Lucia watched as Avner waved his goodbye. Together with his family, he soon blurred into the sea of people.

“Good to have you onboard Lucia,” Radingo saluted, still chewing his breakfast.

“Thank you for accepting me.”

“Are you full yet? We have some leftovers if you need any.”

“I’ve eaten my fill.”

Xe had one last breakfast with Avner. Bread crumbs dipped in some weird syrupy egg with soy sauce. Xe also had some of this drink made from a large soft grain known as barley.

Eating in the mortal sea was uncomfortable. Especially when xe had to make sure it wasn’t too conspicuous.

Xe wasn’t too familiar regarding the etiquette of eating on a ship. But xe didn’t pay it too much mind as survival triumphed manners in hirs current situation.

Lucia recalled the conversation xe had with Avner last night.

A delayed cognitive response. For all the bravado he showed during the fight, in the end, he was but a demon. Lucia could sense that Avner was afraid; He was merely a fledgling.

No one is perfect.

That’s why xe shouldn’t push him any further.

Whatever it is, that didn’t matter now.

What’s important is that xe reports hirs father’s disappearance and returns home.

The loss is inevitable.

But further loss should be avoided–

“We’ll be completing our mission first before we head over to the demon association, that way we don’t need to go in circles.”

“What mission would that be?”

“Resource collection. We’ll grab the item and then bring it to the association.”

Lucia nodded.

“It’ll be a while so you can rest in the cabin while we finish up our work.”

Closing hirs eyes, Lucia accepted Radingo’s suggestion and entered the cabin.

Everything blurred into a mess of colours.

Xe opened hirs eyes when xe felt hirs feet touch solid ground.

And grimaced.

Radingo’s cabin was unlike Avner’s compact quarters. For one, Randingo’s place was more spacious but..

It looked like something straight out of Hawaii. Not that Lucia knew that such a country existed.

The place was exotically fancy, sure, Lucia just didn’t like the decor. Things like fish head trophies, red hibiscuses, antlers, tiger skin, and leather sofas. The place smelled like seaweed.

It was a mismatch of various elements that didn’t match.

“Can’t be helped.”

Lucia unpacked the items in hirs sling bag.

There were still some left over preserved food items which xe hadn’t touched. As for the clothes, xe had dresses which the guardian spirit borrowed hir. Most of them were white. Nevertheless, each of them had a unique design so at least Lucia had a variation to choose from.

If not for the spirit, Lucia would have had to use the same clothes over and over again until the trip ended. So xe was somewhat grateful for the spirit’s consideration.

Xe looked around for the guardian spirit of Randingo’s cabin.

“Hm? That’s odd.”

All the rooms were empty. There was no sign of anyone living here.

‘Lucia, are you alright? How is it in there?’

“No problems.”

Lucia’s voice would only be heard by the ship when xe willed it.

‘You’ve seen Avner’s cabin right? Which is better?’

“I haven’t completed exploring your’s yet.”

Admittedly, xe had. Xe just didn’t want to answer the question.

Every ship was unique. It wasn’t polite to compare. Cabins usually reflect the ship’s personality.

For Avner, the theme was efficiency and functionality.

For Radingo, vintage quirkiness.

Lucia arranged the dresses into the wardrobe before throwing hirself onto the king sized bed.

Luxurious, even though the blanket had pineapple patterns printed on it.

It smelled like fruits, not floral detergent, unlike Avner’s cabin.

Lucia felt a little unnerving how xe was the only one alone here.

“Why is there no guardian spirit here?” Lucia asked.

‘Guardian spirits? What do you mean?’

“Someone who manages the place. To keep it clean. Don’t you have one?”

‘What? There’s no such thing. You mean Avner’s cabin has a spirit?’

Puzzled by the response, Lucia gave hirs reply.

“Yes.”

‘Seriously? What kind of.. Liaskram, shut up for a moment. I'm talking to my brain. Hm? Dunno, Lucia said Avner has a spirit in his cabin. Where was I? So Avner’s cabin has a spirit? What spirit?’

Lucia was told by ‘her’ not to disclose too much about ‘her’ existence, especially to Avner.

“So your cabin doesn’t have one?”

‘I don’t know any cabins housing guardian angels. I don’t remember hearing anything like that. Ain?’

“Then don’t tell Avner about what I asked you today.”

‘What?’

“Don’t say it. I was curious so I thought to ask.”

‘Alright. Ain, no talking to Avner about the spirit.. I don’t know what it’s about but just listen to our client’s words alright?’

Lucia realized how abnormal the mortalborn demon, Avner, was. Did the guardian spirit only exist in Avner’s cabin? Who is ‘she’ anyways?

Lucia lazed around inside Radingo’s cabin. Without any guardian spirit here to talk to, the boredom began to gnaw at hir.

‘She’ taught Lucia a lot.

Being alone, the dark emotions in hirs heart rise to the surface. Xe had nothing to distract hirself with.

‘She’ told Lucia to believe.

Lucia was the one who decided to give up on hirs father. Xe was the one who almost caused the death of another vessel.

‘She’ told Lucia that Avner will be alright.

Shaking hirs head to rid of the toxic thoughts, Lucia decided to exit the cabin for a change of pace.

Hirs vision warped. The next thing xe saw was the scene of a winter paradise all around. A white forest field at an incline, icicles hanging off the branch of bare trees.

A grueling staircase climb to the top which Lucia could scarcely see the end to. For every hundred steps there was a larger platform to rest. The edge of both sides of the stairs had stone-carved lanterns arranged in parallel, an element xe was familiar with in Hades. The steps were blanched by snow, imprints of boots were left by Radingo and Ain at each step.

“It’s Lucia hey..” Radingo nudged Ain. They looked like he was going to die.

“Where is this?” Lucia admired the scenery.

“Called the climb of death. We’re going to the top because that’s where the flower is found.”

“Flower?”

“There is a temple up in Mount Rovsing where the flowers grow. We’re climbing to get there. The flower is a material which can be used to craft the catalyst for containers,” Ain explained.

“I see.”

Catalysts are used to convert spirit objects into corporeal objects in the mortal sea. Things like weapons hidden as key chains or explosives disguised as bowties require catalysts to be created.

Lucia flew around to explore, taking care not to go too far. Xe noticed how they weren’t the only ones climbing this seemingly endless trail.

“Hey, why not sit on my shoulder or head or something? Don’t you get tired flying all the time?”

“It’s alright. I can manage myself.”

“Just sit. It’s free.”

It's not free. Lucia almost wanted to retort.

Either way, xe didn’t buy into Radingo’s words and followed them in the air. Calling it flying was a little misleading as Lucia didn’t really have to force hirs wings to stay afloat.

It was only after another hour that they finally reached the summit.

“Finally over!” Ain cheered.

“Dude, we have to descend again later you know?” Radingo pointed behind him with his thumb.

Ain became teary-eyed.

At the very top was a large temple with monuments surrounding something like a grand temple. White papers dangling on straw ropes, shrines with incense burning inside. Lucia thought it resembled structures that you could find in Hades

Xe followed Randigo and Ain to the back corner of the sacred ground, away from the public eye.

“That one,” Randingo said.

Lucia examined the flower. From the center, the dark blue faded into white. It had long thin yellow stalks with thick anthers. It didn’t look particularly enchanting.

“Don’t we need to collect it from the astral space?”

“So we just wait for an angel to come.”

“That’s a bummer.”

“Relax. Not all angels are bad. I have the person for the job.”

“What’s up with the difference in treatment huh? You told Avner not to trust angels and here you are saying the opposite.”

“That guy needs to learn. He’s too lax around them. Right Lucia?”

“I wouldn’t say so..”

“Really?”

“I feel that he’s at least cautious around them.”

“Alright. Alright. Follow me.”

“Where are you going to go?”

Randingo entered one of the tourist stops, a tea house.

Sure enough, there was a lone angel who Randingo recognized. She was one of the waiters working here, enjoying her time accompanying the regulars.

Her back was facing them so she didn’t notice.

“You know the drill.”

“What?”

While Ain and Lucia were busy trying to comprehend what Radingo meant by that, he walked up to the woman with a creepy smile.