Lewisil sighed heavily as he approached his grotto and ducked through the entrance. “Cidaris?” His voice bounced off the coral and sank to the depths of the reef. “Cidaris, we need to speak. It won’t be an easy discussion, but you must be brave.” The weight of his message pulled his frame lower and lower, towards the blacker waters away from the stray rays of sun. In the deep he spied Cidaris swimming towards him. His face was twisted in worry and his fingers darted through his hair like fish through kelp.

“What is it Lewisil? What did the Prince have to say about me? Am I…” he swallowed and shook his body. “What do you know?”

Lewisil brought himself level with Cidaris and squeezed his shoulders. His head dropped as he fought to find the strength to speak. “My dear boy, I’m so sorry. My news is not good.”

Cidaris body quaked as he pulled away. Lewisil watched as Cidaris pulled his shoulders back and readied himself. “What is the punishment to be? Am I to be killed?”

Lewisil shook his head. “That would have been kinder, but no.” He sighed heavily. “You will live, but you will not live with us anymore. The prince has banished you from our home.”

“Banished?” Cidaris’ hair drifted slowly back and forth defying the quick motions of his head as he shook it. “No, don’t say banishment. Please, tell me he had some mercy and demanded my death.” He swam over to Lewisil and shook him. “Please tell me you made a mistake, and that I’m not going to live. I can’t… I can’t live on my own. That’s worse. Death would be so much better. Please tell me, I’m not going to be alone.” Releasing him, Cidaris darted away and faced the coral on the wall.

Lewisil swam over to where Cidaris slowly sank to the seabed and patted him on the shoulder. “You must leave your home Cidaris, but that doesn’t mean you will be alone. The ocean is deep and wide. We are not the only ones who dwell in the deep.”

Cidaris choked out a laugh and a sob. “There is no other world away from here. To leave is to enter the abyss.” He sank down and rested on the sand floor of the reef as seaweed and polyps caressed and stung his body with each ferocity. “Being banished is just them saying that I’m to be killed. But instead of being the one who has to harpoon me, they get to smile and say that ‘it’s only banishment’ and act like it’s not death itself.”

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Lewisil flicked his tail to sweep aside some of the plants and animals so he could sit beside Cidaris without being perpetually attacked by anemone hungering for a smaller snack. Coiling his tail, he set himself down beside Cidaris. “I know you killed him because he killed one of us. But, the prince has been trying to broker a deal of peace with the surface dwellers. So, our laws call for death. However, the prince has chosen to be kind, and in spite of what the others wanted, he put aside the law he created and chose to give you a new chance at life. This is a mercy whether or not you see it as so.”

Cidaris rolled his eyes as he looked over at Lewisil. “Here is where Raine is. How can being anywhere where she is not be anything other than abyssal? Forever I will be left remembering the warmth of her touch. The ocean and the pebbles she walks across in the cave can feel the tenderness of her touch and the light of her smile, but I don’t get to do that.” Pushing himself up with a cloud of sand he hovered above Lewisil. “How can you know that and tell me that exile isn’t death?”

Grunting, Lewisil pushed himself off the sand and followed Cidaris skywards. “Listen to me Cidaris.”

Cidaris scoffed. “Why? So you can tell me about the joys of banishment again?”

Lewisil reached up and yanked on Cidaris tail, shocking the younger merman by pulling him downwards with a burst of unexpected strength. “Let me help you. I can make it so that banishment isn’t the worst thing for you.”

As Cidaris glared at Lewisil, his arms crossed over his chest and he nodded with a sarcastic disbelief. “How? Are you going to magically undo the Prince’s ruling, move this city to where I am living once I leave, or create a Raine that I can bring with me?” His shoulders sank as he turned away. “How Lewisil? Nothing you can say or do will make this better.”

“I see the despairing have lost the use of their ears then?”

“Why would they, when no one else can see the pain they’re in? You don’t know what it’s like to be in love. To have been married and then to have been banished before the sun sets. If you did, you’d understand the way I feel.”

“Hide here longer Cidaris, I will make you see how I can help you.”