Chapter 57: The Beach Had Excellent Strategic Value

Dante had prepared himself for many tests of leadership, but four women walking toward him in beach clothes had exposed a serious gap in his training.

He waited outside the changing rooms with Jett and Lucan. Behind them, the path climbed past the winter garden to Whitepine Lodge. Ahead, warm sand curved around a clear cove, with a lifeguard station beside a narrow water channel. Snow covered the mountains across the lake, which made Anika’s dark bikini seem like an argument she had personally won against winter.

Posey reached him first, her navy wrap tied at one hip. She glanced at the red ribbon still around his wrist and smiled. “You kept it on for swimming?”

“A gift from you deserved better than being abandoned with Jett’s socks.”

Her cheeks warmed, and she took his free hand while Jett demanded to know why his socks had become a recognized danger. Rhae told him to ask anyone who shared the room.

Dante tried to compliment Anika’s choice of beach bag, realized he was staring nowhere near it, and recovered by offering to carry it. She passed it over with both towels and the calm satisfaction of a woman who had found a useful setting on a difficult appliance.

Honey arrived last, wearing a loose shirt over her swimsuit. Her golden wings rose through the open back, catching the light when she pointed toward their chairs.

“The one under the shade is mine,” she said. “You offered it downstairs, before you became distracted by knees.”

His council protested this unfair reduction of its interests. Dante moved the bags to the chairs before the council said anything worse.

Underground springs warmed the swimming area, and a weather attendant explained the row of silver posts along the sand. Each held part of a clear air barrier above the cove, keeping the warm air from blowing toward the mountains. The faint curve showed whenever a cloud passed behind it.

“The blue buoys mark the safe water,” Anika read from the sign. “Beyond them, it is still a cold mountain lake.”

Dante looked toward the far shore, where something with antlers broke the surface and sank again. The attendant confirmed that it also had not paid for beach access.

A mermaid lifeguard rested in the channel beside the station, her dark green tail visible beneath the clear water. She pointed two visitors toward the shallow entry instead of allowing them to jump from the drinks platform. Farther along, mermaid guests used a sloping water lane to reach seats set below the surface.

One examined a floating activity menu and called for the manager because it had recommended a walking tour. Dante felt that the complaint had excellent grounds, though he kept that observation to himself after considering the problem with grounds.

They settled beside the shallow water. A sand golem raked the strip behind their chairs, lifting its tool around shoes and lowering it again with careful little taps. Jett placed his sandals directly in its path to see what happened. The golem carried them to the lost-property basket.

Lucan laughed and offered to go with him, apparently happy to support a man during a difficult reunion with footwear. Dante admired Jett for making his rival useful so quickly.

Rhae passed him a cold drink that smelled of orange and the peppery leaf she had bought. “A small sample, before you ask whether I brought enough to supply an army.”

He tasted it, then looked at her. “You made the sharp part arrive after the sweet part. It made me want another mouthful.”

“That was the plan,” she said, looking pleased. “Keep that description. Don’t put your army anywhere near my price list.”

Posey leaned against his arm to see the cup, bringing her light pear-and-tea scent close enough that he forgot whether he had offered her a taste. She asked softly, then smiled when he finally remembered to move it.

Anika settled on his other side. “If all your inspections took this long, nothing would ever open.”

“I believe in giving promising developments the attention they deserve.”

Honey peered over her glasses. “How many of those did you prepare on the walk down?”

Before he could deny the existence of prepared remarks, a water pixie arrived inside a floating bubble and attempted to take Rhae’s drink. It wore a tiny blue apron and pointed firmly toward the empty-glass tray.

“This one was privately supplied,” Dante explained. The pixie pointed again, with the confidence of someone whose entire training had covered this exact problem.

Rhae rescued her cup by showing the attendant their receipt for the other drinks. Dante considered recording the incident as a failed border dispute, but Honey was laughing too hard for him to maintain the proper mood.

When spray from a passing swimmer reached her book, Anika raised two fingers and drew a small current across the chair. Droplets bent away from the open pages and pattered onto the sand. She lowered her hand once the swimmer passed, then asked Honey to move the book farther from the water.

Magic solved the immediate problem. Apparently it still expected people to use a towel afterward.

Jett returned with his sandals and a ball borrowed from three college students in the shallows. He waved Dante over. The game was simple: keep the ball out of the water while passing between everyone inside the marker poles.

Dante joined him, with Lucan taking the deeper position. Posey watched from the water’s edge, counting successful passes until Jett tried a showy throw behind his back. The ball bounced off Lucan’s shoulder and headed toward a stranger’s open container of fries.

Dante caught it with his familiar lift. The ball stopped above the food, traveled back across the narrow strip of sand, and dropped into Jett’s waiting hands when Dante released it.

The stranger raised his fries in thanks. Dante accepted the tribute with a serious nod before remembering they were still the man’s lunch.

Nobody weakened. Honey continued reading, Anika kept talking with Rhae, and Posey clapped with a bright smile that made saving potatoes feel like a respectable use of power.

One visiting student recognized Jett’s team shirt. Within minutes, ordinary passing had become an argument about underwater football, though both men appeared delighted with it.

They agreed to meet at the marked game area the next morning. Jett included Dante and Lucan before Dante could finish considering the advantages of command from a dry chair.

“I accepted on your behalf,” Jett told him. “You handled the ball beautifully.”

Dante looked at the deeper water, where the lifeguard was lowering a scoring hoop beneath the surface. His council immediately recommended promoting Jett to a position that involved considerably less authority.