As it turns out, the Colony’s new trading partners are fairly accustomed to bringing less… swim-capable creatures down into their watery abode. Perhaps not necessarily ones as large as I am, but hey, it all works out in the end.

When I arrive at the beach, I find a team of brathian mages ready and waiting to transport us down beneath the waves.

[So… how does this work?] I ask Enid.

The old woman frowns at me. She’s a lot less mobile than she used to be, and the Colony has given her a permanent aide in the form of a support ant for her to lean on.

[How would I know?] she says. [I’ve never been down this deep, and I’ve certainly never been invited to visit a brathian in their home.]

[Are they famously inhospitable or something?]

[Nothing of the sort. They just don’t often invite any but their closest allies into their cities. Not the ones underwater anyway.]

Huh. So I suppose they have cities above water on the surface. Still, I would like to know how the heck this is going to work.

I make a request of the mage assigned to me, a sturdy-looking fellow absolutely dripping in enchanted gear and cores. My guess is it’s all to try and protect him from my powerful ant influence. He passes on my question, and eventually I get connected to Eran Thouris again, who explains the process to me.

[Our mages will create a platform for you all to stand on, then shape the water around you, allowing the platform to descend, while keeping you all quite dry. Using magic, they will leach oxygen from the water, so there is no need to fear suffocation. While you are in our care, no harm will come to you, rest assured.]

I’m not even sure I technically need to breathe, but the humans surely do. Heh, weaklings.

[That’s going to need to be a sturdy platform,] I reply, shifting my feet a little, [I’m… uh… not as lightweight as I used to be.]

[No fear,] Eran assures me. [We are quite practised at this, and regularly bring entire trade caravans beneath the waves.]

Well, this whole venture is an exercise in trust. If the Colony is going to successfully get along with anyone down here, we need to show we are willing to take a leap of faith. Extend the antenna of friendship, so to speak. Naturally, if the brathians betray us, the antenna of friendship will be retracted, and replaced with the mandibles of ‘oh no you didn’t!’. Until then, I will lead by example and show trust.

For an influx of cores that will empower my siblings, I’m willing to take a lot of risks! And if our goods prove successful, then maybe people will be less likely to declare war on us! We’ve got a war with the Krath brewing at the moment, I’d rather not have to keep butting heads with the ka’armodo and Legion.

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One enemy at a time, please!

In short order, a wide platform is formed, almost fifty by fifty metres, and we all file onto it. A few minutes later, it begins to descend, and remarkably, the water just slides up the sides, as if we are protected by an invisible dome.

Which… we are… obviously.

It’s a rather unnerving sight, if I’m honest, and my poor ant heart quavers as the water rises up the walls, arches overhead and then meets in the middle. I’m completely submerged.

And down we go, even deeper.

The view is spectacular, though, holy moly. The water of the fourth stratum isn’t like that rubbish water from Earth. I don’t care how fancy you think that mineral spring is, that water is like the muck at the bottom of your garbage bin compared to this. Filled to the brim with Life and Water mana, the lake is a dazzling, vibrant place filled with light, plants, fish, sharks, crabs, jellyfish and everything else aquatic. The water shimmers like jewellery as we sink further and further down, transitioning from a bright turquoise to a deep sapphire as we leave the surface behind.

Enid grabs onto my leg.

[It’s beautiful,] she murmurs to my mind, and I have to agree.

I mean, it’s no well-built tunnel, but it’ll do in a pinch. The monsters down here seem a lot more reticent than I expected. During the wave, we were getting a horde of massive sea beasts pouring out of the water at a constant rate, but now that we’re down here, I don’t sense any of them nearby. I ask Eran about it and she explains.

[We take measures to passively keep the monster population away from us. We can’t push them away from too large an area, or that causes problems of its own, but for now, we have extended that protection up toward your nest to ensure a smooth journey.]

Interesting. I focus a bit more carefully, trying to get a sense of what they are doing, and I vaguely get a hint of something I think I may have sensed before. It’s a monster, for sure, the touch of my own kind is quite recognisable. Strong one, too, but no sooner do I catch a whiff of it than the sense is gone, hidden from view.

A moment later, we cross over some sort of underwater barrier and find ourselves within the brathian territory proper. We start to see them, humanoid, scaled people with fins on their arms and legs, drifting in the water. They swim incredibly fast, shooting through the water like they’ve been blasted out of a cannon. I see farms of kelp, hunters out collecting fish and checking traps, patrols of armed and armoured soldiers, and then we draw close enough to see the city.

It’s larger than I thought it would be, tall buildings formed of colourful stone, or perhaps coral? Sandy fields that glitter like gold flakes, busy community centres filled with brathians coming and going, buying and selling. In fact, I see a lot of buying and selling. I feel like everywhere I look, there’s a market.

[Is it really necessary to have so many different places to buy and sell?] I ask Eran as we float over the city. The people below are so focused on their haggling they don’t even notice the giant ant and friends overhead.

Eran Thouris smiles as she looks down on the city of her people.

[It’s very necessary. Brathians in general are commercially minded, and those of us who live in the conglomerates doubly so. Most families will run a store out of their house, regardless of what they do for a living. Buying and selling is a way of life for us. If we were to put all of the stores in the city in a single location, nobody would ever leave. And the rioting would be terrible.]

Whoa there. That took a turn I wasn’t expecting.

[Excuse me? Rioting?]

[Oh yes. Negotiations can be very passionate.]

Holy moly. These people are just as crazy as Beyn. Instead of worshipping a big ant, they worship commerce.

I’m kind of excited to meet the leader of these crazy people. In the world of obsessed business-fish, he’s got to be the biggest and richest of them all.