Sikhez cringed as they exited the castle onto the little island that wasn’t so little, still surrounded by a crumbling outer wall. She slowly opened her eyes and sighed in relief when nothing happened but turned to glare at an amused Eshanai. She brushed the young Naga's anger off with a laugh before turning to lead her off the island. They were quiet as they swam, Eshanai getting used to swimming with her lost arm and Sikhez lost in her thoughts. Eshanai’s powerful tail did most of the work, and a stillness settled over them as the sights and sounds of the jungle enveloped their senses. Birds tweeted as various spirits flitted about in the air above them and in the water below. Sikhez eyed every last one of them with suspicion, holding on to Eshanai’s hand for comfort, making cutting through the water a further challenge for her.

Eshanai let her for now. Given what the girl had been through, it was understandable. She hoped she would gain some confidence back on her own. Eshanai would, of course help, but in her experience, these things needed to be dealt with on your own terms, and forcing the issue would only make it worse. They needed to find her flute, which was easier said than done. Biquix were extremely hard to track, able to travel as an incorporeal dark cloud and leaving no trace of their passing. She would worry about that later. For now, she had something she wanted to show Sikhez.

They looked back at the crumbling castle once they reached the shore. From this distance, the damage was less noticeable. Except for where the wall had collapsed in a few places, and one of the towers had fallen in on itself, the castle looked almost majestic. She couldn’t wait to see what it would look like once she had her flute back. But even if she didn’t manage to find it, the keep would still serve as fine shelter for her sisters. Eshanai couldn’t help but wonder about the entity that inhabited the castle. If it was the castle itself or another spirit she didn’t know, but it couldn’t be feeling great right now. She found herself wanting to help the thing. Whatever it was, it had been just as much of a prisoner of the Catfish as any of its guests. It could be argued that a castle didn’t much care about who inhabited it, but then why had it given over control to her so easily?

Sikhez’s paranoia didn’t lessen until they were a ways into the jungle and away from the castle. And then she still eyed every plant and animal they came across with narrowed eyes, keeping a loose grip on Eshanai’s hand. Perhaps it wasn’t her recent ordeal with the Catfish that was the problem, but the whole situation. Eshanai was pretty sure the young Naga had never been out in the forest before without the favor of the spirits until this latest disaster. What must it be like for her? To have every sprig and leaf at your beck and call and then suddenly have it all taken away, the jungle must be an entirely different place to Sikhez. Eshanai had experienced it too, but her shock hadn’t been as severe. One good thing about their unfavoured state was that it highlighted the Naga’s overreliance on spirits. Why take the time to learn when you could simply command all your problems away after all? Eshanai chuckled to herself as she watched Sikhez eye a carnivorous sundew plant. She jumped back as the Naga sized plant sensed movement and brought its tendrils, covered with sticky red drops resembling morning dew, in to enclose its struggling prey. The Jackatrast tried to escape, but the more it moved, the more it caused the sticky tendrils to bend inwards, ensnaring it further.

“What?” Sikhez snapped in embarrassment once she determined that the plant wouldn’t reach out to snatch her up.

“Never seen a Sundew before?” Eshanai asked expectantly.

“No, yes, never like this,” Sikhez answered, out of her element.

“Sundew’s are hard to escape without help once they have a hold on you. The only thing you can do is stay calm and hope that it won’t sense your movements. If you panic and move even the slightest bit, it’ll start a chain reaction where more and more sticky drops will attach themselves to you. Then it will truly be impossible to escape. You will be slowly melted in the plant's digestive fluids as it devours you alive,” the young Naga's eyes grew wide at the explanation, and she slithered further away from the carnivorous plant.

“What should I do? Are there other plants that dangerous?” Sikhez looked around at the vegetation surrounding them like she wanted to stab them.

“There's little you could do if you were alone. For now, stick close to me and do as I do,” Eshanai wasn’t trying to scare the girl but doing a fine job of it, judging by how Sikhez immediately crushed Eshanai’s arm to her chest. The way Sikhez’s breasts squished up against Eshanai distracted her for a moment before she remembered what she had been trying to explain. That they were better off together. “As a general rule, anything that doesn’t immediately run away or hide from you is either indifferent or wants to eat you.” Eshanai illustrated her point by sweeping her tail over a nearby bush. The two Naga watched as it immediately retracted its leaves before shooting into the ground to safety. Sikhez was quiet for a while as she absorbed the information, clinging to Eshanai’s arm like a lifeline.

“How do I know the difference between something indifferent and something that wants to eat me?” Sikhez finally asked, and Eshanai smiled sagely.

“You can’t,” she answered simply, making Sikhez gape at her. “And just as a side note,” Eshanai continued in a whisper, and Sikhez leaned in closer to listen. “Something indifferent might still want you dead.” Eshanai laughed uproariously at that, but the young Naga didn’t seem to think it was very funny.

Sikhez continued pressing herself against Eshanai as they traveled. She finally started to calm down again when she noticed where they were headed and tensed. In contrast to her previous state of unrest, now the more uncomfortable she got, the more she seemed to distance herself from Eshanai until they finally reached the jungle's edge and the young Naga refused to go any further.

”What?” She exclaimed in shock and apprehension. This was probably as far into the lowlands as she had ever been. ”Where are we going?” Sikhez turned cold. She knew where they were going but didn’t want to believe the first hunter had slipped so far into such blatant disregard for the elders.

“The broken beach, of course. I live there now,” Eshanai expected Sikhez to freak out, but instead, the young Naga only stared at her in disbelief.

“I knew you had turned a deaf ear to the elder's teachings, but this is a whole new low. And you even live there? Do the elders mean nothing to you?” The words hurt more than Eshanai thought possible, especially coming from Sikhez.

“I care, but the elders aren’t the end-all authority on what I can and cannot do. Some of the things they taught us are plainly not true,” Eshanai could see by Sikhez’s sinking expression that she was losing her.

“You’re saying that they lied to us?”

“No, I mean yes, I mean that’s not the point,” Eshanai took a deep breath and let it out before she continued. “Look, what I mean to say is that the elders are not perfect. I’ve been living on the beach this whole time since the spirits left us to fend for ourselves, and nothing bad has happened to me? Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”

“There could be other reasons than simple danger. The elders are wise and old. They must have a reason for their rules.”

“But the reason they give is that it’s dangerous, and yet here I stand. Doesn’t that prove that they were wrong about this?” Sikhez eyed the many scars crisscrossing Eshanai’s body, including her missing arm.

“Seems you’ve been in plenty of danger to me,” she said, and Eshanai had to concede the point.

“Ok, fair. How about I’ll just show you what we came to see? A little look couldn’t hurt, right?” Eshanai suggested, and Sikhez nodded reluctantly.

It did not go well. As Sikhez followed Eshanai onto the beach, she had a similar reaction to how Eshanai had first reacted but handled it far worse. On reflection, perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to bring her traumatized little sister out here right after her ordeal. She simply panicked. There were too many alien impressions for her to take in at the moment. The wreckage-strewn beach with the vast ocean stretching on beyond it, not to mention the wide-open sky. Eshanai remembered how she had to get used to all that open space, the feeling of being exposed, fearing an attack from any direction. Sikhez jumped back as soon as she started sinking into the sand with a look of nausea on her face.

“The ground, it tried to eat me,” Sikhez was breathing rapidly from her shock, and she tripped and fell as she backed into the jungle onto solid ground.

“That’s just sand. It's looser than dirt, so it’ll do that,” Eshanai said, trying to stay calm and not laugh at her distressed sister.

“I-I can’t see properly. Are you sure this isn’t another spirits doing?” Any amusement at the situation Eshanai might have been feeling was snuffed out as she realized, to her horror, that the sands muffling effect must be reminding her of the Catfish. This really was a bad idea.

“Absolutely certain,” Eshanai said with conviction, trying not to create any doubt in her sister. Sikhez eyed her skeptically as she got her scales under her.

“I-I, by Gaia’s mountainous mammaries, this is too much. I need to think,” she said and started to move away into the trees.

“We don’t have to go to the beach if you don’t want to,” Eshanai hurried to catch up to the young Naga.

“No, I need to be alone, away from you and all this strangeness,” that put a stop to Eshanai. She was a big advocate of letting Naga make their own mistakes, but she couldn’t just let Sikhez run off on her own after what she had just been through.

“Where will you go, huh? You barely even knew what a Sundew was a moment ago. There’s only a matter of time before you die out there,” Eshanai could feel the desperation coming through in her voice, but she didn’t care. She wouldn’t let any more of her sisters die if she could help it, no matter what the elders said. “If you won’t let me help you, find your fellow spawnlings and band together for strength. Gather at the Catfish’s keep. I know what you went through in there, but it’s the safest place on the island right now.” Sikhez, too, paused in her slithering as she turned her head to look at Eshanai over her shoulder.

“You’re the one who needs help,” was all she said before she was gone, disappearing into the trees like the wind. She always had been fast, that one. Eshanai stood there staring after Sikhez for a long moment wavering on if she should follow after the girl or not. Perhaps it was best to give her some time to think as she wanted. She was so bad at this. How could she have ever thought that bringing Sikhez to the beach was a good idea? And then Eshanai had suggested that Sikhez take shelter in the very palace of her torturer, so stupid. Eshanai could really use some advice right now, but she had no one to give it, and she continued to berate herself as she made her way to her ship.

Eshanai just stood there, staring up at the wooden contraption that had filled her with such joy and wonder just a few days ago. Now she wondered if it was all worth it. Could she just leave her sisters along with everything she had ever known on this island? Eshanai turned to look out over the vast mass of churning water that was the ocean, with all its mysteries and unknowns, and it turned out that yes, yes she could.

Eshanai had been growing jaded over the years. She acknowledged that, her heart long since hardened to the suffering of her tribe. So why did she care so much all of a sudden? Was it just guilt from wanting to leave? She was acting like a spawnling. But then why shouldn’t she care? Eshanai had been such a loyal little snake once, and now when she suddenly had her own goals and aspirations, she started to question everything. Excitement and wanderlust filled her as she stared out over the water. How could this be a bad thing?

She wished Sikhez were here. Eshanai had been so happy to have someone to share her thoughts and feelings with that she hadn’t even stopped to think about how her little sister might take it. But who was she to dictate how anybody else should live their life? Sure she could have forced Sikhez to come here, bitten her, so she could not resist, but that would have turned into an even bigger disaster. No, she would just have to let Sikhez make her own decisions like she had said she would, even though the worry was eating Eshanai from the inside.

She nodded in resolve and turned to climb up the ship's side when Eshanai abruptly remembered that she had lost an arm. It was weird, it still felt like she had an arm there, but the sensation clashed with reality as Eshanai grabbed at nothing and fell back to land on the sand below. She sighed in frustration as she got up and used the newly formed hole in the side of her ship to get up on deck instead, and she chuckled to herself. One little taste of companionship, and she was all mushy inside. It was hard to go back to being alone.

Just then, Eshanai could feel her spirit squirming around in her tummy, vines climbing their way up her throat and out of her mouth. Eshanai remembered the two tree spirits that had appeared in her dream after her fight with the troll. She supposed she wasn’t really alone, and being able to put a face to the little spirit somehow made Eshanai feel more comfortable with having a tree inside her. It was still weird, but Eshanai was glad the spirit chose to use her mouth instead of bursting out of her chest, very considerate of it.

The vines curled themselves around something like they had done in the treasury. Eshanai watched, her mouth full of vines and struggling not to gag, as the glaive appeared in the air. It clattered to the deck as the little spirit retracted its tendrils back into Eshanai, and she could breathe normally again. She had mixed feelings about the weapon, it was made of unblemished steel, nearly priceless, and would surely come in handy, but it was a talking weapon. It better know when to shut up. Eshanai couldn’t have it keeping her up at night, or she would stick it in with the others. She couldn’t help but admire it, though. The others she had found had been either rusted to hell or made of inferior materials. She immediately regretted it as she picked the glaive up. The blade started glowing, and the ship was sucked up into it, for lack of a better term. Eshanai screamed as she yet again fell to the sand. Not in fear or despair but in anger.

“Give me back my ship!” She snarled after landing as she snatched up the glaive that had landed beside her. She had two hands around the shaft as if she could choke it to death and was shaking it in fury. “Or I’ll snap you in half.”

“I’m a bad bitch. You can’t kill me,” the glaive vibrated, and Eshanai glared at it in her hands.

“Well, how about I throw you in the ocean then. See how you like it down there,” Eshanai was getting ready to toss the thing, its priceless nature be damned, when her ship abruptly appeared out of thin air. It settled into the sand with the low groaning sound of creaking planks and protesting rigging. The glaive better hope it hadn’t been damaged.