“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”671Please respect copyright.PENANA4oJYJVnJw6
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA7coitRjYip
The Crusader’s base is in sight, and I’m having more than a few second thoughts about this whole experience. “Have you ever seen me try to speak in public?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAaeXvNf4En4
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.671Please respect copyright.PENANAFf7rQT56Bg
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.671Please respect copyright.PENANAjYaiMgJLDJ
As we’re walking toward the Crusader’s base, Flo walks out with a werewolf who I’m assuming is her mate. They have flowers in their short cropped hair but despite the typically “feminine” accessory has a somewhat-masculine build. Both of them walk out to greet us. “Oh, so nice to see you three! Geo, Iri, and...sorry, was it Klept?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAkYOwkoy61V
“Klef, nice to meet you,” Klef says, shaking Flo’s hand. “I understand you’re the one who helped me when I had food poisoning 5 years ago. Thank you for that.”671Please respect copyright.PENANADLJkUafnoW
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA3i6kl7npH3
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAupTwaBt69P
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.671Please respect copyright.PENANAVNzA0aUPcU
Rythe shakes Klef and Geo’s hands, and then comes to me, examining my eyes. “And you must be the Oracle I’m hearing so much about!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAibJo1TKHLm
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA7BmxEnRgiv
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAgTpWx3nZW8
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”671Please respect copyright.PENANA383ITUatda
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAUErZdZxvJ2
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAmJ1WQxjPet
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAq53e1ah3UK
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.671Please respect copyright.PENANAsR3oML9RMP
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAEs0WVSgoRI
“That’s not necessary, Rythe,” I laugh. “I’m perfectly fine with being called Rides, or even Iri, if my dad insists on calling me that all the time.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAx2IlLxuQ9P
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.671Please respect copyright.PENANAw8Sujvp82B
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.671Please respect copyright.PENANAEsqlE6trfM
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAZ8qRh8qZuO
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.671Please respect copyright.PENANAHx3DQBSnHZ
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.671Please respect copyright.PENANAnJtvFcZbbN
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”671Please respect copyright.PENANA1pWzdpyQsq
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”671Please respect copyright.PENANATjP6DIG8Mj
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.671Please respect copyright.PENANA024Pl4EK52
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.671Please respect copyright.PENANAUWzWSNOmkh
“I’m going to stick to using first names around those two,” I say, holding to the werewolf couple holding hands. “Just to stay in the clear.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAAewZqTznw3
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.671Please respect copyright.PENANAlmbnAfgulA
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.671Please respect copyright.PENANASJJkEXe3E4
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.671Please respect copyright.PENANArpNVqYgOQ6
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.671Please respect copyright.PENANApwjUlsNIpO
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”671Please respect copyright.PENANACnXZu4aPyu
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.671Please respect copyright.PENANAIn4xKJ1VjB
Flo ushers us into a giant room filled with desks where people are talking on phones, documenting things with pictures and surrounding a map, adjusting plastic pieces and discussing strategy. There are many species I recognize and some I don’t. This speech is not going to be easy.671Please respect copyright.PENANAd6JKPJZbjS
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAV7aCMtx5dN
The room goes silent and every eye is on me as I take a deep breath. “Well...first of all, thanks for paying attention, I know a large room full of people who wouldn’t be willing to do that. Second of all,” I look around the room. “Why are you guys paying attention?! I have no clue what I’m doing, and I’m willing to bet every other person in this room has a better idea about how to handle this problem than I do. I am young, inexperienced, and I have recurring nightmares, so I don’t get a lot of sleep to think clearly.” Everyone looks at one another, shifting and murmuring. “My point being,” I yell over the murmuring, and everything goes dead silent again, “That no matter what you think of me, I’m like anyone else. I have my strengths and my weaknesses, just as everyone else in this room has to deal with. I’m not some super-impressive goddess who can do anything I want. I’m weak at almost everything here. I’m just Rides, the girl who dunked her boyfriend in ice cold water to try and help speed up his molting. But you need information, and fortunately, that’s one of my strengths.671Please respect copyright.PENANALoaqVRIQn4
“All of my dreams are pretty much the same. I’m being led to some machine of mass destruction by someone--I don’t know who. I’m on some island, or place surrounded by water, at least. There’s mermaids, fairies, zombies, ghosts, you name a species, it’s probably there, except there are never any humans. When I’m strapped to it something happens and it takes my Sight. It revs up and Klef is asking whoever the leader is why they’re doing this. To summarize, they say it’s to ‘destroy all humans’.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAFkbfGku6DE
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.671Please respect copyright.PENANALvumNk6NGq
“And that’s it. I can say it’s more likely that we’re on an island than a continent, and there aren’t as many islands in this world to check out…” I say.671Please respect copyright.PENANAFHUu5CLWi4
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”671Please respect copyright.PENANASauaP1VuUt
Klef bristles next to me and I hold him back with a hand. “You called me here,” I explain, “You wanted to know what I knew. There you have it.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA2Y9diwvJn7
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”671Please respect copyright.PENANAGkHx63Rar7
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA3tHB0dTHWo
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAHdjoXyIhne
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAcNHPTVk1WR
I start to protest but Ama cuts me off. “He has a good point, Oracle. You and your partner are the highest priority here. The less people to protect, the safer you’ll be.”671Please respect copyright.PENANABaID3EX21V
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.671Please respect copyright.PENANAI4vBdNUN1z
I wander the halls, looking for a restroom. I know I’m about to be sick. I heave in the middle of the hallway and shudder as nothing comes up but a little bile. I was too nervous to eat lunch earlier, but now I’m glad I insisted that I wasn’t hungry. After a few more dry heaves, I slide down the colorless wall to the right of me to the ground. Now that I’ve stopped puking, all I really want to do is cry. I’m really not important. They just need my gift, and anyone could get that. To say others’ lives, their family and friends, my family and friends, are nothing next to me...it has to be utterly ridiculous. There’s no way. I no more important than anyone else. No one should die on my behalf.671Please respect copyright.PENANAnIDZU6qGZH
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”671Please respect copyright.PENANA91aeOeyaD0
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.671Please respect copyright.PENANABS7Vqsrnqb
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.671Please respect copyright.PENANAaFWxEL8EZ1
“You don’t seem to be the type to be a necromancer,” I say. “Since you seem to care about people and their health so much.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAbVYi7bCspQ
Ama laughs. “You haven’t seen me mad.” I turn to get a good look at her. She does have a black air about her, but it’s small and watery at the moment. She has black ringlets that go below her shoulders and clear, milky skin. She also has one green and one blue eye. She notices me looking at her eyes and grins. “Yeah, I have the Sight too. It makes my magic strong enough to animate corpses. Wanna see?”671Please respect copyright.PENANA9u4iRcCIsN
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?671Please respect copyright.PENANAvBVs5wVmjj
Ama mutters something and a tiny skeleton of a rabbit forms out of bones in a pocket Ama has on her clothes. “I like bunnies,” Ama explains. “Once I made an entire fluffle of skeleton bunnies follow me.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAcBZZpwBgtv
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.671Please respect copyright.PENANAQIrj8aChyz
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.671Please respect copyright.PENANAbLKrmNjhCr
My hand reaches for the bunny with hesitation and it lifts its head up to meet my fingers, relishing every single stroke. I smile, and Ama smiles at me. The bunny falls into a pile of bones and Ama shakily returns the bones to her pockets. “Always drains me,” she admits.671Please respect copyright.PENANAbuoQxYbGfC
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAxesC1mmtyP
Ama grins, a blush creeping over her from ear to ear as she stands up. “Come on. Everyone is waiting for you, to make sure you’re all right.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA9AjiQv7dht
I stand up, my muscles screaming at me every inch. My legs shake and my head is spinning as I finally look at Klef. His face is etched in concern and he takes the few slow steps to me as if he’s walking across a minefield. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and says, “You look like you’re about to keel over. Let me help.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAwRzlQ1fiMH
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.671Please respect copyright.PENANA0Gb7o96PVV
“Of course you are, you’re great,” he snarks as he leads me back the way we came. “That’s why you puked and collapsed.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAo8tU0gQbWx
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAxnGfspWl6D
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.671Please respect copyright.PENANAYrbnUabWxo
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”671Please respect copyright.PENANARzi4zs4RwH
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.671Please respect copyright.PENANAGI6o24Ioc5
Ama laughs. “So dating.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAAQFv0VAMI0
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.671Please respect copyright.PENANAihvxaZ2CLu
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAyKy7lSeeMM
I groan. “Great. Just what I need. First I’m more important than others, and now I’m going to be seen as a desperate lovestruck teenager.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAUiajh6Fxdc
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”671Please respect copyright.PENANANpks08PnMf
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”671Please respect copyright.PENANABRkx1ZGOLc
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”671Please respect copyright.PENANALPycc2fqpZ
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.671Please respect copyright.PENANAKL5DMh1ava
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”671Please respect copyright.PENANA5LDBRqbazr
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.671Please respect copyright.PENANAZLvjcmfGy6
“It’s weird!”671Please respect copyright.PENANA5dTudbtZlz
“It’s true!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAnhYExgLQld
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.671Please respect copyright.PENANAemkZNOYVG4
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.671Please respect copyright.PENANALKR1xQxgUm
Klef grins.671Please respect copyright.PENANAmPypsT7yOO
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.671Please respect copyright.PENANAPGkNvkS3OA
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.671Please respect copyright.PENANAFyLsed7Zed
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.671Please respect copyright.PENANAorkFemup4A
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.671Please respect copyright.PENANAQx7X2IuY3p
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.671Please respect copyright.PENANA0MTFBG7PZN
I mimic him. He punches me, nearly sending me careening into a wall. Rythe picks me up. “I can take you to a wheelchair, don’t worry,” they say.671Please respect copyright.PENANA7PScLTZ8V0
I’m carried to a wheelchair next to a table with a globe on it. Little red flags litter the globe. “What are those flags for?” I ask.671Please respect copyright.PENANA975qKy7ppm
“Those are possible places your dreams could have taken place. Now, the list has decreased significantly with your information,” Rythe pulled out land-based flags. “Because you said you were on a peninsula or an island. Now, in addition to the Islands of the Mermaids, there are a bunch of unmapped islands all around the globe. And there’s on in the middle of a lake in the Untamed Lands that’s suspicious.”671Please respect copyright.PENANALjrpCdVECo
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAP73Hr23tpp
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAFlD1PDEqfn
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAxHxSB0PC2P
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”671Please respect copyright.PENANA0DVBzD5iTB
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAx0puxM6kcN
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAbWmUWBZHJG
“Likewise.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAa7cUx4IXQS
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAZJq0BkPN9d
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAHilEgRmdhg
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”671Please respect copyright.PENANAfStgkIRibg
“Chopped liver,” I respond.671Please respect copyright.PENANAYLtT5wcx2Q
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”671Please respect copyright.PENANAEoIxvZwqsY
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAj4q9cD114T
“Good. I was trying to.”671Please respect copyright.PENANAVtfl1VAPBE
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.671Please respect copyright.PENANALJ5PxpbUjw
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.671Please respect copyright.PENANAvNbS0dSakO
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.671Please respect copyright.PENANAt7SoTDLkOC