Iris peered through a porthole in the crew quarters as the ship slowly maneuvered so that its starboard side faced inwards into the cove. This also meant that the port side was facing out towards the channel the ship had entered through, but Iris was more interested in getting of a view of the supposed mermaid queen she had heard others of the crew whispering about.

The narrow porthole provided a less than ideal field of view, and she had to stand on her toes to get a high enough viewing angle to actually see the relatively close queen so far below. Once she did, however, she pulled the spyglass from her bottomless bag, extended it to its full length, and stuck it through the port hole. She was greeted with an up close view of the mermaid queen -- she wasn't actually sure if the woman was a queen, but the crew seemed to think so, and that was the impression the crown gave off at least.

"Whoa," she whispered, "this lady looks freaky."

"I wanna see!" Autumn complained from behind her.

Iris briefly pulled her eye away from the spyglass to look down at the shorter woman, "pull up a bucket to a port hole and let me know when you can see her, I'll blip you the spyglass -- but only for a minute!"

Autumn rushed off to navigate around the hammocks to the nearest port hole, where she stood atop an upturned bucket to peer out. She groaned in frustration a second later, and climbed down to stack another bucket on top of the first.

As the ship's twisting maneuver slowed to a stop, Iris saw the captain plummet past the port holes and splash into the calms waters. She quickly placed the spyglass back to her eyes and shortened the extension to adjust the zoom until she could see a wide area around the mermaid queen. A few seconds later, the captain rose out of the water a few yards in front of the queen, standing on a submerged waterjet that violently bubbled the surface of the water below his feet.

"I see them!" Autumn called out, "give it here!"

"Hang on!" Iris called back, zooming in to get a closer view of the queen's face, "I think they're talking."

"Let me seeeee!" Autumn complained.

Iris sighed and collapsed the spyglass, then blipped it past several hammocks into Autumn's waiting hand, "don't drop it!"

"Damn, she is a freak," Autumn remarked a moment later.

"I'm gonna go up top," Iris said, "come get if anything interesting happens."

Autumn ignored her.

Iris rolled her eyes and blipped to the stairs, then blipped past the sandbags and crates that had been placed as impromptu barricades. She could have teleported directly upwards through the decks, but decided against the risk of surprising other crew members while they were on edge.

She stopped briefly to look in on the gun deck, but nothing interesting was happening. The cannoneers were simply on peering through the cannon holes while they waited for orders. She was surprised, however, not to see Cameron amongst them. At the top of the stairs, where they opened to the main deck, she was met with the backs of several pirates blocking the exit. One of them was in shining metal armor, and she knocked on his back like a door.

Titus jumped and spun around, causing several other pirates to do the same. When he saw Iris standing there, he let out a quick but tired breath, "Iris, now's not the time blip behind people like that."

"I walked up the stairs like a normal person," she shrugged, "not my fault you weren't paying attention."

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Apparently, she thought to herself, surprising people was her thing.

"I was paying attention," Titus argued, "to these guys. It's my job to keep them alive right now."

Iris stood on her toes and leaned to either side to look through the wall of pirates, "doesn't seem very dangerous up here."

"It will be soon," the pirate to Titus's left said ominously.

In the distance, she caught a glimpse of Cameron and several other crewmates tossing cannonballs over the port side railing. With their champion tier Strength, they easily threw them hundreds of feet beyond the ship.

"What are those guys up to?" Iris asked.

"You should get back below deck," Titus said, "you're not ready for the kind of fight that's about to happen up here."

Iris crossed her arms and looked up at Titus with judgement in her eyes, "seriously? You sound like Eli."

"Yeah, well sometimes he's right," when Iris didn't budge, he tried a different approach, "alright then, how about you go find Autumn and tell her to get up here. She definitely is ready for this kind of fight, and we could use her."

"Fine," Iris rolled her eyes and blipped away.

----------------------------------------

"Typically," the mermaid queen flicked her eyes towards the Gaping Maw as she spoke, "parley doesn't involve a few dozen cannons pointing directly at the participants."

"Get over it," the Shark Titan replied.

"What's your plan? A dramatic last stand? You've literally cornered yourself for us, we barely had to do anything."

The captain snorted, "if you were that confident, you would be fighting instead of talking."

"My goal's not to kill you, Clement. It's to negotiate the release of the hydra."

"By killing two of my men in the night?" he countered.

"Perhaps a few of my women got a little -- overzealous. I blame the impatient wizard."

The captain snarled, "and where is that coward?"

"Outside the cove, with the warfish," she answered casually, "he's very cross with you, you know."

"Cut the shit, Niran. You're not getting my hydra."

"I don't want her, and she isn't yours. You have no right to take her from her home."

"She belongs to the sea!" the captain barked, "or do you forget that's where she was first taken from?"

"Ah yes, the ascension quest. That's what this is really about, right?"

Surprise crossed the Shark Titan's face, "how do you know about that?"

Queen Niran laughed, "I know you think of us as remote savages, but I promise you the god's still speak to us. Even all the way out here."

The captain said nothing, instead only snarling.

"They speak of other things, too," Niran said, her tone growing darker, "a dragon to the east, wizards from the sky -- a forgotten prophecy coming to bear." Her face grew softer and almost worrisome, "our little spat aside, what's going on out there, Clement?"

"Dark things," he said in a quiet tone, his snarl somewhat relaxing, "powers beyond us moving pieces in the great game."

"The gods seem--" she hesitated, "uneasy. They're acting out of character."

"Aye," he said calmly, "Morose has taken Giantrock City for themself."

It was the queen's turn to be surprised, "seriously? That isn't like them at all."

"No," the captain grimaced, “it is not.”

"Perhaps we should set this conflict aside," the queen suggested, "focus our efforts instead on what's to come."

"I would like that," the captain said, "but be ready for the coming troubles, I must return the hydra to the sea. It's the final piece."

"You've already returned the other two?" her eyes widened, "the Spiral neglected to mention that."

"She may tell you secrets, but you are as much her pawn as I."

The queen frowned, "very well, I’m not so arrogant to think that I can change your mind while godhood is within your grasp. I suppose we'll play this out. Do you have terms?"

The captain thought for a moment before speaking, "You, me, and the wizard keep it to the lake. Let our forces battle it out in the cove."

"Acceptable," the queen nodded thoughtfully, "in return, you'll instruct your crew to surrender in the case of your demise. If they do so, we will release the hydra and cause no further harm."

"Acceptable."

They were silent for moment. It was the kind of calm, gentle silence that spoke volumes without a word.

"I wish our reunion could have been on friendlier terms," the queen broke the silence with a sad smile, "it would have been nice to reminisce."

"Aye," the captain said somberly, "the fates can be cruel."

"Until we meet in battle, Clement," the queen bowed slightly.

The captain dipped his head silently in response.

The mermaid queen abruptly dropped into the water, rapidly descending into the depths until she faded from view. The Shark Titan turned towards his ship, looming like a giant amongst the calm waters of the cove and the dense, wild forest surrounding it. He lingered for a moment to savor the view, knowing it would soon see great damage and no small amount of blood.