The Glimmering Sea

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ziphra was unharmed, physically, at least, but she refused to leave the cave when Armida tried to coax her out. The trail of shrimp did not budge Ziphra from her secure haven.

Traveler hadn't apologized to Armida and she hadn't expected him to. Not for natural dolphin behavior. But he had confirmed Ziphra's sighting—Erastus and Delfina had been glimpsed in the Mediterraneo. But again, no Paolo, with them or alone.

Armida led them to a flounder-rich site where they fed to prepare for their return to their pods, and then she needed to make amends with Ziphra. If it was possible.

A trickle of sunlight penetrated the depths and allowed Armida to see a few feet inside the tunnel. She followed the tunnel, first by sight and then touch, until she entered the cave. Ziphra floated in the center, her dark eyes following Armida's every move. The dance of luminescent light created a surreal effect on Ziphra's sinuous tentacles.

≈I am sorry, Ziphra. You were well-hidden, and then, in my excitement to greet my friends...Well, I didn't take into account the risk to you.≈

≈The third rule of the sea is: the friend of my enemy is my enemy.≈ Ziphra maintained her distance, moving back as Armida inched closer.

≈Traveler heeded, though.≈

≈And if you hadn't been near, what then?≈

≈Nature would have taken its course, I suppose. But now you know three dolphins who will not harm you. And where are three, many can be.≈

≈Perhaps. I will not test your assumption anytime soon. Or your poetry.≈

≈You blame me because I dare challenge the first rule of the sea? Sometimes you are neither prey nor predator.≈

Ziphra offered no response, leaving Armida uneasy. On the one hand, Ziphra was right about the danger. On the other hand, if Ziphra hadn't bolted, Traveler might never have noticed her.

No. Not never. That was the weakness of her reasoning. Traveler would have discovered Ziphra, eventually. He almost had.

Ziphra's instincts were right.

Muck. A threat to an ally is also a threat to me.

≈Oh, Ziphra. I'm shamefully stupid, an immature merpup behaving as if I am the center of the seas. A failing I have yet to shed. Can you forgive me?≈

≈You are a slow learner, but it was a hard lesson. You cannot let yourself get distracted. Your survival is at stake. And thus, the survival of Paolo and the future of Marea. They are linked.≈

≈My lesson was nearly at your expense. An unforgivable result.≈ Armida shoved away a horrific image of what might have happened.

≈At the expense of my babies too.≈

Armida jolted with new awareness. ≈What? Soon?≈

≈Very soon. We have not long to finish. A month at most.≈

≈A month? Too much can go wrong in a month. I don't know Erastus's plans. I need to find out what happened with Paolo. And don't you need to rest? Mermen always rest before giving birth.≈

≈My rest will come soon enough. When it is over. And without better attentiveness to the sea, you will die. It is simple.≈

≈Then let us begin. I must finish sooner than a month.≈

Time was not her friend.

✧✧✧

To cover their explorations, Ziphra and Armida left the cave at that moment between night and morning when their world was a flat, dark void, not yet showing the entwined shadows to come. As always, she conducted lessons throughout the day into the late afternoon. Though Ziphra had knowledge left to offer Armida, it was neartime for Armida to move on, to be independent. The sooner she departed, the sooner she'd find Paolo. Her education would always be incomplete.