The next morning Xan and Dee set to work repairing the boat. They first turned their attention to the mast, working together to tear out the broken stump that was left behind. As chance would have it, as soon as they finished that task a couple of Ignas Verdans approached. They explained that they had been out gathering firewood and had chanced on the wreckage of the mast in the forest. After a quick inspection, Dee determined that the mast itself was beyond help. Thankfully, however, the sail was still intact.

Not long after that, a handful of young Ignas Verdans approached to offer their help as well. Dee quickly directed them with the various tasks of finding the right spars, cutting and sanding them down to shape, and installing them on the boat. Those who were left worked on gathering new rope for the sheets and shrouds and repairing the sails. It was a long, arduous process, but with the help from the villagers, the boat was fully repaired by late afternoon.

Xan straightened up, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes, and surveyed the boat.

“What do you think, Dee?” he asked the little Rodentian.

Dee strutted up and down the boat, giving it one last look-over. Then she hopped down and joined Xan.

“It’s not pretty, but it’ll do,” she said.

Xan nodded. Then he sat down on the ground as the exhaustion overtook him.

“That’s good enough for me,” he sighed.

“Maybe for you,” Dee said, frowning at the boat. Then she turned to Xan and gave him a wearying smile. “But I can already hear my Aunt chiding me about ‘professional quality’.”

“You did the best you could, Dee,” Xan said, reaching over to pat her on the shoulder.

“Well, I think it looks amazing!” said one of the young Ignas Verdans, and the others voiced their agreement. Dee blushed. Then she thanked the villagers for their help as they began to disperse.

While she did that, Xan leaned back on his hands, stretching his neck and sighing. Then he stood and began to pace while he rubbed a knot in his shoulders.

Someone nearby cleared their throat, catching his attention. He turned to see Taika standing behind him.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hello,” Xan repeated. He noticed that she was carrying two steaming bowls of stew, one in each hand. He gestured to them. “What’s that for?”

“I, um… I just figured that you’ve both been working hard today, and I thought… I just wanted to…” Taika trailed off, avoiding eye contact.

Xan looked between her and the bowls. Then he smiled and shook his head once. He reached out to take one of them.

“Thanks, Taika,” he said, and he promptly sat down next to the boat and started scarfing the stew down.

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Dee returned from saying farewell to the villagers right at that moment. As soon as she saw Taika, her face darkened.

“And what are you doing here?” she asked angrily. Taika held out the other bowl of stew to her.

“Making an attempt at an apology,” Taika said.

Dee’s eyes narrowed. She folded her arms defiantly in a gesture of refusal.

“It’s really good,” Xan said, his mouth half-full of stew.

Dee glanced over at him, then looked back at Taika. She gave a frustrated sigh. Then she relented and took the bowl. Her eyes lit up at the first bite, but she quickly tried to maintain an air of indifference.

“Well, it’s a start,” she said before joining Xan next to the boat.

Taika sat on the ground next to them, her arms wrapped around her knees. She waited patiently for a few moments while they ate. Then she looked up at the newly installed mast and rigging.

“So… is the boat fixed?” she asked.

“Enough to get back to Vaimea. We even managed to replace the aft sail,” Xan said. He gestured towards the back of the boat. The broken oars had been replaced with wooden spars of the same length, and the spare sail had been reattached to the tiller.

“Then… when will you be leaving?” Taika asked softly.

“Tomorrow morning,” Xan said.

“Tomorrow?” Dee and Taika both said at the same time. They glanced at each other, then refocused back on Xan.

“What do you mean, ‘tomorrow’? The boat’s fixed, we can leave right now,” Dee said.

“That would be nice,” Xan said, glancing up at the sun, “but by my estimation, we only have a little under an hour of daylight left, and I’d rather not repeat the mistake of sailing our boat at night. Plus, if we leave tomorrow we can leave at daybreak, rested and ready.”

Dee frowned. Then she shrugged and tucked back into her stew.

“Alright, then,” she said.

Xan slurped down the last dregs of his bowl before sighing contentedly. He handed the bowl back to Taika when she offered to take it, then stood and stretched his shoulders some more.

“I’ll be right back. Come here, Shadow,” he said, giving a short whistle. Shadow suddenly appeared on his shoulders, greeting him with a purr. Taika quickly stood up.

“Where are you going?” she asked concernedly.

“There’s something I have to do before we go, and now’s as good a time as any to take care of it. I’ll be back soon,” he said.

“Al-alright,” Taika said as Xan walked away.

He crossed through the village to the far side near the Rivule Verdans’ wagons. As he stepped past the last of the stone huts, he saw Rowan’s children playing, trying to get a kite up in the air. There was no breeze today, so the kite was refusing to catch the wind. But the children stubbornly kept trying, running back and forth with the kite trailing behind them. He waited until they ran past him so as to not bump into them, then kept walking towards the tree line.

Once he and Shadow stepped under the shade of the trees, he reached up to pet her.

“Alright, girl. Take me back to where you found me,” he said. He winced slightly as Shadow’s claws dug into his shoulders. Then he closed his eyes as the familiar sensation washed over his body. When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the seaside cliffs at the edge of the forest. He took a moment to watch the waves crashing onto the rocks below. Then he turned and walked deeper into the forest.

“Jutha! Jutha!” he started calling. At first there was no reply. So he walked further between the trees, looking around some of the larger ones just in case. He called again: “Jutha! JUTHA!”

“There is no need to call for us so loudly, little one. We are here,” a deep, rumbling voice answered. Xan spun around to see the giant silver tortoise standing immediately behind him. He jumped in surprise. Then he bowed his head respectfully.

“Jutha! Thank you for answering my call,” he said.

Jutha turned his head so he could stare down at Xan with one of his big, watery eyes.

“You are surprised?” Jutha said.

“No. Well, maybe a little…” Xan said, straightening up. “It’s just… I wasn’t sure if you would answer.”

“Mmmm… So, why have you returned, little one?” Jutha asked.

Xan took a deep breath. Then he said:

“I came to ask for the Spirit Sang back.”