“Laaaand!” the twins said in unison as they finally stepped off the ship and onto the docks of the island harbour.

“Fiiinally,” Estella yammered as she stepped onto the docks as well herself.

Bridget simply gave a sigh of relief when she finally left the ship, followed by Julia who was breaking no sweat lifting all of the extra luggage that the twins had brought. Lavini took a moment longer to thank the captain for their safe passage here before she too stepped onto the docks.

“I thought we’d never,” “get off,” “that stupid ship,” Zexa whined.

“We’ve been on there so,” “long,” “it feels weird to no longer,” “sway,” “on the waves now,” Xeza agreed.

“Well, we’re here now and look at this place!” Bridget said. Indeed, Kelahili island was beautiful. From the white sandy beaches to the many palm trees, it truly was a tropical paradise. In truth, it was still a part of Listanta but volcanic activity had pushed it above water alongside a few other islands around it. Now, it was inhabited by humans and lizardfolk of the chameleon variety.

Eventually, all six of them began walking towards the beach where they could already see someone waiting for them wearing exotic clothes made out of palm leaves. Estella squinted her eyes and when she realised who it was, she started sprinting forwards.

“Dawnyte!” she yelled, waving excitedly.

The girl waved back from the beach and she started running onto the docks herself to meet Estella half-way, where both girls gave each-other a tight hug.

“Estella!” Dawnyte yelled excitedly.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Estella said excitedly.

“It’s so good to see YOU again!” Dawnyte laughed.

“So this is Dawnyte then,” came Lavini’s voice. The others had now caught up as well.

“Right!” Estella said, snapping to attention. “Mother, this is Dawnyte. Dawnyte, this is my mother. My other mother, I mean. These are my aunts Bridget, Zexa, and Xeza, and finally this is my friend Julia,” Estella said.

Dawnyte bent through her knees and bowed her head while outstretching her arms a little. “Kelaë, it is nice to meet you all, and a warm welcome to Kelahili,” she said.

“It is very nice to meet you too,” Lavini said while Zexa and Xeza tried to mimic Dawnyte’s earlier movements.

“Did you have a pleasant journey?” Dawnyte asked.

“Ugh… I just wanna forget about the boredom…” Estella muttered.

Dawnyte just giggled in response. “You get used to that as you do it more often,” she said.

“We hope we,” “don’t have to do,” “it more often,” Zexa and Xeza said with deep sighs. Everybody else simply nodded in agreement.

“Well, you’re here now, and right on time for the festival too!” Dawnyte said.

Bridget laughed. “Being time elementals, how could we not be,” she said.

Dawnyte laughed at that again. “Come on! I’ll show you around!”

“A-ah, wait! Can we uh… get some rest somewhere first? We only just got here,” Estella said.

Dawnyte looked a little shocked. “Oh… right, right, of course. Eheheh, sorry. I’m just so excited that you’re finally here, Estella,” Dawnyte said.

“As are we but Estella is right. Though we did not move much, the journey was still exhausting in its own way,” Lavini admitted.

“Right, right… we’ve prepared a bungalow for you all,” Dawnyte announced. “I hope you’ll like it! Although… hmmm.” Dawnyte looked a little uneasy as she eyed Bridget all over, trying to choose her next words carefully. “... some of you might not want to use the hammock that’s next to it.”

Bridget bursted out laughing. “It’s alright. You can say I’m heavy,” she said.

Adjacent to the beach was a village of bungalows big and small where humans and lizardfolk were going about their day. They could even see what looked to be a human/lizardfolk couple which made the twins wonder what their children would look like if that was at all possible… However, Julia managed to stop them from asking that question out loud.

The village was on a little bit of a slope because of the mountain that proudly reached for the sky in the middle of the island quite some distance away from them. Its top was shrouded in a veil of clouds but from what they could see, it looked to be a bit barren. It was probably simply too high for vegetation to grow up there.

Eventually, Dawnyte led them to a decently sized bungalow close to the center of the village. “This is it. Your new home for the next two weeks,” she said.

“How quaint,” Lavini said.

“You managed to get us this?” Estella asked.

“Well, I mean, you can pull a lot of strings if you’re the daughter of the chief,” Dawnyte said.

“Oooh, you’re the daughter,” “of the chief, Dawnyte?” Zexa and Xeza asked.

Dawnyte nodded. “Yeah, I am…” she said with a little less energy than she had previously been bringing so far.

“What’s wrong?” Estella asked.

Dawnyte let out a sigh. “Ah… Don’t mind me. It’s just that my father wants me to take over for him one day because I’m his daughter. Personally, I can think of at least five people from the village way more qualified for the position than I am,” she said.

Lavini tilted her head in confusion. “Do you not feel honoured to receive this privilege? As daughter of the chief, is it not your duty to follow in his footsteps?”

Dawnyte looked at her with shock on her face. She seemed to want to say something but she swallowed her words.

The twins, sensing the tension, exchanged glances. “We know all,” “about parental pressures…” they said.

“Right?!” Dawnyte said. “Why can’t they just leave us be!”

Lavini coughed with an amused grin on her face, to which Estella started giggling.

“A-ah… I mean… well… you… not all parents…” Dawnyte stammered, causing everybody to start laughing now.

“In any case, I think we’d like to go in and rest our weary eyes,” Bridget said.

“And I’d like to put down these bags!” Julia called out.

“Right! Sorry about that,” Dawnyte nodded as she pulled out a key for the front door. “The festival will begin in three days but before that happens, there’s something else that’s important.”

“And what would that be?” Lavini asked.

“Well…” Dawnyte said with the same unease as before when talking about her father, “the Empress of the Seven Currents has requested an audience with you in two days.”

Estella’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?!” she gasped.

“An audience… with the empress?” Lavini repeated. “By Alinavious, that is quite an honour!”

“To what do we owe this?” Bridget asked wide-eyed.

“Well, seeing as you’re time elementals trying to revive the church of time… I think it’s obvious why she’d want to see you before their Festival of the Currents,” Dawnyte replied.

The twins looked extremely happy about this. “We’ve always wanted,” “to meet royalty!” they said excitedly.

“I don’t think I’m dressed for a royal audience…” Julia said nervously. Both twins looked at her a little funny. Julia had almost never expressed much consideration for the way she looked to other people. Apparently, the mermaid empress was enough to make her care about it.

“When did the summons come in?” Lavini asked.

“Just the other day. You were already on the boat by then, so… couldn’t really notify you sooner,” Dawnyte said.

Bridget looked over her group and nodded to Dawnyte. “It would be our honour to accept this request,” she said.

Dawnyte nodded. “I… guess I’ll let the merfolk know then.” She lingered for a moment longer, seemingly wanting to say something but the words never left her lips. Instead, she simply bid her friends a pleasant stay and then went off.

After Dawnyte had run off towards the ocean to bring the news to the mermaids, the church members had entered their temporary home and marvelled at how cute it all was. It was a little surprising to see that all of the furniture was fastened to the walls in some way though. Most of the rest of the day was spent resting from the long journey. Estella had quickly found the hammock and had claimed it for herself so she could nap. Lavini and Bridget went off to meet the village chief so they could introduce themselves. They also wanted to send a letter back home to Akita and Cassie to announce their safe arrival on the island.

Julia and the twins, though, stayed in the bungalow to just be by themselves. They didn’t really get to do that all that much on the ship after all.

“Ugh… I wanted to punch so many of those sailors trying to hit on you two…” Julia muttered.

Zexa and Xeza giggled. “That would have been,” “at least somewhat entertaining,” they said.

“Oh well… at least we’re here now. But damn, it’s hot here,” Julia said. She pulled on her clothes a little bit to try and let some cool air flow in.

“It’s no wonder that,” “everybody is dressed so,” “skimpily here,” the twins agreed. They then put up a rather devious grin. After all, they had prepared a little present for Julia that they would finally get to unveil soon enough and this little conversation was reminding them of that.

“So… I wanted to ask. How are you two doing now?” Julia asked out of the blue.

“How are we,” “doing?” Zexa asked.

“What do you mean,” “by,” “that?” Xeza pondered.

“Well, I mean, you’ve been time elementals for some time now. Have you been able to adjust to your new selves?” Julia asked.

Zexa and Xeza exchanged an uneasy glance. They had talked to Julia a whole lot about what it felt like to be a part of time. To BE time. They had talked to her about the switch from day into night and vice versa. They had excitedly told her about everything they loved about their new bodies. Heck, Julia had even told them how much she had come to love their golden and silver bodies. But there was one aspect that they almost never talked about. ‘It’s about this,’ they thought to themselves.

“We… are still not too,” “sure,” “about this connection,” Zexa admitted.

“It’s hard to distinguish,” “our,” “thoughts from each other,” Xeza said with a sigh.

Julia gave them a worried look. “The last thing I would want is for you to lose yourselves. After all the work you’ve put in to become separate and individual…” she said.

“We,” “know,” the twins said.

Julia bit her lip. “Well… you know you can always talk to me about it, right?” she said.

Xeza smiled and nuzzled up to Julia.

“Thank you, Julia,” Zexa said before mimicking her sister.

Julia wrapped her arms around both girls. “You’ll get through this. I know you will. You’ve gotten this far already,” she spoke softly.

Both twins thought back to their mother and how they had finally managed to go against her wishes. They thought back to how they had re-earned Bridget’s respect. And of course, they thought about how they had managed to make this whole relationship work out for them. It was true. They had gotten very far already and there was still a lot in store for them.

Zexa gripped Julia’s arm a little tighter. She realized that a tear had left her eye.

“Hey… come now, what’s wrong?” Julia asked.

“How… how can we escape,” “from,” “our own minds?” Zexa stammered between her sobbing.

Julia smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead next to her sundial blade. “It’ll be alright,” she whispered softly.

“We’ll find a way,” “through,” “this. We always have in the end,” Xeza said, nodding.

Julia turned around, smiling. “See? You two are going through different emotions as we speak,” she said.

Both twins let out a mental gasp. It was true too. Yet again, Julia had managed to point out their individuality. They both smiled and closed their eyes, leaning on Julia and slowly nodding off to sleep.

Estella had never slept in a hammock before. At least, not as far as she could remember. It was suspended between one of the beams of their bungalow and a nearby palm tree. Before getting in it, Estella had put on her swimsuit and so she had been sunbathing in the warm sun all afternoon. It felt nice, warm, and relaxing.

It was strange. She wasn’t really one to nap at all but the boring journey had honestly tired her out so much that she didn’t mind it at all. Now that the sun was setting, it got a little bit cooler. Estella sat up and watched as the sun was lowering towards the horizon, colouring the sky orange as it did so.

“Wow…” she mused to herself.

“Beautiful, is it not?” came a sudden voice. It was her mother who had approached her quietly.

“Yeah… it really is,” Estella said. “Gah, and Dawnyte gets to see this every day?! I’m jealous,” Estella said.

Lavini chuckled. “Ah, but do not forget that she is very much used to this sunset. To Dawnyte, it is nothing special. The mere fact that this is temporary for you makes it more special,” she explained.

“I… guess that’s true,” Estella said.

“Now, dear… tell me. You did not give seashells to Zexa and Xeza, am I correct?” Lavini asked suddenly.

Estella nearly fell out of her hammock in shock. “W-what?! What are you talking about?” she asked. It was the first time she had thought about her letter again since giving it away.

Lavini held up her hand as her usual gentle smile left her face for a moment. It let Estella know that this was quite serious. “You do not have to tell me what it was if you do not wish to tell me yet. However, I would appreciate honesty.”

Estella felt herself go pale, even through the suntan she’d worked on all afternoon. “I… didn’t want to worry you…” she admitted, looking down to the sand below the hammock.

Lavini frowned. “Lies like that only increase how much I worry for you,” she said.

“I… I’m sorry mother,” Estella stammered. Of course… Why had she lied earlier? It was the first thing that popped into her mind to lie. Why was that? Well, regardless, it was out in the open now…

Lavini’s smile returned again and she leaned slightly into the hammock to give her daughter a hug. “Thank you, my little grain of sand,” she said.

Estella hugged her mother back as the colour re-entered her skin again. “You… really don’t want to know what it was?” she asked.

Lavini shook her head. “I respect your privacy, Estella dear. If you wish to keep something to yourself, you should do so. All I ask is that you do not lie about it to me,” she explained.

Estella felt a sense of relief overcome her. At least she would no longer have to worry about maintaining some kind of lie. “Thanks, mother,” she said.

And that was when their conversation was interrupted by a very loud rumble that shook the entire town…

“What’s happening!?!” Bridget shrieked in surprise when she realized that the entire bungalow had begun shaking. Nothing was falling over since it was all fastened to the walls but still! As she jumped up from the bed she almost fell over but her ingrained dancing skills helped her adjust even as the floor wobbled underneath her. Looking outside the window she saw that it wasn’t just their bungalow, as the trees and other buildings were all swaying. It looked like the whole island was going through it as if it was a living thing that was just now rumbling awake groggily. She rushed over to the room shared by Julia and the twins and hurriedly opened it. “Are you okay?!” she yelled.

Zexa and Xeza were clinging on to Julia, scared out of their minds. “What is,” “happening?!” they yelled.

“It’s an earthquake!” Julia yelled. “Everyone outside!”

Everybody nodded and they all hurriedly rushed for the front door where Lavini and Estella were already waiting, looking equally confused and scared. The tremors went on for several minutes before it finally calmed down again.

“Is it…” “...over?” Zexa and Xeza asked.

“I believe so…” Lavini nodded.

“Whoah… that was scary…” Estella said with a tremble in her voice.

“I heard some shouting, are you guys okay?!” came Dawnyte’s voice. She had come running for their bungalow seemingly unaffected.

“Yeah… I think we are,” Bridget nodded.

Dawnyte looked at them all apologetically. “I’m sorry… I guess I should have told you guys about that beforehand…” she said.

“About what?” Julia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“About Mount Manwe’e,” Dawnyte said, pointing towards the large mountain in the center of the island that was now looking a little more ominous now in the twilight. The veil of clouds had dissipated, giving everyone a full view of the plumes of smoke and ash shooting out of its summit. “It’s a volcano.”

“IT’S A WHAT!!?” the twins shouted in unison.

Dawnyte shrunk into herself a little. “Don’t worry though! It’s been under control for generations! We’ve dug out and enchanted trenches for when it occasionally spews out lava and there are multiple wards to deal with the occasional ashfall and disburse the worse vibrations. So you’re not in any danger at all! Just stay away from palm trees during tremors in case a coconut falls down and you’ll be good. Heck, we islanders don’t even notice the quakes anymore,” she explained.

The members of the church all looked up at the volcano. Well, this ‘relaxed trip’ was suddenly getting a lot more interesting…

“Dawnyte…?” Estella asked. She had inched over to her friend.

“Yeah?” Dawnyte asked, turning to her friend.

Estella bopped her on the head. “Please tell us about these things next time!” she yelled.

Dawnyte let out nervous laughter and ducked down. “I’m sorry!” she said.

The first night spent on Kelahili island was restless and uneasy under the looming shadow of Mount Manwe’e. There were no more tremors but that didn’t mean the members of the church didn’t stay up all night expecting one to happen. The faint orange glow that could be seen at the top didn’t exactly help matters either.

Thus, when Dawnyte came to greet them the following morning, each of them looked extremely tired. “Whoah… uhm… did you…” she stammered.

“No, we did not in fact sleep well,” Estella muttered groggily. She looked like she could fall over any second in a deep slumber.

Dawnyte sighed. “I’m really sorry, I messed up… lemme make it up to you!” she said.

“It’s okay… really,” Bridget said. Whatever Dawnyte had planned to make things better, she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“I insist! As your host, it is my duty to make you feel safe and welcome here,” Dawnyte said.

“What are you,” “going to do?” the twins asked. They looked especially sour.

“Well, aside from giving you that planned tour of the island… How about I take you up the mountain?” Dawnyte said excitedly.

There was a collective gasp from the whole group.

“Are you serious?!” Estella yelled.

“We’d rather,” “stay put!” The twins protested.

“You want us to go up there?” Julia said dumbfounded.

Dawnyte placed her index fingers together. “Well… yes,” she said.

“May I ask… how is that supposed to make us calmer about this volcano?” Lavini asked.

“If you see for yourselves all of our precautions to combat any threats the volcano poses to us, you’ll feel more at ease,” Dawnyte explained.

The members of the church all looked at each-other.

“I guess that makes sense…” Bridget said with uncertainty.

“Will it really,” “be safe for us?” Zexa and Xeza asked.

“It will be. Trust me. I’ve been going up there since forever!” Dawnyte said.

“Well… if you’re absolutely sure about this… I trust you, Dawnyte,” Estella spoke up.

Lavini chuckled. “I suppose it would ease our minds,” she said.

“Alright then. Lead us, Dawnyte. It would be pretty embarrassing if we met up with the empress looking like this tomorrow,” Bridget said.

The tour of the island started off pretty slow. Dawnyte explained how the islanders grew their own food using the incredibly fertile soil provided by the volcano as well as trading with the merfolk empire for seafood. She talked about the many uses for palm leaves and coconuts and she even gave them a brief history of hostilities between humans and lizardfolk on the island until a peace treaty was reached roughly 450 years ago. Bridget and especially Lavini thought it was all very interesting. Zexa and Xeza, however, looked bored out of their minds for most of it.

Eventually though, it was time to get to the mountain. As they began their long trek towards the center of the island, Estella came to walk next to Dawnyte. They hadn’t really had a chance to talk to each-other properly since their arrival yesterday so she figured this was as good a chance as any.

“So… how have you been doing?” she asked. She spoke soft enough so that this conversation could stay private.

“Oh, I’m doing alright I guess,” Dawnyte said.

Estella frowned at her. “That doesn’t sound very ‘alright’ to me,” she said.

Dawnyte sighed. “I kinda joked about it yesterday, but my father has really been pressuring me to ‘get more serious’ and that I should ‘learn how to be a leader’,” she said.

“Ugh… that sucks,” Estella muttered.

“If you think you guys were mad at me for neglecting to tell you about the volcano, you should have heard him last night… I’m pretty sure he was going to erupt or something,” Dawnyte said.

Estella looked down to the ground. She’d of course had her own run-ins with her own mothers. Both Lavini and Cassie had often talked to her about how she should be more nun-like when on duty. However, Estella actually liked being a nun. Dawnyte on the other hand… 

“I really am sorry about that by the way… I honestly forgot to mention it. The volcano is just such a fact of life here that I kinda forgot that there’s nothing of the sort over in New Stepolis,” Dawnyte continued.

Estella chuckled. “It’s okay. I guess it’s like me not telling you that our church ticks constantly,” she said.

Dawnyte laughed as well now. “Thanks for understanding,” she said. 

    “I guess what my mother said yesterday must have stung a little then, huh?” Estella said while making sure they were out of earshot of the others.

    Dawnyte looked to the ground. “You don’t know half of it… I know she meant well and all but…”

    “I… think I know why my mother said it though,” Estella said.

    Dawnyte perked up. “Why?”

    “Because… well, she kind of fell into the nobility herself and I think she feels that she doesn’t deserve all that she was given,” Estella explained.

    “Ah… you told me about that, yeah. I guess I can understand that…” Dawnyte said.

    Estella sensed that there was still more that was left unsaid. However, she didn’t want her friend to look so glum the entire time. “You should have seen her face when the earthquake started though. That was hilarious!”

    Dawnyte smirked. “Guess you didn’t see your own then, huh? You looked so spooked when I came running.”

    “Did not!” Estella protested.

    “Did too!”

    At this point, both girls burst out into laughter. “What about you then?” Dawnyte asked eventually. “Still haven’t read your letter?”

Estella shrunk a little at this question. Of course she had told Dawnyte about the letter and her situation. However, she hadn’t really thought about the letter anymore. Well, she had thought about it but she just tried her best not to think about it, to various degrees of success. “I gave it away…” she admitted.

Dawnyte looked a little shocked. “You gave it away?” she asked.

“Julia and the twins have it now. They’re keeping it safe, away from me,” Estella said.

“Huh… that’s a good idea!” Dawnyte said.

“I guess so… I mean, I can’t open it right here and now but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about it anymore…” Estella sighed.

“Hmmmm,” Dawnyte mused. “Well, you’re on vacation now. Try to have some fun while you’re here. You might end up forgetting about it while you’re enjoying the festival, or while I teach you how to surf afterwards.”

Estella gasped. “Teach me how to surf?! You’re gonna do that?” she yelled excitedly.

Dawnyte grinned. “You’ll love it! I’m sure of it!” she yelled with just as much passion.

Estella smiled. She was looking forward to the coming few days!