Near the eve of Monsoonfall, within the dark underground streets of Noir. Esteban was fighting several strange people. The assailants were dressed in strange garb, resembling Albionian and Carolingian attire from not so long ago. Their eyes were clouded as if they were made of glass. Their skin powdered to a porcelain-like pallor. They attacked the cyan-clad rouge with dauntless determination, moaning and walking as if they were undead.

Esteban had not failed to prevent their blows from touching his bronzed skin, not to retaliate against the assailants with his own strikes. One with ringleted hair tried to lunge towards Esteban’s leg, but he sidestepped it and she ran into a suited man.

Meanwhile, Julia was busy helping a mother and daughter escape these strange people. The two that followed her floated in the air, held a loft by mesoglea-made bells in place of legs. Their heads were surrounded by an orb of water each.

“Mommy, I’m scared,” the daughter said as she swam, hugging her mother.

“It’ll be okay sweetie,” the mother said.

Julia looked back to the couple as they drew near a doorway. “They won’t follow you here. My husband and I would make sure of it. There is a guild hall to the east of here, they will take care of you.” Julia said. Her indigo hair billowed in the faint rays of moonlight.

“Thank you,” the mother said gratefully. She turned to her daughter “C’mon dear.” The family swam through the door which led to their safety. Julia looked back to the direction they emerged from.

“Always that time of year huh,” the rouge said. She took her dagger out and returned to aid her husband.

Meanwhile, Esteban had felled several of the doll-like opponents. But several more had arrived to reinforce their allies. One of them, clad in a white suit and top hat, chanted with indistinct noises, attempting to use Bardsong, but his dissonant mumbles were silenced by an engulfing shadow surrounding him.

Esteban grappled with another of the strangers, intercepting his clumsy blows and knocking him down onto the floor.

“Damn Dollkeepers,” Esteban thought as she continued fighting them. He wordlessly dispatched several of the opponents. Striking them in pressure points that immobilized them and sent them to the ground. Julia arrived and assisted more closely with her shadow guardian. Before long the Dollkeeper thralls were neutralized, and they vanished into mist.

Esteban sighed. “Thirty years and counting, and there is still no way to undo those hexes,” Esteban said. Julia comforted him. “At the very least, we ensured those Ewerans didn’t join them.”

As Monsoonfall draws nearer, dresses styled after the Eweran’s bell become in demand and the Syndicate has sought to supply premium dresses through their usual unscrupulous means. The controllers of the dolls have the ability to teleport using smoke and mist to escape, and the dolls would innately use this power if defeated, to return to their masters.

The two left this part of the Underground and returned to the Black Box, making sure to contact the Rouges about Dollkeeper activity.

✦✦✦

“This is so exciting!” Azalea squealed vivaciously.

Emily and several of her friends were in Noir for the Monsoonfall Festival. Specifically Anesidora Park. The streets were lined with joyous people dancing and singing in the streets as aquatic-theme floats hovered around them.

Esteban kept an eye out for suspicious people within the crowd. Heathcliff approached his friend.

“Syndicate’s in poaching season again?” Heathcliff asked.

Esteban nodded. “Twenty attempts in the last week,” he said. “With eight additional missing people’s reports. The Rouges were already trying to find them.”

“You’d think those Ebony Guardsmen would at least pretend to care,” Heathcliff said.

“They’re too busy with the delegation from Hermocrates,” Esteban said. His tone was stern and consistent, for he had known the Guards would be of little help to them.

Emily approached the men. “What’s going on?”

“The Dollkeepers,” Heathcliff said.

“Dollkeepers?” Emily said confusingly.

“One of the Syndicate’s familiga, they are very dangerous.”

“Oh yeah,” Elizabeth said. “They kidnap people from the streets for unspeakable rituals!”

Esteban nodded. “Be on guard they are rather active this time of year. Especially involving ‘antithetic’ Eweran dresses.”

“Those barbarians. They bring disgrace to the festival!” Richard arrived his Sarah in tow. The latter wore an umbrella-like dress as she hovered in the air. Her expression was one of discomfort.

“Sarah?” Emily said.

“Don’t ask,” the tanned dwarven sister said. The dress resembled the bell of the Eweran and was enchanted to allow the wear to float. Tim followed the dwarves.

“What is the dress for?” Emily said.

“The Moonrise,” Sarah said. “Brother wanted to design Eweran dresses for the more lunar half of the Monsoonfall festival.”

Emily is left befuddled.

“The Eweran dresses,” Elizabeth said, “Are so named because they are designed to evoke the appearance and flowing abilities of the Eweran merfolk.”

“Most of them,” Richard added. “Were merely made in their image. But as I’m sure you’re probably aware there are miscreants who prefer genuine Eweran hide and would stop at nothing to get it.”

Emily looked at Esteban in a dawning realization. The dark-skinned rouge nodded in affirmation.

“The depths of depravity are surprising in their lack of limits,” Tim said.

Elizabeth looked at Sarah who was still visibly uncomfortable with the dress. She cocked an eye at Richard.

“Oh, rest assured the materials are completely synthetic,” the blond dwarf said.

Sarah tried to control her moment as she floated around, the dress turned her upside down and rotated her body as her legs struggled to orient her body. “Can I please take this off, now, I’m getting seasick!” As soon as she said that, her cheeks were suddenly filled.

Elizabeth and Richard helped orient Sarah and grounded the dwarfette and removed the dress from her. Sarah then rushed to a nearby trash can.

Richard sighed. “I warned her not to ear out that mooncake stall,” he said.

Emily looked at the dress. The fabric was translucent as it glistered in the light of the setting sun. “So um, why is this dress special.”

“The garment,” Heathcliff said. “It also used a floating lantern. The wearers are supposed to discard it at the end of the festival and let it float to the sky at the end of the parade.”

“They said it is so their wishes, embedded in their mana would reach Astra, the Cosmos,” Tim said.

Emily is surprised to hear that. “But isn’t this festival supposed to honor Halcyon?”

“That’s correct, “Sarah said after emptying her head. “The Festival in general is for Halcyon, the Flood, but some of the other traditions here are in honor of other Administrators.”

“The [Moonrise] is one for [Tranquiltas, the Moonshadow] for instance,” Elizabeth added.

“I see,” Emily said.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Azalea swam around various pop-up stands, and each of them sold a variety of seagrain-derived food. Elizabeth took a pastry from one of the stands and ate it.

“Oh,” the fairy said. “I knew there was a sweet aftertaste to seagrain, but I didn’t expect it to be so strong.”

“I know, right?” Azalea said with glee as she chowed down on several of the pastries.

Rose slithers to her clionid friend. “Did you save any for me?” the pink-pigtailed lamia asked with an inquisitive tone.

“Of course,” Azalea took out some of the pastries she bought. “You think I’d swallow thirty whole Manta Sticks?” she took out some of the baked goods. The batter on the sticks gave a pleasant aroma as she handed them out to her friends. Rose wolfed down hers in one bite. To Raine’s chagrin.

“This is delicious!” Rose said. She rushed ahead to the stand selling the Manta sticks. Lily and Clover followed suit. Raine sighed. She went to chastise Rose, but something caught her attention, a small feathered silhouette zoomed past her eyes for a split second. The phoenixian girl saw the figure’s wings fold beneath her waist before she vanished.

“Something wrong,” Azalia said as she took out another of her treats. “You’re usually sticking it to Rose about her sweet tooth.”

“You didn’t see that?” The red-haired girl said. Her ponytail ruffled by the breeze.

“See what?” The clionid said. “Seagrain? Sea slug?” she gestured to herself as she asked that last question. Raine looked back to where the silhouette was.

✦✦✦

Nearby, Rosemary was doing some preliminary stretches. The Argyroneta Arcahne noticed Anemone, Clover, and Nina approach her.

“Hello Nina,” Rosemary said to the other young Arachne. Her head was already wrapped in a translucent weave in preparation for the Erineon. The silken threads shimmered like dew in the twilight.

“You want to take part in the Eirineon?” Anenome said. “I know Argyronetae are good swimmers, but—”

The four were acquainted recently with Lydia introducing the spiderling to the other children. Rosemary’s desire to swim in the traditional Monsoonfall race was evident from her introduction. The young girl practiced her swimming, her webwork, and her underwater breathing for the past several months.

“Yeah,” Rosemary said. “It’s been my dream to win the Eirineon!” Her eyes were bright with determination and joy as her eight legs slitted towards the centaur and lycanthrope.

“I heard that many of the swimmers trained their whole lives for this race,” Lily said. “Some even went through intense training regiment for that end.”

“I heard one went as far as to seek out a specific Dungeon in Lake Haze to practice!” Rosemary said, unaware that her peers were concerned for her safety in such a race. “Isn’t that exciting?”

Azalea swam towards her friends. “Hey Rosemary!” the clionid said giving her a Manta stick. “You’re going to need some energy for the race.”

The indigo-haired spiderling took the seagrain treat from the clionid.

“Good luck in the race!” Azalea said.

“Azalea,” Anemone said, a violet bang from her ringlets flew into her eye. “Do you think Rosemary might not be ready for the competition?” she adjusted her bang. “After all it took—”

“She did swim fifty meters in two hours,” Nina said.

The other spiderling beamed with pride. “Indeed I did!” she said.

“But the Eirineon is a marathon of a swimming race,” Lily said, her yellow-blond locks and tail billowed in the wind. “The track circles around the parade circuit!”

Rosemary stroked her chin. “That does stretch for six hours. Hey, wait why are you trying to discourage me from trying to fulfill my dream?”

“Rosemary,” Anemone said. “There are various risks involved in joining this race,”

“And Nina trying to go on adventures is any less dangerous?” Rosemary said.

“Hey!” Nina said.

“She’s nearly as stubborn as Rose,” Hydrangea said, butting in the conversation. Rose and the remaining Coloraturas followed her.

“Do you think the name confirms some great stubbornness?” Clover said.

Rose and Rosemary were annoyed by the comparison. “Hey!” the lamia said.

Rosemary humphed. “I’ll prove to you I’m worthy to compete in the Eireneon! I’ll show you!” The spiderling stormed off.

Anemone glared at the other seven Coloraturas, having failed in trying to deter Rosemary from doing something stupid.

✦✦✦

Rosemary, still bitter about the lack of faith shown by her peers ran into a park. The spiderling ran past a group of people practicing for the Eurykreion. A collection of games that included the Eireneon.

“Stupid doo-doo heads!” the spiderling thought. The young indigo-haired girl missed an errant stone disk that hovered over her webbed head.

“Hey!” an aspiring competitor said to the centaur that had thrown the disc. “You could’ve hurt this poor child!”

The half-horse man rolled his eyes and stormed off. The athlete flew to Rosemary. Still lost in her thoughts. Rosemary muttered to herself.

“Are you okay?” the other young woman said.

Rosemary looked up and saw a young woman beside her. She nearly mistook her for Raine for how similar her feathered legs were. The only difference was that their coloration was bleached white. It took Rosemary longer to notice that the feathered legs were longer than Raine’s. She looked up at the athlete’s torso and saw that she had a toned body, caramelized by the sun’s rays with muscular arms, covered by a leotard top that exposed her shoulders. The white-winged girl’s head had hair that matched her feathers, with a feathery wavy texture as it billowed to her back, tied in a giant braid by a large pink bow. Rosemary blinked. “Who are you?”

“Oh, silly me,” the egret-like woman said. “My name’s Mackenzie. I came here to practice for the Eirineon—”

“You want to race for the Eirineon?” Rosemary said.

Mackenzie nodded.

“Me too!” Rosemary said. She then introduced herself.

Mackenzie was surprised to hear someone as long wanted to take part in the race, but noticed the dew-coated web that covered Rosemary’s head, translucent enough for her to see the spiderling’s dark blue hair, brown eyes, and freckled face. She wondered how the threads could have such qualities, but she paid no mind to it as she and Rosemary talked about the race and Rosemary’s desire to take part.

The winged girl led Rosemary to a place where she could register for the race. “We better hurry,” Mackenzie said. “It’s almost evening and they scheduled the race to end right before the parade starts.”

The two maneuvered through several parked floats, seagrain pastry stalls, and practicing athletes until they made it to the nearest registration booth. Mackenzie walked Rosemary through the application process. The slimonid attendant listlessly and dutifully took the application. “The race starts in two hours,” she said in a bored tone.

Rosemary was excited, in two hours, she would begin the swimming race of a lifetime.

“There’s a lake over there,” Mackenzie mentioned. “We could practice until then.”

“Yeah!” Rosemary said with energy.

The two walked to the lake, and along the way, Mackenzie felt like she was being watched. She heard something fall from a building wall and didn’t find something amiss.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Emily and Elizabeth toured some of the stalls. Tim, Richard, Sarah, and Esteban followed them.

“The children are fine by themselves, right?” Elizabeth said.

“Heathcliff’s keeping an eye on them,” Tim said.

“There are around eleven of them,” Esteban said.

“The Coloraturas at least, can care for themselves,” Emily said. “Right?”

“Right!” Sarah said. “We can trust them to take care of the young ones.”

The group walked through several stalls.

“Let me get this straight,” Emily said. “The Monsoonfall has two halves, the Moonrise and the Eurykreion, right?”

Elizabeth nodded. “The merfolk brought them from places as disparate as [Macedon] and [Jiang-hu]. The Eurykreion are a collection of games and athletic trials meant to showcase straight and skill. The Moonrise, meant to honor [Tranqulitas] as well as [Halcyon], adapted several traditions that originated in [Jiang-hu].”

“Those traditions were altered when the merfolk brought them over,” Tim said. “They were originally meant for harvest festivals in the vein of Allowstide,” Tim said.

Emily wondered about the difference between those traditions.

Esteban meanwhile kept an eye out for Syndicate activity. He watched over the various citizens as they enjoyed their seagrain treats and their ocean-themed prizes. He saw someone rush past the crowd with an abnormally large bag, a few tendrils poked from its zipper.

Esteban excused himself from the group and slipped away. The dwarven twins noticed that he vanished, and followed suit, leaving Emily, Tim, and Elizabeth alone.

✦✦✦

Esteban trailed the suspicious man among the festival patrons. He used his cloaking magic to avoid being seen by the man as he walked down the streets of Noir. As the sun set under the horizon and the ceremony opening the Eirineon was underway, the rouge caught the man with the bag in front of a Dollkeeper.

“Three Eweran hides,” a well-dressed woman said. “Nice work.” She was surrounded by three equally dressed people, yet the woman remained the liveliest amongst the quartet.

“Thank you, ma’am,” the man said with a stutter that indicated fright. “Now, may I-I pl-please see my family?” His whimpering tone reverberated across the alleyway.

Esteban had seen similar encounters like this, and could only pity the man for what is about to happen.

The woman took the bag, containing three bells severed from three Eweran merfolk. The stench of decay seeped from the bag. The woman accessed the fleshy bells within. “Very excellent quality.”

“Please m-miss,” the hapless fool said. “My family, t-tell me where they are. I did e-e-everything you asked!”

The woman looked at the poor man with dagger-like glares. Her smile was unflinching as she let out a demented giggle. “Of right, I did promise you a reunion.” With a snap of her fingers, three figures rush forward. Esteban made out that two of them were shorter than the third. Before he knew it, the harvester was restrained by people dolled up in fancy outfits. His wife and two children, each with lifeless expressions.

The family man was shocked at the thought that his family, the love of his life, and the two bundles of joy they raised together, were turned into husked by the mobsters. He had hoped that it wouldn't have come to this if he had just done what the woman had said…

“If only he had reported the kidnappings,” Esteban thought as he rushed into the alley. With his hands clenched into fists he punched one of the goons surrounding the Dollkeepers’ next victim. He fought his way and freed the man from his now-turned family.

“Playing your games again?” Esteban said to the woman, blond hair cascaded down to her thighs. “So the Azure Rouge had to butt in again,” she said. She commanded her “dolls” to attack Esteban, but their haphazard movements were no match for the agile brawler. The timid man backed away from the fight, not wanting to see his defiled family. He rushed behind an alleyway and tripped. His daughter had grabbed his legs.

Perhaps this was what he had deserved, in trying to free his family, the man had killed another in cold blood. He had heard the rumors about people being stuffed with enchanted wool, turning into undead-like thralls, but he had held onto a faint glimmer of hope that it wouldn’t befall his family. They just wanted to witness the Eurykreion games, He wondered how did it ever came to this as he saw his baby daughter pull him closer.

Esteban kicked the doll away from her father. “Go! Get to safety,” he told the man. “We will discuss this later.”

The man, grateful for the save, nodded and ran away from the alley, tears streamed from his face. He ran past a pair of copper-toned dwarves.

“Guess we knew where he went,” the twintaled one said. Her blond brother looked around, making sure there was no one else to see him as he took out his stunners.

The siblings entered the alley and saw Esteban grappling with several dolls. A blond woman lounged at the other end of the alleyway.

“Now that is bad news,” Sarah said as she took out her hammer and rushed towards the fight. One of the dolls was knocked into the wall by her hammer.

Richard took out his stunner and aimed the crossbow carefully. He focused on landing a shot at the group of dolls fighting Esteban and fired the enchanted bolts. Thin bolts of lightning flew through the ally and were embedded in the flesh of the dolls. Lightning coursed through their cotton-stuffed bodies and shocked them to the point of collapse. Esteban and Sarah dispatched several of the remainder.

The woman merely giggled. “I see you made some new friends!” she said in a mocking tone. A plume of darkness surrounded the leader as she taunted them. “I’m sure they would make an excellent addition to my collection one day.” The roguish man was irked by her statement.

Sarah ran towards her, hammer in hand, but the dwarf was too late. The dark smoke had already teleported her away and her weapon slammed only the ground.

Richard looked to Esteban. “Those are the Dollkeepers?” the blond dwarf said with tells of uncertainty on his tanned face.

Esteban nodded. “Why did you come?”

“You’re slipping,” Sarah said. “I thought the Azure Rouge was a lot more slick than that!”

Esteban chuckled. “My apologies, hermanos.”

“Emily knew as well,” Richard clarified. “C’mon, the ceremony is starting.”

The three returned to regroup with Emily, Elizabeth, and Tim. Esteban explained what happened as they returned to where they left the rest of the group. She saw that the Coloraturas and Nina were accounted for, as were the other members of her group.

“Where’s Rosemary?” Emily asked, noticing the Arachne’s absence.

Heathcliff returned with several figures in tows, but only one of them she recognized.

“Seems like someone made some new friends,” the knight said.

✦✦✦

“You joined the Eireneon?”

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Elizabeth expressed shock at Rosemary’s decision, despite knowing her desire to partake in the race for months. Rosemary nodded with determination. Anemone sighed as the hothead had failed to heed her warnings.

Rained on the other hand was more occupied with Rosemary’s new friend, the white-feathered girl was in turn transfixed on her phoenixian counterpart.

“You are…” Raine said, eyes directed at Mackenzie’s shimmering feathers. The wings folded next to her thighs.

Rose, Lily, and Azalea looked at the two winged girls. Clover accessed Mackenzie for any cervine features but failed to find any.

“You look just like Raine!” Azalea said.

“She looks just like me!” Mackenzie said, ignoring the obvious difference in hue. She turned to Rosemary, “Why didn’t you tell me you knew another Kinnari?”

“What’s a Kinnari?” The indigo-haired arachne asked.

“It sounds like a spice,” Nina said, the white-haired spiderling turned to Rose. “Is it a spice?”

“That’s cinnamon!” the pink-haired lamia said to Nina. Rose then turned to Rosemary. “Where did you find her?”

“She approached me,” Rosemary said. “She thought I was nearly hit by a disc.”

“You were!” Mackenzie said.

Emily is a little confused. She turned to the fairy. “Is there anything we can do, Lizzie?”

Before Elizabeth could respond, the gathering festival goers clamored around. The afterglow of dusk gave way to large spotlights pointing to a small stage set up in the center of the park. A booming voice was heard throughout announcing the opening ceremony of the Eirineon.

Rosemary and Mackenzie realized what this meant and rushed to the beginning of the track. “Sorry, we’ve got to go!” Rosemary said. Nina, Raine, Azalea, and Anemone followed suit.

“Guess it’s too late now,” Elizabeth said.

The announcer began his introduction. “Citizens, visitors, guests. We welcome you to the Monsoonfall festival!” He was a merman with a longer-than-usual tail and thin lithe arms. His muscles were taut and toned. The announcer continued. “For years we have been among the many cities and communities that celebrated this holiday, in honor of the Flood and the Moonshadow. May they bless the fishers and farmers of the sea with a bountiful harvest. May they continue to give their blessings to the adventurers. Maybe We, who came from the ocean, be graced with the auspices of the Administrators!”

The gathered crowd cheered for the announcer’s pious words. The merman continued to orate to the masses. “It is in these hopes that we will begin the annual Eireneon. Dozens of people shall test their endurance as they swim through the parade’s circuit. Not all will be able to make it to the end. Please, do not push beyond your limits. Though you might be compelled to compete with each other, this is not a race, this is an aquatic marathon, a way to test your limits and one of many ways to learn of the sea.”

The announcer divulged the rules of the swimming race. “Participants are to swim as far as they can across the track, From here in Anesidora Park, to the distracts of Nectaris and Broadway, and through the Dungeon known as la Rivière du Métrocourant. Those born without the ability to breathe underwater are required to use whatever means possible to ensure you do not drown. I recommend the use of oxygenation spells if possible. Know that the marathon will end at midnight when the parade begins, all participants must exit the track ten minutes before.”

Though it is not meant to be competitive, with it being both a show of peace and a method to test one’s limits, many of the racers do not see it that way, and Makenzie was one of them.

“Good luck,” the white-feathered girl said. “You’re going to need it if you can beat me!” she dived into the water and used her wind magic to create an oxygenation spell to allow her to breathe underwater. A necessity for those bereft of the ability. Rosemary followed suit, the web encasing her head was as watertight as she had hoped—expected it to be.

“We’ll see about that,” Rosemary said.

They took their starting positions, sandwiched between an Eweran and a hippocentaur. Mackenzie’s spell allowed her to breathe the water as if it was pure oxygen. Rosemary’s webbing kept the water out from her mouth and nose, as the silken fibers of all Argyronetae Arachne should.

Nina and the three witches with her looked at the participants. Anemone wondered why some of the racers were as young as she was. Azalea and Nina kept their eyes on Rosemary and Raine kept her on Mackenzie.

Rose, Clover, Hydrangea, Streltizia, and Lily looked at the race from a different angle, Lily noticed their friends on the other side of the track.

Nearby, Emily, Esteban, Tim, Heathcliff, Sarah, Richard, and Elizabeth kept an eye on the two groups of children that came with them.

“Ready!” The announcement said. The racers swam into position, their bodies bobbing among the still waters of the constructed track.

“Get set…”

Rosemary’s excitement manifested as sweat on her brow, she was prepared to beat her new friend, her new rival, and to prove herself.

“Go!”

The Eireneon began and the racers swam as fast as they could.

✦✦✦

While Rosemary’s web allowed her to breathe underwater, and her lungs were more capable of conserving oxygen than other strains of Arachne, a clear disadvantage was made apparent as soon as she swam. Her abdomen had caused her to take on too much drag.

She had practiced her swimming to account for that in the months prior, and to her credit, she was not at the back of the pack, but it meant that she was way behind Mackenzie. The white-winged Kinnari was already several yards ahead of her new friend and the gap was widening by the second.

The aquatic track led the racers into the next leg of the Eirineon, placed along several streets of Nectaris, a notable Jiangese community that lived and also where most of the Moonrise-related activities were located. The buildings that lined the district glowed with the vermilion hue of paper lanterns, a carryover from the Jiangese traditions.

Nina and her group ran beside the other spectators, trying to keep an eye on Rosemary and Mackenzie. Rose and her party instead took to a higher vantage for a higher view. Esteban also kept an eye out for certain saboteurs.

The Eirineon swimmers found that the track had diverged into split tunnels, Rosemary saw Mackenzie take the left one, and fearing she could not catch up there, swam through the right tunnel. The divergent path led Mackenzie towards the boundary between where the Elegere and Empeyan residents reside. And she had a view of the skyline of Noir.

“Whoa,” the indigo-haired spiderling said. The facades of the buildings glimmered with with lights from the paper lanterns, hanging from the clothesline and the walls. Through the transparent walls of the tunnel, Rosemary was awestruck by the sight.

“No, wait,” she said. “Got to focus!” she continued her endeavor to overtake Mackenzie.

Meanwhile, Makenzie’s path led her to a similar sight. But where her friend was met with paper lanterns, hers instead lingered on the people on the ground below. Dozens of people gifting each other mooncakes, setting up street pickets to view the moon, and finding love in the matchmaker’s incense stalls. Mackenzie was certain that if she was outside of the tube she swam in, she could smell the scent of kelp incense wafting from the stalls, and of sweet seagrain from the nearby food.

She looked at the sight with a lament. “Mother, I wish you could see this,” she thought. She could’ve whispered it to herself if not for the sound being muffled by the water she was submerged in. With a nostalgic look in her eyes, she swam deeper into the tunnel.

The swimmers reconvened after several twisting and winding turns, there were midway through Nectarus when Rosemary saw Mackenzie, now she was barely ahead of the Kinnari, but the winged girl was quickly gaining ground. In a few knots, the spiderling was already overtaken, but she dared to catch up to her competitive friend. The two were neck and neck as they exited Nectarus and entered the Broadway leg of the circuit.

✦✦✦

While Rosemary and Makenzie are racing in the Eireneon, Esteban looked at the race from one of the higher stands set up by Noir to view the race. Heathcliff approached his friend.

“Never were one to rest, huh cher?” The red-headed knight said.

Esteban smirked. “There is no rest for me, Heath,” the Rouge said.

“Might do you some good to try, “Heathcliff said, “just a friendly suggestion. All work made Jack a dead boy and all.”

“Easy for you to say,” Esteban said.

Heathcliff sat down next to his friend. He knew Esteban was ever vigilant, both to survive and to ensure the survival of those living in the underground. It seemed like only Julia was able to convince the Azure Rouge to take his mind off his work. Though Heathcliff remained determined to be the second.

“What happened back then,” Heathcliff said. “That wasn’t your fault, you know.”

Esteban sighed. His mind was fixated on that faithful night his frailly was killed. “I’ll stop the syndicate, and I'll bring that man to justice!” he thought. He knew the name, he knew the face. He just needs to get closer to them. It’s the only way he could avenge them.

The rouge’s rumination was broken when he saw a man dressed in a butler-esque suit walked past them. The festival goers were too caught up in their revelries and the Eireneon to notice the doll, or his sack that squirmed with each movement. Faint screams and cries were heard from the kidnapper’s bag.

Esteban glanced at Heathcliff. “No time for the wicked,” the knight said as both stood up.

Rose and her group also noticed the stranger and the even stranger’s satchel. The lamia slithered away from the spectators, with Lily and Streltizia following her.

“Clover, Lily, tell the others!” the minotaride said. The fawn nodded and she and the centauride went to Azalea, Raine, and Anemone.

✦✦✦

The doll lugged his spoils to a secluded building, emptied by the workers leaving to enjoy the Monsoonfall. The fluorescent lights flickered as the undead-like man placed the sack on the ground.

Three Eweran children tumbled out from the sack. Their eyes trembled with fear as they saw two men enter. A man and a woman, clad in a respective attire of a black suit and lace-patterned dress.

“What do we do with the bodies, Annabelle?” the man said to the woman. His black suit was well kept, a black velvet vest draped over a white undershirt. Different from the doll’s tuxedo.

“Hmm,” the woman said. Her dress was an array of white doily-like patterns lining the rim of her black skirt and sleeves, with more patterns decorating the fabric higher on the skirt. A large big bow atop her blond tresses.

The jellyfish-like merfolk trembled as the taller folk looked over them. The three were too terrified to consider escape. Not that they had the option to with their hulking doll being able to pin them to the ground if they tried.

Annabelle looked at the oldest of three, a young girl who pleaded with them to let them go. “Our-our bells are too thin, too small!” She begged, aware of why they were kidnapped and brought here.

“She is so cute,” Annabelle said with a mix of venomous of sugar. “She will make a wonderful doll. “Chuck, I want them converted after the harvest!” Her psychotic grin beamed on her face.

“Please…I don’t want to die,” the girl trembled. Her younger brothers clung to her waist for some semblance of comfort. They knew what would happen if well-dressed men and women approached them. The Dollkeepers were the subject of horror stories for their “hobbies”. Some feared them to the point where they expressed they would rather die at the hands of the Voorhes Gang or the Tombkeepers, at least with them death would be certain. And more merciful than what would befall them.

“Sparkling Rondo!”

Lightning sprinkled from the light fixtures, the tubes burned out as everyone’s eyes were blinded in wight. Chuck doubled over in pain as one of the bolts struck him.

“Who did this?” The vested man with vested interest screamed.

The pair and their servitor turned to the entrance, there they found a little lamia girl. Pink tail with pink scales and her head with pink hair tied in poofy pigtails. Her rapier and wand brandished and pointed at the gangsters.

Annabelle grinned as she saw the angry child. “So one of the Coloraturas had graced us with her presence.”

“She’s not the only one!”

Before the mindless doll could react. Strelitzia had tackled the corpse into a laundry machine behind him. Clover used her fan to create a blade of wind that sliced a pipe off the ceiling. The fallen tube pinned the doll down for now.

The other Coloraturas emerged behind Rose, Clover, and Streltizia. Annabelle’s grin was ecstatic.

While the Dollkeepers were distracted by the eight witches, the Eweran children noticed an object move on its own. Esteban had used his cloaking magic to sneak past the mobsters and open an exit. “Hurry,” he whispered.

The frightened kids took their opportunity to escape. Chuck noticed them floating toward the door. “Hey, the brats are—”

The vested man was knocked out by an errant shield. Heathcliff entered the room. “This seems the wrong place here. The clock cleaners are down the street.”

“Aw, what’s wrong,” Annabelle said. “You needed a babysitter now?” she said in a mocking tone to Rose.

Rose was irked by the older woman’s retort.

Azalea swam around the room, a subtle microexpression of anger at people attempting to ruin the Monsoonfall was present as she circled the gangsters. “Time for the spin cycle!” she said as she conjured a whirlpool around the Dollkeepers. Annabelle and Chuck escaped the torrent. The doll’s binding was lifted from the water and the tuxedo-clad brute stood upright and alight with animalistic rage.

Annabelle took out her parasol, a disguised weapon, and fired shorts from the crank that was her handle. The umbrella unfolded as bullets were spared by the device, but Strelizia channeled her earth magic into her axe and slammed the concrete floor, causing it to strike into the form of a shield that deflected the rounds. Lily charged over the barricade and engaged Annabelle with her spear.

“And you got some toys too!” Annabelle said. “How lovely!”

The umbrella and spear clashed. Chucked tried to get the blond centauride away from his partner but was intercepted by Raine’s talons and rings, and Hydrangea froze his arms before he could get out his more traditional weapon.

Esteban disengaged from the fight to discreetly lead the Ewerans to safety as Heathcliff and the coloraturas engaged the Dollkeeprs, when he was certain that the three victims were with their families, he returned to the fight to help apprehend the Dollkeepers.

✦✦✦

Mackenzie had again overtaken her new friend as they swam through the canals of Broadway. Surrounded by theaters and static floats designed by Hollyland set designers and lingering artisans. There the track leads into the entrance of the la Rivière du Métrocourant. An aquapolis of a Natural Dungeon created from a large reservoir. Enlisted by the festival planners for the Eireneon and the parade.

The swimmers were thrust down several pipes by the dungeon and its turbines. Rosemary was again separated from the white-feathered kinnari. The current led her down another pipe, and she slammed into its metal walls.

The collision caused a hole in the web around her head. Water began leaking.

“Drat, drat, drat!” Rosemary said in a panicked tone. She tried to surface to catch her air and repair her web. The spiderling held a large breath as she struggled to swim, rationing precious oxygen as she searched for an egress. She found a shimmering light above her, a hole in the track. She tried to swim toward it but she struggled against the current.

Her spindly legs were unable to let her reach the aperture, her arms were too short to reach her in time, the oxygen in her air dwindled.

“If only I knew how to use wind magic,” she thought to herself.

At the same time, Mackenzie had her own troubles. Her mana was running low, her oxygenation spell was fading and she needed to find a way to surface.

“I can’t give up here!” she said. “Not now.” She worked too hard to fall short on the last leg of the race. Her mind flashed back to earlier years when she gleefully swam with her mother on the lake. The egret-feathered girl tried to find a hole to swim through, an air pocket she could use to rest. She had only ten minutes left before mana exhaustion would render her unconscious, and worse before her spell faded and her flooded lungs were unable to breathe.

Two minutes later, she found a hole, but as she tried to swim it she felt something push her into a current.

“Ow!” Mackenzie said. She turned to see that what crashed into her was a certain Arachne child, her neck was covered in torn webbing. Her eyes were glazed over from consciously, bubbles escaped her mouth as it drifted open and shut by the minute.

“Rosemary!” Mackenzie shouted. The competitive girl’s mind was focused on finding a way out again, for both her sake, and that her of drowning friend.

She carried the drowning spiderling under one of her arms and used her free arm and talons to try to swim. She found another exit, a valve on the floor, likely used to drain the tube. With her free arm, Mackenzie exerted her strength to try to pry it open.

Rosemary’s head slowly turned as she gazed at an arm through clouded eyes. Her mind was drowsy, her chest flooded with water that magic could not convert into oxygen anymore. She could barely move her head and she couldn't speak with her mouth filled with water. Her vanishingly rare moments of consciousness were spent praying, and wondering who was trying to save her.

Mackenzie was still trying to open the drainage valve. But she was out of mana, exhausted, and on the verge of collapse, she defiantly tried to force it open with her legs, but they were too weak. She could feel her lungs being choked by liquids.

“Come on! Open, damn you!” Mackenzie said, her speech turned to bubbles as her consciousness was about to fade. She heard something creak beneath her, but before she could see the valve turn, she blacked out, her vision clouded as her still-open eyes began to glaze over with slumber. She wondered if she and her new friend would be swimming in the Sea of Souls next, her last conscious thought…

✦✦✦

Earlier, after Anemone, Raine, and Azalea left Nina, Raine asked the spiderling to return to Emily. The young Arachne did as she was told and reached the avatara and her group.

“Nina?” Emily said. “Is something wrong?”

Nina shook her head, obvious as to why the three witches left her. Tim noticed that Heathcliff and Esteban were also missing. Elizabeth expressed a worried look with the others.

“Is something wrong?” the blithe wannabe adventurer asked.

Before there could be a response, the group saw three Eweran kids floating past them, clearly terrified for their lives.

“Nina?” Emily said to the spiderling. “Can you stay here for a bit?”

“Why?” the artless arachne asked.

“Don’t you want to Rosemary finish the Eireneon?” Sarah said as a distractionary measure.

“Oh yeah!” Nina said. “Wait where did she go?”

“The racers have likely made it to la Rivière du Métrocourant,” Richard said, with the Ewerean dress he had Sarah wear folded on his arm. “Follow me!”

The dwarven siblings led Nina to where the Dungeon is. Tim noticed something was odd.

“Tim?” Emily said.

“Go help them,” he said. “I want to make sure Rosemary is okay.” He can’t help but feel like something has gone wrong.

The avatara also felt something similar. A feeling she couldn't shake. With a nod, she left her first and finest Sentinel be for now as Tim moved towards the Dungeon.

✦✦✦

At the laundromat, The Coloraturas, as well as the older Heathcliff and Esteban, fought against the Dollkeepers. The orchestrators of the attempted kidnapping, Annabelle and Chuck, had summoned more dolls to try to overwhelm them.

Anemone had fired several arrows at the dolls’ shadows, pinning them in place as Hydrangea froze the animated corpses in place. Rose and Esteban fought Annabelle directly.

“I daresay,” Annabelle said as she dodged Rose’s thrusts. “You certain were better with a wand.”

“Shut up!” Rose said indignantly. She conjured a bolt of levin directly in front of her. Annabelle flinched at the sight and didn’t see Rose preparing to whip her with her tail. The lamia girl placed her palm on the ground and turned her body, the centrifugal force moved her tail and slammed it into Annabelle’s knees. The young woman was tripped by the attack.

Annabelle tried to use her gun-parasol, but Esteban had disarmed her with well-timed elbow strikes. A result of him learning some moves from Tim’s fights.

Chuck meanwhile dealt with Heathcliff alone. “Heh, you think you can defeat me?” the Dollkeeper boasted.

“Well,” Heathcliff bantered. “I seem to be doing good so far!” he slashed at the Dollkeeper and put him on the backfoot. Azalea swam behind him and used her knife to manipulate the moisture from the washing machines. Hydrangea then combined her magic with Azalea and encased Chuck’s legs in gelatinous binds.

The Dolls tried to assist their masters, but Lily, Clover, Streltizia, and Anemone kept them away from their allies.

The battle continued until Emily and Elizabeth arrived and saw two of the Dollkeepers.

Annabelle smirked. “Place is getting too crowded, later Rosie!” the young girl said to the Lamia. She and her partner vanished in a puff of smoke. Along with the dolls they summoned. Rose glared at where they once stood with a furious look on their face.

“What happened?” Emily asked.

Esteban looked at the damaged washing machines and strewn clothes. Some Eweran dresses among them. “Just a little clean-up is all,” he said.

Emily turned to Rose. She saw her face adust with rage, as she slithered past Emily. “Were those kids safe?” she asked. Her rage gave way to an innocent look.

Emily nodded. She knew that the fleeing Eweran trio had something to do with this. Rose’s expression turned to relief. “That’s good to hear. Mission accomplished!” she said, though Raine saw there was a hollowness to her serpentine friend’s declaration.

“Let’s go!” Azalea said. “The Eireneon isn’t over yet!” She swam off.

“Hey, wait up!” Clover said as she ran after the clionid. The other Coloraturas followed suit.

Emily turned to Heathcliff to take his purse out. “Je te rattraperai. Gotta let the owner know what happened first. Don’t worry, cher. Damages will be on me.”

Emily left with Elizabeth and Esteban. They made their way through la Rivière du Métrocourant, where the swimmers should be.

✦✦✦

Richard, Sarah, and Nina made it to the dungeon. No as adventurers but as spectators, yet they have yet to find any sign of Rosemary or her new friend, Mackenzie among them.

“Something isn’t right,” Sarah whispered.

“Where did they go?” Nina asked.

Meanwhile, Tim talked to one of the people overseeing the Eireneon, a Sentinel of the Dungeon. Tim had already confirmed that Rosemary was not in the Broadway leg of the track beforehand.

“An Arachne child?” the Sentinel asked. He had a stocky, stout build, as well as eight tentacles in lieu of two legs. Like other merfolk, his head was surrounded by water.

Tim nodded. “Have you seen her?”

The Dungeon boss shook his head. “I don’t think so. Give me a second.” The Sentinel communed with the core of the Dungeon and asked them if they sensed who the bajiquan practitioner asked for. The core of la Rivière du Métrocourant sent the boss a telepathic image.

“Something’s wrong,” the Sentinel said. “One of the pipes has something in it.” The Sentinel took his leave. On a hunch, Tim decided to follow him.

The two went to a part of the dungeon with a drain attached to the pipes. One of the failsafes designed for if the waterways were sued by intruders. It had been sealed for the Eireneon, and yet the Sentinel had sensed something was somehow attached to it.

“I’ve noticed there were some cracks in the tubes used for the track,” Tim said. “Maybe something had gotten in through them.”

“Those pipes were brand new!” the male scylla said, befuddled by the development.

The Smiths and Nina also arrived there, looking for the Argentonedtae. Tim looked at the draining pipe and saw water dripping from it. He walked closer and heard something within the pipe.

“Stand back,” Tim said as she assumed a horse stance. “And forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” the fellow Sentinel said. “For—hey wait!”

Tim leaped into the air and chopped the drain. The valve turned a bit.

“Tim,” Richard said with shock. “What are you doing?”

“Just trust me!” Tim said as he made another leap. Another strike, the valve turned. Another leap, another jump and it turned again, so the cycle repeated thrice over and the valved pursed open. The tube glowed red as it sealed off the opened section of water that fell out and with it two bodies.

Nina recognized that as her acquaintance. “Rosemary!” she yelled as she skittered to her and her winged friend.

The Sentinel was flabbergasted by this.

“They need medical attention!” Sarah said. “Is there a—”

“I’ll get a healer!” the scylla said. He made his own leap with his tentacles and swam quickly to the nearest medical stand. Tim and Nina took Rosemary and Mackenzie’s comatose bodies and tried to drain the water from them.

✦✦✦

Water regurgitated from the bodies of two near-death girls as healers, paramedics, and first aid experts tried to keep them away from the waters of the Sea of Souls. It was through great effort that they were managed to be brought from the brink of death.

Mackenzie was the first to awaken. Her mind was groggy but still focused on one thing. “Rosemary!” she yelled. “Where is she?”

The healer directed her to the stretcher on the right. There she found her new friend still unconscious, yet the winged girl saw that she was breathing. The kinnari’s eyes welled up with tears. “Is she…”

“We managed to purge the water from her lungs,” the healer said. “She will need rest, but she will recover.”

Rosemary stirred, her eyes opened and the first thing they saw was her new friend. “Mackenzie?”

Mackenzie was relieved. By some miracle, they survived. By the grace of the flood, they had narrowly avoided drowning. Yet all was not well, the Dugneon’s Sentinel had alerted the Eirineon of what had happened and both were disqualified from continuing the swimming marathon. The kinnari didn’t mind as much as she thought.

“Heh,” she thought. “What good is it if you’d end up swimming with the fishes afterward.” She said. She is grateful to be alive. She tried to move, but parts of her arms and legs were still mob.

“You still need to rest,” the medic said. “Your mana was at dangerously low levels. Try not to use magic for the next week until you recover your mana, or else your body might not handle it.”

Emily and her group arrived to pick up Mackenzie. Most of them donned Eweran dresses at Richard and Elizabeth’s behest, gifted by the parents of the three children saved from the Dollkeepers. Rosemary, still delirious had mistook her friends for actual jellyfish as they took her outside the dungeon.

✦✦✦

“I told you it was a bad idea,” Anemone said to Rosemary.

“Was not!” The indigo hair spiderling said, now wearing an Eweran dress. They both argued as they floated alongside the other children, surrounded by parade floats modeled after icons of Halcyon, famous nautical vessels, and various sea monsters. The Parade had started, as the stroke of midnight was seen on all the clocks throughout Noir.

Mackenzie was also with them, willing to take Rosemary’s side. The purple-haired lycanthrope had her own words for encouraging behavior she saw as reckless.

“I could’ve won!” Rosemary protested, “If my web hadn’t broke!”

On the ground, Emily looked over Rosemary’s performance relative to the other participants. Elizabeth also poured over the record with surprise on her face.

“This can’t be right!” Elizabeth said. “Even for [Argyronetae] to have a web that strong…” She turned to Emily. “Emily this is.”

Emily didn’t catch on to the ramifications, she was too focused on the spectacle of the parade floats and fireworks. “Huh?”

Elizabeth puffed her cheeks, clearly incensed by Emily’s ignorance of her observations. “Rosemary, her webs were stronger than average. Way stronger. This could only mean one thing. She adapted to—”

A large boom had interrupted her conclusion. The two turned to Azalea having unleashed a deafening party popper close to them. Confetti rained down on the fairy and avatara.

“Sorry,” Azalea said with a nervous blush.

Rose floated quietly away from the others. Her mind stuck on Annabelle. She wondered what caused her to go down this path. Why did she join the Dollkeepers? Raine approached her.

“Hey,” Raine said. “Something on your mind?”

Rose sighed. Her Eweran dress kept her aloft. “Done talking to Mackenzie?” she said.

Raine nodded, though her expression was bittersweet. “I asked her if she had any family,” she said. “She didn’t want to talk about it but she did say that she was an elf.” She sighed. At least the phoenixian Kinnari knew what she iss now.

“I’m sorry,” Rose said.

Raine knew her mind was still on Annabelle. “She could've been a great friend,” she said.

“I know,” Rose said solemnly. “We met her so many times, it’s just. Why did she have to go with those guys?” A single tear dripped from her face, falling far into the water where the parade floated.

Stretlizita approached them. “She made her choice,” the minotauride said curtly. “Not us.”

“Stre,” Raine said.

“What?” Streltizia said. “It’s true. Rose, she stood with the syndicate for two years now. She is one of them now and we you know what they do to the innocent.”

The lamia locked eyes with the minotaur. Her expression had shown hurt, and also resilience. An expression of a friend still in pain that her friend had betrayed them.

Esteban remained on the ground, he found the bulbous silhouette of the skirt he now wore embarrassing. He turned to Heathcliff who was more comfortable in the dress.

“No butts, cher,” the knight said to the rouge.

Esteban chuckled a little bit. Perhaps he could take some time to loosen up, just this once.

Richard met with Tim. “Can you help me with the hanzi?” the dwarf asked.

“You want to use hanzi?” Tim asked with confusion

“I felt it would be more authentic,” the dwarf said to the man.

Tim had learned the native characters of Jiang-hu when he studied there. And learned a lot from his mother outside. He helped Richard write the riddles and prayers he dictated on his dress, as well as Sarah’s.

“Anyone else?” Tim said. Elizabeth, Heathcliff, and Esteban already wrote on their dresses.

The Coloraturas were the first to answer and alighted in front of him. The eight witches’ riddles and prayers were penned with gentle strokes. Nina, Rosemary, and Mackenzie were next. The last to be inscribed were the dresses of Emily…and himself.

“Any prayers to the Moonshadow? The Flood? The Cosmos herself?” Tim asked.

Emily blushed a little. “Well…” she whispered something in his ear.

“Oh,” Tim said with reddened cheeks. He cleared his through. “That could be arranged.” He wrote the riddle on the dress, one line of a poem he heard from Jingyu about an inseparable bond. He wrote the other half of the riddle on his own.

With the riddles inscribed and the parade coming to a close, there was one last thing to do. Everyone took their dresses off and wrapped them around specialized frames, the hollow frames held in the center of each a small fire, kept from igniting the cloth that would be wrapped around it by a sphere of glass. With the Eweran dresses wrapped around the frames, and Stella poised to peek over the horizon. The group, and all the festival goers, had sent the furbished lanterns aloft. Prayers and riddles were sent to Tranquilitas as dawn began to crack. An unusual window, some may say, but one believed to be where the Administrators were most receptive. The Eweran lanterns floated aloft, carrying wishes and prayers for a bountiful harvest at sea and in the Dungeons alike.

✦✦✦

Hours later, Emily and those she brought with her returned to the Black Box. Mackenzie Thyme was left alone again as she wandered the streets. “I’m sure I’ll meet Rosemary again,” she thought cherishing the memories she had with her.

The kinnari give a wistful sigh. “Oh mother,” she said. “If you could see how far I came.” She wondered if she could've gone further in the Eireneon. She recalled the last time she saw her. Then she recalled memories of being in front of a tombstone on a rainy day. That day the Flood noticed her, and last night she had ensured she did not join her mother.

Since that day, her desire was to honor her by succeeding as a swimmer. The egret-winged girl lingered on that goal with a fixation and determination unmatched and undaunted. She may have failed this year, but she knew other opportunities would come.

On the way home, she saw someone exit a building. A blond girl in a lacy blue dress, and a matching blue bow.

“Oh,” the girl said with familiarity. “Hey Kenny,” she said.

“Makenzie,” she corrected.

“Did you enjoy the Monsoonfall?” the other girl said.

“Of course!” Mackenzie said. “And you?”

“Things…didn’t go well,” the blue-dressed girl said. “My friend and I hit a bit of a snag last night.”

“Ouch,” Mackenzie said. “What happened.”

“Oh, just a minor tiff, no biggie,” the other girl said with a small smile. “Actually, if you have the time, could you do me a small favor?”

“Huh?” Mackenzie said. “Of course. What do you want?”

The girl in the blue dress whispered something in Mackenzie’s ear. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? Why that?” Mackenzie said.

“It’s a secret,” her friend said. “My dolls had been very lonely lately.” She said with a pleading pout. “Please help them find new friends.”

Mackenzie was sweating. She knew not the nature of the request, but she had too close a bond with this strange girl to deny her. “Alright Annabelle,” the Kinnari said. “Where can I find them?”