A light drizzle greeted them when the sun finally rose. It stung at their faces as they raced along with the wind.

For the first few minutes or so after their escape, Xan’s attention was entirely fixed on sailing the boat. It gave him something to focus on while the adrenaline subsided from his system. After a while, however, he felt himself finally relax, and he took a deep breath. That was when he finally noticed Dee still slumped against the lockbox. She sat there silently, hugging her knees to her chest while she stared off into space.

“Dee? You alright?” he asked her.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” she said, tugging at her ear.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. Completely fine,” Dee said, tugging on her ear even harder. Then she suddenly stood up. “I’m gonna go check on Taika and her father.”

Before Xan could say anything else, the little Rodentian scurried away into the rowing well. She sat down next to Taika. The wind made it hard to hear anything, but he could just barely make out their conversation.

“How is he? Is he alright?” Dee asked. Taika hesitated before responding.

“He’s doing alright, considering,” she said. Then she looked up at Dee. “What about you? Are you alright?”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine,” Dee said, tugging on her ear again.

“Good,” Taika said, nodding. She shifted in her seat, stretching out her legs. Then she joked, “Well, that was harrowing. Let’s never do that again.”

“How can you be so calm?!” Dee suddenly cried out.

Taika looked at Dee in surprise. For her part, Dee also looked surprised. Then she looked down at her boots in embarrassment. Taika leaned back, staring up at the sail for a moment.

“I’m guessing this was the first time you’ve been in a fight, huh?” she asked out loud.

Dee glanced up at Taika. Then she nodded.

“Well, you handled yourself pretty well, then,” Taika said. Dee shook her head.

“All I did was scream,” she said.

“That’s not true. You knocked that tod clear into a tree.”

“That was pure luck. If I hadn’t taken the time to attune to the Terra Sang yesterday, he would have gotten to me. I could have gotten hurt. I could have died!” Dee cried. She tugged down on both of her ears and started to hyperventilate.

“Woah, woah, slow down. Deep breaths. You’re safe now,” Taika said, sitting forward and putting a hand on Dee’s shoulder. She guided Dee through some deep breaths until the little Rodentian calmed down.

“I’m sorry,” Dee whimpered. Taika shook her head.

“Don’t be. If anything, you should be proud of yourself. You just survived an attack by a group of thieving bandits. It’ll make for an interesting story to tell your aunt.”

“Oh, gods! If Auntie finds out…!” Dee moaned.

Taika winced. Then she rubbed her face with one hand.

“What I meant is that you were very brave,” she ventured again.

“Not like you and Xan,” Dee sniffled. “You both knew exactly what to do. You weren’t afraid at all!”

“That’s not true, Dee. I was scared. I was scared when I saw that we were outnumbered. I was scared when I saw their leader threaten my father. I was scared when that hound attacked me. But I didn’t let that fear stop me from doing something about it.

“Listen, Dee. My family has been traveling on the road my entire life. Most of the time, people respect us because we are generous with our gifts. But there have been times now and then where people have tried taking advantage of us for the same reason. I remember once when my mother and I were shopping for supplies, and a pair of thugs tried to rob us. They’d blocked our path and ‘very politely’ asked us to hand over our money. When my mother refused, they attacked us.”

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“What happened?” Dee asked.

“My mother knocked them upside the head. Then she tied them up and turned them in to the city guards,” Taika said. She stared off into space for a moment, sighing with nostalgia. Then she shook her head and continued:

“I was still just a child, and the whole experience terrified me. But then my mother told me that she had been scared, too, but she wasn’t about to let those thugs hurt her or me. Because that’s the secret to being brave, Dee: it’s all about whether you’ll act in spite of the fear, or whether you’ll let your fear stop you. And you didn’t let your fear stop you. So, yes, you were very brave.”

Dee sniffed again. “I suppose.”

Taika sighed. Then she gently pulled Dee into a side hug.

“It’s alright, Dee. You can let it out,” Taika said reassuringly. Dee hiccupped, then buried her face in Taika’s side and sobbed.

The two of them sat there in silence for a long time. Xan thought about saying something, then decided against it. He thought it was probably for the best if he let Taika handle this.

Several minutes later, Dee finally looked up. Her eyes were red, but she looked calmer. She sniffed, wiped her nose, then smiled up at Taika.

“Yes, that was truly harrowing. Let’s never, ever do that again,” she said, echoing Taika’s jest. Taika chuckled, then released Dee from her hug. The little Rodentian stood up and took stock of their surroundings.

“Well, I’d better get back to navigating… Thanks, Taika,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Taika replied.

Dee clambered up out of the rowing well and resumed her perch next to the lockbox. Then she pointed out over the starboard side.

“A little more to the north, Xan. You’re starting to veer off course,” she chided him.

“Whoops,” Xan said with a smile before adjusting the tiller sail.

They continued their journey for the rest of the day, just like all of the days before. Unfortunately for them, the frigid rain did not let up at all as the hours dragged on. They all tried their best to stay dry, using the fur blankets as cover, but for the most part it was still wet and miserable.

As the sun began to set, Dee approached Xan again about finding a place to touch down. But before he could respond to her, he heard Katar have another coughing fit, followed by Taika gasping in fear. He quickly looked up to see that she had gone pale.

“Taika, what is it?” he called to her.

“Father’s getting worse,” Taika called back. Xan craned his neck to get a better look at Katar. The old Verdan still lay in the rowing well, his eyes closed. There was a smear of blood at the corner of his mouth.

Xan cursed. Time was running out. He looked up at the dreary clouds, felt the wind blowing against his face; he looked down over the side of the boat at the coast far below. Then he sat up and set his jaw with determination.

“We’ll push through,” he said. Both Dee and Taika looked up at him in surprise.

“Push through? But it’ll be dark soon. If we keep going like this, we won’t be able to see the coast,” Dee protested.

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. We need to get Katar to the shrine,” Xan said stubbornly.

“But—”

“If we touch down for the night, we may not get there in time. So I say we push through.”

Dee frowned at Xan. Then she looked back at Taika.

“What do you think?” Dee asked.

Taika looked down at her ailing father for a long moment. Then she looked back up at Xan. “Are you sure you can do it?” she asked.

“Yes,” Xan said, nodding firmly. Taika sighed.

“Then I say we press on,” she said.

“Alright. Dee, take us up higher. We don’t want to accidentally run into any trees,” Xan ordered.

Their little boat pressed on through the night. A couple hours past sunset the rain finally let up, and another hour later the clouds finally began to disperse. The red moon had gotten fuller since the previous night, lending its soft glow to the world below. That made it a little easier to keep an eye on the coast, but only just.

The red moon finally set a couple hours before dawn. Bereft of light, Xan eventually resorted to asking Taika to hold up her Ember Sang and keep watch at the prow. Dee brought the little boat lower so they could try to see the coast below. Taika even convinced Sage to help. He sat on the prow of the boat next to her, his large orange eyes scanning the ground below them as they sailed on.

Then, as the eastern sky began to lighten behind them, Xan finally caught sight of something in the distance. The silhouette of a tree began to appear in the early morning light. It sat alone on an island just off the coast, solid, solitary – and gargantuan. The roots drove deep into the soil and surf beneath it, while the bare branches stretched high into the sky, reaching up as tall as a mountain.

“Woah,” he breathed.

“Xan, the tree!” Taika exclaimed.

“I know, it’s incredible!” he said, still awestruck.

“LOOK OUT!” Taika cried.

Too late, the little boat’s prow scraped against the top of a tree. Everyone braced as they were jarred by the impact, except for Sage, who shot up from his perch on the prow, wings flapping wildly. Shadow squealed as she dove for the space beneath Xan’s seat.

“Dee, take us up!” Xan ordered. Then another sudden impact came from starboard as they scraped against another tree. This time the impact jarred them even harder. Dee was knocked into the mast. She collapsed unconscious over the lockbox.

The humming from the Terra Sang ceased. Almost immediately, the boat started losing altitude. Xan screamed for Dee to wake up. Another impact jolted them from the port side.

“Brace yourselves!” Xan cried. He released the tiller. He dove for Dee, throwing himself over her and the lockbox in an effort to shield her. Then he closed his eyes and braced himself as their little boat crashed down.