The Song of the Seas

Ui mumbled, half asleep. “I don’t represent all the Udari… Take your stupid complaints to ambassador Adari! She can at least do something about it!”

How long had she been asleep? Was she dreaming?

“Ui.” Cro shook her shoulder vigorously.

“What? Cro?” Ui struggled to stay awake and rolled on her bed. “I told Odoe I wasn’t going to wake up early to open the bakery anymore… I want the afternoon shift.”

“Ui, there’s an invasion.”

“An invasion! Wait, again? Are we late?!” Ui sprung out of her bed, with her eyes wide open.

“As late as Miront calculated. Let’s go.” Cro snapped his fingers, and then pointed his palm towards Ui’s open closet. Out of it came Ui’s old songmage outfit, kept perfectly clean with its colors still dazzling. He floated it in the air in a very specific position, and directed a small, warm red orb next to it. “Get ready. Don’t forget to say goodbye to our parents.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ui hopped into the floating outfit, and when she landed, everything was where it should be. It was just perfect. Even though the colder part of the year was mostly over, Cro had warmed it up with his magic. She closed her eyes and hugged her outfit, feeling all of its warmth, and Cro’s. She almost forgot she was in a hurry.

She dashed out of her room, and instead of going down the stairs, hopped straight down, landing next to the dining room with a loud thud. She grinned proudly as her long pink hair bounced majestically while she landed. Her hair color had faded over the years, just a little. Adari had warned her that if her legs started hurting when she did things like that, then she should start taking care of her body instead of being reckless.

But it wasn’t time for that. Not yet.

“You’re up early today Ui.” Ui’s dad looked at the clock. “Their ships got here faster this time?”

“Honey, remember the governor is coming over tonight.” Ui’s mom continued to have her breakfast as usual. “Don’t overdo it, alright?”

“Yes, Mom. I remember… We’ll be back for dinner.” Ui’s parents waved at her as she walked out of the house. To her surprise—even though it shouldn’t surprise her—there were several mages wearing the New Novestr Mage uniform waiting outside.

Prishu saluted her. “We’ll be escorting you today… Governess? Is that the equivalent of Princess in this system? Do you know?”

“What are you doing here, Prishu? Don’t you and your brothers’ company have a lot of work to do?” Ui, despite shaking her head in disapproval, was happy to see her. They both smiled at each other.

“Let’s go.” Cro grabbed Ui by the waist and they both leapt into the air at the exact same time, and the escorting mages attempted to follow them closely behind.

A yawning Ui complained. “Why couldn’t they send Yula over?”

“Ui. Do you want to train the next generation of songmages instead?”

It stung Ui how accurate Cro was at shutting down her complaints. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of further instances of being right.

They quickly left the skies over New Novestr and headed in the direction Miront had ordered them to. Cro was carrying a large sack tied to his shoulder, and Ui knew exactly what it was.

“Do I have to do the thing today?” Ui turned her head to look at Cro, who seemed confused by her question. She pointed at the large sack he was carrying, but that didn’t help his confusion, either.

“Wasn’t that your style?” Cro asked. She stared at him, wanting more than that. “Miront said the branding is good for intimidation.”

“Fine.” She protested half-heartedly, knowing nothing would change. Ui looked downwards at the sea as its waves passed by quickly under them while the wind made her outfit and hair flutter. “Can we fly lower?” Ui turned around, and smiled. She knew he would be an accomplice in her plans.

Ui placed a single finger in the water, leaving a spray of seawater behind them. The mages escorting them had to take evasive action to avoid getting wet. Only Prishu flew straight into the mist and smiled, instead.

But Cro remained serious throughout. “Don’t forget we have dinner with Bourin, Ui.”

“Why is everyone reminding me of that?” Ui shook her head as she played with the water under them.

“Ui… I don't think he's just coming for dinner just to say hello to our family every time, you know? He might be waiting for you.”

“How are we supposed to think of relationships when we still have so much to do?”

“Because this is taking so much of your time…”

“If he has the luxury of waiting for me.” She stopped dipping her finger in the water and spun to face Cro instead. “Then he can keep waiting, can’t he?” Ui pulled herself closer to him and made sure he felt her hug.

“Ui,” said Cro, not taking his eyes off their flight path. “You have a really strange sense of logic, are you aware of that?”

“Tch.” Ui spun around and looked away from him once more, deeply unhappy, but just on the surface. “Why don’t we bring the airship over, anyway?”

“We can’t risk it being damaged or taken.”

Ui was still displeased. “I hate flying.”

“Do you really?” With no warning, Cro tossed Ui upwards.

Ui screeched in the air and panicked, but there was nothing she could do to control her movement.

And she didn’t want to. She trusted in Cro’s skills and magic, and he caught her and threw her upwards over and over. Ui’s screaming became joyous laughter as she flew through the sky. With every catch, Ui’s pirouette became more and more elegant and their smiles grew. As Ui’s hair and outfit became messier, she forgot about everything else for those few moments.

It was their own dance, a dance that only those very familiar with each other could perform.

At some point, Ui hugged onto Cro tighter as he caught her, and he understood it was time to stop. She breathed heavily from the thrill of their aerial dance.

But underneath all that joy, some things still pained Ui. “Cro… I'm a bit sad…”

“What's new?”

Ui couldn’t elbow him or react in that situation, so all she could do was hold onto him tighter. “After all this, it feels like strength is really all they answer to... isn’t that sad?

“I won’t lie to you and say it wasn't important to get to where we are, Ui. But what keeps us together is just as important, maybe even more, and it wasn't just your strength…”

“Then what was it?”

Their conversation was interrupted when they spotted around thirty ships in front of them. They kept heading in their direction, under a warmer sun heating up the humid air over the sea.

“Ui,” said Cro, “Can you do this?”

Ui smirked. “Nothing a little Song of the Seas can’t take care of.”

“Remember what you’ve learned from Yula. Hold back. Must I remind you that that flower field is still—”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry I’m sorry. I got carried away, everyone was so happy and singing. And I think the song affected me too...”

“And how many days were you asleep after that, again?”

“A lot. Shut up. That was years ago, Cro… Why are you still reminding me of that?”

“Because every time I fly by, those flowers remind me. They’re still blooming through every season… So please, show some restraint.”

“Yeah yeah. We’ll be back just in time for dinner with energy to spare.” Ui was confident the fight would be over before it could even start. She was already imagining herself loafing around at home, eating her favorite foods. “Mmm… Doroberry Parfait.”

Her thoughts were interrupted when they ran into the enemy fleet. There was a welcoming party of floating mages on the opposite side, and several weapons were pointed straight at them.

Prishu led the charge by herself without hesitation, quickly punching a mage out of the sky into another group of mages before they could finish casting a spell. The fight broke out instantly, and barriers were deployed around Ui.

Their whole group took over and landed on the closest ship available, giving Ui a place to stand on. Cro stood in front of her, ready to intercept anything that went through. With Cro as her shield, she had nothing to fear.

Ui spoke into a device she had strapped around her neck. “Testing, is this thing working? These stupid MagiAmps...” The whole battle seemed to pause for a few seconds.

Ui hummed into the device, warming up her voice, while the whole battlefield was engulfed by the chaos. They started trying to take aim at her, but she wasn’t worried, not with Cro, Prishu, and the other mages standing in front of her.

She turned off the device momentarily, and closed her eyes. “Ul maes nouirs lus etregs.” Only Cro could hear her chant.

“Ul musure mai nu

Amurenu sai lun

Nul sasesa no

Mael reru mo!”

Slowly, the seas around her turned still, obeying her voice. The invading force stopped fighting, but Ui’s allies kept shielding her.

Eventually, the seas around her became more and more still, and soon, the clouds started moving away, too. A light, circular breeze started in front of Cro and the other mages. The stillness of the sea became more and more unstable, and the rotating breeze became larger and fiercer.

While she was singing, Ui looked at Cro, who opened the sack he was carrying, revealing tightly packed petals of Aure roses that he sent straight into the growing storm in front of them. The delicate petals blended into the fierce storm, and with the final words of the song, the growing storm flew slowly into the rest of the fleet.

Those who wished to escape the storm had a chance if they retreated immediately. Ui always made sure of that. But they hesitated.

“This is the island of Aneuf.” Ui’s voice resonated through the storm and seas.

She looked around to see Prishu and the other mages protecting her. She smiled, deep from her heart, as if to thank them for a job well done.

She then looked at Cro, who was still ready to protect her, and reached out to feel his familiar hand relax together with hers. She glanced in the storm’s direction to see the invading fleet that was attempting to, and failing, to scurry away.

“This is our home,” she shouted. She made sure the waves echoed her voice into the horizon. “You are not welcome here.”