It didn't take very long for them to find a water source and Sephira kept them flying, determined to make sure they were on an island. It took about eight hours to fly across to the other side of the island from where the others were camped.

"Wait, Sephira." Sorin called after Craven and Sephira had landed and both looked ready to kill, they were so angry about being stuck on a gorram island.

"What?!" Sephira spat, turning her burning eyes on him. He had taken his mask off during the flight and she could see the worry in his eyes.

"What if it's not a complete island? It could be connected to the mainland by a ray of land or like a land bridge." He argued optimistically. Sephira scowled at him and he could tell she wasn't convinced.

"Let's go back to the waterfall we heard. At least we'll be able to have some fresh water. Maybe we won't die so quick..." Craven growled.

"And what about the dragons?! There are no large game on this island to feed them! They'll die or they'll drink all of our water!" Sephira ranted.

"They can eat fish from the sea, Sephira. Let's just get to the water and then get some sleep. We can figure it out tomorrow." Sorin pleaded.

"It's going to be hot during the day! We're better off sleeping during the day and working during the night." She argued back with a look up at the white stars in the great, deep black sky.

The familiar moon offered her little comfort as they made their way back to the waterfall they heard in a valley near what they guessed was the center of the island. When they started to descend, Sephira's eyes went wide when she heard the sound of female voices singing. She had Caius make an abrupt drop into the trees and the others followed her with Crow squawking about the trees being too close together and their large leaves brushing against him.

"Shhh!" Sephira hissed at the silly dragon, who turned his red eyes to hers in recognition. "Did you hear them?" she asked in practically a whisper. Sorin nodded from where he sat very close by her. Crow hadn't been as adept as the shadow dragons at landing in the densely wooded area and Craven slapped a large, serrated leaf out of his face in irritation as he listened hard to hear what Sephira heard. The singing had stopped and Sephira knew the singers probably heard Crow.

Would the natives try to kill them or would they merely hide from the dragons? Surely, if it was an island, they would have never seen dragons, Sephira guessed. There hadn't been one sign of actual civilization since they woke up on the empty beaches and Sephira wasn't sure if she was relieved to know something lived on the island, or apprehensive about meeting angry natives.

She made a quick decision at the sound of the running water because of the dryness of her mouth and her two male companions followed her without question. She crept through the unfamiliar plants in just her shift and pants with one sword drawn. She was mad at herself that she had removed her armor with her ring daggers in it and Sorin was maskless and armourless as well. Craven was only in his red tunic and blackilt with his large sword gripped in two hands and his boots breaking branches with the weight of his large, dense body. When Sephira peeked through the leaves as she neared the sound of the water, there was a sight she didn't expect.

The water was glowing and in the water were many naked or nearly naked women. She almost froze at the sight and the women grouped towards the far end of the amazing glowing pool that was fed by a shimmering waterfall. Sephira thought it was an illusion as she stood staring through the leaves, then, one approached. She could've been the only one with kind brown eyes and was surely the only one that was fully clothed. Her dark brown eyebrows were full and her dark brown hair cascaded in thick curls down past her shoulders. She wore a translucent white robe along with golden cuffs on her upper arms and something like a golden crown on her head. She stood intimidatingly tall, much taller than Sephira, and approached slowly with bare feet as she ascended from the glowing water.

"Hello." She greeted Sephira with a deep feminine voice and a friendly, white-toothed smile. "Welcome." She added as she held her arms out to the side as a friendly gesture, gathering the attention of the women in the pool. Sephira put her sword away hesitantly and Craven and Sorin followed her lead, all with similar looks of confusion and apprehension on their faces. "Don't be afraid. We mean you no harm. Join us." The woman had an airy voice that made Sephira aware that the woman did indeed have magick and not just from the glowing water. She could tell she must've been a witch and it wasn't just her height that was intimidating. Her magick seemed strong, much stronger than any elf or naiad she'd ever met.

"Who are you?" Sephira asked slowly, trying to remove the demanding, suspicious tone in her voice. She didn't take a step into the clearing and felt the stiffness in Sorin and Craven's postures as they resisted stepping forward as well.

"I am Hera. This is the Garden of Hesperides." The woman told her with a polite bow to her brown-haired head. Sephira was not interested in being on her bad side and decided to play nice until she had a reason not to.

"I'm Sephira. This is Sorin and Craven." She told her with a customary bow that the others replicated behind her. She made sure to have a polite tone, but she recognized that she didn't exactly sound friendly and doubted she or her mother had ever sounded 'friendly' in their entire lives. "Tell me, Hera; Are we on an island?" Sephira asked, carefully. The three of them knew the answer when Hera's expression showed the slightest sympathy.

"I'm afraid Hesperides is an island." Hera stated. There was something in her voice that made Sephira tilt her head.

"But you know a way off..." Sephira surmised with a raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes. A coy smile spread on Hera's lips and Sorin could feel Sephira's determination strongly as she looked boldly up at the witch.

"Come. Let me introduce you to my nymphs and you can join us in the pool." Hera insisted. Sephira turned to exchange a serious look with the other two who both looked uncomfortable about joining her.

"Is there something you want from us? Something we could trade to be able to get off the island?" Sephira asked lightly, turning back to Hera with a demure quality to her melodious voice as she stepped out into the clearing into the moonlight. Hera still had a sneaky smile on her face when she looked back at Sephira out of the corner of her eye. She was making her way around the grassy edge of the large, glowing pool.

"Perhaps we can come to an arrangement." Hera answered, looking down at the nymphs that sat in and around the pool watching the new-comers curiously. The nymphs' hair was impossibly long and some floated in the water like seaweed behind their fleshy bodies. They were impossibly white-skinned for living on a sunny island. Sephira could tell her and Sorin's relatively pale beige skin was much darker than any one of the many nymphs. Some of them wore rings of flowers on their heads and their hair fell in ringlets down their backs. Their ears were almost round, but had small points on the top suggesting they had elven and human ancestry. Craven tried not to look at the perky nipples of the curvy nymphs which showed through their sheer robes on some and were completely exposed on others. The fabric they wore looked like it was made of stardust. It sparkled in the glow of the pool while the nymphs shown bright under the pale light of the moon. Hera started listing their names and Sephira found that she had only remembered the first one, Aegle, and the last, Hespereia, by the end of the long list.

Hera was relentless in bidding them to join the nymphs in the pool and Craven felt a slight opposition in the back of his mind about doing as she said. He was starting to feel exhaustion wash over him and wanted to find somewhere to sleep rather than bathe, but he couldn't deny that cool water to wash the sweat off his body was appealing to him. Sephira was the first to strip off her boots and pants and weapons and she stepped into the water in just her shift dress and undergarment shorts. She trailed her fingers through the water as she descended deeper and saw that the glow of the pool was actually just moonlight reflecting off the many smooth round transparent blue stones at the bottom.

Sorin and Craven looked at each other with similar looks of concern when the nymphs started fawning over Sephira and Hera joined her in the pool to hand her a glass of wine. Sephira had a nymph combing her hair while others gathered around with wonder in their eyes, which Sephira was interested to see all had silver irises. To Craven, Sephira was more beautiful than any of the nymphs and his eyes stuck to her as the water made her shift cling to her tattooed skin and her golden hair shined in the moonlight. She seemed to feel his eyes on her, because she turned back to look for him and her brother.

"She thinks Hera will make a deal with us if we spend time with her in the pool." Sorin whispered to Craven after he gleaned Sephira's intentions by focusing on her thoughts. Craven nodded slowly and both men began removing their weapons and boots. Two nymphs came close to them, but when Craven stood back up from getting his boots off, they shrunk back in fear with small shrieks. They looked at Sorin but seemed too frighten to get closer to Craven. Sorin took one of their hands and let them lead him into the pool.

Craven's eyebrows had pushed down in concern at the nymphs' odd reaction to him and Sephira must've seen his expression because she handed her wine glass to one of the nymphs and came gliding out of the pool to him.

"Come on. It's alright." She told him, comfortingly, before kissing him gently. He found more comfort in her kiss than her words and his arms came around her of their own accord.

He opened his lips to her tongue as she kissed him deeper. He could taste the wine in her mouth and could tell it was strong.

When Craven pulled away and opened his eyes, Sorin had been brought into the water and was surrounded by nymphs. His tunic and weapons had been abandoned on the shore and he stood shirtless with his tattoos dark against his golden skin. Hera passed him with a wine glass with a seemingly innocent smile and he took it carefully, smelling it before taking a mouthful. Sephira pulled Craven's tunic off and then took his large dark hand in hers and led him to the pool. He felt intense relaxation where the water touched his skin and he worried about what enchantments were in the water and what they might make him do. Was he walking into a huge trap? Could he even trust his strange mate or was she already under a spell?

Sephira appeared calm and unconcerned, but unlike her brother, Craven had no insight into her thoughts. He guessed he'd be better off putting on a brave face for her and hiding his worry, so he replaced his expression with a calm one and followed her unquestioningly.

*

"Should we go look for them?" Rauka asked, with worry soaking her features.

"They said they were just going to check to make sure it's an island. If they're not back, maybe that's a good indication that we're on the mainland." Leuthil pointed out.

"That would be a relief." Isolde said, fanning herself as the morning sun grew hot and baked them even though it was hours before high noon. They only had the naiad tents since most of the others had been lost in the storm. Isolde noticed both the wraiths had their tents still and even Craven's tent had stayed on his dragon. She was starting to wish she had gone with them. The others had spent most of the night arguing about whether they should try to fly North across the ocean or try to build some sort of boat that the naiad dragons could pull across the ocean. Neither idea made any sense to Isolde and she wished she could get a message to her father so he could send ships to find them.

"Hey, maybe you could swim North and find ships to come get the rest of us?" Isolde spoke up, breaking up the stare down Demitro was having with Leuthil.

"What?" Demitro sneered, turning his angry eyes on her.

"Well, if you could fly North. Maybe your dragons could make it to land and then just send ships to retrieve us." Isolde repeated.

"And what if we don't find land?! We can't swim forever, you know!" Malina spat, making Isolde shrink back.

"She's just coming up with ideas!" Markus defended, clutching his side where his stab wound still ached.

"Stupid ideas! That would get us killed!" Demitro roared, with his incisors sharpening.

"I don't hear you coming up with any ideas!" Markus shot back.

Dawn drew Leuthil to the side away from the fighting. They had all moved into the edge of the tropical forest as the sun began to get too hot. The dragons were lethargic from the heat since most of them had their winter fur from traveling to Borea. Only Cerberus seemed at home on the hot sand and laid on the beach sun-bathing. Isis' heavy coat was making her hot and she had joined Floki in the cool sea. Turrock and Sabine were lounging in the shade and the naiad dragons had gone off to eat fish with the sea birds.

"I think it's time to have Isis reach out to the Duvendis." Dawn urged Leuthil.

"You're right. That's a good idea. It won't work if they're too far away..." He mumbled, before his eyes went white and his dragon froze in the water with glowing white eyes. Isolde was the first to see and she turned to find Leuthil after noticing Isis' eyes.

"Are you reaching out to the Duvendis?" She asked, as she skipped over to join them and Markus and Rauka followed each in a clumsier manner but also with bright, hopeful eyes.

"Ugh, it's not working! The damn Felis doesn't want to wake up and is shutting Isis out."

"Try the other one." Dawn insisted, as Leuthil seemed to have already made up his mind. His eyes went back to normal quicker this time and he shook his head with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I can't get anywhere near that dragon's mind. It's like she has wards." He said, in frustration.

"It probably has to do with the antlers. They are eerily similar to a Sphynx's..." Dawn murmured, feeling a similar disturbance at the idea of the Duvendis having stronger psychic abilities than a full Undine with a Sphynx. Dawn had been proud that the Undine were known for their magickal and psychic prowess. She had assumed her people were the best at connecting with their dragons since they had been the first of the races to develop their close bonds with their dragon companions and the first to be able to use Sphynxes in their dragon breeding programs. Even with half Undine blood, she couldn't imagine elves raised separately from the Undine elders would still have such strong abilities.

"Try reaching out to Crow." Isolde said as all of a sudden her eyesight disappeared from her eyes and her soul seemed to retreat from her body. She saw a flash of the group of them including herself standing below and then she felt herself hurtling through the trees and then high up in the air before descending into a darkened forest and looking into the bright red eyes of Crow. She felt far away and couldn't feel any part of her body or anybody else's like she had turned into a ghost.

Craven's eyes opened where he laid in the dim shade of the odd wall-less bed chamber that Hera had provided them. He wondered why he woke when Sephira was still and asleep beside him in the white bed and the only sounds he heard were the many colorful birds chirping in the trees around them. Then he felt Crow reaching out to him. He felt like Isolde and Sabine were in the forest with Crow, but he didn't hear anything.

Isolde could see a place like a garden with some kind of man-made roof and then a blurry vision of Sephira laying in a white bed which was sitting in the middle of the tiled floor of the odd structure. The images were far away and before she knew it, she was being ripped backwards away from them and her ghost seemed to shrink as it streaked backwards through the trees blindingly fast and back into her body. She found herself laying on her back and looking up at the underside of a palm tree. Dawn and Markus were the closest to her and they looked down with expectant looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Isolde asked in confusion.

"You tranced with Sabine and she must've sent you to see Crow!" Dawn explained.

"What did you see?" Markus asked.

"Uh, a garden or gazebo or something." She guessed, picturing the clearest, the pale grey ceiling of some kind of hexagonal structure with columns. When they all furrowed their eyebrows, she continued, "I also saw Sephira...the dark elf sleeping. I think she was in a bed!" She said with surprise and hope that they could all get to sleep in beds and maybe the orcs and Duvendis had figured out where they were. Maybe they weren't on an island afterall! Isolde hoped.

"A bed?" Dawn breathed with the same delirious hope that Isolde was gripped with.

"It wasn't very clear." Isolde admitted, trying to see the actual bed structure, and only seeing the white of the fabric drawn over the blurry form of a blond woman with black markings on her bare arms.

"That's because neither of you know what you're doing..." Leuthil muttered.

"Do you think you know where they are?" Dawn asked Isolde.

"I think... Sabine knows." Isolde explained, seeing the confident expression in her dragon's mysterious almond-shaped brown eyes.

"We need to find a water source." Markus said as he felt sweat drip down the back of his neck. He had taken his armor off along with Rauka since they were both getting overheated even during the night. The naiads had changed from wearing their Nordic blue tunics and thick pants to the violet skirts they wore along with their many beaded necklaces. Even Leuthil and Dawn had decided to remove the heaviest outer robe that was one of three layers of garments they wore and with it they ended up removing their leather armor. They were both beginning to look disheveled as the hot air permeated the white fabric tunics that they wore over their tight linen pants and undergarments.

"Maybe the Duvendis found a water source where they're staying." Rauka guessed as she got on Cerberus' sizzling hot scaled back with a frown as her saddle burned her especially where her blackilt didn't cover her knees.

She was so hot she was beginning to want to remove her tunic, but she was too embarrassed of her tattered undergarments and thick body. She could just picture the Undine and humans' judgmental frowns at the sight of her bare skin. If she were with other male orcs, she'd probably be worried about them making advances, but if she were with female orcs, they'd all likely have taken off their tunics and even their undergarments. A common thing she saw orcs in the Pedassus desert do was to paint their shoulders with white chalk to prevent the sun from burning down on their skin directly. She even thought she'd be fine removing her tunic and undergarment if she was with orcs like Craven. She didn't know him very well when they left on their journey, but he had proven to be a surprisingly respectful and likeable male. For an orc of such high rank, she never expected him to lack arrogance or treat her like an equal. She had heard mostly stories about how many females were interested in getting into his bed and how many he had mated with. She didn't realize the reason was because he wasn't cruel or domineering like most of the other males of his rank and stature.

Isolde pulled her long red hair up into a ponytail before Sabine lifted her into the warm air. She was relieved to have a breeze as they flew and all the dragons seemed to feel better as the movement in the air cooled their skin. Sabine led them over the forest at a good pace, but as the sun rose higher in the sky, the heat was oppressive and she circled before trying to find a good place to land.

"Where are they? I thought you were taking us to Craven?" Malina asked in annoyance when they struggled to land in the dense forest.

"It's too hot. I think Sabine just needs a break from the sun beating down on her and I know I do too." Isolde breathed, as she tried to fan herself with the front of her overly warm dress. She had begun to think about taking it off and only wearing her slip, but the look Markus would give her made her think twice. Meanwhile, the naiads were both topless and here Isolde was with her whole winter dress clinging to her boiling, drenched skin.

Dawn almost fell off as Akeyli tripped on a twisting vine and lurched forward onto the forest floor that was uneven and hidden by thick brush. Rauka stifled a laugh as Dawn righted herself and pulled her dark brown hair off her face that had stuck to the sweat on her forehead. She smirked at Rauka who wore a look of sympathy as Cerberus clung to a tree high in the canopy and looked down at the others who had all tried to land on the forest floor but were unable to fit through the trees easily. Turrock groaned as he let his thick tail crush several medium-sized trees as he tried to clamor to the forest floor in order to get some shade.

"We should've stayed by the shore!" Malina complained.

"Then we could let the dragons stay in the water." Demitro agreed.

"I thought we would've found the others by now and maybe a water source." Dawn murmured, ignoring their accusatory tone.

They decided to wait until the heat of the day was past and meanwhile the dragons snacked on some large round nuts full of milky water. Isolde was relieved when Sabine bit open a hard-shelled nut and let her drink the sour warm water within.

A/N Hello! I'm currently editing the sh*t out  of this part of the story. SOoooo, the next chapter won't really fit until I finish changing it. Not that I have a single reader... but I thought I should put a note here just in case.