Healing required time and as that time passed, the leaves of the trees turned to a kaleidoscope of colors. Fall took hold of the island replacing swaths of green with bold yellows, oranges and reds that looked like waves of flames in the light of the setting sun.

Light that was hardly visible from inside the sprawling underground network of tunnels under the cavern.

"Hey Scott, what do you think of this?" Olivia asked while staring at strange markings along a sheer stone wall.

Upon hearing this he pushed himself to get up and abandoned a pile of rocks he'd been examining. "On my way," Scott leisurely walked over. "Where am I looking?"

"Here," Olivia pointed to a section of stone. "It's faint but there's a bit of texture to the stone that looks like a vein pattern. Like what you'd see on leaves but. The angling of it is strange… I think if we dig here, we'll find something."

"Let's give it a shot then," He agreed before taking out more delicate tools then the heftier pickaxe currently in Olivia's hand.

"Hm. This might need a little more persuasion. Can you take two or three good swings?" He asked while stepping out of the way.

"On it," Olivia pulled her shoulders back to stretch her sore spine before adjusting her grip and taking a swing at the stone wall. Each hit created a striking ringing sound before part of the wall crumbled away.

"Perfect, that's perfect, hold on,"

Olivia stopped and stepped back after hearing this and seeing Scott quickly motion for her to stop. Sharper tools were replaced with a magnifying glass and soft bristled brush, allowing him to gently move any remaining debris from the area.

"There you are," he whispered as a smile began to form. Sure enough, a small portion of fossilized bone had been exposed. Scott turned to face Olivia and lowered the magnifying glass. "You really do have a knack for this. I'll take it from here though."

"Nice! Glad I could work in one more find before tomorrow," She chirped while shifting to rest her pickaxe over her shoulder that sported a deeper tan where her sunburn once was.

"That's right, Charles gave you the all clear," Scott nodded before turning his attention back to the task at hand. Gentle scraping and dusting consumed a few spare moments before he spoke again. "You know, for what it's worth, I do enjoy having you with me. You don't necessarily have to rush back. I mean, the museum is still under construction, so I'd be more than happy to have you continue working on the dig with me. That is, if you're looking for something to fill the time where you're waiting for grass to grow."

Hearing this caused Olivia to laugh. If only it was that simple. "Maybe I'll take you up on that on occasion. I do want to try and get you more access to the mines but. I want to finish the work I started with Professor Ling first." Olivia nervously scratched at the back of her neck. "One thing at a time. You know."

"Right, yes of course." He quickly agreed while fighting back the warm blush across his cheeks.

"What time is it anyways?" Olivia asked before shifting to get her phone out of her pocket. "Oh gosh it's almost 4pm, I'm going to head out. I've got a lot to do before tomorrow and I promised Charles I'd get a good night's rest before the dive."

"Ah, I won't hear the end of it if I ask you to stay then," Scott laughed. "See you after?"

"Definitely." Olivia agreed giving a wave before making her way over to a rope that led back up to the main floor of the cavern. "See you around."

One hand over the other hoisted Olivia out of the cavern and put her feet on the surface once more, allowing her to break into a sprint. Her smile widened from the feeling of fresh air against unbandaged arms and legs that now sported light scarring from the deeper cracks that had formed from her poor condition.

Dirt transitioned to brick and stone as she made her way into town, only to take a hard left as Pufferfish's corporate office came into view. A set of steps and a door were the last of the obsticles in her way as she hurried into the Blacksmith's.

The sudden entrance caused the two black smiths to quickly look over before relaxing. "You scared the shit out of me," Pablo chided. "Calling it a bit close aren't you?"

"Sorry. I lost track of time in the cavern," She sheepishly admitted as she closed the door more gently then she opened it.

"Should have guessed," Pablo shook his head as Rafael walked around the counter to take a few items off the shelf.

"Your order is ready. Here," He added before holding out a sword and an upgraded sickle.

"Thanks Rafael," Olivia happily accepted the sword first and looked it over. "This looks great, you made this?" She didn't know the first thing about what made for a 'good' sword but it looked good enough to her.

"Yeah,"

"Rafael's a natural at this stuff. He's got a real talent for forging. You name it he can make it. Wouldn't be surprised if they have to update that book of legendary smiths to include you some day," Pablo proudly puffed up as he put an arm around his brother's shoulder. "He fixed up that sickle of yours too. It's razor sharp now so be careful with it."

"That's amazing," She carefully placed the sword back in its sheath and slung it over her shoulder so she could accept the sharpened and reinforced sickle. "Yeah this is gonna work great. Thank you so much Rafael." Wait if Rafael did both orders…. Olivia looked over to Pablo. "So what do you do?"

Pablo's jaw dropped as Rafael quickly looked away and covered his mouth as his bouncing shoulders announced hidden snickering.

"Maybe I could have worded that better," Olivia nervously chuckled.

"You could have," Pablo grumbled before shaking his head. "I do orders as well. We get plenty from the town. My brother and I always share the workload, even when there's not a lot to do." The leaner blacksmith insisted. "It keeps things fair, I think."

"Yeah, It works well," Rafael agreed as he gave his brother a gentle pat on the back.

"Sorry again, I'll drop off some pumpkins later once they're done growing," Olivia offered as her chuckling faded to an embarrassed grin.

"Pumpkin pie?" Pablo raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to bake?" Olivia asked as her shoulders slumped. Seriously what else did she need to figure out how to cram into her schedule?

Rafael shrugged. "Makes no difference to me. Both taste like pumpkin."

"But pumpkin pie is better," Pablo insisted.

"Fine, Fine," She did insult Pablo the most out of that so might as well listen to his request. "See you guys around. And seriously thanks again for the tools."

"No problem, I expect to get to the 10th floor by the end of the week," Pablo teased as she made her way to the door.

"Don't be greedy," She teased back glaring at the black smith before a smile and a laugh replaced it. "See you."

The door was treated with more care this time as she made her way out of the black smith's store and down the road again. Walking at a more leisurely pace she allowed herself to cautiously look over the Pufferfish building. To her amusement it seemed it had seen better days as the beginnings of roots were starting to poke through the relatively newly poured concrete.

"It's what you get for cutting corners." She whispered as she turned down the path to head back out of town and towards her farm where the fruits and vegetables of her labor were flowering.

Upon entering her home she happily hummed as a permanent smile seemed to be etched across her face. A simple packed lunch was prepared and placed in the fridge before she sat down on the floor and went through the contents of her bag a few dozen times.

Hours passed as she sorted through what should and should not go with. Two bottles of Jamu should be enough… no maybe she should bring three. How much space should she leave for kelp? The scuba suit still fits with the upgraded sickle right? Maybe she should leave that out of the bag, she didn't want to cut the suit. Did she have enough air tanks?

Each time she thought she finally got everything where she wanted it, a new question would come to mind causing her to take everything out and put it back again.

Eventually though, she finished and actually crawled into bed. Yet, it felt like no time had passed at all by the time that her alarm clock went off.

Blankets were quickly tossed to the side as her prepacked bag and lunch were collected. Excited foot steps led her out of her home, past her small flourishing field of fledgling crops and across the remainder of her wild over grown fields to the southern path of her property. The sent of ocean salt grew more present as she approached the beach which added an extra pep in her step.

"Hey kible, did you miss me?" She greeted as she made her way to the end of the dock that she'd been reluctantly avoiding.

The chime of the robot's boot up sound was heard in response before the small robot's pixelated voice replied "Welcome back Ms. Olivia."

She chuckled in response but her smile slowly faded under the weight of guilt as she noticed several dried and abandoned seaweed pouches on the floor of her boat. 1, 2, 3. She counted as she got into the boat and picked up each pouch to put into her bag. 12, 13… 14… She heaved a tired sigh. He kept visiting. "He's going to be so pissed." She muttered as she got out of the boat once more and went back to the small changing booth to put on her scuba suit.

The flexible rubber coated fabric covered any remaining signs of her past injuries. As she walked out of the makeshift changing room Olivia looked down the dock at the warp pillar, then back to the boat before walking to the latter and getting in. "Alright Kible, lets see if you still remember the way. Return to previous waypoint." She instructed.

"Initiating travel protocol"

As the boat kicked into gear she glanced from one side of the boat to the other. Unfortunately, the further out to sea she traveled the harder it was to see into the depth. "Hopefully he noticed the boat if he was already on his way."

The boat slowed to a stop after almost and hour of traveling. "We've arrived. Diving mode initiating."

"Thanks kible," Olivia replied before putting on her mask and checking the fit. Everything seemed snug. She stood up and stared down at the water before taking a deep breath. She put one foot up on the edge of the boat before closing her eyes and jumping in.

The sensation of being enveloped in the ocean's waves as she sank into the waters brought a renewed sense of peace she had been longing for. She smiled as her suit held strong this time and no water leaked into her headset.

"Thank heavens…" She whispered before opening her eyes to check her surroundings and slowly allowed herself to sink further into the depths until she reached the ocean floors. Golden kelp, bright hues of coral and various stone formations slowly felt more familiar as she regained her bearings.

Shifting sands gave way as she bounced along the path towards the merfolk kingdom taking a good half hour to make her way to rough-cut stone stairs.

As she approached she could more clearly hear a distant voice.

"L-LAND DWELLER! A land dweller approaches from the deep sea!"

Uh-oh.

Olivia stopped and held up her hands as two unknown guards swam over to block her path while a third hurried to get reinforcements.

While part of her wanted to defend herself, to tell them it's okay and she had permission to be there, The king had said she should not speak to anyone unapproved. She wasn't feeling particularly keen to test how serious he was about that.

"How in Poseidon's name di-" Came a familiar voice that stopped short when Semeru and Deno came into view. "Ah. That's how."

Deno chuckled before patting Semeru on the back. "Looks like you're on Land-dweller duties again. Should I let you handle this one?"

"Don't do me any favors," He grumbled.

"Nice to see you both too," Olivia nervously laughed.

"Is it? Last I recall I kept getting sent to an empty dock. For two weeks," Semeru grumpily replied before He and Deno swam the rest of the way over. "You're both dismissed. Let the others know it's time to rotate positions."

"Yes sir." "Yes captain."

Once the two soldiers were gone his attention snapped back to Olivia. "Do you have any idea how worried the princess was when I had to keep reporting that you were missing? You owe her an apology. More than that."

"I-" Olivia cut herself off. He didn't need to know. "You're right and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to waste your time. I'll apologize to her as well but, I just wanted to let you know I was here and to get back to work."

Semeru remained quiet as his sneer slowly faded. "Have you healed?"

"Pardon?"

"Your injuries. Have you recovered," He repeated as his eyes remained stern.

"For the more part. They're healed enough for me to go back into the water," She vaguely waved her hand around. "Land-dwellers can't handle being in water for extended periods of time like what I'm doing. Even with equipment like this, it requires a more careful routine. I've set up more regular wellness checks so this shouldn't happen again while I finish up the last of my efforts here."

He heaved a tired sigh, " 'For the more part', is not good enough. If you're just going to collapse again. Go home."

"I'm not going to collapse. I'm fine. I'd like to be escorted to the depths, please," Olivia insisted.

Deno smiled as she glanced between the two. "Well, it's good to see that your friend has returned Semeru." She fought back laughter as he scoffed. "It seems you have this covered. I'm going to go check on that soldier rotation you ordered."

Semeru shook his head but motioned for Olivia to follow him as Deno went in the opposite direction. "You were just in the depths, were you not? Why not simply stay there," he asked as he tried to move slow enough for her to keep up.

"I wanted to talk to you," Olivia admitted. "I did see the medicine… I am sorry for not being there." Her steps slowed further as she tried to think over how to say what she wanted to say. "I was also hoping to ask for your help."

The request caused Semeru to stop swimming. "Help with what?"

"Can you teach me how to fight?" Olivia asked as she gathered what courage she had to look him square in the eyes as she spoke.

Doing so caused her to see a small flash of concern in his confused expression. "What?"

"Can you teach me how to fi-"

"No I heard you. Why?"

"While I was resting, Another group reached out asking for me to help them. Well, I shouldn't say another, you guys didn't exactly ask, but," She shook her head. "That's beside the point. I'll probably only be able to keep diving for a few more months. Once winter sets in, the water will be too dangerous for me to dive in. So come winter I was going to try and help them. But to do that I need to be able to fight."

"That," a newly formed sneer set in as anger caused his tail to flick behind him more ridgedly. "That's stupid. If it truly so dangerous that it requires a fighter then they should just ask someone who's trained. Not some random farmer with a death wish. Tell them No."

"I don't think they have a choice. It's kind of similar to down here but inverted? There a plenty of people around but there's a restriction on who they can talk to. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one that's been approved in. Well." Olivia shrugged. "Honestly I don't know how long. Aren't you the one that was saying duty before all else?"

"I. That." He clenched and released his hand. "For a soldier, duty before all else. You haven't sworn an oath."

"If I don't do this then nobody will…" Olivia muttered before looking in the direction of the depth. "I just thought I'd ask. I'll talk to someone else."

He remained quiet as he thought, before he let go of the tension in his jaw. "Fall brings unpredictable currents, just like my understanding of you. One day you argue a soldier shouldn't be defined by their willingness to die. The next you insist on becoming one to dive headlong into the same fate."

Olivia opened her mouth to argue only to close it again as he continued to speak.

"If you're hellbent on it. So be it, But I have one rule. I will help you after you've finished working for the day," Semeru gestured to Kible. "so long as that thing is not blaring it's warning message when you return from whatever it is you're doing out here."

"Really?"

"I'm not repeating myself," Semeru started swimming again, moving a little faster than before. "Keep up."

"Thank you, I'll do my best." Olivia replied and followed after Semeru to the new boarder of the Merfolk kingdom.

Once they reached the next set of stairs leading deeper into the sea, Semeru stopped again. "I'll be at my usual post when you're done. You don't need to pester me every time you want to go to your boat. Just if you're going to go into the city. Understood?"

"Yes sir," She started to salute only for Semeru to swat her hand back.

"I told you before, you're not a soldier. Knock it off," He shook his head before moving to leave. "Don't keep me waiting."

"Understood, I'll be back before sunset," She insisted and went on her way.

True to her word as the sun was setting on an otherwise uneventful day, Semeru found her making her way back from the depth.

"So you do know how to be punctual?" He commented as she hopped up the steep steps. "And your robot has remained quiet. This is a day of firsts for you land-dweller."

Olivia rolled her eyes as she stopped in front of him once more. "I kept my end of the deal. I look forward to learning from you."

Semeru shook his head. "Alright. Follow me then."

She did just that, following him through town towards a familiar coral building that she recognized as the barracks. She hesitated a moment before following him inside to find he'd stopped by a weapon rack.

"Pick one." He gestured to the collection as a group of curious guards watched from their seats in the common area.

Olivia looked them over before picking up a sword that looked similar enough to the one that Rafael made.

Semeru raised an eyebrow. "You're sure?"

"Yep, this one," She confirmed before swinging it around a little to get a feel for it.

Semeru's shoulders dropped. This was going to take a miracle. "Don't do that when you don't know what you're looking for. You're just going to hurt yourself."

"Sorry,"

The peanut gallery of soldiers in the common area began to snicker and point, some even mimicked the strange land dweller. This quickly stopped as Semeru flashed a warning glare before picking up another of the same style of sword for himself.

"Get moving land-dweller," Semeru ordered while gesturing back to the door where the open training field waited for them.

Olivia stopped once they were far enough away from the barracks though pin pricks along the back of her neck told her she was being watched. A quick glance to the open barrack door way proved that to be true as some of the more curious soldiers had gathered to watch.

"You picked a single hand sword. It has a point and it's sharpened on both side so it's fine and well enough for slicing and stabbing but you're not going to be swinging it around like a battle axe," Semeru's lecture started all the same. "You've unfortunately. Picked a close-range weapon, so speed will be your best defense. The more attacks you can land before you can get hit, the better and that won't happen if your sword is stuck in a deep wound."

With that said he demonstrated a few concise strikes. "Repeat that. To the best of your ability."

Olivia nodded before taking a breath. While she tried to fight the resistance the water created, it only slowed her down.

"Again."

Once more Olivia tried to repeat the motion with the same results.

"Again."

She fixed her posture and tried once more.

"Your wrist is too tense. You'll break your arm before you hit them," He warned. "Once more."

No argument or rebuttal came as she continued to follow instructions even if she didn't always understand.

"Better. Do that another one hundred times."

Olivia shook off her nerves before starting on the assigned task. "One. Two. Three." She counted as she repeated the swing.

"Watch your center of balance."

"Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen"

"You're over correcting. Don't lean too far back."

"Twenty-one. Twenty-two. twenty-three."

"Better but you're moving too slow. Quick. Concise."

"Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. Forty."

"Don't forget your wrist you're tensing up again."

"Sixty-six, sixty-seven."

"Stop trying to fight the water. Move with it."

"sixty-eight"

"Not that much!"

"Eighty-two. Eighty-three. Eighty-four."

"I know you already know what's wrong."

"Ninety-nine. One hundred."

Olivia allowed her arm to fall to her side as it burned from the new work out. Maybe she should have picked an axe. She at least had some practice with that from chopping down trees…

"Not the worst first try I've ever seen," Semeru admitted before shrugging. "One hundred more."

"Seriously?" Olivia asked as she tried to find any trace of a joke on his face to find none. "One."

"Better." He shook his head and started to leave. "Keep doing that. I have other matters to attend to. Once you're done with warm ups we'll move on to proper drills."

Three weeks had passed since then and from this agreement, a new routine formed. Olivia would wake up, get Coffee from Raj before hurrying to meet with Charles and sometimes Scott in the morning. By nine, she'd make her way to the docks and from there, the merfolk kingdom. However, visiting Alice during the day was no longer in the cards if she was going to clear out this last section of the depth before winter. So, lunch was spent on her boat for half as long as before. Her second dive was split between working on the depths and lessons with Semeru. The sun would set and she'd hurry home, leaving visits to the blacksmith and museum sparser than before. Not that the construction made it any easier to visit.

One thing however was insistent on remaining the same.

"So humans have different land masses they live on called continents and if they want to go from one to the other they used to use boats. Now they fling themselves through the air in these metal tubes you call, airplanes." Miranjani's nose scrunched up as she tried to picture the strange device. "Are there so few animals on the surface? Here, we take manta ray taxis. Must everything be constructed?"

"Well, the animals big enough, are more likely to eat us," She admitted while trying to think it over. "And the ones that wouldn't eat us have already been domesticated and none of them can fly."

"Ah right you land-dwellers do have some form of ranchers as well," Miranjani spoke slowly before smiling as she remembered the word from prior lessons. "I do wish we could share some of our food with you. I do think you'd enjoy it."

"I'm sure I would but taking my mask off while I'm down here is out of the question," Olivia insisted.

"I know, it's still a shame. I am curious to see a land-dwellers face," She admitted.

"It's a face. You've seen plenty around the castle." Semeru chimed in from the hallway. "The land-dweller's is no different."

"Hmm, that's a bit disappointing," The princess held the side of her face as she remained in thought. "Are all land-dwellers like you?"

"Well, are all merfolk like you?" Olivia asked as she held back an amused chuckle.

"I suppose not," Miranjani sighed. "They're all so sedentary. Content to sit around when there's a whole world out there. Yet land dwellers seem to be the only ones curious enough to explore it."

"I assure you, we have home bodies among us too," Olivia's smile only grew as she thought over the various townies.

"Yet you're here. Honestly, seeing you visit so freely. It gives me hope that some day I can go do the same thing. See the world. Visit the land dwellers!" She happily spun in her excitement.

Olivia, however, nervously glanced at the doorway. "Princess, I'm going to need to ask you to not revolt and run away. There are sharp objects within stabbing distance…"

"uuugh," she groaned before swimming to dramatically flop onto her bed. "Why does everyone think they know what's best for me? I know it must be possible to go to the surface. Aunt Liang would tell me stories of how merfolk, giants and land-dwellers used to live in harmony with the goddess. Why is it so wrong to want that to be true?"

"It's not so much that," Olivia started as she scratched at the back of her neck. "How about I just tell you about some of the other land-dwellers. Will that satisfy your curiosity for now?"

Princess Miranjani lazily reached a hand into the air and made a rolling motion to continue. "Very well."

"Where to start," Olivia pondered. "Raj is lovely, certainly more of a home body. They have a passion for learning about others, sort of like you. They're also very well versed with coffee."

"Coffee?"

"Ah, um a warm drink that land-dwellers enjoy." Olivia explained.

"Yet another thing I will never understand… I'm surrounded by water, I breathe it. We have no need for drinking as you've explained it before." Miranjani sat up while still hugging her pillow. "It's like saying you enjoy flavored air."

Olivia bobbed her head while thinking over the many ways humans also did that. "That might be a subject for a different time."

"See! Theres so many experiences I'll never have because I'm stuck here," Miranjani grumbled as she frustratedly put her pillow back in its place.

"Well, there's good with the bad. Not everyone is ready for the future you want," Olivia warned. "Just as much as merfolk have legends about land-dwellers. Human's have the same. They're mostly good. Theres some room for variation naturally. And there's the debate regarding if sirens and merfolk are one in the same but generally, they're positive. But because of that," Olivia hesitated as a war waged in her mind. "It wasn't that long ago that humans would claim they 'captured' a merfolk. Keep them in a tank and cart them around as a display. Some places see merfolk as an ingredient for medicine no different than boiling a fish. At this point it's believed you simply never existed, that all of the stories involving merfolk were hoaxes created by drunk sailors and that might be for the best…"

Semeru listened quietly from outside as the princess's chest sank.

"But, you're here. You can't mean that," She insisted.

"I don't think everyone would be like that," Olivia reluctantly admitted before a weak laugh formed. "But it's hard to tell. When Semeru visited. I had to promise to stay away from the docks because Scott thought Semeru was a shark. He started calling for a villager, I can only assume to bring a harpoon."

Hearing this caused Semeru to slowly reach to rub the tips of his fingers against his face and trace along the deeper groove the larger scar created.

"But if he knew the truth, I think he'd be the first one to grab a mask and jump in to learn more," Olivia continued as she gently smiled. "He'd probably be so excited he'd forget to put on the rest of the suit. Just the mask before taking a running leap off the docks."

"So, there are good people with the bad, it's no different here," Miranjani crossed her arms as she looked away.

Olivia heaved a tired sigh, "I just mean that you should temper your expectations. Different doesn't always mean good."

"I'll consider this," The princess reluctantly agreed to quell the dispute. "Perhaps I'll speak to the Oracle on the matter. I'm sure Cho Oyu's wisdom will prevail."

Semeru shook his head and moved to enter the room. "Alright, that's enough of that. The land-dweller has work to do if she's going to have time for training later."

Miranjani blinked a few times to process what she heard before looking between the two. "Training? What training?"

"Some work came up on the surface that requires knowing my way around a weapon and Semeru has been giving me pointers," Olivia shrugged.

The princess continued to stare. Wait, Semeru was doing something that wasn't an order? He was always so stric- her eyes widened. "I see. Well, I'd hate to keep you from your busy day." Miranjani began to quickly swim around the room to collect Olivia's bag and offer it to her. "Hurry off. Shoo-shoo."

"Right, well. I'll see you around then," Olivia accepted her bag as she looked around trying to figure out what she missed that caused the reaction. Upon finding nothing she hopped through the water, over to Semeru to follow his lead.

"Are you guarding the entry way again today?" Olivia cautiously asked.

"It's part of my usual rotation," He replied and shrugged. "With the Autumn migrations, it's important to be alert."

"I think I've heard people mention that before. Is it a big deal?"

"It's a pain in my neck," Semeru grumbled. "Whole schools of fish, pods of whales, you name it, they migrate for the season and they're not always careful of what is in their path. We need to be vigilant to corral them away from the city."

"I see, so the rotation of guards,"

"Makes sure that they're up and moving from time to time so they stay alert," Semeru confirmed as a slight smile started to form. "And yes, it has happened before that something got past us."

Olivia laughed as she heard this. "Am I that predictable?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to," Semeru shook his head and after a moment of silence he spoke again. "It was a Tuna." Semeru felt a nudge in response. "Were you not going to ask?"

"Oh, you've got jokes now. I see how it is," Olivia stopped once they made it to the edge of the city where the depth began. "See you later. Watch out for Tuna."

Semeru shook his head before taking his usual position. His silent watch allowed him time to simply observe and listen as life thrived. Peace and contentment replaced where citizens once were nervous and on edge with eyes darting from side to side.

"Did you hear the land-dweller returned?"

"Yes she's been back for some time now as I recall. Never figured out why she left though."

"Same. But she's been busy it seems."

"Yes, two more solar orbs were activated this week. That's five since she's returned"

"How many do you think there are?"

"Well, I heard the guards say they found twenty-two in the territory she cleared before disappearing."

"With any luck, maybe the last section will be cleared by the end of the year. My baby will breathe easier once these oil roots are finally gone."

Semeru remained still while listening, five orbs in total in 3 weeks. They were half way through fall as it was. She had maybe seven weeks left at best. Even if she kept up the pace and continued finding two orbs a week, she still would need to work into the winter to get close to finding as many as she had before.

This thought brought about another that he unceremoniously ignored.

There was work to be done after all. He should be focusing.

And so he did.

And he waited.

And waited.

The sun set and to his annoyance Olivia was no where to be seen. He glanced from the city path that would take him to the barrack then over to the depths. "Damn it all." He grumbled as, despite his better judgement telling him otherwise, he ventured into the depths to look for her.

The princess would be upset if the land-dweller got lost again. That's all.

The list of justification continued from there as he looked around shimmering deep purple kelp that held the light of the cosmos itself. A trail of thick black roots blocked off paths making it all the easier to figure out where she had and had not been.

After some time, his searching slowed to a stop when he saw her in the distance swinging at a pile of garbage to loosen it up before collecting what she could in a large bag and handing that off to her robot.

"Another pile for the boat," She instructed.

His confusion only compounded after as he watched her swim. Not bounce. Not hop. Swim. Her legs were tied together with a stray piece of kelp and her movement seemed more fluid than before.

She'd been practicing.

"I thought I told you not to keep me waiting," Semeru asked to announce his presence causing Olivia to quickly turn and look in his direction.

"Huh? Oh hey. Am I late?" She asked as she stopped and looked up. "Sorry. The days keep getting shorter I didn't even notice."

"Full of excuses as usual," He rolled his eyes. "Once your robot returns, we can leave."

"Right," She sat down on the sand and focused on undoing the makeshift binding around her legs.

"I saw that by the way," He shifted to get more comfortable as they waited.

"Huh? Oh haha. Yeah, there's just so much to do," Olivia discarded the kelp to float away with the current. "I figure if I'm going to get everything to fit in my schedule I need to double up a few things."

Semeru shook his head. "Why bother? I doubt this helps your goal."

"True," she pushed herself to get back up. "but you both said the way I swim is unsettling or at least weird. I figured if I learned to act more like you guys while I'm here, the other merfolk wouldn't be as nervous when I'm around."

Hearing this caused him to cock an eyebrow. So she'd noticed. Not too surprising, the citizens weren't exactly being subtle. "Stubborn. as always." He made a waving motion as he noticed Kible's return. "No point in practicing if you're not going to use it. Let's get going."

"Okay," She agreed before taking a slight leap forward to spring into motion. For every swish of his tail Olivia had to work twice as hard to move the same distance.

"No wonder we see so few land-dwellers," He muttered as they slowly made their way back towards the city.

What would have taken him ten minutes on his own took thirty thanks to Olivia's sluggish pace. Yet the trip back was made in a comfortable silence. No further jeering or snide comments were made as an odd sense of admiration formed in its place. She could barely move a few feet before. Yet, as slow as she was, she had managed to learn to mimic a more Merfolk style of swimming.

There was no true benefit for her to gain from it. Yet she was trying all the same.

This silent observation continued until they'd made it to the barracks and she slowly lowered to her feet.

"I made it, phew!" Olivia happily announced as she shifted and stretched out her back.

"I've seen worse. Probably," He offered in a half-hearted attempt at praise before waving her off. "Go get your sword and start with the basic warm ups."

"On it," she agreed, this time hopping her way into the building before coming back with two swords and offering one to Semeru.

Warm ups went about the same as usual one hundred swings before another one hundred slashes and so forth. He waited around, watching and correcting as always while she counted out each movement.

"Ninety-nine, One hundred."

As the last swing was counted off he fixed his own posture and stuck his spear in the ground in favor of holding the sword she provided properly. "Good. On to parries." With no further warning he swung his blade at her.

"Give me a second!" Olivia shouted while flimsily smacking the attack away.

"In a battle they're not going to wait for you to be ready," He struck once more which was, again, weakly deflected. "That's exactly the moment they'll look for to attack."

Even with his efforts to hold back each swing seemed to just get closer to a direct hit. What more could he expect from a mere three weeks of effort. "Come on. Push back."

"I'm trying!" Olivia argued as she again took a step back in favor of keeping distance.

"Stop trying, and start doing," He countered before making another swing, this time stopping himself as she failed to react in time. The soldier heaved a tired sigh before withdrawing the weapon. There was no way she was going to be ready in time…

"Regain your balance," He instructed while his thought gnawed at the back of his mind. "We'll try again."

"Okay," Olivia took another step back and adjusted her footing. "Ready."

To her credit, she did better this time. Strikes were more efficiently blocked as he felt a stronger force behind each parry. "Watch your grip," He warned for the fifth time that week.

"Right, Sorry,"

" 'Sorry', isn't going to keep you alive, land-dweller," he snapped before taking a pace back. "Action is. Try again."

Olivia nervously glanced around as she waited and watched for the next strike.

This time He didn't hold back. The force of the swing caused her sword to fly from her hand and land on the ground a fair distance away.

Goddess damn it all, she was not going to be ready. He was fine with going off to a battle he was destined to lose. He was fine with any other soldier doing the same. It's what they signed up for. She didn't-

His thoughts cut short as Olivia went over to the discarded blade and picked it up again. "One more try."

He remained quiet. She did agree to this. But she shouldn't have to. Maybe... maybe there's more to life than duty. "You're going to need more than just one try if you're going to make any progress."

Semeru swung again and to his relief she managed to keep ahold of the handle at the least. "Better." Was the block good? No. but she was, admittedly, improving. With that, any prior efforts and thoughts of holding back faded away. Treating her that way was a disservice to her growth and to his peace of mind that he was preparing her for the worst.

Each swing and drill that followed slowly chipped away at what stamina remained from her long day in the depth and before long a piercing sound graced the water.

"Warning, Low stamina detected. Oxygen at 25%"

Semeru moved back with a wince as he glared at the infernal contraption. "And that is your signal to get going."

"Ah yeah, This was more of a work out then usual. I must have over done it today," She nervously laughed. It was that or she was getting weaker. "Here, I'll put these away before I head out." Olivia offered as she accepted Semeru's sword and turned to head towards the barracks. "I'll try and get to bed early tonight." Probably. She still needed to bake that pie for Pablo and-

"Oh!" she quickly turned back around. "I almost forgot. If it's okay. Can we train a bit earlier tomorrow?"

"Earlier? When you were late today?" He scoffed.

"I know, I honestly just lost track of time. Tomorrow is the harvest festival. It's a pretty big deal on the surface for farmers and the town is expecting that I'll be there," She bobbed her head a moment as she thought over what she'd said. "and I kind of want to be there too. So if it's easier we can just skip a day."

Skip a day? She'd made progress but not that much. "You land-dwellers seem to have a celebration for everything," Semeru shook his head before waving her off. "Very well Olivia. Just this once. But if you're late you're doing an extra set of warm ups."