“Oh, come on Cidaris,” said Baetica as he followed his cousin’s swishing tail and bubble flourish. The murky waters around them grew brighter and shallower as they swam closer to the shore. “I’m not saying you need to forget her, but if we swim around town—or even go visit some other villages—you might find a different mermaid who’s even prettier than her, and then once you have her being rejected won’t hurt so much.”

Without looking back, Cidaris snorted. “Yeah, like you can just go off and visit other villages. What about your patrol?”

Baetica laughed ruefully. “I don’t have a patrol right now. The Hubmaiers are taking over for a while.” Cidaris didn’t even slow his pace. Baetica glared at his cousin and wondered if the other merman would have asked why if he wasn’t so absorbed in his own foolish pain, or if he really was so selfish to not care. He hadn’t even asked him if his fin was alright.

Wincing with the pressure it put on his wounded tail, he swam fast enough to go in front of Cidaris and put his hands on his cousin’s shoulders to stop him. “Trust me. It’s like the saying goes: If you’ve been stung by a jelly, go pet a dogfish shark and you’ll forget the pain from the jelly.”

“Does that work for your fin?” Cidaris snapped and swatted at Baetica’s tail.

Baetica barely dodged in time. “Are you crazy?” If he had been any younger he might have punched Cidaris for that, but one of his previous encounters with Garrick had shown him that violence wasn’t always the best response. His hand brushed the jagged scar that ran just below his waist along his finline.

“No.” Cidaris spun out of Baetica’s grasp and darted away. “I’m just… I’m sick of this okay. I don’t need to fall in love with someone else to forget that she abandoned me.” He stopped and faced Baetica with both hands raised to forestall any comments. “That’s not going to help. Stop trying to convince me it will.” Sighing, he turned and swam away once more.

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Baetica huffed and swam after his cousin. “I’m just trying to help,” he snapped. He loved his cousin, but this was ridiculous. And to try and smack his wounded fin—a fin that was aching more because he had been using it for hours to try and keep up with his melancholic cousin. If he hadn’t promised his aunt and uncle to try and help, he would have left Cidaris to drown in his tears hours ago.

“What’s this?”

Baetica glanced over and saw Cidaris delicately reach out and catch a soggy white square. Baetica glanced over his cousin’s shoulder. It was a note written by the hand of a human. Most merfolk couldn’t read it, but a few had learned in case the human dropped a military missive in the sea. Baetica read out loud: “Lord Rigel is pleased to invite Lord Antal along with his wife and daughters, Count Isai and his sisters, my uncle…”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Cidaris whined and dropped the sodden paper.

Darting around him, Baetica caught it, and continued reading silently. “Here we go,” he remarked when he made it through the list of names. “Lord Rigel is pleased to invite all of those humans to his house tonight to welcome Count Derrin to Zaundename.”

“Derrin,” mumbled Cidaris. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

Baetica frowned. “He’s from Razadak. We have no quarrel with his people.” He looked towards the surface. “What is he doing with Rigel and Garrick?”

“You don’t think he could be plotting to join them?”

Baetica ran his webbed fingers through his blue-grey hair and swished his tail nervously closer to the shore. He remembered hearing rumors of a potential proposal. But he didn’t realize it was between these two families. Would it mean that Rigel would take up Derrin’s stance, or would they find themselves attacked by Razadak also? He couldn’t picture Garrick ever changing his ways. “We should check it out.”

Briefly, Baetica considered their prince’s decree about interfering with the humans as he glanced back towards their underwater city. “We don’t have time to go back and find a Hubmaiers to let them investigate. Who knows if they’ve even arrived yet.” A shock of bubbles spiraled outwards as he spun around and faced Cidaris. “Alright, you don’t think a new mermaid can save you from despair, how about a chance to stir up some trouble at Rigel’s feast?”

Cidaris stared at the surface for a few moments before he cracked his knuckles and darted towards it. Baetica caught his fin and pulled him up short. “We can’t get caught,” he warned his cousin.

Cidaris nodded and the two of them swam slowly upwards to where the dark hulls of the ships floated above them.