The journey was long but Clovis announced to the children that they were only about a day away from reaching their destination and would camp out tonight. Clovis was preparing to grow fruit with the hair inside the bag, but Briar stopped him. She signaled the children to gather as she grew copious amounts of fruits, grains, and vegetables. 

     As she began, her vision began to blur as everything emerged from the ground, her heart started pounding in her ears, and she collapsed with no support. The children and Clovis quickly came to her side, Clovis holding her in his arms. As he touched her, he could feel she was burning, her breathing became shallow, and he felt her heartbeat become erratic. He asked the children to fetch some water and legumes that he had packed and rushed to her side. He crushed some beans and mixed them with water, he tried feeding them to her, but she immediately rejected it as her body contorted in pain. Clovis panicked, he tried everything he had and every kind of food but again she rejected it. Briar began to look paler, her eyes lost color, and her skin shriveled as minutes passed and everything failed, her body feeling like it was getting scraped from the inside. But, as Clovis looked at his hands, he quickly took a small knife and cut through his thumb to his palm, blood seeped out and landed in Briar's mouth. As each drop fell, her pain withered away slowly along with Clovis's anxiety.

           Clovis kept moving during the night, trying to quickly get to the port as he pondered Briar's condition. He tried to think of anything that could have caused this but his mind went blank.

           Briar felt herself in a haze, she hadn't felt this type of pain in a long time. Were her insides breaking down for the hundredth time or were they reforming? She could never tell, it all felt the same. She remembered the last time she felt this way, only being able to escape the pain by bleeding out as she gutted her stomach. She was unconscious for who knows how long, it could have been hours, days, or even years, never knowing. But, even in her mind, she could not rest as she was in a never-ending loop of never knowing whether she was awake or in a dream. However, now, it was different. The pain had subsided more quickly, and the scene she was experiencing was a calm she had not felt in a long time. She was warm as she gazed at the blue sky in her mind. The grass was so vibrant and soft that it embraced her without hesitation. The sensation felt almost familiar yet new.

     

     Briar felt herself moving from side to side as she slowly opened her eyes but struggled to keep them open. She found herself on a large ship surrounded by children underneath the dark blue sky filled with glittering stars. It felt so long since the last time she had gazed at the sky, she had almost forgotten what it looked like. As she stared at the sky she heard footsteps approaching her, and just by the vibrations she knew who it was.   

     Clovis walked towards Briar and the children and saw the Celestial look in amazement at the sky, then, their eyes met. Clovis hurried over and knelt, " How are you feeling, are you okay.... are you hungry? thirsty?", he whispered as he offered her a cup of water. " I seem to be unable to stay awake for too long. If... I do not get better, I... need... you... too....", her voice drifted as her eyes slowly closed. Clovis was growing weary as frustrations began to show.  His hopelessness was showing for if this Celestial died, he would not get what we wanted.

     The boat ride took the entire night to reach the mainland and overhead there was a voice addressing the passengers. "We are now entering the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Waves, for those wanting to go through, please present your current form identification. If you have no form of identification please follow the separate line for further instructions".

      Clovis disembarked with the children and Briar in his arms. He looked panicked as he was at a loss for what to do next. He wanted to inform the guards of the human trafficking ring that was uncovered but he wanted to help Briar. The children were beginning to feel uneasy with so many people, and as they saw panic in Clovis's eyes some began to cry. Clovis tried to calm them down but his words were not getting through to them. As people began to stare a whisper he could only set Briar down and wipe away each child's tears and he put on a smiling face for them. Clovis tried hard to ignore the stares and the whispers, but he felt his smile would fade at any moment, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. As he turned, he saw a beauty that one could say embodies the sea. His eyes seemed to contain a portion of the ocean, hair in waves that faded into a greyish-blue ombre, skin without a blemish in sight, and the symbol of water branded into his chest: a teardrop with a spiral inside.  Clovis quickly bowed his head when he saw the symbol on his chest, " Your Highness, excuse me, I-", Clovis was cut off as the man laughed and knelt with him. "No, no, no, no. You are mistaken, someone like me has no right to be called anything but what I am. I am one of her saints. My Celestial has ordered me to take you to the healer's tent. It seems that your wife is not well and your children are also under the weather, am I right to assume that?", the man who called himself a Saint, smiled. Clovis nodded his head and the Saint gestured to follow him.

     They approached a tent and all went inside where three healers immediately got to work, two took the children to the side and began to wipe them from head to toe, examining them, and starting to heal small cuts. The third took Briar from Clovis's arms, placing her on a table. The healer was about to take the cloak off, but, she was stopped by a voice that popped its head inside the tent. " Wait! let me do something first. Haha, if we are not careful it might cause a bit of a disaster", the cloaked woman laughed as her body followed her head. As she took center stage, everyone bowed and went back to work, but the healer in charge of Briar remained still as she awaited further instruction. The cloaked woman was a head taller than the healer so she motioned the healer to look up. As the healer did, the cloaked woman placed her hand on the healer's eyes. Water droplets began to bubble below her hand, floating into the air and then popping in a beautiful glisten. The cloaked woman lifted her hand and let the healer open their eyes. Fluttering open, you could see the healer's eyes had turned a beautiful shade of blue and green. The cloaked woman then gestured to continue. 

     As Briar was revealed to the healer, the healer was smitten instantly as they healed Briar. "Well, something is something. But, I have to admit, she truly is beautiful", the cloaked woman said almost sounding wistful. She then turned to Clovis and held out her hand. Her playful tone was music to the ears as Clovis reached out to shake her hand," Please, forgive my meddling, but I felt this was the best course of action. Now if you would excuse me, I am waiting for someone", the woman promptly exited and Clovis was left shocked. It almost felt like being in Briar's presence but with a sense of pressure waiting to envelop you.

      As the healer finished, the children were brought in. They all leaned over the table to catch a glimpse of her sleeping face. Clovis sat next to her and held her hand, hoping she would wake up soon