Karmen's head snaps up, looking through the Northern wall of the dining chamber. "Winston! There's a fly in my tea."
The tailor's head performs a similar action as he meets her eye, then looks around at all the people in the cavern. "Alright, everyone. We're going to run the drill, just like we practiced. Get in your groups and go to the lower chambers. Make sure everyone is accounted for and don't come up until we announce the all-clear."
Karmen's peaceful, reassuring smile urges them not to panic, but as soon as the room is cleared she runs for the surface, cloaking herself past anyone being ushered through the tunnels. She focuses on cloaking the island, praying that no one had noticed it yet.
Winston meets her and Pierce on the cliffside with a telescope wrapped in leather to prevent glare off the metal. "What is it?" he asks.
"A ship," she says. "It's distant, but there are a lot of people on board. I need to confirm their purpose and trajectory."
In the distance she senses a large form rise out of the water and charge the ship. Karmen instantly recognizes the lancet sea king's signature. Knowing how badly this could turn for both of them, she charges forward herself, leaping from the cliff. She arcs down into a perfect swan dive, seamlessly slipping into the sea.
Parvati is there to meet her. Before she's even finished sinking into the warm water they are off, racing like a marlin and leaving a torrent of waves behind them. By the time they get there the lancet has a harpoon lodged in its throat.
These must be the fisherman that had been giving the local sea kings so much trouble.
One fisherman that is seated at a large ballista on the bow of the ship is loading another harpoon. Karmen is still far from the ship. She has one shot to prevent another major injury. She pulls a dart from her quill and flings it forward. It slides beneath the firing pin just as it slams down, jamming the contraption where it stands.
The fisherman toggles the trigger a few times, then begins violently kicking the machine. Other fishermen rush forward, trying to dislodge the blockage and the missile, but by then it's too late. The lancet breaches with the grace of a whale and slams down on the deck of the ship. His large dorsal fin slices through the sails and rope and his body snaps the vessel in half with one fell swoop. Wood and timber fly everywhere. Fishermen scream and bail out into the water.
Remaining strongly cloaked, Karmen has Parvati dive, pushing fisherman to pieces of debris and pulling the surviving food and water from the stores. These Par boots up onto large chunks of the craft, trying to get the people toward on with them. When all the people are safe, Karmen rescues her dart and Parvati gives a call to her mother.
The giant sea king rises from beneath them, scooping Parvati onto her back and creating a tidal wave strong enough to send them out of the Calm Belt entirely. Patients who had wandered down to the beach see this wave coming and they scramble back up the cliff, calling a warning to those in the tunnels to get out of the flood zone. Camomorphic squid cling to the rocks, adapting their solid, unmoving nature until the water recedes.
Karmen wants to stay in the sea pancake stack and make sure the fishermen make it safely, but the harpoon in the lancet's neck is dangerously close to an artery and resting right above his heart. Kudra sees where her attention is and arcs her tail so Karmen can get on. Even before she's positioned herself for flight, Kudra flings the woman at the sea king.
She hurdles through the air and flips with her arms out to regain control. Slamming into the fish's cheek, she grabs at a scale to prevent herself from plummeting toward the distant ocean. The scale slows her fall, but it gives way under her hand. She slides down his slimy skin, only stopping when her foot catches in his gill.
When he breathes again, his gill flap hits her chest and she finds herself slipping down again. This time she lands on the harpoon, causing a spurt of blood to erupt from his neck. "Oh fish sticks," she mutters. "This might hurt a bit." Karmen tosses her boot and slips into the wound, feeling under the harpoon's endblade to find the bleed. When she locates it, she presses her heel tightly against the gash.
The lancet gives a slight groan but does his best not to flail about. She grins up at his large speckled brown eye. "We have to stop meeting like this," she says to him. "Let's head toward the island and we'll see what we can do about this."
When they arrive at the beach Pierce immediately tries to pull Karmen out of the wound. "Mistress, your arm hasn't fully healed yet," he argues. "You shouldn't be exposing yourself to infectants this way."
She dodges around his hand as best she can without moving her foot. "If you want me out of here faster, be helpful and get my bag so I can sew him up."
When he continues, Kudra brings her tail down on him heavily. He senses it in time to coat his arms and legs with haki. He's able to stop her blow, but it causes him to sink up to his shins in the sand. "I'll fight you if I have to, lady!" he calls to her.
"You're not allowed to pick a fight with our island-sized patron," Karmen counters. "We are guests in her waters."
Kudra seems satisfied with this statement and not deeming Pierce worth her time, she slides back out into the deep.
He swipes again and she ducks completely inside the fish. "Fine," he says, admitting defeat. He turns and flies into the island without another word.
While he goes to get her what she needs, Winston preemptively creates suture holes around the wound and Saaresto brings antibacterial ointment. Camilla keeps her senses peeled for any outside interference while she checks the condition of the squid that had been battered by the wave.
Pierce returns to find Karmen laying directly under the harpoon. "Alright. I've wedged this out enough that it should slide fairly easily," she says. "Can you give it a pull, please?"
"Mistress, I'd feel better about this situation if you were at least away from the blade," he says. "This fish is moving about and the last thing you need is to receive a gash from an unwashed weapon."
Having had enough, Karmen reaches out and grabs handful after handful of his wing-cloak until he's bent over with his head next to her face.
"I've cloaked the two of us for the moment," she tells him. "What's going on with you today?"
His cheeks turn pink and he tries to turn his ear away. "I'm just doing my job, Karmen. If you get an infection no one will know how to treat you in a way that your body finds satisfactory."
"Is this about what happened in the jungle?" she asks. "Are we doing this again?"
He almost lets out a small snort but seems to think better of it. "I let my focus waver away from my charge and you almost died," he says. "I will do 'this' as long as I need to in order to fulfill my duty."
She holds the sides of his head, gently forcing him to give her an ear. "Pierce, dearest, we're home and safe. This is a simple fish surgery. We do this all the time," she says. "My poisoned lotions are doing more harm to this fish than he's doing to me. I need you to take a deep breath and go back to being my partner here, alright?"
"If that is what you ask, My Lady," he says.
"And besides," she continues. "I didn't "almost die.' I took a calculated risk and everyone made it home safe, including me."
"Mistress, I would prefer to have this conversation when you aren't inside a fish."
"Then step up to bat and pull this harpoon out already."
"Did you seriously just-"
"Yes. Yes, I did."
He sighs heavily wrapping his hands around the oversized dart. "You do know that I'm older than you, right?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" she asks.
"It means that this innocent charade of yours doesn't work on me," he tells her. "I have to make sure you don't get in over your head."
"Oh? I thought I was already up to my neck." When he only groans she adds, "You can't see it, but I'm bat-batting my eyelashes at you."
"Oh for Kudra's sake," he groans. "If you don't stop with the puns I'm going to lock you in your lab for your own protection." He hefts the missile out of the lancet's neck and hands it off to Julimes. "Here. Melt that into whatever you want."
The Fishman looks surprised to have a harpoon shoved into his hands from nowhere, but gets over his shock quickly. He taps the blade and nods. "This is good steel. This will come in handy."
Karmen finally drops the cloak and gives Pierce a sweet smile as she staunches blood vessels with her bare toes. "Why don't you take half an hour to yourself while I stitch this dear up. If you still feel there's something to discuss, we can speak then."
He moves off down the beach but doesn't move out of earshot.
Karmen tucks herself back into the wound and begins stitching up the fragile membranes. It's a slow process, but eventually she's able to move out far enough that only her arms are inside the wound. Winston works around her, puncturing the sea king's skin to make stitching the wound closed will be easier later. Karmen is covered in some and blood. While the smell disturbs her, she controls her emotions and therefore her work.
She triple checks to make sure that all the bleeds are stitched and that the wound has been properly cleaned. She administers antidotes and stitches the wound closed while it takes effect. The lancet looks weak and tired, but croons thankfully. He bends down, takes a mouthful of seawater before proceeding to dump it out on her, washing her clean of the gore. When she's refreshed, it leans its massive head down and bumps its whiskered nose against her forehead affectionately. She pats his nose fondly. "Go get some rest, hun. We'll make sure nothing tries to eat you while you recover." He sinks beneath the waves with another soft croon and Kudra blinks her acknowlegement before doing the same.
Karmenlooks up, but she knows Pierce isn't there. He'd begun walking off when she was halfway done. She can sense him on the far side of the island. She wrings out her hair, puts her boots, and sets off.
Despite Parvati splashing invitingly in the nearby water, and as much as she'd love to race around the island on her back, Karmen decides to walk in Pierce's direction. It gives her more time to think about how she wants to approach this as she lets her feet slow her down as she sinks into the fine sand with every step. The grains become pebbles as she rounds the cliffs. Not many patients come this far and the quiet is almost eerie. Her boots clack against the rocks as the objects beneath her feet grow larger until she's climbing over fist-sized rocks surrounding a cove on the opposite side than she'd been previously.
She'd been here several times in her attempt to leave the island after Kuma sent her here. Kudra herself had thrown her against these stones time and time again as they battled for respect. Then the waves had been churning with activity and roars of the Sea King. Now, the sea is still as glass and the only sounds are the birds far above, Karmen's feet below, and Pierce's wings fluttering somewhere in the middle with unspoken protests.
She finds Pierce here, sitting atop a large boulder with his wings stretching behind him. They still as she approaches and he scoots over to give her a level place to sit. She settles beside him and they soak in the silence.
"Go ahead and say it," he says abruptly. "I already know what you're going to say."
"What's on your mind, dear?" she asks in a gentle, open tone. "What has you so flustered?"
"The same things that I've been bringing up," he practically growls. "You're drawing too much attention to yourself. You're taking unnecessary risks. You're sticking your nose in things that don't concern us and you're going to get yourself hurt."
"So a fishing ship very near to our island isn't of my concern?" she asks. "A Sea King that has sought my help and is, respectively, a recovering patient of mine, is not my concern? The slaves that Gallowcomb has under his boot? Our pirate allies? I fail to see where I am overstepping, Pierce."
"You need to slow down before you're hurt or captured."
Karmen's natural instinct is to lash out in her head but to remain composed on the outside. She chooses not to do either and doesn't hide the slight hurt in her voice. "You're not being protective, Pierce. You're being controlling," she says. "My life no longer revolves around needing protection."
She'd had enough of people trying to keep her in one kind of a box or another growing up. She doesn't want to say it out loud, so she hopes Pierce doesn't need it spelled out for him, because maybe then she might yell and keep on yelling. She doesn't want to yell at him.
"If you are being triggered by something, identify it and tell me so that we might work on this, but this is not a fraction of the dangerous things I plan to throw myself into, especially once these two years are up," she states with a sense of finality. "What I do, I do for the sake of this island and for the sake of surviving the future that I've chosen. I've changed and set goals so that when all this is over we might still have a life worth living. I won't let anyone get in the way of those goals. Not even you."
He remains silent, wringing his hands. Even his posture and face carried no words. She can't read him at all. It makes him feel distant and that carries a loneliness that she never thought she would feel from him.
"We used to be the perfect pair, Pierce," she says quietly. "I don't understand why we seem to be so out of sync now."
She stands up and walks away, leaving him there on the rock. He does not join them for dinner and it is late in the night when she hears him pass her room to go to his for what seems may be a restless night.
She lies there in her own bed tossing and turning, trying to quiet the ghosts in her head. Try as she might, she can't drown out the memories of Ikaika, Willow, and the Saints barking orders at her or the screams that were cut short if she didn't comply. She remembered all of them. Every detail of every moment. Her memory was like that. Try as she might she couldn't ever forget. They were there stored and perfect as the day they were made. Having Pierce contribute to those voices makes her feel like she's suffocating. It hurts.
Another woman might have cried, but Karmen just curls in on herself. If she cried he would be even more upset and he would chastise himself instead of reflecting on what's making him behave this way. If she stayed this way, maybe she could get some sleep. When this doesn't work, she lights a candle and sits at her desk, tracing the shapes of her crew's faces on their wanted posters with fresh ink.
She remembers the day she fell asleep writing logs and had woken up with ink on her face. How long until she sees them again? Would they look and act the same? Will the essence that is them still feel as it did when they parted? One year is almost up. Sometimes it feels like it's only been days. Other times it feels like ten years have passed. Deep down she knows that when they reunite, it will feel like no time has passed at all. This was that foreign and forbidden word, her hidden dream. Family.
She hangs the posters up to dry and takes a walk, thinking of the fond memories she has with them.
She wants to hear Luffy's carefree laugh. See Robin's gentle smile. Hear Nami yelling. Sit with Ussop while he tinkers. Discuss medical uses of toxins with Chopper. Dance with Franky. Listen to Brook's music and laugh at his jokes. Eat Sanji's food. Nap in the noon-day sun with Zoro. Whisper midnight secrets to Sunny. She wants to get into insane trouble and miraculously escape it, grinning all the while.
When she thinks about this, the screams disappear. The pain in her heart is replaced with a warm glow. She spreads their drying posters across the table along with Sanji's crude drawing, looking on them fondly. "Everyone, I'll see you soon," she whispers to them. "I'll see you all soon."
When she returns to her bedchamber, she turns to the metal bar that Winston had installed in the rock ceiling to hang her clothes on. He had the ever-rotating wardrobe for her. She notices a new addition, however, between the hangers: A human-shaped bat hanging by his feet.
If this bothers Karmen at all, she doesn't show it. She grabs a nightgown hanging by his ankles and steps backward toward her desk. "Close your ears, dear. I'm getting changed." Tiny thumb-claws reach up and press his fuzzy ears into the downy fur at his temple and Karmen feels a wave of endearment. She can't be upset at his stress-induced overprotectiveness when he looks like a bat-formed little kid. She understands that he's struggling to understand it himself. she wants to give him the time to do that, even if it strains her patientce.
as she drops her clothes into the laundry bin, she pats his wing gently. Climbing into bed, she blows out her candle and stares up at the ceiling. "I'm not fragile, Pierce. You know that, right?"
She can hear his feet shuffle on the bar and his wings rustling against hte fabric of her clothes. "My heart knows it," he responds softly. "But in my head I still see protecting you as my priority. I am strugglign with... conflicting thoughts. I'm sorry that it's making things harder for you."
"it's not making things harder for me, but it does make me worry that you're keeping all these struggles to yourself."
"I don't know how to put it into words just yet," he says apologetically.
"I want you to be able to eventually," she tells him. "But until then, know that I understand."
The next morning Karmen is calm and cordial, but thos ewho know how to read her can see can tell that she is hyperaware. Watchful and alert, and therefore distracted.
her eyes slip closed as she sips her tea and she keeps tilting her head as she listens for something.
And that something comes.
It starts out slow, with one or two sounds that quickly multiply into a deafening roar that shakes the very island: Rays breaching as a warning.
The island falls silent.
Karmen stands calmly, draining her remaining tea in one long swig. she holsters her quills and begins taking long, quick strides toward the surface.
Pierce leaps up after her, a hand extended to grab her shoulder. she stops midstride and his hand hovers above the fabric of her jacket. His skin ripples.
"I could go with Parvati if you're still struggling," she says in a low voice. "It's your choice, and I'll accept whatever you choose."
His hand hovers for just a moment before it transforms into a claw. He latches onto her back, ready to face whatever is out there. Karmen places her hand over it, smiling proudly. She reaches back, pulling his hat down over her curls and grinning widely.
"Let's fly."
Pierce spreads his wings and rockets them up the tunnels at lightning speed, kicking up dust and scattering supteranian insects. he flies out the ocean-side entrance creating a small tidal wave that splashes up against the cliffs, delighting the squid clinging to the rocks.
They move quickly, skimming low over the silent water. One mile. Two miles. Five. Ten. There, in the distance, is a large sloop skimming through the water on oar-power. As they approach, a face on the deck catches Karmen's eye.
Pierce sweeps low, keeping them level with the still water. He pulls upward for just a moment before they reach the ship so that Karmen can take stock of the situation.
Instantly her entire demeanor changes. There, standing on deck is a tall, tan, blond, long-legged woman. The coolest scar peeks out of the right leg of her shorts and spirals down her thigh.
Karmen gasps and throws her weight forward, causing Pierce to slow with a somersault. She arches her back as they straighten out and he lifts, flying low over the deck. Karmen uses this opportunity to hook the woman's armpits and carry her out into the Calm Belt.
Parvati swims up and allows the woman to be deposited on her back. Stunned, she blinks and looks after her fading ship in the distance. "Hey! What's the big idea!"
Karmen uncloaks, standing in front of the sun so this woman can't see her face just yet. Even still, she pulls Pierce's broad hat low over her face. "Julia Ellsworth, fish riding competitor of the North Blue, these are dangerous waters. What brings you to the Calm Belt? Under whose flag do you travel?"
The woman is clearly scared, but she grits her teeth and stands, ready for a fight if need be. She towers high over Karmen. "My own! I hired fishermen to bring me something to train, but they came back empty-handed and with a destroyed ship," she says defiantly. "I'm not about to let a bunch of incompetent men ruin my chances for qualifying for the King's Race."
There is no lie in her heart. Relieved, Karmen pushes the hat back onto Pierce's head and grins up at the woman. "My dear friend, I'm afraid the men you hired wouldn't have brought you a mount in good condition with their tactics," she says. "Kudra, I forgot how beautiful that scar was. I'm happy to hear that you're ready for the big leagues."
Julia jumps back in shock, unable to speak for a moment. She grabs Karmen's shoulders. "I don't understand. I heard you died." Her eyes grow wide and she blinks. "Did my ship get eaten? Am I dead?"
Karmen laughs jovially. "You are perfectly alive and sane, dear," she says.
She pulls Karmen into a tight hug. She can feel the barely-restrained emotion in the motion. "I'm so glad you're alive. There's no real competition with you gone. I even miss dodging your mom's sniper bullets." She pulls back to just look at Karmen for a moment. "Why are you out here by yourself? Where are your guards and ship?"
"I always considered you a friend, Julia. But I must know, can I trust you?" Karmen asks her in a gravely serious tone.
"Does a fish swim?! You're alive! I'd do anything for you right now!" she exclaims.
Karmen weighs her options for a moment, remembering all their experiences together surrounding all the competitions in another life. "I found out that I was adopted and the Gallowcombs tried to kill me, so I left."
Shock overtakes her and she glances around the empty surface. Despite no one being around, she drops her voice to a harsh whisper. "I can't believe that! Oh my gosh, how are you alive right now? Are they still hunting you? Do you need somewhere to live? I can hide you for as long as you need."
Karmen gives a relieved laugh. "While your invitations are most, welcome, I am doing fine out here," she assures her friend. "I've struck out on my own and if they hunt me down they have to acknowledge the truth. We're on a shaky mutual understanding."
"But they're Dragons," Julia whispers, still unconvinced. "They can do anything they want!"
"Willow is a Dragon," Karmen corrects. "And Ikaika asked for a divorce months ago. It hasn't been made public knowledge. Ikaika is strutting around like he still has the power that his marriage provided him and Willow has moved back to her home island doing Kudra knows what. She doesn't seem to have any interest in me now that I know the truth and Ikaika is on a shaky ledge of grandeur."
The woman blinks as she absorbs this information and sits down on Parvati's back. "Wow… You've been… What happened since… wow." She looks around at the empty ocean. "What are you doing out here?"
"Training," Karmen admits. "I can't let my talents go to waste just because someone tried to put a few bullets in me."
Julia leans back, resting her arm on her knee, blinking for a minute before laughing. "Don't tell me I'm trespassing on your stomping grounds."
Karmen laughs too. "Of course not. I'm just passing through and making a few friends along the way."
She raises her eyebrow. "No."
"Yes."
"No!"
"I can see if they want to come up if you'd like?"
"Them?!" Her jaw threatens to hit Parvati's back. "You've been gone for what, three years? I know you have natural talent, but multiple? And they don't want to eat you?"
Karmen gently lowers Pierce into a furry heap on Parvati's back and shrugs out of the clothes on top of her diving suit, stretching leisurely. She pretends that she's not showing off her bond marks and that she doesn't notice Julia's bulging eyes.
"The lancet and I had a bit of an understanding maybe two hours after we met," she says casually. "Kudra, that's Parvati's mom, took about three months."
Julia flounders a bit, unable to form words. Finally, she manages to breathe out, "What's your secret?"
"Honestly? I threw out everything Willow ever taught me," she says. "Brute force gets you nowhere except resentment with these dears. You just have to do something that gets their attention or respect and learn how to befriend them."
Her friend dips her head to the side in a "that sounds reasonable" fashion and finally looks down. With a rigid finger, she pokes the surface she's sitting on. "I'm guessing this isn't the 'Kudra' you mentioned."
Karmen chuckles. "No." A large form begins rising out of the water behind her, jolting them harshly. "That's Kudra."
Julia looks over her shoulder at the island rising from the ocean, blinks, then grins like a wolf over a lamb chop. "Oh, she's gorgeous."
"You switched back to fish awful fast," Karmen says with a knowing grin.
"Dragons and politics aren't my thing," she says with a shrug. "You say you're happy this way, that you're safe? That's all I need to know. But fish? I know fish."
Her grin widens. "That's what I always liked about you," she says. "No tricks."
"No gimmicks," she says in a rusty, but familiar expression.
"Just racing," they say together, clasping hands in a gesture that oozes camaraderie.
Something lights in Karmen's chest. A bond she thought had died sparks back to life. "It's really good to see you again, Julia," she says softly. "I don't know when I can race again, but I think I might be able to get you to this year's race." She dives into the ocean, going deeper and deeper until she disappears from sight.
Julia looks at the fish under her and pushes to her feet. "You're Parvati, right?" A crooning vibrates her feet. "And you're the one bonded with Karmen?" Fins slap the water around her joyously. "What does a girl have to do to jump on that bandwagon?"
Deep rumbles sound from Kudra. A laugh.
"And you don't want to drown or impale her? At all? Eat her even?"
Karmen's head pops above water. "Hey now, dearie, I got plenty of broken ribs from her. Don't go tempting her to add to the count."
Before Julia can respond, the lancet surfaces under Karmen, towering high over Parvati and leaving Julia in shadow. "Wow." Her eyes fall on the long line of thick stitches and the admiration is replaced with other emotions.
"Lannie, this here is my friend Julia. Do you think you might want to help her out with a big race?" she asks.
The lancet lowers its large eye down to Julia's level, sizing her up.
Julia, however, sets her hands on her hips and glares back at them. "No. No! No disowned goddess or princess or whatever in the Grand Line you are now is going to give Julia Ellsworth a pity win," she declares. She points her finger straight at his eye. "If, and I say if, we race together, it's not going to be a favor to her. It's going to be because I've earned your respect!"
The fish lets out a roar of laughter, making Julia look uncertain for a moment. He lowers his nose into the water so that his nostrils are right across from her. Karmen grins from far atop his head, still some distance away from her. "I don't exactly speak fish, but I think he's saying that you're making a pretty good first impression."
Julia doesn't hesitate to step onto his nose or to climb her way toward Karmen. "And don't think you're out of this yet, either, Lady," she says, really working up her competitive fire. "You're a little side-tracked with people trying to kill you and all, I'll give you that. But if you think I'm letting you off the hook because of this you're dead wrong. I'll give us all a couple of years and I'll dip my toe into the ring if me and Lannie here develop a good report, but I won't be satisfied until you and I go head to head. Cause you know no one else is going to test my metal."
With her blood pumping and her teeth bared, she extends a hand. With a snort and a competitive smirk, Karmen grasps it tightly. "Sorry, dearest. It looks like Parvati and I will be wiping the floor with the both of you before too long," she says with mock regret. The lancet laughs again, shaking them a little.
Julie flies into the air as his head bobs about and she clings to Karmen for support. "Man I'm going to have to get used to this."
Karmen laughs. "When you ride a sea king, you can't be afraid to do a little flying."
"Or broken ribs, apparently." She looks at Karmen. "Any more trade secrets you want to share with me in this department?"
"Asking politely tends to work better than any of the techniques we grew up seeing," she responds. "And make sure you give him breaks to eat. These guys need a lot of food. It gets a little chummy."
Julia gasps and grasps Karmen's shoulders. The secretary can feel Pierce twitching defensively, ready to defend if there is a need. "Oh, fish sticks! I need to get back to the boat!"
"What's going on?" Karmen asks, picking up on the shift of the situation.
"Commodore Niven," she says in a harsh whisper, looking pale. "After the fishing boat was sunk, the marines insisted I have an escort. She was circling ahead to check for danger. If she comes back and finds out that I'm gone, you'll be in danger."
"You're worried?" Karmen asks. "About me?"
"I'm not blind, Karmen," she says. "I know how useless Marines are when it comes to the Dragons. If she sees you, she might report it to her superiors and they might find you!" She releases her shoulders and looks down at the lancet. "Hey there, buddy. Want to show me how fast you can swim?"
The lancet doesn't need any more encouragement. He speeds through the glassy water leaving 20 ft tidal waves in his wake. As they fly through the air and set their weight against his momentum, the women can't help but grin at each other. Their blood races with a competitive edge.
"I appreciate your concern," Karmen tells her, "but I'm an expert at dodging nobles. I don't tend to be seen unless I want to be seen."
Her friend's grin returns. "Well, I'm glad you wanted to see me. It's been a thrill seeing you like this," she says. Her expression softens remorsefully. "I don't suppose we'll be able to stay in touch, will we?"
Karmen shakes her head regretfully. "It's safer if we don't," she tells her. "I don't want to put you in danger."
Julia shoves down the sadness and replaces it with determination. "Then I'll just have to train twice as hard as you so that I'll beat you when the time comes."
"As if!" Karmen scoffs. "But yes. We can catch up after our next competition."
"Maybe you'll finally have a riding scar to show for it by then," she teases with sisterly affection.
Karmen's face darkens dangerously as she gives her friend a hard look. "Dearest, I'll grind you into sea foam."
Julia throws her head back and laughs. "You can certainly try, my friend."
By this point, they're nearing the ship. They'd drawn in their sails and had turned back in the water. Crewmen dart back and forth across the deck. They see several peeking over the bulwark at the water and another man lifts the lid of a barrel, closes it, and shakes his head at someone who looks like the captain.
"I think they've noticed I'm gone."
Karmen gives Julia one last nod. "Until next time, Julia Ellsworth." She leaps into the air and lets herself drop into the ocean. Julia stares after her, surprised at first, but then she smiles.
The lancet pulls up alongside the fish and Julia gives them a casual wave. "Sup, guys. What are you looking for?"
Down in the water, Parvati catches Karmen on her decent as she secures Pierce's air supply. She makes sure they're at max fade and wait for the ship to get underway again. While they're under, the Lancet gives a deep call that Karmen initially thinks is a goodbye. However, soon the dark shape of a fin the size of a mountain appears beneath them. This draws Kudra's and Parvati's attention. To her surprise, Kudra seems to regard the creature with reverence. Karmen watches cautiously, but the creature doesn't attempt to approach. After a while, she decides that it has no intention to pose a threat, despite its clear capability. With its size, she wonders if it's even aware they're there.
When the ship is a dot on the distance, Karmen leads Parvati to surface and looks after them.
"What are you thinking?" Pierce asks after spitting out the aspirator, shaking out his fur.
Karmen holds her chin thoughtfully. "I'm thinking that I want to see this Commadore in the flesh."