"Let's enter the water," Bath said, eying the beach. "I'm sure we'll find more interesting creatures in the water."

Bath was certain of this fact. The sexual dimorphism of the gurgle meant that the males largely populated the land around seas, while the females inhabited the water. The two sexes were so different from one another that Bath only knew they were two sides of the same coin after devouring a few of them.

He wasn't sure if he agreed with the encyclopedia's assertion that the gurgles were like reptiles and fungi. The gurgle reproduced like a fungus, sending out spores that matured and grew by decomposing dead matter. However, sometime later, the mindless gurgle would awaken, as though from hibernation. Then, at least for males, the gurgle would swim to the shore and pop up onto its two legs. From that point on, it would sift the sand for food and live a fairly simple existence.

A simple existence with the exception of mating season. To Bath's chagrin, the gurgle's mating season wasn't for a few months.

The Delelens gave him blank looks. "We don't have waterproof robes," Juselin murmured.

Bath gave them a knowing look. "We're members of COTD now. Both of you, take out a dragonleaf frond."

They reached onto the back of their robes. The verdora as a whole hadn't partaken in either of the human factions, meaning that the Delelens didn't have the many-pocketed utility tabards worn by just about every human. This wasn't too big of a problem--their robes had enough creases to easily hold one or two small fronds of dragonleaf.

"Great," Bath said, holding out a frond of his own. "Now, create bathing robes from dragonleaf." He gave them both expectant looks.

"With the dragonleaf?" Juselin echoed, as though he had misheard.

Bath nodded once. "You've made far more complex constructs with the dragonleaf before," he pressed. This was true: to master the Expert tier of the land-shaper profession, they would have experimented with creating intricate and complicated dragonleaf constructs. Bath recalled that the Delelens had chosen to make ornate pieces of furniture to reach this level.

"But...clothing?" Erzey mumbled dubiously.

"All COTD-issued clothing is made from dragonleaf," Bath replied. "We're all wearing hand-woven clothes from Illudis, but many humans have transitioned to all-dragonleaf wardrobes for convenience." He began to grow the dragonleaf out in his hand, its tiny tendrils spilling out like sewing thread. "I've never made dragonleaf clothing either," he assured them, "but how difficult can it be?"

In the end, the biggest problem ended up being verdora propriety. Because creating swimming robes necessitated the removal of their current clothing, the group split up in three directions. A few minutes later, the Delelens emerged from the jungle on four legs, their primary pair of hands clenching their discarded robes.

"You all told the dragonleaf to be waterproof, right?" Bath asked. One of the more useful properties of dragonleaf was its ability to take mental clues to change its physical properties. Bath disliked using the verb, "to tell," to indicate transmitting an idea to dragonleaf, but didn't have an adequate substitute.

"Yes," the Delelens said chorus.

"That was the point," Erzey pointed out.

"Excellent," Bath said, walking towards the water. "Remove your veils."

"..."

Bath turned around. "We aren't splashing around," he said. "We're going to dive deep into the water. Veils will only prove an impediment."

The Delelens gave Bath pained expressions, but didn't argue. They unsnapped the veils from around their manes and folded them gently over their robes, which now lay on a rock beside the shore.

Bath began to tell the Delelens about what they could expect to find under water. "While I've never been to this planet, and the encyclopedia holds little information about its wildlife, we can extrapolate out from what we know about the aquatic life of Illudis." This was complete nonsense: Based on what Bath could glean from twenty cubic miles of long-range manipulation coverage, none of the organisms within this sea remotely resembled any animals on modern-day Illudis.

Juselin cocked his head, his eye ridges pressing down over his eyes. "Should we expect to find creatures like swillin?"

Swillin...swillin...Bath wracked his mind, trying to match the word with an animal species.

"No," Bath stated, shaking his head. "I don't think so. Regardless, the only way to find out is to enter the water and see for ourselves."

With a glance back, Bath waded into the sea. The Delelen cousins had no choice but to follow behind, their eyes darting nervously over the water's surface. The sea was slightly chilly; as a result, Bath and the Delelens instinctively rose up on two legs.

The verdora of the current time didn't live close to the water. In fact, only a few small, traditional villages existed along fast-flowing rivers. These villages used threaded hooks to thresh water for fish-like herbivores with large, fan-like fins.

Bath wondered if, in the distant past, verdora had closer ties to water. He'd recently wondered about the evolutionary benefits of a six-legged sapient like the verdora being able to stand bipedally, especially when walking around on two--rather than four, or six, legs--moderately decreased their agility. Perhaps walking on two legs is a response to passing through waist-high water.

Bath and the Delelens walked bipedally until reaching a drop-off. From there, they swam forward, only their heads sticking up above the water's surface.

"I realize now that I didn't ask, but can you both swim?" Bath noticed that the Delelens were vigorously pumping their legs in the water to stay afloat. If not for their enhanced strength and endurance, they would have already tired themselves out. At the same time, the two exhibited mild danger-induced excitement. I suppose that swimming in uncharted waters, if you didn't know how to swim, would seem dangerous.

"We're alright," Erzey replied, craning her neck out of the water. "Swimming doesn't seem too difficult."

Bath tsked. "As you both know, I'm from the Wilderness. In the Wilderness, people learn how to swim." Bath actually had no idea if this was the case, but it sounded true. "Swimming is a bit like running: you move your legs in tandem with one another, pushing the water in a fluid motion. You're both currently lashing at the water like it's your worst nightmare."

Bath swam over to the verdora, agilely adjusting their leg movements. While he would have ideally instructed the cousins how to swim in the shallows rather than in the open sea, Bath wanted to see how mild, prolonged danger-induced adrenaline would affect the Delelens' progress.

After the two had acceptable swimming technique, Bath decided it was time to move on. "So far, we've only swum across the sea's surface," he stated. "We haven't seen anything worth notice. Therefore, it's time to dive down. First, you need to take in a breath of air."

The Delelens took in enormous mouthfuls of air, causing both of their cheeks to puff out. However, after a second, their cheeks deflated like leaky balloons.

Right, Bath groaned internally. The verdora nose. Verdora noses were one of the more...questionable biological adaptations that Bath had ever encountered. The noses were giant, twin slits over the top of the verdora jaw crease, where the head diverged into two mouths. The "nostrils" were each the size of a sapient eye and shaped like thin isosceles triangles. They connected directly to the wind pipe leading from the mouth to the lungs, effectively preventing the Delelens from storing up air without consciously blocking their nostrils off.

"You need to block off your nose when you swim," Bath instructed. Verdora had a natural flap of skin that could move into position over the wind pipe before it connected to the nasal canal. All the Delelens needed to do was orient this flap into position, a maneuver that should have been trivial.

Unfortunately, because the Delelens had never needed to hold their breaths in their lives, the two were unfamiliar with this basic aspect of their own biology.

Didn't they go to school? Bath grumbled internally. He knew that verdora all received an education. However, moments like these made him question its quality.

Teaching the Delelen cousins how to properly hold their breaths underwater took a mind-boggling half hour. Bath considered teaching the Delelens an exercise in patience and acting.

So far, none of the ninety-nine other verdora on the vanguard had noticed anything strange about Thaddeus house Clanemic of Illusta. Bath wasn't sure if this was due to his improved acting skills or, alternatively, the glaring naivete of the assembled verdora nobles.

Even Eyrin is fairly naive, Bath thought. He only waited two days before taking me under his wing and teaching me everything he knows. If Eyrin's "back story" possessed any bit of truth, particularly the part regarding him faking his own death, Bath wondered how he ever pulled it off while being so...trusting.

Suddenly, Bath felt stupid. Eyrin's a kursi: of course he pulled it off. Lisa wasn't the most subtle person alive; all the same, she managed to keep hidden from her parents and friends the fact that, all throughout high school, she'd accompanied Bath for hours searching for other mind-manipulators. It wouldn't be difficult for Eyrin to affect people's minds to believe whatever he told them.

However, the motivation behind Eyrin's involvement in the verdora equivalent of organized crime remained a mystery. Most people on Earth get drawn into crime because of economic circumstances. Eyrin's a kursi prince...he shouldn't be motivated by a financial incentive.

Bath had the impression that Eyrin's involvement in the Hideaway (if that was what the unsavory organization was really called) rested on ideological grounds. He recalled the kursi's conversation with his devilbat, Clarissa:

Our society prevents us from coming into contact with dangerous conditions, leading to demand for escorts, fueling an economy of high-stakes adventuring, all of it illicit.

Eyrin had never brought up the "danger embargo" situation to Thaddeus. In fact, Eyrin had only mentioned the Hideaway once or twice, in passing. Is Eyrin more cautious sharing his thoughts and political ideology with me because I'm immune to kursi mind-manipulation?

Bath snapped out of his thoughts as the Delelens assured him that they were ready to do "real adventuring" beneath the sea's surface.

"Follow me," Bath said, dipping seamlessly beneath the water's surface. The Delelens followed behind, their heads slapping into the water.

All the boons in the world can't replace experience, Bath sighed. The cousins had all the grace of toddlers. Not that Bath held this against them: the Delelens were inexperienced. All they needed was time.

And if they work hard, they'll have all the time in the world.

---

"Dean, I know you're angry at Bath, but he means the best."

Dean sat on one couch by the hallway leading to the Spire's balcony, Lisa on the other a few feet away.

"I'm sure," Dean replied, exhaling slowly, as though releasing the tension in his face through his breath. "But he isn't human."

Lisa gave him a look. "So? Juserin isn't human. Most of the universe isn't human, Dean."

Dean's expression darkened. "Lisa, you have so much blind faith in him. He isn't--he isn't like us. The verdora are like us. They have a clear set of values that, on the whole, match our own. Bath?" Dean shook his head. "What values does he have?"

Lisa's mouth popped open. "Seriously? For one, he hates dishonesty." Lisa put up a hand, halting Dean's oncoming retort. "Don't call him a hypocrite for working with me to form COTD. Let me elaborate: Bath doesn't like people who lie to your face for no other reason that they want to." She smiled. "Petty people."

Dean inhaled deeply. "Disliking petty liars doesn't indicate that he holds a value system," Dean argued. "Who likes petty liars?"

Lisa let out a groan. "Bath isn't a bad person."

Dean smiled. "He isn't a person."

"Did you do debate in high school?" Lisa snapped.

"No." Dean looked at her as though she were saying that the sky was purple.

Lisa gave him a disgusted look. "Well, please don't twist my words: it makes me frustrated."

"I'm just telling it like it is," Dean said. "Bath kills people and doesn't bat an eye."

"Isn't that how gods are supposed to be?"

"Bath isn't a god."

Lisa rubbed her arm. "Why are you so intent on painting him as the bad guy? Look at everything he's done for you. For humanity."

Dean's smile grew a little wider, his expression colder. "He did all of this to me, not for me. There's a difference."

"Dean, you're being stubborn: you're arguably the most important person in the entire COTD."

Dean understood why Lisa thought he was being stubborn. From the outside, what she was saying was true: Bath had given him numerous advantages that, although forced, were overwhelmingly generous. At the same time, he couldn't reconcile what Bath had done--and continued to do to others--with his own values.

"We're not getting anywhere," he said. "If I promise to sit down and talk with Bath about my reservations regarding what he's done specifically to me, can you talk to him about something else, something specific?"

Lisa cocked her head to the side, then nodded. "Before I say yes, what do you want me to talk to him about?"

"I want you to talk to him about desensitizing people to violence."

Lisa blinked. "Oh. What do you want me to say?"

Dean crossed his arms, leaning his right foot on his left knee. "Whatever you want." Unlike Bath, Lisa seemed like a person with a conscience. "You're a kursi; you have the power to mentally manipulate whoever you want, and yet, you don't."

Lisa gave him a complex look. "Alright, I'll talk to him. Remember, you need to sit down and have a real discussion. I don't want you to harbor resentment toward him."

Dean nodded. "I'll talk to him."