Floating Pieces of Past

The wind tickled twelve ears as the sky darkened. They had been riding all day, and Celia could tell even Aitan was feeling tired. She felt it too: the gnawing tug of exhaustion at the back of her eyes. Dabi was resolutely gliding beneath her, yellow wings outstretched to catch as many thermals as she could, and Laila did much the same to her right. Even Ra had settled down against Dabi’s chest. They hadn’t heard him screech in a good hour or so, and Celia presumed he must be asleep.

Oh, to be so wrong.

Ra wasn’t just awake; he was a thunderclap.

She tried to pin all four of her ears back, but it was in vain. Whatever Ra wanted, he was making sure the rest of the crew knew to get it.

Laila resolutely ignored the screams while Aitan held his hands over his drooped ears, peeked over at the baby kise, and began to speak. Celia couldn’t hear the words Aitan was saying and flopped over Dabi’s neck. She was resigned to listen to this until it stopped.

Thankfully for her, Dabi’s mothering instincts were on the right track for once. She felt her mount shift, and the familiar pit in her stomach told her they were falling.

She screamed, but Dabi only rumbled a chuckle-like sound, and Celia gripped her saddle for dear life as the ocean rushed toward them. Its rapidly approaching surface twinkled with sunspots.

She narrowed her brow, staring at the light. After forcing a few deep breaths, she noticed it. Those weren’t sunspots; those were items.

Dabi banked just before the waves, only catching a bit of sea spray (and Celia’s heartbeat) with her feet and tail. Ra was delighted! His screeches turned to squeaks, and he left his pouch to investigate the strange, cylindrical object Dabi had plucked from the ocean.

Aitan and Laila had followed them at a more leisurely pace, and as they grew closer he said, “That looks like a telescope! What an interesting find!”

Celia lifted herself up and cupped her cheek to calm the head rush. “Neat find or not, I wish she hadn’t almost killed me to get to it.”

Aitan laughed. “Oh, you’re fine! She’s just keeping you young!”

The medushai nearly leapt off her kise’s back to give him a playful smack, but the waves kept her at bay. They twinkled with lost gadgets, spoiled rations, and unintelligible nonsense items she couldn’t begin to imagine uses for. She was surprised Dabi managed to grab just the telescope in all this mess.

“Aitan,” she asked, “Are we close to the shore? I can’t see how Dabi managed to pick this up. It looks like metal.”

The cuadibra slipped off Laila’s back and plunged into the sea. It took him mere seconds to close the distance; he popped up beneath them faster than it took Laila to sink into the surf herself.

He wrestled the device from Ra’s mouth and inspected a ripped white cloth at its end. “This must’ve been a flotation device. Dabi likely popped it when she grabbed the telescope.” He gave the piece back to the now-screeching pup. Ra, content, continued doing his best bat impression on Dabi’s neck saddle while she dutifully kept her rider out of the water. “Also, the ocean is beginning to curve.” He pointed northwest. “I think we got a little off track. The closest island will be a bit further that way.”

“Thank you, Aitan,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He cracked a wry smile. “Get lost in the ocean, most likely.”

He disappeared under the waves before she could get a word in edgewise, and Laila was quick to leave the ocean once he had reappeared on her back. She spurred Dabi to follow them, trusting in the spacefarer’s navigation skills. Her own were… passable, at best. She pulled out her pocketbook and made note of this blunder for future expeditions.

As the sun began to set, she pulled Dabi to fly beneath Laila, trusting that Aitan would keep an eye out for them drifting too far. They feared carrying lanterns so far away from civilization: any pirates or marauders would make quick work of such easy targets. Laila blended in so well with the night that it was nigh-impossible to see her, but Dabi’s bright yellow was like a lightning bolt. The light blue on her wings slipped better into the background so long as she was viewed from below, and Laila’s larger size would obscure her from above.

Plus, Aitan would have an easier time keeping track of her from above rather than below. His night vision was only slightly better than her own, after all. His eyes were built for the blackness of the ocean, not the sky.

They traveled on in relative silence. Only the occasional squeak or chirp from Ra, and one of his mothers’ answering calls, broke the barrier. If Celia was more trusting of Dabi’s solo capabilities, she would have taken a nap and let Aitan lead them. It was extremely tempting, but she couldn’t. Instead she busied herself with looking for the occasional pile of junk in the water.

Aitan must’ve noticed. “So many unprepared people. I wonder why they failed so badly.”

Celia sighed. “I can’t help but assume the worst. But pirates wouldn’t just… leave this much behind, right?”

She waited for what felt like a millenium for his answer. “No… no, they wouldn’t. Most likely these people overpacked. Most of what we’re seeing looks like household goods. Maybe some of them were wanting to permanently move to this new region?” He chuckled. “I can’t blame them for wanting to find somewhere new to be. I did that, after all.”

“Yes, but it’s sad to see so much trash because of it.”

“Definitely.” There was a hardness to his voice. “If I had my ship with me, I’d make sure every spot of litter was cleaned from this ocean. I’ll have to come back and cleanse it later, when we’ve made it back to your home.”

Celia felt a weight settle over her. If she’d known something like this would happen, she would have agreed to let him at least have the ship follow them. She knew that their plan was the best one, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Before she could say anything, he chirped and whistled something in his home language. Those sounds morphed into, “Land! There’s the island up ahead! Let’s get some rest.”

Celia wasn’t one to argue, and neither were either of her exhausted kise. They found a suitable spot among the palm trees, set up the tent as quickly as they could, and settled in for the night. As Dabi, Laila, and Ra snuggled in the middle of the tent, the two handlers were squeezed into the corner. They made the most of it. Celia held her friend close, gently petting his headdress until his fitfulness subsided, and sleep took him.