Not only did she throw up shields while Tavras threw up water, they ran around the serpent snapping turtle’s shell. Foofy joined the good fun—sometimes running after Val’s heels, other times trying to keep Tavras at bay, yet shying away from any splashes of water that he sent his way.

Val had a fun, light-hearted training session with Tavras throughout the afternoon. In place of his usual defensible attacks, Tavras took to dashing past her with water outstretched, clotheslining her and sending her to the ocean below. They both splashed into the refreshing ocean waters.

“Isn’t this so much fun?”

“Wait!” Val started to paddle after the serpent snapping turtle.

“I asked our turtle friend to slow down.” Tavras rolled onto his back leisurely and played with a stream of water that he had created above him. “You’re welcome to join our friend on his back again, if you don’t want to swim.”

Val did just that. She opted to settle herself at the edge of its shell and watch Tavras who peacefully floated in the water.

His eyes were lost to the sky, quiet and reflective. “Val? I wanted to apologize for my behavior on the Summit. I wasn’t acting like myself, and I realize now how cruel to you I have been.”

A lump caught in her throat, choked up as she tried to swallow. When they had left the Summit, Val had been hoping to restore the way that things used to be between herself and Tavras—sans crush this time, but she had never been expecting an apology.

“T-Thanks, Tavras. You were kind of being an awful jerk over there, but I can understand if it feels wrong for you to be on land.” To herself, she thought how her crush on him had been wrong too—another reason that Tavras had been trying to make her dislike him.

“I was just wondering actually, if I may ask you a personal question.” Tavras fumbled around in trying to place his words. “What is it about me that you’re willing to put up with me but won’t tolerate with Arius?”

“What do you mean exactly?”

“Maybe I still don’t know the full story, but from my perspective, Arius stuck a knife to your neck and that made you freak out enough to run away. The Val who I know is more persistent than that. I did worse to you, for crying out loud—physically and mentally. Why did you not react so adversely when I choked you out or pulled the water from your cells? As much as you hate being manipulated, how can you bear to be around me after what I said to Evalaite?”

Many times, Val blinked. “Why are you asking these questions? Do you want me to change my mind and go back to Arius?” Actually, Tavras was asking her some excellent questions that she had not fully thought through at the time of her immediate, emotional reaction.

“I just want to know why you chose me over him,” Tavras whispered dryly.

Val gazed out to the wavering horizon of ocean waves. “The first one, I realize that I kind of deserved. I attacked you first.” She grimaced, just remembering how poorly she had behaved back then. “I don’t know if I ever apologized for that.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it. Iharu went through a phase too—much worse than yours, as you can imagine.”

“What?” Her eyes bugged out of her head. It did not surprise her to hear that she had not been the only demigoddess enamored with Tavras, but it was hard to imagine the goddess Iharu in the same position back in her youth.

Tavras waved the matter away with one hand in the air. “Continue with what you were saying.”

“Oh, right. The blatant killing of mortals will always appall me, but I don’t know. It has always been hard for me to wrap my head around how you did something like that, just because it seems so far from your nature. Given what you said about your memories and your relationship to the ocean, I think it finally makes sense.”

Her glamorized eyes set upon Tavras in utmost respect. “If anything, the world should feel lucky that such a kind and happy guy formed a bond with the ocean. I know that you try your best to restrict any harm that it causes wherever you can. Thanks for trying your best to look after the world!”

At that, Tavras ducked around into a somersault and disappeared beneath the water.

“Tavras?” Val’s eyes searched the surface.

In the end, he breached in the same spot with a big gasp of air. “Ah, sorry Val. You just had me a little choked up there.” As if nothing had happened, he reclined back against the water. This time, he stuck his arms over his head to fully lounge across the water.

Watching the Sea Itself float casually on his back, arms above his head reclining, it felt surreal to imagine him enraged enough to kill nearly a quarter million people at the drop of a hat. “I don’t like what the ocean forces you to do.”

“The ocean would already know that you hate it,” Tavras mused, “if it cared enough to register your feelings at all.”

She gave the unceasing waves a few blinks before focusing back on Tavras. “So,” she continued, “I can understand why you attacked me that second time, too. I was blaming you for causing harm when you’re already trying so hard reduce the damage that the ocean wreaks.”

Eyes remaining closed, Tavras did not reply for a while. “I don’t know where I quite gave you this perception, but you really think highly of me. No longer are you holding me accountable for my actions at all. Is that why you chose me over Arius?”

That thereby became the segue in which they began the discussion of Arius, and why she had not chosen to put up with the Ravager.