"We are going to land, land! Can you believe it!" Diana watched as Mary looked through the window of the tender, vibrating as if a kid on a trip to Disneyland. "I would have never expected that even just the idea of walking on land would be this exciting!"

  Diana exchanged a glance with Mrs Raily and smiled. She, Mary, Mrs Raily, Ruby and Brittany were heading together to the shore on one of the tenders. Not that she didn't get Mary's excitement, she was sure that everyone there understood what she was going through and feeling. After all, staying more than 20 days on a ship without hitting land was quite daunting, even she, who was used to that due to her working on the Voyager, was finding it hard to go on, the others feeling some pressure wasn't that hard to understand.

  "I can't say I'm not looking forward to this," Brittany said with a smile from the side, "The Voyager is big, but it's not that easy to stretch your legs and it doesn't have the same feel as walking on land. Even a homebody like me was starting to feel a bit jittery."

  Diana understood what the woman meant, the fact that they were in a new world and how dangerous it was outside added to that pressure. It was as if they were trapped on the ship, and that everywhere else in the world was too dangerous to drop to and experience.

  As she looked at the smiling face of Brittany, Diana couldn't help but wonder how the woman must have felt when the others went down to the island the night before, after all her own son was among those who were in the operation. As far as she knew, Luke was with Old Raily during that fight, and the old man was one of the most dependable people to have as your partner, but still, it must have been quite hard for her.

  Brittany herself was a Master Illusionist, even she didn't seem to be sure of why she got that Class though. She had been a housewife for most of her life, spending her free time reading and trying a bit of magic. She did say that her magical tricks and sleight of hand should have never given her the Master Illusionist Class, but she couldn't say no to it once it was offered, it just called to her.

  Shaking her head and discarding those thoughts, Diana looked at the approaching island from the window and couldn't hold back her beating heart, the anticipation was eating at her. Especially after how long they had to wait to get the green light to drop to land.

  They had known that they were going to the island one of those days, but Dan and the others refused to let them drop down before the Harvesters appeared and were dealt with, they didn't want to take any chances. So, their small group had gathered on the bridge, a place they barely went to most days, waiting for the huge bugs to appear.

  Fortunately, their worst fear of having to wait till the next day didn't come to be, and they only had to wait for a couple of hours after breakfast before the Voyager sensed them. Everything after that went smoothly and they soon found themselves on a tender heading to the island, the first of the crew to get there.

  "I have been looking forward to seeing this world's plants in their natural habitat," Ruby said, her gentle voice and face holding a hint of a smile.

  Of the people on the Voyager, the person Diana felt the most comfortable around had to be Ruby, Mrs Raily a close second. It was just that the Bloom-Mancer had this aura around her, the calmness and comfort of a warm midday in a calm forest, so warm and welcoming, inviting you to enjoy a lazy nap.

  "We've made it, we've made it!" Mary suddenly half shouted, moving to stand next to Arnold who was piloting the tender, cutting Diana's musings.

  Diana feared the Matriarch of the Stage would keep on annoying the young man, but she ran to the door and waited there for the tender to stop so she could jump to the pier.

  "Calm down Mary," Mrs Raily said as she stepped next to her friend, her gentle grandmotherly voice calming to the ear, "Remember the situation of the people on the island, they must be quite anxious and stressed, hold back your excitement and eagerness, be mindful."

  "I know I know." Mary waved her hand carelessly as she awaited the tender to stabilise. "I'm not a little kid."

  Diana rolled her eyes, even though Mary might have been one of the oldest people on the Voyager, she was generally believed to be the youngest at heart. Not that she was worried that the old lady would bring any trouble, she wasn't as careless as she appeared.

  Soon after, the group left the tender as they said their goodbye to Arnold. Walking on the solid ground after stepping off the pier, Diana felt the weird sensation of finally being back on land after a long period on the ocean, it was quite hard to put into words. Even though the Voyager wasn't like some of the other ships, being extremely stable, and the weather having been pretty calm since they made it to this new world, the difference was still there when they stood on the shore.

  "I feel like I've lost the ability to walk," Mary muttered as she walked with weird long steps, her arms stretched as if to balance herself.

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  "Stop messing around." Mrs Raily chuckled. "Let's continue."

  As they walked, they saw one or two of the natives from time to time, Diana could feel their apprehension and worry as they passed by them, their eyes sneaking glances towards their group. She also noticed how after meeting Mrs Raily's calming grandmotherly smile, worry would disappear at a rate visible to the naked eye.

  It wasn't lost on her how Ruby touched a few of the bushes and small plants as they walked, seeming enchanted by them.

  "The feel of the soil underfoot as I walk is something I never thought I would notice, let alone miss," Mary said as she looked down at her feet in fascination.

  "It is an experience alright," Ruby said in her gentle tone, she then said after pausing for a second, "I can see that we are putting the natives on a bit of an edge, why don't we go to a more secluded part of the island? That would be best for both them and us."

  "You just want to visit the forest." Mary rolled her eyes, seeing Ruby just smiling at her, she said, "It's a good idea though, let's head there."

  Seeing Mary leading the group, you would think that she was the one who wanted to go to see the forest the most, she seemed to be doing her best to hold herself back not to speed up and leave them behind.

  "I kinda wanna run," she suddenly murmured.

  "I doubt seeing you running would be good for the natives." Diana sighed, she was finding it hard to believe that the woman was almost old enough to be her mother. "Let's at least wait to reach somewhere secluded."

  With the pace Mary put them under, the group soon found themselves almost to the back of the island, a big wild forest ending right at the shore and extending from there and into the top of the mountain.

  "It's so beautiful," Diana heard Ruby murmur from next to her.

  The Bloom-Mancer then stepped into the shade of a huge tree with thick leaves. She sat down, a content sigh leaving her mouth as she lay her back on the tree and closed her eyes.

  "The Corner Garden is good," she murmured, as if to herself, "But it doesn't have the feel of a naturally grown forest. It's so different."

  Diana and the others joined her under the shade, other than Mary of course. True to her word, she was running around on the beach, kicking at the waves once they reached her.

  Looking at her friends, Brittany and Mrs Raily talking to each other, Ruby closing her eyes with her back against the tree and a light smile on her face, and the laughing Mary running on the beach, Diana was glad that they had that chance to relax, they needed it.

  ***

  "Arkus is it true?" one of the teens asked Arkus the same question he had been hearing since he returned to the island, a hint of hope in his voice, "Are they going to save us?"

  "Yes," Arkus answered patiently, "That's what they said, and how it seems to be going. After a few days, we should be taken off this island forever."

  "What if they turn greedy though?" asked a man who had many scars on his body and face, "I saw them looking at the warehouses where the mana crystals are, that amount of wealth could turn a saint into a greedy devil."

  "I won't say that I know what they are thinking for real," Arkus said after thinking for a bit, "but from what I've seen and what they have been doing and how they are treating us, I think the chance of that is low. They even brought their Healer down to heal us, I doubt such people would do all that then force us into the mines again."

  Plus, Arkus could still remember how he was treated by the people while he was on that miracle of a ship and the room he and Andre were given. Even how they treated him when they went down into the mine to hunt for the hiding guards told more than enough, they had him remain between them, protecting him from whatever might happen.

  "How are they going to take us from here though?" a voice dragged Arkus from his thoughts. Looking at the speaker, he saw an old man, quite a rare sight on the island, there were only 3 of them after all. "Do they have more than one ship? Or are they going to do more than one trip to take us all?"

  It took Arkus a moment to understand the old man's concerns, after all, the people there didn't get a feel for the ship they were going to take, they had to be worried about how they were going to be sent to the mainland.

  "Just that one ship is going to be enough," he said, his mind moving to the many rooms he and Andre passed by while being led to theirs, "It was so big and there were so many rooms on it, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. It's truly a miracle."

  As he spoke those words, Arkus could feel the air in the room change, something else started filling it instead of the worry and doubt, it was hope.

  "Where are they from?" the teen asked again.

  "I don't know." Arkus just shook his head. "They don't dress like anyone I've ever seen, and sometimes when they speak to each other, it's in a language I've never heard."

  Of all the things he had mentioned, the fact that Arkus didn't know the language was one of the weirdest. It had to be said, the island had people from all over the world, the Alliance, the Empire, the Dynasty, there were slaves from all of those. Even if they couldn't speak in all those languages, they were still able to recognise them, that he had no idea what language it was was quite weird.

  "So-" Arkus looked at the old man, whose lips were trembling and his eyes were watery, "We are leaving this place?"