After a brief misunderstanding about which bunkhouse was appropriate for Aethe to stay in at the moment, they determined that Elisa would have probably left some sort of sign for Aethe and that they could work out any complex changes to sleeping arrangements down the road. That led to a whole rabbit trail about what changes she could expect immediately, during which Marco checked to see if her people had any concept of handholding and kissing. They did, but she demanded a demonstration of both immediately anyway.

By the time they split up and Marco found Riv’s club-marked cabin door, the Sturdy was soundly asleep. Marco climbed into bed and thought about how convenient that was for just a few moments before he was asleep too.

The next morning’s breakfast was simpler than the dinner, mostly consisting of massive pans of cheese and eggs supplemented with big hunks of meat, bigger hunks of bread, and some kind of fruit juice. The distant smell of it was enough to wake up the crew all by itself, and they were on the path towards breakfast together before the sun was entirely up.

“Walking awfully close back there,” Riv said, elbowing Elisa lightly. “You’d think something was up.”

“Shh, too loud,” Elisa said. “You want to make Marco uncomfortable. Not Aethe. It’s not fair to her.”

“Uncomfortable how?” Aethe looked up to Marco. “Why would it not be fair?”

“Oh, don’t ask him. He doesn’t know anything about it,” Elisa said. “I’ll explain later.”

“But Marco told me yesterday that you were teasing him because you two saw the potential for romance.”

Whatever Riv and Elisa expected from their teasing, it apparently wasn’t for Marco and Aethe to have ever willingly talked about this. They froze on the path in front of the new couple and turned. Marco couldn’t imagine any two people looking more shocked.

“I don’t see why they need to do it though, Marco.” Aethe grabbed his hand herself, interlocking her fingers with his. “Now that we are betrothed.”

The complete collapse of Elisa and Riv’s entire confidence in reality was so fun to watch that Marco felt no need to correct Aethe on the exact term used to describe two people who had just started dating. Instead, he just smiled as she led him forward past the shellshocked pair, explaining to her that, no, there was no reason for Elisa and Riv to be doing that particular joke anymore.

“Did I do okay?” Aethe asked, once they were several steps by. “I didn’t really believe you last night when you said it would break their brains. It did, though, didn’t it?”

“It really did.” Marco kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you for that. I’ll find some way to make it up to you later.”

“No need.” Aethe smiled, momentarily breaking Marco’s brain, too. “I was glad to do it.”

At breakfast, Marco explained what was actually going on to his two barely recovered friends, who took it more or less in stride.

“This is going to sound rude but I don’t mean it that way,” Riv said.

“Riv, you should never start a sentence like that.”

“I know, Elisa. I know.” Riv heaped eggs and meat on a few huge pieces of bread before lifting the whole thing, sandwich-style, to his mouth. “I shouldn’t say any of it anyway. I’m just curious. What do you two actually see in each other? Because there was something from the beginning. I think I clocked it when we were fighting the crabs.”

“See in him?” Aethe looked at Marco. “He’s very strong. Very good at fighting.”

“Really, that’s it?” Elisa asked. “That’s all?”

“It’s not everything. But it’s a lot. He’s all slippy in battle.” Aethe did a rough pantomime of Marco dodging something, stabbing it, and shooting it from a weird angle at the same time. “Very admirable. Most people couldn’t do that.”

“And you, Marco?” Riv asked.

“Pretty much the same thing. Every time I need an arrow in someone, it just appears. It’s like a magic trick.”

Riv and Elisa looked at each other in horror for a moment before laughing.

“It’s good we both sort of suck at what we do,” Riv said. “I’m only okay at using a club to fight, you are at best mediocre at magic stuff. We will never know each other’s love.”

“Good,” Elisa laughed.

Aethe looked between them both with amused confusion.

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“That’s not something you want? I reverse your question. What’s so bad about Elisa, Riv?”

“Elisa? Nothing. She’s great.”

“Same answer,” Elisa said. “I like Riv a lot.”

“So why not?”

“Just wouldn’t work,” Riv said. “And it’s obvious to both of us. No interest on either side at all. Maybe it’s because I don’t like books….”

“It absolutely is because of that,” Elisa quickly said.

“….or because she can’t swing a hammer. Doesn’t matter. Won’t work.”

“Fair enough.” Aethe pulled her plate in towards her. “I accept your explanation at least long enough to eat breakfast.”

They were all done and chatting when Floater found them, dragging a large older man with an axe behind him.

“Here are the kids,” he said. “Although I guess I shouldn’t call them that when they pulled us out of danger. Marco, this is Bunton. He’s the best logger and lumberjack on this island. He’ll be leading you to the trees you want, will chop them down for you, and can help you get them back.”

“Nice to meet you, Bunton. You are a Sturdy?” Riv stuck his hand out. “Always glad to meet another.”

“Not quite. I’m a Chopper. It’s a rare version of the same thing. Less useful for anything but trees.” Bunton’s voice rasped like baritone sandpaper. “Real useful for those, though. I can chop them, drag them, and break them up into pieces a great deal faster than your average Sturdy.”

“Speciliaztion is great,” Elisa said. “But why don’t we just pull what we need out of the storehouse?”

“That gets complex,” Bunton said. Having made his introduction, Floater excused himself with a wave and left the explanations to Bunton. “That stuff is already sorted, labeled, and distributed. It all belongs to someone the moment that happens. Which means if you want it, you pay full price.”

“Ah. And you’re cheaper?”

“Not much cheaper, usually, since I keep most of what I bring in. But I heard you beat up a bunch of pirates. That true?”

Everyone nodded. It was a fond memory.

“Then today I’m free,” Bunton concluded.

“Another question,” Riv said. “If you are all that good, you don’t need us. At most I might help you a little. Everyone else will just be luggage. Why bring us all?”

“Yes, that. I thought you might ask.” Bunton smiled and patted the head of his axe against his palm. “It just might be because I need some help with calming the trees down in the first place.”

—

The forest wasn’t quiet. The whole walk there, it had been disturbingly still in a way that made Marco walk with his hand planted firmly on the handles of his weapons. The path they walked was narrow, hemmed in by massive trees that blocked most of the light and most easy avenues of escape. At first there had been birds and other animals to keep them company. Later, that had all died away and left them hearing the snap of every twig underfoot.

Now everything was nice and loud again.

“I’m on it it!” Riv had just laid his club into what amounted to the face of one of the vaguely humanoid trees in the grove. It was rooted and couldn’t follow them, but the trees grew so close together in this part of the forest that hardly mattered. To wake one of the trees was to wake all of the trees of the same type, and everywhere they stepped was another opportunity to get smashed by arm-thick branches.

“Contact!” Marco shouted. “They don’t like being stabbed.”

The tree above him thrashed down, but after taking a puncture wound, it was more throwing a tantrum than actually aiming. The branch came down where Bunton had just been standing. The older man had leapt back, barely avoiding the swing. The tree straightened again and seemed to calm down, before another branch wound up for another swing when Bunton finally got close enough to hit it with his axe.

The wood split where he hit like it had been hit by a cannonball. The tree froze in place, stunned by the pure damage long enough for the axe to come down again in the same spot. It didn’t fell the tree entirely, but was close enough. So far absolutely none of the trees had survived two hits from Bunton’s big axe. Elisa could have probably stopped them with her fire, and Marco just maybe could have taken one down if he had all afternoon to spend on it. Since the first wasn’t an option due to a desire to preserve the wood and the second wasn’t quick enough, they were all just running interference for Bunton to give him the openings he needed to make real progress happen.

“You sure you can’t just do this yourself, old man?” Marco yelled. “You seem to have it handled.”

“I can hit them. I just can’t take the hit.” Bunton continued chopping at the trunk of the tree, taking another three full swings to fell it and then dragging it by a branch just outside the border of the living grove. “One big shot would take me down. We have four trees now. We won’t carry all of it home, but the good stuff we’ll trim off is heavy. We can carry one more. Which one do you want?”

Marco already knew. There was one tree in their range that dwarfed all the others in the way a big man towered over normal-sized women. It was a little deeper in than he wanted to go, but he guessed that if only some of the parts of these trees were usable, this one would have the biggest, best pieces. He pointed.

Bunton laughed. “Your problem is getting me to it, but sure. It’s worth it if you can pull it off.”

The fall of the previous tree had given them a little bit of room to work with. Elisa jumped forward and shocked the big tree, which stunned it less than it glitched it for a moment. Riv took that second to bash the trunk of it dead-on from a full-on run, slapping it silly for the moment it took Marco to make contact. Aethe peppered it with arrows, as she had done all day. Each impact seemed to bother the tree without actually hurting it, but Marco was more than glad to take the opportunities they opened up.

He closed the distance, firing his gun as often as he could as he stabbed the tree again and again. Branches came down at him, but the upgrades to his sword and gun meant he was doing plenty of damage in the moments he wasn’t dodging. The gun hit harder now, but the biggest difference was the firing speed, which had dropped from a good handful of moments between shots to about a quarter of what it had been. The sword was lighter and easier to use, and the edge was so fine he could hardly see it when he held it sideways. It made everything he did better.

It took a while, but Bunton eventually got there, cleaving off big branches to make his way to the trunk. As soon as the axe bit the central pillar of the tree, it was all over. Elisa had already run away, and Aethe had never been in a dangerous range to begin with, but Riv and Marco knew the trunk was now the safest place. They both rushed to it and admired the tree falling down. After the tree fell, they helped the big man drag it out of the living grove.