Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 58: Reunion

Livia raised her chin, eyes narrowing as she looked at Derek. The entire cabin was silent, and Luna tapped her fingers against the table impatiently.

"So? What do you think?" Livia finally said, and Derek frowned as he put the book down.

"Yeah, no, he definitely shouldn't be able to swim with that armor."

"Right!?" Livia raised her voice, and Luna looked deeply offended.

"No! Of course he could, it's a magic armor!"

"But it's not supposed to be lightweight or anything," Derek said as he flipped back to an earlier chapter of the book. "It just mentions the element resistance and general appearance."

"But it can change shape to fit the person wearing it!" Luna wouldn't budge. "And if it's already resistant against elements then why wouldn't it be able to become lighter in water? Or just light in general? They never say it's heavy, and in the third book they even—"

"Stop it!" Shyen didn't look up from his book. "I'm not there yet."

"How can you be such a slow reader, Shyen?" Livia gestured at the pile of books on the table. "You're way behind!"

"Well I was the last one to get to read the first book." Shyen held up a hand, still not looking away from the page. "And it's really hard to keep track of the characters. Who's Emile now again?"

"The king," Livia and Luna said in unison, and Shyen shook his head.

"No way. This guy has not been around for that long. And what would a king be doing at the council of creation when royalty can't leave the Sunbird plateau?"

"Oh, no, that's another Emile." Alexei said, realizing the misunderstanding. "You're talking about the master of merchants."

"Why are there two of them!?" Shyen finally looked up. "That's so confusing!"

"It's a very common name in Whiasau due to the legend of how the dragons were created," Livia said, but Alexei pursed his lips.

"That's in book four though."

"There are dragons?" Shyen squinted at the book. "Did I know that? Should I know that?"

"Oops." Livia grimaced and Shyen looked aghast.

"Livia!"

"If you're not too busy I'd like to inform you that we're getting close." Abram suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking thoroughly amused at their arguing. "We can see land."

Luna perked up. Finally. She'd finally be free from the sea. For some reason she felt downright emotional over the thought. Five weeks had simply been too long to spend on a ship, no matter how many books she'd read to pass the time or how many types of card games Alexei could teach them.

"Oh, I'll step aside with my mirror to reflect on things then," Livia rose from her chair to get her personal mirror of ancestry, but before she could go talk to it she glanced over to where Noah was resting. "And... Should we maybe wake up Noah?"

His back was turned against them and Luna wasn't sure if he'd appreciate it. He'd been in a low phase for about a week and mostly wanted to sleep, but then again she also wouldn't want him to feel excluded when waking up.

"I'll try," she therefore said and walked over as the others got ready to head upstairs. She leaned over to tap his shoulder only to realize he was actually awake, and she blinked.

"Oh. I thought you were sleeping."

"No. Been awake for a while," he whispered.

"You missed the book talk. I was about to throw hands with the others about that armor."