The disciplined rise and fall of the faux sun mended the awry seasons, days and nights regained their normalcy, but with a low average temperature, and this year’s Flamecrest recorded the coldest months of growth in the near history. The deprivation of the warm breeze, the heat wave, the clear sky, the fluffy clouds, the cicadas’ songs, and the sun’s glare off the waters ruined the season’s charm. But nevertheless, the ice slags had melted back into the ocean, and only the fragile billows crashing against the Stormfalcon met its advance. And a month after their exit from the port, the pirates bit the crumbs they left behind and caught onto their frothy trail, hoisting a flapping flag that resembled a sprawled turtle with a jagged maw that could snap a man in half.

  “Boss, we’re good to go.” Kidd’s voice rang from the bracelet and bounced in the nigh empty but still cluttered mechanics-hall as Ewan adjusted his sleeve, the gaiter on his neck, and his shirt beneath the modified overcoat—Blackfeather, the speed version. Nana twiddled her woolly dress too, black as the bottom of the ocean, and tied her long hair into a ponytail, pulling and stretching her stifling round collar for the umpteenth time.

  “Stop fidgeting already,” Ewan clicked his tongue and said, grabbing her wrist. If she continued like that, her nails would dig into her skin and draw blood; her neck already had some scratches. “It’ll be fine. Even if things go wrong, I won't let anything happen to us.” The ripples of her rapid pulse allayed against his fingers on her wrist, and her short choppy breaths quietened into serene inhales and exhales, though her nod remained strained.

  “Nyte, start turning and open the hatch,” he commanded. “Stefan, hold the fort here, and keep those two under control. No matter what they see, don’t start anything until you hear from me.” Ewan said to Stefan who stood on the side when Nana hushed, and Nyte blasted the side thrusters, turning the Stormfalcon to its side to avoid the pirates’ nose, as the gears in the hall roared and the hatch unbolted to a slit.

  “I will, don’t worry,” Stefan said when the hazy twinkles of the stars spilled into the hall from the crevice.

  “Let’s go.” Ewan grabbed Nana by her waist and pulled her in, his deep breath by her shoulder ruffling her hair. And he zipped out of the gap with her, blending into the moonless sky, and plunged into the ocean with a trivial splash that soon waned from the monstrous thrust of the warship. He broke the surface and sank and sank deep enough where the scant light of the surface barely remained in his vision, and the two only saw each other in the Ryvia bubble amidst the pitch black.

  “It’s gone red,” Ewan said, pulling her collar and checking the scratches on her neck.

  “It’ll heal,” Nana said, her heartbeat racing again, and her calves squirming. “Shouldn’t we head out already?” Butterflies must be fluttering in her stomach.

  Ewan looked at her with a playful twitch on his lips, and with a chuckle, he went in and licked her grazes. And she flinched with a cute yelp, gaping at him with widened eyes, then her tongue clicked. “Stop playing around,” she said, and pinched both his cheeks.

  “You clicked your tongue,” Ewan said, half his words misfiring with his cheeks pulled apart, and he pinched hers too.

  “You started it.” She blew the words.

  “Let go,” he said.

  “You let go first,” she said.

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  “I’m the boss, you let go,” Ewan said.

  “I’m older, you let go,” Nana said.

  “I’m smarter,” he said.

  “I’m beautiful,” she said.

  Ewan scoffed. “Who told you that!”

  “You did!”

  “I was half asleep!” Their banter stirred the haunted quiet around them, and the ocean bubbled.

  “Boss…we might lose the ship…” Kidd’s voice interrupted them from the open channel, and a moment of reticence followed.

  “We’ll finish this later,” Ewan said with a glare and broke the impasse, gradually dissolving the Ryvia sphere and letting Nana meld into the water around her. And when she did, she just about disappeared from his senses, even his Ryvia could barely find her fuzzy presence. An Animaborn inside the natural form of his element could defy the chasm between the steps in some aspects, many books wrote on the topic, and Nana proved it in practice.

  Threads of water gathered around with a wave of her hand and cloaked them, synching with Morinfair and dimming their presence even further. When Nana gave him the nod of green light, Ewan pulled his gaiter up, Yurn, covering half his face, and shot towards the pirates’ ship with her. The distance was but a few seconds worth of effort at his speed, drilling through the abundance of water, and he braked and broke his momentum when they floated under the ship’s keel that glimmered with its protective shield, just shy of the blend of irregular colored Ryvia drifting about.

  A quick scan with his eyes, differentiating the colors and density, gauged their levels—they were all Step-0. Though the ship was just a mobile extension of their lair, their inference from the information they had placed at least one Step-1 pirate onboard. And Ewan moved to confirm it.

  “Making a move now, stay alert,” he whispered into the bracelet and hurled an unstable potion at the ship’s keel, dragging Nana towards the bed to avoid what was to come.

  Away from his suppression, the potion missed the stabilizing element and its equation collapsed. It only gave a few trembles before the vial crunched and sucked all the heat from its surrounding waters. And the result came to be a hunk of ice that slammed into the ship, stirring the nested hive of pirates.

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