To Fly the Soaring Tides

Cira claimed that because beer was mostly water, she could control it quite easily. Hours of this research bore fruit in that she could write down notes in the rain without ruining her papers. Not that she wasn’t already doing it with spatial magic, but… I guess she had direct control over ale now?

The way her words jumbled together, it seemed more like the ale had direct control over her. She made me wait for an entire hour while she disappeared into the spring’s core. My glass stopped filling itself during this time, so I had to lean over the railings and scoop it up myself or let it fill slowly in the rain. Afterward, she appeared looking satisfied and like her mind was elsewhere completely, sitting back down on the boat without a word.

“Umm. Where are we going?” I asked.

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? We are conducting a geographical survey.” I think she said that… a while ago. “Now give me your report in my absence.”

“Huh—I mean, uh…” Cira cocked her head, as if my not having a report hadn’t even crossed her mind. “Nothing’s changed… The rain hasn’t increased or decreased judging by the rate at with my glass fills… And it appears the day is still young.”

I hope that’s enough.

“Indeed, it is.” She smiled at the sun, “So why don’t we move on? I would like to see what happens to the ale once it falls off.”

The rain had already lessened, but I was still confused, “What did you find out inside the spring?”

Suddenly a river circled around her, emerging from a cerulean gem that appeared above her shoulder, “It is as much a spring as my dear Aquon is. Perhaps more so as the mana fueling it belongs to this pocket realm—a world in itself. It kind of makes me want to take a stab at crafting my own artificial spring one of these days, but since variety is on the table, It can exude neither water nor ale.” She wrote something down as we cruised over to the opposite side of the lake only for another river to pull us in. “Apple juice would be nice, but I do think a gravy spring would fill a more complex need in the long run.”

Doing my best to brush over her ramblings, “What is there to learn from surveying an island some great mage made by hand? Won’t it be useless outside here?” I could understand exploring an unfamiliar island, but this one was supposedly crafted very meticulously. It seemed no different than inspecting an artifact or staring at a painting to me.

“The creator was no god,” She shook her head, writing even more down in her notebook, “but an extraordinarily talent. He wielded all the primary elements to create this world, yes, then stuffed it inside a lake. It’s more nuanced than that, but it would be folly to think he designed every moment and each reaction. Some, sure, but do you remember the snake breaking through the surface of the sea? Or the way ale falls from the sky near the spring? Natural laws are still present in this place, even if the medium is artificial, or conjured.”

Natural laws, huh? Is that just how the world works when people don’t use mana to screw with it? The way the ocean forms waves or how the wind blows. These laws are referenced in the second volume of ‘The Sorcerer’s Compendium’, but only to describe a sorcery’s effect.

“What are you saying…?” Was she just researching for no reason? I couldn’t tell. “What good does watching beer fall into the ocean do for you?”

This boat ride was much calmer as we followed the stream down a gentle slope. There were a few bends and the landscape looked natural enough were it not solid gold. Ragged bluffs and sand on the banks. Sparse boulders on the hillside, and it almost looked like this creator left space for foliage. I thought the place looked somewhat empty without.

“I find myself curious about the makings of this realm,” She also watched our surroundings, wearing a pleasant smile with eyes much more astute than mine. “The other pocket realms I discovered weren’t constructed anywhere near as efficiently and felt half as stable at hardly a fraction of this place’s scale. There is much to learn here.”

The hill started to drop until we found ourselves moving rapidly. I could see the edge of the island coming, but Cira wasn’t making any move to stop.

“A-are you planning to fall straight off?!”

“What’s the issue?” She gave me another confused look, “We can fly.”

“Oh… Right.” But my stomach still rose in my chest as we poured right over the edge like a dead fly from a stale pitcher. She didn’t seem too eager to right us, and we began to take a nosedive. Only when I started screaming in fear for my life did we slow down and rotate, landing calmy on the waves—once again in the rain.

“I see…” Cira’s chin rested in her hand and she peered deeply into the sea. In the blink of an eye, she went from sitting studiously to vaulting over the edge and was gone beneath the surface.

Dammit… Why does she keep doing this?

It only took a few minutes this time for her to casually shoot out from the waves and return to the ship. In her hand was a meaty fish with a silver body and a bright purple tail. If I didn’t know she was using sorcery, I’d wonder how she was holding it up with one hand.

“Now let’s return for lunch,” She looked pleased as the golden ship rose from the sea. “Apparently, the ale returns to the aether upon diluting by half, as does the water that forms this river. Most of the aethereal scraps are recycled, but that only makes the cocktail of mana that makes up our ale spring that much more extraordinary.”

We continued flying as she spoke and it started raining again, but it wasn’t beer. A crystal pitcher materialized and filled two new cups. Cira held hers up in cheers and impatiently urged me on before pounding it in one gulp, refilling by scooping it out over the side as soon as we landed in the river, then holding up to the sun to inspect it.

“Is that fish some kind of monster…?” I had always heard to be careful with what wildlife I ate in unfamiliar places.

“It’s a violet tuna. a rarity ever since I decided to leave the dead skies. A rich ecosystem exists below the waves, to an impressive degree. I understand it proliferated over centuries, but… this place is massive. He must have spent a great deal of time gathering wildlife to fill the sea. Quite an impressive feat on one’s deathbed.” Cira tipped back another glass, “Then there’s this water. It’s surprisingly high-quality spring water. Very rich in minerals like that which I’ve seen on some of the most verdant islands. So, why does this island lack any manner of life…?”

I shrugged, “It looks unfinished. Guess our creator died.”

“Guess so,” She let out a sigh and scribbled some more notes down. “But his entire island is made of gold… I wonder what his plan was.”

“Didn’t you say there were more secrets to be discovered here?” I realized we landed on Paradise some time ago, and while everyone was outside waiting, we were simply exploring…

“In time, dear student. But the spring is close.” She stood up and put one foot on the bow, pulling out her spyglass as a field came into view and we leveled out. Up ahead looked like a small lake, but the surface barely gurgled, completely unlike the last one. “Well, I can tell which one he spent more time on, that’s for sure.” Her spyglass clacked closed, and she shrugged, sitting back down with a yawn. “Let’s continue the survey later.”

At her words, the ship slowed to a stop, and we took a break gently bobbing on the glassy lake’s surface.

I tried to prod for answers about the secrets of this place and urge her along, but she kept turning it back around into a spiel about one obscure facet of this realm or the other. I tried to express I didn’t care about gold’s natural crystalline structure or the violet tuna’s reproduction cycle compared to red tuna, but she was a brick wall when she got going. The ale did not help.

During this, it seemed the tuna sliced itself up as it floated before us, and even found its way to the cooking stoves, then we both ate until we were full. It was delicious but didn’t taste far off from most other fish I’d eaten in my life. Our glasses continuously filled while her sorcery kept us from getting sick, and the way my mind kept going back and forth with each healing, it felt like days flew by. I didn’t know if the healing affected how full I was, but we ended up eating around half of that fish. It was not small.

The sorcerer was apparently not in any rush to continue her geological survey, but we both had fun drinking and yammering long into the day.

At some point though, I woke up. We had apparently drifted ashore. Cira was a few paces away sprawled out on her back in the sand, surrounded by a pile of broken crystals from all the mugs she dropped or smashed. I could feel a serious hangover looming over me, but there was no pain. Just an extreme sense of grogginess and the boat’s gentle sway was starting to make me sick. I shambled out of the boat and to the lake’s shore with very little coordination. Falling to my knees in golden sand, I used both hands to scoop water to my face, practically drowning myself in it.

“Oh gods… phew…” I sat there panting for a moment, but it wasn’t enough. My body had dried up like a sponge in the sun. I couldn’t have been out for long as the sun was still up, and I hadn’t suffered any sunburns, but I felt ravaged.

I guess that’s what happens when you drink untold gallons of ale… Wait—I looked over to Cira snoring on her back in the sunlight. She drank way more than me, I think… Even if it was healed away. That can’t be healthy no matter how you look at it.

I stumbled over and nudged her, “Hey, wake up. Cira, wake up!” I started shaking her when she didn’t respond and her eyes snapped open with a groan, which only got worse as she rolled over and spewed something not so golden from her mouth.

“Urrrghhhhh, Tawnyyyyy.” Water rinsed her face before she looked at me with dazed eyes, “Why’d you make me do that?”

“What, vomit or wake up?”

“Both of those things.” She collapsed face first into the sand, but I could hear her smacking her lips, “This is terrible.”

I watched her roll over and simply let water flow into her mouth. This continued for a few minutes.

“Are you… ready to go now?”

“Yeah, yeah… I guess I can take a bath and conclude my business here in one go.” With that she floated away, slowly submerging beneath the lake’s surface.

Dammit… Okay, what’s my report going to be about?

I looked around me and there was a miniature golden pirate ship dug into the sand and a small valley down which most the island’s water found its way around. The water was good, sure, but I didn’t taste much of a difference between it and Acher’s. It was cold and crisp, but water was water.

I picked up some gold sand and let it fall through my fingers as I tried to think of something, but I didn’t have the power to observe weird little things like Cira always did. Before I knew it, she had appeared again from a suspiciously glowing wave.

“Tawny, report.” Already?!

“The, uh, grains of sand are different size!” I accidentally shouted as she caught me off guard and she winced.

After a painful second, Cira burst into laughter, “Is that so? Well done.”

“And the, uh, spring?” I asked sheepishly.

“The strangest thing… It appears to be genuine, but for some reason it’s weakened. I can only imagine that’s owing to the fact that it was moved, but… I didn’t think such a thing was possible.”

“What do you mean ‘moved’…? Like from another island?!” Is such a thing possible?! What a terrifying thought. Makes me really appreciate Acher’s resident giant slug.

“Indeed. I always figured they were bound to an island. I’ve read stories of a spring collapsing when an island reaches such an age that it crumbles. To think one could be removed… was the spring spared that fate from an ancient island?”

How old do islands get? I guess Fount Salt was dissolving and falling apart, but it was made of salt! Not exactly common around these skies. Most were made of stone or even metal.

“Anyway,” Cira changed her tune, “What do you think we should do next? The important parts of my survey are now complete. Your test is to choose our next subject.”

I wish she would stop putting me on the spot like this… I couldn’t help but notice the smoke of grilled worm behind me from the stove artifacts that appeared at some point.

“Ahehehem,” I cleared my throat and really dragged it out, “Why don’t, we, um, discuss it over breakfast?”

“Very well.” She smiled, and three minutes later was glancing up at me expectantly in between bites. I wanted more time, but it wasn’t in the cards.

“Okay, how about this…” I took a large bite and chewed on it slowly. I don’t know enough to even know what I don’t know, so how can I pick something to study? I can’t just say something dumb like, ‘let’s compare these rocks to those rocks over there’. Even having that thought hurt my pride. “Can you grow something… in gold sand?”

“Aha…” I watched her gaze wander to the sky. “Can I…? I wonder.”

There was just one problem, “Oh… but we don’t have any seeds, do we?” She seemed interested. Now we would have to leave and go get seeds to complete the survey.

“Of course I have seeds. Do you take me for an amateur?” …huh? “Granted, my stores are limited, I have a few fruit trees, basic beach grass, herbs and corn, and even some hardwoods, I think. I’ll have to check, but that’s hardly the difficult part to all this. We’ll need to head down the river a short ways to strain minerals from the water then go catch some fish to compost. I’m pretty sure I can figure out rapid decomposition, too, else we’ll be here for months. There’s no reason we can’t turn gold into dirt, if you think about it.”