“That was mean of her! She scared me!”
“Settle down, Bran. I’m asking her for help.”
The dog let out a token growl and sat, keeping a wary eye on Tanni. He whined several times as they spoke.
“There are many islands! Islands everywhere. What’s ‘south?’”
Fingin scanned the sky, searching for the sun. It struggled to filter through the thin cloud cover. First, he found west, where the sun set over the ocean. He turned to his left and pointed. “South is that way.”
“I can lead you there. Follow me!”
Tanni leapt away in the direction Fingin pointed but returned when she realized they hadn’t moved in the right direction. He still leaned on his pole, stuck deep in the riverbed.
“I have little control over the raft, Tanni. It’s difficult to move it when the current isn’t pulling it. And the current may not head south.”
“No, the current twists and turns in delightful ways. I love playing in the currents. Some are warm, and some are cold, and they all have yummy fish.”
Fingin glanced at Bran, but the dog couldn’t hear Tanni’s words. He held up the twine moorline. “I have a rope tied to our raft. Would you be able to pull us south? Would you be willing to do so? I don’t know how we might help, but I can talk to fish to convince them to come closer if you wanted to eat some.”
Tanni regarded the twine rope and touched it with her nose. She chittered again and touched it again. “It’s rough, like coral.”
Nodding, Fingin smiled. “It is. It might chaff your smooth skin. How come you don’t have scales like other fish?”
“I’m not a fish!” Her tone turned indignant.
“What are you, then?”
“I don’t know what humans call me, but I’m not a fish. I breathe air. Fish breathe water.”
Fingin’s expression clouded with confusion. “How do you breathe air underwater?”
She chittered again and ducked under the water, only to burst forth again in a flip. “I don’t stay underwater long.”
Fingin knew fish didn’t breathe the air, but perhaps Tanni was a magical creature, a Fae fish. So far, she’d been pleasant and helpful, whether Fae or mortal. He shouldn’t turn down any help at this point.
With some adjustments, Fingin fashioned a crude harness from the twine and looped it over Tanni’s nose. Her fin kept the loop from slipping right off. “Are you sure the raft isn’t too heavy for you to pull?”
“If it is, I’ll stop.”
“Fair enough.”
“Which way do you want to go?”
With another glance at the sky, Fingin pointed south. After several trills of clicks, Tanni pulled on the rope in the chosen direction.
At first, the raft didn’t move at all. Then, just a little bit. Tanni strained and pulled, and the raft moved at an increasingly rapid pace, almost as fast as they’d traveled in the river current.
Tanni, however, grew tired quickly. “Your strange boat is heavier than it seems. It barely dips into the water at all. I think it’s because of the others.” She chittered directly at Bran, who growled back, but Fingin shushed him. “You’re likely right. I understand if it’s too heavy. Thank you for trying, though.”
“Wait here.”
They could hardly do anything but wait. Before Fingin could protest, Tanni disappeared. He hoped the Fae fish would return soon. The raft drifted too far from shore for Fingin’s pole to reach the ground.
While taking the break as a time to eat and drink, he doled out food to both Bran and Sean. Bran pouted but gnawed on his dried fish. Sean munched on the last of the dried hay Brigit had gifted them.
A chorus of chittering and barking made him glance up. A half dozen Fae fish now surrounded the small raft. Bran went crazy, barking at each one. Even Sean’s eyes grew wide.
“I’m back! I brought help. Do you have more scratchy things to loop my friends? We’ll get you where you’re going fast!”
Fingin stared from one Fae fish to the other, amazed at the assembled creatures. “Do they all have names, too?”
“Of course! This is Fetti, and Lonno, and Tas, and Stom, and Rassa.”
Each Fae fish leapt backward as Tanni recited their names, a coordinated dance of mischievous joy.
Fingin pulled out his twine, thankful he’d made plenty. Still, he only had enough for four Fae fish.
“That’s not a worry. The other two will come along for the fish.”
Fingin grinned. “Would you like to eat before the trip? I don’t know how far away it is.”
A chorus of agreements came from the Fae fish.
“What sort of fish do you want? I don’t even know what type live around here.”
“Eels!” “Salmon!” “Squid!”
Fingin had never heard of squid fish, but he knew salmon and eels. He closed his eyes and quested into the depths of the ocean, searching for any salmon or eels in the water below him. A few answered, curious to who might be calling them. As they approached the bottom of the raft, the Fae fish squealed and dove, and the salmon and eel voices ended with sudden silence. As always, he felt a twinge of guilt at using his power to kill the creatures who answered him, but as always, he reassured his conscience that his actions were for a greater purpose.
“We like you, human! Can you do that again when we get to where you’re going?”
“Of course! And if it’s a long distance away, we can do it several times.”
Another chorus of chittering and several flips answered his offer.
Fingin secured the first squad of Fae fish to his
