Talon smiled warmly. “I believe you must be a tremendous warrior. I’ll have to tell the dropbears that it wouldn’t be wise for them to drop down on your head.”
“If they know what’s good for them, they’ll steer clear,” Florence agreed.
Talon sat down, folding his wings in closely. He didn’t seem to use them much.
Florence hesitated, and then sat next to him. “What is your role here?” she asked. “You seem to be in charge, though you called Lhasa the queen.”
“No one has any more power than anyone else here. I like to think that I am the protector of the island,” he said. “I . . . I look after Karkinos. For now, anyway.”
“The crab,” Florence said, remembering. “I suppose a crab so large must need a lot to eat.”
“The squid helps.”
“Does the squid have a name?”
“I would imagine so, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Why would he help the crab at all? Two large carnivores seem like they’d be unlikely allies.”
“Yes,” Talon agreed, “but the island offers vegetation that grows over the side, attracting fish. The crab’s claws offer protection from the eel. The crab allows the squid to stay protected if the squid brings it food. As long as the crab survives, the squid survives.”
“Unless the squid moves too far away from the crab’s claws and gets captured.”
“A mistake he’s not likely to make again, after what he’s been through.”
Florence drew her knees up and clasped her arms around them. “And what about Issie? You said she’s been searching for her foal for seven hundred years.”
“At least,” said Talon. “That’s about when she arrived here. She might have been searching before.”
“Where did she come from?”
“We don’t know. Our communication is limited. She says she’s from another world. Perhaps she means another island. Could she be from yours? She came during a storm.”
“I—I don’t think so. We are all very young compared to you and Issie and Karkinos.”
Talon gazed out over the water. His face was troubled. “Sometimes I think Karkinos was here before the sea.”
His simple, profound words made Florence feel things she’d never felt before. She didn’t notice his troubled look. “And you?” she asked. “Have you always been here?”
“As long as I can remember. One day I woke up here, saved by the crab as you were, though being alone and without a ship, I imagine my circumstances were a bit more dire.” He ducked his head. “Not to minimize your near-tragic stumble, of course.”
Florence laughed. “If that was the worst I’d been through, I’d have no stories to tell.”
“Even if you made them up, I’d listen to all your stories until there were no more, and then demand you begin again.”
“I— Oh my.” Florence shifted in the sand, her mind grasping for something, anything, to say. She blurted out, “How long have you been here?”
He flashed a teasing smile but grew serious once more. “I don’t know. Thousands of years.”
Florence could hardly imagine it. “Thousands,” she repeated.
Talon nodded. “It’s nice to have visitors.”
Florence looked at him. He caught her gaze and held it.
“Do you get many visitors?” she asked finally.
“Only a handful in recent years.” His gaze drifted to Pirate Island, a mere dot on the horizon. “Pirates came a few times. They stole some of our plants and trees during the night and escaped.” He scratched his chin. “If only they had asked, we would have given them whatever they wanted. We have more than we need. There was no reason for their stealth. But because of their actions, we’ll never trust them.” He looked at the pirate ship. “I feared you were from there when I first saw your ship.”
“This ship wrecked on our island some years ago with two dying pirates aboard,” Florence said. “Our leader restored it and made it sound again.”
“Alex?”
“No, the one before him.” She grew thoughtful. “Do you suppose we’ve stolen the ship from the pirates if we’ve made no attempt to give it back?”
Talon thought about it for a while. “Sounds rather to me that your ship was trying to escape them. My verdict is that you’ve done the ship a good deed.”
“I’d like to think so,” Florence said. She couldn’t imagine what shape the ship would be in if it had stayed docked at Pirate Island when the volcano sank. “The pirates—they steal people too, and keep them as slaves. That’s why we had to pay them a visit. And now they’re stealing your sea creatures.”
“So it seems, and I know not why. From what you’ve recounted, it appears the eel is under their command.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand their motivations.”
“I don’t either.” She thought about Quill and Warbler. “I don’t understand many things about the evil people in our world.”
“I can tell you’ve seen more of them than I have, Florence. I hope you believe me—you have nothing to fear here.”
Florence dropped her gaze. “It’s a relief to know it. And you have nothing to fear from us . . . unless your sinister dropbears make a false move.” She smiled and looked out over the sea to the east, toward home, feeling strangely melancholy. “We’ll need to go back soon. We won’t trouble you for long.”