"Sera? Where are you?" Her mother asked, looking around the deck of the ship. Sera. It sounded plain. It wasn't what I wanted, I wanted something better. Still, Sera would do for now. I peeked my head from out of the room and looked over the edge of the ship. The ever present sound of waves and of the ocean greeted me, along with the disgusting smell of salt. Ugh. Salt.

"Sera?" She asked again and I turned to look at her.

"I'm over here!" I replied cheerfully. "Where's dad?"

She smiled reassuringly at me, which was never a good sign. "He's meeting with the captain. He wants to try and make a little detour so we can get home a little quicker."

I blinked at her for a moment. "It's not going well, is it?" The smooth paneling on the top of the ship was shadowed by the balloon stretched over the top.

She bowed her head low. "No sweetie."

I nodded and looked away. Talking about Dad and the captain was never that easy. It was kinda like trying to eat raw meat. The blood always made her stomach hurt and her dad insisted that she try it. Being overcivilized. as he would say, is a horrible thing. In this world, a little savagery will get you a LONG way Sera.

I disagreed.

I smiled widely at her and felt a wave of relief when Mom smiled back at me. It felt kinda good to make her happy.

The wind picked up, blowing against my feathers. I felt a tug and looked out to the open air. "Mom, can I fly?"

She walked over to my side, tucking me under one of her wings and cooing. "No dear, you can't fly as fast as the ship. You'd get left behind."

"Aw... but Mom..." I tried, pulling out the big guns and pulling the adorable card.

"No means no, sweet heart."

"Fiiiiiiiine..." I pouted, looking down.

She nuzzled against me and I nuzzled back. "I love you Sera..." She cooed into my ear.

"Mom... Do we have to do this here?" I asked, looking at the smiling crew around us. "I'm a big girl..."

"Oh? And how old is my big girl?" She pulled her head back and smiled with a trace of wry humor.

"I'm 8 mom! My birthday was last week, remember?" I tried to scrabble away from her. She pulled me tightly into a hug.

"I love you..." She purred.

"I love you too Mom." I replied, letting myself get into the hug.

My Mom has the brownest fur I had ever seen, like the chocolate cake that I had on my birthday. Her feathers were kinda like vanilla, I guess.

"Guess what?" My Dad's deep voice cut into the hug and I felt myself squeezed tighter as he joined in the hug.

My dad kinda looked reddish browning. Kinda like dried blood, I guess, though Mom didn't really like it when Dad took me to watch them gut the fish. I didn't like to watch it either, so I sided with her. He had a splash of white feathers, like a shock of them across his front, while the rest were grey.

"What?" I squawked, almost having trouble breathing through all the hugs.

"We're going home a day early!" He smiled, dropping out of the hug. Mom dropped the hug as well, letting me hit the ground panting for breath.

"Stop being such a drama queen." Dad scolded, though it didn't reach his eyes. His smile remained the same.

Mom shook her head and frowned at him. "She's only a hatchling. Give her time."

"Fine..." He said in a half decent impersonation of myself. I kinda felt insulted and growled at him.

Yeeeeeerp. I squeaked out cutely. I frowned, my throat feeling like I had choked on another fish bone.

Mom and Dad looked at eachother and burst out laughing. "Ok, maybe she does need to be a little older before she develops that killer instinct." He said, ruffling the feathers on my head with a talon until they fell on my face. I blew them out of my face and frowned when they fell back down.

I coughed, and it rasped out.

Mom frowned. "I guess you aren't used to this sea air..." She said worriedly, the previous laughter gone.

He shrugged. "Glad we'll be out of this soon, right?"

He and Mom nuzzled and I felt a little sicker. "Scurry off to bed, Sera." Mom said, looking down at me.

She didn't have to tell me twice. When they nuzzled like that... I shivered. Ugh.

I ran below deck and to the little room they had for me. I tucked myself in and waited a few minutes for my parents to show up.

I frowned, the expected good night nuzzle not coming. I shrugged and tucked myself in further, entombed in a little cocoon of blankets.

----

I awoke for a few minutes at one point when the ship shook. Something hit me and I cried out and then something fell and then I went back to sleep, shivering. I could smell salt and blood.

----

Something poked my side. “Kid.” A gruff voice said. I halfway recognized it as the voice of one of the late comers. Dad had had to hold up the entire ship because he was a little late. I ignored him, feeling sleepy.

“Kid. You alive?” He poked me harder and I squeaked, my eyes popping open and my mouth parting into a yawn.

“Mister...?” I asked, looking around. We were on a beach. Bits of metal were around us, some of it still steaming. Steaming from what, I didn’t actually know.

“My name is Val.” He sighed. He was a big griffon. “Do you know where your parents are?”

I blinked once at him. “N-no...?” I said. My parents weren’t around... I wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers...

“Well. I haven’t seen them either. You’re the only one I’ve found.” He sighed, pacing.

My eyes teared up. “Where are we, Val?” I asked, trying to stand up. My paws sank into the sand and after a long struggle during which I felt like I was standing in gelatin, I was on my feet.

“I don’t know kid. This is a right catastrophe, isn’t it?” He sounded like a teenager.

“I’m scared.” I felt like crying. And I did. “W-w-where... are my parents?” I needed a hug...

He sighed. “I think they might be dead. Whatever hit us last night tore the ship in two.”

“M-m-my... n-name is S-s-sera.” I got out, shutting my eyes and letting the tears flow.

“Stop being a baby. You’ve got to be a savage if you want to go where you want in life.” I could almost hear my dad say.

“Stop crying.” Val said, slapping me to the side.

I hit the ground stunned, looking at him with my eyes wide. I was silent.

“I don’t want to be here either.” I felt my tears start up.

Val stalked over, his tail flashing. He pinned me against the ground. “STOP. CRYING.” He hissed in my ear.

I quivered. “V-va-va-val... Y-you... Y-ou’re scary.” I felt my tears dry up.

“I’m a terror, aren’t I?” He replied, getting off of me and helping me to my feet. “Sorry. I don’t like it when good griffons cry. Makes them useless. Maybe if we spent less time in tears, and more time fighting our fears the most of us wouldn’t be in chains.” He hissed.

I nodded like I understood. “A-are... we gonna d-d-die? Val?” I asked, looking around. The wind blew against me and I almost took off screaming.

He looked at me without a trace of amusement. “I don’t know.”

I sobbed and let the wind dry the rest of my tears.