Alfred shuffled into his quarters onto the ship, and dove down into the bag of travel items he brought from Thagia. Despite the ship rocking so hard in the waves, he was still able to keep his balance and wits about him as he dug through to find the one essential item he must keep on him.
Feeling the gemstone brush finally brush against his hand, Alfred pulled it out of the bag and quickly thought up a message for Arthur.
I might need your help here. We hit a storm on the Eldarin Sea, and might need to abandon ship in a few minutes.
After sending the message, Alfred pocketed the gem and rose to leave the room, immediately beginning to waver and cling to the walls. The weather had turned foul halfway across the sea to Niba, and now the ship had been caught in a storm. Despite the crew's best efforts to keep the ship under control, the waves were battering the vessel too hard for them to manage.
Alfred opened the door and was immediately hit by wind and spraying water as he returned outside. He floundered onto the deck, where a crewmate suddenly ran into him.
"That way, your Highness!"
The man pushed Alfred leftwards, where a lifeboat was being prepped and loaded while the Solyran Princes quickly climbed aboard. Alfred stumbled towards them, and the crewmates helped push him onto the lifeboat with the twins. As soon as he was aboard, they began to lower the boat as he settled into his seat by the twins.
"You shouldn't have gone back inside, Alfred," Lovino shouted, "What did you need in there anyways?"
"My gemstone for contacting Arthur," Alfred explained as he showed Lovino the gem, "The one thing I have on this ship that cannot be easily replaced."
As Alfred finished his reply, the white gemstone suddenly flashed green for a moment, and Arthur's voice echoed in his head, clear as a bell despite the waves crashing loudly against the ship.
I am ready to help, but please do be careful. The fae cannot easily swim, my wings will get heavy in the water.
Alfred nodded to himself at the message while he pocketed the gemstone. Arthur and Madeline would be understanding if it happened to go down with the ship, but it would also be an inconvenience for Arthur to have to magically pair a new set of gemstones for the family to communicate between realms.
A huge wave knocked against the lifeboat, pushing Lovino and Feliciano directly into Alfred. He clung to the side for dear life, and pushed hard to keep the three of them aboard as the wave passed them by. After the impact, Alfred could only watch as the wave then proceeded to hit the ship itself, now a small distance away, making it turn on its side and capsize.
"Look out!"
Hearing the voice from one of the crewmates on the lifeboat, Alfred turned to look the other direction, just in time to see the next wave looming over them before it crashed down on the lifeboat.
Alfred barely had enough time to take a big breath of air before the cold water slammed into him and sunk him under the surface. He kept looking up to maintain his sense of direction, and kicked his feet with all his might. The current pushed him around hard, but he managed to break through to the surface in time to take another big breath of fresh air.
As he methodically kicked his feet in the water to stay afloat, he reached down to his pocket, relieved to find his gemstone still there. He immediately grabbed it tight in his hand as he looked around for the lifeboat, spotting it having floated quite a ways already in that short time.
I'm in the water, trying to stay afloat. The lifeboat has moved far away from me. Any chance you can come help me?
Alfred continued keeping himself afloat for a few more moments, long enough for Arthur to suddenly appear in the air above him. His golden wings had turned strong and solid, flapping hard to keep Arthur airborne as the wind whipped above the turbulent waters.
"You picked quite the squalor to sail into, didn't you?" Arthur scolded as he moved into position behind Alfred.
"Not my fault we hit a storm," Alfred deflected, "The sea is unpredictable."
Alfred felt Arthur press against the back of his head as his arms dunked below the surface to wrap under Alfred's armpits and lock their grasp at his chest. With each strong gust of the air from Arthur's wings, Alfred slowly rose out of the water in Arthur's tight hold.
"Would you care to help, lad?" Arthur requested.
Alfred reached to lock his arms in against Arthur's, so as to strengthen their grasp on each other. Once Alfred's feet were no longer in the water, Arthur directed the gusts forward, slowly moving Alfred towards the lifeboat. As they approached, Alfred could see that the crewmates had managed to keep the boat afloat, and were just pulling Lovino aboard.
Feliciano was not on board.
As they approached, the crewmates who hadn't been helping Lovino came to the other end of the boat, prepared to help bring Alfred aboard. Arthur gave a few more strong flaps of his wings to get Alfred's feet over the side of the boat, where the crewmates helped lead him securely onto one of the seats.
"Where is Feliciano?" Lovino hollered as soon as he was comfortably seated across from Alfred.
"We can't see him anywhere, your Highness," one of the men hesitantly replied, "We won't be able to find him."
Realizing what the crewmate was implying, Alfred immediately turned back to face Arthur, who had now landed on the lifeboat himself.
"Arthur, can you please take a look for any more survivors on the surface?" Alfred pleaded, "Prince Feliciano of Solyra is out there somewhere."
"I can try," Arthur judged, "The winds are getting lighter, but they're still strong."
With a gust of his wings, Arthur lept from the lifeboat and soared into the air, beginning to inspect the surrounding area for any trace of life. Turning back to the other members of the boat, while the remaining crewmates prepared to row, Lovino kept his desperate eyes fixed on Arthur in the distance like a hawk.
"That's your fae cousin?" Lovino asked.
"Yep, that's Arthur," Alfred confirmed, "And that's why I made sure I had the gemstone."
A far ways off, behind a wave, Alfred could see Arthur pause his high-level soaring to dive down closer to the water to inspect something. As the wave came over and gently raised the lifeboat higher, Alfred finally spotted what Arthur had stooped low to investigate.
In the distance, too far away to swim over to the boat, something was floating in the water.
"He found something," Lovino muttered.
Arthur hovered over whatever was there, and suddenly pointed towards the lifeboat with his hand as if to instruct someone to head in their direction. Suddenly the floating object started moving quickly through the water towards the lifeboat, far too fast for a human swimmer. Above them, Arthur quickly flew back to the boat.
"You're not going to believe this," Arthur reported once he was in hearing range, "One of your crewmates has been rescued by a mermaid, she's the one bringing him over here!"
"A mermaid?" Alfred checked.
"Did you see the crewmate?" Lovino interrogated, "Did they look like me?"
Arthur didn't bother answering, instead getting out of the way so they could see for themselves. The mermaid was swimming backwards towards him, her blonde hair swaying in the water under her. The rescued crewmate was laid out with his back to her chest, while she had her arms looped under his armpits to pull him along as he floated on the surface. As the pair reached the edge of the boat, they finally got a good look at his face.
"Feliciano!" Lovino called.
Alfred backed out of the way as the crewmates rushed to the edge of the boat, just as the mermaid reached the side and stopped swimming. As the others pulled Feliciano out of the siren's arms and onto the raft, Alfred peered overboard to get a better look at her. She had fair skin and teal-green eyes, and she wore seaweed over her chest for modesty. Her tail swayed beneath the water, starting at her waist and matching the colour of her eyes.
She backed away from the boat once Feliciano was securely onboard, coughing hard while embraced in his brother's arms. Alfred leaned over to watch as she spun around, dipped into the water, and swam away into the depths.
"Such is the way of the merfolk, lad," Arthur remarked, "They're just as wary of humans as humans are of them. This rescue was a very rare blessing to receive."
"She saved me," Feliciano gasped between deep breaths.
"The storm is starting to let up, you shouldn't need my help again," Arthur determined as he pointed to the horizon, "Niba will be in that direction."
"Thank you, Arthur," Alfred acknowledged, "Can you wait until I reach Niba to tell Madeline I nearly drowned?"
"Will do," Arthur promised before he vanished from mid-air.