“Aby, can I ask you something?” The tiny voice of a certain Nereid rang out in the miniature castle she called home. It was night now, she had woken up just a few minutes earlier in fact, alerted to the fact that Aby no longer had any unwanted visitors. She looked out at the dark hallway, and at the strange things that looked back, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Always, Sela.” There was no delay to the core’s response, the soft and rich voice spoke directly into her mind, even after all this time it had yet to lose the androgynous quality it had had since they first met.

She smiled at that, looking to her core and her partner, then spoke up. Or rather, she tried to, before an almighty roar cut through the darkness, making Sela stiffen up a little. Aby was quick to try and soothe her worries, though. “It’s okay, one of ours. He’s excited today.” The Nereid nodded at that, well aware about how enthusiastic a certain dragon could be after a successful hunt.

“So it seems. He did well, then?” She was met with a quick confirmation by the sphere, not that it had ever been disappointed by one of its, one of their, creatures. The sentiment was enough to have her look down at one of her frost spirits, Brighty, as it nuzzled into her palm. “Anyways, I wanted to ask if you remembered the day we met, it feels like it was so long ago.” And she did want to know. Even after all the time they had been together, not once did she ask such a simple question. She had a feeling that the core did, of course, in fact she couldn’t think of a single thing that Aby didn’t remember, but it finally felt like the right time to ask.

“Yes. I was small then. I wasn’t as smart then. You were small then. You were scary.” The core recounted, and Sela was shocked with just how candid it was at that last statement, before realizing she really must have been. She supposed that to it, she was just an invader. Suddenly feeling guilty, she replied before it could continue.

“I’m so sorry Aby, I never even thought about it and I-” She began, but the core suddenly focused on her a lot more intently. “No. You were scary, but then you weren’t, and you taught me. No apologizing.” Sela was a little shocked at just how emphatically the core responded, it almost never spoke so much even now, and the entire time she felt just how sincere its appreciation was in a way that words simply couldn’t encompass.

And even with all that, it wasn’t even done, continuing unbidden. “We are partners now, you knew this. I couldn’t have done this without you.” Despite the monotone, emotionless delivery, Sela was stunned by the sentiment. Apparently, the idle question meant more to the core than she was aware. She opted not to speak up for a bit, instead floating by the core, and resting her head next to the smooth surface of glittering white and deep blue, of flecks of pink and streaks of grey, and many more motes of color the core had gained over time.

Gone were the days she could hold the core, however. Despite being nearly two meters from the tip of her starry teal hair to the fins of her midnight indigo tail, Aby was even larger. It had grown monolithic, and she couldn’t help but feel proud for the core. Now well over three meters in diameter, it hardly resembled that little lump of aquamarine she had made an oath to follow, those many years ago. No, now it was quite literally oozing power, and its domain reflected that.

But, tonight wasn’t about Aby’s successes, nor about its failures. To Sela, tonight would be about reminiscing about a simple time, when a single decision a lifetime ago changed the course of both of their lives, and if she was being honest, the lives of so many more. When a Dungeon learned that it would accomplish nothing by systematically drowning kobolds and a Nereid realized there would be so much more in store for her than simply settling into some coral or shell, living a tranquil life and maybe having a few daughters of her own.

No, today she decided that she would take a moment to celebrate the anniversary of The Abyssal Reef.