Rayla stretched. Sleeping next to Callum had been nice but supremely uncomfortable. The pain in her neck would remind her of the fact that the sleeping bag was not meant for two people for a while.

It was a cold night so she was wearing her fuzzy winter coat. She noticed that Honsa was already awake, drifting like a dry leaf on the pooling water. Zym was sitting on her stomach; she was evidently busy entertaining him.

"Hey", Rayla called out. The ocean elf flinched, bobbing like a cork stopper. Azmondias took off so as to not fall into the water. She wiped her face, then dove under the surface smoothly.

When Honsa came back up, she seemed pointedly chipper. "Aloha tita, I took the swim!", she over-explained.

The moonshadow elf puzzled. She seemed distraught. "I can see that. Callum's still sleepin'"

"Oh. That's good. Nice jacket. You cold? Why are you up already?"

"Done sleepin'", Rayla said simply, then sat on the ground, "Do you want a pastry?"

Zym landed next to them, throwing an accusatory look at Honsa and waddling off with his head held high.

"Oh! Sure!", Honsa climbed out of the pool and drew a simple rune that looked vaguely wave shaped. "Travíxte to neró", she said and her clothes relinquished their soak, leaving them much cleaner than they had been. She guided the water into the pond, then sat down opposite of Rayla.

Proffering one of the desert pastries she had taken from Lessa's tent, Rayla bit into her own. She moaned, leaning backward, "That's literally the best thin' I've ever had! I'm so jealous of these snobs!"

Honsa snickered, biting down. She appreciated the bite mark, "Oh ya, dat totally breaks de mouth!"

They ate quietly, too enraptured by the smooth, brown filling to talk. It tasted vaguely like the hazelnuts Rayla had found in Katolis; But there was something else. Something she had never tasted before. She couldn't place it.

Rayla finished, sucking on her fingers to remove the sticky, sugary coating. "I'm really sad that's gone! Well… uh... I wanted your advice… is that okay?"

"Yah.", the ocean elf smiled sweetly, "I'd love to help you with whatever is on your mind."

Rayla twiddled her thumbs for a moment. "I... don't know how to start."

"How about you take a dip with me? I'll show you a bit of magic, make you comfort-"

"No", Rayla said, glaring at the pond, "I... hate water."

Honsa frowned. "Dat's almost a bit insulting to me, you know? How can you hate water?"

For a moment, Rayla wasn't sure if she really wanted to tell her. She willed herself to be friendly. Honsa really didn't seem all that happy right now. "When I was a wean, my - well, foster-dad, I guess - Runaan taught me how to swim. I learnt it real fast, like anythin' else I just pick up if it's athletic. One day I was swimmin' alone and… something grabbed me. Some creature decided I was gonna be dinner. I haven't a clue how I got out of that water hole but ever since... I can't get myself into even slightly deep or rushin' water"

Honsa nodded. "Yah stuff like dat sticks with you… Sistah, if you're okay with it, since you can't come to the water, I can bring it to you. Like I did with Callum? It… helps."

Rayla eyed her suspiciously. "I don't know about that. I like my mind to be my own. No offense."

Honsa nodded empathetically. "Shoots, not wanting a rando touching your brains is perfectly fine, but I promise you the spells I use won't read or scramble your mind. You're in complete control here."

The moonshadow elf's gaze softened a little and after a moment of ponderance, she waved at Honsa to go ahead. As far as her own discomfort was concerned, she felt the ocean elf wasn't a threat. As for Callum - he would already know what was happening if he saw them touching like that.

Drawing the most complicated magical rune Rayla had ever seen, the counselor mumbled, "Apokalýpste tin ávysso tou pónou sas"

From the pool, water flew into Honsa's hands. She placed them on the moonshadow's ears. Rayla heard the push and pull of the ocean in her palms, but Honsa's voice was clear and pleasant. There was no edge to it whatsoever. She felt as though even Ivine would have sounded non-judgemental through this filter.

"Now, you said `foster-dad`, right? What about your birth parents? Are they around?"

Rayla found it easy to answer. "Yeah. I think so, at least. They were dragon guard."

Honsa gaped, "Wait. Wait! What?! You're the daughter of…"

"Yea.", Rayla interrupted hoarsely, "I know. Disgrace and so forth. I'm tryin' to clear my name right now."

The ocean elf nodded sympathetically, "Getting that dumped on you probably sucked like a rip-tide."

"It still does. Feels like I can't catch a break, you know?"

She launched into her whole life's story, talking about being more or less abandoned by her parents. Talking about her being trained as an Assassin. About her experiences with death. About her growing up with Runaan ending in another shattering disappointment that also drowned her in guilt.

It was so very easy to follow trains of thought under the influence of Honsa's spell - but it did not feel prying or offensive. Rayla still editorialized her own thoughts, leaving out overly personal details here and there.

It felt like she was talking a load off her chest. Finally, Rayla sighed, a pleasant smile spreading across her expression.

"I can see why he'd let you touch him for this. It feels… so good."

Honsa smiled. "Dis abyssal call lets you talk comfortably about uncomfortable things. It washes away anxiety and self-doubt, so you hear my words as I intend dem, not as your head might wanna interpret them."

The assassin breathed in, deeply, then admitted, "I'm sorry what I said about you. I actually think you're really cute and not like a tiny pig. The more I talk to you the more I think you're a great person and the only reason why I couldn't see that before is because I was boilin' my heid"

"Thank you for apologising. We say a lot of things in anger dat we don't really mean. Everyone knows dat. It's up to the other person to take those words and run with dem, and I just refuse to."

Honsa withdrew a single hand to palm at her right eye. After washing her hand off, she resumed the magic envelope, "I think you're a great person, Rayla, but you have a lot to work out. Callum had a childhood, even with his mother passing and all his recent pain, he is still a prince. He was taken care of. You on the other hand… you're missing a lot of dat positive base and yet, you're still so warm and caring. That amazes me."

"Warm and carin' eh?", Rayla shook her head, slowly, "I said a lot of really hurtful thin's to him. To you. I feel like I can't apologise enough."

"I dunno you super well yet, but even I felt like dat fight was out of character for you. You love him, like, a bunch. You show dat pretty clearly. Given the story you just told me tho, I feel like the stress of the evening plus all the other rubbish you dealt with over your lifetime really did a number on you. Fear of abandonment is a freakishly powerful feeling.", Honsa's expression became serious, "Losing your parents and Runaan is not your fault, Rayla. You are lovable, and worth loving. Callum does it so easily. You should trust that."

Rayla couldn't help but feel like nobody had ever put it so clearly. She was lovable. It wasn't her fault. It was strange to admit it, but she had really needed to hear this. A sort of deep relief washed over her.

Honsa smiled, "Your love for each other seems to be mending and that's super important. Every couple goes through these horrible, irrational moments. They are the storms on the route from love to a serious relationship dat stands the test of time. Love gets you the first few miles, sure, but only effort makes it a lifetime."

For a moment, she looked like she was going to well up, but the ocean elf caught herself, "You will have that sort of argument again. They happen. What's important is that you bounce back. That you work on being better. Dat you work on making them happen less. Next time, it might be Callum having a terrible day and exploding. Be gentle with him when it happens."

The counselor adjusted her position but kept her hands in place, "I understand moon elves are super into the whole secrets thing. `Public touch bad` was news to me. I'm sorry for doing that with him without telling you."

Rayla nodded. "Thanks. The culture annoys me, actually. I don't wanna be part of it. Tried to break from it. Turns out, sometimes it yanks me by the horns, still."

"We're all products of our surroundings. Of course some of the culture would rub off on you and some of the values you grow up with since small kid time stick like honey. It's all fine as long as you can feel comfortable talking to him about it and he respects the differences. Oh, and visa-versa, of course. You're in your own anemone's hair right now. As a prince, his family is going to be dunked in stupid traditions."

Rayla shuddered. "I'm not lookin' forward to it. Meetin' them."

"Hm. Why?"

"I dinnah like to be judged. I'm not… uh, graceful... in the way that people seem to expect princesses to be. I don't do a whole lot of princessy thin's and I really hate all the rituals. At the same time, his aunt probably thinks of me as a soldier, an' not much else. Gosh, the court's gonna tear me open cause I have pointy ears, too! I hadn't even thought of that", Rayla frowned.

"You know, something you mentioned seems to slot in dere. You said you hate being shoved into a box with all the concepts people have of you. Elf box, assassin box, soldier box. We're all really complex beings but for some reason, we don't often think dat of others. Easier to use dem boxes. I get you think that princesses need to be traditionally girly. There's nothing wrong with that, but it isn't you."

"But see, that's what I mean. You're putting me in the assassin box. I sometimes just wanna… advertise… other parts of me. I have moments where I wanna be cute, or, like you said, `traditionally girly`"

"Yah, whoops, I see your point, sorry.", Honsa looked her up and down, an idea forming quite visibly forming in her head, "Can I take your measurements?"

Rayla blinked. "Why?"

"I… wanna give you something. But, I have to fix it up, first."

"You don't have to give me a gift!"

"I don't have to, but I want to. Think of it as the least I could do after you saved my sorry butt by getting me out of that camp and failing to do my job right. I made you super uncomfortable 'cause I didn't do my due diligence, finding out about boundaries you might have. Especially after we had that first run-in in the morning. I knew you were on edge and I didn't follow up enough. Sorry."

Rayla couldn't help herself now. She hugged the ocean elf, breaking out of her spell and making Honsa squeak.

"Honsa, I'm sorry I was a jerk to you. You're amazin' at what you do."

"Aww, I'm happy to hear that, thanks!", Honsa stared at the sky, shedding a few tears which surprised Rayla.

"Are you alright?"

"Nah, but dat's okay. I'm not the one we're about right now. Just kinda worried about Lessa, is all. She's my aunty. My mentor. Kinda my foster-mom."

Rayla smiled softly. "If she's anythin' like I remember, she's totally fine. Lessa knows what she's doin'"

Honsa nodded, palming her eyes. Breathing deeply, her peaceful smile returned. "I've one last thing I wanna mention to you; If you want to be okay with water in the future, there's ways you can learn to cope."

With an empathetic look, Rayla sat back. She was worried about Lessa, too, but she had seen her in action. That helped. "It would be nice. I feel like a dumb sheep whenever the topic comes up."

"Okay. So, you already know why it makes you uncomfortable. You also know the things you can do to avoid feeling dat way. Shallow, still water is fine. Start there. Next, you can think about what might happen these days if your fear comes true. I'm thinking da kine that would be stupid enough to pull you under today wouldn't live too long."

Rayla shrugged. "Probably true. I'm a wee bit stronger and faster now."

"Finally, you can start making better memories that involve water. You know, to fall back on when the fear strikes you again."

"Like what, though?"

"Whatever floats your boat", she giggled at her own pun, "As long as it's a nice memory dat's strong enough to knock the other one out."

"Hm. That's gonna need some thinkin' for sure.", the moonshadow elf said. "Hey, do you want to talk about Lessa?"

Honsa shook her head. "Nah. You're right, girl, she is totally good. She's kicked more butt than I can honestly talk about right now. I actually wanna go back to sleep for a while. If that's okay?"

Rayla only nodded. Of course it was.

Honsa hugged her and dove into the pool. She came to a rest near the bottom of the dark blue hole.

Rayla shuddered at the thought of sleeping, surrounded by the deadly pressure. Finding something to do that would override the memory of possibly being devoured while drowning in icy blackness?

That was a tall order.

She smirked slightly.

Probably not much taller or shorter than five-foot-seven.