There were multiple ideas in Sonder's head.
She didn't particularly like any of them.
But she considered them anyway.
The first was force.
Even if she fought them, it wouldn't solve everything.
If she couldn't stop just one of them from hurting one of the people on the ship, it wouldn't be worth it, and with this many of them around, if what the captain said was true, then she definitely couldn't.
Her gaze went away from the pier and docks toward the deeper parts of the island.
The people of the island and the ship weren't why she came here in the first place.
She came here for a shard.
For a moment she did nothing but hide.
She whispered the Dico spell as faintly as she could.
Unseen threads of blue came into her vision, and one of them stood out from the others due to its strength. It was steady and strong, clearer than it ever had been before.
It must have been closer than she had expected, and thankfully, on the island, not in the ocean.
It was here.
Her eyes shifted back toward the ship. It was trapped there.
Another idea formed. One that wasn't only born out of the want to help, but a hidden desire that Sonder wasn't fully aware of.
When the shards were used, their power wasn't subtle. They could be used that way, she thought, but she hadn't seen it like that before.
Force. That was what they were for.
She could take that force and shape it into something usable.
Use it.
Command it.
Force the people on the dock to let the ship go and leave them alone.
Force the sea itself to carry the ship back faster than wind or sail ever could.
Could it work? It could. It would.
Or something close enough that the difference might not matter.
Her hand tightened slightly at her side.
That would be an escalation.
Was the only way she could attain peace really through power?
Should she chance it? Even if there was some peaceful way, there wouldn't be any reason not to seek out more power just to ensure it, would there?
Sonder stood still for a moment longer.
Then she made her decision.
It was simple. Have the power to enforce peace. To lessen any violence or conflict before it could even begin.
She moved, not back to the ship, not to the people.
But along the edge of the dock, keeping to the darker spaces between the lantern light, avoiding the people of the dock as best she could.
Following the thread, carefully.
She just hoped that she had enough time before something awful happened.
Her gaze flicked once more toward the ship in the distance.
Then she disappeared deeper into the island.