They went down to theCodfatherbobbing at its mooring. Lucy had come to have intensely warm feelings for the boat; it felt as if her and Eren's relationship had started and developed on it. No one had taken it out lately because they had all been busy with other things, and it seemed to her that the boat looked a little neglected.
"It's okay, girl," she said, patting the railing. She hopped dexterously on board, and Eren handed her the cooler. Lucy took it belowdecks while he untied the boat.
There was a squawk, and Lucy looked around, startled.
"What the heck," she said.
The squawk turned into tiny, soft chirps, and Lucy traced the sound to a half-open cabinet door.
"Oh, my gosh," she whispered.
Inside the cabinet, curled up in a nest made out of what looked like scraps of Eren's second-best coat, the possum seagriffin was wrapped around a clutch of little gray bits of fluff.
Lucy, without thinking, reached for one of them. A sharp yellow beak snapped inches from her fingers.
"Sorry!" she gasped, pulling her hand back.
"Everything okay down there?" Eren called down the steps.
"Uh, yeah." Lucy opened the cabinet door a little wider, enough to cast some more light onto the scene before her. It looked like there were four babies, each one tiny and cute and round, half of them with little possum tails and the other half with half-fledged seagull tails. Tiny beaks gaped open. "Um, our seagriffins had babies."
A minute later, Eren was looking over her shoulder.
"Oh, gosh," he said.
They both cooed over the baby griffins for a little while. Lucy was able to bribe the possum mom (Scissors, she recalled) with bits of ham sandwich to let them handle the babies a little. Each one was an adorable gray fluffball with stubby, unfledged wings. They squawked and opened their little beaks, and Lucy poked in little bits of ham.
There was an unholy shrieking, and the other two seagriffins (Rock and Paper) hurtled down the stairs. Lucy jerked back just in time to avoid being stabbed with Paper's sharp beak. Rock had a small fish, which he—or she?—deposited in the nest, and then both of them bristled at Lucy until she meekly put the baby back. She retreated with Eren to watch them from across the room. There was a delighted family reunion with a lot of cooing and beak-rubbing and tiny squeaks from the babies.
"So how does this work, exactly?" Eren mused aloud, putting an arm around Lucy's waist. "Is there a mom and dad somewhere in there, or do they raise the babies as a group, or what?"
"I'm not going to ask questions. I think they're happy."
Eren pressed a kiss to her hair. "You know what, I bet if I was a trash griffin who couldn't understand human language and took a look atmyfamily, I'd be really confused too."
"Families are weird and complicated," Lucy said, thinking briefly of Uncle Rodric.
"Tell me about it."
They left the seagriffins chirping to each other and went up to the pilot house. It was a beautiful day, with the sun glinting sparks off the sea. Lucy took the helm, motoring out into the bay. A pair of round, spotted seals—the Westerly sisters, probably—swam alongside for a while and then dived underwater, with a brief flash of their flippers. Lucy opened up the throttle, and they left the seals behind and raced out across the sparkling blue-green ocean.
"I was thinking we could stop by and see Dane first," Eren said. "I've got some tools for repairs to the cabin and a few food items to take him."
"Sure." Lucy steered the boat onto the familiar heading. "I bet he'd love to see the griffin babies."
She drove the entire way, and expertly guided the boat in to tie up at Dane's landing. Eren jumped ashore and tied them off.
"No smoke," he remarked as Lucy joined him.
"Well, itisa warm day."
"He might be out swimming," Eren said. "If he's not here, we'll just leave the things for him with a note."
Carrying the packages from the boat, they walked up the path to the cabin. Eren called Dane's name a couple of times. When they got to the cabin, Lucy knocked and then tried the door. It opened easily—a little too easily, in fact, as if the latch had been damaged. Inside was a scene of startling chaos.
"What?" was all she could get out. The normally tidy cabin looked as if it had been ransacked. Things were knocked over, and even the bed had been upended, the mattress spilled on the floor.
"Look here," Eren said.
He was at the table, and had picked up a note. Reading it, he gave a low whistle. Lucy came over from setting down her packages and looked over his shoulder.
MATE IN TROUBLE
DON'T FOLLOW
- DANE
* * *