Green Lake was silent, but many folk mulled about town. There was still quite a crowd camped out in faith of Cira’s return, but it had thinned considerably. Shores and Jimbo were at their wits end dealing with the disgruntled refugees.

“Face it, Jimbo!” One young woman with dark hair shouted in his face, “They’re gone! Just send us back to Lost Cloud, already.” Jimbo had the brothers Eros and Lero check along with all the other water mages and determined there wasn’t a damn thing in the lake. Not even bodies. Jimbo had high doubts Cira was dead, but he couldn’t just keep hundreds of women and children hostage on this island. Not many aside from the devout awaited her return anymore, so it was about time to make arrangements himself.

“Fine… Shores, can you ready a ship—” The lake trembled and a rumble echoed into the sky. Waves formed, pushing onto the bank as a bright light shined from beneath the surface.

Anyone around the lake was drawn in and watched in fear of what would happen next. For some of them, doubt was setting in. Their guiding star was lost, and there was nobody to protect them from mysterious, unseen horrors. Gratos alone stood at the shore, ready to fight whatever emerged, while the others were frozen in terror.

A sword emerged and Gratos tensed up, but relaxed when he realized it was solid gold and wielded by the fair Saint. She wore a captain’s hat and a large overcoat, also made of gold. Her pants, boots, gloves, belt, sword, sails, ship, and the railings she propped her foot up on all glimmered gold in the misty sun.

“Land ho!” Cira cried, taking full advantage of her repertoire of pirate lingo while she still had the chance.

An audible gasp resounded through town as the golden ship plowed into the shore in the direction Cira pointed. Tawny, wrapped head to toes in golden robes and a gold hat, gripped the sides with a frightful expression on her face.

“Lady Saint!” Captain Shores threw himself into the sand, grasping for the golden ship, “You’re safe!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She cocked her head and looked around, giving the assembly of pirates and long-since liberated women and children a strange look, “Who do you think I am?”

“What the hell took you so long?!” James demanded, cutting through the crowd.

“We had to pass multiple trials and overcome great challenges. Harsh environments… Yes, Paradise is a very dangerous and inhospitable place.”

“Wh-what?”

“It is?!”

Voices from the crowd fell into dissent.

James had grown frustrated far too quickly, “What is that even supposed to mean?” He, along with Jimbo and the rest, looked to Tawny for answers, but the girl couldn’t help but laugh in their faces.

“Pitiful, foolish pirates.” Being the only one of the two in robes, Tawny crossed her arms and put on her best Cira impression, which meant the most woefully exaggerated one, “Is it not clear that we have conquered Paradise?”

Cira appreciated the fact that she was a little tipsy, and really embellishing it. Thinking it would be fun to follow her lead, she spoke to the crew as well.

“Rejoice!” she held her palm to the sky and a violent stream of golden froth exploded from it. This formed a river and trickled over the camp like rain. Cira intended to conjure them all glasses, but many seemed to sniff it out and just started shoving their faces into the floating stream. She instead branched it off into a hundred paths for all to enjoy no matter where they were on the island, but it was awkwardly high up so children couldn’t reach. No one seemed to mind. Then she started pulling gold nuggets out of her pockets hand over fist and tossing them out to the crowd. James had never seen men more happy to get black eyes or have their teeth knocked out. “Paradise belongs to the Eternal Empire!”

James was left even more confused, but Cira, in her infinite wisdom, turned this into another lesson for her star pupil.

“Tawny, report our experience and findings to the crew. We’ll see how you did in the morning.”

Then the sorcerer floated into the sky with the light of dawn at her back before disappearing onto Breeze Haven above.

___

Cira realized she hadn’t really thought about anything lately. Responsibilities had been piling up and she was still stuck in the mindset of “finish the job and fly away”. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t so simple here. It was as if she herself was the client and just spent the last few months lumping on more and more tasks.

The most urgent priority to get out of her hair was the women and children. Before, she simply wasn’t ready to address them. She felt almost ambushed to see such a large crowd waiting for her when it was usually just two or three guys at the bottom of her steps.

As great strides as she made as of late, and greater intentions, Cira was still a victim to her own nature.

So, the natural answer was to send them back to Acher with haste. After all, there was no more trouble afoot. This was an easy one, and she wondered why Jimbo hadn’t already done it in her stead.

She also felt a certain responsibility to her students—at least the ones she took on directly. They had hardly been taught anything and she felt terrible. Cira was a busy girl, and this was one of the big reasons she had never taken on students in the past. Neglect was imminent.

This all meant she owed her students a solid day or two of her time before disappearing indefinitely. Of course, this was hardly enough to truly raise a student, let alone more than she could count on her hand. She felt ashamed to even think about considering herself someone’s mentor in sorcery. Still, she had places to be, as always.

It was another bittersweet farewell. Even though it hadn’t happened yet, Cira thought she had made a fair amount of friends here. It would be sad to never see them again.

Cira rolled around in her bed pretty much all day and until the next, sleeping intermittently between sessions of reflection or rumination.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She really hated saying goodbye so frequently, but that was why she didn’t often get too close with the locals. This was always the deal for an aspiring sorcerer.

Crashing into an island on the verge of death was another matter entirely, though. She ended up depending on others more than she ever had since striking out adrift all those years ago. Relying on such precarious things as those around her always made Cira uncomfortable, but there was something comforting in that she didn’t have to tough it out alone this time.

When Cira’s father passed, it really did feel like her soul had shattered. More so than when it actually did. Nothing but an empty, desolate horizon stood before her. Somehow, it was different this time. And she was better now.

The gratitude she felt could not be expressed so easily and throwing coins at her crew felt cheap, even if it’s exactly what they wanted. The least she could do was take time out of her schedule to impart whatever wisdom was possible to muster.

After that, Cira had a few points of study to investigate around Acher before leaving. Namely, a follow up with Undina, then she was promised a night on the town with the nameless leader of Plackelo.

Rolling out of bed with a groan, Cira put on the violet robes she hemmed the other day and decided to get back down there. The itch to hit the winds again had started to seep in, so there wasn’t a moment to waste.

It was amusing to see a river of ale still dancing over the lake, and even funnier to see the abandoned Lamplights floating around like nymphs, illuminating a field of slumbering pirates. The streets were filled as were the outskirts. As the sun rose, it appeared Cira awoke just past their bedtime.

This worked out well for her. Without smashing the ground apart this time, Cira gently floated down and silently strode between buildings until reaching James. She gave him a nudge with her foot.

“Huh?!” Shing! Metal flashed in the lamplight and Cira found James’ saber pressed against her belly.

“Seriously?” She pushed it to the side and narrowed her eyes, “Just who were you expecting?”

James realized where he was and relaxed, collapsing back with tired eyes.

“Lady Saint!” An unfamiliar voice shouted, followed by another.

“She has returned!” It was like an army of corpses all rising as they peeled themselves off the dirt and sand to greet her.

“It’s the Great Saint!” Even the women and children emerging from the houses had joined in.

“Great… I was trying to avoid this.” She glared at James. “Get up, we have things to do, places to be.”

“It’s too early.” He genuinely rolled back over and continued snoring over the racket he instigated.

Even after another nudge or two, Cira was left alone among the adoring masses. A headache was slowly emerging. She must have look lost, turning aimlessly as if the crowd would resolve itself, but they only got closer and her more flustered.

Dammit, I’m a sorcerer, aren’t I?

“My Lady, come this way.” She turned to find Gratos standing there, fresh as a daisy under the morning light. He held an outstretched arm that led away from the lake through a stretch of road with passed out drunks too dense for the masses to crowd. “We have been waiting for you.”

She didn’t like ominous things like that, but she knew an opportunity to escape when she saw one. Just when she moved to turn, someone grabbed her hand.

“Thanks for saving us, Miss!” It was a bright-eyed little girl in dirty clothes. It was hard not to hope she’d enjoy a happy life with Wick now in chains.

“You’re welcome.” Cira smiled and gave her a pat on the head, but by then it was too late.

She felt a tug at her robes, then another on the opposite side.

“I want to be just like you when I grow up!” A different girl’s voice cheered.

“My mom says you’re trouble,” A boy in a wool button-up pulled at her sleeve, “But I think you’re the coolest.”

Now a red-haired girl skipped over the drunks and threw herself to her knees, “Please make me your apprentice, Master!”

“No, me!” the first girl shouted with tears in her eyes.

Cira too had tears in her eyes and she looked over her shoulder at Gratos with the dumbest grin on his face. He had stopped trying to pull her away.

All the children clinging to her robes, Cira felt like one of those spiders that carry around a hundred babies on their backs, and she did not like feeling that way.

Where is Mac when you need him? Wait, what’s he gonna do here?

I can do this. Dad did it all the time, I bet. I just need to deflect with some earnest advice.

“Sorry, but I’ll be leaving soon, so I can’t take on any more students.” She crouched down to eye level and smiled at the hopeful girls. “Know that if you believe in yourself and put forth the effort, you can be an even greater sorcerer than me one day.”

“B-but I want to be a saint!” The first girl started crying, “Why do I have to be a sorcerer?”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be a sorcerer!” The next wailed.

“Sorcerers are dumb and old!” Cira’s eye twitched as now all three girls were sobbing uncontrollably before her. She could feel herself flying away already when the young lad from earlier spoke up.

“I wanna be a pirate!” He beamed up at Cira, completely ignorant of the girls’ woes.

“Whatever you do, kid.” She offered the least pained smile possible, “I’m sure you’re gonna go far.”

“Thanks, Lady!” He shouted and ran away, waving over his shoulder.

“Gratos, aren’t you supposed to protect me?”

He spun around in a flash, “Are there enemies?!”

“Er, no… that’s not what I—”

Slap!

Cira was dazed by the most unexpected thing to happen yet that morning. A woman’s open palm hit her right on the cheek. Her sorcerously shielded yet unexpectant face moved with it as her eyes opened in shock. When Cira finally turned, she met the fiery eyes of a short brunette woman in a plain dress with a basket of laundry in one hand.

“What the hell are you doing to these poor girls?” The three had all stopped crying and now looked up in fear. Her words had made more than a few onlookers uneasy though.

“Nothing… that’s the point.” That is why they’re crying, more or less—

“Liar!” She swung for another slap and Cira flinched—retaliation wasn’t really an option and self-defense could go bad.

“Miss.” A large hand caught her arm and Gratos’ stern voice came from over Cira’s shoulder, “I’m going to have to ask you to calm down. My Lady was just explaining that—”

“My Lady this and My Lady that! I’m sick of it!” She shook the man off and took a step back. “We’ve gone from being Wick’s hostages to this woman’s. Who knows what sick experiments she plans to use us for.”

Cira knew that look. It was one of someone untouched by mana and had only ever seen the horrors it could conjure. Likely compliments of Wick’s wizards. Cira had seen some of the horrors as well, so it was not unreasonable, but she was scaring the children. A couple of their eyes held newfound apprehension.

I can’t let this continue. Dammit, I’m still blaming James for all this. She glared at the sleeping man at her feet upon which multiple children stepped.

“Fine. I guess we have to do this now.” Cira tried to hide her debatably justified irritation and held out her palm. A faint green ball of light formed and rose up. The children stared in awe as gusts of wind dried their tears and the woman seemed frozen solid. A breeze flowed in every direction until the light dissipated, and Cira continued, “Attention people of Green Pit.”

Her voice rang over the mountains and to the shore, possibly even into the horizon a good measure.

“These skies no longer belong to Captain Wick. If you desire to return to the land formerly known as Lost Cloud, prepare to depart. Those who would rather remain here are welcome to, I guess. It will surely become quite developed. Could be fun, I don’t know. Uh, anything I’m forgetting, Gratos?” Her words rolled like thunder.

His rapturous face was quickly marred with shock at being put on the spot. He shook his head and waved his arms frantically to convey that he had nothing, as if saying so would be heard by everyone, which it wouldn’t. Cira was no hack.

“That will be all. Look to Captain Shores or Captain Sticks for further instruction.”

“Hey, what the hell?” Jimbo looked like shit.

Barely catching herself, Cira dismissed her voice-carrying sorcery, “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, but what’s going on?” He scratched his head and reached for a flask that wasn’t there. “Dammit, it’s too early.”

“Round everybody up. We will be returning to Acher posthaste.” She replied, tossing a flask with ten barrels of legendary ale in it at the man, “It’s time I move along.”