Melody awoke to hundreds of bubbles flooding her hammock chamber. More and more kept coming as she flowed in and out of consciousness. It was dark, adding to her disorientation.

“Athena” She mumbled, turning over. The room remained dark, so she sat up, fumbling around. She felt something slimy and full of pointy teeth. “Athena, turn on!” She gently tapped the top of Athena’s head until a glowing light popped out, illuminating the anglerfish and all of the chamber’s surrounding features. “Good girl!” Melody petted Athena on her sides, avoiding getting pricked by her pointy jaw. Athena swam all over the room at high speed, indicating that she was delighted by getting some attention. Melody opened a glass ball full of shrimp, letting a few out loose in the chamber. As Athena pursued them, her lantern-like light bobbed around, attached to her head by a long, thin piece of flesh. The illumination bounced around the room, glittering off of the mosaic walls. Unlike the walls of the buildings in the village, the glass walls throughout the Realm of the Chieftess were filled with crushed-up shells, allowing for full privacy within its many halls and rooms.

The bubbles were still flooding into Melody’s room, causing her to snap out of her groggy daze. She looked up at the kelp tube from whence the bubbles were coming, and swam up towards it. She grabbed the tube and, once there was a pause in the bubbles, she blew into it as hard as she could, letting the visitor on the other side know that she received the message that they were here. “Who could it be?” She muttered, sticking her eye up against the tube. She saw bright teal hair and bioluminescent makeup, outlining the face of Wave. Melody began to blow into the tube again, starting a continuous string of bubbles that flooded out into the entranceway. Wave appeared moments later, her head popping through the curtain made of shells that separated Melody’s room from the hallway.

“Melody!” The words caught in Wave’s throat as she swam into the room in a flood of fluorescent bright teal curls, and immediately threw her arms around her friend. They embraced for a moment, and then broke apart. “Can I sit down?” She asked, looking around at the baubles and knick-knacks that were strewn about, covering every surface in the room.

“Please! Just pick a seat, and throw everything out of the way. I’m…er… still organizing after unpacking from the move.” Melody said, her face flushing. Wave swam over to a cushion carved from coral, the top being lined with sea sponge for comfort. She gently picked up each item that was sitting in a pile on the seat, and placed it to the side, on top of one of the nearby piles of similar items. Jewelry, boxes, shells, makeup, combs, and mirrors were mixed in with clothing, crafts, and an assortment of odds and ends.

“Unpacking? Melody… forgive me, but I saw the state of your room before we moved, and it looked the same. It’s okay, though, it doesn’t bother me!” She laughed, “It’s just part of who you are. I could never live in this messy environment- you know everything in my living space has to be perfectly organized or it drives me nuts. But I really don’t judge you at all for the way you live. It’s almost… charming!” She laughed softly, and started combing her hair that draped down past the bottom of the cushion.

“Thanks, Wave.” Melody said, smiling gratefully. “Hey- where were you at by the way? You’re all dressed up- and is that the new bioluminescence makeup that Marisol just got into her store? I heard it was traded from a tribe near the Mariana Trench. It’s breathtaking.”

Wave looked down at the floor, pondering.

“You were on a date weren’t you!” Melody gasped, then jumped off of her hammock and swam over to Wave. She grabbed her friend’s hand and held it. “Tell me- who was it?”

Wave shook her head, pulling her hand away. “I’m here to talk about you, Mel- I heard about the meeting we’re having later today. I’m really worried about it- about the prospect of you being punished. Everyone is treating this as a really serious crime you’ve committed, but like we’ve said before, no one ever thinks about the things that we’ve done to the humans. What were you thinking, sharing your feelings with Rain? You know what a big mouth she has. If it wasn’t for her, you probably could have gotten away with taking that guy away from Hydra… everyone would have thought you had just claimed him as a victim. Well, there’s no use mulling over that now, but what are we going to do?” She rubbed her temples, her eyes closed.

Melody sighed and stared down at her floor, which was transparent and through which she could view the seabed below. She saw a little crab wandering around, looking for a place to hide. “Maybe I should go somewhere to hide, too.” She mused softly.

“Melody, you know you can’t hide from this. You can’t just run away from the problems that you create. Even if it’s not necessarily fair- nothing is fair in this cutthroat world, and we just have to try to suck it up and manage as best we can.”

“What if we did leave though- start a new life somewhere else? Neither you nor I are happy with the horrible things that we have to do. You know as well as I do that Our Lady will wipe us off the map, our entire tribe, if we don’t keep sacrificing people to her- but what if we left? They could just replace us by inducting new Sirens into the Chorus, and everything would continue on, but at least we wouldn’t have to be involved!” Melody was now pacing around the room, swimming to and fro in an almost frantic manner. She looked over at Wave, who now appeared ashen.

“Where would we go? She had sovereignty over every body of saltwater on this planet. We can’t escape her. It’s just not an option.” Wave said softly.

“So we leave the saltwater behind! Find a nice river or lake to live in.” Melody was sounding desperate now, and she knew it. Her mind was racing at the thought of leaving her entire tribe behind. She sat back in her hammock, swinging back and forth. “The idea does sound crazy coming out of my mouth.” She agreed, without Wave having to say anything to prompt this response.

After a moment of acknowledged silence, Wave said, “Mel, you’re going to have to go into that meeting with your head held high, and stand up for yourself. Remind the rest of the Chorus that they were working against the chieftess’s orders, since she told us to lay low for now.”

Melody nodded slowly as she stared off into space. I’m done for. She thought, eyeing the seabed with a vacant expression. After a few moments, she looked back at Wave, eyes sparkling. “Wave! This is a bit off the topic at hand, but do you happen to know anyone fluent in orca dialects?”

Wave looked at her friend curiously, taken aback by the odd question. “Orca dialects? Why?”

“I made a… friend, and I need to pick her brain about something important, but the language barrier is a real problem.” Melody said, and then, responding to Wave’s curious stare, she launched into a retelling of her adventures with Ripper, including the mysterious sharks. At the end of the story, Wave’s eyes were as large as they could get.

“Sharks with eyes like mer-folk or humans?” She said with awe. She had stopped combing her hair, and was just staring intently at Melody.

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“Precisely, only they were more unnatural than that- they were clouded like a storm that’s constantly shifting. I felt a really dark presence in that forest. Ripper made me promise not to return there, and she tried to explain why. That’s what I need to find out from her. What if there’s a threat in the forest that could target our tribe?”

“Well, hopefully not, but I do think it’s worth investigating. Why don’t you talk to our old teacher, Cordelia?” Wave had started combing her hair and was settling back into the cushion after recovering from Melody’s gripping story.

Melody scoffed. “No way am I talking to that crotchety old crone. Even though I was on her top student list, I couldn’t wait to finish her class. If I never see her again, it will be too soon.”

“Okay, well, do you think Echo knows some orca dialects? She was given the ‘Gift of Tongues’ by the Goddess when she was inducted into the Chorus. I suppose you should start by talking to her.” Wave shrugged as she tugged on a particularly stubborn tangle of curls. Melody pondered this, still swinging in her hammock.

“You’re a genius, Wave! After the meeting today I’ll talk to her about it.”

“The meeting! What time is it?” Wave glanced out the small, round window- the only section of the wall that was devoid of crushed shells. Seeing some light coming through from above, she jumped off the cushion. “I need to go get ready! I can’t show up wearing this makeup and this ridiculous outfit.” She dropped the comb into the nearest knick-knack pile.

“You haven’t even gotten any sleep tonight- you’ve been out and about doing Goddess-knows what. Are you going to be okay?” Melody cocked an eyebrow at her friend in concern.

“I’ll be fine, Mel. I can’t miss this important meeting- someone has to be there to defend you.” Wave smiled weakly as she moved towards the door.

“I guess I know you better than you know yourself. You crumble in front of groups, especially the other Chorus girls. I don’t expect for you to speak up for me.” Melody grabbed her friend’s shoulders, staring into her eyes. “Don’t worry, Wave, I can defend myself. I don’t want for you to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation on my behalf.” She hugged her friend tightly. “Your support means everything. Just knowing that you’re there is enough.” They mutually ended the embrace and gave one last smile at each other before Wave made her way through the shell curtain. The shells clinked together delicately after her exit.

“I better get ready too, Athena.” Melody said as she rubbed the sides of her toothy pet.

————————————————————————

It took some time for Melody to find the new Cavern of Eternity- the site that the chieftess had scouted for sacred rituals, to replace the one that she’d grown up with in the tropics. Despite wanting to search for it with Wave, she knew that it would look better if she showed up alone, to prevent any of the Chorus members from citing bias during the discussion. Her mother had given her a map, drawn by the cartographer utilizing the usual medium of squid ink on processed, bleached seaweed. Unfortunately, over time ink always had to be re-done due to the saltwater wreaking havoc on its integrity, but that had not been done here, and so it was a difficult map to follow. She swam up and around reefs, over ridges, into trenches, and across plains searching for the entrance. She was becoming worried about showing up to the meeting in a timely manner- an endeavor that she sometimes struggled with- when she spotted out of the corner of her eye a ripple of movement in the water. She followed the ripple upwards, until her head broke the surface.

There, above the water, was a peculiar-looking rock jutting out of the sea, and Melody went to inspect it. She circled the rock for a moment, but could find nothing that indicated that it was an entrance. Just a normal rock, she thought, and looked back at her map. That was when she noticed small bubbles coming from a minute crevice. She looked into the crevice and felt air coming from the inside of the rock. Upon further inspection, she spotted a small indentation in the rock. It was the exact shape of her Ring of Eternity that was given to her- and all of the other Sirens- at their Tiamata’pala. She lifted her hand to the indentation, and carefully slid the ring perfectly into it. The rock rumbled, and then it split open from the top, like the jaws of a great beast. These “jaws” spread apart until they were submerged in the sea, caused a whirlpool to form, swirling down into the darkness of the rock. Melody tried to back away, uncertain of what was about to happen, but the whirlpool snatched her and she felt herself being dragged into the abyss. She followed the whirlpool down, down, down, tumbling through open air until she landed in a warm pool. She broke the surface of the pool, and at the same time heard the rock far above her close back to its original position with a definitive clunk!

After a few seconds, Melody’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cavern. Unlike their previous sacred area, which was also submerged deep in the ocean, this cavern’s only hint of water was the pool in the middle, surrounded on all sides by the rocky cave floor. A voice rang out of the darkness.

“You’re on time, for once.” Chieftess Laguna was perched on the rocks above. She had a grim smile on her face as she addressed her daughter. “Please, sit here at the front, since you’re the subject of the meeting.” She motioned towards one of the smoothed-out rock seats that lined the entire diameter of the pool. Melody did as she was told, and positioned herself in the seat, glad to find that at least it was comfortable. Not only that, but she had to admit that having the tip of her tail slightly submerged in the warm water below was pleasant and relaxing. The chieftess spread her hands out at the torches lining the walls, and they came to life with a fiery blaze.

“How are you capable of using your powers on dry land? I didn’t know you could do that.” Melody said with awe.

“This cavern may appear to be dry as a bone, but we are still submerged deep beneath the surface, in Our Lady’s territory.” She said sternly. Melody’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at her ignorance. She looked around at the cavern, now lit by the many torches, and was able to make out the gleaming rock formations surrounding her.

“Where is everyone else?” Melody asked, noticing that her voice echoed slightly in this hollow place. Almost on queue, water began to pour in from above. Over the sound of the rushing water, she heard a shrill scream, followed an instant later by the appearance of pearly pink scales and a cascade of blonde hair. Melody covered her face as the splash coated her in warm water. “Well, I guess I can look forward to that every time someone drops down the hole.” She murmured.

Rain’s head emerged from the water, and she furiously moved her hair out of her face, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the torchlight. “Was that necessary? Our last cavern didn’t have that dramatic of an entrance!” She screeched. Chieftess Laguna, who was seated across from Melody, looked unfazed by her outburst.

“We had little time to find and prepare a proper sacred site, but this time my only stipulation was that it should be dry inside so that what we speak of remains untold to outside ears. In our previous cavern, we had security breaches due to the conductivity of sound waves underwater. I apologize for the long drop, but I assure you it is safe and you will get used to it.” A smile formed in the corner of her mouth, but disappeared quickly.

Rain huffed and hauled herself out of the water, landing firmly on a rocky seat. Soon afterwards, her entrance was followed by Luna, Hydra, and Marina, who entered together and nearly fell on top of one another in the pool. Hydra recovered by conjuring her sea serpents, who lifted her gracefully out of the pool and placed her onto one of the seats. She looked around at the others haughtily. Melody thought that with the torchlight glinting off of Hydra’s vibrant orange scales, she looked as fierce as ever. The other two lifted themselves out of the water into seats near Hydra. Melody suddenly felt the burn of many eyes on her at once. She looked down at the torchlight glinting off of the surface of the warm pool as she moved her tail back and forth, splashing softly.

She was relieved to now hear a loud voice from above, which precipitated the cool waterfall. The water brought Echo, who was screaming as she fell. Everyone covered their ears as they felt the pressure of her voice racking their bodies. Covering their ears did little to prevent the uncomfortable feeling of their organs being squeezed together. After her splash, Echo’s head popped up and she looked around.

“Oh my Goddess! I am really sorry everyone. That was an automatic reaction to falling- I was so surprised! I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She looked around at her friends and the chieftess, brow furrowed. Luna was doubled over, trying to stop her guts from roiling. A slender trail of blood was running out of Marina’s nose, causing her to pinch the bridge. The rest were looking like they were feeling a bit ill. Melody closed her eyes, staving off the nausea that was trying to well up due to the sudden dizziness.

“It’s okay, really.” Melody said weakly. Echo seated herself and continued to look around with concern. After a few moments, Wave splashed into the pool.

“What’s wrong? Why does everyone look so sick?” She asked as she pulled herself into the last remaining seat.

“Echo.” Hydra said, grimacing. Wave nodded with recognition.

“Sirens, you all know why we are here.” Chieftess Laguna began, looking around the circle. “Melody has been charged with attacking one of her own Sirens, an act that is forbidden by the Goddess. This is a very grave misdeed. We are here because the six of you will decide what punishment is necessary to ensure that justice has been achieved in your eyes, thus restoring your relationship with your leader.”

Everyone was quiet as the weight of their task sunk in.

“Excuse me, chieftess, but has an incident like this occurred in past Choruses, regarding the leader attacking one of her own?” Luna piped up.

“Yes, there was once before where this happened.” Chieftess Laguna said flatly.

“And? What happened?” Hydra tossed her hair impatiently. The chieftess sat for a long moment, looking at each Siren in turn. Finally, her voice, without wavering, filled the silence.

“She was sentenced to death, torn to pieces by the members of her Chorus.”