Aise prayed for this wreck to be different from the ones her father had described to his sailors when he was warning them to be careful. The little black dragon fly on her shoulder tightened his grip around her arm. He was nervous too.

     Finally she made it to the wreck, and saw that it’s great hull was smashed into the silt at the bottom of the lake, little fish already investigating the bilges, where a huge crack let in water. Aislin shuddered. It looked as though this ship was cracked right in half, the fore was half submerged, the back floating aft-up. She decided to check the back half first, and tied off to one of the railings, hoping that it wouldn’t sink and drag the skiff with it.

     She pulled the little dragon fly off her shoulder, to it’s distress, and set it on a coil of rope. It squeaked shrilly, but after some comforting, and being shown that the flowers Aise had brought along were nestled in the center of that rope, it settled in quite happily and sipped on nectar. After a little giggle and roll of her eyes, Aislin stripped off her outer clothing so that they wouldn’t get wet, and slipped over the railing into the chill water, with only her undershirt and shorts to protect her. She shivered and dove under, kicking hard to bring her into the hold of the upended aft.

     Luckily there was a pocket of air trapped within, and Aise came up into it, looking around as she pulled herself onto a bunk to get a better view. She couldn’t see anyone, or anything that might’ve been alive. There were, however, some blankets and clothes floating on the water. The hatch was tightly shut, she could see. That was because of the storm. Nobody wanted an open hatch when the waves were crashing on deck, at least that’s what her father always told his sailors. Well, at least this half was clean. As in, no dead guys floating on the water. She shuddered again and dove back under, out of the hold and into open air again.

     Next was the helm-half of the ship. At least that part was right side up, so she could walk on deck. Aislin clambered up a rope and pulled herself over the railing, landing on creaking planks.

     After a quick check of the abovedeck, Aise peered into the hold on this end. For a moment all she could see was the light reflecting off water. But then her eyes adjusted to the darkness below, and she gasped. There was a man in one of the bunks, half in, half out of the water. His head was abovewater, at least, and Aislin splashed and swam over to him, hoping he was still alive. He was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, but he was asleep and she couldn’t wake him.

     At least he was alive. Aislin knew she wasn’t very big or strong, but she hoped she could float-drag the man to her skiff, so that she could get him home to mother and father. They’d know how to help him. She put her arms under his and floated him to the stairs, then dragged him up to the deck. She was surprised at how light he seemed, but then, she had been working the skiff for a long time... maybe she was stronger than she thought? At any rate, it took her a while, but she got him to the edge of the deck, where it was beginning to sink into the lake, and floated him over to her skiff, hauling him in and covering him with a spare blanket from the emergency stow.

     But still, that feeling drew her back to the wreck. She decided that it was because she needed to know for sure that there were no other survivors, though really, she had no idea where that strange pull came from.

     Aise returned to search again for any signs of life, and was about to give up hope and return to the unconscious man when that guiding sense came back. This time it was so urgent that she had to stop herself from being thrown into a blind panic.

     She took several deep breaths and turned in a full circle, paddling to stay above water, but she was so close to whatever it was that had called her that she almost couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from. Aise was almost beginning to panic again, when something bright caught her eye. It was a smooth surface, strange to see in the wreckage of smashed lumber, and the light of the sun had reflected off of it for a split second, but that was enough.

     In that flash, Aislin knew not only that here was another survivor, but it was this thing, whatever it was, that had called her to the wreck. She crawled up to the bunk where she’d found the unconscious man and peered down into the water behind it. Nothing in the water, but there was a sort of nest made of splintered hull and bunks, along with some clothing and other debris. And nestled within this jumble of flotsam sat a large egg, green with yellow slotches.

     Aislin reached down to it, longing to hold it, stroke it’s smooth surface, but it was just out of reach. She scooted forward and reached again, as far as she could without falling into the mix herself, and still it was just beyond her fingertips.

     A little concerned now, Aise began looking around for other ways to reach the egg, but nothing on either side of the nest was close enough, and the side opposite her was against a wall. And she couldn’t climb down into the debris, that was far too dangerous to both herself and the egg. But there had to be some way to get to it! For a long while Aise wracked her brains to think of a way to get that egg, but nothing came. Everything she thought of was impossible to do, and she was starting to get a little frantic. Finally, she remembered a trick that uncle J had told her about. He’d had to pass a test of some sort, and the last obstacle was to get something just out of reach. He had told her he’d wrapped his tail around a nearby tree, so that he could lower and raise himself out without falling in.

     Well, it was a chance. Aislin didn’t have a tail, but she did have rope. She scrambled back out of the hold and to her waiting skiff, checking on the man while she was there. He was still asleep, so she made sure he was still in the shade and gathered a length of rope, diving back into the water and across to the ship.