The Glimmering Sea

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Delfina.

That brute Erastus.

But no Paolo.

Armida rested on a ledge near Ziphra. Every muscle screamed to rush down the tunnel and back out on her journey, but in the split second between thinking and doing, she became entangled in Ziphra's arms. Each time she peeled the suckers off her torso, another arm replaced it. At last, she stopped her useless exertions.

≈Calm yourself, Armida. The struggle will solve nothing. You must learn to be less impulsive.≈

≈I am too long behind them. Your sighting is the first clue I am on their trail. I must leave. I must know if my brother was with them or not.≈

≈Look at yourself, a short distance into your journey, wandering when you might have come here more directly. What good will you be to your brother if you are half-starved and ignorant of threats or allies? Your sheltered life has not prepared you for the vagaries of seafaring. You need the training you should have had before launching on this mission. The fact that you are here with me is proof enough.≈

Indeed, Armida begrudged her wasted Terran instruction. What she had needed was a broader experience beyond the safety of Marea. With it, she would not have been delayed.

She wished she could stomp her feet like she'd learned during Torquato's lessons. Terran bodies had some use after all. Merfolk didn't express themselves with their bodies as much. Maybe they should try it.

≈I was not sheltered. I did not wander.≈ Armida hoped her mindpath sent the right emphasis and that Ziphra would understand and not think she sounded childish.

Apparently, she did. Think she was childish, that is. Armida took the rumbling to be a doubt expressed as laughter.

Armida flicked her tail several times. Rage had churned through her for months. It grew and scorched like lightning that first burned and then left her senseless. No. Helpless. Armida slid to the cave floor. None of this was what her future should have held. Alone. The weight of Paolo's life on her shoulders. And hers alone. With Marea still needing rescue. And there was the matter of Delfina, of course.

Ziphra's softness nestled next to Armida, with her arms curled gently around Armida's waist. ≈You are not alone. You have never been alone. Open your eyes—and heart—to find those who will help you.≈

Ziphra was right. Morning would be soon enough. ≈May I stay here tonight?≈

≈Of course. There has never been any question. Let us talk of your plans over a meal. I am in the mood for a good hunt.≈

Armida's waist gills fluttered with the extra anxiety. Returning to open water was risky. ≈Are not the sludgesharks waiting? They would make a quick meal of us.≈

≈Those you call sludgesharks are impatient. They've already departed in search of food elsewhere.≈

Bile rose in Armida's throat as they traveled down the tunnel back to the open ocean. She traced the wall's surface to maintain her sense of the space. The distance felt much shorter than when Ziphra had dragged her to the cave. Reaching the open ocean, Armida paused and surveyed the black water.

The fear whetted her appetite. A living column formed, rising toward the surface. The evening plankton migration had begun. It was dinnertime in the ocean.

Eat or be eaten.

✧✧✧

Armida awoke on a ledge in Ziphra's homecave. The narrow space had been the most practical spot for sleep as no way to tether herself in the cave was available. Asleep, even gentle currents could carry her from safety to threats outside the cave. As her eyes adjusted, the blackness slowly gave way to the dim light of the luminescence. Animal or plant life or both, she wasn't certain. Edible, perhaps, but the light had more value than the protein. There were food sources elsewhere and easily gotten if last evening's feast had been any sign.