Something was different. Pretie couldn't identify what was different, exactly, but as she swam beside Ephyra, the mermaid's hand still in hers, she knew it was true. Something was different. Something had changed—and it wasn't just the elastic fluidity with which she moved her tail, though she was beyond thankful for the reduced effort it took to flap it.

With the lack of pain in her limbs, Pretie found herself able to better focus on the environment around her. She could enjoy the cool ripple of the current against her skin, the golden rays of sunlight slashing through the ocean's surface. Her hazel eyes caught on a school of fish to her right, so far away that the creatures were hardly more than silhouettes. 

"Look." She heard a voice murmur in her ear. Pretie flinched in surprise, turning to glance over at Ephyra. The mermaid wasn't looking at Pretie, but to their left. The girl followed her gaze. She gasped as she caught sight of what Ephyra had pointed out to her. A whale.

Pretie had lived by the ocean her entire life. Her bedroom had a view of the sea. And yet the girl had only seen whales a few times—and even then, it was never more than a brief glimpse of their flukes protruding out of the water or a spray from their blowholes as they came to the surface for air. None of that could hold a candle to the majestic creature swimming before them, its tail moving in great, sweeping waves. She could feel the rumbling vibrato of its bugling call.

"It's beautiful." Pretie whispered, her eyes wide as she watched the whale.

"They're beautiful." Ephyra corrected in a soft voice. She gave Pretie's hand a gentle squeeze. "See? She's got a baby."

Sure enough, as the whale tilted to its side, she noticed a young calf swam just above. Pretie felt an amazed smile tug at her lips as she stared at the pair, transfixed.

"I've never been this close to one."

Ephyra chuckled softly, a glint of mischief in her eyes when she looked over. "Would you like to get closer?"

"What?"

"The calves are always super curious, and the moms usually let them explore. To an extent, at least. So... Would you like to get closer?"

Pretie's excited grin was the only answer the mermaid needed. With a smile of her own, she tightened her hold on Pretie's hand and guided her in the direction of the whales. She stopped them when they were still a reasonable distance away—though it was still rather overwhelming, Pretie had to admit, being as close as she was to the giant creature. She stared at the whale's dark grey hide, its skin speckled with white spots. She followed the sweeping curve of its mouth and could nearly spot the hairy baleen she knew lay beneath. After a moment, her gaze latched onto one of the whale's eyes, its large pupil taking her in.

Focused as she was on the mother whale, Pretie hardly noticed the calf had swam closer until it greeted her with a high-pitched chirp. She sucked in a breath, backing into Ephyra as the calf drifted closer, tilting to one side as if to study her.

"It's alright," Ephyra assured her with a soft laugh, nudging Pretie back. "It won't hurt you. Just wants to check you out."

The girl chuckled. "Check me out?"

"Not like that, Prettypants," Ephyra teased. "But I wouldn't blame it if it was."

Pretie felt her cheeks heat. "Oh my gods, Eph."

A smile twitched onto the mermaid's lips. "I like it when you call me that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I do. It's nice." 

"Well... I'm glad."

A flurry of movement interrupted their conversation—which Pretie was okay with, considering the building awkwardness—as the whale calf floated closer. Pretie stared with wide eyes; the calf was close enough that she could stretch out her arm and touch it.

"Is that okay?" She asked after a moment.

"Is what okay?"

"Oh. I guess I didn't verbally say the first part of that sentence," Pretie mumbled. "Is it okay if I touch it? I don't want to make its mother mad."

"We don't approach the calf. We let it come to us." Ephyra released Pretie's hand. Her palm felt suddenly cold, but the loss was fixed just as quickly when the mermaid wrapped her arms around her from behind. She could feel the tickle of bubbles on the back of her neck as Ephyra whispered in her ear. "I have an idea."

Ephyra let go of her again. Pretie watched as she dived down to the ocean's sandy floor. The girl narrowed her eyes, staring in confusion as Ephyra fumbled for something beneath the silt. After a moment of clumsy searching, the mermaid swam back up. She clutched a bunch of seaweed in her hand.

"And... What do you plan to do with that?"

"Have a little faith, Prettypants."

Biting back a snarky reply, Pretie watched with an amused smirk as Ephyra drifted closer to the calf. The mermaid held out the kelp, shaking it in front of her, before tossing it to the side. It began to sink back down to the sand.

"Okay, you've officially gone insane."

"Faith."

Letting out a huff, Pretie rolled her eyes. "I just don't understand why..." She trailed off, her mouth hanging open as the young whale hummed and swam after the seaweed. The stringy plant had landed in the sand before the calf reached it. It poked its beak against it, letting out a somewhat disappointed cry.

Ephyra flashed Pretie a sharp-toothed smile before darting down to the ocean's floor to collect the seaweed. The calf watched her all the while, tilting to one side to keep an eye on her. Ephyra grabbed the bunch in one hand, swimming back up and dropping the kelp just as she had before. This time, the young whale drifted upward, letting the seaweed land on top of it, just above the small dorsal fin jutting out of its back. Pretie watched in amusement as the calf flapped its tail, singing excitedly.

Simple pleasures, she thought to herself with a chuckle. Simple pleasures, like a whale with seaweed on its back. It's... A bit odd, maybe, but that baby looks so happy.

Ephyra drifted back over to Pretie, taking up her hand once again. "See? I know what I'm doing. Whales love me."

"Whales, sharks, fish... What doesn't love you?"

The mermaid caught her eye with a smirk. Pretie raised her eyebrows, awaiting her answer, but Ephyra just turned back around to watch the calf. It was swimming in slow circles with the kelp still clinging to its back. The mother whale let out a low bellow, giving her baby a nudge. With its mother's help, the calf swam up to the surface above.

"Come on." Ephyra tugged Pretie up to follow them. 

Pretie had expected it to feel like a breath of fresh air to pop her head out of the water for the first time since her transformation. Instead, the moment was surprisingly uneventful. The sky above was as blue as the water below, save for the clouds drifting lazily across its surface. As the whales released a breath, the salty spray from their blowholes dappled Pretie's face. She turned to face Ephyra, who was grinning at her.

As strange as it was to even think of the idea, Pretie couldn't help but realize that this was the first time she had seen Ephyra covered in water. In the ocean, she didn't even notice. But now, with their heads above the water's surface, Pretie could see every drop sitting on her bronze skin. Her short, dark hair was slicked back, away from her face, giving Pretie an even better view of her shimmering, inquisitive eyes, which were locked on hers.

"Hi." She whispered, staring at the mermaid.

"Hi." Ephyra murmured right back, offering her a crooked smirk. 

"This is what I normally look like, I guess," Pretie replied after a moment. "Well, not quite. I'm usually very well manicured. My hair isn't usually drenched..."

"If you're trying to get me to compliment you, you're going to have to try harder than that, Prettypants."

"You know... Isn't that nickname almost a compliment in itself?"

"Well, well, you're smarter than I thought."

Pretie snorted. "Yeah, well, there's a lot about me that you don't know. Like..." As she let her gaze drift away from Ephyra to think of an example to give her—since it was hard to come up with anything coherent with the mermaid's inquisitive eyes burrowing into hers—she spotted a silhouette on the horizon. "Oh my gods, is that Aecora?"

The mermaid turned, following her gaze. "Oh. I don't know, is it?" 

"Yes." She whispered in response. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Pretie found she was able to make out the sandstone buildings and the outline of the castle towering above them. She nodded. "I'd recognize that skyline anywhere."

Ephyra hummed thoughtfully.

Pretie let herself turn back around to face the mermaid, her mind still reeling with the discovery of how close they were to Aecora. "Where is the stone, exactly?"

"I think we need to check back with Krill. He knows the general direction, and Melody knows enough of the gods' lore that I'm sure they'll be able to figure it out between the two of them." The mermaid caught Pretie's eye again, her lips parted as if to say more. She shook her head. "Anyway. Yeah, we should ask them."

Pretie watched as she ducked beneath the surface. The girl hesitated a moment longer, staring at her kingdom. It was odd, how alien the familiar buildings suddenly felt to her.

"I'll be home soon." She mumbled, unsure whether she was speaking the words to herself or someone else. A shiver of something unpleasant tugged at her gut. Pretie was quick to shake it off, diving after Ephyra before she could think any more of it.

｡𖦹 °

"Shouldn't be long." Krill agreed with a nod. His electric green eyes flitted up to meet each of theirs in turn where they were gathered near the ocean's sandy floor. "The topography of the map indicated the stone would probably be near a land mass. The water's been growing gradually shallower, if you all haven't noticed, so we should be getting close to—"

"Prettypants saw land when we were at the surface," Ephyra blurted out. "She said it was Aecora. Not that I know anything about the human kingdoms. Just blindly trusting her with this one."

Quirking an eyebrow, Krill turned to face Pretie. She forced herself to meet his gaze, barely withholding the urge to shrink beneath the full stare of his intimidatingly bright eyes. "You did?"

The girl nodded. "Um, yeah. It's definitely Aecora. I recognized the castle and everything."

"That doesn't mean a whole lot, considering none of us are familiar with the names of the humans' territories, but it'll help that we're searching in an area you know well." He replied, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "We'll just need to narrow down what we're looking for specifically."

The eager flapping of Melody's hands drew the group's attention her way. She offered them a bashful smile. "Oh! Sorry. I just... The stories. In the original myth, after the encounter with Indignor that convinced Edrisse to turn herself into a stone, the goddess wanted to hide somewhere to ensure that only the right mortals would be able to find her and turn themselves back to their original forms.

"She wanted to stay hidden from Indignor and any other gods that might destroy the stone, since it would need to remain accessible for... Well, as long as it was needed! The Stone of Edrisse would need to be within reach of those on land—since they were transformed and intended to turn back—and those in the sea, should they need to transform to protect themselves from the storm god's wrath again."

"Melody, I love you, but please talk just a little slower for us common folk," Ephyra groaned. "We're unfortunately not as well-versed on all that mythology as you are."

"Sorry, sorry," Melody squealed, the tip of her coral pink tail twitching. "I just... Agh, I love this stuff, is all. Anyway. For the stone to be able to be reached by both those on land and in the ocean, it would need to be just shallow enough for those who breathe air to dive to retrieve it without drowning. But it would still need to be in the water so that creatures with gills could access it without any risk on their part."

Krill nodded thoughtfully. "Alright. So it would have to be near the shoreline, but far enough back that it's still in the water during low tide."

"And it would need to be somewhere where it's shielded from view," Melody added. "Otherwise it would just be picked up by some random human. Edrisse was clever; she would have hidden her stone somewhere where you'd have to be looking for it in order to find it."

"So... Just past the intertidal zone, hidden out of plain sight."

"Yep! To be honest, I've never been near the human kingdom of Aecora before, so I don't know where the Stone of Edrisse would be hidden specifically. Maybe if there are some rock formations that it could be tucked into, or—"

Pretie held up a hand. Melody paused at once, turning her way along with Krill and Ephyra. "I... I think I know where the stone might be."

The grin that lit up Ephyra's face was almost enough to chase out the strange tangle of dread tumbling around her stomach. 

She swallowed. "There's a series of sea stacks just past Aecora's western shore. A lot of people like to climb on them, but I doubt they focus much on what's underwater. Do you think that could be it?"

"That could definitely be it!" Melody cheered excitedly. "Oh my gods, I'm so glad you know all of that human stuff, because now we've totally—"

Pretie let the mermaid's rambling fade into background noise as she turned to meet Ephyra's eye.

"Something special, Prettypants," she murmured with a smile, echoing her words from the previous night. "Something special."