It was just about as all-over-the-place as a Sail Fed party should be. Amid the Ihirin sloping rafters and the Niro-style decorations—painted screen walls, carved wood and swinging lanterns that glowed red and gold—the music shook the chairs and the carpets, as did the thumping feet of partygoers. At every standing bar table, they saw people playing games, unstopping bottles of foaming beer at unsuspecting faces, drinking out of unlikely receptacles.

Seconds after they stepped through the door, a bright white light flared from the altar and hit them in the eye, so Jinai flinched. The music was clipped briefly by the voice of the master of ceremonies— “Welcome, welcome! Look who it is, the Cloudlanders!” A roar and a round of applause answered from the crowd and many downed a swig. “Come out to the front, we’ve been waiting for you, Wulien’s favourite local duo!”

Anqien glanced at Jinai. “We’re their favourite local duo?” they asked, voice approaching a yell.

“Who’s even MCing, I need to have a word,” she answered at equal volume, then laughed as she caught the contagious spirit of the space—and they strode out into the scintillating purple party lights and spraying beer foam, waving like royals.

They passed the banquet table of catered food—rice paper wraps and raw fish, of which Jinai and Anqien snatched a few pieces in paper plates before arriving at the altar. Booming music, unabashed excess, and flowing beer: this was a Sail Fed party alright.

The master of ceremonies, it turned out, was Folien I-San—legendary singer with a legendary reputation for tomfoolery—gesticulating and announcing on the mini-stage with an overcoat of golden embroidery complemented by gem-studded chains swaying, a peacock-tail headpiece in his long, free-flowing hair.

Here at the altar with him were just about all the sailors from the press conference and then some, though none right now were recognisable as the sports stars they were, dancing with abandon—buoyed on the beat of whatever was playing, as the spotlights swept the lamplit room.

Shimizu was cradled in Kainara’s lap, the two conversing eagerly with someone from the North Star team. Over by the leftmost wall, Xye danced borderline indecently with a woman who may have been among the unsuccessful competitors, though you could barely tell from the wild joy in her eyes. Xye’s ruffled blouse, unbuttoned midway down her chest, revealed a diamond pendant on her neck, and her blond hair was twirled into a bun around a glittering hairstick. Intermittently, she took a swig of the wine bottle in her hand.

As the two passed, their looks seemed to draw her attention, and she chose that moment to beckon her dancing partner with a finger, and pull her in to kiss her on the mouth. It was unclear where Zera was—if she was here at all.

It wasn’t hard to be reeled into the atmosphere within Nakano’s walls. Both partook freely of the beer taps and the endless catered canapes that were trolleyed out every fifteen minutes. They drank out of waxed paper cups with gold foil and chowed down on Nakano’s ludicrously delectable offerings until Jinai couldn’t see quite straight and had lost Anqien in the crowd.

“Hey, hey, Miss Vailu!” It was perhaps an hour into the party and many drinks in, that Jinai heard Xye call out through the surging crowd, strutting to the beat of whatever dance hit was playing to where her rival stood. She clapped a hand on Jinai’s shoulder. “How do you do?”

“Oh, what a surprise!” she drawled back. “Am I finally worth talking to?

“What do you mean? You’re always worth talking to. I mean, you’re the most impressive of our opponents, if not one of the most impressive ever.”

She laughed, a little too euphoric on the drinks to muster up the indignation she thought she should feel. “What d’you want?”

“I heard you were retiring,” she answered, walking a circle around her. “End of an era, huh?”

“Yeah, and?”

“I know we’re meant to hate each other’s guts and all, but…” She flicked a hand at the air. “Whatever, you’re incredibly cool, for real. Don’t tell Zera I said that.”

Jinai grinned toothily back. “Is she the one who decided that the two of you should treat us like worm fodder?”

“Ptch, no, that’s all me,” she answered, laughing into her fist. “But still, it’s kinda all for show, you know? It’s what the fans like to see, rivals who look like they’d really go for each other’s throats. But, I mean, what in the world—it’s not fair. We could’ve been friends in a different life. Or ex-lovers with deep dark history.”

Her words jolted Jinai briefly, but play along, let’s see where this goes. “Sorry, I’m full up on ex-lovers,” she answered.

Xye raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Is this a story we don’t know?”

“As much as it may surprise you, you can just choose not to put your entire life on display,” she said, and lifted her cup to down the rest of her plum wine cocktail.

“Alright, not ex-lovers—how about future lovers?” she pressed on, smirking.

In her head, Jinai studied her mannerisms, struggling for even a modicum of insight as to what her intent was here. But she wasn’t acting any different—just same old drama magnet Xye.

“No offence” she replied, “you’re hot, but not my thing.” Bravado blazed in her chest—or perhaps it was just the flush of alcohol.

“Huh, I see,” answered Xye, and if she was disappointed, her smile did not show it. “That’s wild, the only people who reject me outright are the ones who already have someone else.” She paused for a beat. “And Zera. She’s amazing but I’ve never seen her be interested in anyone? So. Are you taken?”

“No way,” she laughed, swatting ineffectually at their face, “I’m just done with the whole romance thing.”

“Aw,” Xye shook her head, chuckling. “You’re gonna disappoint Anqien if you tell them that.”

“Alright, now you’re just being annoying on purpose,” she answered, shoving her by the shoulder.

In the background, one song segued into the next, and she started tapping her heel to the new beat. “I’m just saying what I see—so if you know better, then great! Guess you’ll just have to ask them, huh? Oh dear, here they come right now. Tiiiming!”

As Xye’s last singsong note trailed off, Jinai felt a hand clamp on her shoulders. “Jinai! Xye!” She whipped her head around. Anqien smiled back, looking like they might be on more drinks than she, but only by a little—swaying and flushed and smiling more widely than they usually did. “Saw you two having a chat, thought I’d come join in.”

“Oh, nah, she was just being a pest as usual,” she said, grinning. “It’s about time we ended that. Silly.”

“That’s how you thank me for my wisdom? Well, then, cheers,” she answered with a two finger salute, and then whirled away and back into the languid chaos on the altar.

Deep in Jinai’s heart, Xye’s last words had sunk their burrs in. She buried the thought for now, though she hadn’t quite shaken it off. Meeting Anqien’s eye again, she said, “How are you going?”

They laughed. “Good!” they said. “The lights are so pretty in here. I just lay down on the steps with the Niro sailors and stared up at them. Also, three people have tried flirting and one just skipped the flirting and went straight for the kiss.”

She shook her head. This seemed to happen at every party. “Did any of them catch your fancy?”

They shook their head. “Wasn’t really feeling it, even after all the drinks,” they said.

Jinai let out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding. A synth hit cut through the silence. Her head lifted. “No way, this is the best song ever!”

As if working magic, the first notes of the song roused a torrent of motion across the room as all the stragglers who had begun to hunker down for the evening raced to the floor, holding hands or raising them.

This wasn’t one of the throbbing, hypnotic numbers that had come before. The hit was a driving ballad whose bleeding-heart sentimentality had propelled its wildfire spread across the country. Anqien launched into the first bars of the lyrics and twirled, their ponytail swishing after.

Jinai couldn’t resist the song's charm and her companion’s joy for long. The whole room was bouncing and surging like the surf on a stormy night, and carried by the current, she and Anqien took each other’s hands and spiralled and belted the words by heart. The lights shifted to blue and teal, setting the crowd aglitter like a pearl-speckled seabed—the ultra-wealthy who had paid their way into this hall, the people from the streets who had snuck in through the fire escape, the sailors they would battle tooth and nail very soon—all alike in blue.

Just for blinding seconds, she felt like nothing mattered beyond this very moment. This was how she wanted to remember tonight, if she could remember it always. None of them were the people they had been before; all were only dancers and dreamers in this pulsating cerulean light.