1

The communion with the Lord of Light had taken a great weight off Yuliana’s shoulders. Not so much because of what was said. The spirit’s manner of speech had been highly unusual, unusually assertive, and the message more than a little alarming. For the first time since their meeting, Aiwesh had shed some light on her personal aspirations, and what Yuliana had learned from this was troubling, to say the least. But while the matters discussed were heavy indeed, being able to communicate at all was still a small triumph on its own. The grand spirit exceeded human comprehension in many ways, perhaps, but she was not altogether outside logic and emotion, and possible for even a mortal human to reason with. She had her own motives and though her methods were unknown and her pride unmistakably vast, she was not beyond adapting her plans in favor of others, or so Yuliana believed. In this sense, the Divine was a great deal more humane than her majesty had originally assumed, and she could only wonder what manner of a history had shaped the spirit the way she was.

However, time passed without rest and the lofty affairs regarding the fate of the world and such were soon left in the background.

Ships would sail in and out of Harm’s Haven on a daily basis, and whenever a new ship came, it brought a good deal of busyness with it. There came additional mouths to feed, fish to salt, oil to refine, clothes to wash, and merchandise to store. There was always something to be done from the first light till dusk, with only sparse breaks in between, and once she was finally free and back in her cabin again, Yuliana could only go straight to sleep on her rough bed, spent and aching. It was only after two days of virtually nonstop labor that she found another chance to return to the secluded lagoon, and when she did, she also learned the reason why the locals seemed to avoid the place.

Yuliana had assumed her meditation posture on the rock seat under the waterfall, and began to clear her mind and focus her spirit, slowly refining her breathing, when she suddenly heard a loud yell come from somewhere above and opened her eyes.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!”

The voice grew fast louder and louder and then, a meteor landed.

The whole island seemed to jump at the impact. The waterfalls were temporarily disrupted, and an enormous column of water shot up high in the sky, as an asteroid of unknown origins crashed into the pool in the back of the lagoon. Though Yuliana was seated well away on the other side of the basin, she couldn’t avoid tumbling down from her seat and received a heavy, foamy shower on her, wondering quietly if the end of the world hadn’t prematurely started.

But no, not quite.

The waters soon settled, peace returned, and a young girl leapt up from the pool to stand on its rocky bank, rapidly shaking her head like a dog.

It so turned out this lagoon was also Erynmir’s regular bathing spot. She would come here from time to time to wash off the salt and the scent of the sea, and bask under the noon sun, undisturbed by people or animals.

As soon as she had firm land under her feet again, the dragon girl proceeded to clutch the hems of her dress and began to pull it off. And, upon discovering that she had no underwear whatsoever beneath the airy attire, Yuliana felt obligated to intervene.

“W-w-w-what are you doing!?” she yelled, quickly dashing over. “Stop! Stop! Stop right there—!”

“Whaaat?” Erynmir paused and turned to the panicking Empress, raising a brow. “Did a horsefly bite yer butt, or what’re ye wailin’ for? Zip the yapper, while yer in the wild!”

“That’s not it!” Yuliana retorted, eyes closed, her face bright red. “It’s you I’m talking about here, Eryn! What you were just about to do!”

“Eryn was? Wassat?”

“Isn't it obvious? Y-you can’t swim naked out here in the open! It's indecent!”

“Indissent?” Erynmir tilted her head, frowning. “What’s that mean?”

“In-decent! The opposite of all things decent!” her majesty explained. “You may be a dragon and who knows how old in reality, but this appearance of yours still resembles a prepubescent human child to any common observer! You mustn’t expose it so carelessly! It’s scandalous! It’s borderline criminal! You're not alone on this island, what if someone else sees you!? There could be all sorts of remorseless deviants hiding in this haven of renegades, peeping at you in secret! You must cover yourself, even while you’re bathing! That’s what swimming suits were made for! Or else, do it somewhere, where you can be sure you're alone!”

“Don’t ya’ll look the same ‘neath yer rags?” the dragon argued. “So what if somebody sees? Let ‘em look! Just starin’ won’t hurt ya.”

“That's not good! It’s not only a matter of hurting or being hurt!” Yuliana insisted. “It’s also about what kind of a message it sends to other people! What it represents, as an action! We can’t let anyone out there fall under the impression that bathing naked in public is somehow normal or appropriate! That there is nothing wrong with an adult ogling at the undeveloped body of a young girl! That's a mistake! There is nothing that’s not wrong with it! If someone were to arrive at the dangerous assumption that it is fine to look at you, since you're not human, they might soon begin to think there's actually nothing wrong with looking at any available females out there, whatever the species! They might even take things beyond simply looking and that is simply unacceptable! Intolerable! Abominable! See, the world is a big place, Eryn! There exist very, very sick individuals out there, who could go to rather extreme lengths for the briefest glimpse of your hairless, budding form! Your bare, spotless skin itself works like magic on these people, driving them to lose sight of themselves and commit unspeakable things! Trust me, I know this! I am deeply ashamed to confess that I might have one or two such deranged individuals in my own, unnecessarily large circle of acquaintances. Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t personally know—or know someone else who knows—a legitimate pervert! Yes, there are only the maximum of two links between any one of us and a pervert! That’s just how common they are! These are dark times we are living in, you see? No corner of this world can be called completely safe from corruption and wickedness! But beside judging and punishing them, I believe these people deserve our pity. It's like a sickness they have—they can't help themselves! They fight these unsightly feelings with vigilance every day; we should cheer them on in their battle, and not bring them under temptation, if we may avoid it! That's why, you should treasure your own body more, Eryn. Guard it like a precious jewel! This body of yours might only be a magically crafted illusion, but it’s your body all the same! The foundation of your identity, the source of pride and joy! You may not realize it now, but if you mean to live among people, now and in the future, it’s necessary that you are made aware of such things. Otherwise, you might some day wing up with scary, ugly memories that will haunt you for the rest of your life! It’s not only the body that may be wounded, dear—minds can be scarred too, in ways that take far longer to heal, if indeed they ever do. It wouldn’t be pleasant, would it? You wouldn’t want that, would you? Human beings may be fundamentally decent and good, but that doesn’t mean you should give them an opening! Opportunity makes the thief, as they say, and there is surely no living person who may profess total immunity to temptation. Not that I’m talking about myself, of course. I’m not a pervert! I’m not looking at Eryn with eyes like that! It’s not like my heart begins to race when I see the unclothed body of another girl! That’s not normal, after all. I’m only saying this for your own sake, as your friend, Eryn! We have to veil that figure of yours right this instant, or I fear terrible things might happen!”

“—Aaaah! Shut yer trap, ye pest o’ a wench!” Erynmir yelled, shutting her ears, and tossed her dress in Yuliana’s face. “All yer nonstop jibber-jabber’s making Eryn's head spin! Avast!”

Before Yuliana could stop her, the girl spun around and ran away. Picking up the pace, she jumped high up, and plunged bottom first into the lagoon water.

What emerged back on the surface a moment later did not resemble a human child.

Amid a lot of splashing and broiling arose the great green form of the dragon, settling to lie flat on its stomach in the corner of the basin, half-submerged, like a sunbathing crocodile.

Caught off-guard by the sheer size of the creature, Yuliana reflexively backed up.

The dragon was too big to fit entirely in the water, or even in Yuliana’s field of vision. It was almost eighty feet long from the foremost horn tip to the lance-like point of the tail, which coiled along the cliff wall southward. The pool was close to nine feet deep in the back, yet the water barely reached halfway up the dragon’s side as it lay against the bottom. Its jaden scales glittered hard and smooth under the sun, turning slightly lighter in color towards the belly, and deeper green on the back, which a row of dagger-like spines of bone shielded. The wings took up far more space than the main body of the monster when spread, but it could fold them into an astonishingly compact size, close to its back, like an extra pair of limbs. The large head of the wyrm sported more horns than the standard two in the books, as a forward projected crown, thick and durable. Past the defenses peered two eyes on each side of the head, and a fifth one in the middle of the flat forehead, not meant for the world of light but that of spirits.

There were a great many odd lizards and such like reptilian creatures in the world, but it was surely unthinkable to ever confuse a genuine dragon for anything else. Erynmir was not even fully grown yet, but no less a child by the standards of her species, as her human appearance suggested.

“Hó thrúnnoi andráth?” the dragon spoke in a low, resonant voice, like a distant, quaking volcano, lifting its head. “So sé noh shío.”

Pronouncing the Common Speech with the unaccustomed vocal cords of a dragon was difficult, and Erynmir reverted back to her native tongue, which Yuliana only understood in parts. In the human realm, the Old Tongue was a dead language, used only by kings and sorcerers in their sparse ceremonies, never for everyday interactions. Assuming she wouldn't actually ever need the knowledge, Yuliana hadn’t put much effort into her studies—which she now sorely regretted.

“Séha sarté shinó!” the dragon said, swinging its head back and forth. “Séha!”

“Ehh…?” Yuliana observed that peculiar gesturing. “You want me to…wash your back?”

“To’oú,” the dragon sighed and put its head down, closing its eyes, waiting.

“Um, I’m going to need something more than my hands for that.”

Yuliana retrieved a broom and a bucket from the town and returned to the lagoon. She got soap too. Erynmir remained in the water, not budging from her resting spot. Yuliana had to wonder if she had really understood the meaning right, and if she was actually expected to climb on the sleeping dragon to wash it. The cost of a mistake could be severe. It was certainly a tall order, even for the bravest of heroes.

There is nothing in existence you need be afraid of.

Looking at it, it couldn't be denied that the dragon was in need of a scrubbing. Assuring herself, half in order to do this favor to Erynmir, and half out of the will to prove the worth of humankind, Yuliana got to work. She filled the bucket from the pool and, with great care, climbed on top of Erynmir along the dragon’s tail. She had assumed them to be cold to touch, but the scales under her feet were actually quite warm, like sun-bathed stones, and not so sharp or coarse.

One person’s paltry weight failed to press the dragonhide even just a little. Mindful of the dangerous spines, Yuliana cast soap water on the unusual surface, picked up her broom, and started the operation. She didn’t dare to step on the horned head or the lengthy neck, but started from the upper back and shoulders, and worked her way down from there. The beast voiced no complaints. It started to produce a curious humming noise as it breathed, like a purring cat. Although, the sound was more akin to a Dharvic mining drill than a real feline.

“Don’t tell me the Prince does this too?” Yuliana asked, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. The image was rather absurd.

As the sea water became dried by the sun and the warmth of the dragon’s body, the salt showed clear white and flaking on the scales, and brushing it off was a simple task. There were also barnacles, seaweed, mud, sand, and random garbage stuck in the seams and edges of the scales, and between the back spikes, and Yuliana carefully removed the additions. Gradually getting over her caution, she took her time cleaning the creature, like a paleontologist unearthing the remains of a dinosaur. In roughly an hour, she was confident she had washed the dragon as well as anyone safely could. After this, she went to refill her bucket with clear water from a fall and rinsed off the soap.

“I have to wonder if you’ve ever been this clean since the day you hatched?” she pondered.

But as soon as Yuliana got back on solid land and turned back to admire her own handiwork, Erynmir moved. She started to twist and roll, apparently feeling itchy. The dragon rubbed her great head, wings, and back in the bottom of the lagoon and the nearby rock walls, groaning and growling, mixing the water, becoming muddied all over again in the process. Then, she finally settled back to rest with an ecstatic sigh, a half-submerged dirt mount in the murky brown water.

“Give me a break!” Yuliana bemoaned, watching it happen. “What did I do all that work for!? Geez!”

Not that she could feel genuinely upset. It was impossible on such a fine day. Soon she was laughing aloud, mostly only proud that she had dared to carry out such a heroic labor, and lived to tell the tale unscathed. She put down the bucket and the broom, and sat down on the edge of the pool, cooling her bare feet in the water. Closing her eyes, she let the afternoon sun warm her face, feeling unusually free and alive. In her heart of hearts, Yuliana was even beginning to wonder if being never rescued and having to spend the rest of her life on this paradise island would have been such a bad deal, after all.

Are you days this warm, Izumi? Are you enjoying your new life away from battles and strife? It might be impossible for myself, but if your days are anything like this now, I think I could be sincerely happy for you…

Setting aside other concerns, Yuliana thought no more about pirates and prophecies, but relished this rare moment of calm, which she knew in her bones would not last.

An hour or two later, an abrupt, colder gale stirred her majesty from her meditation, bringing with it a faint scent of smoke. She suddenly had an unpleasant feeling and got up. Maybe it was time she returned back to the town? Yuliana turned to pick up the tools she had brought—and stopped short.

Before she’d realized it, another person had appeared in the lagoon.

Yuliana couldn’t tell when or how she had appeared there, exactly, but there was an older woman standing a short distance ahead, staring at the Empress with a mischievous, mysterious smile on her face, making not a sound, smoking a long wood pipe. That had to have been the source of the smell.

Even next to a dragon, that woman could be described as an unusual sight.

Her black hair reflected not the slightest sheen of day, and was wrapped behind the head in an extravagant arrangement of buns, pins, and floral decorations. She was dressed in a vibrant, kimono-like outfit, provokingly red in color. The outfit was tied loose enough to leave the shoulders, upper back, and a good helping of the cleavage exposed, a display of skin well more generous than was comfortable to a civilized beholder.

Unlike the traditional Earthly kimono, this outfit was split at the bottom, like a tailcoat, so as to not hinder even more abrupt movements by the wearer, as well as to provide an occasional, distracting flash of the toned legs underneath. On the sash bound tight around the waist were attached a leather purse, a ceramic canteen, as well as a curved, black dagger.

The lady might have been considered beautiful, perhaps, if not for the make-up on her, heavy enough to be called a painting. Her eyebrows as well she’d had replaced with aggressive tattoos, which curved over the forehead, creating a subtle impression of the visage of a spider with its many eyes.

Due to this impression, Yuliana could only shudder in revulsion.

“Who are you…?” she asked the stranger with a frown.

“Oh, do pardon my rudeness, your majesty!” the woman now spoke, taking the pipe from her lips. “I lost myself in admiration of your gorgeous looks, to the point of forgetting my manners!”

While her voice itself was not unpleasant, there was nothing natural about the way she used it, every carefully pronounced syllable oozing with contempt and ridicule. She bowed formally before the Empress, though quite clearly not out of any real respect, if not only as a jest.

“I am Sai-Lin Qi Weler,” the woman introduced herself, as she stood upright again. “Perhaps your majesty has heard of me before? No? Excellent! If you haven’t, it simply means I have done my job right!”

“Sai-Lin…?” Yuliana repeated. Though she was certain she had never met such an eccentric character before, the name was, surprisingly enough, not completely unfamiliar to her. It took only a moment for her memory to connect the dots and her eyes widened in surprise.

“It can’t be—the Tarantula!?” she gasped aloud.

The smile faded from Sai-Lin’s face and her tone grew grave.

“Why do you know that name…?” she asked.

“There was such a case in the past,” Yuliana explained with unease. “A rare request for military aid was dispatched from Luctretz to Langoria, to investigate a suspected human trafficking ring. The Principality’s authorities had uncovered an organization smuggling slaves from the far-east, through both countries’ waters, but needed help apprehending the leadership. The investigators narrowed down the list of suspects to only five names, but there was no hard evidence to pin the operation on any one of the five. Apparently, the subordinates only knew the ring leader by the name ‘Tarantula’, because of the tattoo the slaves were marked with. A joint task force was formed and they made plans to apprehend all the suspects simultaneously, to uncover the proof they required. But the enemy struck first. Before the operation could be executed, the task force leadership was found deceased, assassinated. Shortly after, the cooperation was ended at the Principality’s initiative. Arrests were made and the case hurriedly closed, but it was questionable if they ever caught the true perpetrators, or achieved a lasting effect. None from the original list were among those apprehended. In all likelihood, the Luctretzian investigators were simply bribed and threatened to drop the investigation. And among the five who got away was that name—Sai-Lin Qi Weler.”

“...Why, color me impressed!” the strange woman exclaimed after a pause, the unsavory grin returning to her lips. “That does ring a bell! One of the mishaps of my adventurous youth. To have recalled such precise details from so long ago, it seems you’re not only an empty-headed puppet after all. You can’t have been very old when it happened.”

“I was ten,” Yuliana replied with a faint smile.

She wouldn’t say that the only reason she remembered about the Tarantula was because she was scared of spiders, and Sai-Lin because it was the only female name on the short list of suspects presented to her father. It was a pure coincidence she had been there to hear about the case at all, and hardly her own excellence.

Sai-Lin came forward with an impish look.

“I was going to introduce myself as a humble merchant,” she said, “but if you’ve put together that much by my name alone, then you must already know my merchandise too. Of course, it is this!”

“Hn—!”

Stopping right in front of Yuliana, Sai-Lin reached quickly forward with her free hand and seized a firm grab of the Empress’s buttock.

“It’s meat!” she declared, her face tauntingly close. “Meat, human meat, to be precise, in all shapes and sizes! And as a specialist, I can tell that what I hold here is of the very finest grade. A5, no mistake about it! If I sold you, I’d end up with more gold in my hands than I could waste in a decade. And believe me, I can be a big spender.”

“Let go!” Yuliana brushed off Sai-Lin’s hand and retreated. But instead of withdrawing, Sai-Lin stepped quickly back in and clutched the girl tightly by the chin, long nails digging in her cheeks.

“Mind your manners!” she warned, and her tone turned harsh. “You’re not an Empress or anything here, and I’m not one of your brainless boot-lickers! Your life is in my hands now! It would be in your best interests to seek my favor, if you care at all what’s good for you.”

“Your King wouldn’t like that!” Yuliana replied. “He promised me his protection!”

“Who cares about him!” the woman shouted and let go. “Pirates have no king! We obey Cartognam, because such is the Code. But if you think I’m ever brown-nosing that fool of a brat, you’ll have another thing coming! I’m my own king! On my ship, I am god! That’s right, though I’m a woman, I am also a full-fledged Captain of the Confederacy! Does that surprise you, your majesty? So unless you want to feel my heavenly punishment on your hide, you’ll fix that holier-than-thou attitude of yours, posthaste! I’ll have you know I’ve never let anyone look at me with eyes like that and get away with it. With their eyes still intact, that is!”

“Ruling with terror—what a great king indeed,” Yuliana remarked, rubbing her chin.

“So unlike your mighty Empire then?” Sai-Lin retorted. “I’m afraid I’m small time compared to your noble predecessors. They wouldn’t think twice about taking the tongue that so keeps flapping in front of them, spewing nothing but empty slurs! What am I, if not endlessly benevolent, to listen to another word that comes out of you? How about you grovel on all fours and kiss my toes, and I might yet bring myself to forgive you? Since it really is one fine piece of ass you have under you.”

The pirate woman set her leg forward, bare save for the light-built geta she had on, as if earnestly expecting Yuliana to do as instructed.

“I’d rather die, thank you!” Yuliana growled, blushing with anger and embarrassment.

“Oh, you would now?” Sai-Lin asked and leaned forward, wickedly smiling. “You may yet come to wish you had taken the offer when it was first made. Too bad, you get no second chances! I don’t have to kill you, sweetheart. That would be terribly old-fashioned and boring. But I do know a thousand and one ways to make your life extremely excruciating, for what little it lasts. Your majesty.”

Yuliana said nothing, scowling quietly at Sai-Lin.

Then, from the pool behind her carried a long, heavy sigh, and Erynmir turned a little to fix her resting posture.

“Hi——?”

At that sight, Sai-Lin let out a sudden gasp and fell pale.

It appeared she hadn’t noticed the dragon at all until now.

Due to Erynmir’s size and inconspicuous color scheme, the pirate had merely dismissed the beast as part of the background, being too focused on the Empress. Her expression turned quickly to that of genuine terror and she staggered back a step.

Seeing this swift and drastic reversal of attitude, Yuliana could barely hide her smile.

“Why, is something wrong?” she asked, feigning innocent. “You look a little unwell, Sai-Lin. Or is it only your makeup?”

“You…!” the pirate flared at her, pointing at the great wyrm with her pipe. “Do you know what that thing is…!?”

“It’s a dragon?” Yuliana suggested.

“It’s a dragon!” Sai-Lin screamed.

“What of it? Do you have something personal against dragons?”

“Stop fucking with me! Is your headcase really this empty, or are you putting on airs!? No, nobody could possibly be as daft!”

“Which is to say…?”

“If only that monster wanted to, it could reduce the two of us to dust with a passing sneeze! ‘What of it’? ‘What of it’!? Are you trying to tell me you’re not afraid to die, you hare-brained sow! Don’t lie to me!”

“Eryn wouldn’t do that,” Yuliana replied. “She’s a good girl. Well, a dragon.”

“If that’s what you truly believe, then you’re even bigger a fool than I thought!” Sai-Lin yelled at her, stomping in anger. “You and that cocky king both! You don’t know what you’re toying with, you imbeciles!”

“We’re not toying with anything. That’s more your line of business, no?”

Gritting her teeth, Sai-Lin glared at Yuliana, but dared not to come closer to the napping dragon.

With a haughty hmph!, she then spun around.

“You’ll yet rue the day you made an enemy of me! Mark my words!”

Taking great care not to show too much of a hurry, yet not unnecessarily loitering either, Sai-Lin took her leave. And it was only after she was well out of sight that Yuliana dared to breathe easier again.

Although that heinous villain had revealed a surprising weakness, it would’ve been wrong to claim Yuliana wasn’t worried at all. No matter how courageous she tried to act, no matter how the Lord of Light had assured her concern was needless, Yuliana was not yet above fear, not that of death, or of pain, and especially not of spiders.

“Thank you, Eryn,” she told the dragon.

“Hon roé?” the dragon wiggled its ear, oblivious, and went back to sleep, and Yuliana could only sigh at the random nature of her rescue.

“...Our human disputes are only so much noise to you, aren't they?”