“How did I get tricked into this?” I wonder aloud. “No, seriously. How did I ever think this was a good idea?”689Please respect copyright.PENANA43qRbFKP3G
Klef shushes me. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAiKTcX6d3cA
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?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAwC5NF9Tqf7
“Yes. But this isn’t in public,” Klef reasons.689Please respect copyright.PENANAnYbBKGoxUM
“I’m with Klef on this one, Reese, have some self confidence!” Geo adds.689Please respect copyright.PENANAIn50bAd0Rt
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?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAKMU8aqgGRy
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA6tQWODbaxc
Flo smiles, bashful. “I really wasn’t that good at finding anything to help you, but you’re welcome regardless.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA62M4kz2qXC
The other werewolf clears their throat. “Am I invisible, or something?”689Please respect copyright.PENANACxhsDXGdGf
“Oh! Sorry, Rythe! Everyone, this is Rythe, my mate,” Flo says with a blush.689Please respect copyright.PENANAegGeMBHQfd
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!”689Please respect copyright.PENANAXRD20cLR0Q
I nod. “I’m Rides. Nice to meet you.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAacVTz7lUZx
Rythe bows. “It’s an honor, my lady.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAmCerfWt9d5
I blush and Flo whacks Rythe upside the head. “Stop, you, you’re embarrassing her!”689Please respect copyright.PENANA5r7w85WtYM
Rythe grins. “But that’s what you love about me! And clearly she doesn’t see herself as some sort of royalty!”689Please respect copyright.PENANAqhwhaLHOK0
Flo mutters in a low voice, “She’s the Alpha’s daughter.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAXWYoN81pyH
Rythe straightens. “You mean the Alpha of a rival pack or The Alpha?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAg8CeVJeipc
“Try the second one,” Flo mutters, embarrassed on his behalf.689Please respect copyright.PENANAgUPPxa4ylv
“Oh.” Rythe salutes me. “Terribly sorry, ma’am.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAZb81QP5sWy
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANApAzO3w6BhS
Rythe nods stiffly, setting the flower crown close to the brink of desruction, and leads us inside.689Please respect copyright.PENANAdFBWOAGSkc
“Guy or girl?” Klef whispers to Geo.689Please respect copyright.PENANAqndPhaTklP
“I...don’t know? Guy, I think?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAYGrzRbJC9I
“No, I’d say girl,” Klef muses.689Please respect copyright.PENANAAa74yaUXV0
“What are you guys talking about?” I mutter.689Please respect copyright.PENANA7BXA4rGkd2
“Rythe. Guy or girl, do you think?”689Please respect copyright.PENANACtCqamMOXM
“Um…” I have to think about my answer. “Maybe they’re neither…”689Please respect copyright.PENANArRVC565YUl
“Neither? Is that possible?” Klef asks.689Please respect copyright.PENANAkMjOm1w9kT
“It would make sense,” Geo reasons.689Please respect copyright.PENANATGnnuJbmca
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAsCDgdqqF3S
“Right, because the natural neutral pronouns are it/its, but that can be seen as degrading nowadays,” Geo says.689Please respect copyright.PENANAB25j6KCiRF
“It is grammatically correct, though,” Klef points out.689Please respect copyright.PENANAF5hTZ24QFF
“I guess you have a point, but would you be okay with being called an ‘it’?” I counter.689Please respect copyright.PENANA4vtIrnm7Rb
“What are you guys talking about?” Flo asks.689Please respect copyright.PENANAmQ1PROnKkX
“Nothing much,” Geo says. “Just things back at our branch, you know?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAMMOU7YSWrk
Rythe coughs and mutters, “They/them,” and I grin at Klef and Geo.689Please respect copyright.PENANAawY9IPpjBF
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANA3eMtbak4Nb
Rythe clears their throat. “Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else, allow me to present Rides, the Oracle who will be informing us on her dreams!”689Please respect copyright.PENANA6qzqc8AKwB
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANABktpHpEepE
“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’.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA6emVKoOlix
Everyone shifts around, suddenly on edge. “And?!” a wizard with pitch black hair shouts.689Please respect copyright.PENANABZGqF9TVyp
“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.689Please respect copyright.PENANAfpoZZfrBJq
“That we know of!” a gorgon yells. “We could be on a wild goose chase, lass!”689Please respect copyright.PENANAGehJubK7Mg
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA6jMnmGepy0
The wizard who yelled out comes up to me. “Yeah, but we were expecting…”689Please respect copyright.PENANAPaFiIQ0yhX
“More?” I supply. “Yeah, a lot of people do. Be glad I have that much, though. This is coming from 5 years of dreams.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAtoEbA1jUrn
“Okay. I’m Ama. A necromancer,” she introduces. “I’m going to be guarding you three for your stay.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAQZKLJoWWOh
“Make that the two of them,” Geo corrects. “I’m no one.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAtwsvFb6QeG
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAAoWvrWXXvQ
The room is still silent, everyone anticipating my reply. “Excuse me,” I gasp, making a beeline for the room’s exit.689Please respect copyright.PENANAOhza4N50kD
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANAAjSAhZZtw8
Footsteps come up to my back. Two pairs. “Ride?” Klef asks. “You okay?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAIJfasTrgLU
I shake my head and close my eyes, resting my side against the wall. “Sick,” I mutter.689Please respect copyright.PENANAEuNMGzosqV
“I’m sorry if I upset you, but you need to get it into your head that you’re special,” Ama states.689Please respect copyright.PENANAOD3f6BiHLB
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAcn5ZdZiKvQ
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?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAKD842BuaFg
“S-sure.” I stumble on the word, because what is the correct response to someone volunteering to reanimate a corpse for you?689Please respect copyright.PENANAvJI8yTl98o
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANADbLYsufP26
“Definitely not someone I’d call a necromancer,” Klef mutters.689Please respect copyright.PENANA5keMHbUFMe
I still don’t turn enough to see him properly. Ama shifts so she can face me fully. “Pet the bun,” she instructs.689Please respect copyright.PENANAicmEDvEKhS
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANA30Fkwa38Tv
I put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re great at it.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAlQBXBPHFVt
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAaj28NFYSpB
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAGKduwRAZvr
“I’m fine,” I mutter as I lean against his shoulder.689Please respect copyright.PENANAYZ1unZGPmM
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAPnXnpuvOYM
I scoff. “Shut up, bird brain.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAmzPpmm7ZsE
“Make me, pointy ears!” Klef challenged.689Please respect copyright.PENANAyRWApxzxRM
Ama looked between us. “You two are so dating.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA3AdgfeMldX
“No we’re not!” we deny at the same time.689Please respect copyright.PENANAd4jKDznlzH
Ama laughs. “So dating.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAbpLUquMm46
“Well don’t say anything. We want to keep it on the DL, if it’s possible,” Klef requested.689Please respect copyright.PENANAOkrme94AZd
“Seriously? I’m willing to bet half the people here have started a pool on your relationship status!”689Please respect copyright.PENANAXFBwNU9G59
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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAF2dMkjy7S0
Klef raises an eyebrow at me. “Is that how you see yourself?”689Please respect copyright.PENANArpGjmyGTPJ
I shrug. “Well, people mix up you and I a lot.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAZYNrdU7ja9
Klef lightly punches me. “There’s the Ride I know and love.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAoKBSIORhOP
Ama sighs. “I ship it,” she murmurs.689Please respect copyright.PENANA3RvN3LZywB
“There’s that word again!” I exclaim. “Why would people ‘ship’ us?”689Please respect copyright.PENANADSSXvFaLSH
“It’s cute!” Ama defends.689Please respect copyright.PENANAtsa0fInXMj
“It’s weird!”689Please respect copyright.PENANArahSa7OuJQ
“It’s true!”689Please respect copyright.PENANAf3E3JjqT6w
“It’s really really funny,” Klef interjects.689Please respect copyright.PENANAuSIHL361m4
I elbow him. “It is not,” I sigh.689Please respect copyright.PENANABCTcQYh5jx
Klef grins.689Please respect copyright.PENANA4nFXcqz7Oa
“It’s not funny!” I exclaim.689Please respect copyright.PENANAgCsmYTtfb1
“Whatever you say, Ride. Whatever you say,” Klef laughs.689Please respect copyright.PENANArQLvPO2FSB
Rythe and Flo come into view outside the conference room. “You okay?” Rythe asks.689Please respect copyright.PENANAF9NEs2gGiw
I nod. Klef lets go of me and I nearly topple over. “Do you mind?” I growl.689Please respect copyright.PENANAlrpAEt2ihN
He grins. “We’ll get you something to sit on until you feel better,” he assures.689Please respect copyright.PENANAzq01riYR6Z
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANAzgzYkuVgsf
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.689Please respect copyright.PENANA7CvxnSGKHY
“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.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA1BMw8rkzhd
I nod. “Are we sending people to check out the most probable places?”689Please respect copyright.PENANACOk6uFMmBT
“Yeah, and we’re sending you and Klef to some of the less likely ones, to deal with the messages somewhere safe.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA5bTQXgafIM
“Okay, I guess…I’d rather be out looking, though.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAUxuqlw8MpF
“It’s for the best you don’t,” a pale human with freckles says. “Hibiscus A, they/them. Has a mild obsession with dragons.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA8jauNSqi1o
I smile. “Rides. My dad wants me to go by Iri. I’m old fashioned, I don’t like using my full name.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAPgEg1EYs5S
Hibiscus A nodded. “I got you. Completely got you. Nice to make your acquaintance, Rides.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAxoMSdGKq3c
“Likewise.”689Please respect copyright.PENANASSo517h8n4
Klef walks in, followed by my dad. “Still hanging around this scum, Iri?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAs2cGKGQwSR
I laugh. “Hi, dad.”689Please respect copyright.PENANANqF9CnJhK8
Klef looks offended. “What am I?”689Please respect copyright.PENANAZ5Cd6X94kX
“Chopped liver,” I respond.689Please respect copyright.PENANAAfJSvyswIx
Dad laughs. “Nice one!”689Please respect copyright.PENANADwF1wZaaX1
Klef holds a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Ride. You wound me.”689Please respect copyright.PENANAmEu3XnK6Rb
“Good. I was trying to.”689Please respect copyright.PENANA1L9My0rlZX
Hibiscus A coughed. “Ship it,” they mutter.689Please respect copyright.PENANAPLDdgeRL85
I throw my hands up. “I’m done with this!” I sigh.689Please respect copyright.PENANAKleaOYRKqa
Everyone laughs. “You think I’m joking?” I ask, standing up shakily. “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I exclaim, waving.689Please respect copyright.PENANA0pDL8kluiG