Seven syren guarded the main gate of Reshfen. Two sat atop the white marble walls with metallic speaking trumpets strapped to their belts. Two more, bearing polearms, each stood at one side of the stone pathway. The final three all sat observantly in divots in the carved artwork - each positioned within an arm's reach of prominent statues of the trimurative goddesses.

Two of the nereid trio waved to the longest, muscular syren sitting in one of the guard posts. Her face was elegant and fierce, her eyes a striking gold color that glew softly as she looked over everyone entering into the city. Long black hair was tied back into a whip-like braid. Her plumage was the same shade of purple as a young urchin, feathers slicked down and pressed against her body.

She acknowledged them with a curt nod. Keyes’s cheeks blushed a blueish color as he pretended not to see the way his friends were waving at his mother.

“Morning, Captain Falcata,” Naoto greeted with a serene and sunny smile, trying to appear innocently adorable.

“Morning, Keyes’s mom! Lookin’ fierce!” Lluvan waved and grinned.

Keyes dragged them both away by their wrists before they embarrassed him further.

Lined with various shops and vendors, the main canal ran vertically deep into the heart of Reshfen’s mountainous formation. Reddish windows of crab-chitin resin bubbled out of the stonework. Ropes of large, dangling algae orbs trailed the dark side-canals and residential halls like tunnels of green stars.

With much of the sunlight blocked out by the natural walls, the springtime water was cooler and Naoto stuck closer to the walls - where open shops and alcoves wafted out warmer water.

Naoto slowed, floating in the tepid water.

The main canal, always busy, felt more dense than usual - a sticky, persistent feeling crawled along the reaches of Naoto’s empathic Will-sense.

“You okay?” Lluvan asked. His hand hovered close to Naoto’s shoulder yet did not touch him, knowing that Naoto hated being touched when the emotions he sensed were too big. Lluvan was good about physical contact when it mattered.

Naoto shook his head, hazel bangs rustling from the motion. He looked to Keyes. “Going to guess your mom didn’t say anything about why she’s at the main gate?”

“Just that I should use it today.” Keyes sighed. He let out a disappointed, muted trill and scratched at the small feathers lining his neck. “Why, what do you feel?”

“It’s heavy and sticky,” Naoto folded his arms across his chest, dark tail flicking. “But alert. Waiting. Anxious. Everyone is holding their breath, like when a jelly swarm comes through. But worse.”

“We should get off the main drag,” Keyes said. “Ask around. Traveller’s Grotto would probably be the best place to start.”

The three swam deeper down before turning into a side canal. The pressure around them built before decreasing as they made their way toward the outer shell of the city. The way was void of people, save for the three civil guards who passed them going the opposite way.

The section of the city known as Traveler’s Grotto was marked by large windows of chitin resin, where the basalt walls were supported by roughly carved columns. In some places the ground was carpeted by soft sea moss, in others there were stalls for working animals like draft eels and itajara. At the end of stalls and indoor campsites was a set of grand doors, shut and barred from the inside.

For visiting nereids it was a place in Reshfen to rest if the inns were full, or if they traveled with larger animals. Late spring wasn’t a particularly busy time for merchant caravans, domestic or foreign, but the grotto was notably quiet.

While Naoto and Keyes stopped at the sight of the closed doors, Lluvan swam ahead to the eel stables.

Naoto hung his head. “Guess this is what those guards we passed were up to.”

Keyes frowned and shook his head, dark hair streaking in the water. He looked around. “There has to be someone around here we can ask. They can’t just close the whole city.”

“The city’s closed all the time when my dad wants to get in,” Naoto remarked indignantly. His mouth pulled to the side in a pout. “They don’t close the gates when jellyfish come through, it blocks the flow and traps the jellies.”

“Guys,” Lluvan breathed lowly as he swam back to them. His dusky face almost paled, his blue eyes wide. “I asked one of the eel hostlers why it’s a ghost town in here. Turns out the caravan from Atmos did arrive… just not all of it.”

Keyes’s tail flicked. “What do you mean ‘not all of it’?”

“One guy made it,” Lluvan said, wringing his hands. His sapphire gills flared. “Something attacked them in the Northern Clear Current. The one guy who made it is missing an arm and has consumption.”

The five habitable nereidic territories spread throughout the Five Seas, separated by vast stretches of dead water. Nothing lived in the dead water, no aquatic species could breathe it - and even if they could, the layers of tainted flotsam that plagued it would entangle them worse than any jellyfish. A lone nereid managing to survive a fraction of it, and escape, was a miracle. The only ones who could traverse it were overlanders, whose vessels could skim the surface above the watery wastes.

Clear currents were ways through the deadly waters. The clear currents were generally neutral waters: to nereids an attack would be unsightly; overlanders would consider violence while on the currents to be back luck - even animals respected the natural neutrality.

Lluvan slunk behind Keyes, curling his long tail around the half-mer: “Do you think it’s the Lotan?”

Keyes shook his head, then shrugged off Lluvan’s touchy embrace with a practiced ease. “The Lotan hasn’t been in these waters in almost eighteen years.”

Naoto took a deep breath, but rolled his eyes. “Maybe it’s just coming to give me an early birthday present.”

He would know. His dad had told him the story plenty of times growing up; that he had been found in the aftermath of the Lotan’s last sighting in Seafaes. It had been a winter day, and Naoto had been several months old by that time, so father had decided that Naoto’s birthday would be mid-summer. The summer solstice, specifically.

“Like: ‘Happy Birthday, here’s a giant, translucent sea monster made of guts!’” Naoto’s pupils grew big as he mocked the situation, spreading his fingers wide.

Lluvan snorted. He leaned on Keyes’s back with a grin. “Well, you got your answer about the caravan. Sort of. What’s the plan now, are you going to tell your dad?”

Naoto ran his hands down his face as he thought. His white-spotted, black tail writhed in frustration. No caravan meant no money coming in, which would mean things would be tight for a while. It wasn’t a new situation, but his dad had been so insistent on this specific caravan. It meant more stress for Ondes, which would mean the possibility of another episode and more time away from the clinic.

“I don’t know,” Naoto muttered into his long fingers. “I’ve got to, right? Tell him, I mean. This isn’t the news I was hoping for, I expected them to be delayed… not dead.”

“If you need us to bring you anything, just let us know,” Keyes offered. He ignored the way Lluvan was picking at the small feathers on his neck. “Supplies, snacks-”

“Dreamfish,” Lluvan added with a scoff. His suggestion earned him a swat on the nose from Keyes, though it did cause Naoto to chuckle.

“Still have my stash,” he half-smiled. The small jar of sarpa salpa was hidden in the back of his closet. “The clinic’s well-stocked, made sure of that this morning before I left. We have enough food for the week… But maybe eggs? Bird eggs. My dad likes those.” He stuck out his tongue in disgust. “He likes the crunch they make when you eat them.”

Keyes wrinkled his nose. Lluvan licked his lips.