Lightning-Dono: Sorry if the last few chapters were bland – you can't expect the story to get in to anything big at this point in time. This story isn't just action, adventure, and drama. It contains romantic gestures, too. x)

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"What do you think you're doing just sitting there?" Annulus asked coldly. "Get up and help!" She tugged vivaciously at the rope once more. There was an unhealthy sounding rumbling from under the ship as it broke free.

"It would be nice if you needed my help," replied Volatile shortly, picking up the map that was wrinkly and yellowed with age.

Annulus ran to the wheel and gripped the spokes in her hands. "We'll be going North?"

"No, we're going South," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yes, genius, North!"

Annulus was silent as she motioned for him to adjust the sail to catch the wind in just the right direction. Volatile did so, the map rolled up tightly in his fist. "If we head up North far enough, we'll reach a few uninhabited islands that surround the tip of Gondowan." He recited this as though he had been standing inside a room with nothing better to do than read something and repeat it over and over.

The sharp taste of salt water punctured his tongue as they set out on the rough sea. "Phthec!" He spat, picturing timidly in his mind what kind of ocean life might've placed their wastes in that tiny bit of water that had flown into his mouth.

"You all right back there?" Inquired Annulus, for once expressing concern for the young man.

Volatile was a little surprised and happy that he and Annulus were on good terms now, but he didn't let the feeling of contentment get in his way. "Very much so." Wiping his mouth with his thick sleeves, he leaned over the edge and squinted towards the horizon. "Land doesn't seem nearby."

A sound that made Volatile think that someone had just thrown a boulder onto the ship took place. "What was that!?" Volatile shouted in alarm, grasping onto the edge thinking that he was about to be thrown overboard. Better safe than sorry, he always said.

"That was my foot! I'm hungry!" Annulus shrieked back, brushing stray strands of hair from her face. Her eyes glinted maliciously as she glared at the water that was slowly darkening as night approached.

"Don't be so immature about it! I bet I'm hungrier than you are!" Volatile regained himself and ran into the cabin, climbed a length of stairs, and found himself on top of a little structure on the cabin. There was a small pair of binoculars that rested on the table there. He picked them up and blew away some dust that had stuck onto the lens after years of being unused.

Volatile held them to his eyes, surveying the mass of sea for a tiny sign of land someplace. "Looks like there's something in the distance," he yelled.

Annulus turned and forced her laugh to turn into a cough. Volatile looked extremely vulnerable and weak up there, holding up a pair of binoculars in his leisurely position. "I sure hope there is! Otherwise, we'll be in trouble."

Sure enough, as the moon showed itself through the thick black clouds, they reached a piece of land that was not much bigger than a few bunch of houses stuck together. Volatile had come down from his spot on top of the cabin and was positioned alertly next to Annulus, who continued to hold the wheel to keep them on route.

"Well, it's something to happy about," Annulus said tiredly, putting down the long wooden plank so that they could get off the ship. "Hope they've got something to eat here. I'm ready to collapse." She sat cross-legged by a bush, searching through it.

"What do you think you'll be finding inside the bush?" Volatile interrogated, placing himself by a tree and climbing up it like a sloth would.

Annulus lifted a silky looking worm from the ground a grinned weakly. "Bugs. Worms. The works." With that, she plopped it into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed, grimacing all the while. "That was...not desirable. But atleast it fed me." Smoothing out the grass and dirt around her, she lay down and let the reflection of the stars dance in her eyes.

Volatile flinched, causing him to nearly fall off the thick branch that he was perched on. Plucking a few tasteless leaves from their twigs, he stuffed them into his mouth and chewed slowly, making sure that they weren't poisonous. As a child he was tutored ruthlessly by the elder Tundarians to learn survival skills like all Tundarian children did. The bitter taste ceased to fill his mouth so he assumed that they were fine and swallowed. The leaves left a sour aftertaste but he fell asleep with it.

They awakened to the hot sun beating down upon them. Volatile felt somewhat sunburned because his sun felt raw from the heat as he woke up, leaping down from the tree.

"Rise and shine!" Annulus sang, a fistful of silk worms in her hand. "Here you are," she offered. Volatile took one look at them as they writhed and squirmed all over the palm of her hand and shook his head.

Annulus couldn't resist as she watched the young man's cape twirl around him as he turned to reach for the leaves he had consumed the night before. "You look gorgeous today," she commented unblushingly.

Shocked, Volatile whirled around, his rosy cheeks darkening in a shade of red. "What?"

"You look gorgeous today," she repeated patiently.

His heart beat faster and his palms became sweaty as he groped for the leaves while taking this in. She thinks I'm gorgeous, he thought dazedly, swaying back and forth slightly as it sank in.

As he walked towards her innocent, angelic figure, bent over to collect their source of food, he felt a strong urge to compliment her.

But she wouldn't believe him as she'd just think he was returning the favor. He pulled down the plank. "Come on." He motioned toward the plank. "We should get going."

"Thank you," Annulus told him as she boarded, dumping the handfuls of worms into a wooden barrel by the door to the cabin.

As she said this, he really did feel gorgeous. At last he was good for something.