Elissa dashed forward in the air, forcing herself ever faster even as she could barely keep her eyes open through the stiff aerial breeze.  Zethi, somehow, despite the two of them blitzing across the sky, not only seemed not to be bothered by the gusts pillorying them both, but actively seemed to relish the sensations as she kept just out of arm’s reach.  

The two were flying at breakneck pace high over central Ezoriar, heading to the south to look for more floating islands.  They’d made the decision not to head north toward Breault until later.  Both because of concerns that the kingdom was still rebuilding following whatever Duke Loriae and his minions had done to the land, and because other Shard-wielders were likely to gather in densely populated locales to look for one another.  Instead, they chose to focus on finding stray Shards upon the floating islands, and only start taking the fight to other people once they’d gathered sufficient power to be assured victory.

Elissa, for her part, could only silently curse the fact that her love’s method of flight, manipulating air currents and propelling herself forward with jets of air at her feet, proved a bit more conducive to flying at high speed without having to worry about getting blasted by air resistance.  Her own method, using her and Elana’s power to directly manipulate the gravity of Thirassa, was perhaps a bit more elegant, direct, and efficient.  But it certainly failed to account for air resistance, something she cursed as she tried in vain to catch Zethi.

“You don’t want another kiss?” Elissa asked.  She struggled to mouth the words, and, although she couldn’t confirm it, it felt as though at least one bug had flown down her throat as she did.

“Didn’t say I didn’t, Elsie!  But I rather like seeing you push yourself like this.  We all need a little struggle in our lives.  A little something to strive for.”

“I think there’s a little too much to strive for right now, Zethi.  Have you seen any islands nearby?  We’re moving so fast I can’t really see more than our hair flapping in my face.”

“I apologize for interrupting your bantering, Elissa,” Elana said.  “It’s faint, but I am starting to pick up the presence of another Aetherial Shard.  Veer to the west about twenty degrees, perhaps a hundred miles ahead?”

“Understood.”

Elissa veered to her left, and after a few seconds of going in the wrong direction, Zethi changed her own course to follow suit.  Just as Zethi was closing the gap, Elissa slowed and wrapped her arms around her love’s waist, followed by a kiss on the cheek, then the lips.

“I got you at last, love,” she said.

“I suppose you did.  Though, I must admit to being a little hurt by it.  You wanted a kiss so bad that you were prepared to leave me behind just to get it.”

“Maybe when I’m really needy, but in this case, Elana informed me that there seems to be an Aetherial Shard about a hundred miles in this direction.  I would have told you, but the last time I tried to talk while flying, I swallowed two bugs, and I really didn’t want to repeat that experience.”

“Apologies, Elsie.”

“Accepted, Zethi.  Though, I am curious.  You’ve flown before all this.  So it’s a little surprising to see you enjoying it this much.”

“I have, a few times.  But as I told you, I dislike taking my dragon form— the drawbacks are simply far too great.  Although I suspect its strength will be needed in the challenges ahead.”

“I wonder if you could maintain it for more than five minutes now.  Or, if you could by continuing to practice using the form.  Or maybe there’s an artifact out there like Vio’s ring that could help you control your transformation?”

“Why such interest all of the sudden, Elsie?”

“Because I love my girlfriend, for all that she is.  And that transformation is a part of her as well!  And I don’t want her to neglect that part of herself either.”

“You want to ride me in that form, don’t you?”

Elissa blushed.  “N– Not in that way?  If that’s what you mean.”  She gave a sly glance and a wink.  “But, I think every little girl dreams of flying around on a magical creature at some point in their life.  In my case, I can fly under my own power now, but that doesn’t mean those feelings and desires have disappeared entirely.”

“I see.  I will keep that in mind.  Changing the subject back, how far?”

“About a hundred miles.”

“We should hurry.  I don’t know what awaits us, but if there's going to be more wraiths, I would prefer we get there with as much daylight as possible.”

“Agreed.”

The two continued flying hand-in-hand at a slightly slower pace than before, Zethi using her mastery over Wind runology to create a small barrier as the two flew forward.  As competent as they each were individually at flying, the two were much better working together.  Just as they were in all other aspects of their lives.

It was midmorning when the island in question surfaced over the southwestern horizon, and, with the sun at their back and bright blue sky overhead, the two darted onward high over the southern portion of Ezoriar toward their destination.  A flock of about a dozen griffins passed by their flight path as they neared the halfway point, and one of them— whether hungry, naive, or just curious, Elissa didn’t know— charged directly at Zethi as they approached.  In a move which caught Elissa off guard, Zethira merely employed her new runological power to Push the charging beast to the side, and beckoned her to continue onward.

Elissa continued on in relative silence, filled with pride over her love’s changing attitude with regard to violence.  She knew that when the time came for fighting, Zethi wouldn’t hesitate, and that she would defend her with her life, if it came to it.  But more importantly, she had learned the virtues of restraint and discretion— of knowing when to fight, and more importantly, when not to.

Those sort of things were among the many that Vio had instructed her upon during their travels together.  Not just how to fight, but the intricacies of diplomacy, governance, and day-to-day kingdom administration and management.  She’d picked up the bits that she could along their travels.  And it seemed that, despite the degree to which the two had repeatedly butted heads during the journey, Zethi had as well.  She will make a fantastic wife and fellow queen someday.

They arrived at the island shortly before noon, and as with all the others, as they approached, gravity and mana alike warped and dragged them down to the surface, forbidding flying over the surface of the island.  Though, that seemed more an unnecessary formality than anything in this case.  Save for the outskirts of the island, which were a gentle grassy plain, the entire island was a large lake of shimmering blue water.

And the water was purer, clearer, and crisper than anything Elissa had ever seen before.  Even the cold ocean water near the shores of Gondara failed to compare to the majesty of the water contained within, clear enough that she could see nearly down to the bottom of the lake despite its depths.

Although Zethi briefly protested, Elissa proceeded to dip her hand in and drink her fill of the cool and refreshing liquid— they had been flying for nearly two hours and her human body wasn’t as hearty as Zethi’s.  And she was all too happy that she had— it was delicious, as refreshing to the mouth and throat as it was to the eyes and soul.  She sighed contentedly as she finished and took a moment to bask in the warm sunlight before they embarked on their mission.

“So, guessing the bottom of the lake?” Zethi asked

Elana confirmed Zethi’s suspicions, and Elissa relayed the same to her love.

“How do you suppose we get down there?”

Zethi took to a knee just off the shoreline and closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought for several minutes as she muttered something incomprehensible under her breath.  The wind began to contort around her, spiraling tighter and tighter, almost as though it were forming some sort of barrier surrounding her.  She got up and stepped forward, and as she reached the water’s edge, the water at her feet swam away, as though Zethi were a magnet repelling it.

“Hmm.  Runology is weird,” she said.

“How so?”

“When Elana and I fought that hydra the other day, I tried to create a barrier of air by combining the Wind and Push runes.  But instead, I got an air cannon.  Useful, but not what I wanted.  And yet, I still felt that I should be able to create an air barrier, so I tried something different.  Instead of first using the Wind rune and then the Push rune in sequence, I tried reversing the order, and it seems to be working as intended.”

Zethi took a few more steps into the lake and, just as she’d said, the air around her acted like a solid wall, pushing away the water and keeping her feet dry.  She grabbed Elissa and pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her.  Elissa blushed, then turned around and kissed her

“I think we can go to the bottom of the lake this way, love.  Can you use your gravity manipulation to pull us all down there?  Even with this spell I’m maintaining, I can’t exactly make a bubble of air sink to the bottom of the lake.”

Elissa nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on the flow of mana surrounding the two of them and the subtle distortions Zethi’s runology was generating.  It took a few moments, even with Elana assisting with the calculations, before she had finally figured out over what region she needed to apply her magic, and another minute to finish casting her spell.  

And as the last bits of her spell fell into place, her feet grew heavy, pressing down into the muddy bottom of the lake.  Hand in hand, the two walked forward, neither talking, both concentrating on maintaining and adjusting their spell as they proceeded into the heart of the lake.

The lake was deeper than Elissa had envisioned from the surface, though, even at a depth of nearly a hundred feet, the sky was nearly as bright as it was at the surface.  No doubt this was some sort of enchanted water, changed somehow by the primal, surging mana which kept the sky islands alike.  But still, despite a few misgivings suppressed to the back of her mind, the two powered onward, reaching the depths of the lake about six minutes later.

“Well, this could prove problematic,” Zethi said, her words sounding a little strained.

“Agreed,” Elissa said, also suffering slightly as her mental focus was split between her spell and her speaking.  “But all we can do is press forward and try to find their objective.”