Swamped

It takes you a bit to realize how to talk here. At first you try to use your mouth, but then you realize you can't feel your body. Then you try thinking as though you're sending along a mental link, but that doesn't seem to do anything either.

Then, somehow, you just let instinct take over. This seems to mean making noises like a monkey, which somehow convey your meaning.

They might not be the only cult, you gibber. If there's another one somewhere back on land, we can use what we've learned to find them and stop them.

There's a brief pause before the animals start making noise again. This time, you can't understand it. Perhaps someone was deliberately interpreting, and now they've stopped because the real bargaining has started?

Eventually, though, the noise returns to comprehensibility.

Then so be it, the lion roars. We will save the sailors. But they must devote themselves to hunting down the exile's followers. This is our bargain. Any who stray from it will face our wrath. As for your ship's mission, it is now over. Nual shall see to it that your return home is swift.

It is a mistake, the rushing water says. If we leave the-

Suddenly, you can't understand the water any more. A moment later, clarity returns.

-we will regret it later.

The decision is made, the lion roars in response.

I accept this. But it is still wrong.

You suppose you made the best bargain you could, even if you didn't directly negotiate it. Overall, it's probably good news.

But one more thing is bothering you. And this might be your best chance to get some kind of answer about it.

Just one quick question. Did any of you have something to do with the dream I had, informing me about the man displaced by time magic?

And suddenly, the space around you goes silent. You aren't sure just what to make of it.