The sun rise was heralded by the unceremonious racket of an alarm clock that was lazily switched off as Olivia woke up and groggily stared at the ceiling. Despite sleeping a solid eight hours she heaved a tired sigh as she threw the blankets off herself, exposing bandaged forearms, hands, calves and feet that peeked out from under her pajamas.
"Another day of doing nothing. Joy." Olivia grumbled as she walked over to her wardrobe with a slight limp to change for the day. Overalls and tank tops were ignored in favor of a pale green cotton blazer and loose white shirt that was partially tucked in to dusty brown shorts, thigh high black socks with brown boots and black gloves.
Once she was dressed she slowly made her way out of the house, giving her crops a quick once over, before heading into town. Past the general store and down a set of wooden stairs to a small outdoor stall where 'Raja Coffee Corner' was proudly displayed on a wooden plaque.
"Morning Raj," Olivia greeted as she approached the front counter.
"Morning," they replied before raising an eyebrow. "Still ditching the overalls?"
Olivia snickered at the observation. "Yeah, well, I mean. I wasn't wearing them correctly anyways. Besides, I have to keep you on your toes, right?"
"Fair enough," They shrugged before starting to push and pull at various buttons and knobs on their machine. "Same as yesterday?"
"Yep, two black coffees to go please," she confirmed before looking around. "You picked a great spot by the way. The view here is amazing."
They chuckled at that. "I don't know about that. I prefer the garden. The real perk of this stand is getting to know people."
"Oh?"
Raj started pouring coffee into two paper cups. "Absolutely. I've met some interesting folks here through coffee." Once the cups were full, they put the pot back in place and put lids on the cups so they could carry them over to the counter. "A hunter. Some scientists. A new farmer escaping the city life." They listed off before winking at Olivia.
Her face turned pink as she laughed. "Such a flatterer. Don't worry I'll remember to tip either way," She teased. "Actually while you're at it can you add a third coffee to my order?"
"A third?" Raj asked as the sudden change to the order caused their eyebrows to knit together. "Sure I can do that." They poked at their cash register to add the extra cup to the order. "Your total is 330."
"Thanks," Olivia retrieved the cash from her wallet and then some, which she placed on the counter. "No rush on that third cup though." She insisted once she noticed Raj had already gotten started on the extra brew. "It's for this person who owns a coffee stand, figured they might appreciate a good cup of joe." She explained as she picked up the two cups they'd already prepared for her.
Hearing this caused them to pause and look over, initially confused before an amused smile formed under their mustache when they caught Olivia wink back at them. "Oh, what a beautiful cup of coffee. Thank you, Olivia!"
"You're welcome, it was made by a very talented friend of mine, enjoy," She continued the joke as the world felt a little less bleak then it had that morning.
Raj shook their head. "Careful with that smile of yours, it's going to break someone's heart if you're not careful."
"No worries there. Someone would have to be able to put up with my stubborn attitude first, and I've found people like that are few and far between," Olivia moved to take a few steps from the counter. "Anyways I should get going. I think I see your morning rush on their way."
Raj simply shook their head before pouring their cup of coffee. "See you around. Tell Scott I said hi."
"Hm? Sure, I'll pass that along if I see him," She agreed before going on her way into town, passed a large building where gilded letters spelled out 'white flamingo' and up two sets of stairs to the small garden across from the lab where her life took off on this crazy train of an adventure.
"Morning Charles," Olivia greeted as she moved to sit down next to him and offered him one of the two coffee cups.
He carefully accepted the hot paper cup. "And good morning to you." Charles glanced at Olivia's outfit for the day. "Still trying to hide the bandages?"
"Yeah," she took a sip of her coffee to buy time to think. "The socks help a bit, keeps them covered without rubbing as I walk, so I don't have to re do the bandages as often."
"You know there's no shame in needing time to rest. You don't need to hide them," Charles cautiously pointed out as he moved to take the plastic top off his coffee so it could cool faster.
Olivia just shook her head. "No, I don't want to tempt Pufferfish," her eyes glanced at the lab, seemingly through it to the building behind it. "They've been quiet so far but they want the farm. I don't want to give them a reason to think they have a chance of getting it from me."
"They have been oddly quiet…" Charles admitted as his lips pressed together and to the side in a scrunched-up frown. "Try not to worry about it. They're a large company but I doubt the mayor will hand over the town so easily."
"Maybe. The sooner things recover the better," She grumbled before taking another sip of coffee.
"Speaking of recovery. For a week of rest, you seem to be doing pretty well as far as I can tell," a weak smile replaced his frown. "It seems like your hearing is recovering quickly. Do the ear drops still hurt?"
"They feel like someone set my ears on fire but, they're working," She nodded before shifting in her seat. "I think the pins and needles feeling is getting a little better. I still have a limp if I haven't been moving for a while. And the cracks in my skin look worse."
"Things tend to get worse before they feel better. You're on the right track but you need to keep at it," Charles coached before finally taking a sip of his own drink. "Keep stopping by in the morning and keep me posted until you've recovered."
"Will do. Though do you mind if I keep stopping by even after I heal up? Figure it would be a good preventative measure. You're pretty sharp so if something is wrong it will get caught faster." She cautiously requested.
"Sure, I don't mind," Charles agreed before making a 'cheers' motion with his coffee causing it to slosh a little which he quickly corrected to keep the liquid in the cup. He cleared his throat before speaking again with a nervous smile. "It's a good idea, and who am I to say no to the company and free cup of coffee from Raja."
"Fair, it's a small price to pay for the mini checkups. Besides, I like getting to chat with you in the morning. It's a nice way to get out of the house instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself," She admitted with a half-hearted chuckle.
"It is nice to hear a new voice. Nothing against Scott, he's a decent house mate. Smart as could be and knows what he's doing but I also don't trust him around an exposed outlet." Charles quietly admitted.
This caused the half-hearted chuckle to morph into full chested laughter. "Charles, that's mean."
"I'm serious though. He often walks straight into doors. Not just screen doors, regular solid ones too. It's amazing how successful he is, given his clumsiness." The doctor's shoulders dropped as he spoke like a tired parent.
Olivia put her coffee down on the bench as her other hand moved to cover her mouth to try and contain her giggle fit at the mental image that Charles created. "I could see that happening." She shook her head. "Either way, how was that show you were telling me about before? There was a new episode last night, right?"
"Oh yeah, I mostly just listened to it while going over some paperwork this time," He shifted to lean back in his seat as he looked up at the sky to find his thoughts. "Filler episodes happen, it's at least nice to have something to listen to while working."
"Yeah, I get what you mean. I was trying to get Professor Ling to add a way to listen to music while I'm diving but, I think that's a fight I'll drop after all this," Olivia picked her cup back up now that her chuckles had passed.
"Probably for the best," Charles agreed as Scott rounded the corner and entered the garden as well.
"How do you two wake up so early?" Scott asked through a yawn. "Don't get me wrong, I like some fresh air before work, but you both need to learn how to put your work down and sleep in a little."
"Good morning to you too," She greeted as she stiffly moved to get up. "You're my cue to get moving. If you need me, I'll be by the docks. Oh, also Raj says Hi."
Scott frowned as he noticed that persistent limp when she made her way over to the garden's trash can to throw away her empty cup. "Again?"
"Yeah, the sun shine is nice around this time of day," She shifted to stretch. "Besides I made friends with a pod of dolphins while I was diving," Olivia's smile twitched as she lied. "I'm worried they might get too close to the beach looking for me considering how long I've been gone. If I sit by the docks, I can keep an eye out for them and shoo them off if I have to.
"Woah, really?" Charles asked in wide eyed awe. "Well at least make sure to wear sunscreen."
"That's rare. Makes sense that you're worried. If you see them take pictures," Scott chimed in as well which only made her feel worse.
"Yep, I got sunscreen, bandages and medicine so I can change out my mummy wrap every 8 hours like I'm supposed to. I'll see you around," she conveniently ignored Scott's request as she retreated as quickly as her legs would allow.
By the time she made it to the docks her steps felt more confident and less staggard, only for her to sit down at the end of the diving bay where Kible and the boat both gently floated in the soft bobbing waves of the ocean.
As she sat and stared out at the ocean, she exhaled causing her lips to flap. Another day of sitting and waiting… But from what she'd learned over the last few months, the princess was too curious about the surface to simply accept that she disappeared. Someone would come looking for her eventually. Probably a scout, if not the princess herself after sneaking away, considering how similar she was to Ling.
Olivia shifted to mess with her boots and take off her socks and shoes. So long as she kept her legs in the boat the bandages should be hidden enough. As much as she said the socks were helpful, the squeezing feeling didn't help with the pins and needle phenomena.
"Please be patient," Olivia muttered as she shifted to hold her face and rest her elbows on her knees.
"What if she's mad at me? Did I accidently say something rude in land-dweller?" Princess Miranjani asked as she paced around the castle. "What if she's hurt? Oh no. it was the comment I made on her swimming wasn't it? I shouldn't have pointed it out. She's trying her best."
"She's fine," Semeru insisted as he watched the worrying royal. "I saw her get on her boat and leave. She probably just gave up. Land dwellers don't spend as much time at sea during this season anyways."
"I need to go back for the day. I'll come back again tomorrow."
Semeru shook the memory from his mind.
"That's not like her though. Something must be wrong. The last time she was here she made so much progress, even mother is starting to worry. She wanted to thank her for freeing Naga," Miranjani insisted. "When she left was anything odd?"
Semeru silently thought it over. "She came back from the depth and That robot of hers was making it's usual racket that she needed rest. She asked to go to her boat to recover for a moment before heading back out. After her usual break, the robot's alarm was still going off so she said she needed to go back to the surface for the day and she left."
"Bye,"
"Get lost,"
To his annoyance a sense of dread began to set in for him as well. He didn't think she'd actually go and get lost.
"She said she was going to go back out and her robot was signaling she was in poor health when she left, there must have been something wrong when she left early," Miranjani turned to start swimming away. "I'm going to go look for her."
Semeru quickly swam ahead of her and blocked her path. "No, you're not. I will inform your father and it will make a whole situation. Don't."
"Well, someone should go, and we've already gone over this. Only a handful of us are allowed to speak to her, let alone go near the surface." Miranjani grumpily crossed her arms. "She's been fighting back those horrid roots with out any of us asking her to and hardly a word of thanks for it. The least we can do is make sure she's alive."
"… I'll go,"
Hearing this caused Miranjani to pause. Her anger faded to concerned surprise as she stared at the large deep scar across his face. "No. you don't have to go. I. Look we can talk to Agung or Denali. They're scouts."
"I appreciate the concern but it's been long enough since then. I'm offering. Besides I know which direction her boat went," Semeru paused to think it over.
The princess pressed her lips together in thought before looking past him. "Maharaja Put Put!"
Upon hearing her call a chubby looking pufferfish wearing a regal headpiece quickly swam over.
"Maharaja will accompany you. If you need anything you can send word back with them." She conceded.
"Understood your majesty. I'll inform Deno to take over in my absence. I won't be gone long," After a respectful bow he swam off, with the pufferfish following along some distance behind him.
The trip took a few hours but slowly the distance between the ocean floor and the surface began to shrink and the island grew nearer. The closer he got, the more uneasy he felt. His best bet was to get as close as possible and do laps around the island while slowly moving out. He'd have to find the boat eventually. Assuming she made it back…
"Me and my big mouth," he quietly grumbled.
Luckily for him, only one lap was needed. Sitting at the end of a long pier was a familiar boat. He cautiously swam closer to get a better look before poking the upper half of his face out of the water to look around for clues.
Anxious eyes grew tired and deadpan as they noticed the land-dweller sitting contently by her vessel. His face contorted to an aggravated sneer before using his tail to create a splash of sea water to get her attention. Aggression that just as quickly faded to annoyed confusion as he watched her curl up and pull away as if he just tried to attack her. It was just water.
Olivia looked over to the source of the splash only to stare dumbfounded at the upper portion of the merfolk's face. "Semeru?" What on earth. "I figured the princess would send someone but I'll admit this is a surprise."
She watched as his face bobbed under the water for a few moments before reappearing.
"Right, you can't understand me…" Olivia muttered before thinking it over. She held up a single finger before reaching to make a slapping motion against the ocean and nodded her head. She then held up two fingers, slapped the water twice and shook her head no.
Semeru watched this curiously. Okay so she was going to ask a yes or no question. One splash is yes, two is no. He could do that. In response he flicked his tail once.
Olivia smiled as she realized he understood. "Ok um… how to do this…" She held her hands over her head to mimic a crown. Pointed at Semeru then made a swimming motion before pointing down at the dock.
Semeru allowed himself to lower into the water while thinking over the mimed words. Horns, him, swim, dock…. No. Crown, him, swim, dock? Did the royals send him here? Got it. He peeked over the water again and made a single splash.
Olivia weakly smiled at that. "I was worried this would happen."
Semeru frowned. This was getting them nowhere. If she'd just put that darn mask on and get into the water they could talk properly. He reached up to grab at her hand that was resting on the doc to pull on it in an effort to suggest as much. Again she recoiled.
"Nope! Nono. Bad," she said though she knew he wouldn't understand. She reached down and slapped the water twice.
"No? No what?" He grumbled, allowing his eyes another break under the water before returning and swatting his tail around a few times to signal his frustration.
She sighed as she moved to take off her jacket and gloves. It was about time to change out her bandages anyways. She undid the wrappings on her arms and legs before shifting so her injuries were visible to the Merfolk soldier.
While not a single word had been exchanged he was left speechless. The princess was unfortunately correct. Something was wrong. He watched as Olivia dug through her bag only to pull out a pad of paper and a pencil. He took another quick break under the water but when he returned he found a pictograph waiting for him.
A frowning stick figure with a bandage over their head. Then an arrow pointing to the right. A crudely drawn sun and moon with arrows pointing from one to the other and… he paused to count. And thirty strike marks next to it. there was another arrow pointing to the right then a smiling stick figure.
She's hurt. It will take thirty days. She'll recover.
Semeru nodded before making a much gentler splash to signal he understood. "What a troublesome land-dweller."
He watched as she drew another arrow to signal a continuation to the story before flipping the page. The next addition took some time but he was eventually shown a stick figure by two others with out legs surrounded by squiggles and assumedly fish? Where the squiggles kelp?
Olivia watched as he stared at her with judgmental confusion.
"Look I get I'm not Picasso… You probably don't know who that is," She grumbled as she held the side of her head. "Well, there goes that reference…" Olivia put the paper down next to her for now and took out her medical kit so she could re-wrap her arms and legs. Once that was done, she tried charades again.
She pointed at herself, made the same swimming motion as before then pointing out to sea. After that she pointed at her leg before flicking her hand to try and signal 'gone', There wasn't really a good universal signal for that one though.
She, swim, ocean, leg, wiggle. She'll swim again with a floppy leg? That's not exactly new news. He shook his head before making two splashes.
"Oh boy… um" Olivia looked around before noticing her drawing. He seemed to understand the last one. She flipped the page back to her initial 'I'll be better soon' message and pointed to the last stick figure and repeated the motions of pointing to herself, swimming through the air and pointing out to sea.
Recovered, Olivia, swim, sea. When she's recovered, she'll come back. Okay. Wait was that supposed to be a drawing of him before? She could have tried to make it a little more flattering. All the same he gave a single solid slap of his tail only to roll his eyes as he watched her point to him then made a shooing motion. She didn't have to tell him twice.
Just as quickly as the signal was received, he left. The swim back was much more peaceful. The guilt and dread from before was mostly gone. The land-dweller… Olivia was alive and would return soon enough. The princess would have an answer and peace would return.
By nightfall he made it back to the castle where he found Princess Marinjani pacing around the halls once more.
"Your highness," He greeted before stopping a few paces away from her and bowing.
"Semeru, Maharaja Put Put! You're both back. Tell me you bring good news." The princess asked as the small fish huffed and puffed over to her so it could collapse into her arms from its exhaustion.
"I found the land-dweller," Semeru started.
"That's wonderful."
"She's injured." He quickly added after.
"You could have led with that." Miranjani's shoulders dropped as her expression paled in horror. "Where is she? I'll get the medic we'll go and help her. You should have sent Maharaja back and stayed," She chided.
He motioned for her to stop. "Relax. She's with the land-dwellers. She's being treated from the looks of it. She's not able to go in the water right now for some reason but she indicated she'd be back later. Let her rest."
"Well what was wrong?"
"I don't know. She just showed me the injuries. Her arms and legs looked like she swam through a field of jellyfish and spikes, but she indicated she'd recover and come back. You don't need to worry," He insisted once more.
Hearing this did seem to work as she remained quiet for some time and her fins folded back in contemplation. "I'll speak with my parents. If she's injured then we should send medicine to aid in her recovery. It's the least we can do."
To Semeru's dismay, the princess's desire to send help meant exactly what he feared. He was relegated to delivery boy since he already knew the way. Each day the kingdom apothecary would create medicine for the land-dweller and each day he was tasked with carting it over to give to her. For some heaven forsaken reason each day she was there.
First it was just medicine. Then Denali wanted to send cookies. The next day Miranjani sent a silk scarf as a bandage of all things and on this particular day, the Queen requested he deliver a letter of thanks with a small token of gratitude for freeing Naga.
Olivia smiled at a thin silver chain that carried a single pearl and the note that she couldn't read. She'd have to save that for when she had her suit and translator back.
Once the letter and gift were safely tucked away, the game of charades began anew. "Did. You. Tell them. Stop. Sending medicine. I'm okay."
After a momentary pause Semeru made a single splash with his tail though his expression spoke loud enough that he was annoyed to be here.
She chuckled and shook her head. "I wish I knew a good signal for 'sorry'." Foot steps in the distance caused her to turn and look only to see Scott making his way down the docks.
"Hey, I figured I'd find you here," Scott greeted. "Did you hear me coming or feel the dock shaking."
"Funny enough I heard you," She chuckled as she got up before nervously looking back at the water. To her relief, she couldn't see Semeru.
"Good, glad you're getting better," He slowed to stand next to her. "Any signs of your aquatic friends?"
"Yeah, they've been stopping by pretty much every day now," She confirmed before holding up the seaweed pouch that held medicine. "They just dropped off some balled-up seaweed."
"Huh, I guess they want to make sure you're eati-" Scott's words fell short as he saw a shark's tail flick in the distance. He instinctively hooked an arm around Olivia and moved a few steps further inland. "Wataru! Theres a shark close to the beaches." He announced as he moved to look for the sailor.
"No! No, it's okay. They're friendly I promise," Olivia quickly insisted as she tried to block Scott's path.
Scott looked from Olivia to where he saw the shark tail and back again. "That was not a dolphin."
"I know, I know I just didn't want you guys to freak out. I promise they're very sweet. Just leave them alone. I've been trying to get them to leave. Just give me a little more time. " She pleaded.
Scott frowned and shook his head. "Friendly or not it doesn't take much to get a shark to snap. We can't have that close to the beaches." His arm limply gestured to the town. "We're finally getting tourists again. If we happen to be one of the three beaches in the world this year where a shark attack happens It could ruin our ranking…"
"If I could just go into the water for a minute I could," Olivia stopped as she realized that option was not going to be accepted. "I'll think of something."
"Let's try, keeping away from the docks for a few days," Scott suggested instead. "If they see you're not here, maybe they'll stop visiting."
Olivia shifted to cross her arms and look away. "I don't want to sit around my house and be a sad lump for the next two weeks."
Hearing this caused Scott to drum his fingers against his leg as he thought over options. "Okay. Fair enough. What if you come with me to the caverns instead?" He hesitantly offered. "The summer heat is dying down so the humidity is manageable again. As a bonus, we'll get to work on finding artifacts for the museum together for once."
Olivia thought it over. And glanced out at the ocean once more before nodding. "Alright, sure. Let's give it a try for a few days."
Scott smiled and turned to lead the way. "Alright, this way is the quickest to the cavern I think."
The two walked down the Pier and through the beach to a set of stone stairs that led into town. As they walked past the twin fountains of an angry looking man reaching towards the other fountain where a mermaid sat among marble coral, she quietly hummed. "Hey Scott? Do you know what the mayor's inspiration for the fountain was? Seems like an odd thing to have built when the town is financially struggling."
"Ah, this fountain?" Scott stopped and gesture to the pair. "This fountain has been here much, much longer than I have."
"Really? Everything else here has some sort of moss growing on it. It looks great, I figured it was new." She admitted.
Scott shook his head and looked it over. "Nah, It's a crucial part of the island, or more precisely, the history of this town. This fountain symbolizes revolution. This island was colonized by a group of greedy people over a hundred years ago. Pirates and other criminals would come and go."
Olivia's jaw dropped as she looked at the fountain with new found respect and a sense of horror. "Colo-wait what? Ling mentioned something about how chests and such were common in the ocean because of an occasional merchant or pirate but she didn't mention that."
"Yeah, haha, most people forget that part," Scott's attempt at laughter fell short. "Eventually the locals revolted and they got their land back. It took them a long time to bring the island back to life though."
Olivia remained quiet as she and Scott stared at the Human statue of the two fountains.
"From what I've read, at the time the island was dead. For some reason the creeks were dry and there were no fish in the ocean. Odd things like that." Scott continued to explain causing Olivia's eyes to dart to the direction of the flower goddess's temple. "You can still find remnants of that time. Artifacts are buried in different places on the island. Some are in the cavern, some are buried in the ocean…" He gestured to the path that would lead them to the outskirts of town and toward the cavern though he didn't move.
"Those artifacts are part of history. Each one has a story to tell. That's why I'm here on Coral Island," He shrugged before glancing back at the fountain statue of the angry man. "… though some times I have to wonder, Am I doing the right thing, or am I just as bad and ignorant to it."
Olivia's expression softened from her earlier concern for the goddess. "What do you mean?"
"You and I. We're team metropolitan. We're not from here. I just waltzed in one day, started digging around on an Island I'd only ever heard of before, and started collecting their historical relics to put on display in a building. Only for them to get sold off to the highest bidder a year later… then started over," Scott fought back guilt as he caught a glimpse of Olivia's bandages. "and I dragged you into it to."
"You didn't drag me. I offered," Olivia quickly corrected as she nudged him. "But, I get what you're saying. When you put it like that it feels similar. I think this is different though," She rubbed at her chin while thinking a bit longer. "Sure, we are going around and digging up the artifacts of a culture we're not really from. Fifty-fifty for me but still. I never grew up with any of this." She shrugged. "In the end, we're not taking them away from the island. We're keeping it here and making sure others can't take them short of a museum heist. What has left the island did so because the island needed money. It's unfortunate that it was necessary, but it was."
Scott listened as her words helped lift the weight in his chest. "True… Well, that's enough psychotherapy for one day. We should get moving." He chuckled while taking a few steps.
"Yeah. I haven't been to the cavern yet. What's it like?" She asked as she followed alongside him.
He looked at her with confusion. "It's practically in your back yard and you've never been there?"
"Nope. Never saw the appeal," She shook her head. "If I need ore, I just buy it from the blacksmith brothers."
"The mark ups must be insane. They have to get their ore from Beluga Bay," Scott grimaced.
"Huh? Why, the cavern is a natural dig sight. I get that it was closed until recently because of monsters or something but if you and I can go, why not them?" Olivia asked as stone walkways were replaced with dirt paths.
"Well Pablo has tried digging some but the first two floors are pretty much picked clean and that's all that the band of smiles was able to clear out," Scott scratched at the back of his neck. "Even I don't go further than the second floor. Not to mention, the dig sight is full of precious metals, nothing particularly useful outside of jewelry. It's why Dinda usually asks for a few bars of metal as a part of her fees. She needs it to barter with Beluga Bay for utility metals like tin, iron, and steel."
"Ah so that's why she does that," Olivia muttered as they entered the decaying building that was held together with dirt and roots from large trees. Inside, the floor appeared to be made from one solid sheet of rock. two doorways stood on either side of a large shrine like structure that was protected by three small statues.
A gentle breeze seemed to follow them as Scott and Olivia made it to the center of the room.
"Waited, you have, hooman. Thank you," from the breeze formed the large ornate mask and figure of Chieftain. "Slept much, I did after ceremony. Goomgoom, talk now we will."
"Chieftain not now," Olivia muttered.
"Pardon?" Scott asked before walking through the large figure.
Olivia quickly tried to think of words that might rhyme. "Makes me wonder how, this place came to be," she forced a smile. "Sorta started that sentence in my head. Sorry about that."
"Night of full moon, many, many seasons ago…" Chieftain started to answer.
Olivia's shoulders fell. She wasn't talking to him.
"Yeah this place is amazing, I've found a few interesting artifacts here," Scott answered at the same time.
"Giants I did find, frozen, here in cavern." Chieftain gestured over to a few statues as Scott walked over to a caved in portion of the area to start shifting some rocks out of the way.
"None quite as interesting as the giant spoon I found at sea one time. I'm still trying to figure out it's purpose," Scott admitted while unaware that Olivia was trying to pick a conversation to focus on. "I was joking with Millie about it. Why would there be massive cutlery at sea? I'm talking about a huge spoon, as big as our faces. Are there, like, giant mermaids or something?"
Olivia nervously laughed as she glanced at the seemingly invisible giant next to her. "Yeah, that would be crazy right?" Oh goddess help her.
Chieftain tugged on the sleeve of Olivia's jacket to urge her to pay attention before walking over to one of three statues. All of which seemed to be cowering in fear of something. "Alive they are… but unable, I am, to free them. Powerful magic cast. Earth, water, wind. All here. But, fire not here. Suspicious, this is."
Olivia walked over to the statues to get a better look at them. Four elements. Four doors. One is missing and one door is open. "These statues. They're connected to the dig sites?"
Scott looked over to see Olivia looking at the stone figures with an unexpected expression of sorrow. "You know. I was thinking the same thing. Theres an engraving on the floor that depicts the four elements but there are only three statues." He stopped what he was doing to walk over and join her, again passing right through the masked chieftain.
"Investigate, I want, further into each shaft… but strong barrier prevent me. Cannot enter." Chieftain tried to explain before walking over to the open door, only to bounce off an invisible field. "But hooman can enter. Clues of why giants frozen, must be inside."
"How many floors do you think are in each shaft?" Olivia asked as she looked over at the door.
"From what I was able to research. There should be about forty floors in each shaft," Scott answered as a small smile formed at Olivia's curiosity. "It's a shame we don't have access to the rest. From what I read the others should have rich mineral deposits and even rare metals from legends of old. Osmism. I'm not convinced it's real but, if it did exist. I'd like to see it for myself."
Olivia could feel her mind growing fuzzy. "so 120 floors total?" when was she going to have the time to do this? She was already trying to start up a farm to fight off some oil tycoon, save a goddess, free a kingdom of fish people from trash and help the village recover from an oil spill.
"If go into shafts… Help me, will you, to investigate? If find anything, I can sense and will come here." Chieftain pleaded.
"Yeah, it's amazing how expansive this place is, we've barely scratched the surface," Scott confirmed while noticing Olivia was staring at the main entrance. "Did you want to take a look?"
Olivia nodded and the giant spirit disappeared on the wind. "Yeah, let's go."
"Well alright then, I can certainly appreciate a fellow history buff's enthusiasm with exploring the past," He held out an arm towards the cave entrance and gave a slight bow, "after you."
Both entered an ancient elevator that lowered them one floor before stopping.
"Is that as far as it goes?" Olivia asked as they walked out.
"Unfortunately yeah. From what Kira explained the elevators were turned off and to reactivate them you have to be on that floor. And theres only a doorway for the elevator to open every five floors. I have a couple theories on why that is. It's fairly unique architectural design." Scott started as they walked around a large dug out area filled with stalagmites and boulders. "I believe this place used to be more scientific in nature. They had a way of controlling, more accurately creating specific minerals to be harvested, and they designated an area to each mineral. Since the place is abandoned and in disrepair that's no longer the case but. It's fun to think about."
"I see," Olivia looked around. It mostly looked like stone to her. "So is this the second floor you mentioned visiting?"
"Oh, no. sorry kind of a weird way of counting. I guess I use high rise logic where the 'first floor' and the lobby are different things." Scott chuckled before motioning for Olivia to come with him. "The only way down now is to climb. Mark found a hole in the floor that led to the next level. Here I'll show you."
He walked over to a hole in the ground where a rope descended deeper into the mines. Scott climbed down first, waiting for Olivia to follow while remaining ready to catch her in case she lost her grip.
This led to another room much like the first where stone protrusions poked out of the ground like weeds, though there were no stalactites to match and explain their formation.
"Well I guess I know where to go to harvest stone if I end up wanting to put a wall around my field," Olivia mused as she looked around.
"You might find a few gems in the mix too. Probably my favorite part of being here is finding Geode nodes to crack open later. It's part of how I got to know Pablo in the first place," Scott explained before walking over to a stone to try his luck with the pickaxe he'd brought in his bag.
Hearing this caused Olivia to chuckle. "I guess we both met him for similar reasons. I usually visit him to get help with opening the chests I find while diving."
"I figured he must be the one helping you. He's a good guy," Scott kneeled down to shift through the remains of the stone he hit to see if there were any signs of a geode. None. Drat.
Olivia glanced around as well before another hole in the ground caught her attention. "Hey what's that?" Maybe making it through the hundred twenty floors wouldn't be so bad.
Scott looked up to see where Olivia was heading. "Ah, that's the way to the third floor. The band of smiles has been trying to clear out that floor since early spring. I think they're getting closer to finishing with it but it's taking a while. It will be nice when the floor is safe to visit."
"Ah, so it's off limits?" Olivia asked as she tried to peek down the hole.
"Not necessarily no, but there are monsters down there. So close enough," Scott reminded. "anyone is allowed to go into the mines but it's at your own risk."
"Hmm… would it be too much trouble to take a quick look? People keep saying monsters but It seems. I don't know." She rolled her hand while trying to think of the word.
"Made up? Far fetched?" Scott offered.
"Yes and yes," She agreed though she completely believed it to be the truth. She just needed to not look completely insane while having a reason to dive deeper.
Scott exhaled while pushing himself to get up. "I usually prefer to stay where it safe but," He bobbed his head. "If you're curious we can look around if we stay close to the rope so we can climb out quickly."
"Sure, yeah that sounds great." Olivia happily agreed before following Scott another floor deeper.
The third floor seemed just as empty to her. However, a good four-foot tall, green, yellow, and red caterpillar looking creature in the distance was hard to miss. "oh. Monsters. Got it."
"Yep,"
The new voices did not go un-noticed as the creature turned to face them then quickly burrowed under ground.
"And we're climbing. NOW." Scott insisted as both hurried back to the safety of the second floor, narrowly escaping the creature that emerged where they'd previously been.
Once she was on the second floor again she shifted to lay down on the ground. "Oh gosh. That was. Yeah that was a monster. I guess I'll have to buy a weapon next time I'm at the blacksmith's."
"You're going to go down there again?" Scott asked as he stared with a mixture of awe and concern.
"We need those other floors, right?" She asked as she continued to lay there and enjoy the cool sensation of the ground beneath her. "Why wait for someone else to solve our problems. That's never worked." She needed a weapon first and she'd need to learn how to use it… Maybe she could ask Semeru to teach her?
Olivia fought back the urge to hold her face. When was she going to have the time for all of this. Everyone kept asking her to save them. How was she supposed to do that when she's barely holding it together as it is?
The giants have been asleep for hundreds of years… hopefully they can sleep for a little longer.
