TRAVIS

A long tendril, the color of yellow autumn leaves, reached from above, then wrapped around Travis's waist and pulled him up to the top of the hole. The tendril was tight around him, but he didn't struggle despite the discomfort.

This dragoo was larger than Costasiella, and his four head horns and two facial tendrils reached the ground. The ends of the three tendrils that weren't holding Travis curled into large disks an arm's length in diameter and were held just above the ground. The being carried the human into one of the buildings, slipping through a vine-covered doorway.

A vine smacked Travis in the face, but he spat out a leaf and glanced around, surprised by the interior. Colorful paint covered the walls in beautiful, detailed murals of dragoo.

Two beings entered and stood guard as Limax unceremoniously seated Travis on a thick mat made of green fibers, then stood in front of him. "So, Limax hooman, why are wyou here, who tahught you our langwuage?"

"We can communicate because of the magic language of Universal. We are here for a lilyfairy, or as you call them, whitewater cups. We have the magic to grow—" Travis jumped as one of the Limax's horns slammed against the ground hard enough to dent the packed mud.

"That's what all of wyou want!" He roared, the tips of his tendrils glowing brightly before he calmed and pulled the tendril back, recoiling it. "All wyou want is to stweal from us, our crops, our twrees, our food!"

"No!" Travis said as he jumped to his feet, then returned to his seat. "We have a plant mage with us, her father is sick, and we sailed from the other side of the world to ask for permission."

He stared hard at Travis, his autumn eyes boring into Travis's soul as if he could see through the human's soul. He looked up to one of the guards. "Brwing the plant mwage."

One of the guards nodded and left while Limax focused on the liveship captain. "What is a hooman dowing out here, so far from hwome?"

"I am the captain of Paragon, a magic ship that sails the world, helping everyone we can." Travis felt a warm feeling stirred in his heart as the human spoke with conviction.

Limax stared down at Travis, towering over him. "You better hwope your mage can do what wyou say." He never took his eyes off of Travis, his threatening gaze as cold as a stone and as sharp as a sword.

The liveship captain decided it was better not to move, especially after how hard he hit the ground previously.

'Travis! Travis!' Paragon's panicky voice whispered into the captain's mind, even fainter than before.

Travis was unsure if the voice was imaginary or not, but he couldn't send a reply without looking unfocused at the Limax. It took too much energy to scream his thoughts, and he hoped Paragon could still sense that he was alive and mostly uninjured.

"How did wyou meet Costasiella." The towering figure stated in a tone as rough as sandpaper as he stared down at the human

"We rescued her from pirates. Her skin was so dry that she was bleeding. When we defeated the pirates when they tried to take over our ship, Paragon, we took everyone to Kira. But we also offered to take anyone to Verona and beyond, if needed. She wanted to continue to Verona, and when she learned we had space on the crew, she joined us." Travis spoke with unwavering honesty. "She knew of our mission and offered to guide us."

Limax muttered to himself with an unknown tone. Travis was not sure if the tall being was sad or angry.

Suddenly, Hibisca's voice filtered through the vines. "That hurts!" her yelling wavered slightly. The guard soon emerged through the vines with the Ulven wrapped in their tendrils. They placed her next to Travis before he unwrapped the tendrils holding her.

She rubbed the reddening stripes on her arms.

"Now, plant mage, prove your abilities." Limax demanded. "or I will punish wyou for trespasswing." His eyes were firm as if he had dealt with similar situations often.

Hibisca glanced at Travis, who nodded to her. 'It's ok.' Travis hoped the telepathic message reached Hibisca despite the weakened connection with Paragon.

Hibisca bit her lip as she placed her hands on the ground. She whispered to herself, and moss sprouted from the soil. Soon, a carpet of green plants carpeted the entire room.

The Limax awed and even stepped back as the greenery proliferated. When Hibisca lifted her hands, the large dragoo grabbed a bit of moss in a mustache tendril and sniffed it. After a moment, he nibbled on the sporophytes. He further paused, then ate the whole thing. "Fine," he eventually huffed. "You may have a flower if you must grow ten to replace it first."

Hibisca nodded. "I can do that, but I cannot grow a plant without touching the plant or a seed."

"We will gladly leave your forest once everyone is released and we have a plant or a seed." Travis nodded.

"Costasiella is staying to answer for herself. She disappeared without warning and returned with outsiders:" the Limax's tone was solid as a rock.

"She will come with us as well," Travis tried to make his voice should as firm as the large dragoo's voice. "Costasiella is a part of our crew; we are her Copia."

The air trembled as the Limax spread his tendrils, his face contorted in a gaze of rage. However, he did not strike, and Travis did not back down. The stalemate lasted a few more moments before the dragoo relaxed with a huff. "Fine, but she will explain first."

Travis nodded, "yes, that is reasonable."

Limax looked up to the guards. "Escort these to the nearest Whitewater cup. Release the others, but bring Costasiella to me."

The guards nodded, and one slipped out through the vines as they exited. The other guard motioned for them to follow.

Travis rose to his feet, then helped Hibisca stand.

"Thank you," the Ulven nodded to Paragon's captain, then followed the guard.

The village remained visibly deserted, other than a few eyes that peered through vine-covered entrances. The wide, terrified gazes quickly disappeared as they passed, but some of the smallest reappeared when they believed no one was watching.

The guard led them to the moat, then crossed a shallow section that barely reached Travis's knees, unlike the deeper water they had previously crossed. The guard said nothing, even as he glanced back when Travis or Hibisca moved out of the path he made.

He noticed the dragoo's extended tendrils follow the human's movements before he glanced back. He's sensing us with his horns, Travis observed.

Before he could ponder this further, the draconic guide motioned ahead. "There's a whitewater cup." They were only a few paces away from the village, and Travis could see a few more white flowers scattered around the area.

Hibisca breathed as she kneeled in front of the white bloom, not caring about the knee-deep water and mud beneath it. She gently touched one of the petals; the plant lacked leaves above the water's surface, at least this time of year. The Ulven closed her eyes and calmly exhaled.

Suddenly, the water around the plant started to ripple. Circular leaves and white flowers suddenly burst to the surface next to the original bloom. New plants sprouted next to those plants, then more next to them. Like a wave from a pebble dropped into the water, the Lilyfairy flowers spread to every bit of favorable habitat.

The village's moat quickly filled with flowers. Travis watched in shock as white flowers grew far into the swamp. The radius of the growth extended farther than he imagined possible.

Hibisca panted heavily and fell to her hands and knees. "That's—that's all I can do." She stared down at the white flower in front of her face.

Travis rushed over and gently helped the mud-covered Ulven stagger to her feet. "That was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

Hibisca didn't seem to hear him as she leaned against the human. "I got—I got a seed." She managed, holding up a muddy spherical object in her muddied hand. Travis wasn't sure she heard him over the sounds of her ragged breath.

"That was amazewing...." The guard breathed.

"Yes," Travis nodded as he helped Hibisca into a shallower area of the swamp, "is there a dry place where she can rest?"

"Yes," they nodded, "but fwirst, I need to take wyou back to Limax to report."

Travis frowned but nodded as he helped Hibisca hobble back to town. Thankfully, none of the flowers grew in the shallow path across the moat.

Irisva ran over when she saw Hibisca's condition, despite the complaints of the other guard. "Hibisca!" She gently helped support her daughter. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I got the seed." Hibisca weakly managed. "I got the seed."

Irisva's expression bounced between worry for her daughter and joy for finding the goal of their search. She felt her daughter's forehead and didn't seem too concerned.

Myrllen approached. "I think she has magic exhaustion. We'll need to rest before we return to Paragon."

Travis glanced up to the orange sky that peaked through the leaves. "I hope the Limax has space for us or a place we can set up our tents."

"That sounds like a good idea," Marin nodded, "Though so far, the driest land I've seen is in the ring." 

"I think I saw a rock she can sit on." Myrllen glanced around, then pointed as he saw it. "There!"

Travis and Irisva helped Hibisca stagger to the gray stone barely large enough for a single person to sit on the mossy surface. The young Ulven nearly collapsed as she

Irisva looked at Myrllen. Is there any way you can share your magic to help her?"

"We hare different magic types," Myrllen shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. You can't cross mana systems. But we're near the source lands; hopefully, she can recover faster with the proximity." Irisva slowly nodded, disappointed but accepting of his answer.

The two guards watched as the group rested.

Soon, Costasiella exited Limax's hut. She saw them and jogged over. Her feet splashed in the shallow water with each step. Once she arrived, she worriedly looked at Hibisca.

"I got the seed." Hibisca tiredly breathed.

"She overexerted herself magically," Irisva frowned. "Though she's more skilled than her father, I can't imagine how a single seed caused this much strain..."

"She grew the flower in every inch of habitat as far as the eye can see," Travis explained, "and maybe farther. Now, hundreds of flowers surround the village."

The entire group looked at Travis in shock, "That's incredwible...." Costasiella awed. "I didn't wrealwize that was even pahssible."

"That—that would explain..." Irisva's hands trembled as she struggled to comprehend the feet.

"I didn't realize she had it in her," Marin blinked, "That's impressive."

"I'm concerned that she may not recover until morning." Myrllen frowned deeply.

"I cahn carrwy her," Costasiella promised. "The whole way, if I have to." She paused, then picked up Hibisca and cradled the tired figure in her arms. "I know a place we can stay for the night."

"Thank you, Costasiella." Travis smiled at her as he began to follow her through the town.

Costasiella approached a building, then poked her head through the vine-covered entrance. After a second, she retracted it. "We can stay here," she promised, then entered.

Travis and the rest of the crew followed her into a circular room carpeted by moss. "Are you sure we can stay here?"

Myrllen created a ball of light to illuminate the dark space as he put his bag on the ground. "It's better than the ring, that's for sure."

"Thwis is mwy old hut, and no one's been in here, bwased on the mess," Costasiella promised. She gently set Hibisca down against a wall.

"It's perfect, thank you." Travis dropped his pack off of his shoulders, then took the tightly rolled-up mat from inside and spread it across a corner of the ground. "We can stay here for the night, then head out in the morning."

"The villwage is guardwed, we're safe from scorifs, thwough we'll have to be carefwul if we leave too earlwy in the mornwing." Costasiella took her bag off as well and set it against the wall. "There's a sprwing we can get wahter from on our way out."

"That sounds like a good plan." Marin agreed. She glanced at Myrllen. "Any chance you know teleportation spells?"

"Paragon taught me one, but I've never used it on people or from this far away. I can't even feel Paragon right now, so I can't exactly ask her for instructions." Myrllen said. "Teleportation spells aren't exactly easy, and I'm not sure I could do it without Paragon. The last time I tried without her I got a spoon stuck in a table."

"Is that how that happened?" Travis looked at Myrllen but couldn't withhold a chuckle at the memory of a spoon handle pointing out from the middle of a table. Paragon had separated the wooden furniture's fibers to get the metallic object out.

"Yeah, let's not do that," Irisva said. "Let's rest, then head out when the sun rises." She unrolled her mat and placed her pack on it.

No one argued as they all got some rest, wearing from a long day of traveling.

Author Notes!

What do you think of Limax? And Hibisca's abilities?