Waking up the next morning yields another beautiful day. I'm the first awake, as usual, so I go downstairs to glance at the food list that Kairi prepared for us so that we could start stocking the boat. Mostly fish, coconuts, and enough fruit and starch for us to make our way. Sure we can catch fish off the raft, but having reserves of it would never hurt, and fruit's not exactly in easy reach out on the ocean. I know mum's already been working on baking several batches of bread for us, and Kairi and Riku's parents offered to chip in with the fruit supply, so I wander out onto the beach, grabbing a fishing spear on my way to the end of the dock. The water's warm, even with the sun only just rising, and as usual it's beautifully clear, free of the silt that trickles over the drop off of other stretches of our home reef. It's a perfect day for a dive.

My fins slip on easily, and I fasten my gloves onto my wrists. Dad may've never had the chance to teach me spearfishing, but Ahab saw my interest in the sea and showed me when I hit fourteen. We don't catch enough to supply for anyone else, but that's fine, it's plenty for us, and it means we don't have to stretch our money towards buying fish too.

With a weight belt around my waist, I slip into the water, taking a deep breath before carefully diving down, paying attention to the depth and the way the fish squirm through the water. It's always so peaceful down here, and just like us humans, the fish have their own daily drag. Eat, sleep, swim, survive. I've long since learned which ones I need to be careful of and which ones are safe - Lionfish are docile and overly abundant, and as long as you keep away from their spines they're safe to catch and eat. Trevally may be quick, but they make a good catch if you can get them while they're dazed after chasing glass fish into an overhang. Triggerfish are good too, but you have to watch out for the bigger ones - if you spot one it's usually advised to steer clear, as Titans are known for being extremely aggressive. But at this time of the morning they move sleepily through the water, adjusting to the returning light.

I pull myself carefully over the cracks and crevices of the reef, being careful to avoid the coral and stonefish, but at this point it's second nature to leave them be. All it takes is calm, patience, and a well timed flick of the wrist to pluck fish out of the water, quickly killing them, and with each kill I return to the surface, watching for sharks while I carefully remove spines and fins, putting the bodies into the cooled box that we keep set into the dock - the gulls learned how to open every device we've tried so far, but as of yet they haven't managed to lift this heavy lid.

A couple of times I find myself certain of encountering new fish, but every time I try to look closer they disappear between the cracks. I make sure to sketch what little detail I could spot between dives, wanting to ask Ahab about them - it's been a while since I last spotted fish I couldn't identify, and just today I've spotted at least four. Some in deep black with golden spots, others in the purest white I've ever seen, with speckles and stripes of lovely pastels. Im even certain that I've spotted a shockingly pale sea krait, but at closer inspection my best guess is a banded krait, and the way it lashes through the water persuades me to give it some space.

It's maybe an hour before Sora runs down the dock to meet me, telling me that mum's made breakfast, and so we return home to eat, carrying my catch to store it until Ahab can smoke it. Kairi and Riku are already there as well, clearly eager to start the final preparations for our journey, and we eat with animated conversation, excitedly theorising what we might find beyond our archipelago of atolls.

We wave goodbye to mum, and now with Wakka, Selphie and Tidus' help, we split the paints and lacquers between our boats so none of them are overloaded. As we row, Wakka starts up an old song of our islands, and we soon join him, rowing in perfect rhythm to the song. Peace sets into our hearts as we lose ourselves to its steady beat. It doesn't take long for our small fleet of boats to come onto shore, and after rigging them to the dock and loading the paints into a wheelbarrow, we split up for the day.

Through the door to the far side of the island we go again, and as we go, Riku nudges Sora playfully behind me and Kairi.

"Hey, what would you name the boat? It's gotta have a name"

Sora thinks for a moment, and I roll my eyes, leaving the two to their posturing. At least they haven't gone for the wooden swords yet.

"I think I'd go for Excalibur. What about you?"

"Highwind"

I sigh and roll my eyes to the heavens above - the day these two stop trying to one up each other is the day I'm not the first to wake up.

Sora grins our grin and nudges Riku as we wander out into the sunlight of the roughly cut half of the island. It's more secluded here, so makes a great spot from which to launch a boat heading outward, but we never used it as a dock because it faces away from home. The others don't come over here much, but the lay of the land makes it a fantastic obstacle course, so we like to have little races to settle disagreements.

"My name's better"

Riku gives Sora one hell of a look for his comment, hoping that simply that would put my baby brother in place. His continued grin says it all, and Riku's eyes narrow. "Then why don't you bet on it?"

Sora's grin widens, and he reaches down to make sure his shoes are tied properly

"The usual then?"

"Race to the star tree and back?"

Sora chuckles, running a hand through his hair.

"If I win… I get to be captain. And if you win -"

"I get to share the Paopu with Kairi."

Kairi and I blink at Riku's proposition, and Kairi blushes furiously. Sora's eyes widen in embarrassment as he looks frantically between Riku and Kairi, and I hold a laugh at their antics.

"What?!"

"Whoever wins gets to share the Paopu we found yesterday with Kairi."

Sora looks confused as ever, and despite her blush, Kairi giggles delightedly at their contest for her affections. I shuffle out of the way so they can posture in peace, and Kairi raises a hand to count down for their race.

"Ok, on my count boys… Three… Two… One…"

As she swings her hand down, they leap into action, knowing not to shove each other despite how important this race clearly is to the both of them. It's moments before they're out of sight, and I chuckle, shaking my head.

Paopu fruits are shared between those who are close. According to old legends told to us time and time again by Ahab, sharing one leads their destinies to be intertwined. Usually it's tradition to give one to the person you love, and our engagement necklaces are usually made with a little pendant representation of one. The star shaped fruits are supposedly sweet and delicious, and often a pain to get, as the palms rarely bear fruit, and even more rarely are climbable. I've never shared a Paopu, but I haven't met anyone I would want to share one with.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as Sora yelps, running face first into the wall as he returns to us just a few moments ahead of Riku. He whoops in joy, grinning cheekily at Riku, who tries to hide his embarrassment behind a cool façade.

"It's just a boat Sora… No need to be so excited about it."

Sora's excitement dials down notably at that, and he scowls at Riku slightly, leaving me to roll my eyes. Kairi gives her own giggle.

"Now that you've both shown off, could you run around and grab supplies for us to dry at home? I made lists."

I smile at Kairi and rub her shoulder affectionately. "I'll go start painting it while you get all that together, don't get sunstruck"

They roll their eyes at me, as though they don't regularly forget to put extra sunscreen on, but nod in acknowledgement as they start off to gather their share of supplies. Kairi and I wander to the small sheltered bay of coconut palms at the back end of this area, and she sits next to me as I unload the paints and set to work propping the boat on its side so I can start painting and sealing one side first. In the corner of my eye I can see her continuing to fiddle with the thassala shells, blushing and smiling to herself. I give a chuckle as I glance towards her.

"I couldn't help but notice my baby brother blushing like a madman when it was suggested that he could share a paopu with you"

Immediately she squirms and wiggles, her smile brightening as she gives a giggle, her warmth bringing an infectious grin to my features.

"Do you really think he likes me? Like I thought we were just friends!"

I feel a laugh bubble up. "He's thought you were pretty as the sunshine since he met you all those years ago, I've never seen someone smile as bright as he does when he sees you. Believe me, you're the most precious thing to him."

She wiggles again, giving another bright giggle, and I chuckle to myself and continue my long brush strokes across the wood of the boat. "Is there anything you want to do if we make it to another world?"

She looks over to me before starting to thread another shell onto the charm. "I mean… I'd really like to know where I came from, but we don't even know where we'll come out. Like Riku said, there could be hundreds of other worlds. So I guess the more realistic goal is I wanna meet new people and make new friends."

I chuckle at her, smiling over my shoulder "More friends to add to our family is always a good thing."

She scooches her butt closer, giving me a slightly teasing smile and a cheeky tone "I wonder if you'll find someone you like on these adventures"

It draws a laugh from my chest, and I puff my hair out of my face before setting the brush down so I can tie it back.

"Hell, finding people who aren't scared and confused by a woman mariner would be one heck of a bonus - for an island nation most people my age really look down on female sailors. I'm just glad I've ended up where I have with you and the others." I take a second to gather my thoughts, returning to painting as I do. "I'm really glad you found someone you like, and who likes you back. You're just below the cusp where a lot of guys start being hella creepy - not that Sora would ever be creepy, he's too much of a precious dork. Hopefully being as adorable as you are with Sora'll stave off the creeps, and if not just tell me, ok? We aren't blood related but you'll always be my baby sister."

I see her pause at that, and a few seconds later she crawls over and hugs me, squeezing my waist. I chuckle and pull her tighter into the hug, and I hear her give a happy sound.

"You always make me feel at home Kik… I know I should thank the others too but you really make me feel welcome here… Thank you"

I smile and gently ruffle her hair "Always happy to help sweetie. Now come on, you should get more work done on that wayfinder before Riku and Sora get back"

For the rest of the day, as I paint, she sits back to back with me, carefully weaving together the shells, the pair of us humming in harmony. Sora and Riku return later in the afternoon, squabbling again over who found the most stuff, but Kairi doesn't care about who did the most, only that they did perfectly, and followed her little guide booklets on what foods are safe or unsafe to a T. With the sun setting once again, I tell the others to go ahead to the docks while I finish up the last lick of lacquer. Kairi drags Sora off ahead, but Riku decides to wait for me, plopping down on the sand next to me. He watches Sora and Kairi wander off, and as they leave his sight, I see him sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly. His expression is soft and affectionate, but something's a little off about it.

"So… what's up Silver? You usually have something to say if you're going out of your way to not be with your trio."

He glances over, watching my brush strokes, seeming to need a moment to pause. His face lightens slightly, and he speaks up.

"We get to set out to other worlds soon. Just a few more days and we'll be out on the water. Gathering supplies today made that feel even more real."

I chuckle and nod, but stay quiet, feeling that there's more coming. Sure enough, he sighs again.

"When you headed off to start getting the boats ready to head back home last night, Sora and Kairi followed you a little after. I suddenly realised that we may not find Paopu trees where we're going, so I tried to get that Paopu off the tree on the stack." After a second he laughs "I actually managed to grab it. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it for a minute, but I saw Kairi'd run off ahead and that Sora was lagging behind slightly."

I glance towards him, pausing and chuckling. "So you gave it to him?"

"Yeah… he didn't seem to get it though… I guess he and Kairi are just a perfect fit. I know I should probably just pick one and stick with that choice if I'm gonna try and ask them out, but at the same time I'd feel bad messing it up for them." He sighs, his shoulders slumping again.

"Have you tried just talking to them?"

He barks a laugh "I can barely work up the courage to half ass giving your brother a paopu, how am I supposed to sit them both down and be like 'hey I think you're both great and I'd kinda like to be part of that'?"

"And how are they meant to realise you like them both if you never say anything? There's no pressure for you to come out to them, but at the same time how's Sora meant to know it's anything but teasing or bros being bros if he doesn't know you're into guys too? I mean… you've seen how clueless my baby brother is, right?"

He snorts at that last bit. "You may have a point there…" He watches a little longer as I finish applying the last of the lacquer for this side. Once I'm satisfied, I close the tin and wrap up the brush, placing it in a little box. Riku stands up. "You want some help to pull the boat into the cave?"

I shake my head "Weather forecast said we'd be clear of storms, and we're above the tide line. The lacquer needs time to set, so we'll need to leave it and tilt it the other way tomorrow. If you can help me put the paints in the wheelbarrow and get that into the cave that'd be great though."

He nods, and after gathering the paints and hiding them in the cave to keep them from getting knocked over in the night, we wander back to the dock. I give his shoulder an affectionate squeeze and nod my head towards where Sora and Kairi are animatedly chatting with the others, and he nods, running ahead to him.

Day in day out. The same songs, the same sun, the same sea.

Just a few more days.