Kylem sees Meira attacking the man, careless. There is a complete dichotomy between the scheming Meira at court and the careless one on the fields. Still, she can take care of herself.

“The soldiers are coming back, Rakan-” Kylem starts.

“I’ll stay and keep them from Meira” Rakan finishes. His eyes are sure.

“We’ll go back and get everyone to shore before the water goes down.” Kylem says, looking to Lífdagar.

She nods, and grabs Rakan’s upper arm for a second before she runs off, her clothes falling and a falcon flying up from them. Kylem stops for a second, looking behind Meira and the man, he must change his mind about what he was about to do because he shakes his head before he gives Rakan a fist bump and also runs off, quickly blending with the shadows.

When they arrive with the Aquadores, there is not as many of them as there were before.

“Where are the others?” Lífdagar asks.

“They were ordered to go fight” says one of the girls close to them. Her eyes are wide open, she looks scared.

“I will go get them, you can stay here.” Kylem says, turning toward the battlefield. Lífdagar goes to protest, but the look on Kylem’s face persuades her from it.

She watches him run into the water corridor. In the distance, the enemy soldiers are already reaching shore, meeting Rakan there, but their own soldiers are not returning yet. Lífdagar runs the officer closest to her.

“Why haven’t the soldiers been called back yet?” she demands.

“It’s better to win the battle eliminating as many of them as we can than letting them run off and return stronger.” the officer answers. He does a good job of trying to sound sure.

“They are not running from us, call them back”

“I’m sorry Daru, but the General said not to unless it was strictly necessary”

“Well it is necessary because if you don’t, they will all die. The water is going to come down any moment now.” A soldier next to them looks between them, fear on his face. Lífdagar turns towards him. “Soldier, call them back” he looks anxiously at his officer, but he doesn’t react. A man who fears making a decision. “Do it”

The soldier raises a flag that was at his feet and mere seconds later a siren starts playing. Finally, their soldiers start retreating. Lífdagar looks at the water. It is changing, narrowing almost unnoticeably, it’s a miracle the water passage is not gone already. She runs back to the Aquadores.

“Concentrate in the water, don’t let it come down into the soldiers” She is not an element changer, she doesn’t know how to guide them to keep the water away. She should be down, helping people get back to safety, she can hardly stay still. She sees Rakan flying back and land close to them. Him and Meira are with her not long after.

“The water is coming down” Meira says.

She is right, it is, faster every second. But what can they do?

“Don’t fight the water” Kylem says. Lífdagar had not even realised he was back, he is followed by a group of aquadores that get into position as they arrive “It is not a rock you can hold off, it is a moving thing, redirect it. Let it flow in another direction.”

The trick seems to work for some minutes but soon the Aquadores look completely exhausted, the water is coming down, and there are still soldiers running for their lives, wounded, limping.

“If you can’t hold the water up then let it come down” Kylem says, everyone looks at him surprised “Make the current take the soldiers to shore quickly, we’ll take care of them”

Everyone is looking at him with wide eyes, scared. Until the first “Yes, Daru” can be heard. The rest follow soon, concentrating again on the sea ahead of them. It’s a beautiful spectacle, watching the water go back to where it belongs, the roaring waves crashing into each other, sending splashes high into the air. It almost drowns out the shouts of the soldiers beneath.

“Meira, go down to help with the wounded” Kylem says.

“What? But I’m tired” she protests. She looks at the eyes of Lífdagar and some of the Aquadores closest to them. “Alright, I’m going” she concedes.

“I’m going with you” Lífdagar says. She is just starting to move when she suddenly stops. There is a crow flying above them, bigger than normal. An arrow flies towards it but it expertly dodges it before turning back. “I need to go somewhere, I’ll be back” is all the warning she gives before she is no more, in her place a crow that immediately goes to follow the other one.

Rakan is the first one Meira heals. He is not even severely wounded. He went straight to the other shore flying and even if he fought some soldiers to keep them away from Kylem and Seoham, and then Meira, they didn’t really get to him. The arrows they shot at him while he was a dragon didn’t pierce through his scales, he only got some scratches from someone’s magic. Meira still insists on healing him first. She did it to herself on their way back, while she was riding on his back, still pissed because the man she was fighting with got away before a real end came to their fight. They come down to a shore full of tired and wounded soldiers, the ones in best shape trying to help bring to land the ones that are being washed ashore by the water. The waves are still strong, even with the Aquadores best efforts, and they are struggling.

People stop to look at them when they walk past. Without a scratch on their bodies, and Rakan would swear that Meira is making them glow a little. She stops before a man and crouches down without a word. She reaches out her hands and touches the man’s wound on his chest. Light comes out and when it is gone, the wound is gone too. The man starts crying and thanking Meira but she doesn’t really react, she just stands up and walks to the next man.

She doesn’t look like herself then, it is almost like someone else is in front of Rakan and not Meira. She looks almost like a goddess, surrounded in light, healing the wounded while she herself remains untouched by the world, on a physical and emotional level.

Rakan decides not to think much about it. Meira knows what to do, how to behave in different environments. He leaves her to the healing and runs to help move the soldiers washing ashore and the wounded.

-

Rakan does as much as he can. The flow of moaning soldiers seems without end at first but soon the tides stop bringing lucky survivors and the healers have them organised in a long medical tent. Rakan stands next to it while looking at the shore to see if anyone needs more help.

“We will need to retire soon for the elifs to come” Kylem says next to him. Rakan is used to him suddenly appearing.

“I hope Liv is back before then” Rakan answers..

“What are you looking at losers?” Meira asks as she appears behind them.

“Are you finished?” Kylem asks her. She lets herself fall to the floor at their feet with a grunt.

“There is just so many people. I dealt with the serious ones but I’m not going to heal scratches or twisted ankles, the other healers can deal with that.” She waves her hand next to her face.

“What?” Rakan asks with a smile. He sits down next to her. “Our holy Meira is tired of making people revere her as a god? Are you tired of making people see you as a god?”

Meira shoves him to the side playfully. “Shut up, there’s nothing wrong with making them appreciate what’s in front of them” she says while gesturing to her face with one hand.

“Oh Meira, godly Kyusei, fierce warrior with a skin of iron that never gets wounded and a big heart full of kindness for her people” Rakan says while mockingly bowing before Meira.

“Oh shut if” Meira says with a laugh. She makes him fall to the dirt on his side, falling after him in a fit of laughter.

Kylem looks at them. Rakan continues with his mock reverence between laughs, while Meira is trying to make him shut up while laughing even more. They joke but Kylem has heard the thoughts of the soldiers and they are not far from what Rakan is saying. Kylem would worry more about it if he didn’t think it could be useful in the future. Rakan’s and Lífdagar’s personalities already make them lovable by the people and Meira’s taste for dramatism can only add to that.

There is movement on top of a hill at their left. Kylem is about to go announce that the elifs have arrived and they should leave but he looks better. They are not the elifs, they are people of the north and he knows perfectly who is at the front with them.

“Stop playing” he says to Meira and Rakan, “Lífdagar is back”

Rakan looks around lost until he sees them and gasps.

“Is that her family?” he says. A surprised smile appears on his face and in a second he is up and running towards the hill.

Meira gets up more slowly, patting herself to get rid of the dirt that is clinging to her clothes even if the grim of the battle is still on her. She stands next to Kylem, looking ahead at the party approaching them. They are wearing leather armour like Lífdagar’s and they have their round shields at their backs and battle axes at their hips. Rakan reaches them and embraces one of the men at the front, who is as big as him, no doubt one of Lífdagar’s older brothers. Visits from her family to them to their Kale and from them to Lífdagar’s family land along the years have formed a good relationship between them.

Kylem starts walking to approach and welcome them, Meira close behind him. She is the only one that hasn’t met them before, they didn’t have the opportunity to visit them this last year. As they guessed, Lífdagar is walking beside her mother. She is the image of power, standing as tall as Kylem, dressed in leather armour, her blond hair done in the braids style Lífdagar also wears and her angular face decorated with dark makeup that makes her look even more fierce.

When they meet at the middle of the beach, she clasps Kylem’s arm with a smile and familiarity. Kylem moves to also clasp Lífdagar’s brother’s arm. When he does, the man pulls him into a hug with a laugh. He is tall and muscular, completely different from the boy he once knew, his face now covered with a beard. When they part Kylem wobbles a bit.

Lífdagar makes a gesture with her hand towards Meira and says something in her language to her mother and brother. The woman puts her hands on Meira’s shoulders.

“The gods have finally brought you to us,” she says with a thick northern accent. She brings her arms down to grab the upper part of Meira’s arms “you are strong, a warrior.”

“Thank you” Meira answers slowly “I try”

“Took you long, sun girl” Lífdagar’s brother says with a clap to her back. Meira smiles while looking between him and Liv. The girl notices and moves her brother away.

“Mei, these are my mother Åshild and my brother Kóri. They came because they were concerned about the advance of the Hexians.”

“South people don’t know how to fight, can’t be trusted to stop the Hexians” Åshild says.

“Is that why you came? In case the battle went wrong?” Rakan asks.

“Yes, we were travelling, patrolling, when we saw them gathering tropes, I sent a crow with the news and mum came with 400 warriors more. This was before we knew you were coming. I was going to stay here with 500 warriors in case they try something.” Kóri says. “But I don’t think they will after that. At least not until winter passes.”

“I’m with you on that.” Kylem agrees. “This attack was too rushed, they didn’t bring many soldiers, and attacking on winter would be a suicide mission.”

“So now what?” Meira asks.

Kylem looks around. “Let’s go to the General Pavilion and let the Elifs take care of the dead. We can make a plan there.”