Three days later, Jade finally got her wish. Easing the boat away from the dock without even making an attempt to hide the grin on her face, she tested the throttle a little before steering the boat in the direction of the open water.

“I can’t believe you sometimes, you know?” Svanda sighed as she looked over at Reina before taking a second quick glance around the interior. “If you’re usually such a miser, what was going through your head when you decided to buy a boat?”

It was the question that everyone else had been thinking, although nobody had been brave enough to ask. It was as though they thought she would suddenly realise what she was doing and change her mind as a result, but now that they were out on the water it seemed that Svanda’s inhibitions had evaporated. Not that any of them were complaining about Reina’s choice, far from it, but they were still surprised at her sudden and unprompted decision.

It wasn’t a cheap one either.

Straight from one of the many waterfront stores along the coast and into the water, the boat was just under twelve meters long and four meters wide. With a sky-blue hull that matched the clear ocean and a thin grey stripe to separate it from the pearly white interior, most ocean traffic would probably pin them as a rich group of friends out for a cruise. Trim had already seen one group of shirtless men steer a boat in their direction, but she was left chuckling when they quickly changed course after seeing Svanda’s assault rifle casually slung over her shoulder.

“It’s a long-term investment,” Reina replied from the second of the two seats up front. Wearing a wide straw sunhat and a casual grey dress, she was currently examining the series of instruments and dials on the woodgrain dashboard before her with what was probably feigned interest. Jade, who was sitting in the driver’s seat beside her, was probably the only one who could read them all anyway. Well, half of them maybe, she would just have to learn the rest as she went.

The rest of the group was seated around the wide U-shaped seat that sat behind the cockpit. Covered with light brown leather that proved to be an elegant contrast with the blue of the hull, there was a surprising amount of room for them to relax as they enjoyed the ocean breeze. Instead of looking inward at the boat’s features, however, most them now looked out over the water in admiration as boats of all shapes and sizes cut in one direction or another. Trim’s initial comment was that it looked to be completely at random, but Jade had assured them that there was actually some form of order to the chaos.

The gentle hum of the inboard motors beneath them kicked up a notch as Jade experimented with the throttle a little more, soon settling the boat into a steady pace as they cut across the relatively flat surface. The sun which hung high above them reflected off the surface of the small waves as though they were glistening, and unlike the rest of the seats, Jade and Reina had a tinted windshield and a sunroof to keep the elements at bay. If it did decide to rain there was a smaller area in the front of the boat down a small flight of stairs, although currently what little gear they had was hastily strewn about down there in the relatively cramped space.

Overall, the boat was much more than any of them had expected, but at the same time the reason for Reina’s purchase lingered in the back of their minds. Svanda’s comment that they could open themselves up to more work on the plate seemed to have gone much further than they had expected it to, and so the next time they returned without Ormain on their backs they would likely be worked to the bone. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing to be out on the water, especially when the weather was this nice, but Nina in particular had her concerns about what kind of work they would get themselves tangled up in. Svanda had said that they could avoid questions now that they didn’t need a driver, but avoiding questions in the first place was something that left her feeling sceptical.

Running a hand through her hair, she turned back to look at the towering mountain behind them. She was sitting at the back beside the small gap in the seating which led to the swim platform, so now she had an uninterrupted view as she studied the rugged behemoth that had been their home for the last week or so. Aline had called it the Fire Fountain, although Nina didn’t really understand why. It wasn’t like she could see anything that resembled fire from where she sat, and she had been told it wasn’t a volcano either. Maybe after earth, water, and wind they had just run out of other names that fit with the theme. It was certainly pretty though, like a multicoloured mosaic as houses, roads, and other structures littered the slopes at random. Apparently if Jade steered the boat around it to the other side, Nina would see that there were four more mountains that were equally impressive too.

Their current destination, however, was as far away from the Five Fountains as they could get.

“If you buy it you get to name it, right?” Aline asked with a contemplative expression. “What are you going to call it?”

“How about Jade of the Ocean?” Jade suggested as she steered around a sailboat that was leisurely drifting in front of them. “It’s fitting, isn’t it?”

Reina raised an eyebrow at the suggestion but didn’t reply as she instead sunk into thought. Her pause told the rest of the group that she either hadn’t considered a name or couldn’t come up with a good idea, and so while Jade’s idea had might have been rejected, it didn’t mean that theirs would be too.

“Call it Sea Princess,” Aline suggested.

“Too generic.”

“Ocean Queen?”

“Not any better.”

Aline frowned before leaning back on the seat, unfazed as the wind sent her hair dancing about behind her. Impressing Reina would probably be difficult. Especially when it came to naming something that she had just spent a lot of money on.

“Go with our theme,” Svanda smiled as she raised a finger. “The Ocean Orchestra.”

“No,” Reina replied after mulling over the suggestion for a moment. “It’s too similar, and there’s no orchestra here either, is there?”

Trim smiled as she stood up, using her knees to get a feel for the movement of the boat beneath her before she walked up to the two seats at the front. They soon found that her true destination was the panel of instruments before Reina, but her smile quickly turned into a frown.

“Where’s the stereo?” she asked as she examined a few of the small screens one by one. “This has a stereo, right?”

“Over here,” Jade replied as she tapped one of the many different screens that sat around her without taking her eyes off the water. “There’s a slot for a memory stick underneath it somewhere.”

“The Ocean Orchestra fits now, doesn’t it?” Trim smiled to Reina as she fished a memory stick out from her pocket and started up the stereo. Nina didn’t know why she always seemed to have one on her, but she wasn’t exactly surprised either considering some of the places Trim had decided to pull her headphones out before. Her thought was quickly shelved though, as the familiar throb of bass emerged from a group of speakers that she was yet to locate.

“Turn it down,” Reina said with a scowl as she looked over. “The name’s rejected too.”

“We’re getting warmer though, right?” Trim smiled without missing a beat as she dialled the stereo down a little before returning to her seat. “I could see you thinking about it.”

Reina shrugged as she turned her attention to the ocean before them. There was less traffic now as they moved beyond the shipping routes which ran between the Five Fountains, but there were still quite a few boats that passed them in each direction. The islands that dotted the ocean were often quiet with picturesque scenery, but what they wouldn’t tell you was that they needed a frantic supply chain to support them. Most basic necessities needed to be shipped from one of the Fountains, and fresh water was the most important of them all considering that attempts at desalination had proved to be economically unfeasible.

The lack of fresh water, in fact, was the main reason that people didn’t end up straying too far away in the first place.

“Symphony of the Seas,” Aline said as she turned her head to watch a sparkling green speedboat cruise past them. “Fits the theme, not too different.”

“Too verbose.”

“Fine, you suggest something then,” Aline replied with a pout as she ignored Reina, instead turning her attention to Saela. “What about you, got any ideas?”

Nina didn’t know how, but Saela still managed to wear her black hoodie despite the sun shining down on them. The wind in their faces would help, but there was only so much it could do if you were clad in a thick layer of black cotton. Despite her concerns, however, Saela seemed fine. At least she had decided to pull the hood down so that her mop of blonde hair could finally catch some sun.

“No,” she replied with a blank expression before she stood up and walked towards the stairs that led down to the small indoor cabin area. “Tell me when we get there.”

Aline sighed at her response but said nothing as the group watched Saela disappear down the steep flight of stairs that was more like a ladder than anything else. After she had disappeared out of sight, she looked over to Nina with a shrug as though asking her if she had any ideas either. She didn’t unfortunately, although she thought that Aline’s idea hadn’t been too bad in the first place. If it was too verbose, why not shorten it?

“Sea Symphony,” she said quietly, although she managed to say it in between the kicks from the stereo. Reina heard it, or at least she thought she did, because her ears pricked up and she turned around to look at them. If her suggestion was great or terrible, she didn’t know. It sounded a little short to her, but maybe that was what Reina was looking for after all.

“Seaward Symphony,” Reina said after she thought for a moment. “Let’s go with that.”

Nods from all around suggested that the consensus was in favour of her choice. Not that it mattered, because once Reina had decided on something it was usually rather difficult to change her mind. A stubborn streak wasn’t necessarily a bad thing if you could see the writing on the wall when you needed to, however, and the fact that Jade was driving a brand-new boat for them was a sign that Reina had that quality.

“By the way, where are we going?” Nina asked. She was feeling a lot better than she had been over the past few days, although she still felt a little stiff at times. The pain in her head had stopped which was the thing that pleased her the most, although sometimes it would reappear in brief flashes that she hoped would eventually disappear. The tightness in her chest had also subsided, much to her delight, and the dark splotch which had previously stretched across it was now limited to a smallish mark which looked more like a regular bruise. She was over the worst of it, that was for sure, and while she wouldn’t want to stand up in the centre of the moving boat, she could get around by herself now with relative ease.

“Where we’re going?” Reina asked. “It would ruin the fun if I told you, wouldn’t it?”

Nina frowned but decided not to respond. She didn’t particularly mind if Reina didn’t want to tell her, as it wasn’t as though she could change their destination and she would find out sooner or later regardless. The islands all looked the same to her anyway besides the fact that some were sandy while others were rocky, so just giving her a name or a description probably wouldn’t do much for her in the first place either.

“I won’t tell you, but I can show you,” Reina smiled as she looked over towards the driver’s seat. “Jade, we’re far enough away from the Fountain now. Let’s see if I got my money’s worth.”

“Aye aye captain,” Jade smirked as she quickly checked her surroundings. “You should hold on though.”

Satisfied that they were clear of any immediate obstacles, Jade accelerated as the Seaward Symphony rose out of the water and sped towards the islands in the distance.