A whole day was spent flying along the Magi Kingdom’s western border listening for intel from the various sites and trying to pick new ones via scrying. It was a lovely view of small settlements and the one or two cities bordering the Envy woods, but it was mostly trees, grassy hills, and high stoney mountains. Jonah was fascinated by it though, checking back constantly in his exercises across the deck. They going quite well and Diana spent a lot of her time watching his progress. He was able to walk unaided for a good while, Kalyah still followed him around like a doting mother, chirping encouragement. Jonah paid more attention to the tiger walking alongside him. His fear for the animal lessened slowly. As the day dragged on, he eventually petted it more and more, by day’s end he sat down and vigorously scratched the fierce predator’s chin. Diana had yet to tell him that Aiko sent her comfort every time it was so adored. It helped intensely as she sat quietly looking over maps.

Speaking up wasn’t doing her any good at the table, every one of the Witch’s comments were meant to rile her up. She was thankful to find that when she wasn’t responding, the woman turned her attention to the Guardian. The Witch was able to speak because her long practice of magic made scrying easy. It required no real focus for her as the ring shaped stone slid all about the large map of the world. Each time the stone stopped, a quill would stand up and start writing the location name on its own paper. Fia then grabbed the ring rock and stared at the sky, able to see the stars without waiting. Diana had failed to realize that this ability was because she was Moon Blessed.

The Druid spent most of the day with a practice stone in her hand. A sedimentary rock, this one banded iron, the most difficult one in her bag. The goal was to mash it like dough in her palm, knead it, again and again, then reform it into its original shape. This one was a four pointed star. It took no physical strength, this one would break her nails at a real squeeze, but worked her magical veins, the leylines of her hand and body. She hadn't used the iron in a while, after her failure in the Toothy Pit, she needed the practice. So the papyrus scraping stone of the Witch was met with her crunching metallic rock. The Guardian responded by tuning the radio beside him to some kind of music. The sound occasionally caught Jonah’s attention, his head turning at the symphonies and jazz that the Guardian preferred. Every few hours he tuned it to receive and questioned for news.

By the end of the day, there were no new locations that had not been checked by the local forces. All of them with no successes, not a single Ash Maker and only some exploded machines at most. Diana was so tired from her practice that she went to bed after dinner. The next day was supposed to be her first radio speech. If she were accurate to what she felt like, then she would get on the microphone and scream. Nothing was being done and no new location was discovered by midday. The ring rock still going, the Guardian looking over charts, she stood up and stalked off. The Witch mockingly asked where she was going.

“Away from here, contact me if anything has changed!” Diana said, throwing her hands up. “I can’t go far!” She mumbled under her breath as she stretched her legs, “I can’t go anywhere…”

After a quick walk around the top deck, Diana came up to Jonah and petted her familiar's head. "You're doing fine work on your own," she said kindly. "I think you'll be running by tomorrow." She squinted at him, the sun bright on her pale face. Her hair trailed off in the wind, over her shoulder armor.

"That's good, I didn't run before," he said with a grin.

"You’ll do it now, the fresh air has done you well." She nodded.

They hadn't spoken much since Rowoak, it made him nervous to consider what that meant. Probably nothing, but he worried about everything. She had come to speak to him on her own. There was an extra boost of confidence in him, standing on his own power, looking over her head.

"I think I'd work out better with some music," he said and felt like it was wrong. “The Guardian’s using that radio, and it’s not exactly a work out mix.” There was momentary confusion in her face, there was no reason for her to know what a playlist was.

"Ah yes, your need for headphones. All your music is trapped on your sheet phone without it," she said, chuckling.

"Cellphone," he said and knew from her smirk it was intentional. She was purposely teasing. That was good, right? "It isn't trapped,” he went on. “it just wouldn't sound good playing off the little speakers." He pointed to the table. “No offense, that sounds kind of tinny to me.”

“I don’t think he cares, it’s better than silence, or Fia’s jibes and scrying.” She looked around. "That mechanic could probably come up with a pair of headphones and an adapter for you," she said. "I remember having to use all sorts of them when we traveled to other countries. My kingdom has everything standard, the right way."

"Yeah, maybe, I haven't seen him," he said, joining her cursory search. “I think he’s disappointed in my lack of progress in my ‘magic.’” He raised his arms and flexed his hands.

"They are working as intended, that’s all they need to do now. I would like to listen to that music of yours though," she said, her smile pleasant.

He nodded.

"Your mother made a song so famous you were able to live off of it, I imagine it was a wondrous tune," she said firmly.

He straightened up in shock. "You remember that?" he asked.

She raised a red brow. "How could I forget something so fascinating, Jonah?" she said with a grin.

He nodded once more.

"Princess! We have a report for you, a solid one from Graycliff!" called the Witch from the table.

Diana furrowed her brow. "On the Obsidian Jewel?" she replied, only turning her head.

"Why yes, that one, you do know your own Kingdom," the Witch scoffed.

"One day I will be appointed Duchess of the Jeweled Isles, of course I know all their major settlements!" Diana said pointedly back.

"Sure, one day…" the Witch seemed to mock.

Gritting her teeth, Diana said through them, "You are an immature child…"

"What was that princess?" the Witch wondered smugly.

“Duchess?” Jonah said quickly, trying to stop a fight.

Diana took a breath and nodded. “Yes, one day my husband and I will be the Duke and Duchess of the Jeweled Isles until my mother and father step down. Or I have an heir, not that I plan on that any time soon,” she said, eased at the shift in conversation.

“Oh, are you married?” he asked, a sudden ache in his chest. He looked at her hands, he had noticed a few rings on them before. It was a different world, not every custom was the same.

She laughed and shook her head, splaying her fingers. “No, I am not married or engaged,” she said. In the distance there was a laugh from the Witch, Diana didn’t even look, but her displeasure was clear.

“Oh, yeah, okay,” Jonah stammered.

Calming herself once more, Diana went on, “I would have the man with me if I had one. I would certainly not have a correspondence love amidst a war. All my female friends would adore that idea.” She made a disgusted noise in her throat. “Oh gods, constantly playing about, seeking the chase. My familiar is a good hunter for a reason.”

What the hell did that mean? Jonah thought

“Are you coming, Miss Tiger? We must discuss this new find,” the Witch called.

“Yes, yes, I am, Miss Toad,” Diana said, stomping back to the table.

Jonah met eyes with the tiger, about to speak to it, but holding back. It seemed to smile at him, blue eyes shining. A sound like a laugh came from its throat, then a chuff as it approached him, rubbing against his leg.

“Well, it’s all in order, set course then,” Diana said, setting the papers down on the table.

The Guardian gave a gruff sigh as Angelina joined those staring at the location. Diana asked what was wrong, looking at them both. Down from the crow’s nest came Coal, closing his spyglass and nodding at the captain.

“We’re here, Graycliff is here,” he said glumly, tapping a talon on the world map.

“Yes, the other side of the world, so we will be there tomorrow?” Diana interrupted.

Angelina tapped the map, between the two points. “A massive storm front is here…” she said with a frown.

“How massive?” Diana asked slowly, afraid of the answer.

The Guardian fiddled with the radio, getting static on several channels. “Enough to take out all the Magi stations from here,” he said. “It seems Plaka-hine never found her husband…”

“Curse those bloody gods!” Diana cried, throwing up her arms. “Why can’t they linger in the ether like the rest of them?”

Angelina shushed her with a finger to her lips. “Don’t make it worse!” she hissed.

“Island Druids are mad! I’ve always said they’re mad, my mother did too! How can they use the source of the ocean, when the gods of it wander around and row all the time?” She stormed off towards the railing Jonah was near.

“Do you want to hear the estimate?” Angelina called.

Diana stopped in the middle of her walk. “Go on…”

“A few days, at least. The ship can’t travel far over land or the chill of Grunhir, so we can’t go around. We had to travel up and down the Greed River to get to you,” the Pirate said, trying to reason.

“Wonderful… What’s the maximum?” she asked, fearing that reply as well.

“A week, maybe more…”

“Perfect, absolutely perfect!”

Diana crashed into the taft rail beside Jonah, staff sticking to the deck, she threw her arms over the side. Her hands dangled in the free air, moving along in the wind. The tiny gems in her thin rings glittered in the sunlight. She turned her head to him as he came beside her, seeing that she was miserable. “Did you hear that?” she wondered.

“Something about a storm,” he said.

“Yes, which means that the mad gods that walk the ocean are against us landing. Any port we go to we will be swarmed with people. I don’t need another damn migraine,” she said, wiping at her face.

Kalyah came walking up behind them. “Oh, come now, they are the gods of all the ocean, it wasn’t personal,” she said. She checked over Jonah, squeezing his arm to check for any pain, there wasn’t any.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“There’s nothing to understand, gods have minds, they are inconsistent and annoying to deal with,” Diana said plainly.

“Stop it,” Kalyah scolded, pursing her lips. She had gone back to her holy nurse vestments. He could tell that she was delighted in his improvement, but also mourning his independence. A mother bird syndrome maybe?

“The sources are consistent, their plants and animals change slowly and subtly. It’s far better than fickle gods,” Diana countered.

“The gods made your sources,” Kalyah shot back.

“I don’t understand why the gods are being directly blamed for a storm,” Jonah interjected, once again trying to stop the argument.

Kalyah spoke up first. “The gods of the ocean are Plaka-hine and Havo-taene, a wife and husband. She is the calm, he is the storm,” she said quickly and gently. “He stays under the water and she occasionally rises up to bless people, her eyes closed. When he starts to rise, her eyes start to open. The longer it takes to find him, the larger the storm gets. If she never finds him, it’s going to be a hurricane.” She hugged herself. “They meet in the eye and embrace, it’s actually very sweet and romantic. I heard from an old… an elvish friend of mine who witnessed the gods together. Their heads are taller than the clouds, bigger than any giants on the whole planet.” She pointed out to the expanding sea around them. Off in the far distance, there was a tiny sliver of gray.

“That sounds amazing,” Jonah said in wonder. “Here we just had boring winds that destroyed huge portions of the shoreline.”

“Oh, their romance does that too,” Diana said dryly.

“A warning is almost always given in time. It’s even easier with radios now,” Kalyah countered, staring annoyed at Diana. “What would our furniture builders do if it wasn’t for the destruction? All your possessions can fit in a holding bag, so long as they’re dry. I’ve heard many people remodel by waiting on a storm to come through. Plus, your Kingdom makes it free.” She pointed a short finger at her.

“We have to,” Diana countered. “The Jeweled Isles, where we were heading, get hit by them so often.”

“I know at least one of those Jewels makes most of their money after the storms, when Plaka-hine blesses the ocean with ships full of fish,” Kalyah replied.

Jonah groaned. “My head hurts thinking about the economic impact of the gods,” he said, rubbing his temples.

Kalyah laughed, patting his back. “Be happy you aren’t royalty,” she said kindly. She threw a side glance at Diana. “Some people should already know this.”

“I am aware of it all, it doesn’t mean I am not allowed to be salty over having to plan around it,” she said with a huff. She slumped down over the rail again. “At least I have time to practice my magic. I need more reminders of my ineptitude.” She clenched her fist, wind swirling around it. “I am caught between wanting Blodwyn’s body tangled in roots and the fact I may not accomplish it for some many years yet.” She shivered, the wind strengthening before it burst out in a spiral. “I just want it over… I want my sister avenged, then I may finally be happy again and this will stop.” Her eyes filled with water, but she covered them with her hand, jabbing into her eyelids and sniffling. “I’m going to my room…” She popped off the rail and stormed off once more, swiping her staff from the deck.

Aiko growled as if in pain, looking to Jonah before following its master.

“She keeps trying the same damn thing over and over again and hoping it works the next time she tries it,” Kalyah said with a frown to him.

Jonah had to do something, and he knew it had to be soon. He sat with his back against the railings, staring at his phone. This was going to be useful to him. His sleeves were off his arms, bluish metal showing in the afternoon sun. A whole day had gone by with Diana in her room. The radio broadcast was postponed, no one could hear her across half her Kingdom. She had picked at her breakfast in her normal clothes, yawning widely with her mouth covered. Now the table was being set up for lunch, she’d have to be out now.

The top deck door opened and Diana strolled out of it, not even flinching as it slammed. She wore the same tired expression and drab traveling clothes, no staff in her hand. Her familiar followed her, head hanging low as well.

“Diana!” Jonah called, afraid he was too quiet.

She turned her head, subdued.

“Come here,” he beckoned, heart racing at how forward he was.

Her long skirt swished with every step. Before him, her arms folded, then relaxed into a clasping of her hands. There was an intense confliction in her face and a line of red around her eyes.

Jonah had told his plan to Kalyah, after the little elf had pried it out. She sat at the center table now, smiling encouragement. “Diana, would you, um, like to listen to some music?” he asked before the princess could look back at the nurse.

A light grin took a moment to appear on her face. In a twist of her body she sat down beside him, their legs a bit apart. “Sure,” she said, finding her reflection on the phone’s screen.

Powering it on, he had changed the background to benign scenery, he hoped this would work. Cupping his hands around each of the speakers at the top and bottom, he ran through the selections with his thumbs.

Diana’s eyes widened at the scrolling words, he was mostly looking at the pictures. “How do you read that fast?” she asked, blinking quickly.

“I know what’s on there, for the most part,” he said, happy to realize their world had nothing close to this.

“Your mother’s song, it’s on here?” she asked.

He froze in his scrolling of the artists. “Um, no, I deleted her song. Got rid of it,” he said with a waver in his voice. “Her name was Amy, she was always at the top, alphabetical order, yeah, you know what that is. Anyway, I kept seeing it and I’ve heard it a million times, so I just got rid of it. I never thought I wouldn’t be able to access it again…”

Diana met his eyes, smirking with sympathy. “I understand, I couldn’t look at Luann’s photographs in the castle. I had them all covered when I left. I doubt I would---”--She breathed a heavy sigh--- “--I would be able to handle seeing them again.” She wiped at her face.

“It’s not been that long at all for you,” he said. “You don’t have to hold back your crying.”

She shook her head, hands on her knees. “There’s no time for that, especially in public where the Heroes can see me. I don’t want to be doing it at all, really,” she explained. “I’ve cried plenty…” The last statement she spoke in a hush.

He cleared his throat, removing the harsh reprimand from his mind. “I was thinking, seeing all this scenery, about what I used to do all the time,” he said, projecting his voice out, careful not to stammer.

“Hmmm? What was that?” she said.

“I, uh…” He took his own breath. “I used to just put my headphones on and… drift away in the music.”

“Have you secured a pair then?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, Stephan is making them. He’s been busy with the engines, apparently they break down a lot and two weeks of working on my limbs didn’t help… but Kalyah got him started on some,” he said. Now he felt dumb, that he had rushed his plan without waiting for the rest of it. All of it was wrong, damnit, he thought.

“Now you want to show me music in a substandard presentation?” Diana wondered, leaning her head towards him.

“It, it won’t be that bad,” he said with a frown.

She was grinning at him. “I act all glum and distant and you take it upon yourself to try and cheer me up,” she said quietly.

He swallowed at his plan being so well seen through. “Yes,” he said back.

“I have never heard the likes of another world’s music, I would have no comparison,” she said. “I think the radio there sounded fine, I am interested in seeing your world’s tunes.”

Jonah nodded, going through the screens and picking a song. He cupped his hands as best he could, but the sound was still too low at max volume. The only good aspect was that Diana leaned into him to try and hear it. His musical soul wouldn’t allow for such a disservice to this song. The bass was low and the treble was lost in the wind. “I should have done this inside, I didn’t want to bother you in your room,” he mumbled, pausing the song.

“I wouldn’t have minded,” she said. “Not within the last few hours at least, my magic training wasn’t going well…”

“God, I just wish that I had a speaker. Even that would be better than the phone by itself” he said, clutching it in one hand. “I don’t know how to put headphones together, I doubt Stephan does either.” He was angrily tapping his foot, ready to just throw the thing. “I’m in an amazing world of gods and magic, and all I can worry about is trying to play fucking music on his stupid goddamn device. Even now, I just want it to sound good, right like how I remember.”

“Jonah…” Diana said quietly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know I’m acting stupid. Like a fucking child,” he said, his hand felt like it was succesfully crushing his phone, he deserved to lose it.

Diana grabbed his wrist, patting at his chest.

They watched as his phone, case and all was sinking into his hand. He gasped in horror, then knew it was right. The technology felt warm, not an ounce of pain, because it was right. Good, good, he thought, finally after all this time. That’s all he needed, was motivation. He imagined the song he wanted to play, the phone vanishing into the liquid depths of his hand. It was like it was going into a pit of mud. It was still there though, it was with him now. His head ached as flashes of the phone’s memory played out across his eyes. All the pictures, all the songs, all the notes he had ever written on it.

“No, no, I only want one,” he hissed, holding his head.

“Jonah, Jonah, stop, you’re using magic, it is taking a toll from you,” Diana said, her hand on his chest. “If you’re not careful, then you will pass out, or worse.”

He didn’t really hear her words, he couldn’t digest them. If he had, then he would have stopped all together. Passing out was a big enough threat to make him stop anything. How many things had he never done out of fear?

One song, that was all. A trip hop song of deep bass. A song to get lost in, like he had done so many times before. He heard the opening distorted sound, then a wavering whistle. It projected out from his very being. His arms shook with the rest of him. His eyes opened wide, along his forearms were three uncovered speakers each. The bass shook his whole body as the tops of the speakers vibrated as all the elements joined together with the choir singing an aria. The actual lyrics came and the volume raised.

“What do we do now?” came one of them as his heart raced and his teeth clattered from the force.

It sounded so good, finally some music. He hadn't heard any in what felt like years.

“Jonah! Jonah! Stop honey, oh goddess!”

The trumpets blasted, he had never been this close to a song.

“He’s going to shake apart! Do something!” Diana cried loudly.

“Ahhha ahhh Ahhha ahhhh!!” The ethereal choir sang.

“It’s not the Creative, what the hell is it!?” came another voice, Angelina possibly.

Kalyah got between his legs, hand pressed to his head and face. “Sleep!”

And he did, the song wasn’t even over.