It was nearly eight fifteen when all of us gathered in the pub for breakfast the next morning. Opal was yawning ostentatiously when I reached the table with two trays of food, but she seemed awake enough to nearly leap over the table to reach them. I laughed. "Are you hungry, then?" I asked. "Yup," replied Opal. She took one of the plates and dug in. Amused, the rest of us took our own plates and began eating. As Opal shovelled down her food, I wondered if she was having a spurt of growth- it seemed the only explanation as to how hungry she was.

When we stood to return the now-empty trays and plates, I measured Opal with my eyes. She did seem slightly taller, though it may have been my imagination. I did not know how quickly mortals grew, but thirteen days did not quite seem like enough time for a visible difference in height.

I shook my head and put it out of my mind. We had a fygghunt to pursue!

A quarter of an hour after leaving the Abbey, the five of us came to the base of the Tower of Trades. It was rather quiet; no birds sang in the nearby trees, and the monsters of Newid Isle (as Sydney had told me the isle was named) seemed to be avoiding the place.

We approached the door cautiously, examining the tower. It was quite tall- six or seven stories- and rather creepy, though that may simply have been the effect of the near-total silence. The only sounds were those of our breaths and the nearby sea.

"Sh…shall I bow?" I asked quietly. Sydney swallowed visibly. Connor nodded. I swallowed, and turned to the door. I bowed quickly, not taking my eyes off of it. I was a touch frightened of what might be there when the door opened.

The door creaked open as I rose from my bow. The sound made me scramble back several paces, nearly running over Opal in my haste to avoid whatever might be on the other side.

I apologised as we moved closer to one another. It was rather dark inside the tower, and I could hear scufflings- no doubt from the monsters that had overrun it.

I reached for Connor's hand and found it halfway. We smiled sheepishly at one another, and looked back to the doorway.

"I guess we've got to go in there," whispered Sydney. Opal nodded wordlessly. We drew our weapons as we approached. I suppose it would have looked amusing to a watcher: just in front of the doorway, we stopped almost in synchronisation, looked at one another at the same time, and began moving again simultaneously.

It took several seconds of blinking for my eyes to adjust to the darkness within the tower. When they did, I realised that the interior was not as frightening as I had anticipated. It seemed slightly derelict, aye, and abandoned, but that was to be expected.

There was a wall before us, and a short hall to each side. "Left or right?" Sydney asked.

I suggested left, and so we headed that direction. At the end of the hall, we turned right, and in the corner, we found a staircase to the next floor.

And so we continued.

We climbed six more flights of stairs, and reached the top of the tower. It appeared empty. "Where do you think he is?" asked Opal. I looked straight ahead. "Perhaps that way," I suggested, pointing.

Leading off the side of the tower was a pathway of light, leading up to an open doorway that seemed to sit upon naught but air. "Maybe," agreed Connor, and I smiled at his sarcastic tone.

There was a stone before us. Half curious to read it, and half eager to procrastinate walking out onto the light pathway, I knelt to read it. Do not go lightly into a new vocation, you who would start anew. Once chosen, your new calling will shape the rest of your days.

"Come on, slowpoke!" teased Opal. "Fine," I said, rising. "But I do not wish to be first going out upon that path."

"Is it even solid enough to walk on?" wondered Connor aloud. "I can solve that mystery," Sydney announced. She moved forward and banged the base of her staff against the path. It made no sound, but it did not pass through the light. "Seems solid," she said.

We moved to the path. Cautiously, I put my foot upon it and tested my weight. The path did not give. "It appears to be safe." I put my other foot on the path. "Well?" I asked, not turning. "Are you coming?"

I tried not to look down as I walked towards the doorway. I could hear the others behind me, breathing quickly. I did not go through straight away when I reached the doorway, but I stopped and held on to one of the sides to wait for the others to catch up.

Sydney's breath was coming at the speed of lightning. Opal appeared pale under her chocolate skin, and Connor was swallowing continuously. "What are we supposed to do now?" asked Opal. "I do not know," I replied soundlessly. Carefully, I put an arm through the doorway, and it disappeared up to my elbow.

"Step through," I said, and did just that, clenching my eyes closed as I did so.

My foot came down upon hard stone, and I opened my eyes.

I stood upon a circular stone platform. The air around the platform shimmered like a rainbow. Standing in the centre, facing away from me, was a grey-haired man in a grey-and-purple hat and robe. His arms were slightly out, and in his left hand he held a book.

I heard feet hit stone, and I turned to see my companions joining me upon the platform.

Then I heard the man in the centre speak: "Almighty power that commands all trades… O mysterious force that drives the winds of change…" We all looked to the man. He had lifted his right arm. "Come! Come to me n- Hm!"

Opal had coughed, and it had caught the man's attention. He turned to look at us. "Who dares interrupt this holy ceremony? If your purpose is to disrupt to rite, your efforts shall be in vain. None shall interfere with the will of the heavens!"

He turned to face the way he had when we had arrived. "The power is mine now. The power of supreme guidance. The wisdom to lead my flock along only the brightest of paths. And now I, Abbot Jack of Alltrades Abbey, implore you to grant me yet more power, that I may guide yet more lost souls! Fill me now! Anoint me! Grant me the gift of ultimate guidance!"

My attention was diverted from Abbot Jack by a blue light that winked in the multi-coloured shimmer of sky around the platform. But then, it winked out, and dark energy began to swirl about the Abbot, flickering with deep purple lightning. My breath caught as I saw the resemblance to the beams that had pierced the Observatory.

"Yes…YES!" cried the Abbot. "The power comes… Let it consume me!"

The darkness closed over him in a dome. The outline of the Abbot changed then, growing, becoming monstrous. I took a step back to Connor, who put an arm around my waist. It was comforting, but only slightly.

"Wh-what is this…?" wondered the Abbot's voice… and yet it was not his voice. It had gained strange, echoing overtones, and it had become louder, more powerful. "What have I become? This hideous form…am I a…a monster…? This…darkness… This…black power… It is not what I wished for…"

The darkness vanished, and we beheld a tall, bluish-violet figure kneeling where the Abbot had stood. "But perhaps… Yes…hm hm hm… I see now. It is through tyranny and fear that I shall ensure my charges follow the righteous path!"

He rose as quickly as a bolt of lightning. "I am no longer Jack of Alltrades! I am become Master of Nu'Un, and all will learn to obey me…or suffer my wrath!"

Connor snorted, I snickered, and Opal and Sydney both laughed at his continuation of the 'Jack of all trades' saying. Unfortunately, he appeared to hear us.

He turned as quickly as he had risen, and all of us recoiled. The Abbot's new form was red-eyed, not wearing robes- though there appeared to be nothing anywhere- and it had terrible claws. I swallowed.

"Hm hm hm. Well, well," said the Master of Nu'Un, smiling coldly. "What perfect timing. I was just looking for a subject on whom to test the true extent of my new-found power."

He assumed a fighting stance. "I wonder, will you allow me to guide you in the righteous path…or will you suffer the consequences of disobedience?"

The four of us readied our weapons- or fists, in Connor's case. Then, we rushed at the Master of Nu'Un and engaged him in battle.

Connor scooped up a handful of rubble from the ground and pitched it at the monster's face. "Augh!" he yelled, glaring angrily at Connor. Sydney thrust her staff forth and allowed the gust of wind to burst forth and rip through the Master of Nu'Un.

I raced at the monster. When my fan sliced into him, he roared in anger and stabbed at me with one of his claws. I grimaced as it ripped through the sleeve of my cuirass and into my arm. Then he whipped his tail about- he had a tail!- and sliced into Connor's calf. "Ow!" Connor yelled, sounding rather more indignant than injured.

Opal rushed at the Master of Nu'Un and sliced at him with her knife. He froze as stiffly as though he had been paralysed- which, I realised then, he had. Opal had mentioned yesterday that her knife could paralyse the things that it hit.

I could not help grinning. If luck was with us, this battle would be quite simple…

And yet, it went on for what felt like an hour. Opal had long ago ceased casting spells, and Sydney was reduced to using medicinal herbs to heal our wounds. We were not at a critical point yet, but I felt that it would come soon if we did not defeat the Master of Nu'Un quickly enough.

"Blast this," I muttered. Raising my fan, I cast a spell for the first time that battle: Crackle. As the icicle stabbed into him, the Master of Nu'Un slipped and fell backwards. He struggled to a kneeling position and rose no further. The violet lightning from before crackled about him, and streams of the darkness flowed outward.

"Nooooo!" he cried. "My power! My new-found power!" The darkness suddenly closed around him in a black cloud. When it burst away in to nothingness, he was returned to the original form of Abbot Jack, and he lay face down. His book lay beside his left hand.

"Urgh…" he moaned. Slowly, he rose, holding his book and his head. "Wh-what am I doing here…?" As he turned, he caught sight of us. His brow wrinkled. "And who…are you? Why are you here?"

I looked to the others, who appeared as confused as I. Did he not remember his transformation?

But since no answer was forthcoming, I looked back at Abbot Jack. "We came in search of a shining golden fruit, one that those at the Abbey claimed you to have eaten," I told him.

Abbot Jack said nothing for a moment, seemingly attempting to remember. "Yes, of course," he murmured. "I ate a shining fruit and…I remember very little after that…"

He looked down at the stones beneath his feet. "I only remember a terrifying feeling that I was…losing myself…" He shuddered, and I wondered how terrible an impact the fygg had truly had upon the Abbot.

"You did lose yourself, for a time," I told him after a moment's pause. "You took on the form of a terrible monster, and you seemed…hell-bent upon guiding your 'flock' through fear… I believe your exact words were 'fear and tyranny'. It was only through defeating you in battle that my companions and I were able to halt you, and you returned to yourself."

A look of shock came upon the Abbot's face as I spoke. "I see…" he said, and I wondered if he truly did. It would be a difficult thing to understand, surely.

Slowly, he began to walk in the direction of the light path. "Well, I must return to the Abbey. There are lost souls there in need of my guidance…"

A glow from the centre of the platform caught my eye, and I looked to see a whole, glowing fygg floating slightly above the stones. My eyes widened. "Look!" I pointed.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Stella. "It's only a flapping fygg! But I thought that addled old Abbot said he'd eaten it…" As she spoke, I crossed to pick it up, holding it gently as a piece of delicate chinaware. It was warm. "…Hm," Stella said as I looked back to them. "You've got your hands on a fygg at last. I'm over the moon for you, but I can't help worrying after seeing what eating one can do to even a mild-mannered old mortal like the Abbot…"

I could not help agreeing. What harm could the remainder of the fyggs cause the mortal world?

"Ah, well," Stella said, shrugging. "Not much we can do about it, eh? Let's get back to the Abbey."

"That's a good idea," Sydney said. As they turned to the path, I said, "Wait. I wish to try something."

They looked at me oddly, until Connor's eyes lit up. "The spell that the voice gave you up by the Tree?" he asked. I nodded. "I wish to see if it will work. Come! Perhaps it can transfer all of us back to the Abbey."

Connor quickly joined me. Sydney, Opal, and Stella did, as well, though with more hesitation. "What voice was this?" Stella asked. "I mean, are we sure we can trust it? What if it-?"

However, we did not get the chance to hear 'what if'. I grasped Connor's hand, who took Sydney's, who grabbed Opal's, who took Stella by the wrist, and with my free hand, I made the motion I had seen by Yggdrasil. Alltrades Abbey, I thought, and suddenly the Tower of Trades disappeared.

We were whipped up through a swirling vortex of colours and blurred shapes. It felt as though I were diving from a great height, but we were moving upwards. It was terrifying- and exhilarating!

Suddenly, my feet slammed onto solid ground, and the shapes and colours resolved themselves to the view from the base of the flight of stairs leading up to the Abbey. "Wow!" exclaimed Opal. "That…that was fun!"

A startled laugh broke free from my throat, and I looked to the others to see how they fared. Stella was stiff as a rod from shock, blinking. Sydney seemed either frightened or nauseous, I could not tell. Connor was grinning broadly.

"It seems the spell succeeded," I said lightly. "And I believe I am going to christen it Zoom."

"Sounds appropriate," said Sydney, sounding out of breath. "Let's go, shall we?"

So we ascended the stairs to the Abbey.

I could immediately sense the change inside. Abbot Jack stood in the back, where the red-robed man had stood before, and briefly I wondered how he had managed to return so quickly. Those inside the Abbey seemed more cheerful now that their Abbot was returned.

We went to speak to the Abbot. "Ah!" he cried upon seeing us. "Hello. I fear I didn't catch your names earlier; would you mind telling them to me?"

When we had introduced ourselves, Abbot Jack nodded. "Well, I thank you again for helping me out of my little predicament at the Tower of Trades before." He looked away. "I wonder what in the name of the Almighty was in that strange fruit! I was merely seeking a way to better guide my flock. Though the fruit clearly had extraordinary properties, sadly I could not control its power. It consumed me." He shook his head, returning his gaze to us. "Such a fruit should never have passed mortal lips. If you hadn't managed to stop me, I fear I may have destroyed the mortal world altogether. I am in your debt."

With that, to my intense surprise, he made a small bow to us. "At the very least, I hope my powers can be of assistance to you on your travels. Do any of you wish to change vocation, children?"

I looked to my companions. Connor rolled his eyes at me smiling. Opal shook her head vigorously, and Sydney shook hers as well, though with less fervour. I briefly entertained the notion of claiming that I wished to become a martial artist, simply to see Connor's reaction, but I discarded the idea. I enjoyed being thought a minstrel.

"Nay, sir," I said, looking back to the Abbot, who smiled. "So you are content with the lives you lead? The Almighty has blessed you with settled hearts. Praise be!"

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, I felt we were able to leave without being rude. So I turned, and my companions followed me out of the Abbot's presence.

"Where to now?" asked Opal as we walked towards the entrance of the Abbey. Sydney went into her bag for her map. "There's only one city on Newid Isle," she said, opening it up. "Porth Llaffan." She nodded towards it. It seemed rather small to be called a city, or even a town. Perhaps village would be a more appropriate term.

"Do you suppose there will be a fygg to be found there?" I asked. Connor shrugged. "But from all accounts, it's a fishing village. Even if there isn't a fygg there, we might be able to hop ship to someplace else- Slurry Quay, maybe, or Bloomingdale."

I nodded. "Shall we go there, then?" I asked. We looked to one another, and Opal shrugged. "Sounds like as good a plan as any," she said. So Sydney folded up her map and we headed south to Porth Llaffan.

As we walked, I revelled in the warm sunlight. I had never been one for cold weather, and warmth and light filled me with quiet happiness.

Of course, more than a little of that happiness came from the boy whose hand I held. I spoke little, but what words I did say were in the main directed to him. Mostly, we held hands and enjoyed the presence of the sun and one another.

When we had not reached Porth Llaffan by eleven thirty, Sydney pulled some bread, meat, strawberries, and water out of her bag. I wondered briefly if she had placed some sort of spell upon her bag so it could carry all that it did- food, a map, water, medicinal herbs, and the assorted other items that I glimpsed. But I soon forgot as we continued walking, eating our lunches.

It was about noon when we reached a tall wooden fence that stretched between two cliff sides. A gate was set into the centre, but it was closed. I looked to the others, who were looking about as I was. "So, do we just…push it open?" asked Sydney. I shrugged. "Why not?" asked Opal, and she pushed the gate open. We followed her into the village.

Ahead and to our right was a small church. In front of us, across a small tongue of sea, was a dock with a small boat moored to it. However, all the people were standing in an arc around something at the water's edge at the beach. Curious, I moved forward to look with my companions.

Through the small crowd, I saw the form of a small girl in a beige dress with pink pigtails standing with her feet in the water.

"Ohh!" exclaimed a woman's voice. "She's startin', she's startin'!"

The girl walked forward and kneeled in the water. It came above her waist in that position. "O mighty Lleviathan!" she called, head bowed. "Rise up from the depths and bless us with Youer presence! Lend us Youer power, and shower the gifts of the oceans upon we, the humble fold of Porth Llaffan."

As she looked up, the ground began to rumble. Alarmed, I looked around for something to hold on to that was not Connor- no doubt we would both fall if the shaking increased.

"Ooo!" exclaimed Stella. Of course she would not be bothered by the shaking ground- she had her wings. "What's all this about? Sounds juicy!"

"Look!" cried a man from the crowd. "Over there! It's Lleviathan!"

I looked up to see an enormous purplish-blue whale's tail rising above the waves. Oh, blast it! I thought, realising what was going to happen. "Duck," I said, doing so myself. "That's not a duck, it's a flapping-!" exclaimed Stella, but at that moment, the tail splashed down upon the water.

A rain of water and fish splashed down upon the beach, and a large amount of very salty water hit us upon the heads.

"Aaaaaagh!" yelled Stella. "I told you to duck," I reminded her, shaking my head. "Ugh, I'm soaked…" muttered Opal.

"Wahoo!" exclaimed a man in the crowd. "Praise be! Fish! Buckets and buckets of fish! There's lovely!"

I heard a cracking noise from my right and looked to see Stella cracking her knuckles. "Gah!" she said. "I'm fl-fl-flapping soaked! Why not give the newcomers a word of warning before it starts raining sprats and cods, hm! So what was that gimongous great big thing anyway? And what's it doing being bossed about by a little girl?"

The little girl in question had risen from her position in the water and was returning to shore, wringing out her dress. She appeared to be about ten or eleven years of age, and she had large blue eyes.

"I believe we should speak to her," I murmured. "Sounds like the best way to find things out," agreed Connor, so we moved to intercept her.

"Oh!" cried the girl when she saw us. Though her accent was rough, her voice was high and sweet. "Youer travellers, aren't you? I couldn't trouble you to come by my house this evenin', could I? It's the tiny little place to the east of the dock. I'm shooer youell find it. There's somethin' I'd like to ask you…"

I nodded, intrigued. The girl smiled and moved past us to speak with a plump woman in a magenta dress and a white headdress. My companions and I looked about at one another. "Well, 'til evening, why don't we go and look for a shop?" asked Opal enthusiastically. I laughed. "Shall we?" I asked the others. "Why not?" said Sydney, and we set off in search of a store.

We found it on the other side of the small tongue of sea and headed in. "Ooh!" squealed Opal, immediately spotting something that interested her. Smiling, I shook my head, and began perusing the racks.

Nothing caught my interest until I saw something hanging on the end of a rack. It was a silver shirt, halter-topped and very short, along with a bright red skirt that would likely come to somewhere about my knees. There were yellow triangles bordering the bottom of the skirt. I picked it up to look at it closer.

It was rather…cute, I decided. The skirt was not too tight, so it would not restrict my movement. The absence of excess material in the top had no noticeable purpose, and it could be impractical in battle, but what there was in the top was not fabric at all; it was metal. It was a very short breastplate.

I held it up to myself, trying to figure out if it would fit. It looked as though it would, so I held on to it as I continued browsing.

When we had all finally finished, we met up by the counter to pay. Neither Sydney nor Connor had anything new, but Opal had a long, long-sleeved green robe with a red jewel at its throat and a blue cloth belt at the waist, and a pair of black rubber boots.

We paid for our new armour, and then Opal and I went to the back to change. Before I left the changing room, I looked at myself in the mirror. I turned to the side, spun around, letting my skirt swirl around me, and smiled.

When I stepped out, I had the satisfaction of seeing Connor's eyes widen. I spun for them, and laughed. "What do you think?"

"I-it's a good look on you," Connor said. He sounded almost strangled. I had to laugh. "By the way, Opal, I rather like your getup," I told Opal. She beamed and spun about herself. The bottom of her robe covered the top of her boots.

We sold our old clothing- what of it was not torn or bloodied from battles- and left. Blinking in the sunshine of the early afternoon, I asked, "What shall we do until evening?"

That seemed to have us all stumped. It occurred to me that we had spent so much of our time with a purpose, travelling and fighting, that without anything to do we became quite at a loss.

Finally, I said, "I think I shall go down to the beach. I wish to see what it is like so close to the sea."

"I'll go with you, if you don't mind," Connor said. I smiled at him and took his hand. "I never mind." Connor smiled back at me.

"I think I'll go try to meet the people here," said Opal. "I'm going to go to the church," Sydney said. "I want to find out more about this Lleviathan." So we parted, with the agreement to meet on the beach when the sun set.

When Connor and I reached the beach, I pulled off my boots and left them by the nets in middling stages of repair that sat about the beach. "Aah," I sighed, wiggling my toes in the sand. "This feels quite nice."

Connor smiled. "That's why I don't wear shoes," he said. "I like feeling sand on my feet- and mud, and grass, and other things. I'll admit, though, I have to wash my feet an awful lot," he laughed. I smiled. "I would imagine so."

We walked out to the shore proper and waded a few feet out into the waves. The water was comfortably cool, clear, and mildly salty. I was surprised by that for a moment, until I remembered a book I had read once that said the sea was salty. It was not an unpleasant thing.

The two of us stood there for some time in companionable silence. It was a peaceful moment, and I felt that all that had happened since I had fallen was worth it now. Without falling, I would not have met Connor; without the difficult battles we had endured, we would not trust one another so; and had Connor not been nearly cursed by Morag and come down with the contagion, I was not sure I would have realised just how much I cared for him.

But eventually, the silence ended. "Tell me something about you," Connor said. I looked to him curiously. "What shall I tell you?"

"Anything," Connor replied. "About your training as a Celestrian, your life in the Observatory, what you did before you fell. Friends, family, your master Aquila. I want to know more about you."

I looked away, trying to gather my thoughts. "Well…there was not to my life in the Observatory," I said. I looked back at him. "I was rather a…loner, I believe the word is. I spent much of my time in the library with a Celestrian named Columba, who was the librarian. Aquila would come in at times to speak with her- they had had the same master, centuries ago, and I believed they both missed him. Other Celestrians occasionally came in, but I did not speak with them. I was not a social one."

"So I guess that rules out friends," Connor said. I smiled. "Aside from Aquila, I was close to no one in the Observatory. I got on with Columba and Apus Major, but that is all."

"Apus Major…" said Connor. "The older man with the eagle cane?" I nodded. "That is him."

"What about family?" Connor asked. "I did not have a family. Celestrians do not conceive and bear children as mortals do," I told him. "Young Celestrians come from the stars, and we return to the stars when it comes our time to die."

"Oh." Connor shifted, seeming unsure. Then: "What was your master like?"

"Much like me," I responded after a moment's thought. "He was not one for company. He had never taken an apprentice until Apus Major bade him to take me on, though he was a senior Celestrian. He could be rather firm and strict, but he was a fair master and a good person. He was caring, though he did not look it."

"What did he look?" Connor asked. "Fierce," I told him. "He kept his head closely shaven, so the only hair he seemed to have were his brows. They were dark as…well, as your own," I said, suddenly seeing the resemblance. "Your hair seems about the colour of what his would be if he did not shave it." The realisation surprised me.

I shook my head sharply to clear it, and continued. "He was…strong. He had grey eyes." I opened my mouth to say more, but I stopped. I could think of no more to say about his looks.

"You liked him," Connor said. It was not a question. "I did," I replied. "We were much alike. He was one of the few who did not irritate me most of the time. He was kind to me, in his way, and I cared for him. We were as close to friends as master and apprentice could be."

I sighed.

"Tell me about you," I encouraged. I was not simply eager to direct the conversation away from my master and myself; I wanted to know. "About your family, or friends in Stornway, why you became a martial artist. I want to know more about you," I said, smiling as I repeated his words. Connor laughed.

"My mother's from Coffinwell originally," he told me. "She was Uncle Jack's little sister. Dad's from Stornway, and they met each other when Mom was visiting the city."

"What about siblings?"

"I have two younger sisters," Connor replied. "Annie's ten, and Kathy's eight. Annie's got a talent for sword fighting; she talks about becoming a warrior. I think Kathy's going to end up a doctor- she loves healing, and she's good at it." He smiled at that. "She's actually a lot like Sydney." I smiled, too.

He continued without my prompting: "I didn't have many friends in Stornway; I took care of my sisters and practised martial arts. I started martial arts after Annie was born, 'cause I felt pretty useless." He fingered the cloth belt on his shirt. "I've been meaning to replace this belt with my black one."

"You have a black belt?" I asked, impressed. I knew little about martial arts, but from my reading I knew that a black belt was the highest possible. Connor nodded. "I've got it right here," he told me, pulling a coiled black strip of cloth out of the pocket of his short pants.

"Well, I might as well change it now," he murmured, and untied the white belt around his waist. I watched as he tied the black belt with an unusual knot, and looked up. "That looks to be a very secure knot," I said, nodding towards it. Connor smiled. "My sensei called it the undoable knot."

At that, I had to laugh. Conner did, as well, saying, "Well, he did! And it's true- if you tie it right, it won't come undone until you deliberately untie it."

"It sounds very useful," I said.

After that, we fell into silence. I moved a half-step closer to Connor, and he moved closer to me, and we stood there with our arms touching. Then Connor asked a question about my training, and we continued speaking for the rest of the afternoon.

The sun was half beneath the surface of the waves when all of us met up on the beach. I stared down at my boots. Blast, I thought. I had not thought about what I would do about drying my feet. Then I shrugged and put the boots in my bag. I would go shoeless for the time being.

"Shall we go to the girl's house, then?" I asked. "I think that's the plan," Sydney said. And so we headed off to the tiny house near the beach.

"Oh, hello, travellers," said the girl. She was standing behind a small firepit. The flames were blue and green, oddly. Then I remembered something I had once read: driftwood burned blue and green due to the salt.

As we approached her and her fire, she said, "I'm ever so glad to see you. I've been waitin' for someone who's not from by here to happen along see. It's just that-"

A man with a long black braid burst into the room. "Jona!" he called, and all of us turned to look at him. "You here, dab?" He looked over, and seemed surprised to see us. "Oh! I didn't know you had comp'ny, like. I've not seen your faces around here before, have I?"

Without waiting for an answer, he looked back to Jona. "Anyhow… Mayor Bryce wants a word with you, Jona. You'd best come along now."

"Oh!" said Jona. "Yes, of course…" The man left, and Jona sighed. "I… I'm sorry. I won't be long, I'm shooer. Could you wait for me 'til I get back?" We nodded, and she turned and jogged out.

After only a second of waiting, I was already itching to follow. I resisted for a moment, then said, "That is it. I need to find out what is going on!"

"Let's go," Opal enthused. "I was curious, too, but I didn't wanna say anything. I found out where the Mayor lives this afternoon, follow me!"

All of us jogged out of the house. As we passed, I heard a ghostly woman on the beach: "They're wrong… That thing they're summoning isn't Lleviathan at all." She said more, but I did not hear it.

Opal led us past the store to a fairly large house, for Porth Llaffan. "Here it is," Opal said. I tried the door, and it was unlocked. We peered around a corner to see a long-haired man in blue standing behind a table, along with a boy of about Jona's age, who looked as though his hair had been cut with a bowl as a guideline. Jona stood across from them. I could only see part of her face.

Bryce was speaking. "Jona, it's been a tidy old while now since Dylan went missin' in that storm. I-I'm sorry in my heart for you, bach. But it's hopeluss to go on believin' he's alive. He's not comin' back, Jona. And that's why…I've decided I'll afto adopt you."

"Hah?" asked the boy. He looked to Bryce. "There's… There's fantastic, Dad!" He looked to Jona. "You don't want to be all alone, after all, do you, Jona?"

"You and young Bryson here get along alright, like," said Bryce. "And I've always thought of you as one of my own, like. You've put on a brave face for long enough, bach. It's time you let go now."

There was a long silence. Though Bryce had seemed sincere, there was something amiss about his last speech. It was his statement about Jona being like one of his own, I decided. It did not sound quite right.

Finally, Jona said, "Thank you… Thank you, Mayor. I'll… I'll be shooer to give it some thought." She looked up from the table. "But, erm…bein' as I'm by here, there's somethin' I was hopin' to ask you about too. I've been thinkin', and I don't want to summon Lleviathan any more."

"But-! Jona…" said Bryce. "I… I just don't feel like it's right somehow, livin' like this. So I-"

"Don't be spoutin' nonsense like that all bald-headed, Jona!" exclaimed Bryce, and Jona stopped. What little of her face I could see seemed shocked. "No one in the village wants to hear it. Brazen, it is! And anyway, what else have you got to offer Porth Llaffan, eh? Is there some other way you can help out by here?"

Jona looked back down. "Well, er…"

"Never mind," said Bryce, "I think that's enough said for one day. You must be tired. Take youerself home and have a rest, alright?"

Jona said nothing, but turned and walked away. When she saw us, she did not seem very surprised. "Oh, it's you," she said. "I suppose you overheard all that, did you? Well, never mind. Youell come back to my place so we can have a little chat, will you?"

We followed her back to her house. When we had all arrayed ourselves about the fire, Jona said, "It's just not right, relyin' on the God of the Sea for all ouer food like we are. But no one wants to hear it. And Mayor Bryce…well, you heard what he thinks about it all. That's why I was hopin' to ask outsiders like you for youer opinions. You know, someone impartial, like. So, what do you think? It's wrong livin' like we are, intit?"

"Yes," I said, as the others replied, "Yeah." Jona's face broke into a smile. "Well it's a relief to hear someone else say it at last, I can tell you. I knew it couldn't be just me who thought so." She folded her arms. "Right, I've got my gummel up now. I'm goin' to give it to Mayor Bryce straight this time. I'm not callin' Lleviathan any more." Her eyes drifted to the window, and they widened in surprise. "Oh dear!" she exclaimed. "I've been spoutin' off so much, it's got ever so late all of a sudden."

She looked back to us. "And I don't suppose you've got a place to stay, have you?" When we shook our heads, she nodded. "Right, well, youell afto spend the night by here, then." Despite our protests, she would not back down, and so that night all of us laid down cosily in Jona's small home.

"Oi, Zera," hissed Stella later, "are you awake?"

"No," I muttered. "Let me sleep, Stella."

She ignored me. "Why did you have to go shooting your mouth off, hm? What if they kick the poor girl out of the village? I'll admit that Llevia-whatsit seems like trouble. He certainly needs to learn a thing or two about not splashing people…" She trailed off, and I imagined the glower that would be on her face. "But what can you do about it?" she continued. "Are you going to poke your sticky nose in village affairs? Well careful, because it might get burnt!"

I snorted, rolled over, and was soon asleep.

But I knew, as soon as I woke the next morning, that something was amiss. I blinked in the sunshine that was streaming in through the window, looked around, and soon realised what it was.

Jona was gone!


Well, here I am again! Sorry it took me so long to upload this chapter, but...oh, well, I've got it here now!

So, what did you all think? I hate to sound needy, but I'm honestly curious about how you see my story. If there are any grammer mistakes, I'm really sorry, and I don't know how they snuck in here; I reread it to try to kick them out.

Until next time, may all the bodies of the heavens watch over you!