Torrent opened the room to where Orca had told him Griffin was, using her key. "Griffin?" he asked. "Are you in there?" He received no reply. "Griffin?" he called again.
Still no response. Torrent was worried. Where had Griffin gone? Could he have flown off somewhere? No, there's no way he couldn't have been caught, there was only one way in and out of the palace, and that was the underwater tunnels. Griffin might have been able to sneak out at night, when they were empty, but Torrent had just seen Griffin this very morning. He had to still be in the palace.
Torrent exited the room, and looked left and right, scanning the semi-natural tunnel. Griffin couldn't have taken the tunnel left: that led to the busy pavilions and the lake, and he would've been seen right away, so he must've gone right. Torrent waded through the water, looking around for nearby dragons and Griffin. "Griffin," he called out quietly. "It's me, Torrent."
After a few minutes of wading, the SeaWing thought he heard something. "Griffin?" he asked.
"I'm here," a small nervous voice called from ahead. Torrent swam forward, and looked inside a small cave offshooting from the main tunnel. Griffin was inside, hiding. Torrent went inside and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where have you been?" Torrent asked. "Why are you here?"
The small feathered gryphon looked around nervously. "The purple dragon who came into your room before found me in the room and chased me out."
"What?" asked Torrent in surprise. "She saw you?" This couldn't be good, who knew what Queen Coral would do to Griffin if he was caught by River, and what would happen to Orca. "We need to get you back to the Deep Palace," Torrent reasoned. "It'll be easier to hide you in Orca's room. Let me get Orca, then we can get you back tonight. Stay here and hide."
Torrent was about to rush down the hall to find his older sister, when he thought of something. He turned back to Griffin. "When Orca comes here, don't tell her that River actually saw you, just tell her that River almost caught you again and you ran over here for safety. If she thinks that you're in too much danger, she might use her magic again, and we can't have that happen."
Griffin nodded compliantly, so Torrent waded back down the tunnel as fast as he could. Orca was either at a meeting or in her room, and the pavilions were closer, so he went there first. He flew to the meeting pavilion, and he was just in luck. The meeting had just ended, so Orca was free for now.
Not bothering to give the three conversing queens nearby a glance, Torrent flew up to Orca. "I need you to come with me, now. We have a problem."
Orca nodded, realizing that this was something that they couldn't talk about in public. The two headed back to the tunnel, and waded down it. Torrent checked a few times to make sure they weren't being followed, then the two headed into the cave Griffin was temporarily hiding in. Griffin looked relieved seeing Torrent and Orca again.
"River came into Griffin's room again," Torrent explained. "We need to take him back to the Deep Palace, tonight."
Orca nodded. "I might be able to enchant someth—"
"No!" Torrent interrupted, almost shouting. "No more magic."
Orca grimly conceded. "Fine. I'll tell Gill that you left something back in the Deep Palace that you need to get, and that I'm willing to take you. We'll just leave Griffin in there for the remainder of the meetings."
Griffin looked a bit disappointed. The queens were only going to be at the palace for a few more days, but that still felt like a long time for Griffin.
"Don't worry," Torrent reassured Griffin, "I'll make sure you have plenty of scrolls to read, alright?"
Griffin nodded. "Great," Orca replied, exiting the room. "I'll meet you in this room a few hours past sundown, when the exits should be clear."
Fortunately for the two SeaWing dragonets, the the exit tunnels were empty, and Griffin was safely returned to the Deep Palace. Orca and Torrent finished up their meeting at the Summer Palace without any commotion, and thereafter returned to their more permanent home far beneath the depths of the dark ocean.
Time passed. For the next few months, Griffin was able to stay safely hidden. Because of Torrent's worry that River might attempt to break into Orca's room while they were gone, he decided that Griffin would be better off sleeping in a room nearby to Orca's: just as secluded, but not as obvious a place to hide him. River continued her investigation, but so far, it was no use. Other than a few scrolls describing fantastical gryphons, the SeaWing princess could not find any more traces of what she had seen.
While Torrent continued searching through the SeaWing Library, he had no luck with finding relevant information on animus souls. As he attempted to remain hopeful that Queen Moorhen's scrolls would bring new knowledge to light, the next meeting of the queens was still months away, and his impatience continued to grow.
Torrent threw his scroll to the ground in exasperation, though it only gently floated down through the water, fluttering before landing on the floor. Nothing! There's nothing!
Orca sighed, and glanced over to Griffin. The small feathered creature just shrugged, he had no more useful information than them.
Torrent, be patient, Orca flashed, we've only got a few more months until Queen Moorhen comes back with more scrolls; maybe one of those will have something.
Torrent grumbled. Maybe, but who knows. For all we know, they could just be stupid legends and stories like the rest.
Possibly, but it doesn't matter. I've got my bracelet, remember? Orca held up the golden bracelet enchanted to keep her soul intact. She smiled a little half-heartedly.
Torrent sighed. Sure you have it, but how do we know it works? Maybe it's not your soul after all, and it's something different, and here you are, slowly losing your mind while we just wait.
Orca twitched her tail back and forth, frowning. I am not losing my mind. Look, if you really want to settle this once and for all, how about we ask another animus?
What? Torrent asked, confused. Another animus? Are there more? Do you know one?
Orca shrugged. No, but I can find one. She brought out a blank piece of the waterproof parchment paper, and rolled it open. "I enchant this paper so that a map of Pyrrhia appears on it, showing the location of every animus in Pyrrhia."
Torrent snarled. No more enchantments!
Orca glared back. It's my soul, if I want to, I can make all the enchantments I want.
Not if you're at danger of massacring the rest of us.
Orca flicked her tongue out angrily, and aggressively took a step towards Torrent. And what are you going to do about it. Try and stop me from using my magic?
Torrent and Orca's eyes locked angrily for a moment.
"Stop fighting!" Griffin interrupted, the small creature swimming between the two larger dragonets. "You're supposed to be friends."
There was a short silence before Orca broke it. She clenched her claws in shame at her sudden self-awareness. No, no, Torrent is right. I need to make sure that if I ever lose my soul, Torrent can stop me from using my magic. She swam over to her desk, and opened a drawer. She pulled out a small letter-opener. Muttering something under her breath, the letter-opener morphed, changing into a long dagger with a sharply curved blade.
Torrent looked at her, a little worried. Orca swam back to Torrent, and he took a small step back.
"I enchant this dagger to not allow animus enchantments to affect it, anyone or anything it is touching or it is in the possession of, unless Torrent wills it otherwise," Orca enchanted, Torrent and Griffin barely hearing her through the water. She flashed out what she had enchanted to make sure they knew.
There, Orca flashed in contentment, giving the dagger to Torrent. Now as long as you have this, you can't be hurt by my magic.
Torrent grimly nodded, and placed the weapon down on Orca's desk. Griffin took a cautious step away from it. It won't come to me ever having to use it, Torrent said. Orca nodded, hoping the same.
She brought the mapd she had enchante between them. Ink had magically appeared on the parchment, creating a map of Pyrrhia. A small number of colored blotches had also appeared, a dark-green one where the Deep Palace was placed. Torrent figured that would be Orca's. The nearest blotch to them was southeast of the Bay of a Thousand Scales, a pitch-black one in the far east of the Mud Kingdom.
Orca pointed a claw to it. That's where we'll go.
The next night, the three left the palace. Nighttime outside the Deep Palace was dark, but not much light reached down to these watery depths during the day anyways, so it wasn't too much different than normal. The SeaWings might not have been able to see the time of day so far down, but they generally kept to a diurnal schedule. As usual, the waters outside the Deep Palace were almost empty by the time Torrent, Orca, and Griffin left the Deep Palace.
Swimming would be the fastest way to the Eastern Mud Kingdom, and when they reached the shore, the three could fly the rest of the way. By the time they burst into the air from the surf to take flight, the sun was already rising. Griffin took a deep breath in of the air, and relaxed. Breathing underwater was always strange for him, occasionally he'd wake up and think he was drowning. As unnatural a creature as he was, Griffin loved the natural feeling of the fresh air going in and out of his lungs.
The rising sun glinted off the salty waves as the three rose higher, and started to fly over the land beneath. They were at little danger of being seen by MudWings, the area was practically uninhabited.
"Griffin, this is the first time you've ever flown, isn't it?" Orca asked.
Griffin thought for a moment, "I mean, there was one tiny little time in the Summer Palace, but that wasn't really flying, not like this. So yeah, this is the first time."
"Do you like it?"
Griffin was too focused on the beautiful, clear, not watery air to notice the flying, but he nodded anyways. He did enjoy the flying, even if he wasn't exactly sure how he was able to learn it so quickly. Maybe Orca's enchantment had helped.
By the time they reached their destination, the sun had risen further in the sky. Orca held the map out in their claws, and saw that the two blotches were almost on top of each other. "That's it," she said, pointing a talon at a large hill below.
The hill had a large cave carved in the side, almost ten times as high as Orca and Torrent. It almost looked like it was naturally placed there, but something about it gave Orca a strange feeling. The cave led deeper into the hill, tunneling through. The three landed.
"Well, this is . . . unnerving," Griffin commented. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I've got my magic as a last resort," Orca explained. "Hopefully the animus will be friendly."
Torrent doubted that. Friendly dragons didn't live in caves with no one else around for miles. It would be fortunate if the dragon didn't attack them on first sight. Still, this could be helpfully. He hoped for the best.
Orca gave Torrent and Griffin a quick look of confirmation, then stepped into the behemoth passage.