Book 2: Jovita Island

Chapter 2: Treacherous Waters

How long had it been? A few hours maybe? Of course, Ora didn't know what time it was on the Second Island. Still, it had not been that long since she had talked to Cosmos Preyer, yet after everything that had happened, it felt strange to Ora that she was seeing the disagreeable musician again.

He had taken off his white suit coat and his tie, and was only wearing his black shirt and white tie. Even his shoes were off, and even though his hair had already been messy, it seemed even messier without the rest of his formal outfit. Cosmos seemed to fit in perfectly with the Second Islanders.

"Cosmos?" Ora found herself saying, as if she wasn't sure it was really him.

"You probably shouldn't be screaming in anger like that. It attracts bad attention," he remarked, walking up to her.

Ora had just finished blowing up at Elvin, who had fallen onto the ground. Suddenly, Cosmos turned to the frightened boy and helped him up.

"What's wrong with her, Cosmos?" Elvin asked him, as if the two were brothers.

"She's troubled. That's all," Cosmos said, shaking his head.

"I am not!" Ora snapped.

But Cosmos shot her a furious look, causing Ora to shut her mouth.

"Why don't you go play with your friends?" Cosmos said to Elvin, encouragingly.

Elvin silently nodded and trudged through the sand past the crowd that was still gaping at Ora. Cosmos noticed the onlookers and smiled at them.

"Obviously, my friend here needs to be left alone right now," he announced.

Everyone hesitantly walked away, back to their games on the beach. It wasn't long before they were running around and shouting again.

Cosmos motioned Ora to follow him, so she did. They came to a lookout, with some stairs leading up to a platform covered by a pointed straw roof. At the top of the stairs, Ora turned around and realized that she could see almost the whole beach and everyone on it. Cosmos sat down in a chair in the cool shade of the lookout, and picked up his white lute which had been resting on the ground.

"I know, Ora," the musician said, strumming lightly.

The girl was still watching the waves sighing on the shore.

"It's different from Gemaris. I get it. It's weird. It's loud. It's overwhelming. But there are different ways to look at it," Cosmos said, leading his head back against the chair.

Ora focused her gaze on Elvin, who was chasing after a ball while laughing wildly.

"We've had this conversation before, Cosmos," Ora said, turning to him. "There are different ways of looking at everything. But in some cases, only one perspective is the right one."

Cosmos stopped strumming his lute, and frowned at the ceiling.

"Ah yes. I remember. Are you still stuck on my ballad and what it means?" he asked, curiously.

Ora recalled the song which Cosmos had sung in the theater story on Gemaris. The sad, passionate song with the violin.

"'Fly too high and you might fall.' You were talking to Diamond the Willow Wanderer when you said that, weren't you?" Ora said, calmly glaring at him.

Cosmos finally glanced at her, then went back to plucking chords on his instrument.

"How do you see this island?" Ora asked him, changing the subject.

"It's a paradise," he casually replied, examining his lute.

"It doesn't seem strange to you?"

"Of course it does. I always pictured paradise to be strange," Cosmos said with a slight grin on his face.

"Where do they get their food? How does the sun stay in the same place all day? And how do you seem to know everyone on the island already?" Ora rambled to him.

"Everyone on the Second Island knows each other!" Cosmos smiled, as if he had been trained to say it like every other islander. Although, his tone was slightly mocking. Ora just winced, turning away to examine the forests of palm trees surrounding the beach. Her first impression of the Second Island, when she stepped through the Mirror Gate, was that it was beautiful and soothing. Now she was slightly terrified.

"Has the island been named yet?" Ora asked the lounging musician.

"Nope. I suspect that's what the announcement today will be about," Cosmos replied.

Ora felt her stomach jump when she remembered the king would be making an appearance in the city. She remembered the wanted poster on Gemaris, depicting herself, Diamond the Willow Wanderer. It said she was wanted alive. Why was she wanted alive?

Some dark part of Ora's heart wanted to just fly up to the king and stab in with a knife, but she could never picture herself doing something so terrible. No. She wanted to be as peaceful as possible, even if that meant a little bit of war.

Sometimes war is necessary to bring peace, Ora thought, sadly. After the theater contest, Ora had given the king a chance to have a peaceful theater contest, just the two of them. But he had refused. Now she had to fight him, unless there was still some way to peacefully persuade him.

"You know the king is making the announcement himself, right?" Cosmos asked her. "News travels fast on this island. A knight cleared the city streets so that the king could pass safely through them, and then the knight announced that the king would be appearing to address the people later today."

"Today?" Ora corrected him. "There is no tomorrow on this island! Remember?"

Cosmos shrugged. "There's still today, though. That's what these people live for. Today."

This answer wasn't satisfactory, but Ora just sighed in defeat.

"I was just on this island before I went to Gemaris. The people here were so welcoming, and I became good friends with them right away," Cosmos smiled, gazing up at a golden wind chime dangling from the roof of the lookout.

"They are friendly. I'll admit that..." Ora mumbled, hesitantly. "Cosmos. Have you ever met the king?"

"No. I only saw him the day he was crowned," Cosmos quickly said.

"What do you think he's doing on this island, so far from the Twelfth Island?"

"No idea. I thought he was too cowardly to leave his safe palace, and yet, he seems to be checking on all the islands. Believe it or not, that's actually a rather responsible thing to do. The king has never visited the Second Island."

"Clearly!" Ora shouted, throwing her hand up. "It's a mess! A mess, Cosmos! I mean, if the king is able to fix this place, that will really raise my respect for him!"

"Oh, come on, Ora. Don't be so naive. Obviously, Lindo Que does all the work in this kingdom. The king's just the puppet," Cosmos almost laughed, putting his hands behind his head.

"What? Then why are you mad at the king?" Ora asked.

Cosmos squinted at her. "I'm mad because he's letting himself be a puppet. Our old king wasn't like that. He was in control. He was wise and thoughtful, and before the Mirror Gates existed, he was constantly communicating with the other islands to make sure everyone was being fed and kept healthy. Of course, there was not much the king could do without being able to travel to other islands. He just had to trust that his advisors were taking care of things. Of course, even after the Mirror Gates were installed, the old king didn't do much to take care of my island. The people on the Ninth Island begged the king to give them more food during the famine every year, but he said there was no extra food to go around. He said we were just going to have to work harder than other islands."

"Why does everyone call the old king, 'the king?' Does he not have a name?" Ora suddenly asked.

"Nobody knew his name. He always signed all his letters 'the king,' and even when he visited the Ninth Island, everyone just called him 'the king.' But anyways, the king today, King Reignald, he's definitely worse than the old king. He's neglected the Ninth Island even more and all because of the Willow Wanderer."

Cosmos narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular, seeming to picture the white-haired girl who, unbeknown to Cosmos, was standing right in front of him.

"How much do you hate her?" Ora asked, curiously. "You barely know her as a person, and you act like she's the worst person in the world."

"She might be," Cosmos shrugged, trying not to smile.

Ora almost wondered if he was just trying to offend her.

"No! Let's get one thing straight, Cosmos!" Ora raised her voice. "Are we rebelling against the king, or against Diamond?"

"Of course we're rebelling against the king," Cosmos said, suddenly leaping up from his seat.

"So is Diamond!" Ora yelled. "The enemy of our enemy is our ally."

"No," Cosmos corrected her, saying nothing else.

"She can help us!"

"No she can't."

"Yes she can!"

"Do you want to know why she stood up to the king, Ora?" Cosmos suddenly snapped, getting right in Ora's face.

"You think you can read minds?" Ora asked in disgust.

"I know that standing up to the king just to embarrass him in front of the whole kingdom was an idea either motivated by stupidity or pride!" Cosmos raised his voice, holding up two fingers. "Diamond accomplished nothing! Maybe she thought that the king would be stupid enought to accept her challenge. In that case, Diamond was the stupid one. Otherwise, Diamond just wanted a moment of glory, a moment where all eyes were on her. She wanted to be seen as brave and daring. In that case, she was just prideful and didn't think about anyone but herself. Either way, she probably didn't foresee the consequences, so now we all have to suffer under the rule of a paranoid, frightened king!"

Cosmos wasn't screaming his head off. In fact, he still held onto his temper and only shouted slightly. It was still irritating to Ora, and she finally realized that Cosmos would never trust Diamond. But would he ever trust Ora?

Seeing that the girl was speechless, Cosmos hurried away from her with his hand on his chin. He turned to check her face, but Ora still showed no emotion.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Ora?" Cosmos asked her.

She was so hesitant to shake her head in denial, but she finally said, "No. Not quite."

Cosmos' face stiffened. Then, in a low voice he chanted:

"Spoiled, prideful, hateful.

Greedy for more glory.

I'll be forever grateful

When I can end her story."

The startling words echoed through the wandering girl's head, terrifying her. Cosmos had said before that he wanted to have Diamond arrested. It seemed that he also wanted her dead, too.

But his words had been too harsh, and Ora looked away from him, hurt showing all over her face.

"She's not hateful. You don't really think that, do you?" Ora asked, crestfallen.

"She hates the king," Cosmos replied. "She hated him so much. Too much. It caused her to act irrationally in front of the whole kingdom, dooming them all to be ruled by a-"

"By a paranoid king! I know!" Ora stopped him, losing her temper. "Do you really think she had ill intent, though? Don't you think there's a possibility that she wanted to help?"

Surprisingly, a smile formed on Cosmos' face as he eyed her and again chanted:

"Don't be fooled by good intent.

We all wish to be praised.

Some of us will not repent

For the trouble we have raised."

Repent? Is that what Cosmos wanted Diamond to do? Apologize to the king? Would that actually work? Or maybe he meant that the only way Diamond could repent was by turning herself in and accepting her punishment. Even if her punishment was death. But did he really think that Diamond did what she did purely for praise? Who was praising her? Ora remembered exactly what she thought in the moment, before she accused the king of being incompetent:

I have no idea how people will react to this.

Of course, she had hoped for some people to side with her. And at least Amien had. But Ora had no idea if people would admire her or not for standing up to the king. The girl almost wanted to regret her actions, but she knew that she would have equally regretted doing nothing after watching a crazy man get crowned.

Then Ora thought back to her conversation with Lindo Que at Wayward Fountain. He had said that intent was meaningless if it did not match the action. Cosmos seemed to agree with him. Even if someone's intent was good, if the action was bad, then nothing had been accomplished. That was exactly what Cosmos was saying about Diamond. Ora was at a loss for words.

After Cosmos stared at her silently, Elvin suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs.

"COSMOS! Are you done with the crazy lady yet?" he shouted, back to his usual happy self.

Ora started to object, but Cosmos held up a finger and shushed her aggressively.

"Yes, I am, Elvin. What do you need?" Cosmos cheerfully asked him.

"The knights just said that the announcement has been delayed for a while. We were going to play a game in the meantime. Do you want to join?" Elvin asked, holding onto the wooden post of the lookout.

"Absolutely!" Cosmos smiled, starting down the steps without his lute.

"Wait! Cosmos!" Ora called after him.

"Just leave your stuff there, Ora. No one will steal it," Cosmos said, without turning around.

"No thanks. I'll take it with me," she insisted, once again dragging her suitcase with her.

"Come on, Ora. I promise you'll have fun playing the game," Elvin said to her, widening his black eyes.

Ora blinked in frustration before catching up to Cosmos.

Elvin sprinted ahead of them, rejoicing as he told everyone that Ora and Cosmos were joining the game.

"Cosmos," Ora whispered to him. "What are you planning to do when the king appears in public today."

Cosmos had reached the bottom of the stairs, and everyone was eagerly awaiting him. Keeping a broad smile on his face to mask his discomfort, Cosmos murmured to Ora, "I don't know yet."

That makes two of us, she thought, biting her lip as she dropped her big bag on the ground.

What was so strange to Ora was how kind everyone seemed to be, even though Ora had screamed her head off at a small boy just moments earlier. It was as if nothing had happened at all and yet, all the young people on the beach saw what had happened. They just ignored it completely.

When Ora noticed that everyone was forming a giant circle on the sand, she asked Elvin what game they were going to play.

"Try or Die!" he said happily.

"Die?!" Ora exclaimed.

At this point, anything was plausible on the Second Island.

But when Elvin assured her that nobody was actually going to die, the young people all laughed at her, causing her face to turn warmer than it already was. Although, she couldn't help but grin a little.

The game was not what Ora expected at all. It was a theater game!

Elvin quickly explained the rules to Ora, saying that first, someone in the circle had to come up with a prompt. Then, as fast as possible, everyone had to find a partner that wasn't right next to you, and act out the prompt. If you couldn't find a partner, or if you were the last person to find one, then you were out. You "died." The last two people left were the winners.

Seems easy enough, Ora thought.

In fact, she was actually excited. Acting was easy and fun for her.

But then Glo gave the first prompt, which was "piggyback ride." Ora either had to jump on someone or let someone jump on her. The circle became a chaotic blob of hyper players leaping onto other players, screaming with laughter. This is dangerous, Ora thought, wondering if she should just give up only two seconds into the game. That's when Elvin saved her, by climbing onto her back, saying:

"Thanks, Ora! We made it through the first round!"

Ora found herself smiling, because victory was always satisfying.

There were an odd number of people starting, so a disheartened young man failed to find a partner and was out. He shrugged it off as he left the circle, whistling to himself.

Next, Elvin gave the prompt, "parent scolding child."

This one came naturally to Ora, as she marched up to the first person she saw and started shaking her finger at him. The young man crossed his arms and pretended to pout. His black hair and dark blue eyes reminded Ora of Amien.

"Next round!" someone shouted, causing Ora to forget what she had almost recalled. Two slowpokes had failed to partner up in time, so they were out.

This time, it was Cosmos' turn to present a scenario. Standing poised and ready to run, Cosmos paused before giving his prompt. For a still moment, he and Ora locked eyes.

Then he slowly said, "Knight capturing prisoner."

Everyone immediately grabbed a partner and mimicked the scene. Although Ora instinctively grabbed Elvin and pretended to tie his hands behind his back, her mind was worriedly wandering. Why had Cosmos picked that prompt? Was he thinking about Diamond getting captured by knights? That had to be what he was thinking about!

But before Ora could get angry again, Elvin suddenly high-fived her, celebrating their victory again. Ora felt the corners of her lips rise up, as she witnessed the indestructible joy in the child's face.

"You give the next prompt, Ora!" Elvin insisted.

Everyone turned her way, but Ora was prepared.

"Dancing!" she shouted, running across the circle to find a partner.

She and Glo joined hands and started spinning quickly, causing Ora's vision to go blurry as the world became a messy painting of colorful brushstrokes around them. The two girls collapsed from dizziness, laughing out loud. The sand was so soft, making it easy to fall onto it over and over again.

Ora rose from the sand, giggling as she brushed her dress off. Glad to have her shoes off, the girl's feet embraced the squishy orange ground, her toes wiggling under the falling grains.

After forming a circle again, Ora thought the game couldn't get any better. It was so easy to let loose, and she decided to keep it in mind the next time she had to coach actors.

Suddenly, Glo's friend, Hank, gave the prompt, "two siblings wrestling."

Ora didn't have time to hesitate, so she immediately went for the only person she desperately wanted to wrestle. As she darted towards Cosmos, who wasn't too far from her, Ora was surprised to see that Cosmos wasn't also going for her, but instead, Elvin. The two boys seemed to have playfully threatening looks on their faces as they charged for each other. But Ora didn't stop. When Cosmos turned to see her lunging at him, his straight dark eyebrows jumped up to the unmoving sun.

Ora wrapped her arm around Cosmos' neck, kicked the back of his legs to make him lose balance, and pushed the irritating man to the ground with all her might. It took quite a bit of her strength, but Cosmos finally hit the sand with Ora's knee pinning him down.

"You think I'm not going to fight you just because you're a girl?" he suddenly said, his face void of anger or playfulness.

After Ora wondered how serious Cosmos would take this game, he yanked Ora's arm off his neck and shoved her hard, sending her tumbling onto the sand. Again, it didn't really hurt. It was like falling onto a blanket of feathers. But before Ora could get back at him, she heard Hank shout that the round was over.

To Ora's surprise, Cosmos actually let out a laugh and pulled Ora up off the ground, saying, "I think you really needed to do that, Ora."

"What?" she stammered.

"You know. Get your anger out...there's really no place for anger on this island," Cosmos told her, suddenly seeming serious again.

I don't care, Ora thought as she turned away from Cosmos to ignore him.

"Alright! Elvin's out!" Hank shouted, laughing. "He was obviously too scared to wrestle anyone here!"

"I WAS NOT!" Elvin suddenly yelled, clenching his fists but failing to look the least bit intimidating.

"Hey, I don't blame you, El!" Hank said, patting his shoulder. "You're the smallest one here."

"I'm not scared, though! I was going for Cosmos but then the crazy lady tackled him before I could get to him!" Elvin whined loudly.

"Alright. Whatever, Elvin," Hank rolled his eyes, entering the circle again. "Just go stand to the side. You're out."

Elvin had the biggest frown on his tan face as he angrily marched away from the game, slouching like a tree bending to the wind.

Ora wanted to laugh until she saw Cosmos looking after Elvin, his gold eyes aflame with worry. He started leaving the circle to go check on the boy, but Hank stopped Cosmos, telling him that Elvin would be fine and that they had to finish the game.

After some time, the number of players slowly decreased, getting Ora closer to winning the game. However, the lack of choices for partners forced her to pair with Cosmos more than she would have liked to. One strange prompt Glo gave was "gardener watering a plant." Ora had knelt in front of Cosmos and stuck out her arms like leaves as Cosmos pretended to pour water onto her.

Finally, there were only four people left: Hank, Glo, Cosmos and Ora.

"For the final round, the rules are a little different," Hank explained to Ora. "You have to find a partner while blindfolded!"

Before Ora could ask why, she felt someone tie a bandanna around her eyes, transforming the forever bright island into a dark abyss. The bandanna partially covered her ears too, so it was also hard to hear. The players were placed a good distance apart so that it would be harder to find each other.

"Cosmos! You give the last prompt!" Hank shouted.

After a pause, Cosmos opened his mouth and said, "Musician playing-"

But he was stopped by a bloodcurdling scream that pierced Ora's ears.

The players threw off their blindfolds to see a dark-haired girl pointing to the ocean in tears.

"ELVIN!"

Ora whipped her head in horror to see a small figure swimming far out into the sea, where the waves were bigger and fiercer.

Most people on the beach froze in fear. Some began screaming for help and running around in panic. Cosmos sprinted up to the shoreline, and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"ELVIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The determined boy glanced back to shout, "I am NOT scared like the rest of you!"

El kept paddling out, far away from the safe shore as Cosmos screamed at him to come back.

Ora was frozen in shock, realizing the dilemma she had suddenly been thrown into.

Nobody went out to save Elvin. They were all too scared of the sea monsters, and most of them claimed they couldn't swim. Amidst the commotion, nobody except Ora realized that Cosmos had dove into the water and was desperately making his way to Elvin. The girl watched in awe, her heart thumping as she debated with herself. The sea monsters could come at any second. Waiting to see what happened wasn't an option. Ora Ember sprinted back to her suitcase, opened it up and pulled out the big crystal sword which she had bought from Gemaris' Costume Shop. She had it with her specifically for defense. Ora prayed she wouldn't have to use it.

After scurrying to the shallow waters with the huge sword, Ora's spirit lifted when she found that Cosmos had reached Elvin. The musician grabbed the young boy's shoulders and seemed to be gently talking to him, nodding his head desperately. After rubbing his eyes in the water, Elvin suddenly began making his way back to shore, with Cosmos close behind him.

But it was too easy to be true. Cosmos' head abruptly disappeared under the water, and when it came back up, he was screaming. Elvin panicked and began swimming faster towards the shore, panting heavily. Cosmos' head kept bobbing up and down, disappearing and reappearing as if whatever was pulling him was not quite strong enough to fully submerge him.

While the musician desperately struggled and screamed, Ora realized that she was in another one of those situations where any action she chose was an action she would end up regretting. Any choice would have negative consequences. But the right thing, she knew, was to put others before herself, even if the person who needed saving wanted her dead.

Ora felt so much guilt for hesitating. Finally making her decision, she sprinted out into the deep sea, dove into the waves and flew under the water straight towards Cosmos. Trails of bubbles streamed behind her like strings of crystal pearls. Thankfully, her Gift of Flight allowed her to fly through air and water. Soon, she was close enough to see Cosmos' feet getting pulled and released over and over again under the water.

But there was no monster.

Or at least, Ora didn't see any monster. She knew that the sea monsters were dangerous and had magic, so was this specific monster casting some illusion to make itself invisible?

Aiming carefully, Ora thrust her sword into the empty space in the water, right below Cosmos' feet. Violet liquid slowly spilled out of a creature that faded into vision. Ora widened her eyes at the scaly purple humanoid monster with razor sharp claws and teeth. Its tale had spikes all along it, and tiny yellow marks were scattered all along its arms and legs. Although it was only as big as a human, the monster still made Ora's body tremble as she stared into its yellow eyes. Recoiling in anguish, the creature let out a deafening, high-pitched scream before quickly swimming away, leaving a trail of its purple blood floating in the ocean like a veil.

But Ora noticed a scarlet liquid falling in the water as well. Cosmos' ankles were all scratched up. And he had fainted.

Carefully tucking the sword under her arm, Ora grabbed Cosmos from behind and started flying and swimming at the same time towards the shores of safety.

After finally reaching land, Ora thought some people would come rushing to help her carry the heavy, unconscious man. But no one came. Keeping Cosmos above her, the girl finally collapsed onto the sand, which had never seemed so hard. After gently laying Cosmos down, Ora was relieved to find that he was still breathing. Perhaps he had passed out from the trauma, or maybe even from blood loss. His ankles weren't gushing that much blood, though.

"Can someone get help? Can we carry him to a clinic?" Ora asked, looking up at the dumbfounded people.

The beach had never been so quiet. Elvin, who had made it to shore, finally spoke in a whisper.

"You're Diamond the Willow Wanderer."

And that was when Ora realized that her blonde hair dye from Marietta was probably not waterproof.