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It was sweaty and dark on the barge, and the heavy booming of the speakers sent vibrations all through the structure. Desi stood in the knee-deep salt water, moving and thrashing with the other dancers at the concert. The yellow perch was sweaty and her muscles were aching, but the discomfort was distant as she threw herself into the music.

It was no different from what she felt on the court. The pain, the rage, the joy, all in a dirty rush of movement and noise and abandonment.

She gave herself a moment to look up at the stage, and she couldn't hold the wide grin back from her face. Up on stage stood five fish of various species, all sweaty and glistening under the harsh red lights. Behind them hung an iron sheet. Across it, written in rust marks and algae, was the word Dredless. At their head stood Simon, his voice sliding smoothly between pure calm singing and passionate yelling. The yellow perch looked like he'd been born to stand on a stage. His fingers danced along his guitar, sending a steady, jumping wail throughout the half-submerged barge.

The show was winding down. Desi knew it, from countless other concerts she'd been to. Knowing that this was going to be one of her last chances to do it, she stepped forward, deeper into the water. Once it was deep enough, she dove down beneath the surface.

There were many other fish and swimmers down in the water with her, thrashing and sending streams of bubbles past her. The music thundered down here, too, but it was altered. Where the music and Simon's voice were angry and sharp up in the air, down here the water changed it. The sound grew deeper and louder, but also soft. What sounded like a bloodthirsty challenge above was a mournful dirge below.

Desdemona was still floored by the effect. In one of the few times she'd heard from him in the past few years, Simon had sent her a copy of Dredless's new album, The Aral Sea, before it came out. It had been written for precisely this purpose - to be playable both on the surface and underwater, the medium changing its meaning. It had blown her mind to try listening to it both above and below water.

Experiencing it here, though, live, where she could freely dive beneath the water or break the surface to hear both versions, was incredible. She still had no idea how Simon and his band had set the whole thing up. He'd given her a quick summary of the idea when she'd run into him before the show - they'd found a research barge that was built to be able to partially submerge itself, and had looked into how to set it up for a performance.

However much planning and money had gone into it, though, it was worth it. The band was only doing three shows here, and punk fans had flooded to Louisiana for the experience.

Desi pulled herself free from the underwater mosh pit, and staggered back out of the shallows. Her body was sore from dancing all night, so it took her a moment to get her feet beneath her. Once she was steady and she'd gotten her gills to close back up, she cast her gaze across the crowd of people in the dryer section of the barge, further back from the stage. Soon enough, she picked out a parrot with thick, dirty green plumage who was moving with the rest of the crowd.

The tall perch worked her way through the crowd, dodging people who were thrashing or moshing as the song worked itself up. She sidled up next to Noah, and the parrot slid his arms around her without question. He went up onto his tiptoes for a second, and she leaned down to place a quick kiss on his beak. He grinned, and she winked down at him, before turning and facing the stage again.

Simon had stopped singing at this point. He stepped back from his mic, and then he was full on head banging, the music building into a fury. His bandmates matched his fervour, and soon the yellow perch was jumping and slamming out power chords.

The song built and built, and the energy throughout the barge rose with it. Desi and Noah were rocking against each other, and she could feel him fist pumping behind her. Somewhere amidst the wall of noise, she became aware of the sound of a klaxon. That sharp, ringing noise grew louder and louder, beginning to drown out the music.

The lights cut out, and the music too. All that was left was the haunting wail of the klaxon. Everything was perfectly dark, and that wailing noise carried on for what felt like forever before it, too, cut out without warning. In the ringing silence that remained, the only sound was the occasional splashing of water.

The lights came back on, and the band was gone from the stage. There were a few long moments of stunned silence as people blinked at the lights, and then the audience exploded with applause. Punks roared and slapped the water. Desi pressed back against Noah, and he kept his arms around her.

The houselights came up not long after, but the crowd kept cheering. The roaring of the applause started filtering down into regular, rhythmic claps, a steady thump-thump-thump-thump.

Next to her ear, Noah spoke. Even that close, he had to raise his voice to be heard over the clapping. "You think they're going to do an encore?"

"I honestly can't keep up with whether or not they're too cool for encores, or cool enough yet to do encores without losing credibility." She shrugged, her shoulder brushing against the side of his face. "Everybody here seems to think they're cool enough, though."

"Not keeping up with all the Dredless fansites?"

"Nah. Some crazy parrot kidnapped me and dragged me across the country in a van, to all the corners with no cell reception."

She felt him give a small laugh against her back. If he said anything else, she missed it as the rhythmic clapping erupted back into a roar. Desdemona returned her gaze to the stage, and saw Simon stepping out onto it. With all of the lights up, it was easy to see just how sweaty he was, and the exhaustion on his face. He stepped over to his guitar and slung it back on. Desdemona waited for the rest of his band to file out, but it soon became clear that they weren't joining him.

He approached the mic, and glanced out at the crowd. His eyes lingered on Desdemona, and she saw a small grin play at the edges of his lips.

"Everybody else needs a second to catch their breaths." He sounded just shy of breathless himself, his voice raw from all the singing and yelling that night. "I don't really think any of our songs work well as solos, so you guys mind if I play you something I wrote in high school?"

Desdemona blinked. The crowd applauded and roared up at Simon. He let his face break into a wider smile, and his gaze turned squarely onto Desdemona again.

"I guess that's an approval. Alright, fortunately there's a member of my band from high school in the audience tonight." He pulled away from the mic, then yelled with just his normal voice. "Oi, Desi! Get the fuck up here!"

A few people nearby turned to face her. She was startled for a moment or two, and then she rolled her eyes up at him. She pulled away from Noah, and he let go of her. She glanced at him over her shoulder as she walked away, and the parrot raised an eyebrow. She shrugged, then turned to face forward and dove into the water. The low buzz of conversation grew less distinct, its edges filed away until it was more of a soft rumble. She kicked forward towards the stage, and one or two people reached over to slap her on the back as she flowed past.

She surfaced, and then pulled herself up onto the stage. Simon stepped over to help her up.

"Decided to do a bit of a surprise?" she asked.

"I've forgotten your last, like, four birthdays." This close, his voice really did sound raw. He laughed as they straightened up. "Putting you on the spot in the front of a crowd of a hundred or so people is the least I could do."

"I always knew you cared. Alright, what are we doing, and are your drowner bandmates going to freak out if I touch their instruments."

"They'll get over it. I was thinking either Fringe or Triple Tap, and I'm really hoping you pick one of those two because I don't remember the words or chords to any of the others."

She grimaced melodramatically. "Jesus, do we have to play one of our old songs? They're all so frigging messy."

"They're fucking awesome. Besides, how many songs do we both know the guitar and keyboard parts for?" When she sighed and inclined her head to him, he grinned. "See, if you'd just learned to play drums like I always told you to, we could be doing a Japandroids cover."

"What, and be yet another girl drummer in a rock duo?"

"As opposed to the girl keyboardist?"

She gave him the finger, and he stuck his tongue out at her. By this point, he was testing and adjusting the tuning on his guitar, and she was standing at the keyboard. She tried a few keys, and cursed to herself as she tried to remember those old songs. She probably remembered how to play Triple Tap better - the keyboard section was more repetitive.

"What's it going to be, Desi?"

She glanced over at Simon, standing just ahead of her and out to the side. She let her gaze wander out to the crowd. Seeing them, she became aware of how heavy her feet felt on the ground, and all she could do was stare.

Fuck it. She leaned towards her mic. "Hey. This is a song called Fringe."

Simon was a trained professional at this point. He didn't need any more warning than that, and then he came in on the first heavy, brash chord. Normally there would have been a drum intro, but they didn't have that, so Simon just charged onward.

Desi joined in a few moments later. For the first few seconds, she was so focused on her playing that she didn't pay attention to anything else. She'd kept her practice up over the years, but never as much as she'd done when she was in high school. She hadn't even touched a keyboard in the past two months.

After a few stumbles and mistakes that she forced herself to power through, she started to fall into a rhythm. Her fingers began to remember the familiar notes, and she started nodding instead of just staring at her fingers.

As she started to relax, she realized that Simon had started singing. She couldn't hold back a blush and a dumb grin as she listened to the words - they were corny, and absolutely sounded like something that a pair of fifteen year olds had written while thinking they were profound. It was one of the few of Glitterbendz' songs that Desi had helped write lyrics for. She remembered arguing with Simon over words for hours one summer. Simon had argued, rightfully, that he would be singing most of the words, and Desdemona would only be backing him, so he got final say. She'd just needled at him until he listened.

When they hit the first chorus, Desdemona finally leaned forward to her mic, and joined him in the singing. He glanced back at her, not breaking the rhythm of his playing or singing at all, and raised an eyeridge. She was doing more than just the backing parts. She shrugged at him, and he turned his attention back towards the crowd.

They started into the second verse, and it took a few seconds for Desi to realize that Simon had stopped singing with her. She flicked her eyes over to him, and saw that he'd stepped away from his mic. He was still playing, but he was standing right at the front of the stage now, close enough for people in the submerged section of the crowd to reach up and touch him. She had to hold back a laugh. Fuck, he really was a rockstar now.

She gazed out at the crowd. They were thrashing, both in the water and up on the dry section at the back. Right on the edge of the dry section, she saw Noah. The kea's shirt was open, and he was soaked, either with sweat or the splashes coming up from the water. His eyes were locked on her up on the stage.

There was a breath where she felt her heart hammering faster. Two or so months of living in a van with Noah had done a lot to alleviate her discomfort with letting him see her body, but there were still things that made her uncomfortable. Once or twice, when she'd been tired after long days of hikes or climbing, she'd dropped the constant effort of masking her voice around him. Each time she'd felt exposed and uncomfortable, but she'd forced herself to do it.

Now she was standing up on a stage, singing into a mic to a crowd of punks, her rough tenor growl running through lyrics she'd written back before she'd named herself. He was standing and watching her, and even from there she could see that he was holding back a massive smile from his beak.

Desdemona finished out the second verse singing by herself, and then Simon rushed back over to his mic. He looked back at her as the two of them crashed through the chorus again. The bridge was a mess - it involved some complicated playing that Desi hadn't practiced in years. The two of them were grinning like idiots for the whole thing, though, and the two of them whipped their heads for the last few bars of the song. By the time they finished, Desi's neck was sore, but she didn't care.

They finished, and the crowd erupted. It was the fun, joyful cheering that came from a crowd having a good time - not quite the same devotion and passion from the end of Dredless's performance, but it made Desi feel electric.

She and Simon hugged, and she leaned her forehead against his. Even that close, he had to yell for her to hear him over the crowd. "I knew you missed playing."

She laughed, and yelled back. "More warning next time?"

"No promises."

She gave him a weak, joking shove, and he staggered back dramatically. She laughed at him, then turned and hopped off of the stage into the water. She started swimming back towards Noah. Simon's voice crackled through the amps.

"Alright, the rest of the band probably needs one more song before they're ready for the encore. So let's do a cover I can do solo. How about..."

---

"So seriously. 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?'"

On the other side of the campfire, Simon wagged a hand at her. "Okay, yeah, it might have been a bit on the nose."

"A bit? Frig man." Desdemona laughed, then took a sip of her beer. Condensation beaded along the glass, and dripped down over her fingers. She was resisting the urge to hold the cool bottle up to her forehead. Even at this time of night, the campsite was hot. Once she'd swallowed, she gestured over at the other perch. "What, did you just print out a list of the most recognizable Canadian songs of all time, then throw a dart?"

"Please. I mean it gets the point across, right? 'Aw shit, an entire fucking freight ship just went down in a lake where thousands and thousands of people live and spilled fuel and cargo all over the fucking place. We should definitely write a song about how tragic the loss of those few dozen walkers is.'" Simon was leaning forward a bit by the end of the spiel, and Desi was just rolling her eyes.

"Right, and the fact that it was a Canadian song that a bunch of Americans might know had nothing to do with it."

He shook his head, then looked over at Noah. The kea was sitting just next to Desi. He'd removed his shirt as soon as they'd gotten back from the concert earlier that night, and his grey-green and orange feathers were a bit matted from the heat. Simon leaned forward and said, "Okay. Have you heard of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald? Or had you before coming to Canada and the States and such?"

The bird glanced back and forth between the two fish, both of them glaring at him expectantly. He gave an awkward shrug. "Uh. I mean I'd heard of it. I think it was a little popular in New Zealand in... whenever it came out. I'd heard it on a couple classic rock stations a few times. Not as well known as, like, Celine Dion or Bieber, but uh..."

Desi shot Simon a look. "I'm taking the win on that one."

"Bullshit."

"Nope, claiming it!"

"Fine, fine. I guess I can give you the pity win. Not like I already gave you the best birthday present ever tonight."

He was joking when he said it. He didn't miss the moment of tension that passed between Desi and Noah. The fish's relaxed smile twitched, and Noah's eyes flicked over to her. Before Simon could comment on it, Desi was clearing her throat.

"Alright, I'm going to brush my teeth and use the bathroom before it gets too dark to see without a flashlight."

Simon didn't know Noah too well, but he could tell that the kea was forcing his voice to sound casual when he replied. "Right, before it gets too dark. And not because we hiked today, then went to a punk concert, and you're barely staying awake right now."

"Don't forget the pizza and beer for dinner."

"Right. I'd warn you about not accidentally stumbling into the water on the way back, but..." Noah made a vague gesture and inclined his head at the fish.

"Never know. My legs are still like jelly. I might just need a rescue."

"I'm sure Simon's got it."

She snorted. "My hero." She turned and wandered out into the late evening light.

It was quiet for a few moments after Desi left. Simon was very aware of the tension in the air. Noah sat looking into the fire and not speaking. The wind on the point was just barely keeping the heat and the bugs under control. It was cool enough for Simon and Desi with their scales, but Simon couldn't imagine how overheated the alpine parrot felt.

Noah stood up and stretched. Simon didn't watch him as he got up and folded the pizza boxes, then started feeding them into the fire. Simon was still trying to figure out what he'd said wrong.

He'd been excited when Desi and her boyfriend had said they would be able to make Dredless's special concert in Vermilion Bay. They'd made plans to hang out for the evening afterwards at the pair's campsite at Cypremort Point. The original idea had been for Desi and Noah to make them a camp dinner, but when they all realized how exhausted they were after the concert, Desi had made the decision to order some very, very far delivery pizza to the site.

Simon took another sip of his beer, and finally ventured a question.

"So uh... what did you think of the show?"

Noah kept standing by the fire, looking down into it while the cardboard caught. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "You guys are good. I get why Desi's so into your music."

"I mean, she's also a bit biased on that front."

"Maybe."

Simon waited for more, but Noah didn't continue. He kept watching the parrot, but he remained motionless. When the tension grew too much, the perch sighed and kneaded at his forehead.

"Look, I'm not good with subtlety, alright? What the fuck's going on? What did I do?"

Noah still didn't look back at him, but Simon didn't miss the parrot's shoulders slumping. "It's not just you, okay? But she is pissed at you."

Simon blinked. "Wait, what?"

Noah groaned. "Do I have to fucking spell it out for you?"

"No, we haven't even seen each other since, like, January. What could she possibly have to be angry at me about?"

Noah finally turned to face the sitting fish, and his voice was abruptly sharp. "Oh I dunno. Have you tried responding to one of her texts?"

"What?"

"No, come on, tell me. When was the last time you actually answered one of her texts or fucking called her on the phone?"

"I'm not good at keeping in touch, okay? I get it! What does that have to do with any of this?"

"Because you're her best friend, you forgot her past four birthdays, and now you're acting like one grand gesture tonight makes up for all of that."

Simon opened his mouth, and then closed it. The kea was still glaring at him down his hooked beak, and the wiry bird was tense all over in the fire's light. He had an empty beer bottle in his hand. The kea was speaking again, his voice rising.

"And like, fuck, dude, if only it was just that! I've been living with her for the past year, and you never answer her when she tries to get ahold of you! You're supposed to be her best friend, and you can't even do that. I get it, your band's a big deal now, you're on the road all the time, you're busy, but put the fucking effort in, Christ!"

It was when the bird started gesticulating with that empty bottle that Simon finally spoke up. If anything, he wanted to get up and hit the bird, but he forced his voice to be cool.

"Dude. You're pissed. I get that. You have got to calm down."

For a moment, Noah looked like he was going to whip the bottle at him, or jump at him across the fire. Simon tensed himself - he'd taken more than a few hits at concerts in the past. After a very long moment of tense silence, though, the bird just let out a very long sigh. His shoulders drooped, and he reached up to rub at his face.

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. Noah turned, and put his empty bottle back into the box with their other empties. Then he walked around the fire, and sat down heavily next to Simon.

The fish was still tense, eying the parrot. "You alright?"

"No." There was a grimness to his voice. "Sorry. Desi's pissed at you. That's on her to take up with you, though. Not me."

Simon still didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't say anything. He looked back at the fire, but he watched Noah from the corner of his eye, just in case.

"You know I asked her once why she still tries with you." The parrot's voice was low and tired. "Didn't make sense to me. You don't put in the effort, but she does. We didn't actually talk about it until after I found out about..." The parrot trailed off, and then made a vague gesture. "Everything."

It was Simon's turn to sigh. "What does that have to do with it?"

"You're her link, man. You and her parents are the only good things from that part of her life." The bird shrugged. "You're fucking important."

It took a long time for Simon to respond to that. It had never occurred to him. She'd mentioned a few times that she felt complicated about Black Bay, but he'd never fully considered... well, that. The perch groaned. "Why are you the one telling me this, and not her?"

"This coming from the guy with communication issues?"

The kea's voice sounded more tired than angry now. Simon snorted, and started letting himself relax.

"I guess that's fair. But like... I dunno. Before if Desi was pissed at me, she would just throw a fist, we could scrap about it, and then it would be done."

"Yeah, but it doesn't work like that anymore."

"You better not say 'because she's a girl.'"

The parrot's voice was very dry. "Because she's a fucking pro athlete, and if she got in a fight with you she could, like, actually kill you."

Simon blinked. There were a few long moments of silence, and then he burst out laughing. Beside him, even the exhausted bird was smiling again.

"Okay, fair," the fish said once he'd caught his breath. "But also like, dude, you care about this. You're right - this is a fight for her and me. If you think I'm not worth it, uh... I don't love that. But why do you care so much."

"Because she needs you. Or she will."

"Why."

"My visa runs out next week."

It took a few long seconds for what the bird had said to click for Simon. When it did, though, he sat up straight, and his gaze snapped over to the parrot.

"Wait, what?"

The bird didn't look back at him. He shrugged. "I got one year in Canada, and one year in the States. I'm up. I have to go home."

"That- what?"

Noah didn't answer this time. He was just looking at the fire.

Simon kept staring at him. His mind was racing, struggling past the haze of exhaustion and alcohol. By this point, he'd had to figure out working visas for tours in a few dozen countries. He was trying to summon up that knowledge.

"There's no, like, extensions or anything?"

"Nah, dude. I can't just stay on a visitor's visa forever. Besides, I have to head back to New Zealand at some point, or else I'll lose my healthcare. I can only delay that for so long."

"Right." Simon couldn't look away from the bird. He was having trouble keeping up - between Noah's aggression, all those accusations, and now this, he was starting to feel dizzy. The perch closed his eyes and rubbed at them. "So, like... what the hell are you guys doing?"

"Well. We're spending two and a half months living in a van together. Then we're going to spend at least six months apart, so I can qualify for healthcare again. You know, see if the whole relationship thing can handle the two extremes. Then uh..." he trailed off, and shrugged. "Then we decide what to do from there."

Again, Simon didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet. He finally turned away to look back at the fire.

"So long distance?"

"So long distance."

"Right." Simon wasn't sure if he should say the next part, but it was coming out before he could stop himself. "Has, uh, Desi ever told you about Braydon."

Noah was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah."

"She tell you why it, uh, didn't work out?"

"Yeah." The bird sighed. "She also told me that she couldn't get ahold of you whenever she needed to talk about it."

"Ah. Right."

The fire was beginning to get low by now. The added fuel from the pizza boxes was burned away, and the wood underneath was mostly ashes. The soft sound of the waves and the wind coming off of the bay filled the silence as the two of them sat there.

Noah stood up. His movements were slow and jerky - it was clear he was feeling all of the activity from the day. He gave a heavy sigh, and muttered, "I'm going to go check on Desi." He stood without moving for another few breaths before he continued. "Simon, dude, I don't know what to say to you. Everything with Desi has been hard. All of it. I didn't see myself, uh... I don't know. I wasn't ready for this.

"I need this to work, though. Next week, I'm flying back to Christchurch, and she's flying back to Bangor. I'm going to try to make this work. I really hope she wants this as badly as I do. For her to make it work, she needs her best friend. Please, man. Just fucking answer her, okay?"

He turned and started walking away. Before he got too far, though, he stopped, and called over his shoulder. "Oh yeah. Uh, if you want to sleep in, I would put some earplugs in. She gets up at six every morning for her workouts."

Simon turned away from the fire to look at the parrot, and raised an eyeridge. "You think she's waking up at six and working out after a night like this?" He gestured to the box of empties.

Noah snorted. "You bet your ass, fish boy. Here's hoping the hangovers keep tomorrow morning from being awkward."

Simon raised his now empty bottle at Noah in agreement. The bird finally walked away, leaving Simon alone by the fire. The embers had long since gone out by the time he got up, sore and tired, and started towards Noah and Desi's tent.