Reunion

A nice breeze flowed past us on the open ocean, as we all took in a breath of fresh air.
"Being on a boat is actually quite nice!"
I turn towards the rest of the group and ask.
"What do you all think?"
Makito immediately replies, though he strangely doesn't take his eyes off Sasaki.
"For sure boss! This is the best!"
Eris then says.
"I did not expect this, I'll admit... I had no idea it would be this simple."
The rest too mostly agree, except for Sparo who stayed in silence and None who was on the floor groaning.
"Ugh... Bad feeling..."
Lunaris seeing this, turns to Eris before asking.
"Do you have anything to ease her suffering?"
She shakes her head and calmly replies.
"I don't think there's magic for sea sickness. At least not any elven magic."
None suddenly grabs onto me before struggling to say.
"Why... Bad feeling...?"
I pat her head and say.
"It's sea sickness. When you're off the boat you'll feel better. Maybe you'll even get used to it hopefully."
"Used to... Bad...? Don't want to... Boat bad!"

I let out a small chuckle as she goes back to groaning on the floor, before turning towards Sparo and asking.
"Hey, I've just noticed... You've been silent for a while, you okay?"
Without looking he simply nods, before saying.
"Yes. Don't worry about me."
I'm about to say something more, when Sasaki suddenly shouts.
"Land ahead!"
She turns back towards us and continues.
"Not mainland, just a big island, but we can rest there. She could certainly use it."
She gestures to None with her head as she keeps struggling on the ground.

...

The moment we land, None jumps out of the boat and dives into the sand, laying in it.
"Finally! No more bad!"
Sasaki lets out a laugh.
"I see you really don't like boats!"
When everyone began setting up camp, Sparo silently flies off, causing everyone to look and for None to suddenly ask.
"Why up?"
I turn towards her.
"I don't know..."
I look back towards him, and continue.
"But I'll find out."
With that I take flight, and follow behind him.

...

He flies for a while around the island, with me not far behind, before landing on the shore, as he begins walking deeper into the forest. Quickly catching up to him, I ask.
"Sparo! What's up? You just silently flew off like that..."
He glances at me before saying.
"I just didn't want to waste too much time."
'Oh right...'
"I had almost forgotten in the boat ride... Sorry."
He nods.
"Don't worry, even if you all did, I'll still search for my wife wherever we go."
"Sorry again though..."
He smiles before turning towards me.
"This is my issue, you have already helped me enough by letting me accompany you. That... Has helped. A lot."
He looks down for a moment, before looking back up and continuing.
"Besides, you're here now. Let's search this forest shall we?"
I nod with a smile and we begin walking.

...

After a while of searching, we see no sign of his family, so he decides to sit down, and begins taking a break.
"Are you sure you want to pause our search?"
He nods.
"If I got tired, my observation skills would get worse. I don't want to risk passing by them without noticing them."
"Okay..."
'This is such a big island... We barely got done with this part of it.'
"Should I go back to grab the rest of the party? They could help searc-"
"No."
When he says that, it surprises me, causing me to stare at him for a while until finally I ask.
"Are you... Afraid?"
He glances at me without a word, so I continue.
"Afraid of the answer?"
He looks away before saying.
"It's been so long since the storm. Who wouldn't be afraid."
He takes a deep breath and turns towards me.
"But I still have hope they're alive."

A moment later he stands up and says.
"You're right. Let's just keep searching for now. I'll go grab them, it's my issue after all."
Just as he's about to take off I spot an insect on the ground and stop him.
"Wait! I can ask a local!"
He turns around and looks as I get on my hands and knees to talk to the small insect.
"Hello there little one! Could I ask you something?"
The insect turns around, and looks at me.
"Have you lived in the island long?"
After thinking for a moment, she replies.
"Yes! A whole week!"
'...Better than nothing.'
"Well I was wondering if you've seen a bird and chicks around? Probably similar to that guy there, see?"
The insect turns around, looking at him, before replying.
"Oh! Y-"
Before I can finish a random bird suddenly comes out of nowhere, swooping down before quickly swallowing the insect whole.
My jaw drops as utter shock fills both mine and Sparo's face.
'...Was she about to...'
I slowly turn my head towards the bird, who notices and says.
"What? You snooze you loose! You didn't seem like you were going to eat anyway."
'Calm down, I need to calm down. The bird's a local too, and the insect seemed like she was going to say something good... Maybe.'

I take a few deep breaths, before slowly asking.
"Excuse me, have you seen a bird and some chicks that look like him?"
The bird takes flight, landing on his shoulder before she says.
"Yes, definitely. She's the newest, or I guess was, the newest outsider to the island."
I quickly jump up, with Sparo wasting no time before asking.
"Where is she?! Please, take us to her!"
"Hmm. I did get to eat a snack thanks to you... Okay!"
With that, the bird flies off in a direction, and we quickly take flight, following close behind.
'I'm glad the insect dying didn't hamper our search. Sorry little one.'

...

We fly for a while before landing, almost reaching the edge of other side of the island.
"She's here. Anyway I'll go now!"
The bird takes off, leaving us both outside a huge hollow stump.
I look at Sparo, who seemed to now be breathing heavily and ask him.
"Are you okay?"
He starts to nod but stops and says.
"I don't know. It could be someone else too..."
'Ah! I completely forgot that was a possibility!'
We stand in silence, until finally Sparo takes a step forward.
"I'll stop wasting time. I need to check."

He slowly walks forward until reaching the entrance of the stump, where he quickly knocks on the side of it.
"Anyone inside?"
We hear movement and from inside we could hear someone say.
"Could that be?!"
I look at Sparo as I notice his eyes widen.
Soon enough someone emerges from the stump, who Sparo immediately embraces, as tears fall from his eyes.
"My Ora... You weren't..."
He had finally found his wife. I looked on with blank eyes, seeing that she looked like a giant brown bird.
'I did not expect her looking like that... I should have asked Eris more about his species...'
"Sparo! I thought I'd never see you! I've been waiting here since the storm!"
Suddenly from inside some smaller ones burst forth, hugging Sparo, and shouting in unison.
"Dad!"
'At least the little ones look like him. I almost wonder how that works... No, that doesn't matter.'
I stand by, watching as they all embrace each other.

...

"So with that, I'll be leaving the party."
After finding his family, we had all returned to the group to explain that, and for him to give his final farewell.
When Sparo finished talking, Makito walked to him, and gave him a hug.
A moment later he lets go, and returns to Sasaki's side, saying.
"We'll miss you."
Sparo bows, beaming everyone a big smile.
"I'll never forget you all."
With that, his wife walks forward and bows as well.
"Thank you for bringing my husband back."
I give her a smile.
"No worries at all! Well, I guess we'll be going now."

I turn around but before I can start walking, she calls out to me.
"Wait! Sparo did mention you were looking for caves right?"
I turn towards her.
"Yes? Why, have you seen one?"
She nods.
"There is one on the island."
"Where?!"
She turns towards the sea and points.
"Right there. There is a cave on there."
I look at where she's pointing, it was a smaller island in the distance that looked like it was surrounded by cliffs.
"I see..."
I turn towards the group and give them a nod.
"I'll go check it out real quick!"

I take flight, and not too long later arrive at the island. The surface of it looked normal, but there was one part of it that seemed to go down into the ground.
As I entered, I saw a big, spacious cave, with several holes on the wall that you could look out from. Going deeper down, it lead to an area filled with water, perfect for relaxing in.
"Wow... This looks perfect!"
'...! I could end my adventure here...'
I take one last look around, before going back to the surface and taking a look at the group. They were looking towards this island from the shore, and upon noticing me, started waving.
'...I could...'

Dragons, fearsome and lonesome creatures. Focused on themselves first, before even thinking of helping others or friends. For the most part.
"Bye Sparo!"
"Bye bye!"
Lunaris and Makito waved goodbye to him as we set off again on the boat.
Sasaki turns to me and asks.
"So, another failure huh?"
I nod with a faint blush on my face.
"Yeah, you could only get there by flying which is a bit of a hassle. There's definitely better ones out there. But I guess I'll have to stay in this party for a little longer and keep helping you guys out in the meanwhile."
I turn towards Eris.
"For example, I still need to take you to the elf city."
Sasaki lets out a laugh and I turn towards her as she says.
"I think the only one in need of help right now is None."
Once again she was struggling on the floor, sea sick.
"Why... Bad return..."
I let out a small laugh.
"Don't worry None, we're bound to reach land sooner or later."