Is this... actually... an update? Yes! Yes it is! Sorry for the long hiatus, folks. I don't have a very good excuse other than the standard school, work, and getting caught up in original fiction. But then I got a PM from someone on Friday inquiring as to the deadness of this fic. No! I said. No, it shall not be dead! I am going to finish this damn story! So then I spent all day Saturday writing and BAM new chapter. I hope to keep updating at at least a somewhere frequent basis from here on out. I've had the entire story plotted out in my head for years now and I want to tell it. Thank you everyone for being so patient with me.

Also, you can stalk me on Tumblr on pester me about updating there if you want, rather than sending a formal review/PM here. There's a link on my profile.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Finding a Ship

Thoda didn't look like a very large town from the outside, but when it came time to knock on every door to try and find someone to take them to the island, it felt huge. Kratos might have been more patient with the endeavour if they actually had any luck, but by the end of an hour they still had no progress towards getting to Thoda Island. Every door they knocked on either went unanswered or got slammed in their face the moment they mentioned going to the island. He found it odd how deserted the town seemed to be. No one had said anything about a disaster befalling Thoda itself, so he had to wonder where all the townsfolk had gone.

"This is pointless," Shea said, slumping down on a fence. "No one is going to give us a lift. I say it's time to just borrow a boat."

Pierce scowled. "You would suggest that. I don't think I can protest that solution enough. If the Chosen went around stealing people's boats, the entire religion of Martelism could get a bad reputation as being full of thieves. This would be against our interests."

"Nice excuse," Shea said. "But admit it. You're just queasy about the idea of stealing."

"I don't see how being unwilling to steal is something to be ashamed of."

"Nevertheless," Kratos said, "we do need to get to Thoda, and if stealing a boat is the only way, we'll have to do it. We will return it, of course."

"Just like we returned the last ship?" Pierce asked.

"That doesn't count," Shea said. "That was a Desian ship. They deserved to lose it."

"Yes, but we didn't set out intending to abandon the ship at sea, and I'd rather not do the same to the boat of an innocent fisherman. These boats are these people's livelihoods. If they lose their ship, they'll starve. Do we want to risk that?"

"No one here is a sailor," Spiritua suddenly said. She'd spent the last few minutes staring down the street to the harbour, watching the ships bob in the surf.

"Rowan is," Shea said. "I mean, he's not here right now, but he'll be fine to sail by tomorrow."

Spiritua shook her head. "No… the people in this town. They're not the sailors. We need to find the sailors and we might have more luck."

"What do you mean?" Pierce asked, frowning.

Spiritua shifted her weight and bit her lip. Her words came out clipped and determined as she forced herself to explain clearly. "The people we met were mostly older or mothers with infants. There were no young working-age people. The boats are still sitting at the dock; it's the middle of the day, so they should be out at sea right now. But no one seems very upset about the fact that all the working people are gone and no one seems broke. So they must have all gone somewhere else to work and earn money to bring home."

Pierce nodded slowly. "You're right. I think we should head back to the tavern and discuss this with the barman."

"Hopefully he'll be less tacit this time," Shea grumbled, standing up.

They started walking back through town. Kratos said, "If all the sailors have left town, we may be justified in borrowing one of their boats."

Pierce frowned. "…If we must, I suppose."

When they reached the tavern, they found Rowan sitting up, talking with a young man sitting across from him. Sitting up might have been an exaggeration; his face was supported by his hand and he looked about as enthusiastic as a dead man, but it was an improvement.

While Pierce went to discuss the boat issue with the barman, the rest of them headed over to where Rowan was sitting. Rowan's new acquaintance looked up at them as the group approached the table. "Hi," he said. "You're Rowan's friends, right? He said you'd be coming back soon."

Kratos eyed the stranger suspiciously. "Yes… and you are?"

He jumped to his feet and stuck his hand out. "Todd Price. I live around here."

Kratos shook his hand slowly. He noticed something that Rowan, in his hung-over stupor, probably hadn't: this kid was a half-elf. That may explain the suspicious glances the rest of the patrons were giving them, if this wasn't just some local boy. "Well, Mr. Price, may I ask what you're doing here?"

Todd shrugged. "Nothing, really. I just came in to get some lunch and noticed Rowan sitting here. This is a pretty small town where everyone knows everybody else and I didn't recognize him so I just came over to talk to him. He told me you guys were on an important mission, but didn't go into much detail."

Kratos glanced at Rowan, who had his eyes closed while his face still rested in his hand. He did appear to be conscious, though, as he mumbled, "So… you guys find a ship?"

"No," Shea said. "Well, there are ships, but we can't find anyone to sail them and Pierce won't let us steal one."

At that moment, Pierce returned with a grim look on his face. "I found out where all the townsfolk have gone." The others looked at him expectantly and he said, "The Southern Ranch."

There was a moment of silence. Kratos spent it slowly building up dread, just waiting for one of them to suggest that they raid the ranch to save the prisoners. Not only would that be phenomenally dangerous, but also he didn't think Mithos would have any more patience with him if he led another ranch infiltration. Surely Pierce would concede that the only logical solution now was to just take a boat. If the owners were at the ranch, they probably wouldn't notice anyway.

Todd, though, looked at everyone's forlorn expressions with confusion. "Why the long faces? If you desperately need a sailor, I know someone at the ranch. If I asked, I'm sure she'd be willing to come help you guys out."

Now it was the rest of the group's turn to stare in confusion, save for Rowan, who seemed to be only half-following the conversation. Spiritua sat next to him, going back and forth between confusion with Todd and concern for Rowan.

Shea said, "You suggest we just… walk up to the ranch and ask the Desians to let someone go? You think they'll agree if we say pretty please?"

"Ask the Desians? What are you – oh. You guys are from up north, aren't you?"

Pierce nodded. "Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Desians aren't the bad guys down here anymore. A few years back this Desian called Veris overthrew the last Cardinal and established a new order. Desians help us out now!"

Kratos frowned. He was pretty sure that that wasn't actually how Veris had come into power. As far as he knew, the previous Cardinal had died of a heart attack and Mithos had appointed Veris to take over. And if any Desians anywhere were helping humans out, Kratos was certain he'd have heard of it. Mithos would have thrown one hell of a tantrum.

"For ages we've struggled on the brink of starvation," Todd said. "But now the ranch is actually, well, a ranch. They've got fields of crops and livestock and stuff. A lot of people have gone there to find work. Like I said, I know a sailor who went there after the fish stopped biting. She's a lot braver than most of the schmucks around here. If I asked her for a favour, I'm sure she'd give you guys a lift."

"And why would you want to go to the trouble of helping us?" Kratos asked.

"Rowan mentioned you were on an important mission. If it's really important, I want to help."

"If the ranch really is benign," Pierce said, "I don't see any harm in checking it out."

It was out of their way, and Kratos highly doubted it was really as harmless as Todd believed, but he had to admit his curiosity was piqued. "At the very least, it could be informative. If we don't have any luck, though, I will have to insist that we borrow a boat without asking."

Pierce nodded. "I can agree with that. It's undesirable, but might be necessary."

Spiritua gently patted Rowan's arm and softly said, "Rowan? Are you paying attention? We're going to check out the ranch."

He responded with a grunt.

"It will take a few days to walk to the ranch," Todd said.

"There's no point sitting around here," Kratos said. "We should get going now."

They started heading to the exit, but Rowan stayed put. Pierce went back and shook his shoulder. "Rowan, come on. We're leaving."

Rowan groaned, and then said, "Just… leave me here and let me die, ok?"

Pierce grabbed his arm and pulled him, staggering, to his feet. "No, we're not leaving you here. And maybe in the future you'll remember this when you consider getting drunk again."

Rowan just groaned again and followed the others out the door.

Zelos sniffed the air as they walked into Izoold. "Ah… it might be in a totally different location, but it still smells like fish. Good to see that some things never change."

"I hope we don't have as much trouble finding a boat this time," Lloyd said. "I really wish we had the Rheairds right now."

"Don't worry, bud," Zelos said. "I've got something that will make everything go a lot easier."

"And what is that?" Sheena asked.

"Copious amounts of money!"

Colette said, "But money won't help us if there are no boats to take."

Zelos patted her on the shoulder. "Colette, my dear, one thing I have learned in my long and ridiculously wealthy life is that if you throw enough money at it, any problem will eventually go away."

"Colette," Regal said, "I would advise you not to take life advice from Zelos."

"Oh, ok, Regal!"

The group received a fair share of stares as they walked through the town. That wasn't surprising, considering they were world-renown saviours of the planet. The small town of Izoold probably didn't get very many celebrities.

"If all else fails," Lloyd said as they approached the docks, "maybe we can luck out and get another letter delivery mission from Lyla."

Colette frowned. "But Lloyd… I just remembered! We never delivered the first letter she gave us."

"Oh. Huh. You're right." He patted the pockets of his jacket, wondering if perhaps he still had that letter on him. "I guess after we got to Palmacosta, we got so caught up with Dorr and the Book of Regeneration and the ranch it completely slipped our minds…."

"Oh, no, I hope Lyla isn't too mad," Colette said

"What's this about a letter?" Zelos asked.

"Oh," Lloyd said, "the last time we were here, we were able to get passage on a boat by agreeing to take a love letter from this Lyla woman to some guy called Aifread. But we never found Aifread and the letter itself got kinda lost during the course of the journey."

Sitting at the dock was a ship. Lloyd's spirits rose; he didn't think big ships passed through Izoold that often. He'd been expecting to have to wait around for passage to show up, or have to take a smaller one and stop somewhere else to get to Palmacosta.

A sailor walked past, and Regal stopped him for a moment. "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where this ship is bound?"

"Palmacosta," the young man replied, and then moved on.

"We should find the owner of the ship," Presea said, "and request passage."

"I wonder where we can find him," Zelos said. "We should head back-"

"You!"

Seven heads whipped around at the sound of an angry female voice. Marching towards them was none other than Lyla, fury radiating from her face. "How dare you show your faces here! After you ran off with my letter and then never delivered it?"

"Well," Zelos said. "So much for her not holding a grudge."

"Oh, no," Colette said, clutching her hands together with worry. "We're so sorry, Lyla. We were going to deliver the letter, we really were, but then things came up and… and…"

"I don't want your excuses," she snapped, putting her hand on her hip. "I want my money."

Lloyd frowned. "Your… money?"

"That's right! You were supposed to deliver the letter to Aifread to tell him to pay me back for the money I lent him. But you never did so now I still haven't gotten my payment back!"

Lloyd stared at her in confusion. "It… wasn't a love letter?"

"A love letter?" Lyla rolled her eyes. "Heck no."

"Calm down, Miss," Regal said. "I'm sure it was a simple oversight by my companions. You must understand that they were very preoccupied saving the world."

"I don't want excuses; I want my money!"

"We don't have time for this," Kratos said abruptly. "I'm sorry for your loss, but it really is not our problem. We need to book passage on this ship so we can get to Palmacosta as soon as possible."

Lyla crossed her arms. "Is that so? Because I'll give you three guesses who's funding this ship."

"Oh, great," Zelos groaned.

"That's right," Lyla said with a smirk. "You want on this ship? That will cost you twenty thousand Gald per head, plus what Aifread owes me."

"What?" Sheena said. "That's not fair!"

"It's alright," Regal said. "Between Zelos and me, I'm sure we can afford it."

"Hey, what?" Zelos said, turning his head to Regal. "Why are you brining me into this?"

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Weren't you telling us just ten minutes ago about being fabulously wealthy?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't get to be fabulously wealthy by spending my money at every opportunity."

"We need to get to Palmacosta," Kratos said, giving him a death glare. "And your wealth is required." The tone of Kratos' voice quite clearly conveyed that not only was the wealth required, but it would be taken by force if Zelos didn't hand it over willingly.

Zelos scowled. "Fine…"

"How much does Aifread owe you?" Regal asked.

"One hundred thousand Gald."

Zelos did a double take. "One – one hundred thousand?"

Kratos glared at him.

Zelos slumped his shoulders. "…Fine. We'll pay. Happily."

Fifteen minutes later, Lyla was walking away with a skip in her step, counting her money. The group sat on some empty crates, waiting for the ship to be ready to go. Zelos was pouting, while Colette kicked her heels against the crate she was sitting on with a contented smile on her face.

Zelos scowled at her. "You wouldn't be so chipper if you had to be the one to fork over the Gald, Colette."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just happy that Lyla isn't holding a grudge against us anymore. Maybe if you ask her nicely she'll give it back?"

"Hm…" Zelos said, stroking his chin. This would have been more effective if he had a goatee, but unfortunately Zelos was incapable of growing a manly beard. This was probably for the best.

"So, Rowan, how do you feel?" Shea asked that evening with a smirk.

Rowan, who had stopped feeling like the living embodiment of nausea by lunchtime, just rolled his eyes. They were sitting down for the night after a long day of hiking through the valleys along the southern coast. The nice thing was that they didn't need to actually cross a mountain range to get to the ranch, but they did have to go out of their way to find the passes through the low mountains. Their camp that evening was in one such pass, with steep slopes on either side of them.

It wasn't going to be the most comfortable camp tonight, though. The ground was hard and the grass yellow and scratchy. After a long day of walking, though, Rowan would have laid down on a porcupine.

He lay on his back staring up at the sky, and ran his fingers through the dead grass and dry dirt. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said the soil around here was crap."

"It's notably worse in the last ten years up north, too," Pierce said. "Not quite as bad as here though, where the rocky soil has never been that great."

"It's like this everywhere," Kratos said. "The world itself is dying. That's why we so desperately need a Regeneration."

Spiritua nodded, the weight of the world hanging on her tired face.

"I don't get it," Rowan said, not bothering to even raise his head. "You said the Desians have their ranch where crops actually grow. What, are they using funky half-elf magic to enchant the soil into giving better crops?"

Todd shook his head with a laugh. "No, much more mundane than that. They've just got some fertilizer. They developed it in the Iselia region, apparently. So it helps enough, but it's not like some radical magic fix."

"Huh," Rowan said. He didn't like the way all this pressure was crushing Spirit. She was just a kid; she shouldn't have to be worried about the fate of the world. Their dad had told Rowan to look after her, but all he could do was sit back and watch as she steadily lost her humanity. It made him want to punch someone. Unfortunately, everyone he wanted to punch was an angel and could probably smite him.

Shea was busy clearing a patch of grass away to make room for a campfire. "Rowan, can you go get some firewood? It shouldn't be too difficult – just don't stress your arm."

"Yeah, sure." Even after saying it, he took about thirty seconds to actually sit up. When he finally did push himself vertical again, he cast a quick glance in Shea's direction. She wasn't looking at him anymore, and he hurriedly averted his gaze in case she looked back. He got up and headed for the nearest tree, wondering if eventually Spirit's angel powers would give her the ability of time travel. If so, he could use it to go back to the night where he tried to talk to Shea and tackle his past self before the idiot went in and made everything awkward between them.

"Hey, Rowan." In his musings, he hadn't noticed Todd following him.

"Oh. Hey."

Todd was another person that Rowan felt awkward around. He had been fine with him all morning while in his haze, but around lunchtime he'd looked over and stared at him, his perception clear for the first time. Then he'd noticed the pointy ears and had asked bluntly, "Are you a half-elf?"

"Yes," Todd had replied, not looking up from the sandwich he'd been eating. "Problem?"

Rowan stared. Was there a problem? He could tell all the others were watching him too. What did Pierce and Kratos think about half-elves? He'd never really asked. After growing up in his village, he'd taken it as a given that all humans hated half-elves as a matter of course, but then he'd met Shea who seemed to think they were just like humans. And of course Spirit didn't have a hateful bone in her body. Was Pierce judging him for disliking half-elves? Was Kratos? Although, he was pretty sure there wasn't much he could do to lower Kratos' opinion of him further than it already was.

While all this was running through his head, everyone else was still staring at him. So he just muttered, "…No," and went back to his lunch.

"You can't avoid me forever, you know," Todd said now, stepping into pace beside him.

"I'm not avoiding you."

"It must be tough for you, trying to avoid both Shea and me at the same time."

"I'm not avoiding Shea either!"

"Sure you're not, buddy," Todd said with a knowing smirk.

Rowan scowled at him and then stared at the ground.

"You know, being a half-elf isn't contagious."

They reached the nearest tree, but Rowan paused his firewood gathering to give Todd a confused look. "Huh?"

"You're not going to be contaminated with elfishness just by being near me."

"I know that." The tree was half-dead, with only a few roots still clinging to the dry earth. It leaned to the side like a broken mast, making it easy to reach up and snap off the lowest branches.

"Well, whatever your problem with my race is, you'd better deal with it fast because I'm going to be with you guys for the next few days."

Rowan curled his fingers around the dry wood in his hands, flakes of bark crumbling into his palms. "You want to know what my problems are with half-elves?"

"I'd love to. Because everyone in Thoda seems to have the same problems and I would be thrilled to hear what they are."

Rowan whirled around, branches still in hand. He should probably put them down, because he didn't think the others would be happy if used them to beat Todd's annoying face. "To start off, I've got fifty of them. On my back. Where they whipped me half to death."

Todd kept his face level. "I'm not the one who did that."

"And that's just scratching the surface!" He dropped the branches to allow himself the ability to wave his hands in agitation. "You say this ranch down here is all nice and dandy, but you'll have to forgive me for being sceptical because I've spent time in one up north. Do you have any idea what a human ranch really is?"

"Yes," Todd said coolly. "I told you, the way the ranch is now is new-"

"Shut up. You don't. Because you've never been a prisoner in one, and you never will because you're a half-elf. And ok, maybe humans do treat half-elves like shit, but I know for damn sure that however bad you half-elves think you have it out here, it is nothing like what they do to humans in their ranches." He punched his fist into his palm, which helped vent only a negligible amount of anger. He wrapped up his rant by shouting, "Half-elves murdered my father! So yeah, I think I have a reason to hate them!"

Todd was impassive. Slowly, he knelt and picked up the branches Rowan had dropped. "Humans killed my parents, too. So I guess we're even."

"No. We're not." He punched Todd in the face.

Todd shouted and stumbled backwards, dropping the wood he'd so helpfully picked up. "What the hell was that for?" he cried with his hand over his cheek,

"We're a bit closer to being even now." He picked up the firewood and started walking back to camp.

"You're nuts. It's not like I'm a representative for my whole species, you know."

Rowan shrugged. "I know."

Todd shook his head in wonder. "Are you just going to punch every half-elf you meet from now on?"

Rowan thought for a moment. "I beat up the last one I met. We're cool now, though."

"You have issues."

He shrugged again. "Maybe. Hey, so can you do magic?"

"Uh… yeah, a little bit." He seemed taken off guard by the sudden change in topic, and elaborated slightly. "Not a whole lot, because I've never had anyone to teach me. I can do a handful of basic spells."

"That's pretty cool. I've always kind of wished I could throw fireballs around…" Everything that he wanted to say to Todd about the subject of half-elves had been said now. He'd even gotten punching him out of the way. Now it wouldn't hang over the back of his mind every time he talked to the guy, threatening to break forth in a tirade of hatred. Maybe it was good, then, that he'd talked to Shea. Now he knew where he stood with her and didn't have to waste valuable time wondering if she liked him or not like some brain dead teenage girl.

"I don't think I'd trust you to have fireballs," Todd said. "You seem to be pretty flippant throwing punches, so I think the last thing we need is for you to have fireballs to throw, too."

Rowan laughed. "You're probably right."

Based on the stars, it was probably around midnight. Of course, Rowan couldn't tell for certain because the stars were in a different position this far south. It wasn't right, he thought, for stars to move. It would be more convenient for everyone if they would just sit still.

He shouldn't be looking at them at all, really. He ought to be asleep, like everyone else was. But the ground was hard and he was anxious about visiting the upcoming ranch. Was it really as different as Todd said? What if everything that had happened in Cleopolica happened all over again? He liked to think that he was over everything that had happened, but twice now when the prospect of going to another ranch had come up, and his heart rate quickened and his palms turned clammy. It made him hate the Desians even more to think that they could affect him so negatively even after they were dead.

He sighed, staring up at the stars with his eyes wide awake. They were going to have to walk again tomorrow and he didn't want to be so tired. They'd gotten spoiled from getting a free lift with that caravan. The caravan… he groaned and buried his face in his hands, not even wanting to think about how stupid that last night had been. He couldn't remember many details, but the general impression of the blur that was his memory was that it had been incredibly stupid.

"You should go to bed."

Rowan almost jolted out of his blanket when he heard Spiritua's voice. He looked over and saw her sitting cross-legged, watching him with a slight smile. Of course she was still up. When it came to deciding who would take the night watch, Kratos volunteered to stay up all night, claiming he could do so because he was an angel, and then he had promptly gone to sleep as soon as the others were out to let Spiritua stay up all night. Rowan knew she had to stay up all night anyway, but he still felt bad for leaving her sitting awake all alone all night.

"Can't," he said, sitting up. "Just… stuff on my mind."

"Are you scared about the ranch?"

"No." It was sometimes inconvenient how accurately she could guess what he was thinking. She crawled across the camp and came over to sit next to him, resting her hand on his arm.

"We probably don't even have to go in. Todd can just go find his friend and then we can head back."

"Yeah," Rowan said, sounding more confident than he felt.

"Do you believe that the Desians down here have really changed?"

"No."

She sighed. "Me neither. I want to, but… I just can't."

"Let's just hope we can get this over with and hurry up with breaking the seals."

"Yeah…" She looked into the dying fire with sad eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm… I'm kind of scared of breaking the seals." She glanced to his face, worried that he would judge her. "Kratos says that after the next one, I'll lose my sense of touch, and after that, my voice. But he won't say what the final thing is. And I'm scared."

Rowan frowned. "Do you still want to continue this journey?"

"It isn't my choice."

"That's not what I asked." He was only here for Spiritua. Everyone kept saying that the Regeneration would save the world, but while he might be convinced of angels now, he still wasn't sold on the whole goddess thing. There were way too many problems in the world for them all to be fixed by some magical journey. So if Spiritua decided she didn't want to continue, he'd take her right back to Luin without any other argument, Kratos be damned.

"I… I do," she finally said. "It's my destiny. It's like what you said the other night… I know you were out of it, but you did have a point. Life is simpler when you don't fight the flow. This is the destiny I was given, and it's my duty to fulfill it."

Rowan frowned. "I said what?"

"You said a lot of things. Most of them didn't make sense."

He buried his face in his palms. "Oh, man, I was such an idiot…"

"The most clear thing you said was something about how nothing really matters. In the long run, I suppose you're right. We're all just tiny humans, and there are so many people suffering. What right do I have to complain about the life I've been given? So many people don't even have a life anymore. This is what I have, and it will be easier for everyone if I follow the road before me."

Rowan raised his head from his hands and stared at Spirit. His frown had turned into complete disgust. "Did I really say all of that?"

"Pretty much."

"Man, it's all bullshit."

She stared at him in surprise.

"You're reminding me and now it's starting to come back to me. All this crap about a river and fate and stuff…" He shook his head. "I was such an idiot to buy into that." What had he seen in those guys? They were fun to hang out with, he guessed. He'd never had real close friends his own age before, so he had been drawn into their shenanigans and then before he knew it, it had turned into a parade of bullshit.

"I don't know if it is impossible to fight fate. Hell, I don't even know if fate really exists! But from my perspective right now, it's like this. Twenty years ago, we didn't exist. Sixty-ish years from now, we'll be dead. That's nothing when you think about how people like Benedict have been around for a thousand years. We've got this tiny sliver of time to live our lives, and I don't want to just surf my fate all the way to the end."

Spiritua cocked her head to the side. "I… see?"

He sighed, and shook his head. "All I'm trying to say is that this is your life, and it's the only one you're gonna get, so you should do what you want with it. Screw the grand destiny of the world or whatever. Who knows where your 'destiny' will lead the world? Maybe we won't like what happens next. So just decide what you want to do, and don't do shit just because some guy with fancy wings told you that you have to."

Spiritua looked up at him with thoughtful eyes, and then leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "I want to help people. But I don't want to give up my humanity to do it."

Rowan nodded slowly. "That's what you want? To help people without totally becoming an angel? Ok. Then that's what we'll work towards."

"I don't think I can do both of those things."

"Well, you certainly can't with that attitude." He reached over and patted her knee. "That's going to be our new plan, ok? Ignore what Kratos says about your solemn duty or whatever the crap. This is between just you and me. We have our own goal, and that's to fix this world without you becoming an angel."

"I don't think we can…"

"Like hell we can't. I don't know how we're going to do it, but we will. I won't let you down, Spirit. Just you wait and see."

Finally they were able to board the ship. Lloyd immediately ran to the far side to look over the edge at the waves sloshing against the hull. He'd never been a ship this big before, and was eager to explore every nook and cranny of it.

"Wow, Lloyd, look how big this ship is!"

He turned to see Colette leaning on the railing next to him, the sea breeze blowing her hair back. She closed her eyes and smiled, leaning over the edge and breathing in the sea air. "This is so exciting."

"I'm just glad we'll get to Palmacosta soon."

The sails were unfurled and the ship slowly drifted away from the dock. Lloyd turned his head to watch Izoold slip away behind them. Don't worry, Professor. We're on our way.