The sun shone down on Wavebreak today, nearly two weeks after Jasper had set out. He only had two more weeks to convince Nadia that he was worthy of her. And speaking of Nadia, the opalescent scaled kirin happened to be sitting at the end of a short pier, sunbathing. She listened to the sound of the water as the wind disturbed the surface. The warm sun on her back sending her into a comfortable dream-state. She dreamed of being underwater, the currents washing over her like wind below the surface. The fish and aquatic creatures passing her by as they swam in a void of blue.

Someone coughs, her sleep is only slightly disturbed but she goes back to her dream-scape. Again a heavy cough, and now her underwater world is only darkness. She groans and readjusts herself. *WHAM* He head shoots up with a yelp. She looks at the edge of the pier. A lone set of claws is clutching at the side, the coughing coming from below. Very soon, a familiar green figure pulls himself up over the edge, coughing up water and gasping for breath.

"Jasper?!" Nadia cries out, reaching to help pull him up.

Jasper takes the help and flops onto the pier, then looks angrily at Nadia. "HERE-- *COUGH*COUGH*HACK*-- ARE YOUR DAMNED SALT WEEDS!" *COUGH* He slams the bundle of wet, green plants on the pier and goes back to coughing his lungs out.

Nadia takes the weeds and looks at Jasper awkwardly. "Are you alright?!" She asks.

"I'm just fine!" Jasper says, his fit subsiding. "I always enjoy drowning before breakfast! It's a hobby of mine!"

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Nadia said teasingly. "Well, you got it. Would you care to smoke with me?"

Jasper looked up at Nadia quizzically. "You smoke this?"

"When I can." Nadia replies. She helps him up onto his feet and gestures towards the settlement. "Come. I've a waterpipe set up already."

Jasper coughs up the last bit of water from his lungs and follows Nadia as she begins to walk away. "... Waterpipe?"

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Jasper took a breath from the hose, cool smoke filling his mouth. It tasted of salt water and herb. Much different from smoking a pipe like he was used to. "This is good." He said, letting the smoke filter out of his mouth and nostrils as he spoke.

"I'm glad you like it." Nadia said, taking a breath from her own hose. "Salt weed is my favorite herb to smoke. The flavor reminds me of what it's like to be underwater. Without drowning out course." That last statement was a clear jab at Jasper.

"You told me it was at the bottom." He said with an irked tone. "You didn't say how deep the bottom would be. It was freezing down there!"

Nadia laughed. "And still you retrieved it." She lay across the thick grass. The two of them were actually sat outside of a wooden shack where the fish caught was smoked so that it wouldn't spoil. A cloud passed by the sun, giving them temporary shade. "Why did you come down here from Firelight?" She asked. "Surely it wasn't just for me."

"But it was for you." Jasper stated. "When I saw you, it was love at first sight. I have no reservations about it. It is simply how I feel."

"At least you are honest with yourself." Nadia said. "And you nearly defeated Dune, which speaks volumes of your endurance. I think any mare would be lucky to have you. But I have much higher standards than just any mare."

"I can meet them!" Jasper said confidently. "I could do anything in your name!"

Nadia shrugged then looked out among the settlement. "Do you know of the Glowstone that forms in a cave near here?" She asks.

Jasper thinks. "I believe I have heard of it." He says. "I have never actually seen it myself."

Nadia takes a breath from her hose and slowly breathes out the smoke. "If a marriage proposal is what you seek, then you will go and retrieve one of these stones..."

"That is easy."

"From the cave in the bottom of the water..."

"... Wait, the same water that I just--"

"Along with a tooth from the creature that guards it." Nadia finally concluded.

"Are you mad?!" Jasper questions Nadia, who in turn giggles.

"If you do not believe you can do it, then I suppose you don't really wish to marry me." She teases, holding up her claws and observing them in the sunlight. "Such a shame, we could have had such beautiful children as well."

Jasper was just offended now. And he had something else to prove. "Very well, I will do it." He said, a determination in his eyes.

Nadia, looked at him half in disbelief. "You will?"

"Yes! I will." Jasper stated. "And when I return with both stone and tooth, I will take you as my wife!" He was standing now, his voice raised to the point that everyone in the immediate vicinity heard what he had said. They started to murmur now, which made Jasper a bit uncomfortable.

"I..." Nadia started, but couldn't finish what she wanted to say. She was awestruck by the sudden burst of confidence in this fool of a stallion before her. "... Very well then." She said. "If you should return victorious... I will accept your proposal..."

Jasper nodded and hurried of back to his tent. He didn't want to wast a single second of his time. He only had a short few days before he needed to return home, and he wasn't going back without his prize. Next Chapter: Into the maw Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes