• “Non, Rey, Maruru!” Everyone shouts all at once.
    “What happened?” Fen asks Non. “You and Maruru are soaking wet!”
    “Yeah…” Non says wearily. He walks past them and went inside the forecastle to set Maruru on a bed.
    Ayn watches Non then turns to Rey. “What happened?”
    “By that do you mean what happened on the ship or what happened to him?” Rey leans against the mast and continues talking as if he knew Ayn’s reply, “I don’t know what’s up with him”
    “What are you talking about?” Roe asks. “Non seems perfectly fine! He’s just tired, that’s all”
    “Yeah…” Keller says. “I hope that’s all there is to it”
    There was a long silence and then Fen clears his throat. “So what happened to their ship?”
    “It retired from the air and decided to hang around at the bottom of the ocean” Rey replied bleakly.
    “What about the people inside?”
    “Dead, most—”
    “Did you get any answers from them?” Ayn interrupts. “Like why they took Maruru”
    Rey lowers his eyes, angered by the answer he was going to give. “No. I asked everyone I saw, but they wouldn’t answer me. I even threatened them and they wouldn’t give, so I decided to ask the leader myself” he pauses.
    When he didn’t continue, Keller got impatient. “And what?”
    Rey looks off into the distance. “He was starting to go crazy, mental. I mean, his eyes bulged, his veins popped out, and he laughed like a madman. The only thing he said to me was ‘she’s mine, she’s mine. I’ll get there first and enslave them all forever. All the riches are mine, all the seas are mine, and she will be mine. That will make me king of—’ and that’s all he said before blood spurted out of his mouth and he died. I found a needle beside him and realized he injected himself”
    “Suicide” Fen finally talks. “But what was there to hide? Who is Maruru? And why does he want the sea? Everyone knows the sky is everything. Nobody uses water for anything but drinks”
    “Don’t know” Keller says. “But he said he wanted to be king; Maruru is a princess, so it all fits together”
    “But there’s six princess’s in the world, so why would he choose Maruru? All of them are richer than her, too”
    “Maybe he just likes her better because of her looks or something”
    “But he also said he was searching for her for sixteen years” Ayn says. “Who would choose a bride when they were still a baby? And if he did want her as a bride, why would there be any need for a search?”
    “You’re right” Roe nods. “Because everyone knows where the princess’s live—it’s not a secret or anything”
    Ayn thought about it some more. “You think Non knows anything?”
    Rey considered the question. “It’s hard to tell. But if he knew, shouldn’t you guys know too?”
    “Why should we?” Keller says, annoyed.
    “Well…you’ve known each other forever, right?”
    “Wrong” she says instantly and points a thumb towards Ayn.
    “I’ve known him since when we were seven” Ayn takes a step towards the ledge and sat on it. “But if he knew something about it, I don’t”
    “We could just…ask him, cant we?” Fen suggests.
    “…tonight” Ayn looks at each person for agreement. When no one objected, he stood up and sighed. “Okay, we’ll see what happens then”

    Non was still inside the forecastle after he set Maruru on a bed. He leaned back against the door that led to the deck. His eyes were dazed and dull as he stared bleakly at the ground. Everything that the others said outside, Non heard. He was listening right from the start. The wooden deck creaked as Rey walked around it. Non turned the door knob and pushed the door open with a bang that frightened the others. They stared at his serious face that looked like it was full of fierce anger—it gave them shivers.
    Then Non gives a big smile and it calmed everyone down. “Hey, can we stop by the nearest town? I need a change of clothes” Non chirps.
    “Now?” Rey asks, surprised.
    “Yeah! It’s only five ‘o clock”
    “But the closest town was the one at the coast and it’s underwater right now”
    “No worries!” he chuckles. “That town’s made for floods, anyway. They have drains and empty canals to carry the water back to the ocean. Only the very front of the town’s building is ruined” Rey starts to object but Non ignores it, “Let’s go!” he runs into the forecastle to get his Aier and then flew up to the crow’s nest. Once he landed, he gets off his Aier and sits down so that the others couldn’t see him. His fake, happy expression turned somber and his eyes lowered. After the incident in the enemy’s ship, he already decided to go back to the town. Maybe there were survivors, and if there were, he’d ask them some questions.
    Non stares up into the clouds. “It can’t be true” He said it so quietly that it was barely a whisper. “Belle…beautiful love of mine” he recites. “It cant be true”

    to be continued