Dashi paced outside the temple, waiting. He'd fixed the water clock, packed everything he thought would be useful to start life in a new country, prepared a meal and gone in to check on Chase, but still Wuya hadn't returned. It was making him very nervous. What if his Serpent's Tail failed when it was used for too long? What is she was stuck somewhere, trapped or...

He should have done more tests. Why didn't he do more tests? He should have gone instead, or- or-

"You shouldn't worry so much."

Dashi hadn't heard Chase come up behind him.

He stopped. "I should have worried more earlier," he corrected, turning around and giving him a pained look. "If I'd worried more about bringing that Dragon home, or if I'd worried more about... well, anything, then this might not've happened at all!"

Chase offered one of the mugs he was holding, and sat down on the temple steps when it was accepted. "If you'd said 'no' about Dojo, we would have smuggled him back anyway," he said with a smile. "And Wuya won't run away - if she does find anything, she won't leave us in the dark about it."

Pausing in the motions of sitting down and inhaling the steam from his tea, Dashi groaned. "I didn't even think about that!" he wailed. Candles flickered in the direction of the village, and some beast lowed in the distance. It might have been a normal night, unless you looked up and saw the 'roof'. Quiet.

"Everything seems so serious down here," Chase said reflectively. He looked at Dashi. "Don't you think? Even Wuya's worried, and she doesn't worry about anything."

Dashi smiled. "She just does things," he agreed. Thinking of things that she's done… Dashi wondered if he should tell Chase. Nah. "What were you two talking about earlier, anyway?" he asked instead. "Before you collapsed?"

Chase had been opening his mouth to speak, but instead he stopped and took a sip of his tea. "I don't remember," he said softly.

"Don't you?"

"No."

"Are-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Chase frowned. "Actually, that was something she seemed worried about - as soon as I woke up she started checking my eyes and asking about the spell I used for Dojo and she wouldn't tell me anything. What happened when I was out?"

"I didn't think anything did…" Dashi said uncertainly. "She made this plan, but-"

Chase looked sceptical. "Wuya, planning things?"

Dashi grinned. "That's what I thought."

"What you thought about what?" Wuya asked, materialising right in front of them.

"Nothing," Dashi said quickly.

"What did you find?" Chase asked, but they were interrupted by a loud lantern before she could say anything.

"Seeing as none of the land dogs down there are of a mind to say it, I will," the owner announced. "We're wanting to know exactly what you children are thinking to do about this. When's the top coming off, eh?"

"It's not," Wuya said bluntly. "We're underwater."

The man sighed. "I know we're underwater now, but when are we going up again?"

The three Heylin Dragons stared open-mouthed at him. "How could it be possible to get an island from the bottom of the sea to the surface again?" Chase asked, eventually.

"That would be what I'm asking you."

"We... can't...?"

"Then what did you drown us for?" the man roared, losing his temper. The lantern dropped, letting them see his face. He was a fishermen from the southern side of the village, and more lantern-lights could be seen behind him, coming closer.

"I assure you, it wasn't intentional." Wuya didn't usually speak politely, so the boys gave her an odd look. "The island started to sink, and we tried to save it. That's our only part in this." When she was done, she glared at them, daring them to challenge her statement.

"Yeah," Dashi agreed, after a long moment of fighting himself.

Chase didn't want to lie outright. "We were about to discuss possible escape routes," he said, though he knew in his heart that letting a lie go unchallenged was as bad as passing it on.

"And leave the rest of us stranded here, is that right?"

Wuya laughed mirthlessly. "If we were going to do that, we could have done it hours ago!"

"So what are you doing?"

"We haven't decided yet," Dashi said, trying to regain some control over the situation.

Wuya turned back to Dashi, remembering that she hadn't reported her findings yet. "There is a tunnel," she told him. "It's not too far down, and it goes nearly all the way to the mainland."

The fisherman snorted. "And what are the chances of that, eh? There just happens to be a tunnel that'll get us out? Ha!"

"You don't have to come with us," Chase commented, starting to dislike the loud man. He looked around the man, peering into the darkness behind him, and was relieved to see another lantern-bearer coming up the path.

The Spice Merchant stood shorter than the fisherman, but he also stood darker and balder and with more expensive clothes. "I was just wondering how that girl's doing," he said by way of introduction.

Wuya clapped her hands when she recognised him. "Full recovery!" she announced.

"That's good, that's good..." The merchant nodded. "Now, can I be offering any help with the evacuation? We've got people down there who've lost their means of living, and no-one's telling them anything worth knowing. And I'm supposing that you'll be doing more movement before anything does get said, so I'm offering my services in that regard. Tell me what you want them told, and I'll do the telling."

"You trust us to make decisions like that?" Dashi asked incredulously. "We're way too young to-"

"I've seen her work, you forget," he said, indicating Wuya. "If a person can do something like that, with absolutely no regard for personal safety -" Wuya blushed "- then I think she can work out the logistics of moving a village from here to Nanhai!"