The next few days blurred together in the best possible way.
Sica ran early morning laps on the upper deck and pretended she wasn’t doing it to keep her mind away from dwelling too hard on her postponed career plans.
Emil entered a back and forth war with the sitting card tournament champion (a grandmother who seemed to cheat so creatively that all magical anti-cheat protections were useless).
Luna learned karaoke, discovering that she could harmonize with herself using her telepathy and the physical vibration of her casing to create a truly unique audience experience.
They found a strange, comfortable rhythm.
Between activities, they drifted through quieter moments; leaning over the railing to watch the ever widening river, discussing everything and nothing, sharing snacks from the concession cart with Luna insisting that the humans relay every unique flavor so that she may attempt to replicate the dishes once she got a working tongue.
One night, as the sun bled orange across the water, Emil broke the companionable silence.
“You know,” he said, “I was kind of expecting… I don’t know. A river monster attack? Ambush from pirates? Something?”
“Same,” Sica admitted. “Honestly I thought for sure we’d get jumped at some point. Large bodies of water are notoriously dangerous.”
Luna bobbed thoughtfully.
“Maybe it’s like when there are too many ships running sonar and it scares away all the whales?” she offered.
“Change that to magical engines and monsters, then maybe?” Emil said wonderingly, taking her nonsense word “sonar” in stride.
Sica followed up on his thought. “If you take into account the cumulative levels of everyone on this ship, we could probably turn a river drake into soup in under a minute. Half the fun of traveling these routes used to be fighting something on the way. But these days? When is the last time you heard of a giant monster attacking a city, not a town, but a city?”
She gestured at the crowd of people behind them.
“Cushy living. The Guild runs constant patrols, the merchant clans run counter patrols, and not to mention solo forces like Sunny, Calder, or even your dad” She said addressing Emil. “Built in monster repellent.”
“Dang,” Luna said, wiggling. “So to get some real action we will have to rough it a bit.”
“Oh yeah,” Sica said. “Or maybe we wait until we get closer to the ocean and get completely obliterated by some freak brackish water leviathan.
Luna floated contentedly.
“I would love to see Sunny have a giant monster battle.”
“Absolutely not,” Emil said immediately.
By the third day, the trio had agreed that they weren’t ready to disembark at Shriverton.
Luna had stated that she needed to finish all of Captain Sunny’s recommended “Activities to promote Love & Happiness” to get the free badge at the gift shop.
Emil had meekly asked the ticket clerk if upgrades were allowed. Not only were they allowed, it seemed like upgrades were encouraged.
Sica, pretending not to be involved, had stood back, shuffling her feet as Luna paid for the upgraded tickets for all three of them. She couldn’t really get off the boat until her target… new friends did. Might as well take advantage of the trip.
And so, their three day cruise became a full seven day journey, carrying them all the way to the edge of the sea.
On the seventh morning, the river widened until it was almost indistinguishable from the ocean. Salt on the breeze, seabirds overhead, docks and cranes looming as the riverboat glided toward the bustling port city of Rivamar.
The final breakfast buffet was a frenzy of hungover passengers inhaling eggs like they were preparing for war.
Luna enthusiastically had Emil sample six different fruit syrups for her, noting which ones to add to her growing mental list of things once she finally got a tongue.
Sica quietly readjusted her small bag of belongings that she somehow ended up fitting her dining set and Emil’s gifted bear into.
Emil triple checked their belongings, and tried not to show his ever ratcheting anxiousness the closer they got to the journey’s end.
Then came the bell.
The crew ushered passengers down the gangplank in orderly waves.
“Thank you for sailing the Riverboat of Love & Happiness!” the staff called.
“Please do not forget your luggage, your loved ones, or any priceless objects that you may have acquired during the trip!”
Luna hovered in place at the end of the gangplank, taking one last look back.
“We have to look at booking again next year.” she said proudly. “That did wonders for my mental.”
“Next time, let’s splurge for the upgraded cabin with the private shower and softer bed.” Emil complained while stretching.
“Imagine having a gross curvy spine” Luna teased. “Humans and their weak skeletons” She teased knowing full well that her goal of having a shitty human skeleton would be reached some day.
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“How about you Sica?” Luna asked turning to face the woman. “Up for making the cruise a family tradition?”
Sica didn’t answer.
“Sica?” Luna prodded as the woman rummaged around in her bag.
…
Sica simply reached deeper into her small pack and closed her hand around a familiar object before pulling it out of her bag. The band of silver that had replaced her previously compromised device looked identical to the last. Etched with fine, angular runes, faintly humming with received orders.
She studied the object for a long moment, feeling the cool metal against her palm, letting the hum vibrate up her arm.
The runes pulsed in a slow, patient rhythm waiting for her to relay an update.
The connection was strong as ever. It constantly relayed the device's position and condition to her handlers. As long as she checked in with her handlers through the device somewhat regularly, they assumed business as usual.
Every night though, she had grown lazier about her reports.
Shorter.
Less precise.
The first evening had been a crisp, professional:
“Active pursuit. Maintaining cover. No suspicion.”
By the third night:
“Still on them. Situation stable. Extended their trip.”
By the fifth:
“Still on boat, still waiting. Nothing to report.”
By the sixth:
“See previous message.”
She hadn’t even bothered with more than that.
Her handlers didn’t question it. She was Level 14 and she was reliable and efficient.
Even burned out as she had become the last few weeks, she was still the safest bet for a kill order like this.
But now?
Now she stood on a creaky bobbing dock beside the two people she had been ordered to destroy…
After this past week, the mission felt like something mailed to the wrong address.
Sica lifted her gaze to Luna, then to Emil who was wringing the strap of his bag with anxious fingers, still trying not to assume the worst.
She sighed.
“Hold on,” she said quietly, standing straighter.
Both of them tensed.
Sica turned the bracelet over in her hand, the runes catching the morning light.
She tapped the activation glyph.
A whisper of mana flickered across the metal as the connection opened.
She kept her voice flat, calm, perfectly professional.
“Engaging target.”
Emil’s breath hitched.
But Sica didn’t reach for a weapon.
She looked at Luna.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
“You ready?”
Luna brightened in realization, then excitement.
“READY!” she chirped, wriggling like a powering up cannon.
Sica drew her arm back.
“Pull!” Luna shouted like a clay pigeon shooting addict.
Sica hurled the bracelet over the edge of the dock in a perfect arcing throw.
Luna immediately discharged her entire mana pool into a single, overcharged Mana Bolt.
The air cracked, the bolt hitting the bracelet mid-air. The device detonated in a shower of silver shrapnel, runes popping in a cascade like a fire cracker strip.
Luna pumped her whole cylindrical body in triumph. Having succeeded in hitting her target with the single largest bolt of pure mana that Sica had ever seen.
Emil sagged with relieved laughter, hands on his knees.
“You… you absolute psychopaths. I thought you were about to kill me.”
“Me too,” Sica agreed. “I figured this would be more fun though”
“See!” Luna exclaimed. “This girl gets it, maximize fun, minimize bullshit no one actually wants to do!”
Luna floated a little closer to Sica, her voice dropping into their shared telepathic channel.
Luna: (To be honest, I forgot we had talked about this)
Sica: (Probably for the best, Emil needs more excitement in his life)
Emil: (Hey, I am plenty exciting)
Luna: (Dammit Emil, stay out of this channel)
…
Miles away, deep in a fortified Rogue Guild safehouse, a handler stared at a scryboard.
The neat green rune marking Sica’s location and condition lit up.
“Engaging target.”
After a few seconds of waiting…
The link snapped off. *Device destroyed. The notification populated on the board where Sica’s marker should be.
The man inhaled through his teeth.
“Shit. She’s down.”
His partner didn’t even look surprised.
“She got too close to the mark,” she said, flipping through the file. “Or Calder finally caught up to the boat. Either way, she knew the risks.”
The handler exhaled and reached for the next folder in the stack.
“I will send an update to Darius Braxtown.”
He paused only long enough to toss out a quick question to his coworker.
“Did you find someone to follow up yet?”
His partner chuckled dryly.
“Oh, absolutely. I prepped them yesterday. He has just received confirmation of activation about five seconds ago.”
“Good,” Brann nodded as he added the information to the report. Report the failure, but reassure the client that follow up was on the way.
Luna happily spun in place, still reveling in bringing Sica into the band of those on the run.
“Okay!” she said. “Now that we’ve achieved freedom, gone rogue from the Rogues, and arrived at a gorgeous city, what’s first on the itinerary?”
Emil straightened, trying to regain composure.
“Finding somewhere safe to stay,” he said.
Sica slung her bag over her shoulder, the giant gifted bear’s head poking comically from the top as it had come loose during her throw.
“And keeping our heads down,” she said flatly. “Because that stunt? That bought us time. Not safety.”
Luna nodded, unusually serious.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll handle whatever comes next.”
Emil swallowed.
“Whatever comes next?”
Sica started walking toward the bustling streets of Rivamar, her hand hovered near her dagger.
“Yeah,” she said. “Because you can bet your life that someone else is already on the way.”
Behind them, the last pieces of the exploded comm bracelet sank quietly beneath the waves, and far, far upriver, the next hunter began to move.
