The days of the following week, Val threw herself into her training twice as hard as before. As badly as she wanted to accept Tavras’s challenge at once, she knew that she had no reason to rush things.

It was not like she could head to the Summit of Ascension and meet up with Ross anymore. Actually, she had to go so far as to pretend that he did not exist. In all senses and purposes, Val did not have a brother anymore. In the name of keeping the both of them safe, she needed to not have thoughts or emotions that could be read from her very mind and used against her.

Therefore, Val started now and sought to push any passing thoughts of Ross from her head. As much as this pained her, she also quashed these emotions from within herself. Those pesky things could be discovered by others, just like her thoughts. Now more than ever, she had to focus on the matters at hand.

More than just her own training, Val also paid particular attention to Foofy’s training. Her expectations of him quadrupled overnight. Every time that she gave him a command, she expected him to respond at once. Not only did she want herself to be at the top of her game, Foofy needed to be at his peak performance as well. This meant obedience and immediate response times for him.

One morning as November neared its end, Val said, “Tavras, I think that Foofy and I are ready for your trial.”

His eyes closed, and he offered her a deep nod. “If you feel that you are ready, then I will prepare the challenge for you. Stay along the beach like you always do for today. We will meet again at sundown for me to give you the details of your mission.”

“Great.” Before he left though, Val gathered her courage. “Wait, Tavras. I have a legitimate question. Are there any behemoths on this island?”

“Behemoths went ‘extinct.’ I was even around to see when they went ‘extinct’, you know,” Travras said, putting his fingers up for air quotes. “The last of their kind live on Iharu’s and Fangarus’s Preserve. Why do you ask?”

Her eyes lit up, but not exactly in a good way. “Is Iharu’s and Fangarus’s Preserve another island?”

With a shallow nod, Tavras said, “Yes. I did tell you that they turned out to be recluses like me. I am sure that the opportunity will arise for me to take you there someday.” He winked at her, quite unnecessarily. “May I ask why the sudden interest in behemoths?”

Val swallowed hard. As mad as she had felt when she had first witnessed Tavras’s failure to protect Fangarus, all of that anger had dissipated by now. Quite literally, he had done everything within his power to set things right. That incident had happened over one hundred years ago, to boot. The way that Tavras had seemed vengeful and remorseful immediately afterward, those feelings ought to have served as punishment enough. Val had no reason to dig into old wounds, so she tried to skirt around his question.

“Oh, I had asked for no reason in particular. Just given the way that you are friends with sea serpents and all, I wanted to check if any other mythical creatures were real. Thanks for answering my questions.”

His eyes narrowed at her, but he said, “Sure thing.”

The day passed per usual but without Tavras’s company all day. As night drew near, Val met him along the dusky beach. The sands took on a grayish appearance, what with this dark night not offering any relent by the light of the moon. Only a sliver of the moon appeared as a crescent in the sky, hanging low about the ridges of waves.

“I have placed a grand king pearl at the heart of my Paradise,” Tavras said.

Val had only heard of such pearls before, like she would have heard of blood red diamonds and demon spawn shards. Coming from the grand king oyster, the pearls were the largest and rarest in the world.

“Retrieve this for me by dawn, and you will have won my approval to travel to the Summit of Ascension.”

“That’s it?” Val asked, perking up. That sounded way too simple to be the intensive challenge that she had imagined in her head. “What’s the catch?”

Tavras shrugged and said, “Oh, I don’t know,” even though he was the one who had set this whole thing up. “You should be prepared for anything, so go along now.” He shooed her away with the backs of both hands.

“Wait a minute.” Val backed away a few steps but stayed in front of him. “Are there any other rules? You said that this would be like a game, entertaining for you and all, so I just want to make sure that you’re not going to throw on any arbitrary restrictions.”

“Hm. You are getting me to reconsider if I should make up some rules.”

Her face went a little pale. Why did she have to double check for clarification? Val should have just run straight for the lake as soon as Tavras had told her about the objective for her mission.

An easy-going laugh came from his lips. “Don’t worry. I am not going to make any changes to the trial that I have already set up for you. All you have to do is retrieve the pearl located at the heart of my Paradise by any means necessary. Anything goes, so long as you place the pearl within my hands by dawn. Even Foofy can help you, if you are able to put him to good use.”

“Thanks, Tavras.” A quick nod later and Val took up a jog towards the center of the island. “Come on, Foofy!”

They had a pearl to fetch. Whatever Tavras had in store for them, nothing would stand in her way from completing this mission. Her dreams of the Summit of Ascension did not even flit through her mind, too focused on the task at hand.

Val and Foofy ran through the forest together and pushed the limits of their pace. Her breath huffed out much like how the Dobie panted nearby. Being on a deadline, they had not a moment to spare.

While they ran, Val had these moments to herself to strategize.

There were two ways to make it to the lake: hiking up the mountain to arrive at its peak or running around the mountain to swim through that underwater cavern. From the moment that Tavras had taken her down that hidden passageway, she felt positive that he had shown her for a reason. How exactly she would have to use that knowledge to her advantage, she did not yet know.

Perhaps Tavras hid the pearl at the bottom of the lake, and she would have to go diving for it. Without him able to Bend Water to catch her fall, jumping from the cliff into the lake would not be an option for her. Val might have to access the lake through the underwater cave to avoid getting hurt.

For starters, getting a lay of the land would be useful to her. Therefore, her first destination would be the lake via hiking up the peak. If things did not look favorable for her up there, she could always head to the beach on the other side of the island where she would find the opening to the cave. The lesser distance traveled by going through the island should make up for the elevation gain and the harder terrain. This order would net her the least time in travel, thereby saving her the most time to get the mission done.

Val ran on until she made it to the lake at the mountain’s summit.

At the edge of the cliff, an iridescent globe rivaled the dull crescent in the sky. One of these things looked more iconic as the moon, and the actual moon lost that battle. Right in front of her laid the most massive and flawless pearl that she had ever seen: a grand king pearl.

“Foofy, we’ve found it,” Val cheered. “It’s right there!”

He had taken a seat at her side, looking up to her with curiosity. Foofy was right: something did seem off about this.

Her own excitement diminished rapidly upon this realization. Having the grand king pearl just sitting there was way too easy. There had to be some kind of enemy lying in wait for her. Val strained her ears to listen closely.

First, she had to ignore the roar of the waterfall and hone her ears into the quieter sounds around her. The gentle breeze rustled through the trees. Insects chirped throughout the forest, rather peaceful sounding. An owl even hooted after she listened for long enough.

The quiet time made Val realize what she would have to go up against for her trial. “Hey Foofy,” she said horribly slowly, her voice dragging with dread. “You’re not going to like this, not one bit.”

Tavras had shown her the passageway from the ocean to the lake, not for her own purposes, but to warn her about the enemy. A sea serpent could fit through that tunnel. Therefore, a sea serpent probably lay in wait, circling around in the lake below, right now.

As the guardian of the lake, Val and Foofy must fight the sea serpent in order to take the grand king pearl for themselves.