“Tell me more about what Earth is like where you’re from,” she prompted him. He had told her a little bit about Coral Shores during the long stretches of time that they’d been shifted together before, but nothing very in-depth—just casual mentions of places he’d been and people he knew. With nothing else to focus on, though, he first described their souvenir shop and the apartment above it, with the ocean just a few steps away.
He told her about August: how he had no idea how long his uncle had lived on Earth; when or why he’d left the Veil; and how he was one of the most easy-going people Florian had ever met, like he’d been born to be a beach bum.
Then he told her about Nadia: how they’d been friends since their early school days; how they’d spent nearly every day together, even as they became adults; and how he’d tried his best to explain why he was gone so much now, but still doubted whether she really believed him.
By then, he wasn’t exactly feeling better; talking about Nadia and his uncle made Florian miss them more. He didn’t think he could cry in this form; but he worried that the longer he talked, the more obvious it would sound to Rune, so finally he prompted her,
“You tell me something now.”
“Hmm,” she considered. “It’s not like there’s much in the village you haven’t seen. There are a lot of hiking trails up the mountain. Oh, spearfishing is fun—I go with my friends in the summer.”
“Wasn’t Torsten trying to get you to marry a fisherman? Is that how you met?” Florian asked. Even though Rune was ahead of him, he could all but sense her wrinkling her nose in distaste—or whatever part of her face was most like a nose in this form.
“He’s the son of the head fishing family, but that’s not how we met, no. I’m not really friends with him. And he’s very... serious. Boring,” she replied. “Torsten was insane to think I’d agree to marry someone I barely know. Do I seem like that kind of person to you?”
“Not at all,”Florian chuckled. After a beat, he asked cautiously, “Was there... someone else you wanted to marry instead?”
Rune was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Well... Not really. It was more that I was afraid of marrying this guy I didn’t really care about, and then what if after that I met someone I actually did want to marry? That would suck.”
“That’s true,” Florian replied, wondering what the fisherman’s son was like, and what Rune pictured when she thought of the person she might like to marry.
“Anyway. Spearfishing,” she continued, and Florian laughed as she launched into an explanation of what spearfishing was like, and where the best spots around the kingdom were.
Being able to talk and focus on something other than his own thoughts helped a lot. The magical fatigue became easier to ignore, and it felt less overwhelming the longer they talked as they swam through the dark, featureless depths.
Eventually, though, Rune trailed off, and they swam in silence for a few minutes until she finally offered, “I think we’re in the home stretch now. Just a few more hours. We can do it.”
Just a few more hours, Florian repeated to himself. A few more hours, then they’d find the Arrow, and he could teleport them back with its magic. They could make it.Hecould make it.
