Lin shifted at the broken stone table, a fabric scroll stretched out in front of him. The Room of Records, in ruins around him, still held priceless scrolls. And though it was late, and he should have been asleep, he was loathe to let them sit around unread.

That particular scroll, one he’d listened to multiple times, held the story of the first Tognir King, Dominic the First, and Crinna’s first and most horrible Wreaking, after the king’s murder by a human—when the Tognir had become Tognir.

It was a tale none of them had been taught. None except the Scribes.

Though the tale was gruesome, it held so many vital clues to their history. At that point, their scales had been brighter, their legs joined into one long tail fin, more like mermaids and less like amphibious humans.

They’d been closer to their true form at that time than at any point since in their history. And Lin longed to imagine what that form might have looked like.

He sighed, stood, stretched. He wouldn’t have to wait long. But he was impatient for the change that would make him and the others blossom into the full truth of who they were.

He glanced down at his webbed feet, still muddy brown, the fins still short, though they had gained a bit of length in the past few days. The sooner they could become Aewyn, the sooner everyone, Ron and Ana included, would see the truth of his words.

And hopefully, follow him to the Aewyn kingdom.

He walked around, looking ruefully at the long-cleaned fish bones in the corner. He was still hungry. He knew it was because of his pending transformation. The energy to mold feet into a fin and to turn dull scales to sparkling would require a great deal of food. But their hunters had to be very careful at the moment. And that meant a ration.

And the Eye’s presence, though muted by the special pouch he’d created for it, then further muted by the stone trunk, required constant vigilance against his mind’s walls. That also took a significant amount of energy. But he was winning the mental battle. At least for now.

A small movement in the water made him stop and stretch out his aura tentatively. Two, maybe three Tognir were in the Palace.

He felt further. Not Ana, whose aura always pulsed rose-gold. Not Ron’s kingly yellow aura, either.

He retreated into the shadows of the broken stone shelving, pulling his aura in close around him, and felt the water moving more as they approached.

Their auras—there were three now, he could tell—reached out, seeking something. Or someone.

A name reached out through the space between like a question. With a start, he realized it was his.

“Scribe Lin? Please don’t be afraid. We want to know more. Please come out.”

They were close now, inside the Room of Records.

Lin frowned. Could be troublemakers, come to taunt him. But his heart had picked up pace. Maybe he could teach them. Maybe they honestly wanted to know the truth.

He reached out, just a bit. They were searching through the toppled shelves at the front of the Room. Sooner or later, they would find him. Unless he hid.

He glanced back at the chest he’d been sitting on. Dread filled him. He couldn’t hide. He’d leave the Eye within reach of Tognir souls it could manipulate. He had to keep it out of reach.

With a deep lungful of water, he made his aura known and stepped out of the shadow.

The three Tognir, dressed in cloaks, stopped their search and zeroed in on him.

He gulped, trying to keep his aura steady.

“What do you want?” He asked.

“He’s here,” said one of the Tognir. It was a young man—the same young Leo he’d spoken with as he helped rebuild Tim and Isa’s home.

All three auras lit up hopefully.

“We were wondering,” said another Tognir, this one the young Taker Ned, “if you would tell us more. About the Eltana. And these other people…the…” He struggled to remember the word.

“The Aewyn,” Lin offered.

All three nodded.

Lin narrowed his gaze.

“Why do you want to know?” He asked them. “Don’t you know you could face consequences for coming here?”

Their auras darkened. The third Tognir, a tall, broad-chested man named Kas, spoke.

“We know that, Scribe Lin. But we had to know…if there is…another place. Another life we could have.” He gestured around at the ruins. “Maybe this is safer, but it definitely isn’t where some of us want to live out the rest of our days.”

Lin stretched his aura, scrutinizing them. They shrunk back a bit, but allowed him to examine their motives, their questions, their hopes.

Satisfied with their sincerity, Lin smiled.

“Alright. Come with me.”

He led them to the front of the Room, away from the chest and the Eye, and seated them at one of the broad stone tables. He remembered Eli using that particular table for his studies and gave a small smile.

Lin remained standing, and when they had all gotten comfortable, he opened his arms.

“Well? What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” breathed Leo.

“Whatever you can tell us,” added Kas.

Lin took another deep breath.

“Why don’t we start with Crinna—whom you may remember as the Eltana?”

The three of them shuddered.

“In order to understand the Aewyn, you must understand Crinna.” Lin began to Sing, projecting his Song into their minds. The Tognir gazed wide-eyed as his story began to play out in vibrant detail.

“Three hundred and thirty years ago, the Tognir came to this place, through the Lost Tunnels. They were not yet Tognir. They were Aewyn, banished from their people, led by their rebel queen, Crinna.” Visions of Crinna as a young woman, and even more strangely, an Aewyn, with one long, violet tail fin and sparkling violet eyes, made the Tognir breathless.

“That’s an Aewyn?” Ned was beside himself. “They’re beautiful!”

“Indeed,” Lin agreed. “Of course, never having seen one, I have only my imagination to give you. But they were beautiful. They still are, within the Aewyn kingdom. But these Aewyn were destined to become the Tognir. Crinna, fueled by the dark power of the Eye of the Rogue, had tried to lead a rebellion against the Aewyn King Celaro and his court. They were turned back, of course.”

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The next sequence, a battle between a fearsome Aewyn king with jet black hair, and the beautiful, dark Crinna, had the Tognir enthralled. Crinna fell, her tail fin torn in two. Her followers gathered her ruined form, going into banishment at Celaro’s order.

“The king sent them into exile in the Black Caves. Crinna’s followers, most especially her consort, tried to save her beautiful tail. But it was no use. In order to save her life, her tail fin had to heal in two pieces.”

A feverish Crinna showed now in their mind, bandages around what now appeared as legs. Her violet eyes were bitter and pained. Her consort’s face made them all gasp.

“It’s Dom the First!” said Leo.

“Yes,” said Lin. “And he was her most devoted subject. As you know, he later became the patriarch of the Tognir people and the sire of the line of Tognir kings. But back to the story.” He showed them a vision of Crinna being carried by her followers through dark, cold tunnels, eating algae from the walls, huddling together to sleep.

“The Aewyn are used to sun-warmed waters. The cold, dark waters of the Black Caves and the Lost Tunnels threatened to end them all. And it did end some of them. But on they traveled, until at last—“ Dom the First pointed ahead, towards a great clearing.

“The water was warming, and they could see. They’d found themselves in a strange place. The Eye, through Crinna, had led them there. They hailed it as a savior. There were fish, mollusks, and warmth. They crowned Crinna and Dominic their Queen and King. And on they went to build what we now call our home.”

He showed them visions of Aewyn with tools, breaking through stone, carving meticulous designs into a prototype of the Palace, while Crinna and Dominic looked on.

“They were a happy people, satisfied with their kingdom apart from the Aewyn. And Crinna, with the power of the Eye, made it even more majestic.”

Crinna Sang a strange melody, and the stone walls of the finished kingdom shifted, bent, until they shimmered. Special stones, dotted along the walls at regular intervals, cast a peaceful blue-white glow all throughout the water until everything sparkled and gleamed.

“Glowstones!” Leo said.

Lin nodded. “It was even more glorious than the kingdom they’d left. At least from the outside. For on the inside, Crinna was still unhappy.” Crinna, high up in the palace tower, scowled down at the beautiful Tognir kingdom, at the Aewyn swimming around, at their beautiful, jewel toned tales. She looked down at her marred form, at her purple, black, and blue tail, split in two, ugly and scarred.

“She felt she had lost her crowning beauty. And envy began to build in her heart. Fueled by the Eye, she became cruel and petty.” Crinna, in a heated argument with Dominic, pointed toward the tunnels. “She even went so far as to banish her beloved King in her anger. Dominic had tried to encourage her, to show her love, to convince her to put aside her envy and rejoice in her people’s love. He and Crinna had even bore a child together, a little boy. But she was too far gone under the Eye’s power.”

Dominic swam away, towards the tunnels—but something else caught his eye. Another, smaller hole, high up on the outer stone wall. It seemed to glow with its own light. He swam up, into the hole.

“The Threshold! That’s the Threshold!” Ned was practically jumping out of his chair.

Lin nodded.

“It was the strangest thing yet. A glowing cave. Yet when he reached his hand through—“ Dominic pushed a tentative hand through the glowing sheet of water, then pulled it back abruptly. “The water was warm, much warmer than even a warm current should be. And so—“

Dominic pushed himself through the Threshold. Sunlight caressed his skin. Enraptured, he kept swimming.

“He found himself in a narrow bank of water, not wide or deep. And when he looked down at the place he had come—“

Dominic looked down. A round stone was set into the sandy bottom of the body of water. He dove down, touched it. His fingers slid through once more, and he pulled back, reassured. He could come back.

“He explored everything. His curiosity knew no bounds.”

Dominic frolicked in the river, the clear water allowing him to glimpse the sun. He laughed, ecstatic.

“He hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. And so he ventured to the surface of this water, intent on taking in its comforting rays.”

Dominic swam up, broke the surface of the water. Sunlight gleamed off his scales. He laughed, loudly, and pulled himself up on the bank.

The Tognir shrunk back.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Lin. “That amount of sunlight would fry any one of us in an instant. But you must think more. The Aewyn were made for sunlight and warmth. They moved freely between their oceans and rivers, and the Surface world. They couldn’t live long without the sun.”

“That sounds so lovely,” sighed Leo.

“Meanwhile, Crinna had repented of banishing her love. She came to look for him. She, too, found the Threshold.”

Crinna, distraught, entered the glowing cave and pushed through the water. She blinked in the sunlight. Her features hardened into fear.

“She did not know what this strange place was. But she could sense Dominic nearby. So she followed him to the surface. But unknown to both of them, a threat approached.”

“The Kar-Togs,” growled Kas.

Lin showed them two humans on the bank. One of them carried a long pole with a string attached. At his belt hung a knife. The other carried a long, wooden weapon.

“The humans heard Dominic’s laughter. They decided to investigate. Meanwhile, Crinna had found her love. They were deep in conversation. They did not hear the humans approach.”

Crinna and Dominic held each other on the bank. Shouts startled them. They looked in fear to the humans, who approached with weapons drawn. The humans, their eyes wide, their bright auras spinning with fear, attacked.

“Dominic was mortally wounded. Crinna held them off with a Song, long enough to drag Dominic back down, through the Threshold, and into the Palace. But it was too late.”

Dominic stared, lifeless, up at the ceiling. Crinna and her young son wept. But Crinna’s eyes were alight with hatred and anger.

“From that day, Crinna became even more ruthless. She shortened all the Aewyn’s names to three letters and ordered them to split their tails. Even her son was not spared from this command.”

Aewyn, languishing in an infirmary, their tails bandaged and bloodied, cried out for mercy. A teenaged Dominic the Second pleaded with his mother. Crinna snarled at their cries, towering over them in a blinding pool of light, until they cowered.

“Once they were all mutilated, she taught them all how to swim again. The Eye sped up their healing until they became what we are now. Tognir, stripped of their tails, their glow, their warmth and sunlight.”

The Tognir gaped as Lin showed them Dominic the Second, almost exactly how he appeared in their mosaics, stern face drawn and tired. But this time, they saw his split tail, bearing no resemblance to the majestic tail fin he’d had before. His scales were dulled, bruised.

And the Eye had seemed to give them all a vaguely human form—they had webbed feet, knee joints, and had even adopted human-like clothing.

“But worst of all, Crinna demanded revenge on the humans who’d killed her love. She ordered a human be Taken, every new moon, and sacrificed in memory of Dominic the First, until her anger was appeased—otherwise, she would have her vengeance on them. And so the Takers, the Guardian, and High Guardian were born, as a necessary committee to see to this demand, and ensure the safety of the Tognir people. It was under the leadership of Dominic the Second that this came into being. He obtained it from Crinna that those involved in this ritual should have their powers of Song enhanced, in order to ensure the success of the monthly mission.”

The first High Guardian, Guardian, and group of 13 Takers stood grimly in the Threshold cave, awaiting their mission.

Lin let the story fade from their minds. “And that is how we got here, my friends.”

The Tognir stared at him.

“It’s terrible,” Ned said, his voice breaking. “Why has no one told us this?”

Lin gave a dark smile. “That is an excellent question. But it also begs another question. If we had known this information long ago, why would we still be here? Why wouldn’t we have tried to find our true kinsmen before now?”

They stared at him, understanding brightening in their eyes.

“It was hidden from us,” said Kas. He got to his feet, his aura blazing. “We’ve been lied to!”

“Yes,” said Lin, “but no one person is to blame. Crinna forbade the teaching of this history, and the kings and scribes have all followed this dictate fearing her Wreakings should they disobey.” Lin gestured around him. “Clearly, we no longer have need to fear. But our learned roles and marred forms will not pass away easily.”

“We have to find them, then.” Leo got to his feet. “We have to convince the other Tognir to come with us. They need to know this isn’t our home!”

Lin’s heart was buoyed, but he stifled his hope.

“As I said before, the other Tognir may not be so easily convinced. We don’t want to cause too much division, or any more censorship from Lord Ron. That will only hurt matters, I think.”

“Then what can we do?” asked Ned. “We can’t just do nothing.”

“Talk,” said Lin. “But talk gently. Mention your fears over how sustainable staying here in this kingdom is. Mention that perhaps there’s more to learn about ourselves. Draw people in with curiosity. Lead them here if they want to know more. Don’t drive them with fear-mongering or blaming.”

“You want us to lead more people here?” Kas said. “But you just said yourself it was dangerous. What about Lord Ron?”

“The more people we inform, the more Ron will be forced to consider the truth,” Lin said. “Start with telling them what you have learned. And if they wish to know more, direct them here. In small numbers, so as not to arouse suspicion.”

The Tognir’s auras swirled with assent.

“We have to go back now.” Leo smiled at Lin. “Thank you for indulging our curiosity.”

“More than that,” Ned put in. “Thank you for telling us the truth. Even though it was hard to hear.”

Lin smiled. “Not everyone is so grateful for the truth. It is indeed a hard one we face. But one that may lead us onward. To richer lives.”

They nodded, then pulled their cloaks over their heads and disappeared from the Room.

Lin’s smile faded as he watched them leave. Three Tognir out of 37. It wasn’t a lot. They wouldn’t make it halfway through the winding tunnels with three Tognir. Not with the Eye constantly draining him, challenging his will.

He glared at the chest that contained the Eye. It seemed to pulse at the edge of his aura, expectant, smug. Ready to give in yet?

No. Three Tognir weren’t going to defeat this horrible evil. But it was a start. And a start was more than he’d ever had.