Chapter Twenty-Nine

The elf stormed over to Elysia air suddenly becoming humid. However, before the elf could reach her, a splash drew both of their attentions.

With a wave of her hand Sereia sucked away all the moisture, causing the elf to stumble back, then bow deeply at the mermaid, ignoring Elysia. “I’m sorry for my disrespect, blessed elemental.”

Annoyed, Elysia crossed her arms and glared at the elf, who remained bowed for several seconds as if waiting to be told to rise. Those seconds turned into almost a minute as Sereia let the elf stew. No one was allowed to disrespect her sister except her and maybe Ione.

Sereia waited until the elf fidgeted in discomfort, but never dared to look up before breaking the silence. “You may rise.”

Instead of immediately rising, the elf bowed even deeper, then slowly rose. She kept her fearful eyes averted as she spoke. “My lady, if you allow, the head of the boat yard assigned this humble Sea Elf to do an assessment on your vessel.”

Sereia pointed at Elysia, who continued to stare at the elf with her arms crossed. “It’s my sister’s boat.” Her eyes sharpened. “Treat her like you would me or we will have problems.”

The elf nodded enthusiastically, then turned her attention to Elysia, eager to help.

Without missing a beat, Elysia waved toward Umbra’s hull. “We received a lot of damage to our hull. I patched it but I’d like it to be repaired properly and reinforced. If possible, I’d like armor to be added, as I expect we will face combat in the future.”

Elysia stepped aside to allow the elf to inspect the damage, which she did with gusto. The elf ran her hand over each dent and patched hole, frowns flashing each time, though she smothered it as to not show disrespect.

When she reached the back, she froze, eyes widening as she stared at the holes where props should be. A tablet appeared. She tapped it in rapid succession, glancing up at the holes every couple of seconds, sometimes peering into the engine room within.

The elf seemed to enter her own world as she circled Umbra several times, tapping away at her tablet while inspecting all outside damage. Only when she completed five rotations did she returned her attention to the elementals. “May I board the vessel? I must inspect the damage inside.”

Elysia nodded her head. “You may.”

Not needing any further prompting, the elf bent her knees, then shot upward easily, landing on the rear deck.

As to keep up appearances, Sereia lifted both her and Elysia on board with a geyser of water then evaporated any residual moisture.

Of course Ione easily jumped on board, keeping an eye on the elf, ready to strike if she made any hostile moves toward her family, especially her mother.

Like with outside, the elf tapped away on her tablet as she scanned the interior, stopping at seemingly random spots to stare at walls. The walls seemed undamaged but for all Elysia knew, the elf may have x-ray vision allowing her to check wiring.

When the elf reached the control room, her frown deepened. She ignored Eva and Joe, who were on the couch as usual in favor of inspecting the circuit breaker panel, then the control console before her eyes landed on the crystal that allowed Elysia to power Umbra.

With a severe expression, she left the control room and ascended the stairs, only glancing at the patched holes for a moment. Most of her attention focused on the structure of the hull, which only darkened her expression further.

She didn’t even bother checking out the engine room as she saw enough through the holes.

Instead, she turned her attention back to Elysia with a grave expression. “My lady, I’m not sure it is worth it to repair this vessel. If the hull sheeting were the only issue, it would be a different story, but this vessel requires an entire rework of the electrical system, propulsion system, and most of the hull structure requires rebuilding. That’s not even considering re-furnishing. It may be cheaper to commission an entirely new vessel than fix this one.”

As she finished, she bowed her head in apology, expecting backlash only for none to come.

Elysia let out a sigh expecting the diagnosis but after scanning the damage, her features hardened. “Still, I would like to prepare Umbra. She carried me this far. I will not abandon her in her time of need. Not only do I want her repaired, but I want to upgrade her better than ever to avoid this situation again.”

The elf’s head snapped up, a smile blooming as she looked at Elysia in a new light. “Very well, my lady, I will send my report to the Shipwright Guild as well as your desire to go through with repairs and upgrades. You may work out the specifics at the Guild house.”

“Thank you.”

After bowing once more, this time at both sisters, the elf scurried up the stairs, then hopped off Umbra before dashing away to complete her duties.

Sereia turned to Elysia as they watched the elf scurry away from the front deck. “Are you sure it’s worth it? She isn’t wrong. There’s a lot of damage. Maybe we can find another boat somewhere.”

“Yeah, I am. We need somewhere to live and, unlike you and Ione, I can’t swim faster than most speedboats.”

“As long as you are sure I’ll support you in this. Hopefully, the elementals stay away long enough.”

Elysia nodded her head in agreement then wandered back into the control room, eyes landing on the humans. “I doubt any of us can stay on Umbra while they repair it, so we need to find somewhere to stay.”

Understanding what she was getting at, Eva smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry about us. We will figure something out.”

With a shake of her head, Elysia continued. “No, I won’t leave you on your own up there. At least not until we know it’s safe. It’s best if we find somewhere to stay together, then go from there. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and they fix up Umbra as fast as they did back in China Creek.”

Despite her previous words, Eva brightened and clenched Joe’s hand. Each of them grabbed a travel bag that was already packed, as they expected they would need to leave Umbra for a time. Or at least they tried to grab it as Elysia beat them to them the moment she noticed the bags resting next to the couch.

Before they could protest, Elysia stored their bags in her ring. She narrowed her eyes when the second bag took much longer to store away. Just how much stuff did she pack in this thing? At least she assumed it was Eva’s. She didn’t see Joe using a bright red travel bag.

Elysia smiled at the human duo. “Let me know if you need anything from the bags before we find somewhere to stay.”

After receiving affirming nods, Elysia turned to her family, sending images to each of them asking if they needed to grab anything before they left. Sereia shrugged her shoulders, which were now covered with an oversized sweatshirt that looked suspiciously like the one Eva ordered back in Port Alberni.

Not that Elysia cared. Technically, it was her sweatshirt, but she never wore it. Years ago she complained about Sereia stealing her clothes, but she had long since given up and grow numb to it. It was hard to defend one’s clothes when one had a twin with identical sizes.

To be fair, she was guilty of returning the favor in a pinch. Sometimes she waited one day too long to do her laundry.

Before leaving, Elysia did a quick check in her bedroom and closet, tempted to slip on a sweatshirt or something to cover her armor. What was the point? Unlike that seashell thing Sereia wore, her armor covered everything and felt like a second skin. Sure, she looked like she was going to war, but at least the armor looked pretty.

Besides, she would rather people notice her armor and not attack than invite violence by looking harmless. Though with Ione following her everywhere, it would take a special kind of stupid to assume she was harmless.

Elysia shook away the thoughts and ascended the stairs. Why was her mind wandering? Was the unknown in the city bothering her? She wasn’t alone anymore. Whatever challenges they faced, she would face them with her family and crew. If trouble found them, they would be ready.

With that thought pushing her forward, Elysia strode to the rear of Umbra and flipped down a ladder she never used before mounted off the lower rear deck. With a clang extended reaching within a couple feet of the ground. While keeping a hand on the deck just in case it collapsed, Elysia lowered herself onto the ladder, finding it stable. It swayed precariously as she reached the end, so she dropped the rest of the way, landing in a squat. She preferred to jump off with Ione, but it felt right to disembark Umbra on her own. Who knew what Umbra would be like when she returned?

When she walked around Umbra to the side facing toward the city, she found she was the only one who thought that way as her family and crew waited for her. She smothered a pout as she strode forward, eyes running over the ships towering over her as her family and crew followed behind, content with leaving her to take the lead. The temptation to force Sereia to deal with people presented itself, but for now, she would deal with that annoyance.

No one bothered them as they left the shipyard and entered the harbor. Even as the foot traffic multiplied, everyone made room for them as if they were parting the sea. Sereia may pull off that feat in the future.

However, upon reaching the levitation platforms, a problem presented itself in the form of a dozen white-haired men and women wearing suits. They stood guard at one levitation platform, blocking it from public access.

Fortunately they seemed to pay her group no mind. The problem was the traffic to the normally crowded levitation platforms had to go somewhere. That meant the other platforms strained to handle the surge of occupants, which looked to have no end in sight based on the long lines. Despite the inconvenience, everyone stood quietly. Too quiet, as if afraid to utter a word.

That didn’t extend to her group as they casually approached. Like last time, each platform attempted to clear to give her group their spot, but Elysia shook her head. She didn’t want to inconvenience them more than they already were.

Suddenly, the already quiet platform station became deathly silent. It was like everyone froze, too scared to even breathe.

A moment later, a dense wave of elemental energy reached her, causing her to stiffen, then spin lightning at the ready. Her eyes locked onto the group she spotted from the SUV. Leading the group was the woman wearing the brown dress.

Now up close, the power radiating off the being nearly forced her to recoil, but her pride pushed her to stand her ground joined by Sereia and Ione. Eva and Joe didn’t fare so well. They stumbled back several steps, then collapsed to their knees, legs turning to jelly, faces pale.

The being she now knew was a powerful elemental, far stronger than anything she felt before, locked eyes with her and smiled. There didn’t seem to be any malice in her gaze, only curiosity and amusement.

“What do we have here? Elemental Council strays? No, your energy feels different, less refined, but highly potent for someone so young.”

The closer the elemental and her entourage came, the more she had to fight to even stay standing. Her pride flared, refusing to bow down to the powerful elemental and her entourage of weaker elementals, all at least on par with her strength.

On instinct she grasped at her core and siphoned off a strand, lighting her veins bright and turning her eyes into flashlights. Power welled in her body, easily brushing off the elemental’s energy she now realized tried to invade her for reasons unknown.

No longer under the effects of the elemental, she stood straighter and locked eyes with the elemental, who stared at her shocked but even more curious than before.