In the gentle light of the crystal cave, Val made her way after Tavras who led her into the unknown.

“Where are we going?”

“Hush. Be patient. You’ll see for yourself in no time.”

By no time, he meant that this slow swim through the underwater cave felt like it was lasting a small eternity. If only Val could fast forward in the current timeline like she could in her visions of Past Insight, she would do so now. As long as it had taken them to hike up the stout mountain at the center of Tavras’s Paradise, this took even longer.

Val felt that a certain question was entirely in order, though she had to put in a great deal of effort not to sound like an overly whiny kid. “Are we there yet?”

Tavras mocked her, rehashing the phrase into the whiniest voice of all—exactly what she had been trying to avoid. “Are we there yet?” A snort of a laugh sounded from where he swam up ahead. “Val, you do realize that is how you sound, don’t you?”

“Well, I don’t know…. Sorry that I would expect a god of water to make this go a little faster. I mean, we are swimming in water for crying out loud.”

“Very well. I will make sure to make the return trip a lot more suited to your tastes. We actually have arrived, right now.” Tavras pointed ahead where a bright light started at the end of the cave.

“Oh, daylight!” The light inspired Val to pick up her pace, swimming faster to get outside of this cave sooner. As pretty as this cavern had turned out to be, Val’s initial awe had worn off quite quickly. She was sick of feeling cold and wet in the dark, so the outside world beckoned to her.

The bright light became everything in her vision. Her eyes could hardly see a thing, what with the way that the broad daylight blinded her. Between the sunlight bearing down from overhead and its rays reflecting off of the ocean waves all around, Val had to wait for her vision to adjust.

Then, she could smile having exited the cave, at last. In front of her, the water unfolded into the open sea. “Ah,” she said in understanding. “We have just swum the entire radius of the island. We’ve made it back to the ocean.”

“Yes. You should have guessed that as soon as you jumped into the lake and noticed that it was salt water.” Now that Tavras had explained this to her, it made perfect sense.

That only left one question remaining in Val’s head: why did he show her this hidden, underwater passageway? Her best guess, she decided to vocalize and see if he would give her a straight answer. “Were you trying to show me the lay of the land for some reason?”

“Perhaps,” Tavras said with a wry smile.

His response told her everything that she needed to know. Somehow, when it came time for her trial, this knowledge would be useful to her.

“Well, there isn’t much for us to do here,” Tavras continued. “Would you like to head back? I think it would be mean if we left Foofy at the lake.”

“Yeah, let’s head back.” At least she could smile knowing that Tavras would make their return trip quicker than their journey here.

“Hey!” he called. “We have another friend incoming.”

Val looked back out to sea, her heart lifting in excitement. This must be how they would return to the lake more quickly this time with Tavras calling some sea creatures to their aid. For some reason, she expected to see the dorsal fins of dolphins bobbing on the gentle waves.

Instead, she saw a massive fin curl out of the water, jagged like the leathery sails of an ancient airship. Worst of all, she recognized the shape of that fin.

“No,” Val said. “No, no, no!”

“Yes,” Tavras drawled out, long and mocking.

She listened to her gut reaction and tried swimming away, back into the cave for herself.

“That’s just rude. Don’t run away from our friend! He has come all this way, just for you.” Before she could escape, Tavras latched onto her arm with one hand. “Get ready!”

Her thoughts rattled around in her head, all in one coherent objection to this. Val did not have any time to react before the sea serpent had overtaken them.

While it cut through the water like a razor straight for them, it slowed and breached the water with great care. Its head poked out of the water directly beneath them, offering the base of its head for them to ride on.

Val grabbed onto the edge of one slimy fin in the same way that she had ridden on this sea serpent, back when it had saved her from drowning. Her other arm stayed extended to cling onto Tavras.

Likewise, he took up the fin on the other side of the sea serpent’s head. If only Tavras had Foofy tucked beneath his arm, they would all be together in a reenactment of their first meeting. The only difference this time was the fact that Val and Tavras reached across the sea serpent’s back, holding onto one another as well.

“Hold on tight!” he called.

The next second, the sea serpent plunged beneath the water. In a series of long arcs, it swam through the cavernous tunnel.

From his lips and hers, some bubbles trailed up to the surface. Those, they quickly left behind with the rapid pace in which the sea serpent propelled them through the water. The movement felt dizzying to Val. Between its speed and its up and down motion, she could only cling tightly to the serpent, squeeze her eyes shut, and wait for this to be over.

Luckily, the sea serpent swam rapidly. Despite this, Val suspected that she could hold her breath for a minute or two at most. Surely, she would need this sea serpent to surface soon so that she could breathe.

Droplets of water splattered around her, and open air filled her lungs.

“Ah,” she gasped. Her fingers swiped away the water that tried to trail down into her eyes.

Where she expected to feel the shadows of the cave on her skin, Val actually felt sunlight. Despite this, her eyes still expected to open up to the underside of the island with its cavernous ceiling above. Instead, broad daylight greeted her eyes, just as they had left it behind.

The sea serpent had covered the length of the island within a matter of two minutes or less, causing Val to never need to breathe throughout the entire time in that tunnel.

At the center of the lake, the high cliff walls surrounded them once more. Here, the sea serpent adopted a side-to-side snaking motion, allowing its head to skim along the surface. It swam around and around in a circle about the lake to stay here with Val and Tavras. Below, its body and tail could be seen far beneath the water, trailing after its head in a spiral.

“We are back here already,” Val stated to express the extent of her shock and surprise.

“Our sea serpent friend is a quick swimmer,” Tavras said with a glowing smile. “Are you ready to head up?”

Recalling the way that he had burst up the waterfall earlier, Val could feel her stomach drop lower in her abdomen. Even worse, the sea serpent might just be the one who would take them up the cliff.

“No, I’m not ready, but I suppose that I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!” Val tried to rethink this whole experience as a ride at the most authentic amusement park ever, yet she failed to see the fun in it.

“That’s the spirit!” Tavras moved across the sea serpent’s back and brought one arm around her shoulders. Some gentle tugs later, and Tavras guided her away from the sea serpent. Instead, they approached the base of the waterfall where they entered the misty spray.

“Tavras, wait.” The knots twisted around tighter in her belly, compelling her to ask for this moment to regain her composure.

“Sure thing. It feels nice here, so close to the waterfall.” His eyes trailed off to the mist, becoming hazy in much the same way.

Enough moisture took to the air around them that Val could hardly see Tavras right in front of her. The vague outline of his features were just barely visible through the mist. While he treaded to keep them both afloat in the water, Val hardly had to do anything aside from keep holding onto his forearms. Her fingers gripped around the hard, lean muscles of his arms.

When the knot in her stomach loosened up, the sensation was replaced by the fluttering of butterflies. She really did like Tavras, spending time with him and being so close to him. The savory moments of them together like this, she would miss the most when she left his Paradise.

“Are you ready to head up now?” he asked. Tavras leaned closer in to her so that his eyes became more visible through the mist. Presently, his eyes took on the color of a pale green, made all the lighter by the mist. His eyes almost reminded her of the crystals back in the cave.

As beautiful as he looked, she had to restrain herself from breathing some one-worded compliment. Her eyes stayed gazing into his, transfixed. “No, not yet. I want to stay down here with you.”

Since their time together on this island felt shorter than ever, Val wanted to savor these moments with him.

Apparently he did not feel the same way though, because he shouted, “Time to go!” His arms clasped around her in a bear hug, and from there, they launched upward.

“Ack!” Some kind of yelp left Val’s lips before she could clamp her teeth together.

The column of water from the falls continued to rush downward, appearing to move faster than ever as they moved upward at an even greater speed. This sight terrified her, giving Val absolutely no desire to witness this. She shut her eyes tight against Tavras’s chest.

Before she knew it, they had flown up the waterfall and landed on solid ground. Furthermore, Val found herself toppling over onto her hands and knees. She would have sworn that she had just felt a hand against her back. Had Tavras just shoved her down?

“We’re back,” he said, not missing a beat. “Look, there’s Foofy coming to greet you!”

Val shifted onto her butt so that she could receive Foofy’s onslaught of love. He ran into her arms and her lap, fussing over the fact that she had disappeared in the lake for so long.

“Let’s say goodbye to our friend again.” Tavras waved down to the lake.

The sea serpent had switched back to its classic, vertical swimming motion now that they no longer rode on its head. Its looping arcs encircled the lake. The head of the sea serpent drew upward one last time for its mouth to open at Tavras. A soft whistling sound came from its throat, sounding as happy as a dolphin. From there, it dove back into the water at an even greater speed. Its tail flipped through the water last, almost as if to mirror the final farewell wave that they gave with their hands. The sea serpent disappeared back to the underwater cavern.

Val’s hand still hung in the air with her limp wave to the sea serpent. She let her hand fall back down over top of Foofy’s head. Still, she hated sea serpents and probably would feel that way, always.

“Do you want to head back for the day?” Tavras asked.

“Yes.” Val had a lot of work to do, in preparation to take on that challenge in which Tavras had offered her.