And in the End
At Sea

She never thought it would turn out this way. Maia had always expected that it would be a fight, a fury, a noisy, deadly rage. Everything slowed, and she was suddenly more aware of her own heart than she had been in some time.

Thump.

The ship bucked, but she held her ground.

Thump.

Her fingers went loose.

Thump.

A bloody cutlass clattered on the deck.

Thump.

The foam rose in strange torrents before her.

Thump.

The world began to tilt.

Thump.

She looked the angry ocean in the eye, and made her peace.

Thump.

One more breath.

Thump.

Maia closed her eyes and did not feel sorrow, nor rage. She was, in fact, surprised at what she saw alone there, in the dark of her imagination. Dark eyes and mussed hair. Half a smile, followed by a warm, full laugh. A rough hand in hers, on her, tangled in her hair. A smell that meant home. It had meant everything, for a while. It had saved her, once.

By god, she was sorry that she was never going there again. It was beyond choice, though. As she spilled into the gaping maw of the roiling sea, Maia let go of her life.

Valkyries
Earlier Still, H?li Isle

She knew then why she had been having the nightmares again. That woman?that awful insidious thing?had never prowled around in her subconscious without reason. Celaeno whispered in riddles, and Maia, in sleep, could smell that they were bathed in blood. It unnerved her, and she tried to shake it off, to forget what she had been and what, in many ways, she would always be. She denied her place, but the dreams persisted, as they always did. Maia could not place to what end these dreams would come until the evening she sat in the tavern with Ayrani, celebrating the closure of the wildly hopeful deal.

Hope, that day, was contracted by Harold Lowe and Maia d'Thalia. The long-term agreement with the large farmer's cooperative on H?li would ensure that their newly hatched shipping company would have a lucrative contract and would help provide them with many of the contacts they may need to keep a multi-vessel fleet at work, year round. This was the start they had wanted, and with Harry back at home, keeping the business running, Maia lifted her cup to him and smiled. Rani and Maia were very much looking forward a relaxing night in port, but it was inevitable that they would overhear the tense, quiet voices.

He was taking the girls. Sometimes the women, but most often the young ones. The vulnerable. The malleable. When Rani heard the name they attached to the urgently spoken pronoun, every part of her stiffened in place, and Maia took notice. Sharp green eyes narrowed to slits, and her jaw set in defiant, deathless hatred. The elf turned her head towards the conversation, staring without discretion or manner. Maia?s own gaze followed, and there they looked until the whispering stopped.

She noted that the elf?s hand was trembling very, very slightly.

?He?s the one,? Maia breathed as she felt her own tension rise.

Ayrani looked to Maia, a slow burn, and nodded once in the affirmative.

?Did you bring your knives??

A second nod from the elf. Maia looked out the window towards a lighthouse in the distance. It was the only thing that cut through the darkness and brought the sailors home. It was the only thing out there besides the black.

?So did I," she whispered, and the two women rose to interview the small, battered group nearby.

It wasn?t a long conversation, and the details were numerous enough. The slaver had set up shop on an island not too far from H?li, and had been using the locals in a radius of about a hundred miles as cattle for his operation. Tarsolei was a specialty dealer, and he handled women the way that one might deal in exotic birds or caged predators. It was sickening, and in some parts of this screwed up world, it was still legal. As long as he wasn?t caught red-handed in the abductions, nobody could do anything about it within the confines of the law.

He was taking their daughters, sometimes their mothers. Once, he had taken Rani and she was never the same again.

Maia talked and Rani listened, and they soon learned more than enough to go find him. A rescue party had been sent a year prior with disastrous results. Most of the men had died, and the only ones who survived and made it home were gravely injured. Not one of their women had been returned in the effort. Most of the girls hadn?t even been there; they?d been sold by that point. The ones that remained at the island compound had barely been shadows of themselves. They hadn?t even tried to run. Those poor people had been too frightened to even think of living life outside of a collar, anymore.

He doesn?t kill the women, they said. He keeps them. He likes to watch them disappear in tiny increments, they said. Brave, strong men...they feared this man. They had lost friends and loves and vitality to this villain. Tarsolei. The longer Maia chewed on the name, the more she knew why all had aligned to bring her here. It was the call, but it came for a demon of another color. She often had nightmares before she had to meet them, and this mortal was no exception. He was the kind of nightmare that had to gall to walk around in a human body with a human face. He was a demon who would do it again, soon.

Every attempt to rescue his prisoners, thus far, had been a disaster. Like any other precious commodity, the slaves were heavily and carefully guarded by people trained to die to defend them and to keep them locked away. This was where the mission had always failed. It was in the intent of the few brave enough to try to recover what had been stolen from the world. People that loved these enslaved women went in hoping to find them, to bring them home, to save them.

But those women didn?t need a savior. They needed a killer. A hunter. A Valkyrie.

They were about to get two.

Always
Daily Bread


If I am late, come for me.

She gave him a command as irresistible as any command could be, and he obeyed with the single-minded intensity such a command could set ablaze inside of him.

Harold understood life at sea; he had lived it for so long that he knew the winds and waves and currents never bent to the will of men or women. The sea moved in patterns ancient, ones there long before humanity, ones that would be there after humanity was gone. He didn't panic when she was listed overdue. That was the life of a sailor -- there was no such thing as a perfect time-table, when you relied on the wind to carry you.

And if there was one sailor he had faith in the ability to survive that unpredictability and uncertainty, it was Maia d'Thalia.

But when the envelope landed on his doorstep, he shifted from the certainty that she would be home any morning, to the certainty that he would go and bring her home. And to Hell with the sea, slavers or ill-winds. Nothing would stop him.

The time while Maia was gone had been spent building up quite a good shipping firm. They had a decent number of contracts, enough to keep the Marietta, Dauntless and Al Na'ir working steadily. Te Maru had been Maia's to take for something smaller, but similarly profitable. The Balclutha still sat quietly, awaiting her day to put to sea, but Harold still didn't know under who's command she would go.

They had been together for a year; the anniversary of that day spent with her still over-due at sea. He had honored her anyway. He took the day off, and sat in the Lighthouse, drinking tea, smiling, calling up the warmth he felt when he thought of her in the morning's light, and the joy that was his for the first morning he woke up holding her here, in this spot.

There was not a day he didn't wake where he didn't hope she would be next to him; not a day where a sail appeared on the horizon that he didn't hope was hers. But he held his composure and certainty -- they were still sailors both, and that meant patience and love over months and distances.

But now...

Harold roared onto the docks in a metaphorical sense; a fire-whirl, a moving flame in the cool air. The Al Na'ir was in port, and the brigantine that he and Maia had started their hope with was certainly capable of braving a stormy, autumn sea. Greystone had been her Captain now for awhile. When Harold gave him the news, Grey immediately leaped into action -- sent runners out to get the crew who was just starting to settle on land for leave. Harry went to the offices next. The supplies slated to be stocked aboard the Dauntless at her arrival in port were diverted to the Al Na'ir; it would slow the large ship down only by a few days, but it would be enough for Al Na'ir to put to sea immediately.

"Continue business as usual, once the Dauntless is back out. I'm certain you can handle the contracts," Harold said, as he signed off on the book keeping that would allow his and Maia's business to continue running in his absence.

"Yes sir," Parker said. A smart girl, business-savvy, she was a fairly recent hire. Maia hadn't met her yet, but Harry was certain that she would like the young lady -- she was one of the few women her age in Rhy'Din not tying her self-worth to how many men were lusting after her. Besides, Hayes had recently taken over control of the shipping firm's many docks and drydocks, and would certainly be keeping an eye on things herself. "I'll make sure we're still in the black when you and Captain d'Thalia return," Parker added.

"Good." Harry wasted no more time; he buttoned his peacoat and headed out the door with only a wave and a 'good luck' behind him.

Parker sent back a 'Godspeed' and he was on his way back down to the Al Na'ir.

By then, the crew was half reassembled, and the first carts had already arrived. Grey was directing things below, though he turned that over to one of his young bucks to speak with Harold. "Do we know where she is, sir?"

"Approximately," Harry answered, pulling the envelope out of his pocket. He managed to summon a brief, apologetic look. "I'm afraid you're down to mate again, Grey."

Grey stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes in an obviously exaggerated manner. "Aye aye, Captain. Because, ya know, I woulda made it to captain in my lifetime without you and Captain d'Thalia holdin' me down to the fo'c'sle."

"Belay that sarcasm," Harold said, but it was with a bit of a smile. "C'mon. Let's go below and chart a course to retrieve the other half of this," he added, then gave Grey a clap on the shoulder and jogged for the hatch.




Maia of the dawn was as faithful as the sunrise, and Harold would never even imagine being less. She was not dead; the mere idea of it was impossible for him to fathom. Certainly, there was always reality lurking around suggesting otherwise, but Harry just knew. He knew she was alive, just like he knew the sun would rise. It was a fact, unassailable.

Al Na'ir set sail towards the snarling black horizon, with Grey and Ducky calling orders to their watches and their captain standing on the foredeck with his eyes narrowed at the oncoming storm.

If I am late, come for me.

He heard it, as clear as bell, whispered next to his ear -- as though she were standing here, or waking next to him in bed, or wrapped in his arms as they waited for the water to heat for their tea.

And he was certain that she knew his reply, whispered now:

"Always."

Stay the Course
Above

Ayrani came to on the deck of Te Maru, adrift on a calm sea. It was unseasonably warm, still. The last thing she recalled was the ship sustaining significant damage from the leviathan. She didn?t remember losing consciousness, but her throbbing head gave her an idea of the cause of the blackout. Rani squinted against the sun as she rose to her feet and looked around.

She was deeply disturbed. The captain was gone; it was as though the sea itself had opened up and swallowed her whole. The ship was as tidy as it could possibly be; not a thing was out of order, anywhere. There didn?t seem to be as much as a scratch or a dent from the battle with the beast. It made no sense.

She was far enough from land that there were no marks to guide her. Water on every side, as far as the eye could see. Provisions were limited, but there was enough to take her a bit of the way. No sign of bad weather on the horizon. Off the starboard bow, a small pod of dolphins frolicked.

She took a deep breath, and tried to accept that she was alone, and that she may have to sail back to Rhydin bearing news that she did not want to consider herself. For the first time in a long time, Ayrani felt genuinely fearful of something. That elf, however, was about as resilient as a creature could be. By sundown, she was calm and focused. As the stars began to shed their light on the sea below, Ayrani looked up and set her course. Alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean, she would be of use to no one. She took action. It?s what her captain would have done.


..:::':::....:::':::....:::':::..


Below

Maia wasn?t in hell. She would have been at least moderately prepared for that; she?d seen a few versions of the underworld firsthand (and Rhydin had always offered a few different versions of hell for any number of its denizens). Rather than hell, Maia found herself the drafted leader of a group of rather bubble-headed creatures with access to an awful lot of big magic, but not a whole lot of context or horse-sense to go with it. Kidnapping seemed like an awfully harsh way of putting it, and frankly, the merfolk didn?t seem like they?d be quite up to that level of duplicity. Something else was behind her sudden change of career.

Which is why it didn?t surprise her in the least the morning that Celaeno appeared in her chamber; someone had pull the strings to put this epic joke into motion. Maia had been in that strange place they called the Chamber for ten days on the day that Cela came to visit. The woman rose straight up from the water like Venus herself, as though it were the most normal thing in all the world. Maia willed up what patience she could, and then she stood. The silvery robe she had been given to wear fell in a clean, straight line to her ankles. With her chin held so indignantly she did nearly look regal.

?I?m not asleep, which makes me wonder what you are doing here,? Maia said flatly.

?I cannot come calling when you are conscious?? Her voice lilted, like a spring wind over a hillside.

?It hasn?t been your way in ten years, no.?

Cela smiled in response to that, and raised her palms in a hapless gesture. Maia hated the theatrics of these interactions, and was less than pleased to be living one instead of just dreaming it.

?Why are you here, Celaeno??

?Ask me plainly and I must answer. I came to see if you are happy with the shift in the wind.?

?I don?t follow.? Maia crossed her arms, and kept a distance between herself and the...whatever Cela was. Nymph. Fairy. Titaness. Demigod. It was never made perfectly clear. All those years, she had been kept on a ?need-to-know? basis. Any thinking person would wonder what lived between the lines.

Cela made herself at home, settling on the edge of the bed as she began to explain.

?We figured that you would eventually return to the mission, but it appears you were quite effectively sidetracked. You made it clear you wouldn?t be an instrument anymore, and we had to keep you in the balance. You belong in the equation.?

?I belong at home, or with my ship. Why the hell can?t you all just leave me be??

?Because you asked for this.? On a dime Cela?s tone turned from lilting to flat, impatient, a cold brand of anger. She stood and neared Maia, and Maia had the good sense to worry. There was nowhere to run, and she knew (or at least very strongly suspected) she couldn?t kill Cela. Worst of all, it wasn?t entirely untrue. ?You should never forget that, Maia.?

?I asked for the fight, yes. I didn?t ask for the rest of it.?

?There is always a price, Maia.?

?I?ve paid my debt.?

?Nearly, yes, but we have use for you yet.?

Maia took a deep breath, trying to cool the flare of anger. Those sorts of impulses were so rarely productive. With the exhale, more words, the most patient tone she could muster. ?I do not belong here. I belong at home.?

?I tend to agree, quarami.?

?So what do they need me to do? These mer-things are bloody cryptic.?

?It?s why they were chosen for you. It?s easy to write them a new script, if you catch my meaning.?

?So tell me.? Maia caught herself again, and carefully added the final syllable, perhaps the only thing that Cela wanted to hear from her. ?Please.?

?Make no mistake; it was recently written, but it does not make it less true: you are their sovereign being, and they are in need of someone with your talents. See them through their troubles, and home will find you soon enough.?

Cela moved back towards the water, where presumably she would disappear, disintegrate, or otherwise depart again.

?And then what?? Maia asked. Cela did not turn.

?And then you may be rid of us for a long while, if all stays as we intend.?

?Oh god, I hope so.?

Maia said it to nothing; the witch was already gone.

In the Chamber
Below

Night and morning were impossibly mixed in her head. It was always light in a way, where she was, and all of her needs were simply provided for. If she?d had some free will about it, it wouldn?t have been the worst situation in the world. As it was not her choice, Maia was a little worried that she?d lose her mind, and she was a lot worried that she would never live her own life again. She wanted to feel the ocean rolling beneath a ship, again. She needed to see Harry again.

And yet, there was something about this place...something deeply healing, on a physical level. Maia gathered it was what had kept her from sustaining noticeable injuries from the fight with the leviathan and why, despite her kept existence, she was so keenly aware of her own strength, of late. Even the scar Valdas left at her neck seemed somewhat improved. The phantom itch of an aborted vampire curse haunted her no longer. She wondered if it was still as pink as it used to be.

Where she had once seen the rather airy mentality of the merfolk as novel and unthreatening before, Maia was beginning to worry they weren?t even aware of whatever it was that she was supposed to help them with. She needed to help them in order to get home, or rather, for home to find her. The day that everything changed was something of a blessing, on that front.

Tero looked haunted when he arrived with a meal for her. It had taken her the better part of her time there to get him to stop addressing her as ?My Liege.? She had settled for ?ma?am,? eventually, as at least it was familiar in her ear. That day, the first thing Tero did was address her in a rather uncertain stammer.

?My Liege,? he said, and he did not look up to greet her.

?What is it, fish-boy?? Tero smiled weakly at her attempt to put him at ease with her jest. Maia had figured out early on that this merman was probably her ticket out of this gilded cage, so she had been gentle and relatively kind with him. Familiar. Matronly, perhaps. She could see on that guileless face that he had begun to trust her. Though it was all an act, at first, lately she had begun to feel genuinely fond of him in an odd way.

?It?s happening again. After you have finished with your meal, I am to take you to see.?

She simply nodded and took the covered plate from him. The cover unscrewed from the shallow dish, rather like an upended jar. She wondered if she had been brought through the water to this place in a person-sized container like that. It was a mildly unsettling thought. Inside was fruit that had long been out of season in Rhydin?berries and melons, mostly. Some cucumbers. A sweet drink she had been told was nectar. This was a typical meal; nothing they ever brought her was cooked. No fires in mer-land.

?Please tell me what is happening again, Tero,? she said as she knelt near the water, placing her dish on the floor beside her. Maia lifted a slice of cucumber, and glanced furtively at the spooked creature. He was very clearly afraid.

?Come here, now,? Maia said gently. He complied, as he always did. She placed her palm along his cheek, which was cool and damp. His skin felt different from her own flesh in its firmness. The warmth of her hand was as foreign a sensation to him as most of this experience was to her. He felt a jolt from her hand that peeled through him and steeled his fraying nerves. His eyes slipped shut, and even the pomp and circumstance he carried with him fell away.

"I would never let harm befall you, ma'am. Not for all the world."

?I know, boy, ? she said. So long as this creature was her link to the world, Maia felt certain that she could believe that. She knew it just as certainly as she knew that she could slit his throat if it would buy her freedom back. It was sickening to be put in such a position. Tero didn't know. At her touch and her kindness, he was quiet a long moment, as though trying to pull the right collection of words together. ?My Liege. They are dying again...my people. We cannot tell the cause or the source, but all have faith in you, ma?am.?

?I understand. And I shall go to see, with my own eyes, what has happened??

Tero looked grimmer again, and Maia watched him with care. ?There is a place the shells are left for us to see. Sacred waters, profaned by the blood of my kin.? He trembled as he spoke, and the pieces started to fall into place. He was going to take her away from the chamber, and she was going to have her chance, perhaps, to find a way out of this.

Maia wondered if this was the short way out of captivity, or if perhaps she would finally get a clue about the ones who had recruited her for demon duty. If she could figure out what it was that they thought she owed, maybe she could finally stop being haunted by Celaeno, and by every nasty thing that goes bump in the night. Escape, and continue run from the past, or remain captive and perhaps free herself from it. Only the ?perhaps? gave her any pause; Maia knew the price of running.

?I have finished, Tero,? she said, putting the plate back together and handing it to him. He took it with a gracious nod, then said ?Ma?am, we will arrive in moments with your transport. Is there anything else you will require??

?My sword.?

?You will have guard.?

?And if I am to leave the safety of this chamber, I will have my sword.?

?Of course.?

He ducked beneath the surface, and she stood at the water?s edge, watching him swim towards the side of the chamber where things entered and exited. She had as many questions as ever, but at least she was starting to get some answers. In minutes, the transport arrived.

Maia had never seen anything like it. It was the sort of thing one might dream up in a fairy story. Its hull had a smooth ivory gleam, and even ridges. It was narrow, and shaped to glide through the water with ease. Spaced along the hull was what looked like thick glass windows, placed with an offbeat, but discernible sense of symmetry. On either side of it, dolphins began to surface, and circle around the perimeter of the chamber. Tero came up next, with a smile.

?All is prepared. Your sword awaits.?

?In there??

?Yes, ma?am.?

And then the vessel opened as though on a hinge, rather like a clam shell. The inside was the color of a stormy sky, a pale blue grey. Inside were three odd little seats, seemingly formed of the hard grey surface. Maia was suddenly quite happy that she was not a very big thing. Her sword (thank goodness) was sheathed in its scabbard and still attached to the old leather belt that had served her for ages. Her own things- a sight for sore eyes. Maia gingerly stepped in and settled into one of the seats, which, miraculously, was not completely uncomfortable.

?How does this move??

?The allies, you see, will take it.?

?Wait, you mean the dolphins??

?Yes.?

?Are our allies??

?Yes. They helped us to find you.?

?Huh.?

That was the last she said before the odd clamshell ship closed. Through the windows she watched as the dolphins, six to be exact, took rank and formation around this transport, holding what Maia assumed was the merfolk equivalent of hardy rope in their beaks. This just continued to get wilder in her mind. She had been made a captive monarch by mermaids after being set up by Celaeno and apparently ratted out by dolphins. Maia found herself, then, en route to a mermaid murder scene by way of giant submerged clamshell carriage. A sad little smile tugged at her lips as she watched out the window as other merfolk took rank near the carriage and followed the procession.

?Harry would never believe this.?

Purpose
Below

In the days after she left The Grove, Maia was haunted by the sheer volume of destruction that had been before her eyes. The dozens and dozens of bodies made her angry, and in that anger, she found her purpose. It didn?t matter that this whole fiasco had the stench of setup. It didn?t matter that she had, once again, been taken from what was finally starting to be a reasonably normal life. These people were dying long before it was their time, and the utter senselessness of it infuriated her to her boiling point. She was going to stop the perpetrator of these horrible crimes, just as soon as she could figure out who, or what, was behind them.

If only she could even begin to figure it out. She was sitting in the Queen?s Chamber, her brow knit, doing little. There was nowhere for her to go. There was nothing for her to tend to. She was supposed to sit around, and use her god-given powers as new monarch of these strange people to unlock the mystery which left few clues, none of which made any sense. Maia tried to think, and she was earnestly trying not to wallow in frustration and self-doubt when the Ambassador surfaced in her Chamber.

?Hello, Tero.?

?Ma?am. I have come to see if there is any news,? he said. The upward lilt of his strange voice made it sound a little like a question, or perhaps a little hopeful. His English was certainly improving.

?Tero, it is very difficult for me to work in a place like this. I have no access to anything that helps me. I have no tools, I have no books, I have no concept of how your people fit into this. Can you show me or tell me anything at all that you might find useful?? She stifled her sigh of frustration. It didn?t seem very regal. Good god, she was glad she did not have to play a queen in front of these people too often. Maia sucked at it.

?There are some books. Many, though I do not know how many are in tact enough that you might be able to read them. I do not know if I can take you to the nesting grounds, as it may compromise your safety.?

?Tero, I am an awkward two legged creature, and I killed that leviathan.?

"You had assistance."

"I had very little assistance."

"It was a small beast."

"It was still large enough to attempt to eat my ship, Tero, and it is dead."

?This is so, though I must point out that you were in terrible danger. Had we not been nearby...?

?Ah, but you will be nearby. You will be right nearby.?

?I am uncertain this is wise; I am duty-bound to say so.? said Tero doubtfully. He had become rather fond of his sovereign in a way that went beyond his vast sense of duty. Unfortunately for him, Maia had just latched on to his sense of duty.

?If I give you a command, are you bound to obey it??

?I am, as are we all by your sovereignty.?

?Excellent. It is my command that I be taken to the nesting ground.? Whatever that is, she thought.

Tero bowed his head and lifted his hand, fingers spread wide. It was a salute of sorts. Though clearly, it displeased him, he replied as she expected.

?I shall prepare the craft, ma?am.?

..:::':::....:::':::....:::':::..

This time, though it was awkward for him, Tero climbed inside of the vessel to sit with her and answer her questions. He also knew that if any ill befell the craft, he could help her to escape and take her to the surface where all of that incredibly useful air would be. It was the first time that Maia was really able to study the clever patterns of his marking, and get a look at his rather interesting physiology. He was strong, as anything that spends a lot of time swimming ought to be, but there was something really beautiful about the way nature dappled his flank; the elegant composition of the creature.

?I do not mean to make you uncomfortable, Tero. I just have never seen anything like you.?

?I am not uncomfortable. Many of my own people are fascinated by the look of you, as well; it only stands to reason.?

?Do you sleep, Tero??

?We do not spend much time in sleep. We do not dream. I have read about dreams, and when I understood what it meant, I thought it would be such a thing, to dream. Perhaps that is why you are the one to lead us. You can do something that not one of us can.?

It was sweet, in a way, and tragic. The innocence of his people is what led to this. Humans died by the score all the time, but it was largely because they were stupid, violent creatures. On the whole, the merfolk were peaceful, so they never could have seen something like this coming. Yes, Maia felt fairly confident ruling out incredibly-evil-mermaid on her list of suspects.

Soon they arrived, and he got very quiet. The dolphins broke formation and disappeared; they wanted nothing to do with whatever this place had to offer. In their place came a dozen of the females, and Maia admired them, too. They were fiercer, larger, and more powerful than the males. Their more explosive colors sent a very clear message in the vast blue of the deep. Stay away.

The nesting ground was spooky. The collection of ships that had wrecked there did not scream coincidence...either there was once a great naval battle here, or the monsters just reared up out of the sea and ate anything they could get their nasty tentacles/teeth/extra mouths on. The monsters had moved into the wreckage and used many of the olds nooks and crannies as hiding places for eggs or young. Maia watched with fascination as a well coordinated team of mermaids, about fifteen, by her count, swam in an alert formation to gather up the large, translucent eggs that, left alone, would one day become full grown kraken. They were not nurturing beasts, so the mother or father was nowhere to be found.

"What will become of the eggs?" Maia asked quietly as she watched the fierce reds and fiery oranges swimming from the individual nest with one egg tucked under each powerful arm.

"We usually feed them to the allies. They are a delicacy, and part of why they are always so eager to help. They enjoy the kraken, but when we are able to something rare, like a hydra, they seem quite elated. I think their favorite is orctapus."

"I have never even heard of that," Maia said. And she had heard of some seriously fucked up monsters.

"It is the hope of the merfolk that you never will. They mostly eat shark, and whale now, though they also prey on the other great beasts. I have never seen a survivor come from a ship attacked by one of those. It uses the tentacles to grasp and grab, but it still has a powerful tail and a gaping maw. They are nearly impossible to kill as adults, but the young are uniquely fragile."

"And this is what you do. The merfolk, I mean."

"Yes. It is our purpose to keep the great beasts alive, but at bay."

The enormity of that responsibility did not take long to sink in, and as Maia thought about it over the days to come, it made more and more sense. These were not creatures of ambition or greed or power. It was why they were guileless and insular. It may have been why they did not dream. Still, they were inherently powerful, and it made them the only people that she could think would be equipped for such a task. Left to humans, eventually someone would try to use the beasts to their advantage, or kill them all out of spite or vengeance.

This knowledge only strengthened her resolve.

The Vault
Below

She stepped out of her craft in another one of these secret places held so dear by these secretive people, and immediately, Maia wondered why they had not brought her here to begin with. They called it the Vault, and it wasn?t an inappropriate moniker for such a space. It was a large cavern, and though it was dim, it was not pitch black. Places high, high up?too high to climb?had been eroded to the point that actual daylight poked through in fairly regular intervals. The pools of light streamed down, and she could see clear blue sky. It was a nice day out there.

?Is there anything you require?? Tero was in the shallows with her, though he didn?t make the effort to haul himself on to the beach.The dolphins had already turned about and were heading back out to sea, to do whatever it is that they did when they were not behaving in their strangely organized fashion.

?Time alone.?

?I will return at nightfall, Ma?am.? said the Ambassador, before he dutifully made his way to the water and went the way of the dolphins.

The sand beneath her feet told her that she was, in fact, on actual land (probably one of the little uninhabited islands that dotted this whole region; how she longed for her charts). It seemed the only way into this part of the cave was underwater or from very high above. Climbing out would not have been a realistic option, especially without tools of any kind. The thought of escape crossed her mind. She was, after all, only human. Still, even if the danger and the unknown quality of the world outside was not enough to deter her, her sense of duty to the merfolk would keep here there until she saw this mystery through.

This place felt more homey to her than the bright, strange, alien chamber. In part, it was the presence of verifiable sunlight and actual land. It was not some strange machination of the merfolk; it was just a place they had found. The other large piece of it was that the merfolk had used this place as a museum, of sorts. Anything they had been able to salvage from shipwrecks had been brought into this cave and dragged up on to the beach using a rather ingenious system of ropes.

Feet happily pressed into the sand, she marveled at some of the things that had been pulled from the wreckage below. There were some larger things, like a bookshelf, a few trunks, a wardrobe, and even a suit of armor that had been badly damaged by the sea. There were some pieces of clothing in various states of disrepair, there was certainly enough gold and silver and jewels hanging around to make it look like a pirate?s den. There were even pieces from some of the ships themselves: a wheel, a few mismatched oars, a tiller, and in one particularly amusing case, a sizable chunk of an ornately carved mermaid who once likely lived out her days on the prow of a ship. She had wild curling hair, soft, round features, a full bosom and a tail like a carp. Maia admired the handiwork of the artist that made her, and thought Tero so much prettier than she.

Maia found what she was hoping to find far away from the water. There, stacked one atop the other on a few overturned dresser drawers, were books. These were clearly tomes that had been carefully dried out, and though they were a mess, they still opened. Each battered book had been loved enough by someone, once, to come to sea with them. It had been something they needed, as most people who took to the sea took little else. They weren?t her books, but she loved them all the same.

Most of them were not volumes she recognized. The woman smiled at the Shakespeare hanging out at the bottom of a stack; it made her think of Harry reading to her in the bath. There were a few history books, but Maia was hoping for something else. Maia was hoping for something that might unlock a fresh idea about what was happening to the merfolk. Maia was hoping for...that, actually.

Mythical Creatures - Imponderable Beasts of Legend and Fact

Pale blue eyes settled on the faded text on the spine of the book. The text was elvish, and though her Sindarin was rusty, she figured she could muscle her way through a lot of it. She gingerly and carefully turned the wrinkled pages, looking at the drawings and reading what she about the various beasts and monsters, as compiled by Elungwen Summersong.

Immersed in that world until nightfall, Maia began to remember things about her life in the shadows that she had tucked away for safe keeping. It did not distress her; it merely made her better suited for the task at hand. When Tero came to take her away, she made certain that the tome was placed back with its brethren. Curled into her bed, drifting away, she thought of the images engraved on those pages. Even as she fell into dreams, Maia tried to pull the threads between fact, fiction, and her two wildly different lives together.

That night, she dreamed of the leviathan, rising up out of the sea to devour her ship.

Visitor

Harry and Maia had about an hour on their ship, the very same one that had begun to save her soul. They reviewed the provisions, the charts, and the situation, and decided that Al Na'ir would be able to stay at sea for another ten days or so before it would need to head into port to restock or head home. She enjoyed the luxury of a hot cup of tea, and a hot bowl of very salty soup, but just as soon as she was able to feel the thrill of home, it was time to go again.

"Good ta see ya again, Captain. You both'll be back in good time, I expect." Grey shook each of their hands as they readied to get back in the clamshell vessel and head to the heart of things.

"Thank you, Mister Grey. Take care of her," Maia replied, though she knew well that the ship was in good hands. Mister Grey was indeed left in command of the brigantine, and he would more or less hold position in the shallower, monster-free waters of some of the nearby islands until his pair of captains came back, or until the provisions became an issue.

Maia and Harry packed light. Rani had maintained the good presence of mind to fetch Maia's trunk full of scary from Te Maru, and Maia was able to grab a few of her different blades and wrapped them carefully together in a ratty wool blanket. Harry brought his gun and lightsaber, and before long, they were sitting together in the clamshell, watching the world above vanish as the hatch closed over them.

Any anxieties that Harry might have felt about the strangeness of the craft or the concept of where it was going were greatly allayed by Maia's ease with it, and the mere fact of her. There. Alive. Well. Everything was going to be fine. They went below the surface, and wonder struck him. Harry was fascinated by the process of going below and the view of the ocean from underneath: the way the light was filtered from above, the shadows of fish and the serene elegance of the dolphins as they pulled things along. Where they were playful jesters above, they glided like birds below.

They disembarked inside the Queen?s Chamber, where Maia had first come to her senses after surviving the attack of the leviathan. Tero surfaced, as he always did when she traveled, and nodded his head to his monarch and her...slightly larger male. ?Humans are a strange species,? he thought.

?Ma?am. Man. Do you require anything further??

?See that we are not disturbed, Tero, until tomorrow after the light comes.?

?It will be done.? The merman said, and then he was gone.

After spending nearly every night together for a year, Harold Lowe and Maia d?Thalia?who had not seen one another in weeks and weeks and weeks?were back in the same place, and they were alone. It does not take much wit to figure out how they would pass the time.

..:::':::....:::':::....:::':::..

Hours and hours passed, and by then, they were both asleep. It was easy to fall back into their usual places, and until her head was back on his shoulder and her curves were tucked safely around him, Maia had forgotten how strange it was to sleep anywhere else. The last few weeks had felt completely off, and here she was, right at home. Maia stirred and then opened her eyes. She lifted her head just a little to study him, a thing which had yet to grow tiresome for her. The cut of his jaw. His dark lashes. The curve of his mouth. To see him there, not simply to wish it or imagine it was the greatest gift she might have been given. With as confusing as this whole business was, she knew that at the very least, there was a person upon whom she could certainly rely to help her find her way.

She thought to wake him, just to tell him that, though she could tell that he was sleeping very heavily at the time (not that it was uncommon for Harry). No...it could wait, it would wait. Maia carefully lay her head right back where it belonged, but before she could close her eyes, something stepped from the water and into her field of vision. She sucked in a breath of surprise, and was comforted little by its familiar face.

Celaeno stood impassively at the waters edge, an almost alien tilt to her head as she looked at the pair of them. This had happened in Maia?s dreams, but never, never when she woke. Unlike the dreams, Cela didn?t say anything, she just watched and waited. Maia did not like this game.

?Harry.?

Sleepy mumble. Maia sat up and added a nudge.

?Harry. We have a visitor.?

He first saw the grim line of her mouth, the hardness in her eyes that she often reserved for a fight. Harry followed that hard gaze to the source, and in the dim though still constant light of the chamber he took in the sight of Celaeno, standing at a distance, staring right back. The look on Maia?s face told him all that he needed to know about the woman for the time being. Harry reached down to snag his gun from where it sit in its holster on the floor just beside his side of the bed, and then sat up, alert in that hurried way that accompanied such an event.

?That?s Celaeno. She was just leaving,? said Maia. If that woman neared a step, Maia was considering whether or not whatever she was could survive having its heart torn from its chest. She most emphatically would not have Harry dragged any further into this world.

Cela regarded them with something like amusement. Maia with her glare. Harry with his pistol.

?I had guessed he was taller.?

That was all that she said before she turned and left, a few gliding steps and she submerged. The water went still. Harry remembered the name from Maia?s stories, and at least he could be certain that his being was not a figment of anyone?s imagination. She was corporeal, and she was meddlesome, and she was apparently able to evade the mermaid guard. Wonderful.

At once, Maia asked for more security posted at the tunnels that led to the chamber and she made it clear that she wanted no visitors of any kind. Tero was more emphatic with the guard, and they tucked in again, not entirely at ease with the situation.

Still, Maia managed to drift off again, and when she awoke again, it was the very same thing. Cela was watching her with Harry. Harry opened his eyes and fired until his weapon was empty, but the bullets just bounced around the room. Cela crossed and crawled into bed with them, and Maia felt like she was drowning. Harry could not pull her away, though he tried. She heard nothing but the pounding of her heartbeat against her eardrums. ?Give us a kiss,? whispered the witch. Cela leaned in to take it, the metal of her pendant was painfully cold as it brushed Maia?s sternum.

Maia startled awake with a gasp. That had been a dream, but Harry had not gone to sleep. He sat beside with her head in his lap, one arm protectively around her. The Browning was nearby.

?It?s alright love, I?m watching. Get some rest.?

Maia slept a little more, but she could not shake the image of the sorceress watching her, watching them. She did not like the way Cela had looked at Harry. She did not like what was coming.

Of The Chamber


After Maia woke from her fitful slumber, Harry let himself drift off, and she was in no danfer of following suit; the latest conversation with Celaeno had rattled Maia. Pacing soundlessly around the room, she thought of what lengths she would go to for the man sleeping nearby. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that even though she had known him a relatively short time, that the answer was without limit. She would do whatever it took to keep him safe. Absolutely anything.

It occurred to her that in some strange way, Cela may feel similarly about her. The witch was right, after all. Connections only raise the stakes; they only make it more dangerous for everyone involved. Sometimes she believed that she could have it both ways. She could be what she had been, when it was vital, but she could still be the woman who ran a shipping company, restored ships, and went home to a place that smelled of fresh bread and pastry. Nobody can be that person. Not really.

It was fortunate that Tero popped up to check in, then. The distraction was needed at this point, because the monarch who was supposed to save their world was stuck. He took note of the sleeping human and was appropriately quiet. ?My Liege,?

?Tero...? she chided.

?So sorry. Ma?am. Is there anything you require? Food? Drink? I could prepare the vessel to take you and the man somewhere.?

?You are a very dutiful ambassador. My needs are met, thank you.?

?If I may be so bold as to trouble you with a query.?

?You may, Tero.? Maia pulled the skirt up over her knees and sat on the floor, letting her feet dangle in the water.

?Many are wondering if you know more.?

?A little. It hasn?t fallen into place yet, but it will. I won?t let you down.?

?That much, I know, is true,? said Tero, with something like a smile on his face.

?How are they all doing, Tero.?

?Well, My...ehem....Ma?am. There is fear, and even the warriors are concerned about going to the nesting grounds to check on the beasts in our charge.?

?Is that why you have this place? It seems a good safe haven against something like a Kraken. It couldn?t get in through the narrow tunnels, and there is quite a lot of space here, and clearly you can have sailors here.? Maia looked up, marveling at the scope of the Chamber, its alien elegance and its fascinating design.

?Oh no, ma?am. We didn?t make this place.?

Surprised, Maia looked to Tero.

?Do you know where it came from??

?It was made for you, not long before you came here, actually.?

?But not by you.?

?No. It was a gift from...I don?t know what you might call her. She is not queen. More like...magic. Wizard? Fairy? Is this the word??

?This is not the word I?d use, no.? Maia stood up, her lips drawing into a hard line. ?It?s hard to say what she is.?

?Is that all, Ma?am??

?For now. I want to go back to the Grove again, later, with Harry. Wait a while, and when you return. I do want you to bring food, drink, and the vessel. You don?t have coffee by any small chance, do you??

?I do not know what this is.?

?I didn?t think so.?

Tero pushed further into the water, raised his hand in salute, and then was off. When they were alone, Maia crawled into bed. Harry stirred just enough to pull her against him and then settled back to sleep. Maia lay with her head pressed against him, and her mind raced.

Why would Cela bother to build this place when there was also the Vault?

Why would she need to be here?

The End of Her Life

The water lapped against the fine white sand of The Vault, the strange cave where the merfolk kept all of their finds from shipwrecks. Maia felt more at home here than in any of the places that were available to her. Though it was not as bright or comfortable as the strange chamber they had made just for her, it felt more human and more appropriate that she, stranded at sea, could be among the many items that had been lost by man and found by merfolk. She was just like that, now.

She sat with a waterlogged book in her lap, and she did not stir when she saw the intruder enter this place that was as close to her own as any had been in her time as a queen. In walked the sorceress, beautiful in the most unearthly way and with the unmistakable hum of power around her. Celaeno practically glowed with it. By the time her gown was no longer touching the water, the enigma that was Cela was completely dry. In her usual way, she neared Maia. Maia didn?t stir.

?We?ve gone from standing defiantly and tossing accusations and epithets to a complete lack of acknowledgment. I am not sure what I think of this, quarami.?

?You?ve won and I don?t want to talk about it.?

?What do you mean??

?I chose this. I chose it to save them. To save all of them.?

?Him??

?Especially him. I don?t do what you want, and one day he ends up in pieces, like the Paladin. So he?s gone, I?m here, and you f---ing win, you f---ing heartless b-tch.? She may have been defeated, but the epithets had apparently not disappeared from her vocabulary.

Cela smiled and stalked around Maia, feeding off of the despair that she felt pouring off of her little champion. She could feel it, just as certainly as she could feel her own power.

?How did you convince him to leave??

?You know.?

?You told him that you don?t love him.?

?I lied.?

Cela laughed at that, and shook her head.

?Men are simple fools, poor dear, it?s why I never bother with them anymore. You?ll both be better off.?

?Can we be done with this??

?That?s all that you had to say, Maia. If you are ready to leave, I am ready to take you. I have so many grand plans for you.?

?I can?t leave until I?ve saved the people you brought me here to save.?

?Saved,? Cela said with a snap of her fingers, as though it were just as easy as that. ?I?ll see it done. There?s a thing more far more worthy of your considerable talents elsewhere, on the other end of the world.?

?You?ve never been able to just change something, and stop something awful from happening. What?s different now? Why are you in the flesh now? You?ve never come like this before.?

?Don?t be so silly, quarami. You?ve seen me before now.?

?Yes. Once. In the beginning. But why come now??

?It doesn?t matter. Come, take my hand and give us a kiss...?

?What if I told you that I think I know why?? For the first time in that encounter, Maia looked straight up at Cela and met her gaze.

?You can?t know the dealings of these things which surpass your understanding,? she said dismissively.

Maia stood up and got closer and closer to the beauty. ?I thought it might amuse you, but if my ideas frighten you...?

?Nothing frightens me,? interrupted the haughty witch.

?Then hear me out. Hear me out, and then you can have me.?

?I?ll play your game, Maia. Then we can play mine.?

?That?s just it, Cela. It?s been your game all along, from the minute he died and you picked me up. I wouldn?t be surprised if you killed the gypsy, come to think of it. The vamps might have pushed me first, but that?s the loss sent me over the edge. After all, who can be more fearless than a person with nothing left to lose?

?So I follow this Calling into the dark, and I am certain that I was, at the very least, doing good in this world. Or whatever world I was on at the time. The things that died at my hand can hardly be considered anything but unadulterated evil. That much was true, because all along, I could always smell it: the stench of evil. It?s different from good, clearly, but it?s also quite a lot different from chaos. Chaos is a trickier beast. Chaos does what it will, without concern for where the line between right and wrong may fall; certainly you understand that.

?So years and years pass, and I fall further and further out of the world. Nobody knows me. Few remember, and none grieve because this world is so fucked up that it?s perfectly commonplace for someone to simply vanish without explanation. And every step of the way, you are there to guide me. You send me to the next place. You tell me what I might need to make it to the other side. Sometimes, I swear, you save my life, and so I don?t ask questions. Just keep pressing onward.

?Then, for a long stretch, nothing. Just an idea that maybe, just maybe, I should head back to Rhydin. It?s all related, of course. I?m not there a year and there is not only a plague of bloody zombies, but of koru?ucan, a beast that doesn?t even belong to this world. It gets tied to a villain, and I write it off as his work. Evil is at play, and I make a devil?s bargain to keep it out of the city, because something that not even you could have foreseen has happened to me. My heart has started to grow back.

?See, you underestimated the most dangerous part of me: this heart always loved. When I could not love the living, I loved the dead, and it kept me going. The faintest spark and it roared back to life, and I couldn?t be yours. I had too much to lose. I had too much to live for. I told you so, and you told me to leave him. I declined, then. I should have known...

?For you are a greater being. For years, you watched. For years, you took note of every thing that could sway me. What would force my hand and what would stay it. You knew that I would never be able to turn my back on the defenseless. Not when something terrible was afoot. Not when they were dying. You admitted yourself that you altered their prophecies, and now they believe that I?m the only one that can lead them, and that can save them from the thing that is killing them by the score. They?re wrong, of course, about the first thing. I am no queen. But I will save them.?

?You already have, by agreeing to come with me.?

?I don?t think you understand, Celaeno. I know it was you.?

?Yes. I altered the prophecy.?

?No. I know that you killed them, you killed all of them. And I know that you must have spent a lot of your resources to do it, to make a scene that would be big enough and awful enough to catch everyone?s attention. Especially mine. I never could walk away from the slaughter of the innocent. You know that better than any, by now.?

?Now you sound insane, Maia. I know that you?re angry...? Cela found herself interrupted by the flicker of worry that crossed her all-powerful mind.

?I thought it was insane, too, until I remembered the function of his people in the grander scheme of things. They are the keepers of the great beasts, to ensure that they don?t vanish, and that they don?t overpower the oceans. Without the merfolk, these things get out of control, and the seas become virtually impossible to cross by any conventional means. They never had a problem until a few of the beasts got out of hand. Well. One beast, in particular, and I?d bet my fledgling fleet that if it wasn?t one transfigured demigoddess, that she was at least giving it its marching orders.?

?Maia, their inability to perform their function may have enabled me to bring you to them, but it does not mean that I was the root of it.?

?No. Your mark, on the other hand...now that is a fair indication that you did have a hand in it. Their bodies were all marked, whether they were shredded and torn to bits or simply dismissed from their shells. Every one of them carried a sign. It wasn?t until I dreamed of you again and again that I remembered it, but there it was, and here it is.? Maia pointed at the talisman hanging around the neck of her mentor tormentor.

?Chaos. Your sign. Your magic. Your power was too vast and your arrogance too great for your spell to work without a trace when you went tearing around their sacred place. I just can?t believe it took me this long to put it together...?

Cela drew her lips into a thin, firm line as her fingers brushed the medallion she wore around her neck- engraved in it were the strange random curves that indicated chaos. Until that moment, she never knew that its mark had been burned on to every one of the bodies she had left behind her. Maia noted her reaction and masked her considerable excitement with a veil of defeat and disgust.

?You killed them, because you knew that I would either save the people and come back to you to save Harry, or lose the sea to the monsters and come back to you to save that. It was a situation in which you saw no way to lose, and you were right. You had me either way. What I can?t figure out is why it has to be me, Celaeno. Why do you have to have me? Why should I have to be your instrument? Your plaything.? Maia sounded so calm, and so resigned as she finished. She was nearly as broken and quietly bitter as the day that Cela found her.

She remembered that wisp of a woman, battered by grief, hoping to die of a broken heart and be shuffled from the mortal coil. That had been Cela, once, long before her soul had been traded for chaos and power beyond life. Maia?s first step had been accepting her role as an instrument. A warrior. A valkyrie. This memory flashed across her thoughts, as Cela replied casually.

?The delightful thing about chaos, Maia, is that it no slave to reason. I want you, and that is reason enough for me,? she said. She did not smile at the smaller, weaker woman. She simply reached out and brushed her fingertips across Maia?s cheek. Maia turned her head away in proud disgust. ?I can always count on you to do the right thing, the selfless thing. Your sacrifice will spare this race, and this race will spare the sea, as it always has. You?ll return to the Calling, and everything goes on, just as it must. It's time to put the ordinary behind you, once and for all.? She could hardly contain her fondness for the brave, dull, predictable woman. Yes, Cela could indeed count on Maia.

?I?m ready to leave now, Cela.?

?And I am ready to take you.?

Cela offered her hand and Maia took it with resolve. Cela?s hand was soft and unusually warm. Maia?s cool rough palm pressed tight against it, and Cela leaned in to kiss her, to use her considerable magic to take them to the next place. In that moment, for the first time in ages, the being of chaos was caught off-guard.

The slender mithril dagger slipped from its sheath, reasonably well concealed within the rather capacious sleeve of Maia?s gown and into her waiting hand. Though the angle was awkward, it was still easy to slide the thin, sharp blade into Cela?s belly. Maia left it there, jaw set. Cela had made a very fine killer out of her. Cela?s deep blue eyes widened in shock and rage and she leaned all the way in, her nails digging into the bare shoulder of the unwilling monarch.

?You?ll pay dearly for that, mortal,? she hissed into Maia?s ear.

Maia scoffed; she was done being used. She smacked her very hard forehead into Cela?s much less-hard nose, adding insult to injury. ?Heard that before,? she sneered. The sailor grabbed tightly the medallion from Cela?s neck and she broke from the sorceress, tearing the talisman from its keeper as she backed rapidly away, causing the witch?s rattle of pain to shift into a scream of fury. Maia backpedaled a few steps before stumbling and landing in the sand. Cela raised her left hand to start an incantation, but before a syllable could leave her lips, the thunder of a single shot rang through the chamber. In the enclosed space, it made a sound so loud that it could be felt.

Harry emerged from within his hiding place?a wardrobe salvaged from some shipwreck?with the Browning extended in his hand. Celaeno?s shock barely had time to register before she sank to her knees and then to the ground. How could she have fallen for it?

Her blood was as red as any human?s, and it poured from her heart, blossoming across her gown and down into the sand. Weakened by mithril, stripped of her talisman, and struck by something so violent as a bullet, she turned out to be just as mortal as anyone. Always thorough, Harry walked past Maia, stood over the body, and fired one more round into her head.

They waited in silence. Within a few minutes, her body began to disintegrate rapidly, as would many very, very old things that no longer have anything to sustain them. Satisfied that she was dead, Harry holstered his Browning and looked over to Maia. The truth had been a lot to process, and he?s not the one that had lived it. For a long minute, she just looked at the body, then she dropped the talisman that was in her hand and closed the distance between them. Without words, they held one another for a very, very long time.

D?nouement


It took her the better part of an hour to explain to Tero, in terms that he could understand, what exactly had happened to his people. The talisman matching the marks found on the dead offered reasonable proof of her theory, and his devotion to his monarch made it easy for him to imagine that she had, indeed, managed to save his people just as it had been written. The funny thing about prophecy is that even when invented, it can often find a way to come true. With the threat gone and their world at peace again, the merfolk seemed rather comfortable with the idea that they perhaps no longer needed a human monarch. Maia finally prepared to go home, just in time for her and Harry to catch a boat.

There was, of course, a ceremony, and for the benefit of the humans, it was held inside The Vault, where Harry and Maia could breathe easy, and the merfolk could come and participate. Aside from gifts scavenged from shipwrecks and many little things made from smooth stones and pearls, Harry and Maia were promised sanctuary, passage, and prosperity at sea.

The time had come, and all of the offerings had been placed inside their vessel. Maia had wanted to refuse, but Harry, often the wiser, had suggested that when you help someone, it is important to graciously accept the gratitude that is offered. Harry climbed into the clamshell, studying the inside of the very peculiar craft. He was trying to suss out how it had been made, and how it kept the water out. It was a marvelous thing. Maia, meanwhile, crouched at the edge. She reached a hand for the mottled blue Ambassador.

?Fish-boy, I think I shall miss you most of all.?

?I am honored, My-- uh. Maia.? Tero caught his words just as he caught her hand in his and bowed his head to her.

?I suspect you will remember how to find me if you need me.?

?Yes. The allies will reunite us again, if there is cause.? F---ing dolphins. Too clever to be trustworthy.

?Thank you, Tero, for your kindness to me.? Maia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and for a minute, she swore that merfolk could blush. She took her seat then, and the clamshell began to close. Yes. This place would always be a little weird.

As she and Harry watched out the window, the craft sank below the surface of the water. Every merman and merwoman raised a hand with fingers spread wide in salute. Maia pushed her hand to the glass and returned the gesture.

The trip was not so long as one would expect, but it did take them a few miles from the Cradle. Maia felt her ears pop as they rose slowly to the surface of the ocean. The craft emerged and opened to big sky and a healthy wind. There was the Al Na?ir, waiting, just as Maia had planned. Again, dolphins: six to pull their craft and the familiar pack of seven circling the ship. The air was just starting to carry the slightest chill of the overdue autumn, and she shuddered a little at the feel of it against her cheek and across her neck. Harry held her hand in his, and she looked at him with a warm but weary smile as the crew

?Take me home, Harry.?

But really, she was already there.