While I rest my wings, the two of us talk about our lives since that fateful day. I spoke of my actions that night, and the permeating hatred toward Gloria that pushed me until I’d lost control. The Void Fog, crossing the Alps, the wars. Everything I’d been through, I told her.

Leal had to go through hardships of her own. Many of which kick-started by Morne burning to the ground. Barbs of guilt prick me whenever I think about what my mistake has caused.

New Vetus has changed since I was last there. Moulded into something barely resembling the nation it was before. The war against Henosis scarring them for the worse.

Gone is the place that originally welcomed me without restraint. Gone is the community focused society Leal grew up. Now, it is nothing but a machine to fuel their newly minted war efforts.

I remember only months’ worth of the country it was before that welcoming atmosphere twisted to hostility, but Leal knew far more of its good side, so the brutal state it’s fallen into clearly hurts her.

Once I feel rested enough — and burnt down a small section of the forest — I rise to my taloned feet, ready to fly once more. Leal, thankfully, leaves the armour on the ground. She’s still heavy, but it should make flying easier.

My wings spread wide for take-off, before I notice the sky far to the south.

“Hey, Leal. You wouldn’t happen to be able to stop rain, would you?”

“Sorry, no. I could make a barrier, but I would struggle to hold it up long.”

“Well then, we’re going to have to go around then.” I take off to the west, wanting to get as far from the thick mass of grey rolling toward us.

After a while of flying, Leal breaks the silence. “Solvei, are you not worried?”

“About what?”

“About declaring yourself an enemy of New Vetus. About me. You’re letting a water mage so close to you without hesitance. I didn’t care when my anger and frustration were the only things on my mind, but you’ve let me close from the start.”

“I’m already the national enemy of Joiak. What’s another country to that?” I joke, but she doesn’t laugh. “You’re one of the few people I care for.”

“I haven’t forgotten how dangerous water is to you, so how could you not feel worried being near me? Especially after I tried to hurt you?”

“Leal.” I don’t want her to feel bad for her anger. The hatred she must have felt after experiencing her mother’s death. “Beyond freedom and survival, there’s not much I truly desire. The one thing that can compete is my intention to prevent those I like from losing their family. Not only did I fail that with you, I was the cause.” I turn my head back to Leal. “I don’t want to hurt or die, and probably wouldn’t stay still and take it, but I would understand if you were to attack me.”

Leal groans and drops her head into my plumage. “This would be so much easier if I had a target.”

I say nothing. My hatred had been fortunate enough to have two. Killing Gloria and the general didn’t undo the things they did, but it had been incredibly satisfying to watch them burn.

❖❖❖

A few hours flying south east around the brewing storm lands us on the coast. The unimaginable expanse of water stretches far beyond the horizon, and now I’m stuck with a dilemma; do I wait out the storm, then head south? Or do I brave the sea and fly south-east to the eastern landmass? Both will take us into New Vetus, but the one that puts me over the ocean will get us to Gerben faster.

This is the same place the Henosis loaded me onto the ship. The trip across the water had taken weeks, but I have no idea how fast that ship had been moving. It might take me minutes to cross the water, or it might take days. No matter how much I want to help Leal, putting myself in such danger for so long is unreasonable.

Down in the docks below, ships and jetties crawl with ursu soldiers. The men and women rush around, transferring cargo before the rain can hit. None need to worry about falling water as I do, but they still move to finish their jobs before the downpour.

Do we have the time to wait out this storm? That is the question.

It might take a week at earliest for the message to reach the gulag via rail, and at our current pace, we’ll be there far earlier. But it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been stuck for days on end because of unending rainfall.

Can we risk it?

No.

Just looking out over all that water terrifies me, but if I can push past this, it’ll be just a small thing to make it up to Leal. First, I’ll have to make sure I’m absolutely ready for this.

“Hey, do you mind if I drop down and eat some of the metal down there?” I incline my head down to a large trussed metal structure lifting a wagon sized crate off a ship. These are Leal’s people, so I don’t just want to damage their equipment without her permission.

“The crane? Sure. As long as we don’t stay long, burn whatever you need. Just… only as long as you can stop the spread.”

The crane is a bit too close to the water for my taste, but it’s the largest quantity of metal I can see in the area. Slowly, I lower myself to a landing. The workers below me rush out of the way, appropriately fearful of the large flaming bird before them. I ignore them and twist my flames around the beams of the crane.

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Iron. It’s somewhat disappointing, but I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Better to fill my reserves than the wood and stone buildings around us, but why not use any of the other metals? Whoever decided iron would be the primary metal clearly hadn’t tasted the others.

Leal climbs down my back and approaches the dock ledge. Her markings glow as she submerges her arm in water.

A groan snaps my attention to the crane above me right before it collapses sideways. The support beam snaps after my flames make it glow, and the entire structure topples over the large box it was lifting. The crate smashes, scattering a hundred books and scrolls amongst dried meats along the dock.

Kinda strange to transport books along with food, but I could hardly care and just finish my way through the remains of the crane.

Ursu rush in toward the fire with large buckets of water, only to stop at the sight of me. Thankfully, they are smart enough not to throw the contents of their containers toward me, but I take a couple steps back, anyway. Amongst them, there are a couple of excessively terrified ursu, but neither are looking at me. Their eyes flick between the books and their partner.

Is there some other big flaming bird around that lets them consider me less threatening than their own comrades?

“Hey, Solvei?”

I turn to Leal, who’s reading one of the fallen books.

“Yeah?”

“Could you separate the nervous ones from the rest? I want to talk to them.”

I nod and send a blast of flame toward the ursu with buckets, making sure no inner flame remains when the fire brushes past them. They react as I’d hoped, tossing the water in their buckets and running for safety.

Without the water to worry about, I weave a wall between the ursu, cutting off the two clearly suspicious workers. With their escape route cut off, they have no choice but to turn to us. Is it weird that I take a bit of pleasure in their fear? Most don’t see me as intimidating until I’m already burning through their body. Maybe I should keep the taller stature.

And give up my white flame? Never.

“Hurry and clean this up,” I hear Leal tell the two. “We’ll only be here for a short time, but it should be long enough for you to hide your collection.”

I give her an odd look, but she moves to help the two by piling the books and scrolls together. The crane is already long since consumed, so I’m just waiting for Leal to tell me she’s done. Every few seconds I have to scare off some hero trying to throw water on my wall, but otherwise I have no issue waiting.

The two toss out a couple barrels of fish and fill them with the paper before locking the lids again. They wave to Leal before jumping into the water. I just stare after them, feeling left out of the loop. They became quick friends with Leal, didn’t they? You’d think they’d be mad that we got in their way.

Leal climbs up my back once more, ready to go. “Sorry about that. It must be tiring to keep your fire up for so long.”

I give her an insulted look, but I can’t stop the laugh from slipping out. “This? Tiring? You’ve seen nothing yet.”

Sure, this was beyond me a few years ago, but it is hardly anything now. Even though Leal has grown herself — the way she submerged me in that fight says enough — she still doesn’t comprehend the extent I’ve improved.

As I take off, I distract myself from the vast body of water by questioning Leal, “so, what was that with the books?”

“Banned documents,” she says. “Philosophic or political books are now illegal under the new council. I’m pretty sure those two were archivists.”

I can’t really say I know much about either topics, but a blanket ban on all? “Why?”

“I wish I knew. They’ve been heavily banning, blocking or murdering anything against the council’s ideals. They have Hund at their command, so it’s not like anyone can fight back.”

She fiddles with a satchel I don’t remember her having earlier. Did she snatch it from the docks? My guess is proven true as she pulls out a cut of salted meat like the ones I’d seen scattered amongst books. Well, at least she planned ahead.

“Um, do you mind?” Leal lifts the cut of preserved meat in question.

With no further explanation, I curl my flames around the salted flesh, careful to cook but not burn. My flames dig through the meat and distribute the low heat equally through. It takes a minute, but Leal soon has her meal.

“Well, that’s convenient,” she says with a slight smirk before digging in.

I suppress the happy trill that threatens to run up my throat. As much as I deserve her hate, she is my friend and I want to get along. Once we have freed her father, I don’t want her to avoid me.

Happiness freezes as my eyes fall to the surface below. The sea is far too close, and despite my attempts, I can’t keep the fears from circling my mind. What if we don’t find land by the time I’m too exhausted to turn back? What if my wings stop working for whatever reason and I plummet into the water?

I want to raise my altitude more than I already have, but I don’t. My team has given me plenty of warning about flying too high. Originally, I’d thought they’d only meant on top of the Titan Alps, but Grímr never let us fly higher than a thousand metres out on the other side.

They told stories of volans, or even portians able to fly, rising higher than a league and never coming down.

I seriously consider the risk, just to move the tiniest bit away from the high likelihood of death below. If I do, I could even fly higher than the storm and not need to risk crossing the sea.

But, no matter how much the water terrifies me, it would be foolish to add another risk. If something cut off my wing, could I regrow it by the time I crash into the water? I doubt it.

Only positive way I could spin the worst-case scenario would be that the water below is all liquid, so Leal shouldn’t be hurt by the fall. I hope.

Thinking about this isn’t helpful. I’ll just keep my course straight and make sure nothing sends us plummeting to the dark depths. If my eyes stick to the horizon, I’m sure land will appear at any moment. That is all I need to focus on.

My determination to not look down is immediately defeated as a shadow moves in the corner of my eye. Down within the water, something massive just moved. My eyes dart along the dark greenish grey sea, but I can’t find the shadow again.

I’ve been so worried about the water itself that I never considered what monstrosities might live within. Only the most horrifying existences could ever consider the ocean their home.

“Hey Leal. You wouldn’t know anything about massive creatures beneath the water, would you?”

“Hmm?” She looks up after chewing through the last of her meal. “Oh! Yeah, they’re called gyian. Huge creatures, but they’re not aggressive until you reach the ocean. Some believe there is a massive tunnel underneath the isthmus that lets the gyian travel between oceans.”

“This isn’t the ocean?” I ask, bewildered. I can’t see land in any direction anymore. How could this be anything but the ocean?

“No, it’s a gulf, a sea at most. The ocean is larger and far more dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Even to you?” She’s a water mage. Shouldn’t the ocean be the best place for her?

The answer comes to me even as I ask. Of course, if the ocean contains the worst of the worst monsters, then not even the benefit of an environmental advantage could help her.

“The heqets own the ocean. Their raiders pillage our coast and their battleships sink all outsider vessels,” she says. “They’re the reason Henosis didn’t invade from the south.”

Her answer is not what I expected. Am I mistaken for assuming there would be monstrosities within the ocean? Or do ursu just not see enough of the vast waters because of these heqet?

Well, whether sea or ocean, it doesn’t matter. I’d die falling into either. Best to just keep my head straight and fly until land.