I woke to the white noise of the Sea Cow cutting swiftly over the sea—the splash of waves, the creak of the wooden boards, and the movements of the crew. Stiff and battered, I tried to stir a little, triggering blinding pain. I had to look to see that both my arms were bandaged to my sides. If memory served … I had swung from a rope directly into a mast ... and then fallen a long way to the deck below.

“It’s alright, no need to move, Clover,” Xania said, walking quickly to my side. "I mean ... Lilly."

I felt water being poured into my mouth. For several seconds, I drank greedily. Only then did I venture to try to open my eyes again, finding myself in my bunk. However, a large amount of fresh bedding had been placed next to my sleeping space.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I requested rooming with you until you recover,” Xania said as she poured water onto a rag. She began to clean my face of what seemed to be dry blood.

“Did everybody make it?” I gasped, contending with bruised ribs that made even breathing more difficult.

Xania nodded. “We fought those Hask Farm bastards, took their goods, saved the damsel in distress," She looked at me and chuckled.

I smiled, deciding that being the damsel wasn't that much worse than being a pirate.

Xania looked down for a moment. "I’m … glad you asked me to join your crew, Lilly.”

Noting her difficulty with the sudden change in my name, I replied. “Clover is fine. You wouldn’t be the only person to call me that.”

“Thank Kavtagro,” Xania exhaled, continuing to work away at cleaning and checking my bandages. “You know, it’s kind of funny. After everything, I'm right back to caring for you almost as if you were a pet again.”

“I never minded,” I admitted before I could stop myself. I hadn't wanted to come on too strongly, so I quickly added, “Sorry ... I'm a bit of a sorcerer stereotype.”

Xania didn't seem to know how to respond to this, at first. It took her a moment before she replied, “I apologize for the things I said about sorcerers. It was mostly for what I’d thought they’d done to you. I’m sure the stories I’ve heard have been exaggerated with retelling.”

I shrugged as best I could in my bandages and said, “If it isn't something evil, the stories probably have some pervy truth to them.”

Xania chuckled to herself and then she opened her mouth to say something. It seemed to get stuck for a moment, before she finally forced it out. “I would apologize endlessly for branding you. But … I hope a sorcerer like yourself would have ... enjoyed it?”

I did, at least in retrospect, knowing how things had turned out. I certainly didn't mind. In fact, thinking about it now, I found that it made me smile.

Xania giggled at this. “Since you're marked as mine, it seems I still got a pet I need to take care of.”

I smiled back at her for a moment before another feeling grew inside me. I suddenly had to look away, my cheeks burning.

Xania’s eyebrows arched. “Clover ... are you … aroused by me?”

I hadn't been ready to be asked so directly. Yet, I knew it was a healthy conversation, one we probably needed to have. So I drew in a shallow breath and said, “Uhm … well … yes.”

Xania pursed her lips and nodded, taking this information in. “I'm ... not a sorcerer." I understood the subtext, she wasn't the sort of kinky perv that I was. "I’ve only recently learned that you’re a person and not ... livestock.”

Somehow, that possibility had escaped me entirely. Almost like a farmer suddenly figured out that one of their hens was not actually a chicken but an alien that only looked like one. And who also had a crush on the farmer. Much like my name suddenly changing, knowing that I wasn't a guggle didn't automatically switch the framing of reality she'd lived with up until now.

"That makes so much sense," I said, quickly nodding while fighting a lump in my throat.

Xania seemed to notice my sudden discomfort and placed a hand on my head, “I'm not saying it's impossible. I just ... need a little time to adjust before I decide on something like that.”

“I won't push it,” I said, caught between my embarrassment and genuine affection for her. "If you decide it's too weird, you're still important to me."

Xania seemed relieved at this, settling in to stroked my hair. "As are you, my Clover."

-O-

For the next few weeks, Xania cared for me while my body recovered. Qasven's magic lessons did slow down; they were instead replaced by working on my healing magic. While second to none for the disease I'd worked to specialize against, and still very efficient at general healing, Qasven still found plenty of room for me to increase the general effects.

So, just through training, my body began to mend more and more quickly. Of course, the crew benefitted from it too. By the following week, my body was mostly back to normal and everyone was as healthy as I'd ever seen them.

It was just in time because, in the distance, we could already see white on the horizon.

The Mist.

Of course, there were no assurances we would be able to get through it. Even if we did, we might pop out on some obscure part of the continent. But we were getting closer.

-O-

The morning I could finally stand unaided, the first thing I did was to call Daava through my new mirror. It had been taken from the Hask Farm ship and assigned to my bunk by Captain Tab—who understood how important it would be to me.

Daava happened to be alone when I called.

Apparently, Aamalyn was trying to convince a race of giant eagles to just fly them and the magic cock ring to the orgy it was supposed to go to. I missed seeing Aamalyn, and hoped I would catch her the next time.

I told Daava a bit about my journey, focusing mostly on all the people who were all members of the ship’s crew.

Daava smiled as I spoke, until had told her everything. Then she replied, “I’m glad to see that you’re doing better. I have to admit that I was resentful at the World and Kavtagro that any of this happened to us. But Aamalyn and I have grown so much closer … in a way I don’t think we would have otherwise. And you, Lilly, you’ve grown so much.”

It was still difficult, hearing all that. Even if, essentially, I agreed with her. But, whereas before, when I'd stopped the conversation from ever happening, I didn't pull away. Instead, I considered ... if I could talk about what I actually felt.

I drew a heavy breath and said, “I’m still ... scared. And I miss you. And I … I guess I still find it painful that all our stories are unfolding apart instead of together. It’s ... hard ... not to feel like I'm losing you. I’m trying not to look at it that way. Like you said, I’m starting to get why we needed this. But it still hurts.”

Daava listened patiently. “Lilly, I miss you too." She wiped at something forming in her eyes. "I guess we've both just been trying so hard to be brave for each other that-"

I wanted so badly to hold her.

Daava shook her head and let out a heavy breath. "For every moment we are apart, I'm going to make it up to us. When we’re together again.”

I nodded, my eyes stinging a bit as I smiled. This time ... it wasn't fake.

“And we will be together again,” Daava finished, reaching a hand toward me.

I put my hand on the mirror and nodded a few times, wiping away a tear than had escaped down my cheek. “We will.”

-O-

It was early morning, many weeks later, when I woke to find myself staring up into Xania's eyes. While she was now my roommate, the morning care had mostly stopped once I could walk again. So I blinked a few times and then mumbled. "Is everything okay?"

Xania nodded a few time, more quiet and awkward than I was used to from her. Then she reached a hand down and gently tracing my horns–miniature versions of of her own.

Unsure exactly what was happening, I touched her hand and then simply allowed her to touch me as she willed.

After a few minutes more of this, Xania moved on to my tail. She ran her hands along the length of it many times, eventually even softly pinching the tuft of curly reddish hair at the end of it.

It took me a few moments to realize that this was the first that she had ever really touched me by my cow parts. My … minotaur-like parts.

Xania then caressed her brand on my body. “I saw you lying there ... and ... uhm. I-I'm not a sorcerer. I don't know how to do the kinds of things that-”

My own hand trembling, I touched her face. Peered deeply into her large brown eyes. "I don't need to be a sorcerer all the time. With the whips and chains and kinky magic. You can just ... be you. And I can just be your Clover."

Xania looked down, like she wasn't sure. Almost like it was an imposition just that she was so different from everything she knew about me.

I leaned forward, slowly, until my lips met hers.

In an instant, Xania pressed her lips around mine. Nearly enveloping the bottom half of my face with just a kiss. But then ... she pulled away. Shaking her head, like it had all been a mistake.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, a horribly feeling crashing over me entirely. "I thought-"

"I do want this," Xania gasped, shaking her head as she turned away. "But I don't ... I-I already loved you. Before I even knew what you were. But we're going make it to the continent and we won't even be ..." Her words trailed like she didn't even know how to say the words she was trying to form.

"I ..."

Despite all my efforts and singular purpose to get home, I somehow had still filed it in the back of my head as something that would happen one day. But, one day was coming more quickly, with every moment we grew closer to the end.

Before either of us could say more, a bell began to ring from the deck.

Xania and I just looked at one another, for a moment. Then, she helped me up. Tension following us with every step, we made our way out until we were standing in full daylight.

The entire crew was on the deck, their attention was caught by something directly ahead. A heavy silence had fallen over the ship–so much so that the idea of breaking it felt intimidating.

Xania’s jaw dropped as she too peered over the heads of the rest of the circle-dragon crew. Too short to see over anyone, I craned uselessly to try and see what it was. Noticing, Xania hoisted me onto her shoulder.

Then I finally saw it.

In each direction, for as far as the eye could see was a mist. Fog so dense and white that it appeared to be solid. The edges sharp as stone. Towering, imposing, thousands of feet into the sky. Unaffected entirely by the winds. It did not look like a natural phenomenon at all.

We had arrived at the Mist.