I hate saints.

Swimming not far beneath the surface of the ocean, as to avoid the waves and their currents, I watched one of the white seals swim past.

There were two of them. They were both as big as me, and as white as snow. They'd been circling me for a few hours now, playfully swimming and making noises at me as they did.

What was odd though wasn't that they were swimming alongside me, but instead the way they grew annoyed when I drifted off course. As if they knew where I was going, and why I was going there, and were trying to make sure I did what I was meant to.

It could be a stretch, but considering they had been involved in a prophecy... them trying to guide me was very likely.

I'd been swimming for more than day now. Internally I felt I was still on the right path, and the position of the sun and stars when visible, validated that for me… but I still worried I had missed the ship.

After all even if I stayed on course, not deviating from it at all, there was nothing stopping them from straying off course themselves, rendering my efforts useless…

But Light's prophecy did have me finding the ship, and fighting the monarch which attacks it. And now I did find, even if not on the beach, the white seals…

One of the seals got a little close, swimming right under me and looking up at me with its huge black eyes.

I stared down into them, and wondered if there was intelligence in them. Beyond the normal, at least. Only one of them seemed inquisitive about me, while the other seemed slightly indifferent. Yet both had remained very close this whole time. Neither had tried to bite at me, or do anything to imply that they were waiting for an opportunity to take a bite out of me either.

Seals in general were actually very smart creatures. Inquisitive and sometimes even playful. But they'd been following me for so long, even without the white fur, I would have thought them acting odd.

The one currently swimming beneath me had huge whiskers, which were surprisingly black. As if its colors were inverted, they were very stark against its snow-white fur. And it, like its fellow, looked completely healthy. I saw no obvious scars on either of them, which was a little surprising considering their appearance and how big they were.

You'd think they'd be targeted often by larger predators with how white they were. Though maybe they typically spent their time far up north?

Looking away from the seal as it spun around and darted off, to go swim next to its fellow nearby, I wondered if the original prophecy had been about me finding them on the beach, and then following them from there? They had shown up only a few hours ago, barking at me since until I slowed in my swimming enough to allow them to come up to me and swim around me for a moment. And were now happily swimming along me.

I felt no hearts within them, of course, but I also didn't feel any hearts or divinity anywhere around me.

That was what I'd been waiting for, to be honest. I figured I'd eventually sense the monarch, or someone on the ship I was meant to protect.

No one had said anything, but I was assuming that there was going to be a saint or two on the ship. Or maybe someone with a heart inside them, like Renn. Something to let me easily find them and…

Speak of the devil.

Swimming to the surface, I breached and found a rather calm ocean. Staying afloat, I glanced around and… yes. I found them. Sails on the horizon.

It was faint, but I could feel the divinity. There was undoubtedly a saint on the ship, maybe even more than one.

While treading, a white head appeared a few feet to my left. The seal turned to look at me, sneezed out a spray of water at me and then barked.

"Yes. I know. I see them," I said with a sigh. If I had needed any confirmation further that they weren't just random seals, there it was.

It sniffed loudly, and blew more water out at me and made more noises. It seemed annoyed at me.

"Pets are you?" I asked as the other seal emerged too. It barked and looked around, as if questioning why we were just wading here.

"Pest more like," I grumbled, and then went to swimming. I stayed on the surface, as to keep an eye on the ship and since the surface wasn't as turbulent as it had been earlier.

The ship was large, with many brown sails. There were faded flags, and emblems, painted on the sails. Old ones, which I'd not seen in the Society in a long time. It was the old church symbol, back before Celine's religion had taken over the humans. The sight of it only further confirmed it was the right ship, not that I really needed such a thing. As I got closer and closer, it became ever more apparent that there was indeed multiple saints onboard the vessel. Maybe three or four, even.

It was infuriating but more so confusing. How come they had so many saints amongst them…? Even during Celine's height, even after hundreds of years of her trying to gather as many as she could, she had only a few dozen at most. And most had been human, not non-human. Like Amber's mother. In fact non-human saints had at one time been something I had thought impossible. Rare beyond measure. And now it felt like I was meeting a new one every time I rounded a random corner.

How had they gathered so many saints at once…? It was almost concerning. In the past saints had been more common, where you could find at least one in every major city, but that had been centuries ago. Today saints were so rare it was almost as if they were extinct.

Yet now there were… how many? Light had two others with her, Mono and Glasses. Renn's friend, Elaine… Narli… and now these ones…

The seals kept pace with me, swimming alongside me close enough that one even bumped into me a few times as we neared the ship. It was in full-sail, so I had to swim at it in an angle. I could swim quickly, but not at full speed while on the surface. And it didn't seem that any of the crew had noticed me yet, which was odd.

Not noticing me was one thing, but what about the two giant seals that stuck out like sore thumbs out here? How did they miss them? Especially when occasionally they were barking and…

Then I heard a shout. A voice. A quick glance to the deck of the ship showed commotion. People were starting to look overboard, shouting at one another.

They'd finally notice me.

I sighed as I sunk a bit, as to pick up my speed. I swam quicker, and reached the ship. Breaching the surface again, right up against the boat, I found a roped net dangling down not far from where I'd emerged.

Grabbing onto the rope, I quickly climbed upward and left the comfort of the sea for the first time in almost two days.

As I climbed, I noticed the ship only had a few gunports. Maybe half a dozen. They were all sealed shut at the moment.

Considering the size of this ship, that wasn't enough.

Reaching the ship's deck, I slowed a bit as I grabbed onto the bulwarks, as to not startle the many people who all went silent upon seeing me.

For a small moment I looked around at all the people, counting almost three dozen on the deck. I looked around not just to confirm these were my people, but for familiar faces and for glowing eyes. A pair of glowing eyes in the center of the group confirmed they were my people, and the tall man standing next to young looking saint with his hand on a sheathed sword confirmed they were both my people and those I knew.

Clambering over the bulwark railing, I landed on the deck with a small huff. I was soaked, of course, and as such got the area around me drenched.

"Martin, is that you?" I asked the familiar knight. Both to confirm what I saw, and to let everyone here know who I was.

The knight relaxed a little and sighed. "Yes, Vim. It is."

Interesting. I had met his son in Lumen, but had honestly kept my distance from him. I hadn't liked the way he had tried to be so friendly.

Looking around again, I quickly realized the other saints were below. One was almost directly beneath me, as if standing right below me, and… another was near the front of the ship. On one of the upper levels, maybe even one above the main-deck.

"It's the protector…!" someone finally shouted, and quickly the whole crowd relaxed and grew noisy. People stepped forward, greeting me happily, while others stayed back with worried expressions. Either because they weren't sure of me, or because they were smart enough to know that my presence here and now could only be a bad sign.

"Hey Vim!" a familiar voice drew my attention to the left, and I smiled and nodded to Nasba's cousin.

"Tressi. How're the feathers?" I asked. The duck laughed and waved happily at me as she made her tail feathers dance behind her, much to the annoyance of those near her. They looked fine. She had been born with twice as many feathers as her fellows, so such a thing had always been an easy topic to remember her by.

"What're you doing here?"

"Why were you swimming out here!"

"Should we pull the net up…?"

People noisily fussed around me, but no one directly came over and touched me. Likely because I was utterly soaked. Although I myself wasn't bothered by the cold of the sea, or the wind, I knew most others here were. It was cold. And out here getting wet could be rather discomforting, if not life-threatening.

"Give him room! Pull the net up," Tressi shouted over the crowd, pushing people into motion a she did.

The group around me quickly stepped back, some going to pull up the rope I'd just used and others simply stepped back to give me room.

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As the crowd quieted a moment, I noticed that… it was actually pretty diverse. Half the crowd were men, and everyone seemed to be of different bloodlines. I saw a deer, a ram, another duck like Tressi, a man with scales on his head instead of hair, a few with wings…

"Ah, look! It's Sef and Bump!"

I turned to watch some people peer over the railing and point and wave at what I assumed were the seals below.

"Did they lead you to us, Vim?" Tressi asked.

"Kind of… Are you the leader, Tressi? I'm here for an important reason," I said.

The duck gave me an odd look as she nodded and frowned. "Kind of. Come on, let's go talk with the rest then," she said as she gestured to the front of the ship.

As she stepped away, heading for a stairwell that led to an upper deck that had what looked like some kind of captain's quarters, I glanced at Martin and the saint he still stood nearby.

They too nodded and turned, heading for the stairs as well.

"Long time no see, Vim!" I was greeted by a familiar face as I went to follow the duck, one that made me pause.

"Kapni…?" I almost couldn't believe it. The taller man grinned as he reached out to me. I took his hand, firmly, and nodded in greeting at the old fox.

"Must say I'm glad to see you, though I expect this is not for good reason. We'll talk later, go do what you have to," Kapni said as our hands separated.

"Hm… Glad to see you're well, Kapni."

Leaving the fox behind, I felt strangely confused once again.

Another person I had thought long dead. How many times was this going to happen?

Tressi hurried up the stairs and through a door on the upper deck. I waited for the saint and Martin to climb the stairs first before following them, and as I did I noticed the saint was like Mono, younger. She kept glancing over at me, and had little glittering scales around her glowing eyes. The kind that told me she was some kind of fish.

"I met your son in Lumen," I said to Martin as I followed him up the stairs.

"How's he doing?"

"He lost his arm, fighting a monarch."

Martin slowed a bit, glanced at me, and then sighed. The young-looking saint frowned in worry as the old knight nodded. "He inherited his mother's side more than mine. I trust he's well, at least?"

"Light patched him up. He seemed well enough," I said. I didn't want to audibly admit I had ignored the lad on purpose and as such hadn't spent any time with him.

"Well, least he did his job I guess…" Martin whispered as he went to hold open the wooden door for the saint. She nodded in thanks at him before hurrying in.

Martin kept hold of the door, for me, and I slowed a bit when I stood beside him.

He held my gaze as I glanced him up and down, confirming he looked well. He had more gray in his hair than I remembered, but otherwise looked… well… like himself.

"I'm fine, Vim. The lands there had been peaceful. Too peaceful," he said.

"Ah… but for warriors, peace is usually the great killer, you know?" I said.

He smirked at me and nodded. "Always with your weird views. Glad to see some things don't change."

"Wasn't weird at all…" I mumbled as I entered the noisy room.

It was indeed a type of captain's quarters. There was a large horseshoe table, littered with papers and books. A large map sat on it, and before it was another saint. The one I had sensed earlier. Tressi was here, and a…

"Hello," I greeted who was undoubtedly Tressi's daughter. She was a young girl, standing barely up to my waist, but had a large fan of feathers spread out behind her that nearly took up a quarter of the room. The size of the feathers weren't just the reason I knew it was Tressi's daughter, but the fact she was a splitting image of Nasba. Down to the little tuft of hair on her brow.

The young duck warily nodded in greeting, but said nothing, as Tressi stepped over and gently patted her on the shoulder.

Before Tressi could say anything, or I, the saint standing before the table sighed… and did so rather loudly.

She was older, but not one I recognized. She had feathers in her hair, but no other discernible traits to tell me what she was. But thanks to being near her, and near the younger one a few feet away, I could tell she was the strongest of the three saints on the ship. The other was still below, near the center of the ship. Maybe sleeping…? I hadn't felt them move at all.

"I fear what you're about to say. But hear it I must," the saint then said as she turned to directly face me.

"My name is Vim," I introduced myself first, since I didn't recognize her at all. "I was alerted by Light that this ship would be attacked by a monarch."

The saint flinched and the rest of the room grew tense. "Thus you coming here to hopefully protect us," the saint said.

I nodded.

"What is it? When's it supposed to attack…? We're only three days from shore, and…" the saint began to ask questions, but Martin quieted her by clearing his throat.

"Vim is not the kind to know such details. The fact he even knows it's a monarch that attacks us is testament enough to the direness of the situation," he said.

I nodded, glad he still remembered the kind of man I was. "I don't know the details. All I know is the monarch will attack you before you reach land, and… it will not be a gentle attack neither."

"People will die," the saint whispered.

"Not if I can help it," I said.

The saint closed her eyes and reached over to the edge of the table. She gripped it as to support herself, as if suddenly weak.

Likely was.

"Is there anything we can do, Vim? Should we sail a different route?" Tressi asked.

"I hadn't been told of such a thing, so I'm assuming it'll attack no matter what we do. I'll be honest, with so many saints on board it will be… difficult for me to sense its approach. But as long as I can notice it before it does anything too drastic, I'll be able to distract it long enough to allow you to escape and reach land before it can do any real harm," I said.

"Martin, please have those with the greatest eyesight put on watch. I want half a dozen at least on alert, at all times, from now on," Tressi said.

Martin nodded and immediately turned and left. He wasted no time, per usual.

I sighed softly as I gestured lightly at Tressi. "Have the rest of your people prepare for possible contact at any moment. I noticed you had cannons, it might be wise to ready them for use just in case," I said.

"We have no cannonballs, Vim," Tressi said.

"What…?" I frowned at that.

"The ship was overloaded, with all of us and supplies. We removed the cannons and cannonballs to keep it from sinking," Tressi's daughter said.

Hearing her voice for the first time made me focus on her a tad more than before. She had a scratchy voice, but not in the sense of her being sick or something. That was the sound of a damaged vocal cord. Something had happened to her.

I was used to non-humans having such deformities. Rarely, if practically never, were they born with them… but the world was not kind to them. And many were fragile beings. They got hurt often; in my opinion did so more often than their human counterparts. But why did it seem so many of these people had such ailments? Glasses back at Lumen. Light and her missing eye. This girl and her throat.

Considering so many called it a peaceful land where there hadn't even been large animals in the forests to worry about, they sure did seem to have a large disabled population. And it was rather concerning that many of them seemed to be young, and or had gotten the injury while over there like Light had.

"Then let us simply hope I can notice it and draw it away from the ship quickly," I said simply, choosing to not dwell too deeply on the girl's raspy voice or the conundrum it brought.

"Clips, would you please go wake Raccooni?" the saint then asked the younger one.

Clips stood up straight and quickly nodded. "Sure…!" she then turned and looked at me, went still as she stared up at me with wide-eyes… and then hurried out the door.

Clips…? Raccooni was obvious, but I wonder where the moniker Clips had come from. Maybe it was a name not associated with her bloodline at all.

"Though you bring dire news, and a lot of stress, I still thank you and welcome you Protector. My name is Pleck," Pleck finally introduced herself, likely thanks to having regained her composure, and stepped forward to offer me her hand.

I stared down at it for a moment, and noticed the lack of pinky upon it. Not even a stub remained, but the scarred tissue told me it hadn't been a birth defect but something rather recent. Maybe a few years ago at the latest.

Taking the saint's hand gentle, I nodded. "Peck. Clips. Raccooni… and…?" I smiled gently as I turned to greet Tressi's daughter.

The young duck stood up straighter, her feathers going stiff in the process as she even leaned back a bit against her mother. Tressi giggled at her and patted her shoulder again. "She's Fressi. My youngest," Tressi introduced the girl to me.

Taking a step over to her, I reached my hand out to properly introduce myself to the young duck… who grabbed her mother's dress for comfort. Before I could say or do anything to make her worry disappear, the girl swallowed her fear and then stepped forward and offered her little hand.

"Fressi… It's nice to meet you, Vim," she said with her unique voice.

I took her hand with far more confidence and joy than I had just taken the saint's, and nodded. "Fressi. I doubt anyone has told you, but you are the splitting image of your aunt Nasba."

A wry smile wormed its way onto the young duck's face. "I've heard, yes."

"Though, your feathers are much nicer. Twice hers in length, easily! She'll be jealous," I said.

The wry smile that had been half-unsure of herself quickly morphed into a real smile of pride as her eyes gently twinkled and nodded. "Really!?"

"Yeah. If my wife was here she would have begged you to flutter them at her like a fan or something, they're that marvelous," I said.

Fressi's huge grin of pride wobbled a little, as she tried to comprehend what I'd just said, but I didn't give her a chance to respond once she had. I turned to face the saint, and basically outright ignored the look of annoyed worry on her face. She had been offended I had focused on someone else over her, it seemed, or maybe was just bothered that I was not taking the situation as seriously as she thought I should be.

But I mean… what more did she want me to do right now? Until the monarch showed up I was dead in the water, figuratively at least.

"So Peck… By my estimate we're about two and a half days from shore. Any chance we can speed up the ship? I noticed one of the sails weren't fully unfurled," I asked. The rear mast had been half tied up.

"It's ripped and torn," Fressi told me.

I glanced at the little duck and noted the happy smirk on her face. She seemed very confident all of a sudden. She had even stepped closer to me, away from her mother's area of safety to do so.

"So that hadn't been a misspeak… Vim, it's Pleck not Peck," Tressi though ignored the topic as she sighed at me.

Huh…? Oh. "Sorry… Pleck?" I asked the saint.

The faintest hint of a blush showed itself beneath her glowing eyes as she nodded.

Woops. "Let me go try to fix the sail. Even arriving there a few hours earlier might make a difference. Do you have any suitable cloth I can use? Spare sails maybe?" I asked.

"We do, but they're buried in the hold… We'll have to get Gorb to help you find it, he'll know exactly which crate it's in," Tressi said.

"I'll go get him!" Fressi happily volunteered and then ran out of the room. As she did I noted noise, so I leaned back a bit to watch the young duck go. Not far from the door, outside near the stairwell that led here, was a small crowd. Likely trying to eavesdrop.

"Someone should alert the crew… I mean everyone else," I said. Last thing we needed was for the monarch to show up and people to panic and get themselves killed over it. Many of the folk here seemed to be prey, people who didn't do well under stress.

"I'll handle that. Come on, let's get you to Gorb as well," Tressi said as she gently patted my arm and headed for the door.

I nodded and turned to go, but before I did I glanced back to the saint. She was staring at me with an odd look. Not the annoyance from earlier, or the slight embarrassment but… What was that? Sorrow?

"Anything I should know?" I asked her carefully.

She blinked her glowing eyes and then slowly shook her head. "I'm the one who should be asking that, Protector. No. I've not had any prophecy concerning our trip, nor has anyone else. I'm… shaken over this. Not sure what to think about it."

"Well, that's prophecies for you. Worthless things they are," I said simply, and then left to get to task.

Repair sails. Ready the ship for combat… and if I was lucky, slay a monarch before it could do anything to these helpless people.

Just another day at sea.

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