitting on some cushions on the mat Nova was leading them to he could see three other individuals, all belonging to different species. He recognised the young male dorpatchi, since those antlers were a dead giveaway, but aside from him he the other two species, at least not by sight. In fact, he found it a little difficult moving on from looking at the dorpa because of his surly scowl and ominous eyes. Of the others, one had pale blue fur, a pointy snout, and a bushy tail, while the other had long, gracious limbs, a sleek tail, short pink fur with a white collar-like mane around the neck of longer hair, and an elegant muzzle. Around the centre-stand and in front of the cushions for sitting someone, presumably the dining deck staff, had already placed bowls of cleaning water, as well as small towels.

The one with pink fur enunciated with an elegant smile, "Why, such a handsome fei our little Nova managed to catch."

Her voice was delicate, yet firm, like a melody of tubular bells, and she evidently made it a point to pronounce each syllable with care and clarity.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Lirai." He slurred, embarrassed from all those eyes pointed at him.

The pink one bowed her head, "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lirai. My name is Gyvar."

"I think he's never been out of the Fesai Republic," interjected Nova, "so I believe you should give the extended introduction."

"Apologies: your Valdheel accent was so good I didn't expect you to be a foreigner. My name is Gyvar and I'm a dhelil."

"Don't worry about it. Nova, how did you know I was never out of my home country?"

"Intuition." She shrugged. When she placed the tray in the middle of the mat, on top of the centre-stand, Lirai stared at it intensely, almost forgetting that some of them had still to introduce themselves. He barely even noticed when Nova elbowed the dorpa at her side, inviting him to go next.

He looked down and responded with a surprisingly juvenile voice. "Oh, uuh… me name's Sychrill. Ah'm a dorpa."

Lirai couldn't help but do a double take: Sychrill's sweet and gentle voice clashed too hard against his harsh expression. His strong accent, by contrast, wasn't uncharacteristic at all: even back home the dorpa he met had trouble blending in with the language.

The one with blue fur stated, "I'm Heleine, a mikai."

Her voice was warm and velvety, but her tone was kinda dry, or maybe a little hesitant. Perhaps she was a little embarrassed to be there, not unlike himself. He didn't know much of the mikai, except that they came from a region in the far south and that they were carnivores.

"There we go!" Interjected Nova, "How about we start digging in? My bread isn't just bread, though: some of these have cheese and/or cura ham baked inside, so the herbivores should eat on this side of the tray, while carnivores can eat on this side, and omnivores can do whatever."

After a general murmuring of agreement, everyone washed their front paws in the cleaning water and dried them up, right before grabbing a few loaves from the tray and Lirai had to consciously restrict himself in order not to swallow the entire thing in one bite. The crust was crunchy, but not dry, while the inside was warm and fluffy. He had never thought that bread could possibly be that good. He saw that the pink dhelil, despite having washed her front paws just like everyone else, wasn't using them to actually eat, rather the bread almost seemed to move on its own, following the deliberate and elegant movements of her long tail.

He was almost halfway through his second loaf when he noticed that the loghra with white and pink plumage not only had yet to introduce herself to the others, but had yet to even sit on the mat with the rest of them. Instead, she stood with her front paws between her hind-legs, her eyes closed and her wings open upwards so that her flight feathers could be caressed by the breeze. Occasionally, she would slightly wince and furrow her brow following some almost imperceptible twitches in her wings.

Nova also looked at her and piped, "Hey Leewa!"

The loghra finally opened her eyes and closed her wings. "Sorry what did you say?"

"Aren't you gonna eat?"

Shaking her head as if to dissipate some dizziness, she replied, "Yeah, sorry, I was… distracted."

Lirai's ear twitched. He thought he heard a note of concern in her hesitation.

Tilting his head, he inquired, "Sorry if I interject, but is everything alright?"

Leewa blinked a few times, glanced at the other guests at the mat, then answered, "Um… yeah. I just thought I sensed something weird about the Flow."

Both of his ears perked up. "The… flow?"

She pointed at the sails. "How do you think this airship is able to fly? It is powered by the Flow. Most loghral magic and technology is."

He fiddled with the tip of his ear. "Sorry, I just came from Fesai, I don't know much about Valdhea and its culture."

"Well, you speak rather well for a newcomer."

He smiled while his ears twitched with pride, "Us fei are good with anything involving sound, such as music and speech."

Her eyes widened as her expression lit up. "Indeed. I've read that fei magic has all to do with music and is powered by sound, but I've never had a chance to delve into that subject as much as I wanted to. In fact, I was very surprised to be able to witness it myself just a little while ago. Say, would it be okay if I asked you some questions on the matter?"

"Uh, sure. I just need to point out that I'm not an expert myself: I'm able to pull off some simple harmonic-induced enchantments and stuff like that, but nothing advanced because I'm more interested in making music than practicing magic."

Her smile deflated just a little bit, but she politely responded, "Oh, not to worry: I would be happy even with some of the basics."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Then, for a few minutes nobody said a word, since they were all busy eating. Even Lirai was more concerned with what he was scoffing down than with his surroundings. Still, just as he was about to finish his meal, his ear suddenly perked up, catching an odd echo coming from beyond the ship: it was barely perceptible, yet he felt as though it was alarmingly loud for how far away its level of distortion made it seem. He noticed that Leewa's wings also perked up as she closed her eyes with concern. He stood on his hind-legs, positioning his ears asymmetrically, so that it would be easier to pinpoint the origin of all the sounds he heard based on tiny differences in delay and volume. He heard it again and he turned his head in its direction as his ears both shot up.

The velvety voice of the female mikai inquired, "Is everything alright?"

Even though he wasn't looking at her, he could tell by the properties of the sound of her voice that her face was pointed directly at him as she spoke, so he naturally understood that that question was directed at him. "I think I heard something. Like a distant rumble, though not quite as loud as thunder."

Not even saying a word, Leewa got up on her legs and approached the bulwark, opening her wings as widely as possible. Loghral wings were a sight to behold: they said that other species could see better than the fei and that they could see colours that they couldn't (including some extravagant thing called "yellow"), but even he thought that the figure of their strong and yet compact body gained an almost supernatural air of grace and elegance when they spread their wings. Lirai took his performance glasses from his instrument case and followed her.

The plains below appeared like an vast succession of green hills, cultivated fields, small towns, and a few patches of wild vegetation. He could also see a few bodies of water traversing the terrain. In fact, it almost seemed like one such river flowed directly under a dark hill, which did strike him as rather odd. Then the hill moved and, a few moments later, he heard the rumble again. It was then that he realised that that was no hill, but some sort of colossal creature moving on four titanic legs; even with his glasses on he had trouble making out distinct shapes from such range. Moreover, any noise he heard coming from that area was too distorted by distance for him to be able to picture shapes from the echoes of the sounds around them.

"Um," he addressed Leewa, "I can't see very well what's happening. Is that thing supposed to be there?"

She shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it. I wouldn't even be able to tell you what exactly that is."

Everyone else joined them (and his ears picked up the noise of a lot of other creatures, both passengers and crew, approaching the bulwark to see what was happening). The ship's course was taking them closer to the thing, so Lirai was now able to at least make out that, other than four legs, it also had some kind of gigantic tail.

"Ooh! That looks like a huuuuge walking statue!" piped Nova.

"Kellaiva!" exclaimed the blue mikai, "Is that some kind of loghral magic?"

"I doubt it," responded Leewa, "It would have to be a massive Flow syphon to work and a Flow syphon of that size would definitely be illegal."

Lirai's ear twitched with curiosity. "Why?"

"Because…" before she was able to provide an explanation, they all heard an unsettling creaking coming from the hull beneath them.

Leewa gasped and frantically ran toward the command deck, shouting, "Change the course! Change the course immediately! We're approaching an anomalous Flow syphon!"

But she was clearly too late. After the hull shivered for a bit, Lirai felt as if his body was becoming lighter. They weren't quite free-falling, but the ship was very clearly losing altitude way faster than it was intended to.

Someone cried, "Abandon ship!" and a significant number of loghral jumped off-board, just to open their wings and fly away as fast as they could. Lirai even spotted a few of them still wearing their navy scarf.

The more they fell, the more they approached the huge beast, and the more they approached the huge beast, the faster they fell. Lirai helplessly shouted in fear, like most other wingless creatures on board. Then, suddenly, they fell on the floor, as if the ship had impacted something. It was way too soon (and way too gentle) for the ship to have hit the ground. It felt as if, somehow, the ship had found again some of its stability.

"Is everyone alright?" Nova whimpered.

"I think so…" responded Lirai, unsure.

He looked around, trying to understand what was happening. He saw Leewa standing on her hind-legs, her wings wide open, right underneath the main mast. Her flight feathers emanated some sort of bright light, which seemed to be moving in waves towards the white sails.

Gyvar looked down from the bulwark. "It would seem that we're still losing altitude, although no longer at an alarming pace."

Lirai added, "Looks like Leewa is somehow keeping us all afloat."

The blue mikai inquired, "If a loghra can do that, why did all of those other loghral abandon the ship instead of doing what she's doing?"

Meanwhile, the thunderous noise of the colossal creature's footsteps grew and grew in the background, to the point that it became difficult to hear what someone was saying if it coincided with one of those mighty rumbles.

Lirai's ears darted around for a few moments, then he declared, "Not only we're still getting closer to that thing, but I think we're on a collision course."

The pink dhelil adjusted her mane a little and then announced, "I shall talk to the captain, if he's still on board."

That said, she gracefully trotted away, chin proudly up, in the direction of the command deck. The rest of them hesitated for a few moments, then followed her without uttering a word. Lirai wasn't sure why anyone else was going, but he figured that there was really nothing else they could do, so he might as well go see what their pink new friend was up to.

What crew remained on board moved frantically around, desperately trying to furl the sails on the sides of the ship. The command deck was off-limits to passengers and would usually have some security personnel keeping guard, but they either abandoned ship already or were trying to help the rest of the crew, so nobody was there to stop them.

Behind the steering wheel, in the middle of several bronze instruments and indicators of various shapes and sizes, they found a male dorpa with rough brown fur and only one antler, throwing curses at the whole situation and not even paying any attention to them. "I swear on the Prince's tail-feathers if I get out of this alive I'll have them all court-martialed! How are we even still afloat? And why can't I stir this old crate?"

Gyvar the pink dhelil cleared her throat. "I beg your pardon, captain? I know we're in the middle of an emergency, but I have some information you might find useful."

He barked, "Plucked Prince Pinions! Then don't be so bloody long-winded and speak already!"

She calmly reported, "A passenger loghra is diverting the syphoned Flow in the main sail, that's how we're still afloat. Also, we're on a collision course with the creature causing this crisis in the first place. I thought you might want to know, since the loghral on lookout abandoned the ship."

"Hah!" he bellowed, "So one of those good-for-nothing fledging-nates still has some spine. Good. Still, if she's redirecting some of the syphoned Flow then no wonder we're on a collision course: to keep us afloat, she's subjecting us to the Flow current created by the bloody thing."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"There's not much even I can do at this point," he spat, "just find a spot, brace for impact, and pray on the Prince's blessed left cheek that I can land this tub in one piece. Or, at least, no more than three."

One of the indicators next to the captain started rapidly chiming like a tiny bell. "Spit roast me with my missing horn, already? Forget about finding yourselves a spot and brace to whatever you can: we're landing in moments!"

A dull pain across the entire body and ringing ears were the first thing greeting Lirai as he opened his eyes.

The second was Nova's fluffy face and her bubbly voice. "He's awake!"

"He shuld be gud. Ah checked 'im and didn't see no big wunds or broken bons." Said the juvenile voice of the dorpa they shared a meal with.

Lirai sat up with a gasp, still inside the command deck, though now it was tilted and the instruments inside were all in disarray or in pieces. "Is everyone okay?"

Gyvar's hurtful groan reached him from behind. "I certainly have seen better days, but at the bare minimum I was able to guarantee everyone's safety."

He turned around and saw that the graceful dhelil was still on the floor, holding her right arm and cringing in pain.

"How long was I out?"

Nova answered, "Well, no more than a few moments. Gyvar used her dhelil magic to protect us all as best as she could, but now she's in rough shape."

"I'll be fine, really" she whimpered in response, "my arm is just slightly injured."

They were interrupted by the thundering noise, louder than ever, so much so that the floor moved under them as if it was in the middle of an earthquake.

"Shouldn't we skedaddle from here? What if we're on its path and then it steps on us?" questioned Nova.

Lirai moved his ears around a few times, then said, "That's not going to happen. We're on its back."

Heleine blinked a few times. "How do you-?"

At that point, Leewa's voice interrupted her from the entrance. "Is everyone okay in here?"

Gyvar grimaced, "Okay isn't quite the word I would be using, but we're all alive."

"You were just outside. What is our current situation?" Inquired Heleine.

"As far as I could see, there weren't any serious injuries among those who still remain on board."

"I am truly glad to hear that, but to keep it that way we need to know where we landed."

"Oh, well… we landed on that thing's back."

Heleine addressed Lirai again, "How did you know we were on its back without even stepping foot outside?"

Gyvar answered in his place. "Veritably, sweetheart, that's hardly surprising. You see, the spacial awareness of a fei comes mostly from their hearing rather than their eyesight. By all accounts, he should easily be able to make his way around this wreck even in complete darkness."

Hearing someone speak about sight reminded him of his glasses: he still had them on before passing out and now didn't have them anymore. Plus, where was his violin?

Heleine spoke again, "Anyway, we should all thank you, Leewa. It's because of you that we didn't crash at full speed."

The rough voice of the captain rose from the debris. "Yep. May their tails catch fire next time they break wind, half of my gutless crew abandoned ship at the first sign of danger, possibly hoping that I wouldn't pull through to carry their sorry feathery bums through the consequences of their actions. I'm ashamed to admit that I only survived through the aid of a VIP guest."

Still looking around for his glasses and violin, Lirai asked, "Huh? What do you mean VIP guest?"

"Do you think just about any limp feathered loghral can pull off a redirection of syphoned Flow? If that were the case, my crew would have done that instead of flying the coop. Nah, only an advanced practitioner of magic can do that. And, being the captain, of course I knew that two theophytes were on board, so it had to be one of them who saved us, so-"

Leewa cut him short. "Still, we have two problems: we're on top of some sort of gigantic moving creature and said moving creature is walking through Princedom's territory. If it gets anywhere near a populated area it might shut down any local flow mills, which will cause all sorts of troubles. So, captain, is the telecrypt on your ship still working?"

"I highly doubt that, but you're free to check. I'd do that myself but I'm bark-munching stuck in here."

Lirai finally found his glasses. One of the lenses was cracked, the other totally missing, and the frame was bent. His ears drooped and his eyes started to water. He couldn't afford to buy a new pair, but wearing performance glasses was basically mandatory for a fei to play in an orchestra. He sucked it up and tried to search for his violin. He still had some hope left as long as that was intact.

Nova piped, "Can someone help me get the captain out of there?"

Sychrill, the other dorpa, approached her without saying a word.

Heleine was about to do the same, but then she addressed Lirai instead, "Can you come to help us?"

Without stopping what he was doing, he responded, "I need to find my violin."

"He's stuck under there and probably hurting!" she growled, "Your stupid violin can wait!"

He froze on the spot. This time he did turn around toward her. Her big teal eyes glared with an intense, almost feral, inner light. Back home he had always only had contact with other fei, the occasional dorpa, and a few loghral; the former as well as the latter were omnivores, while the dorpa were herbivores. This was the first time he found himself peering into the wild gaze of a mikai, an individual from a renowned species of hunters, a real-life carnivore. For the first time in his life, he felt a shiver running through his body. He felt the intense and instinctive fear of a prey realising that they are under the sights of a predator.

She tilted her head. "Why do you look at me like that?"

As a hint of confusion took the place of the intense wildness within her glare, the spell was broken. She certainly was not going to eat him. He had to remind himself how much of a taboo it was for anyone to kill and eat another creature from a species capable of spoken word or any other form of higher communication. Plus, she was even a little smaller than him, and he was almost sure that mikai didn't habitually hunt creatures bigger than them. Right?

They snapped out of it when they heard the captain's rough voice engaging in more creative expletives, as he was freed from the debris.

"Ardja feelin' gud?" Asked the younger dorpa to the older one.

Massaging his neck, the captain barked, "You little sprout-horn can take your concern and give it to your dear mama back home. When you were nothing more than a potential future pain in the neck in your parents' life plans I was already working my way up the ladder and surviving worse accidents than this."

The powerful rumble invaded the room once more as the floor trembled almost strongly enough to make them lose balance, then the captain added, "Alright, fine, this is the weirdest accident I've survived to date."

When the trembling was almost done, a new sound filled the air. It was some sort of loud and layered wail, howling and piercing through their ears. Lirai couldn't quite put a finger on it, but something in that sound caused his heart to ache a little. When the wail died down, before he could process what just happened, Lirai finally spotted the case of his violin. He jumped to retrieve it and see if there was any damage. One of the hinges on the case was broken, but the instrument itself had suffered no harm. He hugged the wooden object, tearing up again due to the joy of finding it all in one piece.

Carrying the case under his arm, so that it wouldn't accidentally fall apart due to the missing hinge, Lirai asked, "Well, what now?"

As he asked, Leewa found some sort of delicate-looking box and sighed. "Welp, this telecrypt isn't going to help us in its current state. I'm pretty sure that Dheeli flew away at the first sign of danger, so I'm probably the only one around with the expertise in loghral magic to deal with this gigantic construct. The rest of you should check if some of the lifeboats are still intact: they don't use flow-sails precisely so that they would work even in this kind of emergencies, but this also means that they won't be able to take you very far away."

Heleine asked, "What is a 'construct'?"

"I mean an object given the ability of autonomous movement through magic. A construct isn't strictly speaking alive: it just moves following its functions, which are predetermined during construction."

The tip of the mikai's whiskers started glowing with a pale blue light. "If that's the case, then maybe this isn't actually a construct. I can feel a gigantic, if very simple, consciousness through Shountu."

"What do you mean? Of course it's a construct: I can feel the Flow being constantly syphoned in its body, so it has to be an artificial being."

Heleine shook her head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I'm positive that this thing is alive, somehow. Maybe we can try to convince it to go somewhere it won't cause damage?"

Leewa stomped her front leg for emphasis. "There's no need for any of you to put yourselves in more danger. Leave this to me: I have been trained to find solutions for magical emergencies."

The mikai didn't back down. "Me too. Back home, I was a shaman."

While the two were discussing, Sychrill helped the captain sit on the ground and then approached Gyvar. "It hurts bad?"

She groaned, but then forced a smile. "Don't worry, sweetie: it will take much more than a little bruise to get me out of commission."

He gently but firmly took her injured arm in his hands. "Ah think it's broken. Wuldja keep still a moment, pleese? It vill sting a little, but shuld feel better then."

Gyvar opened her mouth to say something, but yelped instead. He held her arm still, with a focused look. A few moments later, she retracted her arm and moved it around, looking at it marveled. "It doesn't hurt anymore. Are you a medic?"

He looked down, folding his hands. "No, ma'am. Ah have leecense to do first a-id, but ah'm not a doctor. Can treet broken bons, if fracture is simple, and external wunds, but no more than that."

She smiled widely at him, "Why, I am most grateful to you." She then addressed Leewa and Heleine. "Very well, looks like I will be joining the two of you. If that thing is alive, like Heleine claims, then I should do my job as an ambassador and try diplomacy on our massive… surprise guest."

Leewa recoiled, surprised. "Wait a moment, how do you even plan to communicate with it?"

"That's for you to figure out, sweetheart," Gyvar remarked. "Are you or are you not a theophyte? I am fully confident that you will find a way."

Heleine nodded. "Some help will definitely be needed. However, I feel turmoil in its consciousness: I think we might also need a way to calm it down, before we can communicate."

For the second time, she exchanged an intense look with Lirai. He pointed at himself. "Me? I don't know if my harmonic enchantments are nearly enough to calm down something that huge!"

She shrugged. "We won't know until we try it."

"Sounds exciting!" burst out Nova, "I'll be coming too, then. I'm not sure how little old me can help, but I would never let my new friends face something like this without helping them as much as possible."

The captain roared with a long, hoarse laughter. "That's the spirit, lads. If any of you ever need a job in the navy, let me know. I won't be coming with you: I can't abandon this until the Prince's forces come to rescue us and everyone else on board is rescued before me."

Sychrill looked around to each of the creatures present, then he mumbled, "Ye culd need protektchon and first a-id. Ah'm coming too. Ah just need to grab some stuff from mah luggage."

Leewa sighed again. "Fine then, I can't stop you. But don't hesitate to run away if you see that you can do nothing to help, alright."

Lirai, visibly trembling, tried to retort, "But… but…"

Heleine approached him. "Don't worry, I'm a shaman and a huntress. I used to hunt down prey much, much larger than me all the time back home. Stay close to me and you'll be fine."

His ears dropped and his pupils shrank. "I-I'm glad to hear that."

And so they all stepped out on the broken deck of the fallen ship, though with uneasy footing because of the continuous rumbling and thundering caused by the giant creature walking. Lirai didn't really want to go, but seeing the decision of all those different creatures around him made him somewhat ashamed of his cowardly instincts. Still, he had never been adventurous and had never found himself in a situation more dangerous than facing the angry pet of an elderly neighbour, so he had no idea of what he could possibly contribute.

It was then that they all heard that wail again. For the second time, that sound filled their ears and minds, and that's when Lirai finally clearly understood what he had heard the first time: it was a deep-seated pain hiding in the harmonics of that terrible sound. It was like a cry for help. His body calmed down, his trembling stopped. Every fibre of his being told him that he didn't want to abandon something capable of emitting such a heartbreaking sound. If there was even the smallest chance that his music could help the situation, he had to take it. If not him, then who would?