A New Team

"No way," Meg said, her eyes huge. "Don't tell me – did you two just – "

Ryan had never seen her so flustered before, not even when he'd busted her for being Margaret Wetherill. As much as he wanted to rub it into her face, instead he grabbed Fia's hand.

"We did. You got a problem with that?"

Fia blinked at him, then nodded. When they squeezed back, a wonderful floaty feeling filled Ryan's chest.

It wasn't the only thing there. Now that they were bound by a contract, he could feel Fia's Levia pulsing through his body. Unlike Avia's quiet hum, he couldn't possibly ignore it. Not when it rolled and crashed like the waves around Mare, bringing with it the wild scent of the sea. Ryan still hadn't gotten used to it, but he figured it was just a matter of time.

You didn't have to be a genius to tell this Levia was crazy powerful. Which made Ryan wonder why Fia had so little confidence, but that just meant he needed to help them. Hell if he was ever going to let down another familiar again.

"Well, I – " Meg cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders, before fixing Ryan with a stern glare. "Aren't you moving a little too quickly?"

Ryan glared back. To his disappointment, Meg didn't flinch.

Well, he hadn't come here for a staring match. After forming their contract, he and Fia had set off for the deck to get some training done. Instead, they'd run smack into Meg and Darian and their lot marching through the corridors either to or from a strategy meeting, not that Ryan cared.

Ryan itched with impatience, but couldn't get anywhere with all these people blocking the way. He opened his mouth, ready to tell them to scram if they didn't have anything productive to say, but that was when Darian pushed her way forward.

Rather than him, Darian gazed at Fia. Her eyes were hard, serious. "Is this your decision, Fia?"

Fia glanced at Ryan. He offered them a smile, and they turned back to Darian. "It is."

Darian exhaled, her shoulders relaxing. "Then I'll trust you. Both of you."

"What?" Meg looked like she'd been clubbed between the eyes, and behind her Guntar put up a tide of indignant squawking and flapping.

"Really, now! Fia, surely you can find better wizards than this insolent boy!"

Hot rage flooded Ryan, but before he could give the chicken a well-deserved earful, Fia took a step forward. "I've already decided, okay? Ryan and I, we're gonna get stronger together."

The rage fled in an instant, replaced by that floaty feeling again. Ryan cast Fia a grateful grin, and his heart jumped into his throat when they returned it with a wink.

"So that's that," he said, facing the skeptical adults again. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've gotta get to training. Before you know it, we'll have Mare out of Hellebore's claws."

'And we'll honor Avia.' He didn't need to say it, of course. Not when both he and Fia knew.

Right now, he couldn't afford to think about Avia, still in pieces down in the cargo hold. He needed to move forward with his new familiar. And that meant they didn't have time to waste on yapping. Avia would want the same, he knew it. After all, she'd always encouraged him to keep training even when he wanted to quit.

Meg and Guntar still didn't look totally convinced, but they stepped aside when Darian did. With the way clear, Ryan and Fia marched onward.

~*~

"Wahh! Look out!"

Fia's shout was all the warning Ryan got before a jet of water blasted out of their hands. The recoil knocked them onto their rear, and the spell diagram beneath them fractured into green sparks.

But the water jet was still flying. Ryan hurled himself to the side, just barely avoiding it. It soared through the sky and disappeared into the clouds beyond.

Still better than most of their previous attempts, which had left massive dents all over the railing, deck, and even the cabin walls. As his heartbeat calmed down, Ryan climbed to his feet.

Fia was already standing, shoulders slumped and head down. Even if he couldn't sense their churning Levia, Ryan would still know exactly what they were feeling.

"Hey, it's okay," he said quickly. "If you ask me, looks like you got better at aiming."

The words had the opposite effect than intended – Fia only slumped more. "I wasn't aiming. Just got lucky."

Shit. Sweating, Ryan waved his hands like an idiot. "Well, uh, we just need to try again. Okay?"

"Try not to make too big a mess, will you?" Amaro yelled from his post at the wheel. Ryan stuck out his tongue.

Meanwhile, Fia heaved a big sigh before straightening their shoulders. Taking a deep breath, they stepped back and held out their hands again.

They were trying their hardest, so Ryan couldn't slack off either. Besides, both of them had plenty of Levia to spare. Which might actually be part of the problem – Fia's Levia reserves were huge, but they didn't have much experience using it. The first time Ryan had cast an elemental spell on them, they'd been reduced to helpless gibbering at the sheer amount of water gushing from their hands.

Half an hour later, they were no closer to controlling their water jets than before. And this was only the most basic elemental spell.

Some dark guilty part of Ryan couldn't help but think about Avia. How it never took more than three or four tries for her to master a new spell, and complex, high-level ones at that. The same went for his parents' and brother's familiars. If a familiar failed too often, they wouldn't hesitate to cut them loose. None but the best and strongest for the Crowleys, after all.

Hell, he doubted his family would look twice at a familiar like Fia. 'Useless,' they'd mutter while shaking their heads.

Not long ago, Ryan might've agreed with them. But now just the thought made his blood boil like a volcano about to erupt. How could anyone call Fia useless when they'd saved him from his despair?

He'd just have to keep trying. After all, he and Fia had only gotten started. Piece by piece, bit by bit, they'd make this new team work.

"Ryan?" Fia's voice scattered his thoughts like a flock of pigeons. They blinked at Ryan, head tilted. "What's wrong?"

Heat flooded Ryan's face. What was he doing, spacing out like that? "Uh, yeah. Here we go."

Just as he began picturing the spell, he heard a hatch open from behind. Ryan wanted to ignore it – probably just Kress or Nevy checking on the cannon – but then someone shouted Fia's name.

Turning around, he saw a couple of townspeople climbing out the hatch. His heart pounded in surprise, though he really should've expected it. The Blue Sky had managed to rescue some of the prisoners working the extraction machine, after all. So far, though, Ryan hadn't seen much of them.

"Oh!" Fia jumped up and down, wings flapping frantically. "Lail! Irna!"

"Are we interrupting?" asked the older of the two, a woman probably around Meg's age. The other was a boy who looked a little older than Ryan.

Ryan wanted to snap that yeah, they were, but Fia looked so happy to see them he kept his mouth shut. For their part, Fia hopped over to the two. "Not at all! What are you doing here?"

"We have something for you," the woman said, holding out a covered pot. Whatever was inside smelled like heaven, hot and rich and salty. On perfect cue, Ryan's stomach let out a very loud growl.

Ryan clapped his hands over his belly as if that'd make it shut up, but the townspeople had already noticed. They cracked matching grins. "It's seaweed stew," the boy said. "You can have some too."

"Seaweed stew? Wow, it's been so long!" Fia chirped.

Normally Ryan wouldn't touch something called seaweed stew with a ten-foot pole, but he had to admit the smell was seriously tempting. Come to think of it, when was the last time he'd eaten?

"Lodo and Cay helped us make it," the woman said. "It's not much, but...we figured it's the least we could do. To thank you for everything you've done for us."

Fia rubbed the back of their head. "I didn't do much…."

"You came to rescue us," the boy said. "And you're still fighting even now. Trying your hardest for our sake. This time...this time, we won't just sit back. We want to help too."

"That's...I…." Fia hunched their shoulders as if they wanted to shrink into themselves. Seeing them like this sent a sharp pang through Ryan's heart.

So he stepped up next to Fia and gripped their shoulder. They blinked at him, looking alarmed, but Ryan flashed them a grin. When a hesitant smile lifted Fia's lips, Ryan felt giddy enough to soar into the sky.

No way was he gonna let these townsfolk show him up. He wouldn't give up either.