The [Ink Cloud] wore off after an hour or so. We did not see the green lights again, so I began to ascend.

  “If I recall correctly,” said Clorandine as we flew, “there is a place toward the center of the Great Abalone Sky called Needles. It is a terribly quaint village, but it’s our best bet for nearby civilization. Well, other than that crazy Arthur guy. No offense.”

  “None taken. Let’s check out that Needles place if we can. Maybe the Fool’s Errand could stop there to resupply?”

  “Maybe,” Clorandine agreed. “For Needles we’re looking for some sky islands shaped like a haircomb.”

  She alternated between riding on me and being carried as we went on. It was quite a while to have to do Daniel’s Taxi Service. My back ached. Now I knew how horses felt.

  “So you guys would just like take that big fake demon moon into town?”

  “Letheo? No, he was not so cooperative. More like we’d fly some of the dragonfly copters in.”

  “Those are really cool. Who made those?”

  “We had a [Bio Engineer] among us who grew them.” She fell quiet. “I assume you didn’t rescue him, right?”

  “Is it Tanzan? Purple haired dude.”

  “No, he joined a few days ago. He was out there all alone. I felt a little sorry for him when they came back with him. He said he was fishing but didn’t seem to know what’s what about it.”

  We flew on through cloud and mist and sky. Hours turned to days. Pelted by rain and dried by starlight, I forged on. I told Clorandine to wake me if I fell asleep, and I’d let her snooze here and there. Only once did we both fall asleep, warm in the other’s embrace, but I quickly awakened and grabbed her again and flew on.

  If I had a fishing rod or something maybe I could make do. But after days of nothing I was getting achingly hungry. I kept my eyes peeled for any sky islands, any sky forests, or anything like that, but the skies in this part of the Great Abalone were windswept and calm.

  On the third night since we’d fled Avalos I saw a sweeping light. “An airship!” I called deliriously. “We’re saved!!”

  Flying on. The light wavering in my vision. I felt truly like a lunatic.

  “If it helps,” Clorandine whispered, “I can let you…eat my hand or something?”

  “Ew, no, what the aether Clorandine!?”

  “Over time I would grow it back.”

  “I am definitely never eating your hand!”

  We approached a lighthouse on a precarious scrap of rock floating there with a sweeping light. I flew to the doorframe and pounded. No one answered, so I flew us up to the top floor and I tried the door there. It was locked. I drew forth Lancie. I looked at her. I wasn’t sure where to start honestly, and I was so tired.

  “Please keep watch,” is all I said.

  Clorandine and I fell asleep in the sanctum to the sweeping light. Lancie sat poised and kneeling by the door, but in Dreamwyrd she was not there at all.

  “Lancie?” I called but no one answered.

  I stood in the dark. There were blue shadows on the wall with strange fish swimming in them.

  “Lancie?” I called again uncertainly.

  She turned, I saw her then.

  “Oh, good, there you are.”

  Her face had shifted to that of a lobster, who grinned and cackled.

  “Not you! I don’t want your aethering pearls!”

  She took my hand, and looked into my eyes with her carapaced face.

  “I want the pearl. The one your friend Tamiro has. You’re going to take me there, friend Daniel, okay?”

  She turned into a lance, but this one had a lobster claw for a hilt, and it clamped onto my hand and wouldn’t let go no matter how hard I tried to get it off.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I awakened covered in sweat and parched. I asked Lancie what happened last night.

  “Nothing weird happened. Just that a mustached guy put out a plate of food and some water for you two. He must have felt bad for you. I could have killed him, but I thought you’d scold me.”

  “Did you fall asleep Lancie?”

  “No, you know I don’t do that stuff. I promise, I was being very moral by not killing him.”

  “I’m very proud of you. I had a nightmare. I dreamt the Dream Lobster stole your face or something.”

  She pouted. “That does sound scary. Don’t worry Daniel! This isn’t really my face. This is just a mask I wear. Don’t look so upset.”

  What’s your real appearance? I wondered. And what about that mustached guy? I went over to examine the door which was closed and I still couldn’t open. But there was a plate of food there and some water. Some of it had already been eaten.

  “It’s good,” Clorandine said. “Not very fresh though. Can we just go and leave this poor fellow alone?”

  I ate ravenously and ignored the question. When I was done I drank most of the remainder of the water cup, then surveyed the horizon. I had a slight idea what direction I was going. There was a brown smudge on the northwestern sky I wanted to go toward. Something like a haircomb.

  “Yes, let’s go,” I told her.

  As I followed the haircomb feature, now a delicate set of threads across the sky like a gray harp, we found ourselves in a shoals of small islands about seven feet across on average. It was perfect ambush grounds.

  “This is the Ballast Shoals,” Clorandine said. “That means we’re close to the center of the Sky, and Needles.”

  I pointed out the islands that any old creature could hide behind. “Be on your guard Clorandine.”

  I threw her up upon my back in riding position. “Hey!”

  “Get ready to brawl. Just in case.”

  “What’s brawl?”

  “Fight. A lot.”

  “I am a pacifist--”

  “I thought that was discretionary!” I countered.

  As we proceeded there was a cluster of closely-spaced sky islands ahead. I flew vaguely westward now as I sought the village Needles. As we passed by the sky islands, several flapping things emerged that had been stuck to the bottoms of the sky islands. Hiding there. As these manta-ray looking monsters passed some islands with their wings they seemed to tap them or ripple the wind or something and those islands rumbled.

  Not just rumbled, they had mouths and snouts, I realized as they turned. And tusks.

  “Do you know what these are?” I asked Clorandine.

  “When we were last at Needles they served us exotic meats such as boar and ray. These are likely those local specialties.”

  “Mmm. So, tasty then?”

  She shook her head regrettably. They came at us like a stampede. Clorandine’s blade came free of its sheath and she leapt up to stand on my back. Her feet shifted as she braced for the first one, but I had other plans. I didn’t intend for us to take a direct shot from these animals.

  “Jump!” I shouted and flipped away.

  She did as bade, and I made sure to pivot such that I caught her. In this way we avoided that first, hairy flying boar that came barrelling in. That’s the best way to describe the big portly island-looking tuskers.

  There were a lot more. From here it was more of a dance. She had some blade moves but nothing too flashy, no [Silver Scream] or anything like that. I thought about throwing Lancie into the mix, but trying to manage two people without flying here seemed like a nightmare, so I kept her well in hand and swatted or punched at a few and focused on keeping the graceful Clorandine in the air.

  Her blade flashed, then Clorandine swung around upside down to grin at me.

  [Experience Gained: +500 XP]

  “They’re not so tough,” she panted.

  “Tell me one thing. In passion, now. What’s Luneth got that’s so special to you?”

  “He’s always true,” she said and leaped away spinning and slashing.

  She stair-walked up several of the manta rays as they tried to turn away. They tried to make weak air currents to stop her with [Wind Extraction]. Oh aether I have that! Is that what that skill does?

  In one exaggerated motion she cut through two of the sky boars that were coming in and they dropped from the sky mewling.

  [Experience Gained: +1000 XP]

  [LEVEL UP: Clorandine Melspark]

  [Thorn Dancer: Level 15]

  [NEW Thorn Dancer feature: Skill]

  [LEVEL UP: Daniel]

  [Driften Waker: Level 15]

  [NEW Driften Waker feature: Skill]

  “Hey, we’re level twins!”

  “Know any good skills Clorandine?”

  I tried to wave my hands and use [Wind Extraction] or something, but nothing happened. Having a skill I had absolutely no idea to use was frustrating.

  “Do you…not know what you’re doing?”

  I caught her again. “I do! Well, I kinda don’t actually. What are you using to kill those boars?”

  [Experience Gained: +500 XP]

  “This is a sword! You have one too Daniel! Well, it’s that [Aether Lance] with you. You can use it!”

  “I have no proficiencies at all--”

  “And you’ve only been here about a week, little baby,” Clorandine finished. “It’s ok, I can handle this. You’ve gotta practice to get proficiency!”

  She jumped again and I heard the whiz of steel-in-wind. There is nothing quite like it.

  [Experience Gained: +500 XP]

  “How many of these are left now?”

  “Hold on. Go up a little more, Daniel. There are four more. Wait, five. Wait no, that’s…oh aether glazer that’s the Area Boss I think!!”

  “Are you still pacifist?!”

  “Don’t be an idiot.”

  Clorandine adjusted her footing on my back. I could see what she was talking about. In addition to four more sky boars being herded by those manta rays, the sky feature that I had mistaken for a cloud system was actually a large creature barrelling in.

  [Area Boss approaches: Gravel Warden Cerius]