Heretical Fishing

Book 4: Chapter 25: Smalle, Cute & Fluffy

The quiet hiss of thousands of bubbles rising through soft sand was the only sound to be heard. Each time they tapered off, a small wave washed up the shore, causing the symphony to begin anew. It was partially drowned out a moment later, a stiff breeze blowing from behind that caused my short hair to whip forward and tickle my scalp. I held my hands wide, forgetting about everything else as the sensations of my body became too glorious to ignore. When the wind disappeared, I opened my eyes slowly, finding a sea of faces pinned to me.

One was giving me a look flatter than the ocean on a still night.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Are you fracking with me, Fischer?” Barry replied, his jaw tensing.

I tilted my head in question, carefully smothering the joy threatening to spill from my core. “What ever do you mean, mate?”

He rotated to the left, his eyes not leaving me as he gestured with both hands at the cart and piles of supplies. “You had us get all of this, promising that you had grand plans...”

“That’s right.”

“To build a boat.”

“Ah-huh. Big boat. Perhaps the biggest.”

“Wellll. It’s not so much that I don’t know as it is that I haven’t tried before. I know what they look like, and I understand the general principles of buoyancy. It has to float, right? Oh, and salt-water is denser than fresh water! So it should definitely float. Probably.”

“Probably...?”

“Yeah. Sounds about right. Anyway, I was kinda hoping one of you would know how to build one. Any volunteers?” I gazed toward the crowd, and at their collective response, I raised a brow. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Barry’s eyes narrowed. “You thought that we, villagers who until months ago had believed water to be heretical, would know how to build boats...?”

“I’m not going to apologise for having faith in you, Barry.”

“I’ve never even seen a boat!”

“I know what they look like. She’ll be right.”

“You know what they look—What has that got to do with anything? How are you going to stop it from leaking?”

“The whole thing is wood, mate. Wood floats.”

“Even better in salt water,” Theo added.

“See!” I clicked my fingers. “That’s what I’m saying! So even if it leaks a bit, she’ll be right.”

Barry looked at me like he’d caught me chewing rocks. “Even if it leaks a bit...? Fischer, boats aren’t supposed to have water in them. It’ll sink!”

“How do you know that? You’ve never seen one.”

“I still know it’s not supposed to have water inside

I blew air from my lips. “I’d never made a rock wall to fish from either. It turned out great.”

“And water leaks into it,” Theo added helpfully. “Still functions.”@@novelbin@@

“Water leaks into it!” I gestured at the rock wall. “And look how bloody study it is!”

Said sturdiness did nothing to quell Barry’s smouldering anger. “That, Fischer, is a structure made of rock.”

“True.”

“That’s attached to the ground.”

“Also true.”

“Meaning it doesn’t need to float!”

“Now you’re just nit-picking.”

Barry took a steadying breath. “Fischer, I need you to promise me you won’t take a ship out to sea if there’s even a slight chance it’ll leak.”

“I can’t promise that. I can promise she’ll be right, though.”

“Stop saying she’ll be right! How far out to sea do you anticipating taking this... this...” He had to search for the word, giving it air quotes and a liberal amount of scepticism when he finally found it. “... Creation?”

“Uhhhh, all the way out, mate. Wouldn’t be much of a boat if it couldn’t reach the horizon.”

“The horizon?” Paul dashed forward, slipping through to stand beside his dad. “Can I come?”

“Damn right. Be a crying shame if you didn’t.”

“Fischer...” Barry’s voice held a hint of warning. He rested a hand on Paul’s shoulder. “And what if it sinks with people—with my son—on board?”

“I’ll teleport us all to safety. Easy peasy.”

“But what if you’re incapacitated? Just like you are literally right now? What if one of the countless mishaps that constantly occurs around you happens, and the boat starts to sink because it’s leaking the entire time?”

“First off, countless mishaps? Ouch. Second, what about the statement ‘she’ll be right’ do you not understand? Nothing bad has ever followed those three words. It’s the Australian version of an immunity spell.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Stop trying to confuse me with your expressions! I’m not in the mood, Fischer! Answer my question: what will happen if all of your power is sapped, and my only son falls into the ocean, and you’re too far from shore to... to... huh?”

A tsunami of emotion had been building behind him for the last minute or so. Theo had been the first to be certain that I was just messing with Barry, his training as a crown auditor coming in clutch. From there, everyone else had slowly realized, seeing it on others’ faces and feeling it in their auras.

Barry should have noticed their amusement sooner, but I hadn’t let him. I wavered, losing hold of the paper-thin walls I’d used to shield him from the outside world. Now that their emotions were on full display, they could finally laugh. Helen swept forward, wrapping her husband in a hug. “I’m sorry, dear. If it makes you feel any better, I love when you get protective.”

Barry hugged her back, but that didn’t stop him from leveling a distrustful gaze my way.

“You were almost correct, mate...” I wobbled, exhaustion coming for me. “I wouldn’t have the strength to teleport anyone back to shore right now, but a few walls to hide emotions...? Child’s play.”

I stumbled, and if not for Barry taking pity on me, I’d have fallen on my ass. He caught me by the arm, helping me stay upright long enough for me to realize I’d pushed myself and the joke too far.

Barry shook his head at me, amusement warring with the annoyance on his face. “Anything to say for yourself, Fischer?”

I nodded, my eyelids fluttering and body seeming to go into recovery mode. “Yeah, mate.” It was all I could do to move a single finger, so I gestured for him to come closer. His curiosity got the better of him, and he leaned in.

“She’ll be right,” I croaked right into his ear, then gave him a satisfied smile.

The last thing I saw before unconsciousness took me was the stars above, their pinprick beauty framing the muscular hand that had previously been holding me up, and was now conveying a decidedly rude message.

***

Corporal Claws, wielder of lightning and the undisputed glowiest of Fischer’s disciples, was having a wonderful evening. It had only been minutes since her master had kicked her in the moosh, and she’d already traveled further than she knew possible.

Despite how enhanced her awareness had been before awakening as an elemental, she wouldn’t have been able to witness even half of what she saw now. Claws twisted her body, spinning round and round until the scene above blended with the scene below. With the mildest flex of will, she dulled the brightness of the electricity comprising her, well… everything, letting the outside world engulf her senses as she rocketed out into a stretch of cloudless sky.

The stars shone with unspeakable energy. Following her change, she could sense the power each one of them held. Their distance, too. It was... magical. Because of the world’s knowledge streaming into her upon her first awakening, she’d already known this. As with so many things in life, though, knowing was entirely different from knowing. Despite how similar they looked from afar, each was unique—their size, composition, and brightness varied, as did the scarcely believable cosmic power that pulsed form them.

It was intoxicating to know that she could feel things from so far away. That she could sense places she would never be able to visit, even with her newfound mastery of lightning. Despite having her attention drawn in so many directions, she didn’t miss a familiar face as she sailed over him. She righted her elemental body to stare down at someone who, not ten minutes ago, she’d tried to strike with lightning.

Ellis was on a tiny

She contemplated going to meet him for less-altruistic reasons too. Like zapping him in front of his new friends, for example. But at the cost of her own velocity...? Pshhh. Yeah right. Just before she sailed over the horizon, Claws gave a polite little wave that he’d never see, then returned her attention to the outside world.

With how fast she twirled, the stars became smeared lines of light, their individual energies singing out to her. She soaked their voices in, delighting in the melody that result—oh? What was that?

Something floated below, and unlike the foolish yet often-amusing Ellis, this object demanded her attendance. Claws zipped down with all the care she could muster, only a soft breeze accompanying her appearance on the floating pile of jetsam. It seemed relatively sturdy for a pile of literal rubbish.

Thick cords of rope had wound over broken sections of wood to form a raft of sorts. By how chaotic the knots were, it must have been through a storm, if not an attack. She had to process all of this with a fraction of her awareness, because the reason for her landing occupied the rest. Claws took a hurried step forward, excited jolts of electricity crawling over her, and froze.

She whirled on the spot, her entire body crackling as she prepared to unleash it upon any being foolish enough to ambush her. Despite no treacherous souls coming to greet her, she didn’t relax, instead rotating so fast that she could look in every direction at once. She was sure she hadn’t imagined it. Someone had just been observing her. She’d felt it.

But no matter how long she spun, the feeling of being observed didn’t return. She considered another possibility—that, unable to believe that someone would leave the object of her attention behind, her subconscious had invented an enemy.

Better to be safe than sorry...

Claws snapped back into stillness, her lightning chi flooding the surrounding ocean. The salinated water was a terrible conductor, but that was nothing to the elemental known as Corporal Claws of the Church of Fischer. Her essence suffused the ocean for nautical miles in every direction—which Claws decided was a very weird way of measuring things, accurate or not. Barely a kilometer to the north, she found it. Revealing her glimmering chompers to the world, her power descended upon the being that dared lay such an effective trap, hundreds of lightning bolts tearing down to...

She flicked a paw, changing their trajectory. Most shot skyward, dissipating into the surrounding water the moment Claws’s will withdrew. She focused on a select few bolts. They curved around the original target, only to loop back in, slamming down into the ground. Said target was hurled up from the depths, propelled by a storm’s worth of electricity crashing down behind it. Claws reached out with a single mitt, catching the curiosity before lifting it up to her eyes for inspection.

It was... a stone.

What she’d assumed to be an enemy attacker was just a rock with no sapient being connected to it. An odd chi lingered within, however, reminding her of something she couldn’t quite put her toe bean on. Countless thoughts and possibilities raced through her mind, all causing her vicious grin to widen. No matter the cause, one thing was for sure—she had found a wonderfully unique stone. Wrapping it in lightning chi to seal the odd essence inside, she slipped it into a pocket for later examination.

Claws all but forgot about its existence as she tip-toed across the tangled mess of debris. The structure creaked, rope and wood both complaining they shifted under her careful steps. When she was finally above the object that had halted her flight, Claws reached down with more care than she’d give the perfect oyster.

She lifted it to her chest, assaulted by sheer disbelief that this hadn’t been a trap. What fool would leave something so precious—so flawless—here for her to find? Unable to contain the plethora of emotions, everything above her shoulders wiggled like a worm, her lower half having to remain stoic for the sake of the sleeping creature she held.

Master is going to love—

The creature made a coughing sound. Still asleep, it took a shuddering breath, the sound wet and wheezy. Claws froze, a shard of ice forming in the base of her neck. This animal—so small, so cute, so fluffy—was unwell.

She wasted no time. Snicking off some rope, she started tying a sling, but swiftly realized she had neither the patience nor the need for something so mundane.

She opened her pockets, mentally moved all of her rocks into her left one—she loved that her new body could do that—and placed the sickly creature in the right. After throwing the rope in, because why not, she sealed them shut, leaving micro… tonic? Or was it sonic? She shook her head. Micro-whatever! Small gaps so it could breathe!

Annoyed at the general existence of words, Corporal Claws, maiden of the skies and protector of all things cute, shot into the sky, with lightning streaming in her wake. She had to get home. Had to get back to Fischer. No matter how unwell the creature may be, her master would know what to do.