The wood boards groaned under Evan's feet. Both he and Tahlia ran up the steps to the main deck of the ship. Tahlia raised her hand over her face to shield her from the sunlight that fell unbound onto the deck.

She'd been in holds and cells since Evan and Claire had brought her to Estailia such that her eyes had forgotten the vigor of the sun's rays.

Evan cupped his hand around half of his mouth: "Clai—err... Fullwing Montresser! Where are we?"

"This attitude is exactly why I was against the Alliance lowering the age of enlistment to sixteen. It's unprofessional," Commandwing Vausse said.

"But you have to admire his sense of adventure, even in a time of war, sir. Evan is without a doubt the values of the alliance incarnate," Claire replied.

"Perhaps, but every gods damned Leaf on this ship wakes up every day and tries to keep from staining their pants with the knowledge that we will be destroyed by the Empire if this girl doesn't share her powers with us."

Claire watched as Evan's face twisted when she did not answer him. He began to march toward the upper deck she and Vausse stood on.

"I would imagine the Valkyrie also gives us an edge, sir. I know not of any ships in the Empire's fleet that can match this one in speed or maneuverability. With my ability to fly and your command, I'm confident we alone could reduce their numbers sizably."

"If only that were true, Claire. But alas, you've never had the misfortune of seeing their dreadnoughts. Massive ships with two or three airsails, they are. You've read about the Battle of Centralis, correct?"

"Every Leaf who's joined the Alliance after the war has, sir." Claire shifted the helm as she prepared to position the ship above the isle. She eased back the throttle that controlled thrust to slow the ship's approach.

"Then you've read the capabilities they possess. That battle was the first we'd ever encountered one. It singlehandedly tore four of our warships from the sky by somehow weaponizing a core."

"I remember that detail, a massive red arc flew forth from the ship, the same crimson as the cores and cut through our ships like blades of grass."

"Yes, but what you weren't told is that the Empire possesses similar powers to this girl, which is why we believe her kind were hunted by them. Hopefully she'll cooperate now that she's the last." Vausse sighed. "I fear we would fair no better against their fleet than we have previously, but this girl may be able to."

"Sir, wha—"

"Claire, did you hear me?" Evan asked as he and Tahlia crested the steps.

Claire glared at her brother. "Secondwing! Did my ears mishear my subordinate, or did you just address me without the proper respect?"

"I—"

"Get down, Secondwing!"

Evan's brow furrowed. His gut wanted to lash out in protest, but he remembered he was not at home, and his sister was no longer just his sister. Evan complied, putting his chest above the floor with his hands on either side of him.

"Down!" Claire ordered.

Evan lowered himself so that his chest nearly touched the wood of the deck.

"Up!"

Evan pushed away from the deck, extending his arms until his elbows locked. Claire repeated those two commands for some time until sweat stained the wood below Evan's chin. His arms wavered and threatened to give. An ache pulsated in his back with every beat of his heart.

"What do you address me as, Secondwing?"

"Fullwing, ma'am."

"I couldn't hear that!"

"Fullwing, ma'am!" Evan shouted as his arms wobbled more. He pinched his eyes shut, willing every last ounce of strength he had into keeping himself from cracking his face on the deck.

"Get up."

Evan dropped his knees to the deck and crawled to his feet. He rolled his shoulders and massaged his arms.

"When we are on this ship or anywhere but our mother's home, I am your superior officer, not your sister." Claire spoke with that same air that Commandwing Vausse had in his voice, one that was firm and demanded obedience. Her eyes were sharp on Evan, and he felt the very piercing intensity he'd watched her give so many other Leaves under her command. "Is that clear, Secondwing?"

"Yes, ma'am." Evan kept his gaze from her.

"Good. Because if it happens again, I'll order a private to supervise your cleaning of the bedpans for the remainder of our mission!"

Evan swallowed hard. His gut turned with the power his sister now held over him. He wanted to lash out at her, like he'd done all his life, but he couldn't. She was his superior. He wondered how she so easily was able to separate the two.

Despite having seen her this way to other Leaves, she'd always been kind and protective of him. This felt unnatural to not be able to speak her name anymore, but she said his rank in light of his name as if she'd always called him by that.

"Secondwing Montresser, care to inform me as to your decision of letting my charge from her quarters?"

You mean your prisoner from her cage? Evan wanted to say. "Sir, with all due respect, she's the reason our ship still flies."

Vausse lifted an eyebrow.

"She knows more about the cores than we ever hoped too. She knew how to keep them from going wild, sir."

"Care to explain how she accomplished something so impossible?"

"Well, sir..." Evan looked away from the Commandwing's gaze. "She talked to them..." he mumbled.

"What was that, Secondwing?"

"She talked them down, sir." Evan stated, meeting Vausse's gaze.

Vausse's brow furrowed, deepening the lines on his war-hardened face. "Care to explain why I shouldn't throw you in the brig for insanity, Secondwing?"

"With respect, it's magic, sir."

"Evan!" Claire shouted.

Evan shot a look to his sister. Why did she get to use his name, but he could only address her by rank? "It was magic, sir. There's no other explanation. Ask Engineer Vausse, she and her Apprentices bared witness to it as well."

"Ah, there's that imaginative speculation you were known second for at the Academy. You were wise to remain that way to avoid being jailed," Vausse said. He scratched his chin and looked to the girl. "However, magic doesn't exist. That is what men far wiser than we have determined, Secondwing."

"What more proof do you people need?" Tahlia spat under her breath.

"Sir, how can you know of the existence of this girl and not realize we've been lied to?"

"Evan! That is your—"

Vausse put his arm in front of Claire. "I see both the Academy and your sister have failed to teach you respect for the chain, boy! Perhaps I should throw you in the brig myself for the remainder of our voyage?"

Evan felt those words strike through his chest. He hadn't realized he'd balled his fists. He let them fall to his sides, dropping his shoulders. "I meant no disrespect, sir. I'm just merely pointing out that this mission doesn't make sense, just like how we've been told magic doesn't exist. Airships have been around for hundreds of years, correct?"

"That is correct, Secondwing."

"And in all those years, our science has explained the properties needed to achieve flight, but not how the cores exhibit those properties without a fuel source, nor has it even come close to understanding how The Cartographer stones can know the position, size, and shape of an isle simply by touching a stone from it. It doesn't add up, sir."

Vausse stood for a moment. A smirk grew across his face. "That's precisely why we must not falter in our mission."

Both Evan and Claire knit their brows together as they looked to the Commandwing.

Vausse turned his gaze to Tahlia. "I take it you've already had this argument with my wife?"

Tahlia and Evan nodded.

"I will talk with her then. You claim magic, Secondwing. Well, you'd be the first to discover it then. It is clear my ship was saved, that is fact, but I am more concerned with why she was not returned the hold once the situation was rectified? Is that not the duty I assigned to you?"

"Well sir, we're off course because you want us to evacuate the ship until Engineer Vausse has inspected it thoroughly for safety, is that not true?"

"It is."

"Then I am doing my duty by escorting Tahlia from the ship and keeping watch over her, as you instructed. Should something be wrong with the ship and the cores were to go wild again, leaving her in the hold would be abandoning my post."

Vausse laughed. "Your reputation for brightness does not lie I see. You'll make a fine officer one day, Montresser."

The Valkyrie groaned as the engines whirred to a low rumble. Claire spun the helm portside and let the ship descend until it came to rest on the isle's edge. "Brace!" she commanded as the ship jostled before coming to rest.

Evan grabbed the railing behind him to keep his footing, then Tahlia to help her keep hers. Vausse stood as if the ship's movement had no effect on him.

Evan turned to the isle. A great forest grew tall in front of him, valleyed by snow-capped peaks at the isle's edges save for where they landed. Evan's eyes grew wide. It was foreign and wild unlike Estailia. Evan searched his mind, recalling the maps he'd seen of the isles. There were three roughly between Estailia and Arcadia, but which one was this?

"I'l au Asura..." Tahlia gasped.

Evan turned to her to see her eyes equally wide as his. "The Isle of the Gods," he said turning back to the sight before him.

The sun had begun to fall behind them, bathing the peaks and treetops in its golden glow. The snow atop the mountains turned pink. The Isle of the Gods was an untamed isle. Much of it had been untouched by the anyone due to the dense forest and dangerous beasts that lurked between the trees. In the center rested a lake, but that was the only known part that could be surveyed from the safety of an airship.

Evan's heart began to race. He wanted to charge into the forest and explore its secrets but knew that wasn't possible.

"Alright! Everyone off the ship. I want a perimeter guard at all times! Offload five cannons and equip yourselves with a full armament! We'll be here until the Engineer clears the ship for flight!" Commandwing Vausse barked.

Leaves scurried about the deck preparing the ship for offloading. They passed out rifles and pushed cannons down the ramp to the ground. Evan was amazed at the swiftness in which they'd mounted a defense in the small clearing they'd landed in.

Tahlia seemed to be equally interested in the isle.

Evan felt a firm grip on his shoulder pull him away from the railing.

"I see that you were able to get her to speak, Montresser. What have you learned?" Vausse spoke in hushed tones.

"I was able to learn that the Alliance cannot replicate nor use the power she wields, sir. It was gifted to her by some goddess," Evan whispered.

"Is she willing to fight with us then?"

Evan shook his head. "She has another purpose, sir. Our goals are similar, but I wasn't able to fully understand hers before the cores went wild."

Vausse scratched his chin. "The Highwing won't like this news."

"I think she can be persuaded. Like I said, our goals are similar. Once I understand hers, I believe I can convince her that ours is an intermediate step."

"And what is her goal?"

"She's trying to keep our world from being destroyed, and the Empire is somehow the arbiter of its destruction."

"Destroyed? But how? And how does she plan to stop it?"

"That's the part I've yet to understand, and her role in saving it, but that's where I believe we can convince her to help us. The Empire stands in both hers and our way despite our goals differing in their end result."

"I must go," Tahlia said. She expanded her wings and gave a strong beat.

"What?" Evan ran to her and grabbed her hand as she began to lift from the deck. "Wait! What do you mean?"

"Secondwing, stop her!" Vausse commanded.

Tahlia fought Evan for her hand. "Let me go! I must go!" she screamed.

"Tell me why, Tahlia! I can help you, please!"

"This is the home of my people!"