Puppy woke up the next morning with Arivarea clinging onto him. Thistle was taking up half the bed on her own and Roh Ten was nowhere to be found. That was until he sat up to find it was actually Roh Ten that woke him up, she was gently shaking his legs.

He looked at her questioningly before he realised her cheeky glances towards his morning wood. He sighed then smiled at the perverted girl hopelessly hooked on guzzling his shaft. He nodded at her as she pounced on him excitedly.

Puppy lay back down as he enjoyed the considerably more relaxing blow job, far less intense than the night before.

Eventually everyone was awake, dressed and ready to leave the Dew Bath town that was once again safe and liberated. By the time they arrived in Mardoch, it was already midday. It was also time to move on from the port city. Having spent enough time there to find out that there was no progress to be made there for either of them.

They did not even need to ask Roh Ten if she wanted to tag along, as soon as Thistle explained to her that they were leaving, she rushed home to pack her things. Thistle needed very little persuading, she had no family members in Mardoch, no close friends and a pretty dull future in comparison to what Puppy and Arivarea could offer her.

Unfortunately it was not all good news for the group.

“I can’t come with you,” said Hayune with a resolute expression.

“You can’t?” asked a downtrodden Arivarea with a whine.

“Unfortunately, no. I take care of my family here. Also, I’m a Mardoch guide, where else would that knowledge apply?” she chuckled. She ruffled Arivarea’s hair and gave her a hug. “I’ll miss you, and thanks for everything you did for the city. We’ll make sure to behave ourselves once you’ve gone.”

“You better,” laughed Arivarea along with her. “Otherwise I’ll have to come back and set you straight.”

“Maybe I’ll misbehave a little bit then,” said Hayune. She moved on to Puppy whom she also hugged.

“I’ll be seeing you, Puppy.” she said with a smile.

“It’s been fun,” he smiled then released the hug. The rest said their goodbyes and the group of four left the city, continuing their search for Puppy’s weapon, and a nice conquerable forest for Arivarea.

“Finally, it feels like I’ve been waiting to leave that city for years…” said Roh Ten to Thistle.

“I know how you feel. I hope we’ve made the right decision leaving with them, though.” Thistle was feeling a little jittery considering the importance of the decision she’d just made.

“Do they seem incapable to you?” asked a surprised Roh Ten, she had never met a more capable duo in her life.

“It’s not that!” assured Thistle. “I just mean, it’s not like we’ve even known them for that long.”

“Well, how about this? If they give us any reason to leave - we will.” said Roh Ten, knowing full well that such a reason would never be given.

“Alright, deal.” said Thistle, feeling a lot better. She also thought that Puppy and Arivarea would never let them down but it was better to be safe than sorry.

They trekked away from the city, heading along the southern coast. They all walked barefooted, letting the sand squish between their toes. Roh Ten and Arivarea chose to splash their way through the shallow water.

“Where are we headed?” asked a curious Thistle, eventually.

“I was talking to Hayune and she said there was an interesting place a couple of days south of here. I thought we’d check it out.”

“South?” Thistle said as she thought for a minute. “Ah, she must be talking about Eventide.”

“Have you been there?”

“Nope,” replied Thistle with a chuckle.

“Then it’s a new experience for all of us,” said Arivarea. “As long as there’s a forest. She shrugged.

“No forest, it’s underwater. Unless underwater forests count?” asked Thistle.

“Underwater?” asked both Puppy and Arivarea, they stopped walking and turned to Thistle. Thistle stopped in surprise.

“Well, yes. Is that an issue?” asked Thistle. Roh Ten looked between them confusedly.

“We can’t breathe underwater, and unless I’m missing something, neither can either of you,” stated Arivarea.

“Oh, I see. You don’t need to, it’s enclosed,” she made some hand gestures and looked to attempt to explain something. Eventually she gave up. “You’ll see,” she said as she resumed walking.

“I guess we will,” said Arivarea as they followed Thistle down the beach.

They walked for two days, letting the sun brown them and the sound of the waves melt their stress. Arivarea hunted when they needed food and Puppy was happy to pleasure the girls to sleep every night.

It was a habitual and quite blissful routine that was finally interrupted by a strange creature lying on the sand in front of them. They could see it from a distance and it appeared that Roh Ten recognised it as she took off running.

“Thistle! It’s a Camish!” she shouted.

“Come, quick!” said Thistle to the confused dog and tree.

As they came closer the enormity of the creature became clear. It was wider than Puppy was tall and longer than all of them combined. With Thistle in the mix, that was saying quite a lot.

Roh Ten was the first to arrive and began desperately starting to push it. The creature did not react to her sudden meddling.

“I think it’s dead, Roh Ten…” said Thistle. She looked at the unmoving creature, she felt its gills and waved a hand in front of its still eyes. “It is…”

“What a magnificent creature.” Arivarea admired the hulking blue animal. She ran a hand along it’s smooth skin. “It must have beached itself.”

“Unlikely,” said Thistle. She was near its head now.

“Why’s that?” asked the spritely tree girl as followed Thistle round to the head.

“There’s supposed to be a horn here,” she said. “And there is not supposed to be a harpoon there.”

They both looked at the clearly sawn off stump of a horn then towards the giant metal harpoon that jutted out of the creature's head.

“So it was hunted?” asked Puppy as he arrived too.

“It appears so,” replied Thistle.

“For the horn?” he asked.

“Judging by its lack of a horn, probably,” said Arivarea sarcastically.

“You know what I mean,” said Puppy. “Only for the horn?” correcting himself.

“It’s an unfortunate practise, but it exists,” said Thistle.

“That seems wasteful,” said Arivarea. Rather than having an issue with the killing itself, she was far more perturbed by the fact that all they’d taken was the horn and nothing else.

“Look at all this meat,” said Puppy, licking his lips.

“Don’t even think about it,” warned Thistle. “Cutting that thing open releases the worst smell I’ve ever experienced. Especially with your sensitive nose.” Thistle rubbed Puppy’s nose as she spoke. He engaged his sniffer and took a whiff. Sure enough he smelt a very faint putridity from within the dead Camish.

“If they wanted the meat, they would have had to cut it open immediately, but it’s so big that it’s not worth the effort. So they just take the horn.”

“What do they use the horn for?” Arivarea asked, intrigued.

“For display as a trophy. Or just an ornament,” said Thistle.

“For display?” asked Arivarea angrily.

“Nothing practical?” asked Puppy.

“Nothing practical. In Ocune, the underwater city, it is hung outside the door of a house as it superstitiously protects the occupants from harm.”

“That is…”

“This is criminal!” said Roh Ten. She had finished a lap of the creature and found the harpoon.

“They think so too,” said Thistle. “She also thinks it’s criminal,” translated Thistle.

“What can we do for it?” asked Puppy.

“Nothing,” admitted Thistle who was beginning to back away from the creature. “It’s far too heavy to carry and there would be nowhere to put it anyway.”

The mood had turned sombre. The rest of their journey was the better part of a day but very little was spoken. Roh Ten seemed especially annoyed.

“Can you ask if she’s alright?” Puppy asked Thistle gesturing at Roh Ten who was stomping along in the shallow water.

“Everything alright Roh Ten? Puppy’s asking” she said.

“In my culture we worship Camish.” she began. “I’ve seen it before, but it still pisses me off.” It seemed like she had finished and Thistle was about to translate. “Thanks,” she said in the language Puppy could understand - Fillish.

Puppy got a little flustered and looked to Thistle for the meaning. “In their culture Camish is worshipped so when she sees one killed it pisses her off… Then she said thanks.”

“Yeah I got that part,” laughed Puppy.

They walked for the better half of a day until finally, as the sun was setting on the horizon, they saw giant blue pillars protruding grandly from the grainy sand.

“That must be it!” said Arivarea in excitement.

“Looks like it,” agreed Thistle.

They approached one of the pillars and saw that they were patterned in shimmering blue and white scales. They were arranged to form a path that led into the ocean.

“From what I’ve heard…” Thistle said as she walked into the water. “You just walk in.” She finished talking just as her head disappeared below the ocean surface.

Sure enough, she was fully submerged and breathing fine. She looked forward to a massive street lined with colourful sea plant life. Some of them glowed with bioluminescence.

She rushed back out and popped her head above the water to see her three companions hesitating. “Come on in! The water’s fine!” she said with a smile.