Dear Risa,

  Things are improving! Luke is figuring out waves, Maki and Echo’s relationship has settled, and Cali…

  Ok, she kinda broke. A little. But then she passed out, and when she woke up it was all better! I… Yeahhh, that’s all I’ll say about that.

  I shall repeat, my cousin has been tested and found not evil by the church. Yay. She almost did something a little evil, but the Goddess herself came down and said it was all fine.

  I now realize how not-believable that sounds. And I know that doubling down will only make it less believable.

  So I’ll change the subject! Surfing is fun! I’m now better at it than Maki. It helps that most of the time while he’s supposed to be watching the water, he’s watching his girlfriend. Once his eyes stop turning into hearts every time he’s within sight of her, I’m sure he’ll catch up and get a lot better than me.

  I will say, though, that spending all this time in the sun and around salt is destroying my hair and tail color. It’s getting bleached out so fast, you have no idea. At this rate I’ll have to get it dyed before I see you again, or you’ll faint from horror upon seeing me. Not that I’d blame you, Risa dear, I nearly fainted from seeing my reflection in the mirror this morning.

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  Actually, I need to go see what the lady at the salon here is capable of. If she can dye it, or if she has advice…

  In non-hair news, Luke and I somehow ended up having a conversation about kits, and if we wanted any, and where we might raise them. We don't agree on everything, but as you know, agreeing on absolutely everything is a red flag. We have an acceptably small number of disagreements, mostly because I prefer cities and he likes living in towns.

  So yeah, our whole dating thing is Established. We are out of the newly-together phase and into future-planning phase.

  Of course, all this requires us to survive the next week or so. But I’m confident we will.

  Hey, if we don't survive, we’ll be together in the afterlife! So it’s ok!

  If I die in a giant tsunami, and this book somehow survives, I’d like it to be known that my dear sister Meriel gets all my stuff. She’s probably using it all already, so no big deal. All my things in the wagon and inn will undoubtedly get washed away, so there’s nothing to say about that.

  To you, Risa Halibut, I bequeath that bracelet and/or hair tie thing I got from Lucas on what became known as The Worst First Date In History. I’m sure he’d be so happy to know I’m giving that… whatever it is… to you.

  Actually, he'd probably be thrilled to learn I still have it. He’d probably think I take it out occasionally and sigh longingly at it, wondering about what could have been. Instead of using it as a handle for my suitcase and occasionally wondering why he thought I would wear a bracelet that looks like a drowned rat.

  You’ll have to stop here and tell me if you’ve seen that moron recently.

  Gossiping Regards,

  Maeve