“My name is Emma Thornton. Please call me Emma or simply Em,” Emma said, taking a short curtsey expected of her.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” the man said, with more respect than Emma was expecting from a man who looked nearly three times her age. “My name is William T. The ‘t’ stands for Thornton, if you’re wondering.”

Emma had not been wondering what the letter stood for but shook William’s hand all the same. His overly romantic overtures aside, William, Emma thought, seemed nice enough.

“Well,” Emma began, not really knowing how to talk to someone in this situation. “Before I found you, I was just searching for a way out of all this.”

“Splendid idea! Another island would be the best place to hunker down, methinks. Find some god-given fruit and make some shelter. Should be fine. I might be old, but I have a spark for the physical…” William said, with his eyes lingering slightly longer than Emma wanted on her breasts.

But Emma had dealt with men before — both in and out of the intimate surroundings of the world — and she knew how to handle herself. “Eyes toward our future. Follow me or don’t, I care not.” Emma announced.

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At Emma’s announcement, William chuckled. “You girls, such firecrackers, now. Of course, I blame feminism. Speaking of which, I know it is in vogue, but you should not become so familiar with this idea of ‘equality,’ it is but a passing fad, you should know, and—”

But Emma was already on her way past William. She went to investigate the bodies of the flying monsters which had attacked William.

Getting a close look at the beasts, Emma saw that the creatures were, in fact, griffins, but very small griffins. Each one had been no larger than a dog. Wingspan, wise, their bodies filled out with more impressive volume, but that wasn’t saying much. Perhaps they were only babies? The idea of large, and irate, griffins bounding around the corner was enough to make Emma get up and move, but it was still a terrible thought to imagine, being ripped apart by an abomination with body issues.

“Ah, yes, so as I was saying,” William said, catching up to Emma.

By now, Emma ignored everything William said. He was a man, and he would act like one. It was no shiver off her timber to allow her gentleman companion to act his role.

Still… where where they? And what abilities did they have and how and why did these abilities manifest now? Emma had questions. And although she didn’t much care if those questions were answered, she at least wanted to know one vital thing — where was the next boat out of here?!

Fun for Emma, then, that all of these questions were about to be answered.