Absolutely hopeless. These words bubbled beneath the surface in the minds of Elidol and each of his companions for two years. No one dared to utter them because giving up hope was the only sure way to ensure their demise. But there was no other reason not to. After fighting the odds for so long, waiting for someone to find a way to cross the void of outer space and rescue them from Mennon, they all had so little left. Some bore this better than others. Eione seemed bored all the time, but reasonably focused on studying every corner of Saganta City. Harley always seemed to be having a good time since he figured out how to brew alcohol with local sea fruits. And James was always getting into trouble with one of those two.
Those three did a lot better at concealing their stress than anyone else. For his part, Elidol faced a daily struggle to keep his nerves in check. Many would consider these attempts to be a failure, however. To others, it always seemed like he was in a perpetual state of rage. While it was true that anger motivated him to come to this saltwater globe in the first place, he scarcely had time to think about his mission to punish Broger for his betrayal. Being trapped beneath an endless ocean with his friends and surrounded by enemies was a much more critical concern. It didn't help that everyone had somehow misinterpreted his focused intent on surviving long enough to get his revenge as leadership.
This didn't stop him from facing the challenges that his comrades and enemies alike laid in front of him. Several days without sleep had found him incredibly irritable and anxious. The last time he'd gone this long without rest, Ekera had held him down in bed to force him to sleep. But there was no shortage of things to keep him up. This time, it was a damaged water purifier. This was a device that Shar and his renegade Sho'kai followers had no use for and only Aennin had the expertise to maintain. But she was consistently busy with every other machine that the Comalanians needed to survive this other world. This left him with the responsibility of trying to learn everything she knew.
It wasn't always successful.
"No, no, no! The other way! If you tighten that crank too much with those gorilla arms of yours, you're going to break it!"
After all of his angry outbursts, there were only three people left with the guts to say speak so boldly to him. Aennin always seemed to have a bit of a death wish, so she didn't seem to have any reservations with testing his patience.
"I'm going to crank your head one of these days," Elidol grumbled.
Aennin sighed and dropped her socket wrench. "I'm sorry. I know you have a lot of other crap to worry about. But you need to loosen that. We want to drain this entire valve so we can clear out the gunk."
"Right," Elidol said with exhaustion as he turned the crank in the opposite direction.
"You know, no one really expects you to help me with this," Aennin said as she leaned back against the wall from her perch on top of the drainage tank. "There are plenty of people here who don't have anything better to do. Why do you feel the need to be involved with everything?"
"Everyone else is too miserable. I don't want to pile extra work on top of their torment," Elidol grumbled. "The only two people who could use the extra work are the drunk and your ward."
Aennin nodded and threw her arms behind her head. "Eione would definitely balk at something like this. I don't even think telling her she's the only one smart enough to trust with assisting me would help."
"Kaleth doesn't seem to be busy," Elidol grunted as he removed the valve he was instructed to. "I'm sure he'd be most willing to help if it means spending time with you."
Aennin chuckled. "If you leave us alone together, I guarantee nothing will get done. What about Volt?"
"If you want her help, you can ask her yourself," Elidol said with a sigh. "She really misses Gyanda and the fact that I look exactly like him has been making things kind of awkward around her."
"Yuck," Aennin said as she made a sour face. "If I catch her in a mood to talk, I'm definitely going to hear a lot about that. What about Telandra?"
Elidol shook his head as he began to kick down the loosened valve. "I need her where she is. The Sho'kai in the city are only cooperating with us because they revere her for some reason. Can't have her getting dirty and ruining her saintly image. And Ekera's out too because taking care of our food situation is a full time job. What about Desmond?"
"What's a saint without her attendant?"
Elidol sighed. "James?"
Aennin shook her head uncomfortably and Elidol immediately understood why. As useful as he'd proven to be with his intelligence gathering skills, he wasn't discriminate enough in the application of these abilities.
"Never mind him. We need him keeping his eyes and ears peeled for threats." He emphasized that last word, knowing the windlord would probably be listening.
"Well, that answers my question," Aennin concluded. "Still, it can't be healthy to be doing so much even for a freak of nature like yourself."
Elidol rolled his eyes as he shoved aside the removed valve. "I'm tired, Aennin. There's no point in denying that. But you know what will happen if any of us stops moving for even a moment. We have to survive until this fleet from back home gets here."
Aennin groaned and jumped down to the floor. "This sucks."
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